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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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Untitled Article
It is obvious that the title of King , as applied to Christ , is purely metap horical . He disclaimed all pretensions to temporal authority , to legislative power , to juridical rights , to the outward pomp and observance which are the attendants of royalty . Instead of enacting laws , he proposed principles ; instead of pronouncing sentence of punishment , he recommended repentance ; and instead of encouraging the people to proclaim him a king , he declared that he came not to be ministered unto , but to minister . His rule
was spiritual , and consisted in the authority which was given him to abolish the old law , and to introduce its subjects to a better system ; and the imagery of royalty was used because it accorded with the notions of the Jews , and because he was sent to rule a nation , to work a change in a separate people . If any proof were needed of the metaphorical nature of his title , it might be found in the fact that he was styled King while he himself declared that
his kingdom had not commenced . It was only " nigh at hand" after he had declared himself to be the Messiah . In as far as his mission respected the Jews , he was sovereign over the house of Jacob , and sat on the throne of David ; but as his kingdom was not of this world , and as Judaism was an institution of this world only , he could not be literally the sovereign of its adherents . Supposing him to have been in reality a potentate , the use he
made of his authority was singular . Unlike every other potentate , his principal aim was to abrogate his own title , to hasten the dissolution of his own realm . As we have seen , he claimed no power over those who rejected him ; and when his spiritual influence failed , their mutual relation was dissolved . He came to consummate the dispensation to which they were attached : and if thev would not admit such a consummation , he had nothincr tached ; and if they would not admit such a consummationhe had nothing
, more to do with them . To those who acknowledged him as king , he gave the same revelation which was given to the Gentile nations , and which was destined to bless the world . He relaxed their bondage to the ritual law , proposed to them those princip les which must form a bond of union with mankind at large , predicted the overthrow of the institutions which rendered them a separate people , and prepared them for the conviction that his gospel
was universal , and that his title of King could not therefore be perpetuated . He gradually withdrew from their minds their narrow notions of his sovereignty , and substituted a nobler attachment to him as a spiritual saviour . Having at first fixed their attention on his gospel in the aspect which was adapted to their circumstances , he gradually enlarged their views till they were prepared to embrace it in its universal character . Those who readily received the glad tidings of the kingdom , were eager , in course of time , to exchange them for the gospel of life .
To what kingdom , then , did Jesus so often refer as that which was ni g h at hand , that in which his discip les should feast with him , where his apostles should sit on thrones , and exercise judgment ? If it was not the scene of temporal splendour , it must have been that of spiritual supremacy . It was not in palaces , camps , or courts of justice , but in the hearts of men—of the Jews first , and of the Gentiles afterwards ; and his disciples were to partake
with him of the privileges of this holy administration , and his apostles to proclaim the new law to which the twelve tribes were required to yield obedience . In whatever the peculiar glory of Jesus consisted , in that consisted his kingdom . His peculiar glory consisted in his pre-eminent endowments from on high , in his distinction as the beloved Son of God , in his appointment to the office of Saviour . In this appointment we recognize his regal dignity , and in his peculiar endowments , his claim to sovereignty over the
Untitled Article
The Education of the Human Race . 45 J
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), July 2, 1830, page 457, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2586/page/25/
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