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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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Dear Sir , , ' . ¦ > ¦ -.. i > . ; . ¦ ~\ *• ' ^ " . ^ rA-lfWlJwif Having gfreu you some imperfect hints of my notion of Ut ^ tWord ^ t * sKa % ' n ^ fff * fp $£ the liberty to explain myself more fully ; on that point whereby you will have a sk ^ fi afmy Scrtfrtur € t theology * which 1 have neve ^ yet imparted to-oine / single p ^ p ^ t ^ a earth , hvti ani willing to communicate it to you , on account bbtli dt ybrirknownfeatP
dour aacl acute penetration ; submitting it to your impartial exainiiiatiah , andlixpet ^ - ' iog from yqa such remarks as may serve either to confirm or overthrew * it y for tfikf is quite indifferent to me , as I have no other aim t > ut truth , lu order to this , 1 must begi n , with , a paraphrase of St . John ' s preamble , which is not only the faundatiori of my system , but I take it to be a summary view of revealed religion , or a history ot all God ' s dispensations from the beginning of the wotfld ta the coming of , Christ , comparing it with the first and second verses of John ' s first Epistle , wh ^ re Christ is eatled &oy <* 4 % & %£ > and tyirtiv auxmtv , the reasons of which will be seen inr the Pata- * phrase * , '
V er . 1 - In the begxmtwg wa ^ , the Word , anti the Word was with God , and the Word was God ,
2 . The same was in the beginning with God , 3 . All things were made , by him , and without him was not any thing made that was made .
4 . In him was life , and the life was the light , of men .
5 . And the light shined in darkness , and the darkness comprehended it not , 6- Tphere was a man sent from God , whose name was John ,
7 . The same came for a , witness to bear witness of the light , that all men through him might believe . 8 . He was not that light , but was sent to bear witness of that light .
9 , That was the true light which lighteth every man that cometh into the world . 10 . He was in the world , and the world was made by him , but the world knew him not .
11 , And he came unto his own , and his own received him not .
12 . But as many as received him , to them gave he power to become the sons of God , even to them that believe on his name . 13 . Which were born not of blood , nor of the
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i . ^ The reason why God did not make the world sooner was not for want of power , for the same Worn tjiat made it was from the beginning , and always with God , yea , God himself was that very Word . - J
2 and \ 3 . But however in the beginning it subsisted within himself till be thought fit to give forth his order , and exeited that all-powerful Word by which the heavens and eaith were formed , and without which nothing could ever have existed .
, 4 . Now this Word is to be considered as the grand support of the whole creation , natural and moral ; nat only the source pf all being , ^ motion and life , of all beauty , order and harmony in the one , but the invariable ruie of truth , of action and of happiness in the other , the life and the light of men .
5 . Though this light for many ages shined in so much darkness , ( which is always the character of the Heathen state , ) that very few discerned it . 6 and 7 . But the time drew on when God intended to make a more clear discovery of the same , and John was the person to introduce it to the world .
8 and 9 . Not that he was the Word himself , but sent only to open a way for it , which was not to commence till John had ended his ministry , and was from
thenceforth to lighten all men , both Jews and Gcritiies , that should hereafter exist in the world . 10 . Indeed , as I said before , it had been in the world from the beginuing- of the citation , which was the workmanship of this Word , apd men were inexcusable iu shutting their eyes against it .
11 . And , therefore , God utterly disregarded them for a season , but , at the same time , to preserve his name and authority in the world , God was pleased to make choice of a particular people as his own , amongst whom the Word was to reside in a peculiar manner , and yet even these , in process of time , rejected him likewise .
12 and 13 . Not but that God had a seed amongst them who cheerfully submitted to him , and who thereby secured to themselves the inestimable blessings af ^ iis people 5 I wean of such us were his real children , not djj : natural descent , nor merely by the rite of circumcision or by pro . selytism , but by a divine and heavenly birth , or a voluntary choice of God for their Father .
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On $ & 6 Prwem bf John ' s Utoapel . ^ fe
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Feb. 2, 1826, page 95, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2545/page/31/
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