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    and conscience in the present state , how will ye be capable of understanding those more sublime truths , the knowledge of which is entirely dependent on a revelation from the Deity himself ? Yet doubt not my ability to give you correct information even on these exalted themes . No human being ,

    indeed , has ever been , or could be , admitted to that most immediate and perfect manifestation of the Divine Presence , which would communicate to him that knowledge . But the Messiah , whose superior nature is Eternal , Omniscient , and in every respect Divine , has assumed the nature of man for the express purpose of bringing this knowledge and all other divine blessings to your enjoyment . " Here it will be observed , that the first clause is made to contain an absolute assertion , admitting of no exception , to which the remaining part is opposed in the way of contrast . No merely human being hath ascended into heaven , i . e . hath had the opportunity of obtaining divine knowledge . On the contrary , the Messiah , who , as to one part of his nature , is not human , who is in heaven , hath descended from heaven , i . e . hath

    manifested himself in the flesh on earth to bring this knowledge : but the construction of the original requires that the latter part should be considered as an exception to the general declaration in the 6 rst clause , and ov 8 £ < $ ( no one ) cannot have the emphatic sense , " no human being , " forced upon it . We must take it , ¦ " No one hath ascended to heaven , except he who came down from heaven . " Since , therefore , he who came down , first

    ascended , was enabled by some means to attain to " that most immediate and perfect manifestation of the Divine Presence , which would communicate to him ( divine ) knowledge , " he could not have possessed it naturally and originally , consequently could not be in nature te Eternal , Omniscient , and Divine . " Dr . S . appears to consider the phrases as expressing a real

    being in heaven , and coming from heaven , but as including and implying the possessing and communicating divine truths . The obvious defect of his interpretation is , that , as he cannot allow Christ to have ascended to the place where his divine nature always existed , or to have acquired knowledge which inherently , belonged to him , he is obliged to refer the first

    clause exclusively to others , whereas the original clearly expresses , that though no other ascended to heaven , Christ did ascend ; that whatever is meant by being in heaven , whether it is to be taken literally or figuratively , the state it expresses did not always belong to him , but he was enabled to reach it , and having first ascended , he then descended . This objection , we apprehend , to be fatal to Dr . S . ' s peculiar view of the subject ; we must , however , consider other modes of explaining the passage , and endeavour to estimate the force of his objections to that generally adopted by Unitarians . We can conceive it possible that all three clauses might be intended literally , all three figuratively , or part literally and part figuratively . Dr . S / s hypothesis , which we have just considered * takes them all literally so far as supposing them to express an actual being in heaven ^ though as

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    59 $ Dr . «/ . P . Smith ' s Scripture Testimony to the Messiah .

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Sept. 2, 1831, page 596, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2601/page/20/