Vindiciiœ Priestleianœ: an address to the students of Oxford and Cambridge; occasioned by a ...

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are their rejudices, and thei minds sedast close u by the wful notion o Christbeing the most high God fir instilled into

out the bible. Yo wil determine soryourseives, whether there e sufficient ground se m persuasion.

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TU Uniserjities. 169In ou researches then fir into the he-hre scriptures, o wil find that in alline mentio made of the emah, and the predictions relatin to him, he is always*0ken os expressty, as ne of the humanrace, an notis of an different conditionos eing an in nothin beyon othermen, ave that he was tot the most ho-

noured belove V servant, prophe and metange of the Divine eing that ad

of the prophet Isaiah speahing longi

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his name.

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Universities. 171 Passinifro the hebre to the christianscriptures, o find in the gospel-history, that the jews neve expecte thei Messint be any thing, but a man, lihe themselves, of a particula tribe an family marhed out by thei propheis. And Whenae appeared,

scendant of David, thei favourite hinga and he himself ook to the titte. His mollier, his indred, his postles, neve had the least idea of his ein theeternat God, Diu a human creature, lihothemselves, ight favoured by him. The sacred histonans give an account of his biri Domiar his mollier, as eing like thates other men, howeve different the man-

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ner of her conception of him; at fit ahel ples babe gro in up acquiring the faculties an po ers of a rational creature, by degrees standinii nee o mea and drinh, supporte in iste, as at o us are; subjecto hunger, thirst, ain, an atlast yin as ther men, in like circum

In perusing the memoirs of the three first historians concerning Christ, ou illse no ea n to conclude that the lookedupon hi as an thin more than a hu

tion, at sed ira extraordinar purposes

Yo may add that this is confirmed byste testimon o antiquity For the christian

i See aproes of this, toni Min respe to thesethree evangelim, ut the whole of the scriptures ais of ste New Testament, in commentaries and essa , published by the Societyri, promoting the no lege of the scriptures, Vol. I. p. 39I, unde the ille o 'An Inquit into the evidence hic potnis out Christ is have been oesy a creatur of the human race, investe wit extraordi- narysower sto God a it arises stom his own decla rations and roseis his apostles and evangelists

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tian fallier in generat agre in the opinion, that atthe , arh, and Luhe, reatoni o Christ' humanity. ut the theyargueas is these evangelist knew of his be-ing also a divine person, though the didno se any thingi it; and that the designedi spok of him ni aso humanbeing, and that Jolin, ho came aster them, supplied the deficiency by treatin of his divinity. This howeve is ali an after-thought of the men to account for notions os Christ, hicli the had ahen up not fion the scriptures, ut rom philosophy, and heathenisti conceits of the deity, hichthe had importe into christianity. Forthere is no cause to thin that the three forme evangelist wrote illi ach thers privi much les that the had an idea of John writing after them in the manner that is supposed, and that he was to takeone depariment in speahing of Christ, heyanother. Unquestionabi the teach and teli very thing, hicli the thought toleo importatice so the worid o no , respecting thei divine master, a dis one

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mas to have come aster them, o se any more about him. I have no doub but this argument Monemit appea toJo decisive, that ou Lord Jesus Christ was ni a human Creatur Uith an extraordinar commission and wwer fio Almight God; speciali whenyo tahe into consideration illi it that there is no round se in suppositio of the early christia famers, ho have been sollowed in it everrance, thates esset himself particulari to treati Christ's divini , upo stein it to have been omitte is

the other evangelist ter homine is generali acknowlege to have ritien, andio have perused thei narratives But it,illae found by you on examination, and from What Willis in his ork proposed to)ou that Joh does no differfrum the three serme evangelists, or smahos Christ as an other than a humanaeing ;nay that he expressi declares that it Was nothis designo treati an divinity, o any thing more than human, belongin to his maste Jesus, except what relate to his divine

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tires one of the human race, an nothingmore, receives a most singula confirmationstom his secondorealist, calle Theram. This Iaims our attentio the more, ascit recites hom and in What manner, ou Lord

St. vh in particular introduces Paul. in his famous speech, in one of th couris of justice, at thens, declarin to them, that Jesus Christ was a man, α ρ, commissione an appotnte to a igh and important ossice, unde the God that madethemoriae Acts xvii et . 3I. And yo illhe satisfied that he could not, and witIfind that he does not se any thinii contradietton

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tradiction to this declaration, in his episties. Yo will particulari perceive, that the cre

he therei somelime speah occisis other than a mores an spiritua creation, a resormationi mankind and this flected notis an immediate personat age y o Christasterie lest the worid, ut by the mio an effectua motives of the gospei, deli- vered by him to iis firmpreachers, and the spirit an power o God accompanying

It willae evident to)ou, fio the tractabove mentioned that the aposti Joh in his the writings, and eter and James in thei episties, harmoniae together illi Paul and the four evangelists, in thei sentiment concerning thei master, Jesus Christ,

that he was a man with an extraordinarydivine commission an power, an notis

superioraeing, o the eterna God Andas the postles an ali bellevers, mentionedin the e Testament, appear o have entertainedio ther de of him Lit wasi tural to expeet, and Dr. Priestie has fullyssiewn that christians in genera asterwardsembraced

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ing our Lor Jesus Christ ein no the eternat God, butine of our brethrenis man-kind Ming the testimon os ali the writers, and idi the actors, introduced in the old and neW Testament, ho have spinen of him, o referre toti, and being, in sound and appearance only, o by .misrepresentatio orinisconstruction, semivi contradicteris a sein particula texis isso vast vii preponderant, stat it must strike very π not

prepossession of many ages, derived rom thelo ne isther a the are called, hose writings have been caresuli preserved whilstinose of thei opponents have been sufferea