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    638 Mr. TVrzght, on the Person of Christ...

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    Mr, Wright^ Reply To C€ An Old Disciple ...

    high ( Eph . iii . 8—13 . ) It should also be recollected that the apostles performed their miracles in his name , that it was through him they received their miraculous powers , that it was in consequence of his going to the Father they were enabled to do

    greater works than he had done . Peter said , _" This Jesus hath God raised up , whereof we all are witnesses . ' Therefore being by the right-hand of God exalted , and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit , he hath shed forth this which ye now see and hear . > f It follows , that with

    respect to miraculous gifts Jesus had the pre-eminence , and stands superior to all the other servants of God . Your correspondent ' s other difficulty relates to the suitable _* ness of the example of Christ . If I understand him , he argues that if Christ " be asinless man , possessing spotless innocence

    and adorned with perfect virtue , he could not be a suitable example to mankind . That Jesus Christ was holy , harmless , tmdefiled , and always did those things which pleased God , that he never acted contrary to what he perceived to be the will of his heavenly Father , but pursued one uniform course of

    obedience , until he expired on the cross , will not surely be questioned _. How this can diminish the suitableness of his example , while we believe him to be simply a man , I cannot perceive ; for \ 1 . He was made in all things like unto his brethren / T _^ he rest of mankind are no more born impure , or the subjects of moral inability , or incapable of doing what God requires of them ,

    or under an unavoidable necessity of sinning , than he was * I know of no natural difference between him and other men . V _g . Jesus was no more naturally impeccable than we are ; for had he been naturally impeccable he could not _have been a proper object of temptation , nor would there have beerrany Y * rtue in his obedience ; as in that case temptations would have

    required no resistance , he would have acted right because he was incapable of acting otherwise , and could have been entitled to no reward . Either the peccability of Jesus must be admitted , or the reality of his trials and virtues is , in fact , denied . \ 3 . Christ was not made perfect at once any more than his _brethren . Like them he had to _begiq in infancy , to attajn his _knowledge virtue , and moral _excellence _praduallv . bv the his knowledge , virtue , and moral excellency _, gradually , by the exercise of his natural faculties , and the proper use of the means of improvement afforded him . He had to resist temptation and strive against sin in order to preserve himself pure , and to struggle through the greatest difficulties in perfecting his obedience to the will of God . We are told toe learned obedience

    and was made perfect through sufferings : consequently , though sinless , there was a time when he was imperfect in knowledge and moral attainment . The imperfections which are _contfe-

    638 Mr. Tvrzght, On The Person Of Christ...

    638 Mr . _TVrzght _, on the Person of Christ .

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Dec. 2, 1807, page 638, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/mrp_02121807/page/18/