On this page
-
Text (1)
-
Untitled Article
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
-
-
Transcript
-
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
Untitled Article
it . 79 €€ that worthy name by which ye are called , " is literally , " wliicli was called upon you" or * ' over you , " rd
tntiKkrfizv t < p vfjicts , and observes , that the mode of expression is the same as in Acts xv . 1 . 7 : " AH the Gentiles upon whom my name is called : " this latter text might , therefore , be equally well rendered , " who are called by my
name . " The competency of Wakefield , as a scholar , to decide on the meaning of an idiom used by Jewish writers who wrote in Greek , was by me taken for granted , and I did not conceive it incumbent on me to furnish the proofs of the accuracy of his opinion .
Wakefield renders Acts ix . 14 , €€ to bind all that call themselves by thy name ; " which is equivalent in sense , though a little varied in phrase , with
his rendering of 1 Cor . i . 2 , " that take upon themselves the name of our Lord Jesus Christ . " For this usage of £ iriKa , \ £ O ( A . < xi in the middle or reciprocal sense , he has Schleusner * s authority . Hammond , with whom Locke
agrees , says , " eTCiKocKat < r 6 a . i ovofAa is * to be called by the name' of Jesus Christ as b y a surname ; marking the peculiar union which subsists between us and Christ , as of a spouse with her husband , or as of a slave with his
master , who is also called by his master ' s ^ name . " Whether we adopt the passive or middle sense , the words still convey the same meaning ; for , as Schleusner remarks , " the formulary
£ wiKctXei < r $ ai oyofAa , twq <; , signifies universally , * to profess some certain person ' s religion . '" I cannot , therefore , agree with Mr . Yates , that the difference in the middle or passive use of the verb is at all material .
Among the various senses enumerated by Dr . Clarke , ( Scrip . Doct . No . 691 , ) in which this phrase is used , only one implies direct invocation : Acts vii . 59 , when Stephen , who sees Jesus present with him in a vision , calls upon him t € to receive his spirit : "
but Hammond , speaking of the use of the word generally in the New Testament , says expressly , " £ 7 riKGckei < r 6 < zi signifies to be named ( or surnained ); Matt . x . 3 ; Luke xxii . 3 ; Acts i . 23 , iv . 36 , and in other places , in which it has a passive , not an active , signification . " Thu ## Sir , if I see no difficulty in
Untitled Article
tfte ^ formula before us , aitfl feel w > doubt as to its bearing and import , I have at least the countenance of better scholars than myself . Mr . Yates , in support of bis hypothesisthat this ia " one of the diffi-V 1 A \> U * M 1 W * - « . ^ - ^ w —•»» . — i—™ - — — - — — - ¦» " ^ 1 ¦ ¦ m—
, . ^ . culties left in revelation for the purpose of inculcatiog humility and candour , " quotes a passage from the Trinitarian translators of the Bible , importing that < c it has pleased God , in his divine providence , here and there to scatter words and sentences of
difficulty and doubtfulness : " that " fearfulness would therefore better beseem us than confidence , and that , if we will resolve , we should resolve upon modesty . "
Now , Sir , I , for my part , cannot understand the modesty which hesitates when all is at stake . Paul speaks of " great boldness in the faith ; " and he who , through modesty , doubts whether Christ may not have been
invocated in prayer , in opposition to his own express contrary command , John xvi . 23 , may , through the same modesty , hesitate whether he ought not to acknowledge that the sacramental bread is Christ ' s body . There is an
end of all critical discussion or inquiry , and there remains only an orthodox 4 € prostration of the understanding . " The extract from the preface to the Bible assumes what I am by no means disposed to grant , the plenary inspiration of the Sacred Records , if God
scattered , through the written Gospels , " words and sentences of difficulty and doubtfulness , " God by his immediate spirit superintended and dictated the writing : and when Paul desired that " the cloak and parchments which he left behind him at Troas might be sent
to him , ' * ¥ f may be contended , as , m fact , it hfyf been contended , that the sentence was * f&fl £ n < ki < t 6 iu ( £ hide some meaning of rn ^ sterious ^ fcsfctfBction , But , Sir , as the evangelical « fld apostolical writers lay rioY «^ i « a t , qtony £ ucb supernatural aid , ^ t hey W ? 0 * }?
note it when afforded , and « 4 iOT 0 * s ly disclaim it where ft might «* i * t& * nly be conceived that they wrote ud&er its direction , the notion of literal inspiration falls to the ground , and with it that of dark phrases and dubious meanings , purposely inserted to try our faith or exercise our charity , I »•
Untitled Article
4 M Servetvs m reply to Mr . Yates dn 1 € er . \ . 2 .
-
-
Citation
-
Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), July 2, 1822, page 404, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2514/page/12/
-