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    On the Passages ascribed to M&ttkew and Luke ; Matt . i . 18 to id . 23 , and Luke i . 5 to ii . & 2 . Letter III . Sir ,

    THE pleasing anticipations of deliverance and prosperity to the Jewish nation , which pervade the whole passage in Luke ' s Gospel , appears a decisive evidence both of its fabulous character , and that it must have been written previously to the calamities to which they were subjected in consequence of their con *

    towed rejection of Christ- A Jewish V ^ ristiaa who had given little attention to the predictions of Jesus respecting the ikte of his countrymen , and retained strong national aartiali"es , with great confidence in his own o piiua . us , mi itt ctoi&h favourable expectati ons of their general conversion

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    and deliverance while the apostles and primitive discipLe $ with an increasing tpody of converts remained in Jerusa lem and Judea , aad might be desirous of inspiring the Gentile converts with that respect which he himself thought was due to the land and people of the

    Messiah , and of impressing them with the persuasion , that while " he was a light to enlighten all nations , " he reflected a peculiar glory and blessedness upon Israel . But when ,, in consequence of their continued infidelity , the whole body of Christians

    withdrew from among them , their city aaid country were devastated , and they were destroyed , or carried captive * aad dispersed throughout the Roman empire , such sanguine expectations , and the hope of inspiring the Geptile cq& verts with such sentiments , must cease ; and , under cimunsUmces so

    extremely unpromising , uo Jewish convert could have tbe effrontery to exhibit an anticipated representation of events so opposite to the actual history of the Messiah and the Jewish people ^ At least , it appears far more probable that a fable of that description should have been devised by a Jewish convert under the former than under the latter

    state of things . That it is a fab ] e , appears from the contrariety of the ideas which it must have conveyed to those to whom it was addressed from the actual issue of the Messiah ' s ap ^ pearanee ; and that it was penned prior to the general fate of the Jewish people , is rendered highly probable from the same circumstance .

    If , indeed , this story had not boei * of very early origin , it could hardly at any subsequent period have come to be regarded ^ as a part of the Evangelist ' s original narrative . That .

    narrative being written for the immediate use of a particular body Qf Christiana with whom Luke was conversant , probably in Macedon or Greece , would be retained Uy them , an ^ l read in their churches as an authentic and sufficient

    gospel history . But it is probable that in Palestine and those countries which were more immediately , acquainted with the tegtirr ) Q » y ^ nd , waitings of the a . poattes thems $ y £ s , $ U 9

    record , which was derived from their testimony , would riot be regarded as of equal authority with M ^ ir ^ 5 qopics of it wouUVto tes& itij ^ iUaJteil . aw * less known rind quoted . It is accordingly

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    Oil the Passages ascribed to Matthew and Luke . 399

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    was Bot included in the eona mission given him by Chris * : Far Christ aent m € not to kuptizet tut to pre&ck the gospel . Paul came aext to Jesus Christ in liberality aad mental enlargement , aad he regarded baptism as a ceremony that in the end would

    become useless , and even a source of strife and disunion . He , therefore , soon laid ife $ side , receiving the Heathens vvlnun he had converted as members of ths Christian Church without it * Mq l&Uks , indeed , of their being " baptized unto Christ . " But the expression is figurative , and is to be understood with the same latitude

    as when be speaks of the fathers being baptized unto Moses to express merely ttefc they followed Moses * Luke wais 4 he companion of Paul aad shared in the elevation of his mind ; and hence he sinks out of sight the figure of baptism recorded by

    Matthew , as liable to be misunderstood by the people for whose use he published his Gospel , Had Jesus intended the phrase , " baptizing all aatkms / ' in a literal sense , this Evangeiist would not have omitted it . On tbe other hand , it was most proper in Matthew to record it : he wrote for

    the Jewish converts who practised the ceremony in a literal aense , and who felt the authority of John as the head of tie Esseaes aad as an auxiliary to Jesus . J . JONES .

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), July 2, 1826, page 399, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2550/page/19/