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power for the certain salvation of bis sincere followers , as well as that of God his Father . Therefore , to shew that he had not exceeded the hounds of truth in the assertion , and to furnish a sufficient ground of reason for it , he adds , I and the Father are one . The union of power is thus shewn to be a real identity of power , "
Our author ' s argument is pretty exactly expressed by Euthymius : — iyea kou o wccnjp ev ia-fAev' TocvTodvyctfAoi , it de % v yxx . ra \ f ^ v SvvafAiv , tv apex . naZ Kara , r ^ v SsoTvj ra , ical £ < r { av , koI cpvcriv—/ and the Father are one , equal in power , and if one in power , then one also in qodhead 9 and essence , and
nature . The answer is , that Jesus himself denies his having the same power with the Father , and describes himself as exercising a communicated and dependent power . His reasoning is , No one shall snatch them out of my hand , for no one can snatch them out of my Father ' s hand ; but I and the Father are one . I know his will ; I act entirely by his direction ; I have reason fully to depend on his support in all that I do .
It is affirmed , that the acts here attributed to Christ require ** a power which could be neither communicated to , nor exercised by , any being merely a creature ; " but this is mere assumption . Jesus simply declares that , whilst those who were not of his sheep , could not be convinced by any evidence offered to them , those who were , would receive and adhere to his religion , and would surely enjoy its eternal blessings , and his confidence in this is expressly founded on his Father ' s power .
It is farther argued , from the accusation immediately brought by the Jews and our Lord ' s answer to it , that he must have made some extraordinary assertion of the divinity of his nature . " The hearers of Jesus instantly accused him of assuming : Divine honours—whether their alarm was sincere or affected , it is clear that there must have been an apparent ground for it . " The hearers of Jesus took up stones threatening to stone him , and , on being
asked the reason , answered , for blasphemy ' , and because ^ thou 9 being a man 9 makest thyself God . Now , considering the character of those who brought it , there can be no doubt that sufficient ground would have been afforded for this charge by our Lord speaking of God as his Father in such a manner as to imply that he was pre-eminently the Son of God . The reply of Jesus shews that he understood this to be the sole ground of the accusation : and had it not been so , his enemies would not have failed to
remind him that he had offered no defence of his most offensive expression . " But , " says Dr . S ., " upon the Unitarian hypothesis , no motive can be imagined why [ our Lord ] should not have met the accusation with the clearest and most pointed denial . Though he saw it not to be proper , as
yet , to avow himself publicly to be the Messiah , there could be no reason wh y he should omit to protest that he was merely a man such as other men ; and every consideration of piety and veracity and all other good principles , demanded the most prompt and unambiguous declaration against the bias-
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Dr . •/ . P . Smith ' s Scripture Testimony to the Messiah . 593
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VOL . V . 2 U
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Sept. 2, 1831, page 593, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2601/page/17/
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