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nistry . Why may Vve not suppose that a ^ Paul was carried in a fr&nce into the third heaven , so Jesus may have been actually transported itito the more immediate and sensible presence of God during the period of his sojourn in the wilderness ? Many objections to the notion of the proper deity of Christ are staled by I > r . Bruce with great force and correctness ; and he seems to think that his own doctrine is a sort of medium between two extremes , Which steers clear
© f the difficulties , and unites the advantages , of both . I am apt , on the dther band , to suspect that in some particulars it does not present the advantages of either extreme , but is liable to the objections and difficulties of both . For example , " No one , " we are told , ( p . 173 , ) " can believe that Peter had any suspicion of the deity of his Master during the life of Christ , or knew that he was holding familiar converse every day With the Almighty ;
that it was God whom he took aside and rebuked , " &c . This is the foundation of a good argument against the Trinitarians ; but I dbubt whether the Ariat * can with much consistency urge it ; at least it may be retorted agairtet himself . Had Peter , it may be inquired , any suspicion that his Master was a superangelic being ; under God the immediate instrument in the ci-eatioii and government of world ? If he had , we are to suppose that he rebuked
and conversed familiarly with his Maker ; with a being superior id him in a degree beyond all computation surpassing the greatest inequality that cani subsist among mortals . If he had not , the questions urged with so tnuch force and eloquence by Dr . Bruce against the Trinitarians , may be Equally addressed to the Arians . A leading objection to the Ariaa scheme , which , indeed , appears to trie decisive of the question ^ is the continual use of the term Man in speakifrg
of Christ . In this respect it labours under even greater difficulties than the hypothesis of the Trinity itself . For , according to this , Christ is at the same time perfect God and perfect man , " of a reasonable sotil and human flesh subsisting . " That the doctrine thus stated is incomprehensible , signifies nothing , because this is a privilege which its patrons lay claim to in the outset . Bat td a being * such as the Arians describe , I can see no rea ^ ori or ptopriety in applying the epithet man , by which , however , the Savitftjt inconstantly designated in the New Testament . What is a man ? A bemfe
endowed with such a corporeal frame ? Is this alone aft" adequate demiiticjri of the human species ? Surely not ; it must be by a reference t 6 the tn ^ st important , not to the least important , part of his constitution that every being must "be designated . A being of a superior ofder , sufpassiri ^ iri dignity and excellence all other created intelligences , ot at least ektfeeding all human minds , properly so called , in a degree beyotld any thing v ^ ffich we can * conceive ; is supposed to have left for a time his celestial resid&ice ^ £ tid
ta have been coopied up in a body resembling that of man . It ma ^; perhaps be fairly contended that our knowledge of psychology is too imperfect to authorize us to affirm with confidence that this supposition is impossible ; aiid , therefore , if Scripture did appear distinctly t 6 teach it , we should be prepared to acknowledge its truth ; but , in that case , such a nondescript being could with no more propriety be called a man , than the soil of NeWton sent to occupy the body of an oyster could be called an oyster . We are taldi indeed , by Dr . B . ^ in vindication of this ufce of the term
man , that it is frequently used in Scripture with reference tQ othef sOperibr beings who appeared in a human form : " Thus the angel Whtf \ vfestled with Jacob is called a man ; as are also the three angels who appeared to Abraham ; the angel whom Nebuchadnezzar saw in the futnace , and those who
Untitled Article
774 Notes tm Dr . Bruce ' s Argument for the Pre-exUientie of Christ .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Nov. 2, 1829, page 774, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2578/page/30/
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