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616 Beview .- ~ 'Not PquI , but Jfyms .
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in the sight of men ; fro * cbuJ 4 ^| be breath of calumny taapt his repi * fe * ifea » This apostle even waived the e&ereigfe of his right to a maintenance 6 n tibfe
occasion . * For the purpose of obvi * ating suspicion , he associated with himself other individuals -in - the trust : lie provided for «* things honesV for what was becoming and honourable , not only iu the sight of the Lore } , but
part of those whose spiritual interests he superintended . It is therefore ; impossible that the love of monfcy wuld have been his motive for entering into the Christian ehurkh .
Was fame the end of his pursuit ? Did his soul burn with the fever of ambition ? Were power and dominion the acquisitions for which he panted I
Let his writings , and his history give the answer : let these declare , whether it was practicable for him to gratify such passions , when he enlisted tinder the banner of Jesus ( Christ .
What human reputation couM hie ex . * pect to obtain by joining , or even by leading , a poor , despised , persecuted sect , by exchanging the vanity and pride of the school of Gamaliel for the humble lessons of the prophet of Na * zareth , of the sufferer on Calvary ? We do not ask out readers to receive
Paul's own assertions , unless they are substantiated by evidence . But we call on Ingenuous men to weigh deliberately every part of the narrative of the apostle ' s ministry , and to say , whether he did not With truth repre- ^ sent himself as being made « ' the oflfc
scouring of all things / ' Let us judge of him , as the opptigners of Christianity would have us to judge : * for a moment , let us imagine that he was not really converted , but was an interested deceiver . Then , how shall we
explain his conduct , on the laws of the mind and the principles of ou * nature ? If we compare , or rather contrast , what , in a temporal point of view , he relinquished with what he gained , we shall discover , lhat he , surrendered more than eveii an Indian
Bramin would lose in being deprived of his caste ; and that , in return , no wordly equivalent was secured . In the circles of learning and philosophy at least , the fine parts of Paul ^ and his high attainments , would have opened his way to great distinption . Why * 2 Cor . viii . ix .
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did he prefer to preaeh Christ * and bhn eruqifie 4 ? v ... His epistles , and the history of his public life , will l endure thfe scrutiny 0 f tigorous critiei ^ i » . So exanained , they prove that he evinced uncommon moderation in employing the fiairacu ^
lous powers with which he % as supplied- Was this the impositions this the course , of a criift ^ and ^ flabitious man ^ Or / raster , w ^ f not tbe feet a demonstration of styfT rmorgi than bo * - li ^ st int ^> lipns- —Qf pure an 4 delicate feelings / M of vs sober juciginent ? And is this the mm : on w 1 k ) wi the fi of
charge eanb ^ xed either imposture or enlbusiasuj I If \ t % simplicity tod ^ o 4 jya sinueritjr , and not vrftii fleshly wisdoin ^ he h * d his coiweraa * tion in th ^ iworW , who can resist the inference , that Ue was an apostle not of men , neither by men , but by Jesus Christ ?
Paul ' writings , too , authenticate themselves ^ -and the history oif hi $ labours : they do $ o prc ^ -emkiently—in a degree beyond tkose of any individual with whose existence we are ^ c ^ . quainted . That such writings should have been constructed on the basis of
deceit , is morally icopossible , _ ; % . At tfce same ttm ^ , ¦ .- ifliei letters ^ of Paul , tliou ^ i fifcl i of arguipient ^ aild containing a number of precepts and proliibitions , abound in aUwions and references to Jhot *? they ^ eirery where present an animated , living scene ;
and , happily , we have it in our power to compare them with memoirs . of a large portion of his ^ ministry « The result of this : comparison ( forIt has been made ) is , in out own judgment , inferior only to the report of the senses , and to the force of absolute
demonstration . Indolence and preju ^ dice may shrink frOwx instituting or reviewing it : however , it is not to indolence and prejudice that our ap * - peat is urged .
When we consider the style , ob- > serve the topics , and weigh the reasoning of PuuVs Eywstles , we cannot but assign the date of them r to an interval of time betweea the ascension
of Christ and the destruction of Jerusalem- *—to nearly , or precisely , what external testimony dejclares to have been their real date . It is assumed , but has not been shewn , or even attempted to be shewn , that the doctrine of this apostle con-
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Oct. 2, 1824, page 616, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2529/page/40/
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