On this page
-
Text (1)
-
Untitled Article
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.
-
-
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
of the gospel of Jesus Christ , ^ an assertion which would have bsen most incorrect if in reality the glad tidings had been ushered in with the conception and birth of the Saviour . It is here that the testimony of Peter
in his public preaching expressly commences , Acts x . 37 , and all the facts mentioned in his discourses relate to that period * The history of the introduction of the apostles to Jesus , indeed , sufficiently proves that they could not have personally
witnessed , nor consequently have been appointed to hear their testimony to , transactions thirty years prior to this epoch , nor can they stand on the same footing in point of evidence with those to which their testimony
actually applied * ( See Luke xxiv . 46—48 , and Acts iv . 20 . ) Is it hi the least credible that the apostles themselves would , without any intimation , in two instances deviate from their uniform custom on other
occasions , by mixing up their personal testimony , which constituted their proper office , with matters to which they were total strangers so far as it
regards their experience , and without the most distant hint that they had received any such information in their intercourses with Jesus or his precursor ?
If indeed the knowledge of such transactions constituted any necessary part of the qualifications of an apostle , it might as well have been communicated to Paul in that mode by which he was instructed , viz . by immediate revelation , as the particulars of the public ministry , death and resurrection of Jesus . But his
testimony is as distinctly dated from the baptism of John forward , as that of Peter , INI ark and John . He is so fa from giving any intimations of the miraculous conception , that on several occasions he expressly declares
that Jesus was " of the seed of David . " * It was , he declares , when John had tf first preached , " atld * ' after he had fulfilled his cottr » e \ that Jesus was •« raised to be a S-a / viOur . "f He oh two occasions derives his designation as " the Son of God / ' not from any miraculous conception , but ¦ ¦ ¦
¦ »» ' * r « '¦**¦¦ *» . »» > 4 . 0 .... . , * Acts xlii . > 2 B , * Rom . i . 3 , © fee . ' '« t Acts xiii . 24 , 25 .
Untitled Article
from liis resurrection to a renewed existence , * and in the last instance he distinguishes between the circumstances of his introduction to this life or his fle ^ ny lineage , in which respect he was of the seed of David ,
and what relates tor his resurrection to a blessed immortality , by which € t he was declared to be a Son of God with power , according to the spirit of holiness . " ( Rom , i . 2 . ) It appears , therefore , that this apostle was 'authorized to declare both the mode of our Lord ' s introduction to
this life and the fact ; of his resurrection , and according to him it was in the latter , and not in the former respect , that he was distinguished as " the Son of God / ' and that " the Holy Spirit" was particularly concerned in imparting to him the blessings of existence . Whereas , had he been commissioned to make known
that Christ was ushered into this world in consequence of a peculiar presence and ( c overshadowing of the Holy Spirit , " and was on that account denominated " the Son of God , * he would not have so constantly represented the case otherwise ,
assigning him no higher a parental origin in this respect than his descent from David . " Remember Jesus Christ , of the seed of David , was raised from
the dead according to my gospel /' ( 2 Tim . ii . 8 . ) The apostle felt the importance of maintaining this simple but most glorious doctrine in opposition to those mysticf ** genealogies "
* Acts xiii . 33 , and Horn . i . 4 . f See Dr . Priestley ' s note on 1 Tim . iv . 7 . When we reflect on the glaring discordancies between the genealogies and the accounts of the miraculous conception , can we doubt that they must have been the result of < - questionings /* and
" oppositions , " and " strifes , " like those to which the apostle alludes in his repeated mention of fables and genealogies ? The term profane in the text just quoted seems to import that the fables had a Heathenish character , but in Titus i .
14 , " Jewish fatbles" are expressly mentioned ; if the sarnie fables be meant in these two pa £# &ge ' s , it follows that they were of Jewfsh ccmipWsition or relating to a Jewish subject , but ' bore a Heathenish air and character . I leave the reader to consider How fair this description is applicable to the accounts of our "Lord ' s
Untitled Article
On the Passages ascribed to Matthew and Luke . 211
-
-
Citation
-
Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), April 2, 1826, page 211, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2547/page/23/
-