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message inquiring , "Art thou he that should come V &t \ , shews that he , or at least his disciples , had not yet perfectly understood his office and destination . Our Liord himself
abstained from any express statements of his designation to the Jews , leaving them to make the proper inferences from his miracles and general language and conduct , and particularly
commending the discernment of Peter in discovering , as well as his fidelity in acknowledging , it under the lowly appearance which he assumed . It was . not till his public examination before the Jewish council that on
being solemnly adjured concerning this point , he gave an express answer to what still remained a question even as it regarded his own professions . ( Matt . xxvi . 63 , 64 . ) The first explicit and unreserved annunciation of Jesus as the Christ before the Jewish
people seems to have been left , till he was removed from this world and actually " exalted to be a Prince and a Saviour' * in the heavenly places , and may be dated from the speech of Peter in these words , " Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God hatk made that same Jesus
whom ye have crucified , both Lord and Christ . " ( Acts ii . 36 . ) The whole course of his ministry on earth manifests that he was then only preparing the minds of men for the acknowledgment of his sovereignty , which would not properly commence till his resurrection and ascension to
the majesty on high , it being of a spiritual nature , to he chiefly exercised in a future life , and selecting as its members the spiritual and heavenlyminded , ivho by a course of
instrueversadous . with the Jews , as related by the-Evangelist John , he applied this phrase to hjwelf ; nevertheless we firul thei ^; caljji ^ ^ i poii hiuii for mi ., explicit declarjat } oii ,, <( > i £ . 'hc s . . vvere the Christ S ? John xv 4 ; , and toward , the close of \ xi& ministry he gave a '^ U ^ rg ** to . his disciples that " they s / iuuftf teUno muu that he
was the Ctowtr , $ Ut ^ xy \ . 20 . Can such a charge at sqiJatqa pexlod of his public ministry fee . r ^ pwy&d , wuh ' . the many miracuUws aud . # ubiiptp $ tm "" &ls to him as the Jeivi ^ U . Mcssi fifa jij ; ter ^ s which could not bq uri $ iiiicjqrs&CKMl , , 0 $ , yvhicii we icad iu the passages iu ^ ucbtion ?
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tion ; and discipline become gradual ly fitted for that elevated state of being , and it was because Jesus had attained to a distinguished superiority in moral and spiritual excellence , that he
was first chosen as * ' the beloved Son of God , " and at length given a name above every name that i » named . But how can this gradual disclosure of the Messiah and reserv e of his actual elevation to a future life
be reconciled with his being presented and announced to the whole Jewish people as such , immediately upon bis entrance into this life ? This would have been much too early a period to announce him as a Prince , whose office was to be exercised in this
world by effecting" the temporal de liverance of the Jews from the Ro man yoke , much more as that spi ritual Prince whose dominion apper tains chieflv to a future existence
and can proceed only with the gradual diffusion of his doctrine and spirit among mankind at large . In truth , the accounts of so many wonders celebrating the birth of two infants many
years anterior to the actual commencement of their respective offices , has all the air of fabulous romance , wholly inapplicable to the objects professedly in view , and which must rather tend
to defeat those ends to be effected by the appearance of either a temporal Jewish deliverer , or the true Messiah . The facts of the gospel history rest on the testimony of the apostles and other immediate witnesses , but that
testimony commenced from the baptism of John . The qualifications for the office of . an apostle , as it respects the . period and particulars ofhis testimonyjorq -. distinctly * stated , Acts i » 21 , 22 : * ' Otftthos ^ inca ^ hicli jUave coinpanied wfchrjiih-fill the -time that the Lord Jesus w e * U ? hi and out i ain <*| i # ¦
u ^ beginning ' , from , th ^ , baptt ¦ *>* John , ai « U > that ) same day . tAm % J * £ was Uiken up f !? ora- -us * .: inu £ tj . ont be"or- , diuited . to be a witness with ua of his
resurrection / ' Ai&wdjtalgl y * > a u ^ we except xh 0 passages u * > jquesli ^ , * . Uit ; ccccmi ? ami r £ 0 iutJ 0 ftK > af > tUek . Iwstimoi \ y uv / e , | iuifoviijy ^ omp vised within
that period ,- It is hare' ^ h ^? tbc < 'JEvmi-^ eiisu Mark aud John cowimcuce their narrative ^ UtOifaHn «^ r expressly ileclaring- this to be * .--thei . bt ! giiiiiiw K
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210 On the Passages ascribed to Matthew and Luke .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), April 2, 1826, page 210, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2547/page/22/
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