On this page

• Text (1)

  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.

  • 

    Untitled Article

• 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

    r -to speal With unkfcbwn tcmgtfe % fch ! l to work miracle ^ y attestation < # the doctrintwhfch they taught , the fundamental principle of whteh vvas , that Jesus is the Christ dr the Son of God .

    Thus it appears , fitoto the Evangelical records , that the Father , the Word and the Holy Spirit , bear onfc aftd the same testimony , namely , that Jesus is the Son of Gou . AW the evidences which attest his divine mission are resolvable into one or other of these three testimonies . These

    testimonies , indeed , form the stim and substance of the gospel , and are so interwoven with its foundations , as the roots with the tree which grows out of them . The disputed verse then , as it alleges these testimonies ? , and these testimonies alone , is as genuine and solid as that rock on which

    Christianity itself is founded , iatid against which the gates of hell shall not prerail . That the Apostle wrote the disputed verse , in opposition to certain

    impostors who denied the simple humanity of the Saviour , and maintained his divinity , appears from the Epistle in which it stands . One or two passages will decide the question : " Who is the liar , but he who denieth that Jestifc

    is the Christ ? This is Antichrist ^ who denieth the Father and the Son . Everyone who denieth the Son , hath not even the Father . Let that then remain in you , which you have heard from the beginning . If that remain in you , which ye have heard at the

    beginning " , you , too , will remain in the Father and the Son . These things I write , concern those who deceive you . The effusion of the Spirit , which ye have received from him , remains in

    you , ana ye have no need that any one should teach you . And as that very effusion which teacheth you concerning all things , is true , and there is no falsehbod hi it—as , I sat / , it hath taugh t you , so do you remain in it . "

    Had the Apostle not informed jts that he has here in view certain impostors who opposed Christianity linder the pretext of teaching it , we might fairly infer it . But his own words exclude all conjecture , all doubt

    on the subject : " The things I write , concern those who deceive you . " Btit how did they attempt to deceive those whom the Apostle addresses ? By denying the Father and the lSo $ i , \ They VOL . XXI . n

    Untitled Article

    denied Wte jP ^ tteiV 1 b $ * W ^ they strfpped him of hig Logos- —of his perfectgpi , as * the Ctem of the ttaterse , ^ s the benevolent Parent of mankind , —representing him an imperfect , malignant being , ahd pretending to reveal

    a supreme God of their own . •" sTFjJte Apostle endeavours to set aside this Tnalign&nt artifice % eatlfag feiHte converts to adhere to that ^ ftdfel ^^^ heard at the beginning j it ^/ wm ^ fy alluding to tlie testimony wtil ^ GM himself bore to Jesus as his beloved

    Son , when baptized * at the commencement of his ministry . The testimony which the Almighty bore to him on that occasion was most important , as demonstrative of the source whence our Lord derived his authority . J |* hn was sensible of this ; and he places it in the disputed verse inr direct opposition to the deceivers who denied It .

    The Antichristian teachers denied the Son as well as the Father , that i $ ? they denied that Christ derived Vis authority from the Creator of the world—he , as being a God , having wrought his miracles by virtue of his own power , and appeared after death

    by virtue of his own nature . What argument did the Apostle use to set aside this doctrine ? In the beginning of his Gospel he represents 5 eiftis as endued with the Logos of Oftl ^ its having derived his power from that Supreme Intelligence and Goodness which first created , and still governs ,

    the universe . The Logos of God thus proved him to be the Messiah or the ban of © odj which , stripped of its figure , means that Jesira , in his official capacity ^ exhibited full proof of his divifte delegation . Thi ^ is the substance of the whole Gospel : and the Apostle has embodied it in the controverted text . ^

    The impostors prided in their superior wisdom , atod igjjgmatized the faithful disciples of tfeilis as illiterate men . When they entered the Christian church , they , therefore , pretendejl to unfold sublime mvsteries uiiknowti

    to the apostles . Their pretensions , in this respiect , were very specioij ^ as coming from men of rank and eafeication , such as the Gnostics for tlie most part were . To their pretensions as superior teachers of the gospel , John thus poittfedly alludes : c < These things I w $ !| p , concern those who deceive WllOfhe effusion of the Spirit which

    Untitled Article

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Jan. 2, 1826, page 17, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2544/page/17/