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    In his summary of the evidences from the Old Testament , on which Dr . Smith lays great stress , he tells us , From these sources we have learnt that the Messiah was to be a real and proper human being , the descendant of Adam , Abraham , and David , in some peculiar sense the offspring of the woman , the perfectly faiJjiiuLajld ^ d ^

    rank above all others of divine authority and grace , a heavenl y teacher inspired with the fulness of divine gifts and qualifications , the great and universal lawgiver who should be the author and promulgator of a new , holy , and happy government over the moral principles , characters , and actions of men , a high priest after a new and most exalted model , the adviser of the wisest counsels , the pacificator and reconciler of rebellious man to God , and of men among themselves , the kind and powerful Saviour from all moral and natural evil . ' What is there in all this

    inconsistent with Unitarian ism , but oh ! how inconsistent with < the High and Mighty God . The tliird description appears to be only a fanciful deduction of the miraculous conception , from the words < thy seed shall bruise , &c . ' on that , however , nothing hangs \ if it made Christ , Gody much more did it Adam . How the two following sentences found their way into the work I cannot imagine ; if sucji . sentimejii . ts .. are . general , much nearer is the downfal" 6 T reputed orthodoxy than is generally supposed .

    * All the knowledge which his ( the human person ) offices required , or to the use of which his commission extended , he unquestionably enjoyed , but beyond this sphere there is an indefinite field for the acquisition of new knowledge as well as of higher felicity , even in his qiorified state . It seems to me a most reasonable opinion that the communication of supernatural knowledge to the human mind of Jesus Christ was made as circumstances and occasions were

    seen by divine wisdom to require . And this is thought to reconcile with orthodoxy , Christ ' s declaration of ignorance of the day of judgment ! Let the intelligent judge if it does not overthrow it . If this is Scripture truth , as assuredly it is , then there was a man supernaturally inspired as occasion required , and raised after death to a higher sphere , so that In point of fact , the Unitarian doctrine of the simple humanity is admitted , with only the absurd qualification that sometimes what came out of the mouth of that man ,

    or was done by his hands , was the immediate word or act of God , Jesus being unconscious of tlie : one and exercising no-volition in the other . Can this Be long maintained , without a tittle of evidence , on the bare assumption of the impossibility of some of the apparent acts of Jesus being those of a creature , though inspired by Almighty God , and in direct defiance of such passages as these , 1 Know that the son of man hath power to forgive sins , &c . ' ( not the mere instrument , but the agent ;) God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ ; ' * God shall judge by that man whom he hath ordained j ! * All power is given ine , &c , ' And thus refuting

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    6 N JM . P , SMITH ' S SCRIPTURE TESTIMONY . 271

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Sept. 1, 1833, page 271, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2621/page/15/