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nouncement of that wonderful event , * We appeal , then , with confidence to these books , as authentic witnesses of what Christ and his apostles did and taught : and we assume , on the present occasion , not the miraculous , but only the common historical incidents of the gospel narrative , and we are prepared to shew that , if these common incidents be admitted , the fact of the resurrection cannot be consistently denied .
The fact of the resurrection forms , if we may so express it , the boundary line between the ministry of Christ and that of his apostles , between the periods of apostolic darkness and of apostolic illumination : and there are circumstances connected with this distinction , which appear to be irreconcilable with any other supposition than that of the truth of the fact . What
occurred before the fact , and the language of Christ during his ministry , have not perhaps been duly considered as affording a most powerful indirect evidence , when combined with the subsequent testimony of the apostles , of the fact ' s having actually taken place . Christ repeatedly and solemnly foretold his crucifixion and resurrection ; and these predictions became more solemn and more distinct , as the termination of his ministrv approached .
Now , let us consider what this implies . The natural tendency of events might doubtless have led a mind , less reflecting and sagacious than that of Jesus , considered merely as a human reformer , to anticipate the fate which he experienced from his unrelenting persecutors . But why couple with this anticipation the prophecy of an ensuing event , the non-fulfilment of which must necessarily have exposed his pretensions to ridicule , and blasted every prospect of perpetuating the influence of his principles after his death ? How inconsistent these fanatical assurances of a resurrection from the dead
on the third day , with the calm and practical wisdom by which Christ ' s ordinary conduct and the general strain of his teachings were distinguished ! Besides , these assurances produced no present effect ; and their intention can only be explained wilh reference to a future time , when events should have declared their meaning and pointed out their application . They created no present feeling in favour of Christ . The disciples , whose minds were
engrossed by the splendid visions of a temporal Messiah , hardly perceived the tendency of his allusions , and , so far as they did perceive them , were rather revolted than encouraged by them . Such declarations , when they reached the ears of his enemies , were treated with the utmost scorn . " Sir , " said the Chief Priests and Pharisees to Pilate , when they were soliciting a guard for the sepulchre , " we remember that that deceiver said , while he was yet alive , After three days I will rise again . "
Such was the feeling of the unbelieving portion of the Jewish public : and , when we consider the inability of the disciples to realize to themselves the possibility of their Master ' s death and resurrection , and their slowness to comprehend the spiritual nature of his kingdom , we can only account for the fact of Christ ' s thus gratuitously exposing himself to contempt ,
misconception , and unpopularity , by admitting that his mind was divinely possessed with the assurance that for such a fate he actually was destined , that he should die and should rise again , and that , in declaring this , he felt himself the organ of the Holy Spirit , whose presages coming events , he was convinced , would verify .
Let us now pass over the mysterious , and as yet inexplicable , circumstances which followed the crucifixion ; and consider the views and feelings , the constant and concurring declarations , of the very same men , who , prior
? Eitileituug , &c , § 37 . Uinfaug des Urevang . 28—44 .
Untitled Article
148 On the Evidence of the Resurrection .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), March 2, 1831, page 148, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2595/page/4/
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