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they became so universally palmed upon the Evangelist . We learn , on the authority of Jerorn , that this representation of the record of Matthew , was not only that which was in use by the Nazarenes and Ebionites in his time but was < c by most called the
authentic Gospel of Matthew / ' It appears then that such was the force of the evidence in favour of this , as the genuine representation of the original writing , that all the prejudices which in the fourth century had attached to the two first chapters , could not in the minds of most Christians
resist the conviction that they were not authentic . But it has been maintained by Dr . Carpenter , that as the internal characteristics of the passage in Luke ' s Gospel have much stronger recommendations than those of that ascribed to
Matthew , so the external evidences against it are very inconsiderable . Whatever force may justly attach to his observations upon these heads , I cannot help thinking that the matters of fact recited in it are still more glaringly inconsistent with the ensuing history than those in Matthew . Their grand object appears to have been to introduce the Messiah in a
glorious manner into the world ; to make him known to the Jewish people , and to excite a lively interest and spirit of acquiescence and co-operation in the blessings of his government . Consistency would require that intelligence of so august and animating a description , should not only
have been retained , but have given rise to measures for establishing the young prince on that exalted throne to which he was so manifestly destined - y and a writer who aimed to preserve consistency in the thread of his narration , would have found the people directing their eager attention on the individual who had been so
induhitably marked out as their deliverer and sovereign ruler . Instead of this , the whole splendid display of the Saviour ' s glories appear to have been no sooner unfolded , than they vanish into air ; and the very next chapter commences evidently upon the principle , that no measures whatever had ^ en ado p ted to m ake known the Messiah , and that , though in consequence of the predictions of the ancient prophets , the people were in
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earnest expectation of his appearance , no person had hitherto been introduced or announced to them under that character . As miraculous facts sd destitute of results as those related in the passage under consideration , could never have transpired , so it is
inconceivable that any writer who had a complete command of the whole of his materials , would , after so brilliant an introduction , have suffered it to vanish like a baseless fabric , and in the very next chapter have produced a new and entirely different account of the introduction of his hero to the
knowledge and attention of mankind . Regarded as a Jewish Christian fable , intended to remove the ignominy attached to the low birth of Christ , and to raise both him and his people in the estimation of the Gentile converts , it is sufficiently intelligible : but
viewed as the actual production of the Evangelist , who in the next chapter introduces the Baptist announcing the subsequent appearance of a distinguished character then unknown , it presents an opposition of ideas mutually irreconcilable .
An attention to the preface of this excellent historian ^ will , indeed , tend further to convince us that the remaining portion of the two first chapters are foreign from his design , which he expressly Jimits to a narrative of the testimonies of actual witnesses to
the ministration of Jesus . The following is Dr . Campbell ' s translation : " Forasmuch as many have undertaken to compose a narrative of those things which have been accomplished among us , as those who were from the beginning' eye-witnesses , and afterwards ministers of the word have
delivered them unto us ; I also have determined , having exactly traced every thing from the first , to write a particular account , most excellent Theophilus , that thou mayest know the certainty of those matters in which thou hast been instructed . " In his
note on the second verse , the Doctor observes , that " it is impossible on reflection to hesitate a moment in affirming , that the historian here meant to acquaint us that he had received his information from those who had
attended Jesus , and been witnesses of every thing dui ' ing his public ministration on earth , and who , after his ascension , had been entrusted with
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On the Passages ascribed to Matthew and Luke . 339
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), June 2, 1826, page 339, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2549/page/23/
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