Six Discourses on the Miracles of Our Saviour, and Defences of His DiscoursesWoolston, Thomas
Religion
Six Discourses on the Miracles of Our Saviour, and Defences of His Discourses
Woolston, Thomas
Gibson, Edmund, 1669-1748; Jesus Christ -- Miracles -- Early works to 1800; Smalbroke, Richard, 1672-1749
Thus, Sir, for the Use of your _Clergy_, have I form'd an Objection
against _Jesus_'s Messiahship, an Objection that is founded on the
concurrent Opinions of _our_ Ancestors and of _your_ Fathers: And I
shall with some Longings and Impatience wait till I hear what they
have to say to it. The Objection, in my Opinion, absolutely
destroys _Jesus_'s Pretences to the Messiahship, unless his
_Priests_, by way of Answer to it, can prove the foresaid
Similitude between him and _Moses_; between the Miracles of the One
and the Miracles of the Other; between the Deliverance of the
_Jewish_ and the Redemption of the _Christian_ Church, out of an
_Egypt_.
I am thinking what your _Clergy_ can say to the Objection. Will
they deny, that it was the Opinion of both _your_ Fathers and of
_our_ Ancestors, that there ought to be such a Similitude between
the _Messiah_ and _Moses_, as is before describ'd? That they can't
do, because of the innumerable Testimonies to be produced out of
them to confirm it. Will they then say, that it was a false and
erroneous Opinion, which both ancient Jews and Fathers entertain'd
concerning the _Messiah_? This surely they will not do; because of
the Consequence, which charges the Apostle _Paul_ himself (in the
above-cited Place) and the primitive Christians, with the grossest
Error and Mistake concerning _Jesus_ and his Messiahship; and yet
I can't think they will ever give into the joint Opinion aforesaid
of both _Jews_ and Fathers; because of the Impossibility of proving
_Jesus_ to be like _Moses in all Things_, according to the literal
Sense of the Law, which they adhere to; and because of the
Improbability of doing it, in an allegorical Sense, after the Way
of their Fathers, or, in all this Time surely, the Matter must have
been made out, to the Satisfaction and Conversion of our Nation.
I long, I tell you, to hear what your Christian _Priesthood_ will
say to the Objection, which surely they will not let slip, without
their Remarks and Observations upon it, any more than my Objections
against the literal Story of some of _Jesus_'s Miracles. And this
is your and my Comfort, that if you publish this present Objection
against _Jesus_'s Messiahship, the _Clergy_ can't account it a
ludicrous, profane, and blasphemous one (as they did my others) and
so bring you again under Prosecution for it: No, it is a plain,
serious, and reasonable Objection, founded on ancient Jewish and
Ecclesiastical Authority; and a pertinent, solid, and rational
Answer is expected to it.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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