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sary part of the proof of our immortality , ' which it was the main design of Christianity to teach . Our belief in a future sfc&te of existence rests upon the declarations of eur Saviour , who was com missioned by God to make known our final destination ; and had he never shewn himself alive to hie followers
after h \ ti execution , our faith would be equally strong and valid . The resurrection was very useful in confirming the languishing faith of the disciples , who , to the very last moment , expected that their Master would assert himself in a temporal capacity ; and there was a marked propriety in their insisting on it In their * public discourses , as the last grand proof of his divine authority : but we , at the present day , are concerned
with this miracle only as with the iniraeles wrought by Jesus in his life-time ; it forms a link h * the long chain of proof which our Savkmr adduced in favour of Ms pretensions to the Jews : bur , so far as I can « ee , has no immediate bearing on the grand doctrineof our . immortality . That was already established 4 and though useful as giving additional confirmation , It cannot be said to belong to the nature of the proof . 4 i
A . E » asks , From whence could the conviction ( of immortality ) arise , irrespective of the evidence to be derived from such event ? " I have said that the divine assurance given by Jesus , the accredited agent of God , was sufficient to satisfy every reasonable doubt . If we were to rise in the same manner as
Jesus ; if his resurrection was to be a pattern of ours , it might in that case afford an experimental proof of the possibility and certainty of such an event ; but as there is no reason to suppose that it will be go , and , at ail events , as an operation would have to take place ou our bodies
Very different from what took place with our Saviour's , which had not been resolved into its original dust , 1 do not see how ^ tbe fact of which we are speaking can add any thing to the nature of the proof , or give us conviction superior to that derived from the divine promise which shall uot pass away .
A . E * refers me , for the solution of my difficulties , to 1 Cor . xv . I toad not written without duly con side rii > g this important and interesting chapter : nevertheless , at his re ^ ommendatiuu , I did re-peruse it , in conjunction with JVJtr . Beboana ' s C < mimilitary . J did not , however , find from it t&e , satisfaction lie a « - Hc \ p * te 8 . . The apoMjle , in th * iunt part , asserts the , fact o ^ f t&e refcurixcaoi * a *» d appearance of < oi « i ( Saviour > a » the , grand
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conclusive argument of the truth of the gospel . Jf Christ be not ? isen > then is our preaching vain , and your faith also is vain . Ver . 14 . liut I apprehend he only means that if the resurrection had not taken placeman event which was unexpected by the disciples , and which was mainly
instrumental in inducing them to resume their ministerial labours , which they seem to have abandoned , the whole gospel was false , and the doctrine of futurity , which it chiefly taught , a delusion . Is there not ( I throw out the hiut with very great deference ) a contusion in the twelfth and other verses in the use of
the terms being raised and resurrection ? As applied to our Saviour , they denote his bodily resurrection : but in the other passages , the mere circumstance of our future existence . If Christ be not risen , as he prophesied and as we who have seen him declare , the gospel is false , our testimony is false , and those who adhere to it are under delusion . In the thirtyfifth verse , he replies to those who wauted to know the nature of our
resurrection bodies , by shewing the folly of such speculation * , and that the Divine Being will order the manner of our existence so as to be suitable t © onr future place of abode . We may form some idea how useful the resurrectioo was to the apostles , from the scepticism of Thomas . Some of them at least bad resumed their
original trades , as is evident from the circumstance that Peter and his companions were fishing when their Master presented himself to them at the sea of Tiberias , and they would not have been easily induced , by any other means , to return to the work of preaching the gospel , which they fancied was at an end . And what so natural as to make this wonderful
fact the chief , topic © f their public sermons ? It was the triumph over the artifices of the Jews , aud was more likely to make an impression on the unprejudiced among that nation , than any thiqg else . There is another reason why they should insist upon it , even before the Gentiles . It was a matter of tact more likely to imp res 8 the uiiud « 4 ? f the multitude , if cLeariy prove *] , than aiw abstract
reasonings , An appeal to t }> e senses w always more efficacious * au > 4 > ug U * e . uujusti ucteil , than an axkjre ** s ? $ o the intelkpt . A iui ~ racle exhibited befcre ; their eye # or > attsfocturily . piovtnl to thein . to have been performed , would cany greater sway tbaa tfee must eloqaant 4 escrif > tiouK ot * h * j excellfciwcea : aud the ppwei * rf $ b e go « pej . How were the tf » ree thousand cou . verUiU mu . the day of Pentecost but
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864 Miscellaneous Corrcsponde ? we .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Dec. 2, 1829, page 884, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2579/page/68/
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