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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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ed , t&it ftt 4 sfc * acted ^» t witli Hutltorjtv derived fr < Mrth £ universal Fathei * hut with power iridependetti ; of him , his object b ^ ing not to ca rry iii t& effect the will © f God , fhat all mea should be sared by timely
reforwialion , but to destroy bis laws , to rescue the world from bis tyratmy , and to eonferon a cfcoseii few the privilege ef wallowing in every forbJ < Men pleasure . This proposition , so fluttering to the eorrupt propenssitifca of the human heart , the Evafcgelist , with
masterly skill , force and brevity , sets aside by representing- those very attributes whidi characterize God in his works , as uniting under the » ame Logos with the man Jesus . You agree with this statement . The congequenee th ^ n , Sir , is irresistible , that the sacred writer here holds forth our
Lord , as the delegate of God , to be the Saviour of the world s and calls him by the high title df M& office , not of his nature . The union of the I > ogos , according to John , with ttoe man Jesus , is not , as the advocates < rf the divinity of Christ absurdly maintain , the union of two natures in one
person , but the union of bis rramistfry , as the promised Messiah , with the tooral government of G&d * fov the saltation of ttiankiftd . Io attesting the incorporation of the L © g * o » , the Evangelist solely attests the divinity of our Lord ' s mission , and that in- opposition to artful aad wicked men who
denied his eum *» is&io » from the Creator and Governor of the universe . Thus , Sir , the very passage which you allege as proving the divinity of Jesus , proves his simple humanity . Hud the Loffos been a real G © d , John
wptud have taught the same thing tvith CerinthUB , wb ©*» he liere oppo&es ^ ad whmto m hie Epistle he calls & Uar and antichrist . But as the I ** g&B means not God , but the attrifutd of reason in God , the commu *
mcatttm of it to Jesus ctfnstitiiites him the Son qf God ; and the sole object ^ fthe dMne peivman in the proem to hie Gospel mtist be to prove his claims te thid character ; vihicb thing the s&wifc penman asserts , in express
te ^ tfis , ai the close o ^ his trospel : u rPbe « 6 thiiygs liave been written by * tie that ye might believe that Jgrus * Mte Ohriet , the Son of ®*> d *> This , ^ f |» te t * m 'i t&f&Aj glviftg ^ shoiuk to *« oftliMldjc fekh ^ I > at 4 t is to de-
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molish it aa a fortrea& &f antktibfist with ont © vast ami geiieral expiosiofi , and tliat by the hands of Joii » himself . The text &t the three Heav ^ Bly Witnesses contains the corabu ^ ible magazine whicli sooner or latet ^ ib ^ B effect this desirable end * Hence the
treatment it received from the ( Jreelt and Latin fathers . Aware of its danger and tendency , they excluded it from the copies in i * se , mutilated it and contrived various artifices t © conceal its true signification * These things prove the gemininess of the verse , and at the same time prove that all ecclesiastical writers from
Tertullian down to Thomas Aquinas , without exception , understood , that the text was written against these who maintained the divinity of Cbriafc . This is the ground which Ben David
occupies fii his pamphlet , and though you profess to agree with him in his statement , you refuse to follow him in bis application to account for tite defect in the external evidence of the
verse * You felt the force of bis argument , you acknowledge , and e *« n use it , md though you have written two papers for no other purpose than to perplex yourself aiid your reader , you have prudently declined ta toi ^ Gh & ® the eonsequences which result from
your own admission , and vthi ^ ii fovtn a ieadkag feature of the Three L ^ tt ^ rs . Wilson has the cunning to r « mark , that the first heretics against wham John wrote , denied not febe divmiip but the humanity of the Saviour ; and I am sorry to observe so artful
aa assertion applauded as just , ma recent publication of the amiable and acconaplisbed Bishop of Bristol . If die impostors denied the humanity of Jesus , they did tliis as a pretext for asserting his divinity . This was t [ he case only with the Docetae . The
Cerinthians taught that Jesus Christ during his ministry was both God and man united iii the same person . John , therefore , instead of writing solely against those wfto lienied the humanity of Christ , wrote against those who maintained the human and
divine nature of Christ . This , in fact , is the modem orthodox dof ? tiSfi € respecting the peraon of Christy vvh ^ cb the Aposde characterises a& tji ^ ^ try ^ gsence of uu lichFisL ( } Mf * W $$$ to must have been ijfooDEint ^ r d ^ fflg ^ - nuous m paesing ov ^ U tJws ^| a , fii | lia
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Letter i > f Ben Duvid * W < $ ia t&& £ t mstimi emsmbrfm&e ? i %%
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Aug. 2, 1826, page 471, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2551/page/27/
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