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ledge is that of the eternal and supreme existence of the only t * od , who i& the beginning created the hewvern and the earth . They alone speak of him in a manner worthy of his grandeur ; the rest of the human race know him not . Whilst in other countries immortal geniuses , capable of singing the glory of the Most Hisrh , insult him * by their unworthy conceptions ; whilst some few sages feel after Mm to find him , and at best are delighted with a faint and uncertain glimmering of light , the Jewish neonle adore the onlv
God , before whon * men can bow without a blush . How strange the contrast I The Jewish people , the most stupid , the most ignorant of all ! they who had never derived frotn those who surrounded them any thing but lessons of idolatry ! who had passed two centuries in the slavery of Egypt , of thut Egypt , whose gods , to use the expression of a poet , lived in stables , and grew in gardens ! it is they who alone were in possession of that truth , which was the most sublime , the most important , the most abstract of all . Did they discover it by chance ? Or do they owe it to their own wisdom ? Absurd suppositions , which the slightest examination will subvert ! Rather believe
them when they tell you God spake to our fathers ; God made himself known to Israel : and bow before that Supreme Being , who shews himself as it were face to face y in the work of revelation , as well as in those of nature . *'—Pp . 25—27 .
The Discourse on the New Testament is divided into three parts : the first , on the authenticity of the gospels ; the second , on the knowledge of facts possessed by the evangelists ; and the third , on the truth of the gospel history , as the consequence of the two preceding positions . This Discourse , like the former , is followed by extensive additions , containing a variety of critical and explanatory matter , which demonstrates how deeply the author has studied his subject , and how completely acquainted he is with the
writings of those who . have treated of it ; not only with our own Lardner and Paley , but with Michaelis , Eichom , Olshausen , and others of the German school * We wish that we had room to quote his very useful account of the Manuscripts of the New Testament , pp . 216—226 ; his judicious remarks on Inspiration , p . 372 , and Old Testament , p . 254 ; or his very distinctive characters of Peter , James , John , and Paul , pp . 266—302 ; but we must content ourselves with a single extract from the last of these passages :
" In the first part of this work we considered the character of Peter as a man and a disciple ; it is now the writer that we have to contemplate . This study will relate solely to the first epistle , as being longer , more characteris tic , and more indisputably authentic . " The most remarkable feature of the writing which we are examining , that which from the very beginning attracts the attention and affects the heart , is the transports of the apostle in announcing redemption . He opens with an exclamation of gratitude and joy . The idea of the salvation brought by Christ ,
the recollection of his promises arid his example , bear rule over all his thoughts , form the basis of all his lessons , and supply the motive of his most special precepts . Do I deceive myself when I think too that I see iti the manner in which the writer speaks of this redemption through the blood of Christ , something of that singular , but noble and elevated ardour , which characterized the apostle Peter ? I recollect him in the gospels incessantly interrogating his Master , impatient to understand , to discern the clear sense of , his predictions and his instructions . In the Epistle I think that I recognize
the same apostlb by the impetuous warmth with which he depicts the efforts of the prophets to penetrate the destinies of the Messiah , the useless wishes of the angels to pierce to the bottom of this abyss , and the happiness of the elect , the chosen objects and the enlightened witnesses of so much love . There is here afeo a deep feeling respecting the price which the reconciliation of man has cost , the blood' shed upon the cross , the danger of neglecting so
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CcllerierU Discourses on the Old and New Testament . ( 589
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VOL . III . J B
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Oct. 2, 1829, page 689, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2577/page/17/
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