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able by the ordinary means of human investigation ; it is fundamental to a saving and practical knowledge of true religion ; it has its seat in the affections as well as in tlie intellect ; and it is here affirmed to be a special communication of Divine influence . " " 4 . That this knowledge , as existing in the state of communication from Christ to any of mankind to whom the Son may he pleased to reveal it , though the same in kind , cannot be imagined to be the same in degree or extent ; unless it be assumed that the capacity and attainment of the instructed must , as a matter of course , be equal to those of the Instructor . " " 5 . Had the member of the sentence which introduces
the Son as the object of knowledge been wanting , " the remaining part of the passage would have been supposed to refer "to the peculiar glories of the Diyine Being , or that which distinctively constitutes him God . * ' It would have been understood * ' that the Infinite Majesty and Perfection of
the Adorable Supreme , as distinguished from the imaginary deities of the Heathen world , were revealed and demonstrated by the Christian religion alone . Restore , then , the clause which h * been withdrawn ; and will not fairness of interpretation require us to accept it as equally attributing to the Son the same Infinite Majesty and Perfection V * On a very slight foundation a considerable superstructure is here raised . We admire the ingenuity of the artist , but it is our business to try the
stability of the work . In the first place , let us refer to the nullified comment of Mr . Belsham on Matt . xi . 27 , and Luke x . 22 . " It is plain that he to whom the Son reveals the Father , knows the Father . But what can a man thus learn of God ? Nothing , surely , but his revealed will . In the same sense , precisely , the Son knows the Father , L e . he knows his will , his thoughts , and purposes of mercy to mankind . And the Father alone knows the Son , knows the nature , the object , and the extent of his mission . See John i . 18 , x . 14 , 15 . "
Mr . Belsham here manifestly uses will rather to express the design of God ' s providence , that which he intends to accomplish , than what he requires from his creatures , or at least he includes what Dr . S . calls the decretive as well as the - preceptive part of the Divine will * To the objection that this is not all which a man can learn of God by revelation , we might reply , that the knowledge of the excellencies and perfections of God ' s nature being only interesting and useful to us in connexion with his commands and his designs respecting us , and being only in this way necessaVy to piety and happiness , it is not to be accounted distinct from the will of God in the general sense in which the Calm Inquirer used that term , and was in fact included by him , revealed will being opposed to metaphysical nature and essence ; but it is sufficient to shew that Mr . Belsham ' s interpretation of the Evangelist's meaning is approved by the most judicious commentators , and is not in the least affected by our author's objections to it . We quote first from Rosenmuller ' s Scholia :
** Udvru ( Mi vctpfib 60 r ) &nr& rS Tcarybq fMv ( All things are delivered unto me of my Father )—^/// thing's which are to be done or taught for the salvation
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Dr . J . P . Smith's Scripture Testimony to the Messiah . 587
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Sept. 2, 1831, page 587, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2601/page/11/
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