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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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g Now , the defeating of tins artifice is the object of John in the beginning ° f n * ^ P e' Evidently alluding to the account of the creation ^ iveri by Moses , he says , " In the beginning was the Logos / ' meaning , that He who existed as the cause of
all things , was not that vague thing , animate or inanimate , which the philosophers called God , but a conscious , wise Being , first designing- the things which he caused , and next executing the things whicn he had
designedthat a rational , intelligent principle , under the name of Logos , was the author of nature , or , according to Philo , when the foundation of the universe was laid , an intelligent planner or designer preceded its
formation . 9 . The reference which this Evangelist has to Antichrist , both in his Gospel and in his Epistles , places this doctrine in a clear , simple and unequivocal light . The Antichristian
teachers were Atheists ; and they sought to level the whole edifice of Christianity , by withdrawing from under it the existence and agency of one God . The dispute between them and the Apostle was , whether Sige ( silence ) or Logos ( reason ) was from
the beginning with God . If the former , the Supreme Being led a life of eternal darkness and lonely inaction : if the latter , he lived in the eternal fruition of light and life , communicating
these to unnumbered myriads of beings through the boundless extent of creation . The one cut up all hope of a future state , by erasing the very foundations of natural and revealed
religion : the other prepares the way for it by pointing to an all-powerful , wise and beneficent Being at the head of the universe .
10 . The Gnostics rejected the Creator as an evil , imperfect Being , because they thus had a plea for denying that Christ came with authority from him to save the world—to save sinners , or to
save men from the penal consequences ° f sin by repentance and reformation . As the Creator was evil , he did not wish the happiness of his creatures ; and as Christ was God , he acted independently of God the Father . Thus , ** ' John says of them , they tc denied pe Father and the Son . " Now mark u >\ v this pernicious tenet is set aside iJy the Evangelist . The Logos , which
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in the beginning was with God , " became flesh / ' What does this muchdisputed language imply- —what does it assert ? In direct and forcible terms it asserts the very thing which the impostors denied . It asserts that the Christ , instead of being a man in appearance , was flesh and blood—a real
human being ; that instead of being a God acting independently of the Creator , he was a man acting with the authority of the Creator . It implies that the miracles which Jesus performed , the wisdom and benevolence which he displayed , the doctrine which he taught ,, the power by which he rose
from the grave—were but emanations of those Supreme perfections which originally framed and still govern the universe . In a word , it implies that Jesus had received a commission from God , and was even invested with the attributes of God , in order to carry into effect a benevolent scheme which God himself had formed for the salvation of mankind , J . JONES .
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On Ecstempore Preaching * 651
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Sir , IN Mr . Turner ' s Address to the Students of Manchester College , York , at the conclusion of their last
annual examination , he advises them to endeavour to acquire the habit of " speaking extempore , " ( p . 421 , ) by which , I presume , he means extempore preaching . But , as he guards this advice with so much care and caution respecting the preparation it necessarily requires , to be done in a decent and becoming manner , and
also fences it round with Mr . Brougham s advice and directions to those who wish to acquire the habit of extempore speaking , it appears as if he was not thoroughly convinced of the
propriety of the advice he gives . Nor is it clear whether Mr . Turner intended hi 3 advice to apply to their regular services as settled ministers , or only to their occasional services as missionary preachers . If he meant the farmer of these , then I beg leave to make some remarks on it , because I
conceive it to be a mode ot preaching which , if generally adopted , wilL not he acceptable to a majority of the members of most of our regular congregations , and , therefore , it ought not to have been thus recommended to young men just commencing their
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Nov. 2, 1825, page 651, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2542/page/11/
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