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nions are unknown in these regions of peace and love . " Scarcely were these words spoken when the Calvinist perceived an old associate ( for this departed soul was able to recognize those he had known in this world ) with whom he used to have long au < l bitter arguments in the time of their earthly acquaintance , and whom he had utterly consigued to
endless woe upon not . finding it possible to make him think in the way he deemed necessary to procure salvation . No time was there to express surprise , for another celestial inhabitant now appeared , stringing a golden harp in all the majesty of heavenly beauty , and who did this prove to be but the spirit of one whom he remembered on earth as an Unitarian ! * ' Thou here ! " cried the
astounded being : " Thou here ! I would have pledged my very existence that thou couldst have found no entrance here . " ( C I too believed in Jesus Christ and put on the breast-plate of holiness to the Lord , " meekly replied the Unitarian .
The Calvinist , by this time thoroughly enlightened and completely freed from prejudice , now regarded his former opponents with the warmest love , exclaiming , * ' How could 1 have cursed whom God Jiad not cursed , or made any other distinction than between those who
served God and those who served him not / " The hymn of praisejto the Most High resounded this moment through the regions of heaven , in which these once fierce antagonists joined in perfect harmony and concord . No voice was heard denouncing Divine vengeance on those who dared to differ ; no menace was uttered , threatening with everlasting
misery any unorthodox believer : bigotry and intolerance could not stand the pure light of heaven — they had faded and vanished away . The names of Trinitarian and Unitarian , Calvinist and Lutheran , had expired to revive no more . The reign of peace , love , and charity , was universal in the kingdom of the Messiah . A . F .
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The Jpostle Paul—Justin Martyr—Risfaq ) of Lincoln—Dr . Priestley . The Bishop o » f Lincoln , in his Account of the Writings and Opinions of Justin Martyr , lately published , though he claims him as a witness in favour of
modern orthodoxy ^ yet of justice to an assertion of Dr . Priestley , which was once combated with considerable zeal ; and I am ready for one to allow the Bishop due credit for his candour and impartiality .
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Dr . Priestley's assertion is , that * the Jews expected a mere man for their Messiah , born as other men are . " To preclude cavil , let me observe , that the latter part of the sentence is explanatory of the former ; mere man , i . e . a man born of human parents .
To prove that the expectation of the Jews were really such As Dr . Priestley asserted , 1 will now select a few extracts from the notes to the preface of the Bishop ' s treatise . " I observe that Justin takes considerable pains to prove that the ancient prophets have applied the titles of God and Lord of Hosts to the future Messiah .
But this surely was an unnecessary waste of time and labour , if the prevalent belief of the Jews of his time was , that the Messiah , who was to come , was God . To what purpose does Trypfeo [ the speaker for the Jews ] quote Isa . xlii . 8 , but in order to prove the absolute unity of God , in opposition to Justin ' s assertion respecting the divinity of the Messiah ?
* * * Trypho thus addresses Justin [ the Christian Apologist } : * * * For that you should say that this Christ existed , being- God , before all ages , and then submitted to beborn , and to become a man , and that he wets not a man born of man , appears to me not only strange hut foolish . Justin replies , I know that this doctrine appears strange , and especially to those of your race ,
who , as God himself exclaims , were never willing either to understand or to do what God prescribes , but listen only to your own teachers . But , even if I cannot shew that this Jesus pre-existed , being God , the Son of the Maker ef the universe , and became man born of the virgin ; even then it does not follow that he is not the Christ of God . Hut as 1 have shewn that he , whoever he may be , is the Christ of God , though I may not have shewn that he pre-existed and
submitted , in compliance with the will of his Father , to be born a man , subject to like infirmities with usy and having flesh , you ought to say that I am mistaken only in this ( latter ) respect ,- but ought not to deny that he is the Christ , ( even ) if he appears as a man born of men , and is proved to be elected to the office of Messiah , If Justin thought that he was addressing men who believed that the Messiah , who was to come , was God , he must be allowed to be most unfortunate in the
selection of his arguments . Then follows a passage , which has furnished copious matter for discussion , containing an admission , on the part of Justin , that there were persons in his day who confessed that Jesus was the Messiah , but said he was a mere man . "—rl break off here just
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718 Miscellaneous Correspondence .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Oct. 2, 1829, page 718, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2577/page/46/
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