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    y e have received from him remaineth jn you ; andi / e kav ^ ^ no need that any one should teach ^ f # feH ^ nd as that very effusion which hath taught you

    concernin o- all things ., is true , and there is no falsehood in it—as , I say , it hath taught . you £ 0 d 6 you remain in it /'* - These , »< e $ rI fy . qgft tlie ^ yords of Jesus in his last address to the desponding

    disciples ; and they receive a flash of light ft ^^ f ^ i ^/ app lication here made of ^^ Ppl ifo Apostle : " These things I iiave Spoken to you while remaining * yet with you . But the Comforter /* ( the Paraclete , ) < c . the Holy Spirit , whom the Father will send in mv name ,

    he Avill teach you all things / ' John xiv . J 25 . " When he , the spirit of truth , sHall come , he will lead you to all the trttlb /^ xvi . 13 . Before I point to the light which is reflected on this pasr sage , I must quote another from the € t

    Epistle of John : Beloved , do not believe every spirit , but probe the spirits , if they be of God , because many , false prophets are come into the world . Know by this the Spirit of God : every spirit which confesseth Jesus to be the Christ , and to have

    come in the flesh , is of God : and every spirit which confesseth not Jesus to be the Christ , and to have come in the flesli , is not of God ; and this isJ ^|| p | nrit ot Antichrist , which ye have J | pn t that it will come , and even now iain the world /*

    The belief that the gods or demons occasionally assumed a human form , and so appeared unto men , prevailed not only in heathen countries , but also in Judea : and when our Lord , newly risen , shewed himself to his

    disciples , they were forced upon the supposition , that it was some demon in his well-known shape . This superstition was general : and the current of public opinion ran so strong in its favour , that the enemies of Christ

    laid hold of it as a happy expedient to overturn the gospel . They said that Jesus who had suffered did not appear , but the Christ within him , who being a God in an empty form , without flesh and blood , was , in

    consequence of his divine nature , incapable of suffering . By thus superseding the resurrection of the man Jesus , they superseded the resurrection of mankind , and thereby precluded all hope of a future state . It is Jthjs subterfuge that he meets , wh ^^ iutliie ¦^ J jj ^ fcr

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    following emphatfcal manner he asserts the resurrection of Christ , as a proof and a pledge of eternal life to the human race : " What was in the beginning , what we have heard , what we have seen with our eyes , what

    we explored , and our hands have handled , concerning the logos of life—* - and this principle of life shewed itself to us ; and we saw it , and we are witnesses of it ; and we declare it to you as that eternal life which was with the Father , and which shewed

    itself to us—what , I say , we have seen aud heard , declare we unto you , that you may have communion with us : and our communion is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ . These things write we unto you , that our j ° y % —our joyful hope of a future state —might be complete /'

    In an age when a belief in many gods was almost universal , and the knowledge of God and of the laws of nature was very imperfect , it must appear difficult to defeat the artifices of the Gnostics : and the wisdom of

    Heaven alone could suggest to our Lord the only effectual way to accomplish this end . His last address to his disciples contains matter to this effect : " My enemies , like wolves in sheep ' s clothing , will come in among you , under pretence of teaching my

    gospel , but in reality to destroy it . For they will endeavour , by a false philosophy , to set aside my resurrection , by saying that it was not the man Jesus , but a God within him , or a God in his shape , that appeared to his followers after death . I will

    frustrate this doctrine by not delegating to you now > before I leave you , the miraculous power necessary to ensure your success in the propagation of nay gospel ; but will defer it for some time , till I rise from the grave and ascend to my heavenlFather . I will ¦ -m ¦

    y - — - ^ - ^^ - ^ - — ^ m — ^— — — — — - ^~ v ^— ^~^^ m v ^ *^»*~ ^^ ^ m ^ ^^ te ^ r ^ m ^ P ^*^ W ^^^^ # ^ P ^^ m ^* w w ^^* ^™~ then cause it to descend upon you : and you must consider its descent as a pledge of three things—that , like a letter received from a friend departed to a distant land , I , agreeably to my Dromise . have actuallv reached mv

    destination in safety—that the person who will send the Holy Spirit to you is identically the same with him that now promises to send it—that at some distant period I shall again return to raise the dead and reward ray faithful followers . " We are , then , to regard

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    18 f , Me $ 0 avidm \ J % i ^ .

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Jan. 2, 1826, page 18, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2544/page/18/