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    Mr . F . however , having more to sav in order to set aside the foregoirig allegation ^ and to show how the temptation might be a present trial , it is no more than what is due to the reputation he has long enjoyed in the literary world , to accompany him through

    the remaining observati ons brou ah t forward in his piece for that purpose . He observes then ( p . 174- ) c the proposals ( made by the devi l ) were in themselves so enticing , that nothing but the considering them as sinfulyov as temptations of Satan , could dispose the most consummate

    virtue to resist them . " I answer , they were considered , and agreeably to the intention of the frani - cr of the vision , unavoidably considered in that light , ( ibid . ) and theiefore could not be calculated to excite the desires and passions , to which they were in themselves adapted , and which ^ in other circumstances they might have tended to awaken , and put into action : compare Nos . S , 6 , 7 , in the order in which they are here placed . With a view to the same object , Mr . F . proceeds to observe ( p . 175 ) that , When the vision was ended , he ( Christ ) would naturally regard it as an emblem of his future conflicts ; *' and adds , "In this view also it served to try the steadfastness of his piety and virtue /'—What intimation does the history afford us , that Christ regarded the vision in that'light , either during its continuance , ' or immediately upon its being ended ? Does Peter appear to have understood the prophetical design df the vision of the she ^ t before it was explained by subsequent events J He was evidently in doubt for some time , at least , after the vision | was oyer ,

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    what it should mean , and perhaps till he arrived at the house of Cornelius ; See Acts , x . 17— -34 / Is there any better evidence , that , when the supposed vision in ths wilderness , was ended » Christ at

    once saw the design of the author of it ? How often soever visionary representations were intended to be predictions , and how soon soever after they were past , the persons favoured with them discover *

    ed the purposes they were employed to answer is it any where hinted in the accounts of Peter ' s undoubted , or of Christ's supposed , vision , that either of them as soon as ever the vision he had

    seen was withdrawn ^ had adverted to its design ? But had this been the fact how could an idea , which by supposition did not present itself to the thoughts of

    Christ , while he remained in the trance , affect the impression made by it upon his mind ? Can any thing operate before it begins to exist ?

    In the part of the appendix wo have been attending to , Mr . F ' s object was to prove the temptation to have been a present trial ; but from that point he seems to

    have started off' lo a different one , which is to show , that the vision was prophetical of future trials * Here I would desire the reader

    to qotice Mr , Ps concession , p 177 , where he says , " It is acknowledged , that both his ( the devil ' s ) apprehended and his real presence would create upon a good mind a prejudice against his proposals , ' '( he should have said as elsewhere , would disarm them

    of all their power ' , Nos . 3 , 4 , 5- ) 44 And for this reason ^ it would have been impolitic in Satan to have made his appearance before

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    Objections to Mr . Farmer ' s Hypothesis . —Letter II . 75

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    TOJL , T . I ,

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Feb. 2, 1810, page 73, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2401/page/25/