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Untitled Article
and declaring that he was to be blamed , because he dissembled , and walked not uprightly , " agreeably to the truth of the gospel" ? That a sufficient power was given them to propagate the substantial tidings of the gospel , repentance and remission of sins , there cannot he a doubt ; but that all the power , all the wisdom , and all the knowledge of Christ , were transferred into the apostles , there is not in this passage one atom of evidence ; while in others there are directly contrary intimations . "
Now if , as our author successfully shews , the Romanist is wrong as to the extent of the power promised to the disciples , there can be less necessity for going into the question how long that power was to endure . The history of the alleged miracles of modern times might safely be left to settle that part of the subject , ( as far as the Romanist is concerned , ) without any critical discussion of the meaning of texts . But we remark , that our author has inadvertently forgotten to support by evidence his expressed doubt , whether the words of Christ do contemplate the succeeding ages of the church .
After having reversed the primary inference , he might , we think , have admitted readily , what we cannot but deem the natural and just interpretation , though some few critics have called it into question , that > J o ^ vTeXe / a r& aioovoq , the end o f the world s as it is translated in our Common Version , is coincident with the close of the Christian dispensation ; the endy in the Apostle ' s phrase , 1 Cor . xv . 24 , which sense best suits the connexion in Matt . xiii . 39 , 40 . A very good note in defence of this interpretation will be found in the learned commentary of the Unitarian Woltzogenius , Matt , xxviii . 20 .
We next find our author ( p . 39 ) introducing the remark of Cyprian on the words of Christ , Matt . xvi . 18 , &c , " I say unto thee , thou art Peter , * * &c " . ' He that does not hold this unity of the church , can he think that he holds the faith ? ' But the same Cyprian also remarks , * Christ says to his apostles , and through them to all his ministers , he that heareth you ,
heareth me , ' &c . By what conceivable stratagem , then , does it come to pass , that the authority , whatever it was , which appears , by the admission of Cyprian himself , to have been equally conferred upon all the apostles , and through them , upon their respective successors wherever dispersed , is made to centre in the Bishop of Rome , as the successor of one only of these apostles ? And see John xxii . 22 , 23 ; Eph . ii . 20 ; Rev . xxi . 14 . "
We are amused with the extract from Dr . Doyle ' s Pastoral Letter , 28 th of August , 1825 , which occupies part of the note p . 60 , and which consists ill with the noble efforts of the Catholic disputants .
" It is the worst of heresy , and a virtual apostacy from the Christian religion , to assert that the gates of hell have ever prevailed against this church , ( against the Christian church they never will , ) that is , that the pastors and people who compose it , have ever , at any period , even for a single hour , professed error ! You , therefore , cannot enter into a disputation , which would seem to imply that the opposite of what is here stated is even remotely possible !"
Our author justly remarks , " All this is vastly fine , but is it wise of Bishop Doyle ? I grant , indeed , that by entering into discussion , my firm opinion is , his cause must eventually be lost ; but by declining it altogether , is he not undone without a blow ? He who resolves to fight , if victory is impossible , may at least reap applause for his courage : but to him who will not fight at all , the scorn or his rival and of mankind must be the bitterest ingredient of defeat ! Abstracted from
Untitled Article
544 Review , — Bible Controversy in Ireland .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Aug. 2, 1828, page 544, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2563/page/32/
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