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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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of reliance on his continued protection and assistance . Of the real presence and identity of him wbo now both provided and partook of their meal , and furnished them wit ; h an ample supply after their own ipng toil bad proved unsuccessful , apd then entered into an affecting conversation on subjects of the deepest mutual interest , no question was left upon their minds . He repeats the miracle which had in , the commencement of his
ministry wrought so powerfully on the mind of Peter , with a remarkable addition , thus confirming the reality of both , and by touching allusions to various prominent particulars in the character and conduct of that apustle , and to the previous intercourses of Jesus with him and his companions , affording them the most satisfactory evidence of his mental sameness and continued concern for their
welfare . To this it may be added , that not only the , presentation of his person , bat the meal , and the additional supplies , appear alike to have been furnished from previous invisibility , thus evincing the absolute superintendence of Divine power over the unseen and the visible universe , and that the most palpable and essential
realities can be alike presented or withdrawn from human cognizance ! The suitableuess of this easy and familiar interview of Jesus with his apostles , after the very extraordinary circumstances of the two preceding ones is apparent ; it , no doubt , imparted much additional satisfaction and comfort to their minds ; it manifested his continued watchfulness
over them , and must have greatly contributed to confirm their confidence iu the reality of his presence whew withdrawn from their observation , while it made them sensible that they would henceforth be peculiarly called upon to the exercise of their office as apostles , and particularly as chosen witnesses of his resurrection .
An objector might ask , why Jesus should have appeared to his particular friends and companions on a variety of occasions , and to the great body even of his disciples in one instance only ; and the objection might have assumed the form of a difficulty of considerable magnitude , had not their testimony been
sanctioned by those miraculous powers which were its uniform attendants . It pleased Divine Wisdom to select a chosen lew of the constant attendants of Jesus during his ministry ; and , after making them . thoroughly acquainted with the great and glorious transition which had taken place in his person , to arm them with " a courage and spirit" confirmed by appropri-
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ate miracles , iu bearitig their testi mony to *« the things which they had seen and heard , * ' which enabled theni to triumph over all opposition . The resurrection of Jesus to an incorruptible' state lit \ yhidi he is removed from the cognizance of mortals , was- fa * better attested ttf mankind in generJtl , % f the extraordinary courage aud address with which these
previously timid and linapt men announced it in the face of his powerful murderers , by that new and extraordinary miracle of declaring it in languages to which they were before utter strangers ; and by the manifest miracles of healing which they wrought in his name , than by frequent exhibitions of his person in the ordinary state of humanity . Indeed , the frequency of such appearances to
many persons and on a variety of occasions , would rather have produced the impression that he was restored to the present existence , and consequently that he had not undergone any transition to a superior state ; than that this had become the permanent mode of his existence . By his miraculous disappearance from the sepulchre , atvd his continuance from this time forward withdrawn from the
ordinary cognizance of mortals , the ge * ueral evidence was afforded of this great event , and in addition to the miracles which were afterwards wrought in his name , it could be farther confirmed oiily by such occasional and ¦ ' extraordinary modes of manifesting himself to those who had a previous intimate acquaintance with his person , and especially with his mind , mantoers , and character , as those which are related . This last and
most important requisite could apply in its full extent to no others than those who had been his most intimate friends and companions ; and it is evident that the identity of mind ' , that great principle which alone confers utility on existence , amid the great and inexplicable changes to which the external frame was
subjected , was the point most necessary to be determined . It was such persons , therefore , who were selected as the principal witnesses ; persons who had accompanied him in the whole course of his ministry ; to whom his discourses , sentiments , and manners , had been for a considerable time the great objects of their continual attention ; who could recognize , and that with the deepest interest , his every word , look , and gesture ; but who had not the most distant
anticipations of again seeing hlfei alive , particularly under the peculiar circumstances in which he was manifested to them . The great body of the disciples , or rather
Untitled Article
634 Miscellaneous Correspondence .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Sept. 2, 1830, page 634, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2588/page/50/
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