Peter Annet

“ Cavillers may talk themselves blind, learned doctors may preach themselves hoarse, commentators may write "so many books, that the world would not contain them," they will never be able to make any thing more of this story than that a poor, ignorant, credulous man, dreamed in his sleep that an angel had been talking nonsense to him ”

“ And yet not literally to believe either or both of these worse than "old wives' tales," is to subject a man to persecution; not to affect to believe that which, when stripped of the absurd reverence which has been cast round it, no man ever did or ever can believe, is to be imputed to him as a reproach of so horrible a nature, that, thousands, who treat it as it deserves in their own minds, dare not avow their disbelief; not to commit the immoral act of self-delusion and debasement is imputed as a crime, and men are shunned because they are moral. ”

“ But notwithstanding this, notwithstanding the exultation between the women, Joseph was not to be let into the secret; all the rapturous feelings of Mary were now subdued; she not only suppressed her joy which seemed unbounded, but she kept the whole matter a profound secret, even at a risk of being turned out of doors as a strumpet, and an angel is obliged to be sent from God to Joseph in a dream, to prevent the catastrophe; the deception is approved by God, who sends the "angel from heaven" to reconcile Joseph to his wife's perfidy.
According to Matthew, a certain man had a dream. ”

“ And Mary said, 'Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy word.' And the angel departed from her.
"39. And Mary arose in those days, and went into the hill-country with haste, into a city of Juda.
"40. And entered into the house of Zacharias, and saluted Elizabeth.
"41. And it came to pass, that, when Elizabeth heard the salutation of Mary, the babe leaped in her womb and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Ghost.
"42. And she spake out with a loud voice, and said, 'Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb.'
"43. ”

“ The Unitarians, reject all that is related of the birth of Christ, as spurious and interpolated, and of course consider him as the son of Joseph and Mary, begotten in the ordinary way; and they give references to many scholars and inquisitive men, in whose works the curious reader will find a number of learned arguments against the stories of Matthew and Luke being received, and to these he is referred. ”

“ All sects proclaim this joy, at the same moment, as each makes converts from the others; with all of them reason to choose your faith is the great the good, but having exercised it so far, there you must stop, reason must be instantly extinguished ”

“ To prevent this, says the learned Doctor, an angel appeared to him in a dream (what does appearing in a dream mean, simply in his imagination) and told him the story as related by Matthew. The learned Doctor says: "Joseph being awaked from his dream, perceived it had been sent by God, as well because Mary, upon his enquiry, related to him what had happened to her just after the same manner as the angel had told him in his sleep."
To what miserable shifts is folly driven to support superstition; what miserable pretexts does roguery have recourse to, to propagate and uphold imposition! ”

“ Moral evidence there is none, there can be none;—there is nothing in the story which can be compared and contrasted; there is nothing out of it which can elucidate it; it is nothing more than a pretended relation of a credulous man—That he, being a sleep, had dreamed a dream.:
According to the account given by St. Luke, not one word of all this story is true.
St. Luke. Chap. I.—Here the story is altogether, from the beginning to the end, a different one from that told by Matthew. Here there is no account,
1. Of Mary being found with child.
2. Of Joseph's intention to put her away. ”

“ The whole of the foregoing matter, as well that taken from Matthew as that from Luke, is rejected by the Unitarians as spurious. This sect, which is every day increasing, contains, and has long contained, many very learned men; and these men have for the use of the sect made a new translation of the Testament, which is published under the title of "The New Testament, in an improved Version," &c.
In a long note, appended to the 16th verse of the 1st chapter of St. Matthew, reasons are given for rejecting the story of the miraculous conception. ”

“ Any person or persons, having been educated in or having at any time made profession of the Christian religion within this realm, shall by writing, printing, teaching, or advised speaking, deny any one or the persons in the Holy Trinity to be God, or shall ”

“ What follows is a short examination of the two stories on the principles of what is usually called common sense, in the way in which an ordinary man would investigate a tale in which he was interested in knowing the truth. ”

“ And Zacharias said unto the angel, 'Whereby shall I know this? for I am an old man, and my wife well stricken in years.'
"19. And the angel answering said unto him, 'I am Gabriel, that stand in the presence of God ”