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    maxims of piety and virtue , is , in fact , a history of the controversy between himself and the Jews of his age , concerning the justice of his claims to be considered and received as the Christ , the Son of God , and a summary of the peculiar duties and privileges of those who were to be witnesses to the world of his death and

    resurrection- " Now to this statement we know noit that any persons could in reason object had the preacher said , ?« The history of Our Lord , is , in a very considerable measure , a history of the controversy between himself , " &c .

    Of Mr , W . ' s position the tendency ( not , we are sure , the design ) is to prove that the interest of Christians in the evangelical narratives is less general and extensive than has been supposed even by many well-informed and reflecting readers of them . But

    will he maintain that the history of which he speaks is nothing more than a history of the controversy between our Saviour and the Jews of his age , &c . ? The respectable author ' s words appear to imply as much ; though we can hardly conceive that this is really his meaning . Those writings which

    it is usual to denominate the gospels , are the records of Christianity : we distinctly admit that they do not constitute our religion ; yet to the large majority of believers in Jesus , through succeeding ages , and in different countries , they attest the justice of his claims to be considered and received

    as tlie Messiah , and furnish a summary of the duties and privileges of all who subscribe to his credentials and embrace his doctrine . Historical memoirs of an individual , must , from

    the nature of them , be local and tent " porciri / , in respect of the scenes , the persons and the circumstances described : the useful purposes however for which they were framed , have no such limits in effect , or in the

    contemplation of the writer ; so much otherwise that if the subject of these memoirs be pre-eminently illustrious , and especially if he be a religious teacher and reformer , but most of aril , if he be a divinely-commissioned

    Messenger and Saviour , the narratives of him will be calculated , and , in the order of Providence , intended , to become ktvjiaoi € < < %€ * , a bequest to all posterity . Such is the character , we are persuaded , of *• the history of Our

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    Lord . ' * Was it not drawn up that wef of this distant generation , as . well as his personal attendants , might acknowledge him to be the Christ , the Son of God ? To this end his miracles , his predictions , his religious and

    moral lessons , his example , his sufferings , his death , his resurrection , all conspire . When , on a very rernarka * ble occasion , he declared , « Verily , I say unto you , wheresoever this gospel shall be preached in the whole world , there shall also this that this woman

    hath done , be told far a memorial of her ; * when , in the spirit of the most comprehensive love , he uttered this language , * Neither pray I for these alone , but . for then * , also who shall believe on me through their word $ whenever , in short , he inculcated those

    virtues , and denounced those vices , which pertain to mankind at large , we must unquestionably regard him as speaking to a far wider circle than * the Jews of his age . ' We grant that not a few passages in this history demand a restricted interpretation .

    As to these , the necessity of their being so understood is obvious and urgent . We agree too with Mr . W . that ' it requires some good degree of attention and judgment to discern what is common to all believers in all

    ages , and what peculiarly belonged to the first disciples . " But these concessions do not forbid us to insist that there must actually be scope for discrimination ; which , in truth , there

    would not be were the history of our Lord nothing more than a history of the controversy between himself and his contemporaries . The view which the preacher takes of 4 i the apostolic

    epistles , " we deem more correct . In regard both to them and the Four Gospels , a previous knowledge of the subjects discussed , of local customs , of incidental circumstances , and of the

    sentiments , &c . then prevailing , is , no doubt , essential : and , if they be perused iti the exercise of it , we shall , as is probable , see reason to acknowledge that they are always of high value to the Christian in point of his faith and duty .

    Our inference then is , that the history of our Lord may more properly be defined * a history of those events attending his ministry , which it was expedient for his followers to know , and for the world to admit , with the

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    186 Review *—Wellbeloved on Conversion .

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), March 2, 1819, page 186, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1770/page/50/