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Remarks On Henry O'Brien's Essay On The Round Towers Of Ireland.
or as a crucifixion of the Messiah previous to his crucifixion under 1 ontius Pilate , is taught or intimated in any degree of Freemasonry , be it symbolical or sublime , Jewish or Christian , 1 take upon myself to deny That He did indeed appear in the character of " the Angel of the Lord , and in human form did hold communication with the patriarchs , with Abraham , Jacob , Moses , Joshua , and others , I do not hesitate to admit ; but a rimeval or antediluvian incarnation and
p cru'wfixion , I positively assert , is contrary to Scripture . As , however , Mr . O'Brien has endeavoured to establish his position by a reference to Scripture , I must crave your permission , even at the risk of intruding on your limits , and entering into a somewhat critical and theolog ical discussion , to examine his arguments seriatim , as far as the scattered , and even confused manner in which they appear in his book will allow
me to do . The ^ rst argument in favour of his position is drawn from our Saviour s words , John v . 39 ; " Search the Scriptures , for in them ye think ye have eternal life : and they are they which testify of me . " Upon which he remarks , " Testification can onl y be made in the case oi a past occurrence ; it is never used in the way of a prophecy ; " from which he argues that because the Scri ptures ( i . e . of the Old Testament ) testified Christ
or , they testified of an antecedent appearance of Christ . This argument , however , will fail of its force , if we find the word testily used m Hol y Writ to express a solemn assurance of a future event . And so it is not unfrequentl y used . Thus , Deuter . ix . 19 ; ' It thou do at all forget the Lord thy God , " & c . « I testify against you tins day that ye shall surely perish . " 1 Thess . iv . 6 <¦ The Lord is the avenger of all such ( evildoers ) as we also have forewarned you and testified . J
T connexion with this subject , Mr . O'Brien quotes the prophecy of Isaiah , ch . Im . arguing from the mere fact of its being expressed " in the past tense , " that it "bears reference , irrefutably , to a former occurrence , but including also , in the sequel , the idea of a future reappearance . To this I answer , first , that the Hebrew prophets frequently represented things to come , as already past , to show the certainty of their coming to pass ; and that this is particularly the case in the of Isaiah
writings , as may be proved in instances where his words are not capable of being referred to a past event . And , secondly , I answer , that if " a previous incarnation of the \ o ?( os" had taken place , " and a crucifixion likewise , as an atonement for the sins of humanity , " no subsequent incarnation or crucifixion could have been needed . That the Son of God was once incarnate , and was once crucified for the atonement of the sms of menin the of Jesus of Nazareth have
, person , we reason to be fully satisfied : that he suffered but once , we have the repeated testimony of the inspired apostle , " In that he died , he died unto sin once ; Rom vi . 10 . " The offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all ; Hebr x . 10 ; " Nor yet that he should offer himself often , for then must he often have suffered since the foundation of the world but now ONCE in the end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself . " Hebrix 2526 This le sentenis
. . , . sing ce m my judgment , a sufficient reply to any argument in favour of " a primeval crucifixion" which can be drawn from the characteristically proleptical style of prophecy . And why , let me inquire , should the prophecy of the « coming of Shiloh , " or he that should be sent , be of such importance , if Shiloh had alread y come ? What meaning is there
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Remarks On Henry O'Brien's Essay On The Round Towers Of Ireland.
or as a crucifixion of the Messiah previous to his crucifixion under 1 ontius Pilate , is taught or intimated in any degree of Freemasonry , be it symbolical or sublime , Jewish or Christian , 1 take upon myself to deny That He did indeed appear in the character of " the Angel of the Lord , and in human form did hold communication with the patriarchs , with Abraham , Jacob , Moses , Joshua , and others , I do not hesitate to admit ; but a rimeval or antediluvian incarnation and
p cru'wfixion , I positively assert , is contrary to Scripture . As , however , Mr . O'Brien has endeavoured to establish his position by a reference to Scripture , I must crave your permission , even at the risk of intruding on your limits , and entering into a somewhat critical and theolog ical discussion , to examine his arguments seriatim , as far as the scattered , and even confused manner in which they appear in his book will allow
me to do . The ^ rst argument in favour of his position is drawn from our Saviour s words , John v . 39 ; " Search the Scriptures , for in them ye think ye have eternal life : and they are they which testify of me . " Upon which he remarks , " Testification can onl y be made in the case oi a past occurrence ; it is never used in the way of a prophecy ; " from which he argues that because the Scri ptures ( i . e . of the Old Testament ) testified Christ
or , they testified of an antecedent appearance of Christ . This argument , however , will fail of its force , if we find the word testily used m Hol y Writ to express a solemn assurance of a future event . And so it is not unfrequentl y used . Thus , Deuter . ix . 19 ; ' It thou do at all forget the Lord thy God , " & c . « I testify against you tins day that ye shall surely perish . " 1 Thess . iv . 6 <¦ The Lord is the avenger of all such ( evildoers ) as we also have forewarned you and testified . J
T connexion with this subject , Mr . O'Brien quotes the prophecy of Isaiah , ch . Im . arguing from the mere fact of its being expressed " in the past tense , " that it "bears reference , irrefutably , to a former occurrence , but including also , in the sequel , the idea of a future reappearance . To this I answer , first , that the Hebrew prophets frequently represented things to come , as already past , to show the certainty of their coming to pass ; and that this is particularly the case in the of Isaiah
writings , as may be proved in instances where his words are not capable of being referred to a past event . And , secondly , I answer , that if " a previous incarnation of the \ o ?( os" had taken place , " and a crucifixion likewise , as an atonement for the sins of humanity , " no subsequent incarnation or crucifixion could have been needed . That the Son of God was once incarnate , and was once crucified for the atonement of the sms of menin the of Jesus of Nazareth have
, person , we reason to be fully satisfied : that he suffered but once , we have the repeated testimony of the inspired apostle , " In that he died , he died unto sin once ; Rom vi . 10 . " The offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all ; Hebr x . 10 ; " Nor yet that he should offer himself often , for then must he often have suffered since the foundation of the world but now ONCE in the end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself . " Hebrix 2526 This le sentenis
. . , . sing ce m my judgment , a sufficient reply to any argument in favour of " a primeval crucifixion" which can be drawn from the characteristically proleptical style of prophecy . And why , let me inquire , should the prophecy of the « coming of Shiloh , " or he that should be sent , be of such importance , if Shiloh had alread y come ? What meaning is there