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    that these Christians asserted their copies to bo genuine ; and that they held no opinions inconsistent with the doctrine <> f the miraculous conception of Jesus , or that should have led them voluntarily to expunge these chapters out of the evangelical history *

    Now , how does the learned writer n but this repl y ? It is by nn assumption most extraordinary . You have no light to avail yourself of any testimony in any case , if ou do not receive the same testimony in every case ! This is , in fact , tho foundation of th ^ learned Professor ' s reasoning and a most extravagant principle it is ;

    such , I believe , as will not go down at Glasgow , whatever it may do at Dublin . The Ebionites , we are ti ; ld , " rejected the three last gospels , and all the Epistles of Paul . " It may be « o . Then , sun ly , they would be the more

    , cartiul ot that Oospel ivhich they retained ; and this gospel which alone the Ebionites acknowledged as authentic , this Gospel which they would upon no account presume either to enlarge or curtail , this purest copy of the Gospel of Matthew , wanted the two first chapters . And what is most rexna ^ kable , this Gospel was written for the use of the Hebrew Christians who / resided in the very

    country , on the very spot where these wonderful events are said to have happened , where they would have been in every body ' s memory , and in every body ' s mouth ; and yet , upon this extraordinary su-bject , this gnspel maintains a deep and total silence / And these Hebrew .-Christians ; who , if they had dared to corrupt the Gospel , would have Jbeen glad to have effaced the renraa ^ h of the cross by the splen-

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    4 © & Reply to Dr . Mdgee . —To the Inquirers after ChrUtian Truth .

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    dour of the nativity of Christ , kno v nothing of this fabricated story , and simply believe that Jesus their Master and Messiah , was the legitimate son of Joseph the carpenter , by Mary his lawful wife , both of whom were descended from the royal house of David .

    x 5 uty says the learned Professor , will you not upon the same authoiity , reject the remaining Gospels and Paul ' s Epistles ? I answer , no . What ! says the Professor , are the Ebionite witnesses pronounced on one side of the leaf not credible ^ and on the other witnesses of such repute as to be relied upon in opposition to aft manuscripts and versions in the whole world ? " I answer , yes ; because in the one case I see reason to concur , with them , and in the other to differ from them : and I believe that I have gpod grounds for this discrimination .

    We should make fine work of ancient history , if this Dublin Professor ' s principle is to be admitted , believe all or none , without discrimination . Livy relates , that Hannibal crossed the Alps , and beat the Romans at the battle of Cannae ; and I believe him . The same Livy tells us that an ox spoke ; but I believe him not . What ! ( says one educated in the school of our Dublin Professor ) is Livy pronounced on one side of the leaf to be credible * and on the other incredible ? Is a witness to

    be brought up and turned down at pleasure ? Is he good and bad , as may serve the purpose ? If such reasoning satisfies the learned gentleman ; if he cannot be content to believe the battle of Cann * \ virhou ; t believing likewise that the ox spake , he has my free consent to bejiqve a& much as he please **

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Aug. 2, 1813, page 492, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2431/page/4/