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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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Mr . Jevans&nRtm . 'vm . S * ¦ ¦ 583
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and , therefore , they ttmst relate , not to tlie ^^ aine , but to two different subjects , % may ^ be answered , that the miraculous gifts ,-which jyere always called the Spirit , ot the Spiit of God , under the Old-Testament
dispensation , were sometimes named the Spirit of Christ , after his appearance ^ because it was i mpar ted through foiin * See John xiv , 15 % -17 and 26 . S ^ Of li fulness have we rieceive ^ and grace for grace . " John i . 16 . c f When the Comforter is come , whom Twill send
to you from ; the Father , the Spirit of truth , whicli proceeded ! from thl Fkther . John x . v . 26 . So Grptiu ^ . — Moreover , the language may be varied to improve the fiction . 3 . The phrase , a The Spirit of
Christ /? is neve * met" with in any other place in the Scriptures to express the Christian temper , and , therefore , it most probably has not this signification here .
There . are , indeed , some modes of speech a little like it , as where it is said , " Ye have received the spirit of adoption , whereby we cry , Abba , Father . " Rom . viii . 15 . And again ,
Gal . iv . 6 : " Because ye are sons , God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts , crying , Abba , Father / ' Here the Christian temper is probably referred to , but the language is different from that we are
now considering the sense of . On the other hand , 4 . There is one passage , if not more , where the phrase , the Spirit of Christ , does most certainly not signify the temper of Christ , but the miraculous ffiftSu . We find it in 1 Peter i .
10 : " Of which salvation the prophets have inquired and preached diligently , who prophesied of ithe grace that should come unto you : seeking what manner of time the spirit of Christ which was in them did signify , when it testified beforehand the
sufferings of Christ , and the glory that should follow /' Here you see that the terms , the Spirit of Christy do doubtless refer to the miraculous gifts , and , therefore , they may have the same signification in Rom . viii . 9 .
We also read of the Spirit in Acts xvi . 7 , which Griesbach thinks should read the Spirit of Jesus , and which undoubtedly refers to the miraculous
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operations of the Spirit , for it is said , €€ Affer they were cooife to Mysia ^ they assayed to go into Bythiiiia : but the Spirit suffered them mot . " And in the preceding v&rse , * ' That they were forbidden of the Holy Ghost to
preach the word in Asia / And PMHpp , w 19 : "The Spirit of Je ^ us 4 BHHst ^ i'l'his also evidently lefeirs foot to the 0 m ^ rx * f'Christ , hv& % 6 the operations of He bpirit on Christians ; whether they be common or miraculous . ¦¦ ¦ ¦ ' : ¦ - ; : ¦ : ¦ , : ^
So that the analdgy of scripture makes very much against the commonly-received sense < if these words . 5 . If it b ^ aid , But if no persons belong to Jesus Christ but such as have the miraculous gifts of t ] he Spirit , what a gloomy thought this must raise in the minds of all modern
Christians ; it may be said in reply , Certain things ate true in one age , that are not so in another ; and that so it is here . The miraculous gifts of the a • ¦ ' * ' ¦ ¦ ¦ : '' ¦ ¦ ' ¦ m ' : Knimf' f * t £ k-mr % . . An mntirr nA / intinfo ma /» ao - Spirit accounts
were , on many , necessary far the first Christians , which reasons do not exist in our day . We are in * very different circumstances to what they were . Oars is a" changeable world .
Upon the whole , as there is no manner of necessity for believing- that these words refer to the Christian temper , the passage admitting- of a different good scriptural sense , and as the same phrase does not signify the
Christian temper in any other place in the New Testament , and , above all , as these very words do in another place , in the New Testament , most certainly refer to the miraculous gifts ; therefore , it is most reasonable to affix that sense to them here .
Difficult and dubious passages of Scripture must be explained by those whose meaning is more plain and certain . To conclude , if the Christians of later ages had better known and con * sidered how much oftener the
miraculous gifts of the Spirit of God are spoken of in the New Testament , than the common moral operations are , they would have better understood this passage , and have been more sparing- in the use of the terms , the Spirit of God 9 in their writings and religious services . It is , indeed * a very serious truth , that if any man have not the virtuous
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Oct. 2, 1824, page 583, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2529/page/7/
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