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• derived every thing . And in admitting-such latitude in the use of this divine title , we are in some degree authorized by bur Saviour himself . When accused of blasphemy by the Jews for seeming" to make himself equal with God , this is his defence : — 'Is it not written in your law , I said ye are gods ? If he called them gods unto whom the word of God came , and the scripture cannot be broken ; say ye of him , whom the Father hath sanctified
and sent into the world , Thou blasphemest ; because I said , I am the Son of God ? ' If we suppose him , as St . John and St . Paul assert , to have created this world , we may likewise naturally suppose that our sun and all that revolves round it were created by him , acting with the delegated power of his great Father . And the discoveries of modern astronomy make this a less extravagant notion than it would have been in the days of the apostles , when the earth was believed to be the centre of the universe . For by what agents
the Supreme Being may have thought fit to people the regions of space with such innumerable suns and planets which our mortal eyes assisted and unassisted do behold , it is not for us to conjecture : we look up and adore , and then with becoming reverence bow down our heads to the earth . This idea , too , appears to me in beautiful accordance with the doctrines of atonement and mediation for our transgressions which are so plainly taught throughout the New Testament , and is reconcileable with all that is said of our blessed
Lord in holy writ . There are besides a very few expressions in the Epistles of St . Paul which seem to favour , in some degree , this High Church doctrine , and might by a subtle reasoner be made to support it ; but with subtle reasoning this work has nothing to do , and my reader has no doubt noticed those expressions , and is as well qualified to judge of them as I can pretend to be . In short , it appears to me , that a person of plain sense , who , being previously unacquainted with this article of our orthodox creed , should read
the New Testament with serious attention , might do so without being aware that such a doctrine is therein taught at all . For in reading a book full of figurative expressions , be would never think of understanding any of them literally whjen at variance with the general sense of what they were introduced to enforce and illustrate . Metaphor gives both lightness and strength to instruction ; for containing , as it does , an implied simile , or comparison , the imagination enjoys its pictured . object while the understanding is making
out its lesson . To receive such forms of speech literally leads to confusion and absurdity ; and whether an expression in any book ought to be received literally or metaphorically , must be known by its agreeing or not agreeing with the context . How shall we , for instance , deal with the four following passages of scripture ? ' This is my body broken for you , &c . This is my Wood shed for i ; he remission of sins / * I and my Father are one . ' ' Neither pray I for these ( his disciples ) alone , but for them also which
shall believe in me through their word : that they may be one , as thou , Father , art in me and I m thee , that they also may be one in us : that the world may believe that thpu hast sen , t me . And the glory which thou gayest me , I bare given them ; that they may be one , even as we are one . ' * If thy right hand offend thee , cut it off and cast it from thee ; it is better for thee to go into life halt and maimed , than having two hands or two feet to be cast into hell fire . ' If we take the first of * these passages HteraJIy , the doc-
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610 Joanna Baillie on the Nature and Dignity afChnsU
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Aug. 2, 1831, page 510, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2600/page/6/
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