Jesus, Prophet of Islam - The Islamic Bulletin

228 Jesus, Prophet of Islam

(Matthew 9: 8): 'When the multitude saw il, they mar­

velled, and glorified God, who had given such power

unto men'

At the time that Herod heard of him, it was conjec­

tured by some that he was Elias, by others, a Prophet,

and by sorne that he was John risen from the dead; but

noneofthemimaginedthathe waseitherthemosthigh

God Himself, or the maker of the world under God. It

wasnotso much assuggestedby anypersonthatJesus

performedhismightyworksbyanypowerof his own.

H the doctrine of the divinity of Christ had been ac­

tually preached by the apœtles, and the Iewish converts

in general hadadopted il, it could not but have been

weH known to the unbelieving Jews. And would they,

who were at that time, and have been ever sinœ, so ex­

ceedingly zealous with respect to the doctrine of the

Divine Unity, not have taken the alarm, and have urged

this objection to Christianity, as teaching the belief of

more Goos than one in the apostolic age?

And yel: no trace of anything of this nature can be

perceived in the whole history of the book of Acts, or

anywhere else in the New Testament. To answer the

charge of holding two or three Goos, is a very œnsider­

able article in thewritingsof severalofthe ancientChris­

tian Fathers, Why then do we find nothing of this kind

in the age of the apostles? The only answer is, that then

there was no occasion for it, the doctrine of the divinity

of Christ not then having been put forward.

What was the accusation againstStephen, (Acis 6: 13),

but his speaking blasphemous things against the tem­

ple and the law? Ifwe accompany the apostle Paul in

anhis travels, and attend to his discourseswith the Iews

in their synagogues, and their perpetual and inveterate

persecution of him, we shall find no trace of their so

much as suspecting that he preached a new divinity, as

the godhead of Christ must have appeared, and always

has appeared to them.

Jsit possible to give due attention to these considera­

tions, and not be aware that the apostles had never been

instructed inany such doctrines as those of the divinity

or pre-existence of Christ? Hthey had, as the doctrines

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