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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.
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Review . —Ben David ? s Reply to Two D&isiic&l : 1 W-mki * 62 i
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appeal to : those -of his party , who , as ignorant of the voice and purport of the vision , still continued among the enemies of the gospel ! Accordingly he says , 4 they that were with me saw indeed the , light , and weie afraid ; but they heard not the voice , i . e ^ they neither comprehende d nor obeyed 1 the voice of him that spoke to me . '" - ^ -Pp .
191—193 . We jnay grant to unbelievers most of their alleged variations in the apostolical history , without compromising the truth of Christianity , The character of historic truth , in relation to independent witnesses , is substantial agreement amidst incidental
differences . With the popular absurd notion of the efficacy of baptism in his head , Gamaliel Smith objects to the ceremony in the case of Paul , aud expatiates on the immoral tendency of the
doctrine , that it washes away sins . In auswer , Ben David quotes the follow ? ing- passage from Lactantius , ( lib . ill . c . 26 , ) " whose honeyed flow of eloquence procured him the appellation of the Christian Cicero "—
4 € The mighty energy of the divine precepts on the minds of men , is demonstrated by daily experience . Give to Christ a man that is irascible , reproachful or impetuous , and , by a few words of God he will restore him mild as a lamb : give to Christ a man that is covetous and tenacious of
hw property ; and he will give him back to you liberal , and distributing his money with both hands : give to Christ a man that is fearful of pain and of death ; and he will presently despise crucifixion , and flames and torments : give to Christ a man that is lustful , an adulterer or a gambler ; and you will soon see him
soher , chaste and honest give to Christ a man that is cruel and thirsty for blood ; and his fury will be immediately changed into unfeigued clemency : give to Christ a m < m that is unjust , foolish or an offender ; and he becomes equitable , prudent and inoffensive . For by a single baptism all his wickedness will be washed **—Pp . 197 , 198 .
On the sentence put in italics ., Ben David remarks , " The last sentence of this writer illustrates what the early Christians meant by baptism . It was practised by them ,
not as an atonement for guilt , bat as a symbol of moral purity : it was , on the part of those who submitted to It , an open , avowal of their faith in Christ , a public declaration that , as his followers .
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they were determined to * forsake : their sins , to correct their most favourite passions , to eradicate the most deeply-rooted vices , to imitate the example apd obey the precepts of their diFJto ^ . MjM ^ jer . - . ' -. Orhisi rite , no doubt , in the course of time became much mistaken and abused . Paul
was apprehensive of this consequence ; and he declined the practice of it , as forming no part of that gospel w ^ lqh he was commissioned to preach /' - ^ P . 198 . Reverting \ % a position of the
author of % \\§ # : £ few Trial , " &c « , tiiat in Paul's Epistles no trace is to Jbe fouad of the I existence of any such document as one of the four Gospels , Ben David quotes 52 Cor . viii . 18 as a direct testimony on the part of Paul to the Evangelist Buke :
" It is well known that Luke was the companion and feJlow-labourer of Paul ; and hi 2 Cor . viii . 18 , we meet with these words : ' We haye sent with him our brother , whose prajse by means of his gospel is throughout all the churches /
Here we see a person , whom Paul calls a brother , and in the next verse a fellow traveller , praised by all the churches , and praised too by means of his gospel . It follows then that this gospel was received by all the churches , and that the author was known to all the churches
through the medium of his gospel : for this reason he is said to be proved , not by individuals in one place or in many places , to whom he might be personally known , but by all the churches , i * e . by all the societies of Christians who used his gospel . They must , therefore , have esteemed him as an honest man , who had published a history of his divine Master , deserving of universal credit for
its accuracy , fidehty and truth . —Pp . 2 , 201 . la a note , pp . 286 , 287 ' » the author defends this rendering of the passage , and points out the defining power of the Greek article :
Sometimes things can be defined by only being connected : hence the . article in Greek becomes a connective serving to attach an adjunct to its subject , or a pro perty to its possessor . In such cases its import in English is expressed by the pronominal adjectives my , thy 9 hisy her ,
our , your , their . Let us illustrate this application of the Greek article by a few examples . c Ot < xj / Tirapadip Trjy ( Hotcrihsioiv rqj Ste $ koci itooTor 1 Cor . xv . 24 , * When he shall deliver * up the kingdom to the God and Father , i . e . to his God and Father ;* which in the common translation is improperly * to God even the Father . EweBaXw vaq % uqcl <; btf olvtov
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Oct. 2, 1824, page 621, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2529/page/45/
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