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+Project Gutenberg's Five Pebbles from the Brook, by George Bethune English
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Five Pebbles from the Brook
+
+Author: George Bethune English
+
+Release Date: November 20, 2006 [EBook #19879]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK FIVE PEBBLES FROM THE BROOK ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Charles Klingman
+
+
+
+
+
+FIVE PEBBLES
+
+From
+
+THE BROOK.
+
+A Reply
+
+TO
+
+"A DEFENCE OF CHRISTIANITY"
+
+WRITTEN BY
+
+EDWARD EVERETT,
+
+GREEK PROFESSOR OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY
+IN ANSWER TO
+"THE GROUNDS OF CHRISTIANITY EXAMINED
+BY
+COMPARING THE NEW TESTAMENT WITH THE OLD"
+
+BY
+GEORGE BETHUNE ENGLISH.
+
+"Should a wise man utter vain knowledge, and fill his belly with the
+east wind?"
+"Should he reason with unprofitable talk? or with speeches
+wherewith he can do no good?--Thou chooseth[fn1] the tongue of
+the crafty. Thy own mouth condemneth thee, and not I: yea, thine
+own lips testify against thee."
+"Behold I will make thee a new sharp threshing instrument having
+teeth."
+
+PHILADELPHIA:
+
+PRINTED FOR THE AUTHOR.
+
+1824.
+
+[PG Editor's Note: Many  printer's errors in this text
+have been retained as found in the original--in particular
+the will be found a large number of mismatched and
+wrongspace quotation marks.]
+
+ADVERTISEMENT.
+
+WHEN I left America, I had no intention of giving Mr. Everett's
+book a formal answer: but having learned since my arrival in the
+Old World, that: the controversy in which I had engaged myself
+had attracted some attention, and had been reviewed by a
+distinguished member of a German university, my hopes of being
+serviceable to the cause of truth and philanthrophy are revived,
+and I have therefore determined to give a reply to Mr. Everett's
+publication.
+
+In this Work, as in my prior writings, I have taken for granted the
+Divine Authority of the Old Testament, and I have argued upon the
+principle that every book, claiming to be considered as a Divine
+revelation and building itself upon the Old Testament as upon a
+foundation, must agree with it, otherwise the superstructure
+cannot stand. The New Testament, the Talmud, and the Koran are
+all placed by their authors upon the Law and the Prophets, as an
+edifice is upon its foundation; and if it be true that any or all of
+them be found to be irreconcileable with the primitive Revelation
+to which they all refer themselves, the question as to their Divine
+Authority is decided against them, most obviously and completely.
+
+This work was written in Egypt and forwarded to the U. States,
+while I was preparing to accompany Ismael Pacha to the conquest
+of Ethiopia; an expedition in which I expected to perish, and
+therefore felt it to be my duty to leave behind me, something from
+which my countrymen might learn what were my real sentiments
+upon a most important and interesting subject; and as I hoped
+would learn too, how grossly they had been deluded into building
+their faith and hope upon a demonstrated error.
+
+On my arrival from Egypt I found that the MS. had not been
+published, and I was advised by several, of my friends to abandon
+the struggle and to imitate their example; in submitting to the
+despotism of popular opinion, which, they said, it was imprudent to
+oppose. I was so far influenced by these representations--
+extraordinary indeed in a country which  boasts that here freedom
+of opinion and of speech is established by law--that I intended to
+confine myself to sending the MS. to Mr. Everett; in the belief that
+when he should have the weakness of his arguments in behalf of
+what he defended and the injustice of his aspersions upon me,
+fairly and evidently laid before him, that he would make me at
+least a private apology. He chose to preserve a sullen silence,
+probably believing that he is so securely seated in the saddle
+which his brethren have girthed upon the back of "a strong ass"
+that; there is no danger that the animal will give him a fall.
+
+Not a little moved at this, I determined to do my myself justice, and
+to publish the pages following.
+
+This book is not the work of an Infidel. I am not an infidel; what I
+have learned and seen in Europe, Asia and Africa, while it has
+confirmed my reasons for rejecting the New Testament, has
+rooted in my mind the conviction that the ancient Bible does
+contain a revelation from the God of Nature, as firmly as my belief
+in the first proposition of Euclid.
+
+The whole analogy of Nature, while it is in many respects opposed
+to the characteristics ascribed to the Divinity by the
+metaphysicians, yet bears witness in my opinion, that this world
+was made and is governed by just such a Being as the Jehovah of
+the Old Testament; while the palpable fulfillment of predictions
+contained in that book, and which is so strikingly manifest in the
+Old World, leaves in my mind no doubt whatever, of the ultimate
+fulfillment of all that it promises, and all that it threatens.
+
+I cannot do better than to conclude these observations with the
+manly declaration of the celebrated Christian orator Dr. Chalmers,
+"We are ready, (says he,) to admit that as the object of the inquiry
+is not the character, but the Truth of Christianity, the philosopher
+should be careful to protect his mind from the delusions of its
+charms.  He should separate the exercises of the understanding
+from the tendencies of the fancy or of the heart. He should be
+prepared to follow the light of evidence, though it should lead him
+to conclusions the most painful and melancholy. He should train
+his mind to all the hardihood of abstract and unfeeling intelligence.
+He should give up every thing to the supremacy of argument and
+he able to renounce without a sigh all the tenderest
+possessions[fn 2] of infancy, the moment that TRUTH demands of
+him the sacrifice." (Dr. Chalmers on the Evidence and Authority of
+the Christian Religion. Ch. I.)
+
+Finally, let the Reader remember, that "there is one thing in the
+world more contemptible than the slave of a tyrant--it is the dupe
+of a SOPHIST."
+
+G. B. E.
+
+PEBBLE I
+
+And David "chose him five smooth stones out of the brook, and
+put them in a shepherd's bag which he had, even in a scrip: and
+his sling was in his hand: and he drew near to the Philistine."
+
+Mr. Everett commences his work with the following remarks. "Was
+Jesus Christ the person foretold by the prophets, as the Messiah
+of the Jews?; one method, and a very obvious one, of examining
+his claims to this character, is to compare his person, life, actions,
+and doctrine, with the supposed predictions of them. But if it also
+appear that this Jesus wrought such works, as evinced that he
+enjoyed the supernatural assistance and cooperation of God, this
+certainly is a fact of great importance. For we cannot say, that in
+estimating the validity of our Lord's claims to the character of
+Messiah, it is of no consequence whether, while he advanced
+those claims, he wrought such works as proved his intimacy with
+the God of truth. While he professed himself the Messiah, is it
+indifferent whether he was showing himself to be as being beyond
+delusion, and above imposture?--Let us make the case our own.
+Suppose that we were witnesses of the miraculous works of a
+personage of pretensions like our Lord's, should we think it
+necessary or reasonable to resort to long courses of argument, or
+indeed to any process of the understanding, except what was
+requisite to establish the fact of the miracles? Should we, while he
+was opening the eyes of the blind, and raising the dead from their
+graves, feel it necessary to be deciphering prophecies, and
+weighing these[fn 3] difficulties? Now we may transfer this case to
+that of Christianity. The miracles of our Lord are either true or
+false. The infidel if he maintain the latter must prove it; and if the
+former can be made to appear, they are beyond all comparison
+the most direct and convincing testimony that can be devised," p.
+1, 2. of Mr. Everett's work.
+
+To this statement I would reply--that I do not know what right Mr.
+Everett has to call upon his opponent, to prove a negative. It was
+his business to prove the affirmative of his question, and to show
+that these miracles actually were performed, before he proceeded
+to argue upon the strength of them. It is, I conceive, impossible to
+demonstrate that miracles said to have been wrought 1800 years
+ago, were not performed; but it is, I believe, quite possible to show
+that there is no sufficient proof that they were. One of the reasons
+given, in the 2d, ch. as I think, of the grounds of Christianity
+examined, for throwing out of consideration the miracles recorded
+in the New Testament in examining the question of the
+Messiahship of Jesus, was, that the New Testament itself, was not
+a sufficient proof that these miracles were actually wrought; and
+this, with the reader's indulgence, I think I can plainly show.
+
+Mr. Everett allows p. 450 of his work, what indeed he cannot deny,
+that the four Gospels do sometimes contradict each other in their
+narratives; and he refers with approbation, in a note to p. 458, to a
+work of Lessing's, which he says, "ought to be read by every one
+who is overfond of Harmonies." This work of Lessing's, if I
+recollect right, maintains, that all hopes of harmonizing the
+evangelists, of reconciling their contradictions, must be given up.
+[See Lessings Sammliche, Schriften, ch. v. S. 150, as quoted by
+Mr. Everett, p. 458.]
+
+Now these contradictions, if they do exist, unquestionably argue
+one of two things; either fraud, or want of accurate information in
+their authors, as no man who wishes to be considered "compos
+mentis" will deny, because, accurate information excludes the
+possibility of contradiction in authors willing to tell the truth, and
+much more in inspired authors, who must be incapable of writing
+anything but the truth.
+
+The Christian, therefore, must, it seems to me, on account of
+these contradictions, allow one of two things; either, that the
+evangelists were fraudulent men, or else that the Gospels were
+not written by the Apostles and immediate followers of Jesus:
+because want of accurate information, cannot be supposed of the
+Apostles and immediate followers of Jesus; as having been
+constantly with him, from the beginning, to the end of his
+ministery, they must have been perfectly acquainted with his
+actions and doctrines. Neither can lapse of memory be urged;
+because the Gospels represent Jesus as saying, John ch. xvi. 26,
+that they should have the aid of inspiration, which "should, bring
+all things, to remembrance;" and in Acts ch. iv. 31, all the followers
+of Jesus are represented as having actually received the effusion
+of the Holy Ghost: of course want of accurate information, and
+lapse or memory in them cannot be supposed.
+
+The Christian, therefore, must allow, since contradictions do exist,
+if he would avoid accusing the Apostles and disciples of Jesus of
+fraud, that the Gospels were not written by the Apostles and first
+followers of Jesus, but that they were written by men, who had no
+accurate information about the events they record. It is therefore
+plain, that the miracles recorded in the Gospels, are incapable of
+proof. For what Christian in his senses can ask another man to
+believe accounts of miracles, which accounts, he must at the
+same time allow, were written by fraudulent men, or by men who
+had no accurate information upon the subjects about which they
+write.
+
+The edge of this, as I think, smites right through the neck of Mr.
+Everett's argument on which his work depends, and leaves his
+book--"a gasping head---a quivering trunk." Sic transit gloria
+mundi.
+
+But in order to make Mr. Everett still farther Sensible how easily
+his argument can be "overturned, overturned and overturned," I
+will suppose a reasonable and reasoning man, desirous to verify
+the claims of the books of the New Testament as containing a
+Revelation from God, to set down to scrutinize with anxious
+solicitude every argument of internal and external evidence, in
+favour of their authenticity, and authority, in the hope of becoming
+satisfied of the truth of their claims. But in the course of his
+examination, such a man will assuredly find, that almost every
+step in his inquiry, is an occasion of doubt and of difficulty.
+
+Books containing Revelations from the Supreme, must be
+consistent with themselves. But he will observe on a careful
+perusal of the evangelists, that the contradictions, particularly in
+the narratives of the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus, are
+numerous; and that all the ingenuity of Christian writers, has been
+exhausted in vain in the attempt to reconcile them; for example,
+the Gospel called of Matthew says, ch. iii. 14, that John the
+Baptist, knew Jesus when he came to him to be baptised, (which
+was very probable on account of the relationship and intimacy
+subsisting between Mary the mother of Jesus, and: Elizabeth the
+mother of John, as mentioned in the Gospel called of Luke, ch. i.
+18, it could hardly have been otherwise) but the author of the
+Gospel called of John says, ch. i. 31, that John knew him not, until
+he was designated by the descent of the Holy Ghost upon him.
+
+Again, it is said in the Gospel called of John, ch. ii. 14. that Jesus,
+on his first visit to Jerusalem after he had commenced his
+preaching, cast the buyers and sellers out of the Temple, whereas
+the Gospel called of Matthew, and also those called of Mark and
+Luke, represent this to have been done by Jesus at his last visit to
+Jerusalem. See Matt. ch. xxi. 12. Mark ch. xi. 15. Luke ch. xix. 45.
+
+Again, the author of the Gospel called of John, represents the last
+supper or Jesus with his Apostles, to have taken place (See ch.
+xiii. 1. and ch. xviii. 28.) on the eve before the feast of the
+passover, and that Jesus was crucified on the feast day itself,
+while the authors of the other Gospels represent the first event to
+have taken place, on the evening of the passover itself, and that
+Jesus was crucified the day after. See Matt. Ch. xxvi. 18. Mark xiv.
+12. Luke ch. xxii. 7. Now Matthew and John must, according to the
+Gospels themselves, have been present with Jesus when he
+drove the buyers and sellers out of the Temple, and at his last
+supper, and when he was seized in the garden of Gethsemane;
+they must therefore have known perfectly whether Jesus drove
+the buyers; and sellers out of the Temple, at his first visit to
+Jerusalem in their company; or at his last, and whether his last
+supper, and his seizure in the garden of Gethsemane took place
+on the eve before this passover their great national festival, or on
+the evening of the passover itself. They could not forget the time
+and place of events, so affecting and important as the last
+mentioned, and when we add to these considerations, that the
+Gospels represent Jesus as saying, (John ch. xiv.;26.) that they
+should be inspired by the Holy Spirit, which "should bring all things
+to remembrance," the supposition that the real Matthew and John
+could contradict each other in this manner, becomes quite
+inadmissable.
+
+In the account of the resurrection of Jesus, the most important fact
+of Christianity, we also find several contradictions; for instance,
+the Gospel called of Matthew says, that the first appearance of
+Jesus to his disciples after his resurrection, was in Galillee, (See
+Matt. ch.xxxviii. 7,) while the other evangelists assert, that his first
+appearance to them after that event was at Jerusalem. See Mark
+ch. xvi., Luke ch. xxiv. John ch.xx. The Gospel called of John
+says, that he afterwards appeared to them in Galilee: but
+according to that of Luke, the disciples did not go to Galilee to
+meet Jesus; for that Gospel says, that Jesus expressly ordered
+his disciples to tarry at Jerusalem, where they should receive the
+effusion of the Holy Ghost, and that after giving that order he was
+taken up to Heaven. See Luke ch. xxiv. 49, 50, also, the first ch. of
+Acts. [fn 4]
+
+This greatly invalidates the credibility of these accounts; for as
+much as that the historical testimony in attestation of supernatural
+events, ought, because such events are out of the common
+course of nature, to be strong and unexceptionable.
+
+He will observe too that these writers, supposed to have been the
+inspired followers of Jesus Christ, have applied many passages of
+the Old Testament as prophecies of Jesus, when it is most
+certain, (and is at the present day allowed by Christian Biblical
+Critics of the highest standing) from examining those passages in
+their context in the Old Testament, that they are not prophecies of
+Jesus; and that some of the passages cited are in fact no
+prophecies at all, but are merely historical. Nor is this all, these
+authors have cited as prophecies and proof texts, passages which
+do not exist in the Old Testament. From which it seems to follow
+that they must have forged those passages, or quoted them from
+some Apocryphal book; which they believed to be inspired. If they
+were capable of the first, they were not the honest and inspired
+followers and disciples of Jesus Christ; if they were capable of the
+last, they were not Jews but Gentiles, ignorant that the Jews in the
+time of Jesus, acknowledged no books as inspired scripture but
+the books of the Old Testament. See Appendix, A.
+
+A reasonable and reasoning man, such as I have supposed, may
+ask himself if it be possible that men filled with the Holy Ghost,
+and whose minds were supernaturally opened to understand the
+scriptures, could make mistakes such as these.
+
+Lastly, he will recollect, on discovering what is about to be stated,
+that the Apostles and followers of Jesus Christ were Jews, and
+consequently could not be ignorant of what was notorious to the
+whole nation, for instance, that the Jewish Sabbath begins at
+sunset on Friday evening, and ends at sunset on Saturday
+evening. Nevertheless the author of the Gospel called of Matthew
+makes ch. xxviii. 1. the Sabbath to end at dawn of day on Sunday
+morning: while the author of that called of John apparently
+reckons, ch. xx. 19. the evening of the first day of the week as a
+part of the first day of the week; whereas it is in fact, according to
+the law and customs of the Jews, who then and now reckon their
+days from sunset to sunset, the beginning and a part of the
+second day of the week. Such mistakes appear to me to indicate
+that the writers of those Gospels were Gentiles not perfectly
+acquainted with Jewish customs, and therefore not Matthew and
+John.[fn 6]
+
+There are other traces of ignorance of Jewish customs, to be
+found in the Gospel called of Matthew, which betray the Gentilism
+of the author of it. For instance, he says ch. xxvi. 24[fn7], that
+Jesus told Peter, that "before the cock crew he should deny him
+thrice;" the same is also found in Mark ch. xiv. 30. in Luke ch. xxii.
+54[fn8], and in John ch. xiii. 38. Now it is asserted in the Mishna (i.
+e the oral law of the Jews.) in the Bava Kama according to Mr.
+Everett p. 448. of his work, that cocks were not permitted in
+Jerusalem where Peter's denial took place; [probably because that
+bird is constantly scratching up the ground with his feet, and was
+thereby liable to turn up impurities, by touching which in passing
+by, a Jew would be ceremonially defiled, and rendered incapable
+of visiting the Temple to perform his devotions, till after the
+evening of the day on which the defilement took place], therefore
+all the four Gospels which all contain, this story, must have been
+written by Gentiles ignorant of the custom which belies the story.
+
+Some Christian writers have endeavoured to get rid of this
+objection, by attempting to prove "that the crowing of the cock
+here mentioned, does not mean actually the crowing of a cock, but
+'the sound of a trumpet!'" while others, blushing at the hardihood
+of their brethren, think it more prudent to maintain, that the author
+of the Mishna was ignorant of Jewish customs, and that the
+writers of the Gospels were perfectly acquainted with them; and
+that therefore every good Christian was bound in conscience not
+to regard the objection.
+
+But the prohibition of cocks from entering the Holy city is so
+perfectly of a piece with many other cautions against defilement
+observed by the Jews, and is so perfectly in the taste of the times
+of the Pharisees, "the careful washers of plates and platters,"--the
+"tithers of mint, anise, and cummin," not to mention the reason
+above expressed, which perhaps was, to say truth, according to
+the regulations against defilement contained in the Pentateuch a
+sufficient reason for excluding that bird from the city, where stood
+the Temple, that the reader will probably believe that such a
+custom might have existed.
+
+Again, it is said Matt. xxvii. 62, that the Chief Priests and
+Pharisees went to Pilate; demanded a guard; went to the
+Sepulchre of Jesus, sealed the door, and set watch. Now Jesus is
+said to have arisen on the day after this, on the first day of the
+week, i.e. Sunday, of course the day before was Saturday of the
+Jewish Sabbath. I maintain that the Chief Priests and Pharisees,
+who objected to Jesus curing the sick and rubbing corn from the
+ear, in order to satisfy his hunger on the Sabbath day; I maintain
+that it is utterly incredible, that these men should have gone to
+Pilate on public business, and transacted all this on their Sabbath.
+For such an action would have come completely within the spirit,
+and the letter of the Laws against breaking the Sabbath contained
+in the-Pentateuch, which makes the penalty of such actions as are
+here ascribed to the Chief Priests and rigorous Pharisees, nothing
+less than stoning to death. I infer therefore, that the author of the
+Gospel of Matthew was ignorant of this, and of course not a Jew,
+and consequently not Matthew.
+
+I would observe further, in connection with this subject, that Jesus
+is represented, Matt. xxiii. 35, as saying, that upon the Jews of this
+time should come "the blood of Zecharias the son of Barachias
+whom ye slew between the Temple and the altar." Now, I believe
+that it is recorded in Josephus' history, that the Jews slew this
+Zecharias in the time of the Jewish war, about forty years after
+Jesus is represented as saying, that they had killed him already.
+Of course Jesus never could have said this, nor would a Jew
+acquainted with the times, as Matthew must have been, have
+been guilty of such an anachronism. The writer of that Gospel
+must therefore, have been a Gentile, and not Matthew. The same
+mistake is made by Luke xi. 51.
+
+On turning his attention to the external evidence in favour of the
+authenticity of the Gospels, the difficulties and objections
+accumulate. He will find, that they are not mentioned by any writer
+earlier than the latter half of the second century, after the birth of
+Jesus. The first writers who name the four Gospels, were
+Irenaeus, and Tertullian.[fn9] The competency of the testimony of
+these Fathers of the church, as to the genuineness of these
+books, is invalidated by the fact, (See Middleton's Free Enquiry)
+that they admitted the principle of the lawfulness of pious frauds,
+and from their having acted upon this principle, in having asserted
+in their writings, as from their personal knowledge, things which
+were certainly false; (See the work above referred to) while their
+capability to distinguish the genuine writings of the Apostles, from
+the numerous forgeries in their names that appeared about the
+same time that the four Gospels begin to be mentioned, is
+rendered suspicious by the fact, that they also give their sanction
+as Divine Scriptures, to books notoriously apocryphal; for instance
+the book of Enoch and the Sybilline Oracles.[fn11] The testimony
+of the Fathers who succeeded them is liable to the same
+objections, with this aggravation that its value diminishes more
+and more, as the distance of the ages in which they flourished
+increases, from that of Jesus Christ.
+
+Thirdly, He will find that these Gospels were never received by the
+Mother Church of Jerusalem and Judea, founded by the Apostles.
+The Jewish Christians, the countrymen of Jesus, who one would
+think had the best means of knowing the real history, and real
+doctrines of Jesus and his Apostles, uniformly rejected not only
+these Gospels, but all the other books of the New
+Testament.[fn12] They were also rejected, by several sects of
+Christians who flourished in the early ages of Christianity.
+
+Fourthly, he will learn too that the Christians most distinguished
+for their learning on this subject, for instance, Michaelis, Semler,
+Lessing, Eichorn, and the erudite Bishop Marsh, do allow and
+maintain in their works, that the Gospels according to Matthew,
+Mark and Luke were compiled from accounts of the life and
+doctrines of Jesus which became, after different additions,
+revisions and translations, the BASIS of our present Gospels; from
+such separate materials, which had gone through different hands,
+and had acquired a variety of text and context, from the different
+transcripts and translations in which they circulated, though for the
+most part they were copied verbatim from one another, several
+Gospels, among which were our three first Matthew Mark and
+Luke, were composed AFTER [fn13] the destruction of Jerusalem,
+and designated some by the names of the readers for whom they
+were designed, and others by the names of their authors and
+compilers. (See the life of Semler in Eichorn's Universal Library,
+as quoted by Mr. E. p. 465. of his work.)
+
+ These Gospels then, in the opinion of these learned Christians,
+were originally compiled from anonymous writings, which had
+gone through different hands and been variously altered, and
+added to in the passage, before they became the BASIS,!! of our
+present Gospels.[fn14]
+
+Lastly, he will discover, that since their construction from such
+nameless materials, they have been further altered and
+interpolated. Celsus accuses the Christians of his time (the latter
+part of the 2nd century) of "continually altering their Gospels;" and
+the ancient Christian sects accuse each other of the same fact.
+That these accusations were well founded, is evident from
+Griesbach's edition of the Greek Testament, where besides the
+notice of some hundred thousands of various readings, we find
+not only single words, but whole phrases, and verses, and even
+entire paragraphs rejected as corruptions and interpolations.
+Neither have all these corruptions been accidental; for as much as
+the strongest text in the New Testament, in support of the doctrine
+of the Trinity and the Divinity of Jesus Christ, which is to be found
+in the first Epistle, called of John ch. v. 7, "there are three that
+bear witness in Heaven. The Father, the Word, and the Holy
+Ghost and these three are one," has been struck out of the text by
+Griesbach, himself a Trinitarian, as a pious fraud, and is now I
+believe universally acknowledged as such by learned Christians.
+
+There are also, two other passages which for ages have been
+cited as proofs of the Divinity of Jesus (viz. "The Church of God
+which he has redeemed with his own blood," Acts ch. xx. 28. and
+"God was manifested in the flesh," in the first Epistle to Timothy,
+ch. iii. 16.) which the same Critic has proved to have been altered
+from their original reading to favour the same doctrine, and it is
+impossible to say how many more frauds of a similar nature might
+be detected, if the learned and candid Christians before-
+mentioned were in possession of the primitive manuscripts of the
+New Testament.[fn15]
+
+All these enormities Mr. Everett, who has a light hand in writing
+upon some subjects, comprizes with great tenderness in the
+following expressions, "our copies of the New Testament by the
+lapse of time, have suffered some literal alterations, which may
+have fallen occasionally on the quoted texts (he is trying to justify
+the writers of the New Testament, for quoting the Old Testament
+otherwise than it is written) and thus made them to differ from the
+reading of the Old Testament," p. 279.
+
+I have supposed that a reasonable and reasoning man, desirous
+to ascertain the truth of the religion of the Christians, and in the
+hope of finding it well founded, in the course of his examination of
+the testimony for the authenticity and authority of the books of the
+New Testament, comes to the knowledge of all these
+circumstances. If the reader be such a man, I would ask him, if he
+can rationally rest his belief in the moral attributes of God and his
+faith in a future life, upon a foundation composed of such
+materials?
+
+Mr. Everett observes "that as prophecy and miracle are equally
+divine works, it is impossible that they should contradict each
+other. They are equally the works of the God of truth, and
+whatever contradiction there appears to be between them, must
+be but apparent. If a person of whatever pretensions proposes to
+work miracles in support of those pretensions, in which
+nevertheless he is contradicted by express prophecy, one of these
+things is certain--that the prophecy is a forged one--or that we
+have mistaken the meaning of it--or that the miracles are not real,"
+p. 3. of Mr. Everett's work.
+
+Granted--upon this ground I think that Mr. Everett can fairly be
+brought to issue. I presume that he will hardly persist in
+maintaining that the Gospels are a sufficient proof of the miracles
+they record, in the face of the objections to their authenticity and
+authority already stated--and as neither he nor myself maintain
+that the prophecies, with regard to the Messiah, contained in the
+Old Testament were forged, it remains only to be considered,
+whether he or I have mistaken the meaning of them. So that, as I
+have repeatedly said in my former publications, the prophets, after
+all, are the only criterion which can be appealed to certainly most
+important to the great interests of humanity, were it only on this
+account, that the dispute has occasioned the most unparalleled
+degradation, misery, and oppression to one of the parties to
+it.[fn16]
+
+ PEBBLE II.
+
+"The Messiah expected by the Jews," says Mr. Everett, at the
+beginning of the second chapter of his book, "and which Mr.
+English supposes to be predicted in the Old Testament, is 'a
+temporal prince, and a conquering pacificator.' The Christians on
+the other hand maintain, that the prophets foretold not a political,
+but a religious institution, not a temporal prince, but a moral
+teacher, and spiritual Saviour. Which of these opposite views of
+the predicted character of the Messiah is correct, must be decided
+of course by an appeal to particular predictions. But it is also a
+matter of reason, and we have a right to argue upon the question
+from the character of God, and the nature of man. Which of these
+views the Jewish or the Christian doth most commend itself to the
+sincere believer in the moral government of God, and the rational
+and accountable nature of man?"
+
+This statement, I cannot help considering as both artful and unfair.
+That I have represented the Messiah as predicted to be "a
+temporal Prince and a conquering pacificator," is true, but it is not
+the whole truth; Mr. Everett would have it to be understood, that I
+maintained that the Messiah was to be merely "a temporal Prince;"
+whereas, those who will take the trouble to refer to the prior
+chapters of "the grounds of Christianity examined," will find that I
+have endeavoured to prove that the prophets predict, that he was
+also to be "a just, beneficient, wise, and mighty monarch, under
+whose government righteousness was to flourish, and mankind be
+made happy:" and I believe that there is not a single passage from
+the prophets quoted in Mr. Everett's 2d. chapter to prove his views
+of the Messiah, that I have not also myself quoted to prove the
+beneficent character of him I suppose to be predicted.
+
+Mr. Everett unwarily betrays his own unfairness in the following
+passage of his work, p. 63.---"Mr. English objects, that whereas
+the first characteristic of the Messiah was, that he was to be the
+Prince of Peace, in whose time righteousness was to flourish and
+mankind be made happy," &c.[fn17]
+
+How is it possible, I might ask Mr. Everett that I could have
+maintained that the Messiah was to be merely "a temporal Prince,
+and a conquering pacificator," when it is also true, as Mr. Everett
+confesses, that I maintain that "the first characteristic of the
+Messiah was that he was to be the Prince of Peace, in whose time
+righteousness was to flourish and mankind be made happy?" I
+confess, that I feel both contempt and indignation at such an artful
+mis-representation of my opinions, in order to attack them with
+more hopes of success, and as I do not profess to be a Christian, I
+may be excused for expressing what in this case I certainly have a
+right so feel.[fn18] The prophets, literally understood represent (as
+Mr. Everett will not deny) that the Messiah is to be a mighty
+Monarch, enthroned at Jerusalem under whose reign the Jews
+should be restored to their country and converted from their sins
+and errors, and established in the most perfect and endless
+happiness; that he will put down all opposition to his authority, and
+exterminate the wicked out of the earth, and unite the pious and
+good of all the human race under his government, making them
+participators of the eternal happiness of the favoured descendants
+of Abraham, that all sin, sorrow, and error shall be no more, and
+the earth become all Paradise.
+
+"Far more bless'd than that of Eden, And far happier days." [fn19]
+
+The difference between Mr. Everett's and my view of this
+representation is, that I understand the prophets to mean that the
+whole will be literally fulfilled; and Mr. Everett maintains that, that
+part which accords with the Christian view of the Messiah is to be
+literally understood, but that that part which is opposed to it must
+be taken figuratively.
+
+Who is so blind as not to perceive the motives for such an
+incoherent system, of interpretation! The passages which
+represent the Messiah as a Monarch reigning at Jerusalem, and
+whose temporal authority should extend over all the earth, Mr.
+Everett would interpret to signify, (by a figure) "a preacher of
+righteousness, and a spiritual Saviour of the souls of men;"
+because Jesus had no temporal authority whatever, and therefore
+to understand them literally would exclude the claims set up for
+him. The earth's being restored to a Paradisiacal state, and the
+extinction of all sin, violence, and misery throughout its
+circumference, Mr. Everett would interpret to signify, (by. a figure)
+"the blessed events," which have occurred, and the "changes that
+have taken place," since the promulgation of Christianity!! [fn20]
+
+Mr. Everett, in support of his system of interpretation, shows us,
+that the Supreme Being is frequently spoken of in the Old
+Testament, as a King and as a victorious warrior; and therefore
+infers, because such passages must be understood figuratively,
+that the passages in the prophets which speak of the Messiah in
+similar terms, must be also understood figuratively.
+
+To this it seems to me to be a sufficient answer to observe, that
+men who speak of the Deity, are obliged to employ human
+language and human ideas; because:
+
+"What can we reason but from what we know?" and therefore a
+great part of such language will be necessarily figurative; but it by
+no means follows from this, that the writers who are obliged to use
+this figurative language when speaking of the Deity, intend to be
+understood in the same sense when they apply the same
+expressions to describe men and their actions. On the contrary, as
+they were writing to men and for men, it is natural to presume, that
+they meant to be understood in the way that such expressions are
+universally understood by all men, when they relate to men and
+their actions. Such a system, of interpretation as this of Mr.
+Everett's, turns the Bible into a Babel of confusion: a man
+proceeding upon this system, might with equal plausibility turn all
+the good and prosperous kings of Israel and Judah into "Spiritual
+Saviours."[fn21]
+
+"What, says Mr. Everett, p. 63. would be thought of one, who after
+making a collection of passages which ascribe these attributes of
+royalty and conquest to God, such as Mr. English has made of
+those which ascribe such attributes to the Messiah, should infer as
+he does, that God is a just, beneficent; wise and mighty monarch
+reigning on a throne in Jerusalem?"
+
+To this I answer by asking in my turn, what should we think of one,
+who after making a collection, of passages which ascribe these
+attributes of royalty and conquest to God, as Mr. Everett has
+done, should therefore think himself authorised to infer, that the
+history of David the son of Jesse, contained in the Bible, (which,
+as all the world knows, is an oriental book abounding in figurative
+expressions) was not to be understood literally, but that it was
+very possible that this supposed monarch of Israel, who is
+represented as having "saved it from its enemies on every side,"
+was after all, probably only a spiritual saviour of the souls of the
+Israelites, by having distinguished himself as a prophet, a
+preacher of righteousness, and a composer of Psalms!! [fn22]
+
+As Mr. Everett says, I "cheerfully leave this part of the controversy,
+with the answer to this question which every rational inquirer will
+give;" p. 63.
+
+Mr. Everett, however, in maintaining that the Messiah, was to be
+merely a preacher of righteousness, a founder of a new religion,
+and a. spiritual saviour of the souls of men, not only opposes dicta
+of the prophets of the Old Testament, but is expressly
+contradicted by the doctrine of the New, which maintains the same
+ideas of the Messiah that the prophets teach and the Jews
+believe; and this with the indulgence of the reader's patience I will
+plainly show.
+
+The angel is recorded, Luke, ch. i. 31, to have told Mary,
+concerning Jesus whom the author of that Gospel supposes to
+have been the Messiah, that "the Lord God shall give unto him the
+throne of his father David: and he shall reign over the house of
+Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there shall be no end." Now this
+is precisely the doctrine, concerning the Messiah, believed by the
+Jews from that time to the present; for we see that Luke
+represents that the Messiah was not to be merely a spiritual
+saviour of the souls of men, but was actually to set upon the
+throne of David, and reign over the house of Jacob for ever; which
+is precisely what the prophets teach and the Jews believe.
+
+Again, in the same ch. 68, the writer of that Gospel represents
+Zecharias, when filled with the Holy Ghost, as predicting
+concerning Jesus as follows. "Blessed be the Lord God of Israel,
+for he hath visited and redeemed his people, and hath raised up a
+horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David: as he
+spake by the mouth of his holy prophets which have been since
+the world began: that we should be saved from our enemies, and
+from the hand of all that hate us: to perform the mercy promised to
+our Fathers, and to remember his holy covenant: the oath which
+he swore to our father Abraham, that he would grant unto us, that
+we being delivered from the hand of our enemies, might serve him
+without fear in holiness and righteousness before him all the days
+of our life."
+
+Here we see again that in Luke's opinion the Messiah was not to
+be merely "a spiritual saviour of the souls of men," but that he was
+to "save Israel from their enemies and from the hand of all that
+hated them," and this too is precisely what the prophets teach and
+the Jews believe.
+
+Again, from the first ch. of Acts 6. it is evident, that the primitive
+Christians did not believe that the Messiah was to be merely a
+spiritual saviour of the souls of men, but that he would perform for
+Israel what was promised by the prophets. For the Apostles are
+represented there as asking Jesus, previous to his ascension,
+saying "Lord wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to
+Israel?"
+
+The way the writers of the New Testament, get over the objection
+to the Messiahship of Jesus, founded on the nonfulfillment by him
+of the splended visions of the prophets relative to the restoration
+of the dispersion, the punishment of their oppressors, and the
+diffusion of universal happiness to the tribes and of the world,
+(which they represent as the consequence of the coming of the
+Messiah) is, not by maintaining that the Messiah was to be merely
+"a spiritual Saviour of the souls of men," but by affirming that
+Jesus would shortly come again into the world to fulfill them. "The
+Lord Jesus," says the writer of the second Epistle to the
+Thessalonians ch. i. 7, "shall be revealed from Heaven with his
+mighty angels, in flaming fire, taking vengeance on them that
+know not God and obey not the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.
+Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the
+presence of our Lord, and from the glory of his power: when he
+shall come to be glorified in his saints, and to be admired of all
+them that believe."[fn23]
+
+Again, in the xii. ch. of the Revelations, Jesus is apparently
+spoken of as destined "to rule all nations with a rod of iron." And in
+the ii. ch. Jesus is represented as saying, that "he that overcometh
+and keepeth my words unto the end, to him will I give power over
+the nations; and he shall rule them with a rod of iron; as the
+vessels of a potter shall they be broken to shivers even as I
+received of my Father," v: 26, and lastly, not to be tedious, there is
+a passage in the xix. ch. of Revelations, which proves decisively
+against Mr. Everett, that the primitive Christians had even more
+sanguinary ideas of the vengeance of the Messiah upon the
+wicked of the earth, than are even entertained by the Jews. Jesus
+is there, described thus, "I saw Heaven opened, and behold a
+white horse; and he that set upon him was called Faithful and
+True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war, and out
+of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the
+nations; and he shall rule them with a rod of iron, and he treadeth
+the wine press of the fierceness of the wrath of Almighty God," v.
+11, 15. Some idea of the slaughter meant by the writer of the
+Revelations by "treading the wine press of the fierceness of the
+wrath of Almighty God," may be understood from ch. xiv. 20,
+where it is represented that the blood of men came out of this
+wine press "by the space of a thousand and six hundred
+furlongs!!"
+
+I suppose that the reader is quite satisfied by what has been
+adduced, that Mr. Everett's idea of the Messiah's being merely "a
+spiritual saviour of the souls of men," is equally rejected by the Old
+Testament and the New, and since Mr. Everett does not and
+cannot pretend, that Jesus during the long space of 1800 years
+has fulfilled the predictions relating to the Messiah in a literal
+sense, which is the sense in which they must be fulfilled in order
+to be made good, Mr. Everett is left without better proof of the
+Messiahship of Jesus than bare opinion only, which attaineth not
+to any certainty.
+
+Mr. Everett supposes that a mere "Preacher of righteousness," is
+capable of fulfilling all the predictions of the Messiah, which
+represent him as putting an end to all wickedness and misery
+throughout the World. How absurd!! there never was,[fn24] a
+better or greater "Preacher of righteousness," than Jesus Christ
+himself, and what did he effect among the people of his age? the
+Gospels say, that they whipped him, and nailed him to a cross.
+There has been since his time, for eighteen hundred years, I know
+not how many millions of "preachers of righteousness," and what
+have they effected? look at the history of the decline and fall of the
+Roman Empire: look at the histories of mankind for the last 400
+years. What scenes do they for the most part, present to the
+shocked contemplation! are they not generally a complication of
+folly, madness, and devilism, worthy of being recorded in triumph
+by the evil one himself, in letters of blood and infernal fire?
+
+What success have the "Preachers of righteousness," of the
+present day? Do not these pious and good men, and pious and
+good they generally speaking undoubtedly are, do they not feel
+themselves obliged to tell you, that such is the depravity of human
+nature, that "teaching and preaching are all in vain;" that they are
+wearying themselves in "throwing pearls before swine," who
+receive them with a grunt, and "trample them under their feet?"
+
+Does not Mr. Everett himself tell us p. 80, that "it is too true that
+the mighty passions, which agitate the public intercourse of the
+world, are almost beyond the direct reach of moral means," i. e. of
+the "Preachers of righteousness."
+
+How then can he expect that a mere "Preacher of righteousness,"
+is capable of subduing these "mighty passions," whose existence
+is incompatible with peace and happiness, and fulfilling the
+predictions relating to the Messiah? No, all history and experience
+testify that no merely human power can put an end to them. It
+must be done by the strong and armed hand of Heaven.
+
+Then, and not till then, shall exiled "justice look down from
+Heaven, and righteousness and peace shall kiss each other."
+Then, and not till then, shall "the wicked cease from troubling;"
+and the afflicted enjoy happiness.
+
+"These be the last words of David. David the son of Jesse said,
+and the man who was raised up on high, the Messiah of the God
+of Jacob, (See the Heb.) and the sweet Psalmist of Israel; The
+spirit of Jehovah spake by me, and his word is in my tongue. The
+God of Israel said, the Rock of Israel spake to me, he that ruleth
+over mankind (see the Heb.) shall be just, ruling in the fear of
+God: And he shall be as the light of the morning, when the sun
+riseth, even a morning without clouds; as the tender grass
+springing out of the earth by clear shining after rain.
+
+But the sons of Belial shall be all of them as thorns thrust away,
+because they cannot be taken with hands. But the man that shall
+touch them must be fenced with iron, and the staff of a spear; and
+they shall be utterly burned with fire in the same place." 2 Sam.
+ch. xxiii.
+
+PEBBLE III
+
+Let us, however, follow Mr. Everett in the consideration of those
+prophecies, which he says p. 83, "are really to be regarded as
+proofs of the (Christian) religion."
+
+It is not necessary for me to say any thing further, in defence of
+the interpretation of the prophecy in Deut. xviii. 15, contained in
+my first publication, where I consider it as referring to a
+succession of inspired messengers from God to the Israelites;
+because Mr. Everett allows, that "in granting that this interpretation
+is correct, we should only follow the example of the most learned
+and judicious Christian interpreters," p. 84.
+
+I will pass therefore to the passage in the Psalm xvi. 10. "Thou wilt
+not leave my soul in hell, (i. e. the place of the departed,) nor
+suffer thy Saints (or thy pious ones[fn25]) to see destruction," as I
+have translated it. Mr. Everett maintains that the word translated
+by me in this place "destruction," sometimes means "corruption."
+Granted, but Mr. Everett will not deny that the original word
+sometimes signifies "destruction," and assuredly therefore I have
+as good a right to translate it my way, as he has to interpret it to
+signify "corruption."[fn26] I maintain, moreover, that I have a better
+right in this place to translate it "destruction," than he has to render
+it "corruption;" if the whole psalm manifestly relates to David, as is
+I think evident from the context, whose body underwent the
+natural decomposition occasioned by death; which therefore
+necessitates the translation I have given if the psalm relates to
+David which I think is evident.
+
+"I have set the Lord always before me, because he is at my right
+hand I shall not be moved. Therefore my heart is glad, and my
+glory rejoiceth, my flesh shall also rest in hope: for thou wilt not
+leave my soul in hell, nor suffer thy saints (or thy pious one) to see
+destruction. Thou wilt show me the path of life, in thy presence is
+fulness of joy, and at thy right hand there are pleasures for ever
+more." Since therefore the psalm evidently relates to David, I do
+not see how it is a prophecy of Jesus' rising from the dead on the
+third day after his crucifixion, as it is said to have been applied to
+prove, by Peter in the book of Acts ch. ii.
+
+I would observe also, that the modern German Theological
+scholars, who as Mr. Everett says (p. 247. of his work.) "are
+supposed to excell in Critical learning," do allow and maintain, by
+the confession of Mr. Everett himself p. 247 of his work, that this
+passage in the psalms is not a prophecy of Jesus, no more than
+any of the others adduced in the New Testament from the Old, but
+that it is quoted merely by way of accommodation or allusion.
+
+I presume therefore that Mr. Everett will cease to regard this
+passage as one of "the prophecies," which are really to be
+regarded as proofs of the Christian religion.
+
+The next passage of the Old Testament, which Mr. Everett relies
+on as a prophetical proof of the Christian religion, is the 2nd.
+psalm; "why did the nations (according to the Heb.) rage, and the
+peoples (ac. to the Heb.) imagine a vain thing. The kings of the
+earth stood up, and the rulers were gathered together against
+Jehovah, and against his Messiah saving, let us break their bands
+asunder, and cast away their cords from us," &c. To the
+application of this prophecy to Jesus, I objected in my first
+publication, on account of these reasons, 1st. That "the nations,"
+as it is in the original, did not assemble to crucify Jesus, as this
+was done by a few soldiers. To this Mr. Everett replies, p. 90. of
+his work, that "the Apostle (Peter in Acts ch. iv. 45,[fn27]) does not
+say, they assembled to "crucify him," their joint opposition was not
+limited to this single act, they were gathered together against him.
+And it is certainly true, that Jesus was an object of the united
+persecution of the nation of the Jews, by means of their bigotted
+priests and furious multitudes, and of the Romans, by means of
+their tributary sovereign, Herod, and their Proconsul Pilate." In
+reply to this I would observe, that the words "nations," and
+"peoples," in the original of the passage never signified the Jewish
+nation, but are used in the Hebrew Bible to signify all other nations
+but the Jews, or what is expressed by the word "Gentiles."
+
+Now it is said in the psalm, that "the nations and peoples,"
+(exclusive of the Jews for the reason above-mentioned) should
+rage and that "the kings of the earth should stand up, and the
+rulers (of the earth,) take counsel against Jehovah, and against
+his Messiah." I do not see, therefore, how this passage could have
+been fulfilled by the Romans, who were but one nation, by means
+of their Proconsul Pilate and his soldiers: who (the Romans) were
+so far too from being enraged against Jesus, that it is certain, that
+all the Romans out of Jerusalem, did not even know what was
+doing against him, and Pilate himself was so far from being
+"enraged," and "taking counsel," against Jesus, that he befriended
+him as far as he dared, and made great exertions to save his life.
+
+Moreover, in the psalm, these "nations and peoples, and kings
+and rulers," are represented as saving "let us break their bands in
+sunder, and cast away their cords from us." This passage refers to
+the Messiah and the Jewish nation taken together, whom the Old
+Testament represents as to have "dominion over all peoples,
+nations and languages," and that "the nation and people that will
+not serve them shall perish, yea those nations shall be utterly
+wasted." Is. lx. [fn28]
+
+Therefore, these refractory nations and kings could not, and
+actually never have said this of Jesus, who was but an individual,
+to whom the expression "their bands and their cords," cannot
+apply; and finally, since Mr. Everett maintains that Jesus was
+"merely a spiritual saviour of the souls of men," I do not see how
+he can consider him as a character pretending to impose "bands
+and cords," upon any body.
+
+2. I had also objected to the application of this prophecy to Jesus,
+because "God has not set Jesus as his king upon the holy hill of
+Sion, (as the psalm imports) nor given him the nations for his
+inheritance, nor the uttermost parts of the earth for his
+possession." To this Mr. Everett, p. 91, replies in the usual way,
+i.e. after interpreting as much of the psalm, as he thinks he can
+make accord with the history of Jesus, in a literal sense, he
+interprets this passage of the Messiah's being enthroned on
+Mount Sion, which he cannot make accord with it, in a figurative
+one. The reader must judge whether this be fair or reasonable.
+
+The latter part of the psalm, Mr. Everett contends, was fulfilled by
+the rapid spread of Christianity, and he quotes, in proof of this,
+some passages of the Fathers. To this I would reply, that those
+passages of the Fathers are notorious exaggerations, and
+convicted of falsehood by Middleton in his Free Inquiry.
+
+And lastly, I would observe, that even those nations who have
+embraced Christianity, can by no means be called the inheritance
+or subjects of Jesus, since they have since the days of
+Constantine and the Counsel of Nice renounced his doctrines, and
+perverted his religion into "a fabulous, irrational and blasphemous
+superstition,"[fn29] for as much as all of them, except a handful of
+Unitarian Christians, are worshippers of three Divine Beings
+united by an ineffable union; and by far the greater part of them
+are adorers of idols, images, and pictures.[fn30] And if I may,
+without offence, be allowed to express the sincere opinion of my
+heart upon this subject, I would say, that it is my serious belief,
+that if Jesus the son of Mary could return into the world, and learn,
+that his professed followers had placed him between the
+Cherubim, at the right hand of the Almighty, worshipping him as
+"God equal to the Father," as, "God of God, very God of every
+God:" and that by far the greater part had also placed Mary his
+mother on the other side of the Deity, worshipping her as "the
+mother of God!"[fn31] he would in my opinion renounce and
+denounce them as impious heathens, and possibly believe that
+they were possessed with devils.
+
+The next passage which Mr. Everett quotes as a prophecy of
+Jesus, is the 2d verse of the 5th chapter of Micah, "and thou
+Bethlehem Ephratah, it is little to be among the thousands of
+Judah; out of thee shall come forth unto me, him who is to be ruler
+in Israel, whose goings forth have been of old, from the days of
+ancient years:" [according to the Hebrew.] This I interpreted to
+signify, not that the birth of the Messiah should be in Bethlehem,
+but the descent of the Messiah should be derived from Bethlehem,
+i.e. from Jesse the father of David; (and that therefore a future
+Messiah who should be derived from this family, would fulfill the
+prophecy;) and this interpretation, I represent as being known and
+acknowledged by Hebrew scholars. "But the truth is, says Mr.
+Everett p. 94, that the original word, [translated by me "shall come
+forth,"] is familiarly used of the birth of a man, as "Mizraim begat
+Pathrusim, and Casluhim out of whom came Philistim,"" Gen. x.
+13, 14.  This is a very awkward quotation on the part of Mr.
+Everett, as it says nothing in favour of his views, but directly
+favours mine: for Philistim is a word in the plural number, and is
+used in the Hebrew Bible, to express "the Philistines;" and the
+word translated "come"[fn33] is also in the plural number, see
+Simon's Hebrew Bible.  The passage therefore in Genesis x. 13.
+14. imports that the Philistines were derived or descended from
+Mizraim.  "Who the Hebrew scholars are, says Mr. Everett, who
+acknowledge this turn of the passage [in Micah] know not," p. 94
+of Mr. Everett's work.  If I were writing in Europe or America, I
+think that I could point them out; but if my memory does not
+deceive me, Grotius interprets the passage of the derivation of the
+Messiah from Bethlehem: and Mr. Everett will not deny that the
+modern Christian Hebrew scholars of Germany, disallow that this
+passage has any reference to Jesus, and affirm that it is quoted in
+the New Testament, Matthew ii. 5., only by way of allusion or
+accommodation.
+
+I had however, in order to show that this prophecy could not be
+insisted on by the Christians, said by way of argument, that
+allowing "that Bethlehem was to be the birth place of the Messiah,
+what then? will a man's being born in Bethlehem, be sufficient to
+make him the Messiah foretold by the Hebrew prophets!"
+
+This Mr. Everett seizes hold on in the following Way, p. 95.  "Now
+if we were willing to be consistent, and cling to our principles
+wherever they carry us, it would almost seem that this concession
+might decide the controversy.  The Messiah is to be of Bethlehem.
+This reduces to a little span, the number of those among whom he
+can be found. Moreover, Bethlehem is now in ruins, to all moral
+purposes its identity is gone.[fn34]   It is the habitation of Turks, of
+Arabs, of Christians, and if there be any Jews there, none will
+pretend that the divisions of the tribes are preserved among them,
+so that the tribe of David, from whom the Messiah is to arise, is
+known in Bethlehem, from the rest. Neither can it be argued that
+hereafter when the Jews are restored, Bethlehem will be
+repeopled with Jews, the family of David be discriminated, and the
+prophecy admit of fulfillment, because Mr. English himself allows it
+to be the sense of prophecy, that the Messiah shall be born before
+the restoration. It only remains therefore to look back, and to see,
+of all that have appeared in Bethlehem, which has the greatest
+claim to this character."
+
+On this reasoning I would observe, 1st, that my concession on
+which it is founded is merely gratuitous; as the words "shall come
+forth" signify merely derivation; 2nd, that Mr. Everett is mistaken in
+supposing that Bethlehem is now in ruins. It is at present probably
+nearly as large and populous as it ever was. 3d, Mr. Everett is
+mistaken, in supposing that the family of David cannot be traced
+among the Jews. There are at this moment in the world, many
+families allowed by their bretheren to be descended from David.
+Should any of the Jews go to Bethlehem at any time to come, and
+have a male child born to him in that place, for aught that can be
+known beforehand, that child may be the Messiah and the
+prophecy be fulfilled in Mr. Everett's sense of it; which I repeat
+cannot be insisted on, as "come forth" certainly may signify, and in
+the case unluckily quoted by Mr. Everett, (Gen. x, 13. 14.)
+certainly does import, derivation.[fn35]
+
+The next passage, adduced by Mr. Everett, is the 10th v. of the ix.
+ch of Zechariah, "Rejoice greatly O! daughter of Zion, shout O!
+daughter of Jerusalem: behold thy king cometh unto thee: he is
+just and saved, lowly, and riding upon an ass, and upon a colt the
+foal of an ass."
+
+Mr. Everett, after allowing that the Hebrew reads "saved" or
+"preserved" instead of "having salvation," as in the English
+version, observes, that many ancient versions read as in the
+English Bible. Whether the true reading be mine or his, is not of
+any consequence to the question to which this book relates. I
+maintain that a man's riding upon an ass into Jerusalem, is not
+sufficient to prove him the Messiah.
+
+I also repeat that the event predicted, is spoken of by the prophet
+as contemporaneous with the restoration of the division, [fn37]
+and of course could not have been fulfilled eighteen hundred
+years ago.
+
+"Mr. Everett tries to shove out this objection, by taking for granted,
+p. 98 of his work, that the chapter of Zechariah in which this
+prophecy is found, is a series of chronological predictions.  But I
+must remind Mr. Everett that this pretention is inadmissible. None
+of the predictions of the prophets, except some in Daniel, are
+arranged in chronological order; they were delivered by parcels,
+and at intervals, frequently of some years; and these parcels
+generally have no connexion with each other. Mr.. Everett's
+reasoning upon the assumption here contradicted, is therefore
+inadmissible.
+
+Finally, the German Biblical Scholars so frequently mentioned,
+deny that this was a prediction of Jesus, and affirm that it is
+quoted by the Evangelists merely by way of accommodation.
+
+The next passage adduced is Zechariah xii. 10., "And I will pour
+upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem,
+the spirit of grace and supplications, and they shall look upon [or
+towards] me[fn38] whom they have blasphemed, [or pierced,] and
+they shall mourn for him as one mourneth for an only son."
+
+The meaning of this prophecy is obscure. The word translated
+"pierced" in the English version, may also in the opinion of Grotius,
+and I add of Rosenmuller too, as quoted by Mr. Everett in the 104.
+p. of his book, be best rendered "blasphemed or reproached." It
+may refer to the time when, according to the Old Testament, the
+hearts of the house of Israel shall be cleansed from sin, and they
+shall turn to God "with their whole heart and with all their souls,"
+as predicted by Moses.
+
+I conclude with observing, that this passage, quoted in the New
+Testament; John ch. xix. has long since ceased to be considered
+as a prophecy of Jesus by the German Critics, and is believed by
+them, to have been adduced in the gospel merely by way of
+allusion. (See Rosenmuller's observations in his notes on the
+passage.)
+
+I am afraid that the reader has found these discussions rather
+tedious, and am therefore happy to be at liberty to proceed to the
+consideration of the three famous prophecies of Jacob, Isaiah,
+and Daniel.
+
+"The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a Law-giver from
+between his feet for ever; for Shilo shall come, and to him shall
+the obedience of the peoples be ."  Gen. xlix. 10. So I maintain the
+passage should be translated.
+
+On this prediction I observed, (Grounds of Christianity Examined
+p.40. as quoted by Mr. Everett.) "That though this prophecy is
+allowed by the Jews to refer to their Messiah, yet it does not
+define, nor limit the time of his coming. For that it is perfectly
+evident to all who will look at the place in the Hebrew Bible, that it
+is pointed to read, not "the sceptre shall not depart from Judah,
+nor a Lawgiver from between his feet until Shilo come;" but "the
+sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a Lawgiver from between
+his feet for ever; for Shilo shall come, and to him shall the
+gathering of the peoples be." So that the prophecy does not
+intimate that the Messiah should come before the sceptre be
+departed from Judah: but that it should not depart for ever, but
+shall be restored when Shilo comes."
+
+On this Mr. Everett remarks, "now the points, commonly so called,
+have nothing to do with the division of a sentence into its
+members, or with what we call punctuation; but Mr. English
+intended to intimate, that according to the accents, the verse
+should be divided as he proposes." (p. 110, of Mr. Everett's work.)
+In return for this friendly attempt to set me right, I would beg of Mr.
+Everett to peruse the following extract from the celebrated Alting's
+Treatise on Hebrew punctuation, which he will probably look over
+with blushing cheeks. "Punctorum appellatione venit, quicquid in
+Hebraea Scriptura occurrit praeter literas. Sunt vero punctorum
+genera tria; unum eorum quae sonum moderantur; alterum
+illorum, quae tonum regunt, tertium mere criticorum est quae ad
+crisin masoretharum solummodo pertinent."' p, 9. edit. Septima.
+
+I do not think it necessary, to enter with Mr. Everett into the
+intricate dispute about the Hebrew accents, since he represents
+that they are of no authority in deciding the question between him
+and me, and because I think he will therefore not deny, that
+disregarding their authority, the passage will bear the rendering I
+have given it.
+
+I shall therefore proceed to establish the interpretation I have
+given of the passage in Genesis, 1st. by endeavouring to show,
+that Mr. Everett's interpretation would convict the prophecy, of
+falsehood; and 2dly. by showing that the interpretation I have
+given, is confirmed by the express declaration of God himself.
+
+This prophecy was delivered by Jacob before there was any king
+in Judah. The sceptre did depart from Judah, and with a
+vengeance too, at the dethronement and captivity of Zedekiah,
+and the destruction of Jerusalem by the Chaldeans: consequently,
+if the sceptre was not to depart from Judah till Shilo came, the
+Messiah ought to have appeared before the dethronement of
+Zedekiah; as he certainly did not appear before that event, the
+prophecy, according to Mr. Everett's sensible interpretation, would
+be falsified.
+
+2. The sceptre never has been restored to Judah since the
+dethronement of Zedekiah; because the tribe of Judah, since that
+period, have been in subjection to the Babylonians, the Persians,
+the Syrians, the Romans, and all the world. Mr. Everett maintains
+that the sceptre of Judah was in the hands of that tribe during the
+time that it was held by the Romans[fn42] who were of the tribe of
+Levi and the Herods who were Idumaeans. This idea appears to
+me absurd, but I shall not give myself the trouble to oppose it by
+argument, as it can be set aside by the express declaration of
+God, as reported by Ezekiel, ch. xxi. 26. Speaking of Zedekiah
+and his dethronement, the prophet represented the Deity, as
+saying, "thus saith the Lord God, remove the diadem, take off the
+crown; this shall not be the same: exalt him that is low, and abase
+him that is high. I will overturn, overturn, overturn it, (i. e. the
+crown or sceptre of Judah,) and it shall be no more until he comes
+whose right it is, and I will give it him."
+
+Here the Deity expressly declares, that from the dethronement of
+Zedekiah; the crown of Judah should be no more till the coming of
+the Messiah to whom he would give it. The Asmonaeans and the
+Herods cannot therefore be considered as having held it, as Mr.
+Everett supposes.[fn41]
+
+But this is not all, the original Hebrew of this emphatic declaration
+has a singular force, the idea it expresses is as follows, "I will
+make it (or "place it," the crown of Judah, i. e. the Messiahship) an
+occasion of perversion, of perversion, of perversion, and it shall
+be-no more till he come whose right it is, and I will give it him."
+Viewed in this light, who will deny that this declaration has been
+most strangely fulfilled? The Christians reproach the Jews with
+"perverse and mad delusion" in having successively believed a
+hundred: different impostors to have been the Messiah, while the
+Jews in their turn say that the Christians have been as mad as
+themselves, in believing that Jesus of Nazareth was this
+personage.
+
+I suppose therefore that Mr. Everett, after coolly viewing what I
+have stated with regard to this prophecy of the Shilo, will be
+sensible that he may as well discharge the unfortunate Rabbies
+he has seized upon and lugged into court as reluctant witnesses
+of the truth of Christianity, as their further attendance can be no
+longer necessary: and I would leave him to consider whether the
+liberal appellation of "dogmatical blunderer," which he has
+bestowed upon me, p. 114 of his work, relative to my arguments
+upon this prophecy, may not better apply to another than
+myself.[fn43]
+
+Let us now proceed to the consideration of the famous prophecy
+of Isaiah, which Mr. Everett styles, p. 144, the "carinficina
+Rabbinorum."[fn44]
+
+In order to be enabled to give a fair interpretation of it, it is first of
+all necessary to give a fair translation of it from the original
+Hebrew, which is what has not been done in the English version;
+forasmuch as there are therein not less than thirteen
+mistranslations.
+
+The following, I believe, will be considered as a just representation
+of the original as it stands in the Hebrew Bible.
+
+"Behold my servant shall deal prudently, he shall be exalted, and
+extolled, and be very high. As many as were astonished at thee;
+his visage was so marred more than any other man, and his form
+more than the sons of man, (or Adam,) so shall he sprinkle many
+nations; the kings shall shut their mouths at him; for that which
+had not been told them shall they see; and that which they had not
+heard shall they consider.[fn45]
+
+"Who hath believed what we heard? (or what was reported to us)
+and to whom was the arm of Jehovah revealed? For he grew up
+before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground. He
+had no form nor comeliness; and when we saw him there was no
+beauty that we should desire him, He was despised and the
+outcast of men; a man of sorrows and familiar with grief;[fn46] and
+we hid as it were our faces from him, (or, as one that hid his face
+from us,) he was despised and esteemed not. Surely he hath
+borne our griefs and carried (away) our sorrows.[fn47] Yet did we
+esteem him stricken, smitten of God and afflicted. But he was
+wounded through our transgression, he was bruised through our
+iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him, and
+with[fn48] his stripes we are healed. ("healing is to us," Hebr.) All
+we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his
+own way; and Jehovah hath caused to light (or "meet") upon him
+the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet
+he would not open his mouth; he was brought as a lamb to the
+slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he
+would not open his mouth. He was taken from prison and from
+judgment, and who would meditate [or consider sufficiently] his
+generation? [or who shall declare his generation;] For he was cut
+off out of the land of the living: through the transgression of my
+people was he smitten: ["smiting was to him," Hebr.] and he
+appointed his grave with the wicked, and with the rich[fn49] in his
+deaths.[fn50] Although he hath done no violence, neither was any
+deceit in his mouth, yet it pleased Jehovah to bruise him: he hath
+put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin,
+he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days,[fn51] and the
+pleasure of Jehovah shall prosper in his hand. He shall see [the
+fruit] of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied: by his
+knowledge shall my righteous servant make many righteous, for
+he shall bear [away] their iniquities.[fn52] Therefore will I divide
+him a portion with the great: and he shall divide the spoil with the
+strong, because he hath made naked his life unto death; and he
+was numbered with the transgressors, and he bare the sin of
+many, and made intercession for the transgressors." Is. from the
+13th. v. of the 52d. ch. to the end of the 53d.
+
+It is an acknowledged principle of sound criticism, that the same
+expressions in the same author, are to be-understood always, in
+the same sense, unless the context makes it plainly evident that
+another sense is intended. Let us, therefore, first of all, examine
+the chapters of Isaiah preceding the extract, in order to
+understand who he means by "God's servant."
+
+In the 49th. of Isaiah, v 3. it is said, "Thou art my servant, O Israel,
+in whom I will be glorified." In ch. xlviii. 20. "The Lord hath
+redeemed his servant Jacob." In ch. xlv. 4. "For Jacob my
+servant's sake, and Israel mine elect." In ch. xliv, 1. "Yet hear now,
+O Jacob my servant, and Israel whom I have chosen: fear not O
+Jacob, my servant." v. 2. "Remember these O Jacob and Israel,
+for thou art my servant. I have formed thee, thou art my servant O
+Israel, thou shalt not be forgotten of me." v. 21.
+
+"Ye are my witnesses saith the Lord, and my servant whom I have
+chosen." ch. xliii. 10. See also the whole of ch. xlii. "Thou Israel art
+my servant, Jacob whom I have chosen, the seed of Abraham my
+friend." ch. xli. 8.
+
+There can be no doubt therefore, that by "my servant," mentioned
+in the first part of the prophecy quoted from Isaiah, and by "my
+righteous servant," in the latter part of it, that "God's servant
+Israel" must be understood to be meant, provided there be nothing
+in the context to make it necessary to resort to some other
+interpretation. Mr. Everett says that there is something in the
+context, which forbids the application of this prophecy to "God's
+servant Israel." Let us then examine the reasons on which this
+assertion is founded.
+
+He says 1st, p. 136 of his work, that the subject of this prophecy is
+spoken of as "passive and unresisting," and he exclaims, "The
+Jews passive and unresisting! They are the most obstinate and
+unyielding of the tribes of the earth, and have resisted the arm of
+power, and the lapse of time, which have crushed all other nations
+into oblivion."
+
+The prophecy speaks of their non-resistance to oppression, and
+Mr. Everett tells us, to contradict this, that "they have resisted the
+arm of power, and the lapse of time, which have crushed all other
+nations into oblivion." This seems to me to be irrelevant.
+
+"They afflicted and complained not! their complaints have been
+fiercer than their sufferings have been cruel." Is this true? Does
+Mr. Everett really believe it to be true? Does not all the world know
+it to be false?[fn53]
+
+"They have done no iniquity? When no iniquity? Not in the days of
+Isaiah their own prophet, who cries, "Ah! sinful nation, people
+laden with iniquity, seed of evil doers." Not in the days of
+Josephus their own historian, who sets forth scenes of depravity
+which turn common wickedness into virtue, and declares "that the
+earth would have swallowed them, if the Romans had not swept
+them from its face?" No iniquity in the ages since; throughout the
+cities of the dispersion, where they are proverbially dishonest, and
+professedly unfaithful." &c.. &c.
+
+Now all this eloquent invective can be set aside so far as it affects
+my application of this prophecy by this simple remark; that this
+prophecy neither relates to the wicked Jews of the time of Isaiah,
+nor of Josephus, nor the ages since, but refers to "God's servant
+Israel" i. e., not to the rebellious and reprobate of the Jewish
+nation, but to those of the house of Jacob, who have, who do, and
+who shall adhere to God's law, and obey his commandments; for
+no others of them will God acknowledge as "his servants."[fn54]
+
+I would also observe, that the stress which Mr. Everett lays upon
+the phrase "no iniquity," shows either great carelessness, or great
+ignorance of the idiom of the Hebrew Scriptures; because every
+man, familiar with those writings, knows that this expression is one
+of those called Hebreisms, which must be understood in a
+restrained sense. In proof of which, and a decisive one too, I
+would refer him to the prophecy of Balaam, recorded, Num. ch.
+xxii. 21. where Balaam exclaims in his prophetic enthusiasm, "He
+[i.e. God] hath not beheld iniquity in Jacob, neither hath he seen
+perverseness in Israel."
+
+Now I suppose that the 53rd. of Isaiah, is a representation of what
+may be the reflections of the nations, who have despised and
+persecuted "God's servant Israel," through the influence of the
+prejudices of their mistaken religion, but who had become
+sensible of their error by seeing the tremendous interference of
+God himself in their behalf, predicted over and over again by the
+prophets as to happen. The natural consequence of this
+conviction in the minds of those nations, would be a revulsion of
+the feelings to the opposite extreme. They would exaggerate the
+merits, and extenuate the demerits of "God's servant." They would
+reflect with astonishment and commiseration on their past
+sufferings. "We considered them," they might exclaim, "as a God-
+abandoned race, and devoted to wretchedness by him for having
+crucified their king. But instead of being the victims of God's wrath,
+they were wounded through our cruelty, they were bruised through
+our iniquitous treatment. It is we who have sinned more than they.
+We having gone astray in our ignorance, being without the
+knowledge of God and his law. How passive and unresisting were
+they!  They were oppressed, they were afflicted, and complained
+not: when through false accusations and mistaken cruelty, they
+were plundered and condemned to die, they went like a lamb to
+the slaughter, and as a sheep before the shearer is dumb, so they
+opened not their mouth. They were taken from the dungeon to be
+slain; they were wantonly massacred, and every man was their
+foe; and the cause of the sufferers who condescended to
+examine? They had done no iniquity to merit this: for their
+adherence to their faith, which we charged upon them as a crime,
+we now see to be approved of by their God, as an acceptable
+instance of unexampled perseverance in the cause of truth."[fn55]
+
+Mr. Everett proceeds, p. 145, "If any thing needs be added, the
+following observation is important, viz. that there is one passage
+so clearly inapplicable to the Jewish nation, and so totally
+incongruous with the rest of the interpretation, that Mr. English
+passes it over without even the attempt of an explanation. It is
+this: in a part of the prophecy which he puts into the mouth of the
+Gentiles we read, "for [the Hebrew I must remind Mr. Everett
+reads "by or through,"] the transgressions of MY PEOPLE was he
+stricken," This Mr. English paraphrases "for [it should have been
+"by or through"] the thoughtless crimes of my people he suffered.
+But what the Gentiles could mean by "MY PEOPLE" he does not
+say, and this difficulty is fatal to the whole interpretation.""
+
+I will presently show Mr. Everett, that this formidable objection, so
+emphatically announced, is after all a mere man in buckram; and I
+am almost sorry that in doing this, I shall be obliged to expose one
+more proof of Mr. Everett's having neglected the study of "the
+beggarly elements," in order to devote himself, without distraction,
+to the understanding of the delectable types and allegories of the
+New Testament. Mr. Everett certainly is a scholar and a man of
+talents, but he does not perfectly know, nor will [fn56] understand,
+the contents of the Old Testament; and the above objection is a
+proof of it.
+
+He maintains, that the expression "my people," could not be used
+by a Gentile, and that therefore my whole interpretation of the
+prophecy in Isaiah, is fatally affected by his objection.  I request
+Mr. Everett to have the goodness to turn to the book of Ruth ch i.
+16., where he will find this Gentile, "this Moabitish damsel" saying
+to her mother in-law "thy people shall be my people." Will Mr.
+Everett look a little farther to the 1 Sam. ch. v. 10. in the Hebrew,
+(not in a translation,) where he will find the Gentile Philistines
+saying, "They have brought about the ark of the God of Israel to
+slay me and my people?" (ac. to the Hebr.) again, v. 11. "Send
+away the ark of the God of Israel, and let it go to his own place,
+that it slay me not and my people." (ac. to the Hebr.)[fn57]
+
+Mr. Everett, therefore, may understand from these examples, why
+I passed over this phrase "without even the attempt of an
+explanation;" because, truly, I never dreamed, that this formidable
+objection, would have been made: or that any man would write,
+upon the Jewish controversy, who did not first inform himself of
+the contents and phraseology of the Hebrew Bible.
+
+Having, as I believe, shewn that the 53d. chapter of Isiah can be
+understood of "God's servant Israel," I will now attempt to shew
+the reasons why I think that it cannot relate to Jesus of Nazareth.
+
+1st.  Of the subject of this prophecy it is said v. 9. "and he
+appointed his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his
+deaths," in the plural. Now of Jesus we read in the gospels the
+direct contrary: for the gospels represent that his death was with
+the wicked, and his grave with the rich.[fn58]
+
+2. The use of the word deaths, in the plural, appears to me to
+necessitate the application of the prophecy to a people, not to an
+individual. The same is evident distinctly from the Hebrew of v. 8.
+at the end of the verse, in the word "lamoo."
+
+3. The subject of this prophecy is said to have been "oppressed",
+i. e. by pecuniary exactions: for that is the radical idea of the
+Hebrew word, as is shown and asserted in the lexicons of the
+Hebrew language.[fn59]  This is peculiarly true of the Jewish
+nation, but was not true at all with regard to Jesus.
+
+And to conclude, this prophecy is quoted repeatedly in the New
+Testament. Now, that none of the quotations in the New
+Testament from the Old can be maintained as prophecies fulfilled
+by Jesus, is the opinion of the learned Christians Michaelis,
+Eichorn; Semler, Eckerman, Lessing, &c. as is allowed by Mr.
+Everett: of course the 53d ch. of Isaiah in their opinions cannot be
+adduced as a prophetic proof of Christianity: and Mr. Everett, in
+maintaining the contrary, has to struggle not only against
+argument, but the strongest Christian authority that can be
+produced on any question of Biblical Criticism.
+
+Mr. Everett, in several passages of his book, has thought proper
+to charge me with errors; but in the course of his discussion of my
+interpretation of the 53d. of Isaiah, has directly accused me of
+falsehood and of fraud, p. 148. of his work.
+
+With regard to many of these errors, the situation and
+circumstances I am in at present, put it out of my power to defend
+myself, because I cannot get the books he refers to in order to test
+his statements;[fn60] but of the latter imputations, the work of Mr.
+Everett itself not only enables me to justify myself, but to fix those
+charges upon him.
+
+He says in the 148 page of his work, remarking upon my assertion
+in "The Grounds of Christianity Examined."--"In a word the literal
+application of this prophecy [the 53d. of Isaiah] to Jesus is now
+given up by the most learned Hebrew scholars, who allow that the
+literal sense of the original can never be understood of him,"-
+"Why does not Mr. English name these Hebrew scholars? Simply
+because his assertion is not true." Indeed!  Does not Mr. Everett
+himself say in the 247 p. of his work, that Eichorn in a view of a
+work of Dr. Ekerman says, that "the principle of accommodation,
+which the better interpreters had already applied to many
+violations [fn62] in the New Testament, is by this author extended
+to all." "Though this opinion of Dr. Ekerman," says Mr. Everett,
+must be allowed to savour a little of the extravagance of theory,
+Eichorn adopts it. As the work alluded to, the "Theological
+Contributions" has become a classical book with one class of the
+German divines, who are thought to excel in critical learning, there
+is no doubt that this doctrine is generally received among them.
+MICHAELIS we all know admits it; and Marsh is the only famous
+critic of the present day who does not embrace it.
+
+Now the 53d. ch. of Isaiah is quoted in the New Testament,[fn63]
+of course, therefore, according to Mr. Everett's own
+representations of the opinions of these learned critics, they must
+deny that the prophecy of Isaiah has any reference to Jesus, and
+hold that it is quoted merely by way of accommodation. And if so
+how has Mr. Everett dared to accuse me of falsehood in
+representing, that "the literal application of this prophecy to Jesus
+is now given up by the most learned Hebrew scholars, who allow
+that the literal sense of the original can never be understood of
+him"?! There is undoubtedly a falsehood told in this affair, and a
+conscious suppression of truth, but it is not I who tell the first, or
+conceal the latter.
+
+Mr. Everett then proceeds.  "Priestley and Grotius are all he
+claims, [the reader may see by the above that I might have
+claimed more,] Priestley was a learned man, but he has no
+pretentions as a Hebrew scholar, and though Mr. English quotes
+Grotius, he does it incorrectly." He declares that "Grotius has
+applied it to Jeremiah, and says, that Jesus Christ has nothing to
+do with it except in a secondary sense, but that the whole of it
+from beginning to end refers to Jeremiah." "There are but few to
+whom I need say" continues Mr. Everett, "that the words of Grotius
+in his commentary are, "These marks have their first fulfillment in
+Jeremiah, but a more especial, sublime, and often indeed more
+literal fulfillment in Christ." Mr. Everett's work p. 148. I do not see
+how this passage of Grotius contradicts my representation of his
+opinion. The passage from Grotius quoted by Mr. Everett
+declares, "that these marks [i. e. the 53d. of Isaiah] have their first
+fulfillment in Jeremiah;" of course they could not be fulfilled by any
+other except in a secondary sense, as I have asserted. As for the
+"more especial, sublime, and often indeed more literal fulfillment in
+Christ," I have always supposed that this and similar expressions
+in other parts of Grotius' Commentary, were understood, by all
+who were acquainted with Grotius' history and the times in which
+he wrote, to be intended for a mere salvo, as a tub thrown out to
+that great whale the vulgar; to contradict directly whose opinions
+with regard to the prophecies, was in the time of Grotius very
+dangerous, as he himself, notwithstanding all his precaution and
+truckling, seriously experienced.[fn64]
+
+"Also, [Mr. Everett goes on to say,] in adducing the authority of
+Priestley for his interpretation without reference or qualification,
+Mr. English gives cause to think, that he did not know, or knowing
+forbore to state, that Priestley pronounces it impossible, in one of
+his works, to explain this prophecy of any but Jesus Christ. What
+Hebrew scholars are to be named with Lowth and MICHAELIS,
+who both assert the literal application to Christ, Mr. English may
+one day learn, that asseverations like these whatever immediate
+effect they produce, will finally stand in the way of his character for
+veracity." p.149.
+
+This has been to me the most irritating passage in Mr. Everett's
+book, because it is a tissue of impudent ignorance or impudent
+fraud, and as such I will prove it.[fn65]
+
+I have always supposed, that in quoting the opinion of an author
+as authority, it is the fairest way to quote his last avowed opinions.
+Now the work of Priestley's which I refer to as applying the
+prophecy of Isaiah to the Jewish nation, as I do, is entitled
+"Priestley's Notes on Scripture," and was published after arrival in
+America, several years AFTER the work to which Mr. Everett.
+refers, wherein Priestley, maintained that it was impossible to
+explain this prophecy of any but Jesus Christ." Therefore this fact
+"gives cause to think, that Mr. Everett did not know, or knowing
+forbore to state (which I believe in my conscience is the truth) this
+circumstance" which completely acquits me at least of a
+suppressio veri.[fn66]
+
+"What Hebrew scholars are to be named with Lowth and
+Michaelis!" Several--among whom Eichorn stands pre-eminent.
+Moreover, how has it happened that "the keen detector of
+dissonances" has contradicted himself in quoting Michaelis? Here,
+because he chooses to cling to the 53d. of Isaiah as favouring his
+cause, he quotes the name of MICHAELIS as asserting "its literal
+application to Christ." In another place, (p. 247.) where it is
+necessary to defend the New Testament from the charge of false
+application of the prophecies of the Old Testament to Jesus, he
+quotes again the great name of MICHAELIS as the patron of the
+system of accommodation, which system maintains that the 53d.
+of Isaiah has no application to Christ at all! but is quoted by the
+writers of the New Testament merely by way of allusion. Mr.
+Everett himself may live to learn, that such double dealing
+attempts to slander his opponent, and impose upon his readers,
+"whatever immediate effect they may produce, will finally stand in
+the way of his character for veracity," or at least for fairness and
+candour.
+
+These are not the only instances in which Mr. Everett has
+calumniated me, and abused the good nature of his readers. For
+example--
+
+I had maintained in my first work, that the gospel called of
+Matthew was a forgery, and not a translation from the ancient
+Hebrew gospel of Matthew, and had supported my opinion by
+saying, that learned Christians allowed that "it had not the air of a
+translation." This Mr. Everett contradicts as follows: "But Mr.
+English is aware that MICHAELIS, the highest authority on these
+subjects, pronounces that it is a translation, and maintains his
+proposition not less from the unanimous testimony of the ancients
+than from internal evidence." p. 472, of Mr. Everett's work.
+
+I beg the reader after reading this to attend carefully to what is
+said by Mr. Everett in p. 464. "Semler's opinion of the origin and
+composition of the three first gospels, was the same as that of Le
+Clerc, MICHAELIS, Lessing, and Eichorn, and which has been
+illustrated and maintained by professor" Marsh. This opinion is
+that they were compiled from documents [not one document or
+gospel, but several] of our Lord's preaching and life, which had
+been committed to writing during his life, or immediately after, and
+which became after different additions, revisions and translations,
+the BASIS of our present gospels." Here the reader sees that
+when it is necessary to oppose my statements, in one place Mr.
+Everett avers that Michaelis maintained that the Greek gospel
+according to Matthew, was a translation of Matthew's Hebrew; in
+another place, where it is also necessary to oppose me, he avers
+that Michaelis believed that the gospel according to Matthew,
+Mark, and Luke were compiled compositions, and of course none
+of them were translations from any one work. "I would, says Mr.
+Everett, answer Mr. English fairly, or not at all." If this and the
+other instances quoted be specimens of Mr.  Everett's fairness,
+what would be his conduct upon the very impossible supposition
+that he could be guilty of duplicity?
+
+2. Mr. Everett tells his readers, that the Jewish Rabbies "are the
+most contemptible critics that have appeared;" that "they are so
+silly that he is almost ashamed to quote them;" that they were in
+short idiots. If so, of what value can their opinions be on
+controverted points, which must after all be settled by reason and
+scripture, and not by any bare human authority.[fn67]
+Nevertheless Mr. Everett is continually calling upon his reader to
+believe his arguments and statements upon the authority of these
+said Rabbies. If I were one of his Christian readers, I should
+consider myself insulted by such a procedure. It is almost
+tantamount to saying, "'it is true, my arguments are built upon the
+authority of fools, but yet they may serve to convince you."
+
+3. I had accused the writers of the New Testament in my first
+publication, of having blundered in applying passages of the Old
+Testament as prophecies of Jesus Christ. Mr. Everett justifies
+them by maintaining in the 5th. chapter of his work, that it is true
+that these quotations cannot be supported as prophecies, but that
+they are excusable for the following reasons. The writers of the.
+New Testament were Jews; the Jews of their times believed that
+every text of Scripture had seventy-two faces, and that each one
+regarded the Messiah, and that the resurrection of the dead was
+also taught in every chapter of Scripture, though we might not be
+able to perceive it, and that the writers of the New Testament had
+been brought up in these silly prejudices, and therefore argued on
+these principles, i. e. that, notwithstanding their being inspired
+men and full of the spirit of the Almighty, they continued in this
+respect as silly as ever.
+
+Now if there be a pious and sincere Christian in the world, and
+should have this hypothesis laid before him for his acceptance as
+the best means of defending the writers of the New Testament,
+from the charge of fraud or blundering in their application of the
+prophecies, I venture to say that that pious and sincere Christian
+would, without hesitation, believe the proposer of such an
+hypothesis to be ruining the cause he professed to defend. "What!
+he might say, are the quotations in the New Testament from the
+Old, indeed founded on folly, and alledged through stupidity?
+Have the writers of the New Testament, who are allowed to have
+been inspired by the Most High God with a perfect knowledge and
+understanding of the Christian religion, who are representing
+continually that Jesus Christ was foretold by the prophets, and
+that their own minds were opened by the Holy Ghost to
+understand the Scriptures, have they indeed though continually
+quoting the Old Testament, after all never quoted for us even one
+of the predictions on which they say their religion is founded? and
+have they spent all the time they devoted to writing for the
+salvation of the souls of men, in fooling with the Old Testament in
+the manner you aver? 'Tis false! 'Tis monstrous! Either your
+hypothesis is a fable, or Christianity, itself is like the dreams of the
+Rabbies."[fn68]
+
+When I see such principles, and other like principles avowed in
+Mr. Everett's work, I feel myself authorized to propose to him the
+following questions, by which I hope he will not consider himself
+as put to the torture.
+
+What, Mr. Everett, were your motives for quitting, so abruptly and
+unexpectedly, the most respectable society who had done you the
+honour to elect you their pastor, believing you to be the only man
+worthy to succeed the learned, eloquent and lamented
+Buckminster? This abandonment of your station took place after
+you had engaged yourself in the examination of the question
+between me, Mr. Cary, and Mr. Channing. If you felt doubts of the
+validity of the Christian religion, and were therefore scrupulous
+about going into your pulpit every Sunday to preach Christianity in
+the name of the God of Truth, and therefore resigned your post,
+your conduct thus far does you honour and not shame. But if, after
+this, you have allowed yourself to be overcome by the solicitations
+of interested friends (who might have been anxious that you
+should publish something, that would allay the suspicions and
+silence the rumours your conduct had occasioned) to give to the
+world your very singular book, you have acted a part unjust
+towards me, and injurious to yourself, for you now see the
+consequence. You are taken in the snare you had laid for me, and
+your violent dealing has come down on your own head.
+
+I come now to the examination of the celebrated prophecy of the
+seventy weeks. This prophecy has always run [fn69] the crux
+Criticorum. It is unquestionably a very ambiguous one, since Mr.
+Everett himself informs us in a note, p. 167 of his work, that
+"Calovius whose day has passed a century ago, in a dissertation
+upon the mysteries of the seventy weeks, numbers twenty-five
+different Christian hypotheses," to which may be added at least
+two more, those of Michaelis and Blayney.
+
+If so, I would ask what stress a reasonable man can lay upon a
+simple [fn70] prophecy which is allowedly so ambiguous, as to
+have led Christians, sincerely disposed to make a prophecy of
+Jesus Christ out of this passage, to interpret it at least twenty-
+seven different ways?
+
+There appears to me to be a mistranslation at the root of the
+prophecy, which vitiates and confounds all the systems of
+interpretation; applied to it that I know of. I conceive that the
+prophecy should be translated thus.
+
+"Seventy times seven [fn71] are determined upon thy people, and
+upon thy holy city, to finish transgression and to make an end of
+sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in
+everlasting righteoussness, and to seal [up] the vision and
+prophecy, and to anoint the most holy things."
+
+"Know therefore, and understand that from the going forth of the
+commandment to restore, and to build Jerusalem, unto the
+anointed Prince, shall be seven weeks; and [in] [fn72] threescore
+and two weeks the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in
+troublous times." [fn73]
+
+"And after threescore and two weeks shall the anointed one be cut
+off, and have no successor; and the people of the Prince that shall
+come, shall destroy the city, and the sanctuary: and the end
+thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end desolations are
+determined."
+
+"And he shall confirm a covenant with many for one week, and in
+the midst of the [or, a] week he shall cause the sacrifice and the
+oblation to cease; and for the overspreading of abominations he
+shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that
+determined be poured upon the desolate." Dan., ch. ix. 24, 27.
+
+Whatever may be the true sigification of this prophecy, it is not, I
+conceive, favourable to the purpose to which Mr. Everett applies
+it, for the following reasons.  1. That in supposing what is
+commonly translated "seventy week's," to signify four hundred and
+ninety years, the prophecy would be falsified; for certainly the
+expiration of this period did not "finish transgression," nor "make
+an end of sins," nor "make reconciliation for iniquity," nor "bring in
+everlasting righteous," nor "anoint the most holy things," i.e. as I
+understand it, the new and eternal temple and its altar, predicted
+by Ezekiel in the last chapters of his prophecies. On the contrary,
+the Jews became more wicked than ever, and the temple then
+standing was destroyed to its foundations.
+
+2. It follows from what is allowed by Mr. Everett himself, p. 159 of
+his work, that from the going forth of the word to restore and build
+Jerusalem, to the birth of Jesus Christ, was not seven weeks and
+sixty and two weeks, i. e. sixty-nine weeks, but EIGHTY-FOUR
+weeks, for he says there, that the duration of the second temple
+was "NINETY-FOUR weeks," i. e. six hundred and fifty-nine years.
+Now if my memory does not deceive me, Jerusalem was taken
+and the temple destroyed by Titus about the year seventy after the
+birth of Christ, which is equal to the prophetic weeks; therefore
+take ten weeks from the ninety-four weeks, (the time Mr. Everett
+states to have elapsed from the building of the second temple, to
+its destruction) and there remains EIGHTY-FOUR weeks, and not
+SIXTY-NINE. Which circumstance, appears to me to vitiate
+entirely the interpretation of Mr. Everett, who supposes the
+annointed one," spoken of as to be cut off after the sixty-nine
+weeks, to be Jesus Christ.
+
+As to who the "annointed ones" were, the first I think entirely refers
+to Cyrus, and the last who was to be "cut off" and have no
+successor, may either mean the pious and good Onias mentioned
+in the book of Maccabees, who was the last I think of the
+legitimate Jewish High Priests, [for after his time History testifies
+that several, who had not the right of primogeniture as
+descendants of Aaron, obtained the priesthood by force, by
+intrigue, and by bribery;] or the last Jewish High Priest, Joshua
+[fn74] who perished during the siege of Jerusalem, according to
+Josephus. At any rate the anointed one who was to be cut off,
+cannot mean Jesus of Nazareth; because this anointed one was
+to be cut off in that same week of seven years, in which the city
+was destroyed, whereas Jesus was crucified forty years before
+that event; a circumstance I insist which excludes any application
+of this prophecy to Jesus.
+
+The claims set up for Jesus of Nazareth are moreover evidently
+rejected by Daniel's prophecy, even according to Mr. Everett's
+interpretation, forasmuch as he did not appear at the expiration of
+sixty-nine weeks, but of EIGHTY-FOUR.
+
+And to conclude this discussion, I would observe that Daniel, ch.
+iii, in his account of the image [seen in a vision by
+Nebuchadnezzar] whose head was of gold, breast and arms of
+silver, belly of brass, legs of iron, and feet and toes of iron and
+clay, is predicting the empires which have most influenced the fate
+of the Hebrew nation; i. e. the Babylonian, Persian, Grecian, and
+Roman, the last represented by "the iron legs," which did indeed
+bestride the world; these "iron legs" are represented as
+terminating in feet and toes part of iron and part of clay, which
+have no natural coherence; i. e. the Roman empire shall be
+divided into several kingdoms, partly strong and partly weak: a
+prophecy remarkably fulfilled in the history and condition of the
+kingdoms of Europe. The prophet goes on to say in ch. ii, that in
+the latter days of those kings or kingdoms, [which are yet
+subsisting] "the God of Heaven, would set up a kingdom which
+should never be destroyed," that of the Messiah. Of course the
+kingdom of the Messiah was not to be--not only not till after the
+destruction of the Roman empire--but not till the latter days of the
+kingdoms which grew up out of the ruins; whereas Jesus Christ
+was born in the time of Augustus, i. e. when the Roman empire
+itself was in the height of its splendour and vigour. Mr. Everett in
+p. 201, endeavours to escape the strong gripe of the prophet
+Daniel, by maintaining that these strong and weak parts, into
+which the Roman empire was to be divided, meant that it should
+be divided into "strong and weak institutions."  Now to turn this
+sensible interpretation head over heels, [fn75] it appears to me to
+be only necessary to observe, that these strong and weak parts
+into which the Roman empire was to be divided, were, according
+to the prophet, ch. ii. 4.3. of Daniel, to "mingle themselves with the
+seed of men," i. e. make intermarriages; which, it appears to me to
+be a thing that "strong and weak institutions" cannot do. This,
+however has remarkably, been the case among the royal families
+of Europe, who intermarry too with the avowed design of
+cementing union and promoting peace and harmony.
+Nevertheless, agreeable to the prophet's prediction, they have not
+"cleaved together, but on the contrary have been almost
+constantly at war with each other.
+
+ PEBBLE IV.
+
+"The children of Israel shall abide many days without a king, and
+without a prince, and without a sacrifice, and without an image,
+and without an ephod, and without teraphim; afterwards shall the
+children of Israel return, and seek the Lord their God, and David
+their king, and shall fear the Lord and his goodness in the latter
+days." Hos. iii, 4, 5.
+
+"I will set up one shepherd over them, even my servant David, he
+shall feed [or govern] them, and he shall be their shepherd: and I
+the Lord will be their God, and my servant David, a prince among
+them." Ezech, ch. xxxiv. 23.
+
+"David my servant shall be king over them, and there shall be one
+shepherd,"------" my servant David shall be their Prince for ever."
+Ezek. ch, xxxvii. 24, 25.
+
+"They shall serve Jehovah their God, and David their king, whom I
+will raise up unto [or for] them." Jer. xxx. 9.
+
+"Incline your ear and come unto me: hear and your soul shall live;
+and I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure
+mercies of David. Behold I have given him for a witness, to the
+peoples, a leader and commander to the peoples." Is. Iv. 3, 4.
+
+From such passages I inferred, in my first publication, that the
+name of the true Messiah, was to be DAVID, and not Jesus. To
+avoid the force of these passages Mr. Everett has recourse to
+allegory and analogy.
+
+Jesus is prophecied of in these passages, says he, by the name
+of DAVID, because "there was an analogy between these two
+distinguished servants of God. David, from a low and humble
+estate, was raised to be the founder of the temporal glories of his
+kingdom; and Christ, not less humble in his origin, was the author
+of the spiritual distinction of Israel; David was the most illustrious
+political and Christ the most distinguished moral instrument of the
+Lord. David was commanded to entrust to his successor the
+election of the famous temple, which was the centre of the Jewish
+worship; and Christ has founded through the agency of his
+apostles that CHURCH by which his religion has been preserved,
+and diffused in the world."
+
+"To laugh, were want of dignity, or grace, "And to be grave
+exceeds all power of face."
+
+I assure Mr. Everett, that the days of Type and FIGURE are gone
+by, and have been succeeded among Biblical Critics by a stricter
+style of reasoning, and are now considered as "pious
+whims."[fn76]
+
+In the present advanced state of sacred Criticism even the
+beautiful allegory in Paul's Epistle to the Gal. ch. iv. which makes
+Hagar, Abraham's maid, nothing less than "Mount Sinai in Arabia;"
+and Sarah, Abraham's wife, to be the "Jerusalem, that is above
+the mother of us all!" has come to be regarded as "rather queer."
+
+I had also objected that the coming of the true Messiah, was
+according to the Old Testament, to be preceded by the
+appearance of Elijah the prophet on earth; and that he had not
+appeared before the era of Jesus, nor ever since.
+
+In answer to this, Mr. Everett endeavours to show 173. & seq.,
+that a man named John the Baptist--a righteous person,--whose
+raiment was of camels hair,--and whose meat was locusts and
+wild honey, who lived in the age of Jesus of Nazareth, was Elijah,
+and had a right to be so considered--by a figure.
+
+To this I answer, that the prophecy of Malachi does not say
+"Behold I will send you one like Elijah, or "an Elijah,"---but it says
+explicitly, and expressly, "Behold, I will send you Elijah the
+Prophet, before the coming of the great and terrible day of the
+Lord; and he shall turn the hearts of the fathers to the children,
+and the hearts of the children to their fathers." Mal. iv. 5,6.
+
+Now who is "Elijah the Prophet?" undoubtedly the great prophet of
+Israel, who called down fire from heaven--who raised the dead to
+life--and who ascended alive to heaven in a chariot of fire; God by
+such a translation sufficiently intimating that he had in reserve for
+him, some extraordinary commission. Moreover the coming of this
+Elijah the prophet, was to be followed by. "the great and terrible
+day of Jehovah," by which name the prophets call the personal
+descent of Jehovah upon the earth, to take vengeance on the
+wicked, and to punish the oppressors and persecutors of his
+people.[fn77] Was the appearing of John the Baptist followed by
+this event? or has it yet occurred, though that man lived eighteen
+hundred years ago? His appearance, instead of being followed by
+the interposition of God to avenge Israel of its enemies, was on
+the contrary, followed by giving Israel into the hand of its enemies,
+who, "for the overspreading of abominations," made Jerusalem a
+desolation, and delivered over its sinful population to the chains of
+slavery, and the bands of Death.
+
+Elijah the Prophet is to turn the hearts of the fathers to the
+children, and the hearts of the children to the fathers."  Did John
+the Baptist do this? On the contrary, the morals of his countrymen,
+in His age, instead of growing from bad to better, went on from
+bad to worse, till there was no remedy, and the Sword of God did
+his work.
+
+Indeed, and indeed Mr. Everett you are wrong; And your
+superannuated allies, TYPE and FIGURE, whom I disdain to
+combat, cannot aid you to defend what is indefensible.
+
+ PEBBLE V.
+
+The Law of the Pentateuch, is pronounced by the Old Testament
+to be intended for a permanent and eternal Code for the Jewish
+nation. Mr. Everett denies this. Let us see nevertheless, if it
+cannot be proved.
+
+The promulgation of the ordinance imposing circumcision on the
+descendants of Abraham, is in these words. "And God said unto
+Abraham, Thou shalt keep my covenant therefore, thou and thy
+seed after thee in their generations. This is my covenant which ye
+shall keep, between me and you, and thy seed after thee; Every
+man child among you shall be circumcised.--He that is born in thy
+house, and he that is bought with thy money, must needs be
+circumcised; and my covenant shall be in your flesh for an
+everlasting covenant. And the uncircumcised man child whose
+flesh of his foreskin is not circumcised, that soul shall be cut off
+from his people; he hath broken my covenant." Gen. ch. xvii. 9.--
+14.
+
+The ordinance of the Passover is also declared to be everlasting,
+"and this day [i. e. the feast of the Passover] shall be unto you for
+a memorial; and ye shall keep it a feast unto the Lord throughout
+your generations; ye shall keep it a feast by an ordinance forever."
+Ex.ch.xii. 14. see also v. 15.--in v. 17. it is said "ye shall observe
+this day in your generations by an ordinance for ever."
+
+The ordinance of the day of atonement, is declared to be a
+perpetual institution, "It shall be a statute for ever unto you," Lev.
+ch. xvi. 29. "It shall be a Sabbath of rest unto you, and ye shall
+afflict your souls, by a statute for ever." v. 31. "and this shall be an
+everlasting statute unto you." v. 34.
+
+The feast of offering the first fruits of the year, is declared Lev. ch.
+xxiii. 14. "to be a statute for ever throughout your generations, in
+all your dwellings."
+
+The feast of the Pentecost, is also declared in the same ch. of
+Lev. 21. to "be a statute for ever, in all your dwellings throughout
+your generations." See also v. 41.
+
+The ordinance of the Sabbath is pronounced a perpetual
+institution, "Verily my sabbath ye shall keep: for it is a sign
+between me and you, throughout your generations--Wherefore the
+children of Israel shall keep the sabbath, to observe the sabbath
+throughout their generations for a perpetual covenant: It is a sign
+between me and the children of Israel for ever."  Ex. xxxi. 13--17.
+
+As it is clearly evident from such passages as the above, that the
+law of Moses was intended to be a perpetual rule for the Israelites
+"throughout all their generations," as long as they should exist, Mr.
+Everett, in order to get rid of their force, has thought proper to
+annihilate the Jewish nation with a stroke of his pen. He maintains
+p. 350. of his work, that no such nation exists as the Jewish
+nation! This unexpected stroke was to me a confounding one--not
+on account of its force--but on account of its amazing effrontery.
+
+The Jews not a nation! ask the histories of mankind; ask all writers
+who give an account of the different nations and peoples into
+which the race of Adam is divided! and Mr. Everett will find that
+they all consider the Jews as "a distinct and peculiar people."
+"But, says Mr. Everett, p. 350, if they are a nation, we can be told
+whereabouts they dwell, and what cities they inhabit."
+Undoubtedly Mr. Everett can be told all this if he will take the
+trouble to ask their chiefs; and if he does he will be surprised to
+learn that the Jews, in cities and countries that can be named and
+pointed out, amount probably to ten millions of people, governed
+by their own law, so far as relates to their religion and intercourse
+with each other, and yet Mr. Everett maintains that the Jewish
+nation does not exist. [fn79]
+
+But I have a solemn answer from immortal lips to give to Mr.
+Everett's assertion, which he may possibly, if he be a religious
+man, hearken to, and tremble.
+
+"Thus saith Jehovah, which giveth the sun for a light by day, and
+the ordinances of the moon and the stars for a light by night;
+which divideth the sea when the waves thereof roar; JEHOVAH
+OF HOSTS is his name; if those ordinances depart from before
+me saith Jehovah, then the seed of Israel shall cease being A
+NATION before me FOR EVER.
+
+Thus saith Jehovah, if heaven above can be measured, and the
+foundations of the earth searched out beneath, I also will cast off
+all the seed of Israel, for all that they have done saith Jehovah."
+Jer. ch. xxxi. 35, 36, 37.
+
+But, says Mr. Everett, p. 352, "above all, the Jews have no
+national existence in respect of their religion; which is really the
+principal point to be urged. The tribe of Levi which was separated
+to the service of the temple, and the family of Aaron, exonerated
+[fn80] to the priesthood, and ordained to be "a perpetual duration"
+have both been long extinct, At least have long since ceased to be
+traced."
+
+This is incorrect. The tribe of Levi is not extinct, neither has the
+family of Aaron ceased to be traced. Hundreds, perhaps
+thousands of Jews at present existing, are recognized by their
+brethren as of the tribe of Levi, and the descendants of Aaron to
+this day have the privilege of blessing the people in the
+Synagogues on solemn days, in a peculiar form which no other
+Jews are allowed to employ.
+
+This marvellous fact, that the descendants of David and Aaron
+should yet be discriminated amidst the general confusion of the
+tribes, is an illustrious verification of the following promise of Him
+whose word never fails, which I now oppose to the last rash
+assertion of his creature who has denied it.
+
+"Thus saith Jehovah, David shall never want a man to sit upon the
+throne of the house of Israel, neither shall the priests the Levites
+want a man before me [fn81] to offer burnt offerings, and to kindle
+meat offerings, and to do sacrifice continually.  Thus saith
+Jehovah: if ye can break my covenant of the day, and my
+covenant of the night, and that there should not be day and night
+in their season; then may also my covenant be broken with David
+my servant, that he should not have a son to reign upon his
+throne, and with the Levites the priests my ministers. As the host
+of heaven cannot be numbered neither the sand of the sea
+measured, so will I multiply the seed of David my servant, and the
+Levites the priests that minister unto me." "Considerest thou. not
+what this people have spoken, saying, the two families which
+Jehovah hath chosen, he hath even cast them off? Thus have
+they despised my people that they should be no more A NATION
+before them. Thus saith Jehovah, If my covenant be not with day
+and night, and I have appointed, the ordinances of heaven and
+earth; then will I cast away the seed of Jacob, and David my
+servant, so that I will not take any of his seed to be rulers over the
+seed of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, FOR I WILL CAUSE THEIR
+CAPTIVITY TO RETURN AND HAVE MERCY UPON THEM." Jer.
+xxxiii. 17--26.
+
+I presume that the CHRISTIAN CLERGYMAN who has
+contradicted his BIBLE and his GOD, is ready to exclaim like
+humbled Job; "I have uttered what I understood not; things too
+wonderful for me which I knew not; wherefore I abhor myself, and
+repent in dust and ashes." Job ch. xlii. See Appendix. H.
+
+Shall I proceed to the consideration of some little arguments of Mr.
+Everett against the intended perpetuity of the Mosaic law derived
+from some expressions in the Psalms and the Prophets? Is it
+possible that Mr. Everett the scholar and the clergyman, is
+ignorant, that according to the idiom of the Hebrew language all
+such passages are merely expressive that God lays no stress
+upon sacrifice, and burnt offering, if unsanctified by righteousness
+and good works: Mr. Everett has blindly recommended a passage
+to my serious attention, p. 358, which ought to have made him
+sensible of this.
+
+"Thus saith the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel, put your burnt
+offerings to your sacrifices, and eat the flesh thereof. For I spake
+not unto your fathers, nor commanded them in the day I brought
+them out of Egypt concerning burnt offerings and sacrifices. But
+this thing commanded I them saying, obey my voice." Jer. ch. vii.
+23, 24. What! might a critic of the cast of Mr. Everett exclaim, did
+not God indeed command the children of Israel, when he brought
+them out of Egypt, concerning burnt offerings and sacrifices? are
+not the books of Leviticus and Numbers filled with regulations
+concerning them? Very true, might a rational scholar reply to him,
+but this and several other expressions in the Psalms and Isaiah
+are Hebraeisms, i. e. peculiar idioms of the language, expressing
+comparison not rejection; this passage in Jeremiah implying that
+when God brought the children of Israel out of Egypt, in giving his
+law to them he laid no stress upon burnt offerings and sacrifices,
+in comparison with moral duties.
+
+Finally, I would ask Mr. Everett, whether he believes it was the
+intention of David, of Isaiah, and Jeremiah, to declare to the Jews
+of their times that God would no more accept of burnt offerings
+and sacrifices! and that the ceremonial law was ipso facto
+abolished; because, if such passages do signify the abolishment
+of the Mosaic law, it must be considered as having been a dead
+letter ever since David, Isaiah., and Jeremiah uttered these
+expressions.
+
+But, says Mr. Everett, p. 357, "the positive declaration of God,
+puts the matter [the repeal of the Mosaic law] beyond a doubt."
+
+"Behold the days come, saith the Lord, that I will make a new
+covenant with the house of Israel; and with the house of Judah,
+not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers, in the
+day that I took them by the hand, to lead them out of the land of
+Egypt; which my covenant they brake, although I was a husband
+unto them, saith the Lord: but this shall be my covenant that I will
+make with the house of Israel, after those days, I will put my law in
+their inward parts, and write it in their hearts, and I will be their
+God, and they shall be my people." Jer. xxxi. 31, &c.
+
+I would observe first, that Mr. Everett in applying this passage to
+the purpose for which he has adduced it, has against him the
+opinions of all those Christian critics whom he allows to excel in
+critical learning; viz. Michaelis, Ekerman, Lessing, Eichorn, &c.
+For this passage is quoted to the same purpose in the Epistle to
+the Hebrews, ch. viii. 8. and all the critics above mentioned
+maintain, as Mr. Everett allows, that none of the passages of the
+Old Testament quoted in the New, can be supported as
+prophecies of the things to which they are applied, but hold that
+they were quoted merely by way of accommodation or allusion.
+
+2.  I would observe, that this passage is one out of several more in
+the prophets, which represent that after the general restoration of
+Israel to their country, God will put a new spirit in them, and cause
+them to obey his voice, (which was not done at the giving of the
+law, the Israelites being left to obey it or not; after being given to
+understand what should be the rewards of obedience and the
+curses of disobedience,)' this very chapter of Jeremiah, from
+which this quotation is taken, expressly representing, that this new
+covenant is to be made AFTER the Israelites are restored to their
+own land: which completely excludes the idea that this new
+covenant can relate to a new religion, fabricated seventeen
+hundred years ago; and renders the solemnity with which Mr.
+Everett has introduced it, somewhat ridiculous.
+
+This new covenant also, is not to put the old law out of
+remembrance, but is to "write it on their hearts."  "Behold, I will
+gather them out of all countries whither I have driven them in mine
+anger, and in my fury, and in great wrath; and I will bring them
+again into this place, and I will cause them to dwell safely: and
+they shall be my people, and I will be their God: and I will give
+them one heart, and one way, that they may fear me for ever, for
+the good of them and their children after them. And I will make an
+everlasting covenant with them, that I will not turn away from
+them, to do them good; but I will put my fear into their hearts, that
+they shall not depart from me. Yea, I will rejoice over them to do
+them good, and I will plant them in this land with my whole heart
+and with my whole soul." Jer. xxxii. 37--41. [fn82]
+
+In order to manifest that the prophecy of the new covenant,
+quoted from Jeremiah by Mr. Everett, had no reference to the
+promulgation of the new [fn83] law, I had said in my first
+publication, "that though the prophet speaks of a "new covenant"
+he says nothing of a new law. On which Mr. Everett labours
+greatly to prove, See p. 357 &c. of his book, that the expression
+"making a new covenant," must signify making a new law, and
+cannot signify reimposition of the old.
+
+There is a history in the Bible which convicts this opinion of
+mistake, which I propose in my turn to Mr. Everett's serious
+attention.
+
+"These are the words of the covenant, which the Lord commanded
+Moses to make with the children of Israel in the land of Moab,
+beside the covenant which he made with them in Horeb. And
+Moses called unto all Israel, and said unto them; ye stand this day
+all of you before the Lord your God, your captains of your tribes,
+your elders, and your officers, with all the men of Israel; your little
+ones, your wives, and the stranger that is in thy camp, from the
+hewer of thy wood to the drawer of thy water; that thou shouldest
+enter into covenant with the Lord thy God, &c. Deut. ch. xxix.
+
+And what was the covenant? why, as the reader may find by
+perusing the rest of this piece of history in the Pentateuch, it was
+the reimposition of the Law of Moses upon the new generation of
+Israelites, who were children when their fathers came out of
+Egypt. So that Mr. Everett must see, that God's making a new
+covenant, can be accompanied with a reimposition of the law,
+since in the instance considered, he has actually done it once
+before.
+
+I have, however, another passage in reserve, which must compel
+Mr. Everett to resign his unfounded opinions on this subject.
+
+Moses, the giver of the law, after predicting most exactly what
+should befall the Jewish nation for disobedience to it, in the 28th
+chapter of Deuteronomy, proceeds in the 30th ch. to inform them,
+that the time would come, when "the Lord their God will turn their
+captivity and have compassion upon them, and will return and
+gather them from all the nations whither the Lord their God hath
+scattered them."
+
+"If thy dispersion,[fn84] (says the lawgiver) shall be unto the
+utmost parts of heaven, from thence will the Lord thy God gather
+thee, and from thence will he fetch thee. And the Lord thy God will
+bring thee unto the land which thy fathers possessed, and thou
+shalt possess it; and he will do thee good and multiply thee above
+thy fathers, and the Lord thy God will circumcise thy heart, and the
+heart of thy seed, to love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and
+with all thy soul, that thou mayest live. And the Lord thy God will
+put all these curses upon thine enemies, and on them that hate
+thee, and which persecuted thee. And thou shall return, and obey
+the voice of the Lord,  AND DO ALL HIS COMMANDMENTS
+WHICH I COMMANDED ON THAT DAY."  Deut. ch. XXX. [fn85]
+
+In accordance with this express prediction of Moses, that when
+the Israelites should be gathered out of all countries into their own
+land, God would give them a heart and disposition to love the Lord
+their God, and to do all his commandments which Moses was then
+delivering to them are the prophecies of Ezekiel; who in his last
+chapters, after giving a prophecy of the general return of the
+descendants of Jacob to their own land, proceeds to predict the
+division of the country, between the Mediterranean and the
+Euphrates, among the restored tribes; and minutely describes the
+plan, parts, offices, and ceremonies, of a new and eternal temple
+to be raised upon the ancient site of that of Solomon, that is to be
+consecrated by the re-establishment of the magnificent ritual of
+Moses, with augmented splendour.
+
+That the prophecy of Moses, and those of Ezekiel, referred to,
+have never yet been fulfilled, is undeniable; and that they will be
+fulfilled, will not be doubted by a Christian; and can hardly be
+disbelieved by a Sceptic, who will take the trouble to compare the
+history of "the eternal people,"[fn86] with the predictions
+concerning it which have been fulfilled to the letter.
+
+Mr. Everett, in the 449 page of his work, speaks rather
+contemptuously of the law of Moses. It is somewhat unusual to
+see a descendant of savage wanderers of the woods, who painted
+themselves blue in order to look handsome,[fn87] and whose
+posterity, and among them Mr. Everett himself, might so far as
+religion and morals is concerned, but for the instruction originally
+derived from the law of Moses, be still in the same respectable
+state, speaking lightly of a Book to which every nation on the
+Globe, who have any rational ideas of God or futurity, are
+absolutely indebted for that invaluable knowledge. The Jewish,
+Christian, and Mohammedan religions, by which so many of our
+unfortunate race have been brought to a knowledge of God, and
+made candidates for an eternity of bliss, are all founded on, and
+derived from the Pentateuch. If that Book had never existed, those
+religions could not have existed. All that part of mankind who have
+any claims to reason in their Religion, are therefore indebted to
+this Jew Book for the benefit.
+
+Nor is this all the wonder.  The sublime and fundamental Doctrine
+of the Pentateuch--One God--Eternal and Supreme---the Almighty
+Creator and tremendous Avenger--can be traced up to Abraham,
+that wandering shepherd who at the command of God left his
+country and his father's house, to go to a foreign land., where he
+lived and died a stranger and a pilgrim.
+
+What ideas should we entertain of a man whose tent was
+frequented by angels, and with whom the Supreme "conversed
+face to face, as a man talketh with his friend!" of a man who lived
+and died a shepherd, yet to whom it was predicted four thousand
+years ago, by Him whose word never fails that "his name should
+be great, that it should be a blessing, and that in his seed should
+all the nations of the earth be blessed." Sceptic! has not this
+prophecy been fulfilled?  Is not the name of Abraham a theme of
+blessing to the Jew--the Christian--the Magian--and the
+Musselman?  Is not his name pronounced with reverence
+throughout the four continents of the Globe. Has not the earth
+been blessed in his seed?  Is there a nation or people upon it, who
+have any rational ideas of God or futurity, who have not derived
+them from Moses, Jesus, or Mohammed? Are we not indebted to
+these descendants of this wonderful man,[fn89] for the
+consolations which support the soul under the trials of life, and for
+the faith and hope that smooth the bed of death? assuredly--
+assuredly. The events of past ages have verified the divine origin
+of the prediction, and ages to come will still farther confirm it.
+
+Mr. Everett objects to the law of Moses, its multiplied forms and
+ceremonies; but these were mostly not obligatory upon the whole
+nation, but upon one tribe set apart to this duty, and who had
+nothing else to do.[fn90]
+
+The influence of these rights [fn91] and ceremonies--and no
+religion can perpetually exist without them, for after all the [fn92]
+man is the slave of his senses, and powerfully affected by the
+impressions made upon them--cannot be doubted by one who
+attentively considers their amazing magnificence.
+
+A temple blazing with the most precious productions of the
+mine,[fn93] and inaccessible to all but the consecrated
+descendants of one man, standing at the extremity of an immense
+area covered with variegated marble, and surrounded by
+magnificent corridors and porticos; a gorgeous host of nearly forty
+thousand priests,[fn94]: to minister at the ever smoking altar, and
+to nourish the eternal fire; the golden ewer containing the
+hallowed blood of atonement, and the censer streaming [fn95]
+clouds of fragrance, in the hands of the trembling descendant of
+Aaron approaching the inner sanctuary of the INVISIBLE AND
+ALMIGHTY; three hundred sons of song, accompanied with
+psaltery and cymbal, and "the harp with a solemn sound,"
+resounding the attributes of HIM WHO IS, AND EVER SHALL
+BE;[fn96] and hundreds of thousands of worshippers prostrating
+their foreheads on the pavement in awe and extacy, as the temple
+shines forth with the Shechinah, streaming its rainbow glories into
+the heart of heaven, and covering the earth with its effulgence,
+plainly showing that GOD IS THERE! This, all this Mr. Everett
+pronounces, "all calculated to occupy the attention of a simple and
+unfeeling [fn97] people." p. 344.[fn98] There is, not however, a
+philosopher on earth that would [fn99] walk barefoot over its whole
+circumference to witness such a sight.
+
+With this terminates my reply to Mr. Everett. I leave it to his
+consideration, whether he has fulfilled the magnificent promises
+held out to the public in the splendid table of contents prefixed to
+his book, from which it should seem as if I were actually crushed
+into the dust; and I leave it to the consideration of my abused and
+deluded countrymen, whether the heavy artillery of the law and
+the prophets, which I have wheeled but from the Old Testament,
+has not fairly blown the old board fences behind which a crazy
+superstition is ensconced, and which Mr. Everett has painted up to
+look like real fortifications, and mounted with quaker guns, to
+splinters and fragments.
+
+ THE SLING.
+
+WHAT was the real history and character of Jesus Christ?
+
+Mr. Everett had a right to consider my expressions, relative to this
+subject contained in my first work, as "far from being explicit;" for
+in fact I hardly knew what to think of the unparalelled son of Mary.
+That he was a pious and blameless man, I conceived that no man
+of good heart could doubt, while the supposition that he claimed to
+be the Messiah, I believed and still believe to be incompatible with
+such a character as his.
+
+With the reader's permission, I will now state what I conceive may
+have been the real truth with regard to him.
+
+I believe that Jesus of Nazareth was certainly a righteous man,
+and probably one who wished to bring back his countrymen, to a
+rational observance of the law, and to abandon their traditions.
+
+He appeared in an age when the religious part of the Jewish
+nation had made the law in many respects of none effect by those
+traditions, and had rendered their religion a stumbling block to the
+Gentiles, by reason of the puerile superstitions they had added to
+it: thus counteracting the express design, for which they had been
+set apart from other nations, viz. to bring them to the knowledge
+and acknowledgement of the unity and supremacy of God;) and
+violating the command of Moses, "ye shall not add unto the word
+which I command you, neither shall ye diminish ought from it; for
+this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the
+nations, which shall hear all these statutes, and say, surely this
+great nation is a wise and understanding people."  Deut. ch. iv.--
+and when the irreligious part of the nation, had become dreadfully
+corrupt.
+
+The Jewish people at that time were oppressed and despised; the
+prophets of the Old Testament had taught them to believe that at
+a time when their oppressions should be at their height, their
+Messiah should appear. Of consequence the appearance of such
+a man as Jesus Christ, at that time when they considered
+themselves as crushed under the Roman yoke, possibly led them
+or some of them to believe that he might be their expected
+deliverer. But the Jewish nation at that time were unworthy of such
+a deliverance. They longed for their Messiah, not for
+righteousness, but for vengeance sake; not to hail him as the
+benefactor of the human race, but as the avenger of their wrongs
+upon all the world who had crushed and despised them.
+
+Such a people were not the lawful candidates for the happiness of
+the eternal kingdom; and they afterwards learned, by the event of
+their struggle with the Romans, that they must not expect
+deliverance till they had become less unworthy of it.
+
+Jesus, by preaching against the traditions of the elders, by not
+observing the Sabbath day so rigidly as the Pharisees, by
+denouncing them as hypocrites, tithers of mint anise and cummin,
+washers of plates and platters, and neglecters of the weightier
+matters of the law, justice, judgment, and mercy, as serpents, a
+generation of vipers, whited sepulchres, and what not, had
+enraged these superstitious fanatics to the last degree. But they
+could not wreak their vengeance, because he was protected, by
+the people whom the gospels represent as expecting with the
+most anxious impatience, that he would announce himself as their
+deliverer.[fn100] But when repeated importunity, accompanied by
+an attempt to seize upon him and by compulsion oblige him to
+head them, terminated only in causing Jesus to escape and
+withdraw himself from their wishes [fn101] the people were
+disgusted, and abandoned him.
+
+The Chief Priests and Pharisees took advantage of this
+abandonment, to seize him and deliver him to the Roman
+governor as a dangerous man, who either was willing to head the
+people against the Romans, or who might be made the pretext of
+an insurrection, as the people had shown a disposition to
+recognize him as the Messiah. [fn102] Such I believe to be as
+near an approximation to the true history of Jesus Christ, as can
+be made at this day.
+
+Let us now review the points I have endeavoured to establish in
+this work.
+
+1. I have endeavoured to show that the miracles, supposed by Mr.
+Everett to have been wrought by Jesus in proof of his
+Messiahship, cannot be proved; because that the New Testament
+is not to be depended on as competent testimony for the real
+history and real doctrines of Jesus of Nazareth; and therefore, that
+the question of his Messiahship must in all events be decided by
+an appeal to the Old Testament.
+
+2. It has been shown, that the prophecies of the Messiah
+contained in the Old Testament, have not been fulfilled in Jesus;
+and that those prophecies which Mr. Everett regards as proofs of
+the Christian religion, were also not fulfilled in Jesus.
+
+3. It has been shown that the law of Moses was intended for a
+perpetual law for the Jewish nation, "through all their generations
+forever;" and of course that it is, and must be perpetually
+obligatory upon them; and consequently whether JESUS BE THE
+MESSIAH, OR NOT, the Jews are bound to adhere to the law of
+Moses.[fn104]
+
+4. It has been shown, that [fn105] it is absolutely impossible to
+know the real history of Jesus with certainty; the Jews and
+Christians ought for the future to consider his character, not as a
+subject of dispute, nor an occasion of quarrel, much less as a
+cause of mutual aversion, but merely as a matter of speculation.
+
+Should these positions ever be recognised by the Jews and
+Christians as reasonable and true, let us consider what, may be
+the consequence.
+
+1. The Christians become sensible, that the New Testament is not
+to be depended on, would cease to hate, to persecute, and to
+annoy the unfortunate Jews, on account of their rejecting its
+doctrines.
+
+2. The Christians would themselves adhere to the Old Testament,
+as the rock and rule of faith and morals; and would worship with
+the Jews the One Jehovah, without equal or companion, and obey
+the moral law of the Old Testament, leaving the observance of its
+ceremonial institutions to the nation for whom they were
+intended:[fn106] like the "devout Gentiles" in the time of Josephus
+and Christ.
+
+3. The Jews, seeing the Christians Unitarians as well as
+themselves, would cease to regard the Christians as impious
+idolaters, and cruel enemies.
+
+4. Both parties would worship and serve God as brethren, and
+children of the same father; and await in faith and hope the
+appearance of the GREAT PERSONAGE, who is to make them
+and all the good part of mankind, perfectly happy.
+
+Should what I have written have any tendency to promote union
+and friendly feelings, between the parties to a dispute which has
+for nearly eighteen hundred years occasioned such cruel
+oppressions and bloody persecutions to the side which is in the
+right, I shall not have lived in vain; and though the cause in which I
+have exerted myself has occasioned me much detriment and
+distress,[fn107] and may possibly ultimately oblige me to die in a
+foreign land, without a friend to close my eyes; I comfort my heart
+with the hope, that I may have done somewhat for the great cause
+of truth, justice, and humanity, and for the promotion of mutual
+regard and friendly feelings, among a very large portion of the
+human race.
+
+APPENDIX.
+
+A
+
+For instance, it is said in the 2d. ch. of the Gospel called of
+Mathew, that Jesus, when brought out of Egypt by his parents,
+"came and dwelt in the city called Nazereth: that it might be
+fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet. "He shall be called a
+Nazerene."
+
+Now there is no such passage as this throughout the Old
+Testament: the author of the Gospel called of Mathew must
+therefore, it seems to me, have forged this supposed prophecy out
+of his own head, or must have mistaken the sense of some
+passage in the Old Testament: if he was capable of either, he was
+not the honest and inspired Mathew, the Apostle of Jesus Christ.
+There is a passage in the Old Testament, which might have led a
+Gentile, ignorant of the Jewish Scriptures into this mistake, but
+could not have misled a Jew. In the history of Sampson Judges
+xiii. 5. it is said, "that he should be a Nazarite unto God from the
+womb." But a Nazerite was one thing and a Nazarene another: the
+first was a man who had a peculiar vow upon him, described
+Numbers. 7. ch., but a Nazarene was a man belonging the city of
+Nazereth in Palestine. The quotation is a proof with me, that the
+author of the Gospel ascribed to Matthew was a Gentile, of course
+not Matthew who was a Jew, and incapable of making such a
+blunder.[fn108]
+
+Again, in the Gospel called of Matthew ch. xxvii. a passage is
+quoted as a prophetic proof text from Jeremiah, says the author.
+"Then was fulfilled that which was spoken by Jeremy the prophet
+saying, and they took the thirty pieces of silver, the price of him
+that was valued, whom they of the children of Israel did value; and
+gave them for the Potters field, as the Lord appointed me." There
+is no such passage as this in "Jeremy the prophet," nor in any of
+the Books of the Old Testament. But Jerom asserts, that it was
+taken from an Apocryphal Book ascribed to Jeremiah; he says
+that he saw the apocryphal book from whence this is taken.  See
+Jerom's Commentary upon Matthew tom. iv. p. 1. p. 134, See also
+Marsh's Michaelis Vol. I. p. 490. as quoted by Mr. Everett.
+
+It appears to me, that an honest man would not quote, as
+prophetical authority, a forged book ascribed to Jeremiah: and an
+inspired man as the Christians suppose Matthew to have been,
+still less.
+
+In short the quotations in the New testament from the Old,
+adduced as prophecies of Jesus and the Religion of the New
+Testament, are so very inapplicable to that purpose, that the most
+celebrated of the Christian. Theologians of the present day, have
+found themselves obliged to abandon all attempts to support them
+as prophecies fulfilled in the events to which they are applied.
+They maintain, as will appear hereafter in the course of this work,
+that not one of the passages, quoted in the New Testament from
+the Old, was quoted as a prophecy, but merely by way of
+accommodation or allusion. If so, it may be replied, that it is very
+extraordinary, that the authors of the books of the New Testament
+who are almost continually representing that Jesus was predicted
+by the prophets, should after all never have adduced one of those
+predictions, although they are perpetually quoting the Old
+Testament. But the truth of the matter probably is, that the writers
+of the New Testament, did firmly believe that the passages they
+have quoted, were really predictions of the events and doctrines to
+which they refer them. This is clear from the Epistle to the
+Hebrews for instance, it is a deliberate and formal defence of the
+Doctrines of Christianity, addressed to the Jews, or Jewish
+Christians, in which the author attempts to show from the Old
+Testament, allowed by the Jews as oracular, that the Pre-
+existence, Divinity, Priesthood, and Atonement of Jesus Christ, as
+supposed by the Christians, were predicted in the Old Testament,
+and proved by his citations.[fn109]
+
+Who is so blind as not to see, that this system of Defence is
+merely one of the last resort, adopted in circumstances of distress
+for want of a better?
+
+Sure I am, that the believing part of the Christian Laity will never
+adopt this System, (though the unbelieving part probably gladly
+will) but would be extremely shocked on being told by their Clergy,
+that the passages quoted from the Old Testament by the writers of
+the New, which they and their predecessors from the 2nd century
+downwards have been accustomed to regard as veritable
+predictions of Jesus, and introduced too by such solemn prefaces
+as the following, "all this was done that it might be fulfilled which
+was spoken by the prophet, saying" &c, or, "in this was fulfilled
+that which was spoken by the prophet saying" &c--were not after
+all adduced as prophecies, but merely by way of allusion.[fn110]
+
+ PASSAGES FROM THE OLD TESTAMENT REFERRING TO
+THE MESSIAH AND THE CIRCUMSTANCES OF HIS KINGDOM.
+
+"Shiloh shall come, and to him shall the obedience of the peoples
+be." Ac. to the Hebr. Gen. xlix. 10.
+
+"The adversaries of Jehovah shall be broken in pieces; out of
+Heaven shall He thunder upon them; Jehovah shall judge the
+ends of the earth; and he shall give strength unto his king, and
+exalt the horn of his Messiah." I Sam. ch. il. 10.
+
+"These be the last words of David. David the son of Jesse said,
+and the man who was exalted on high, the Messiah of the God of
+Jacob, [See the Hebr.] and the sweet Psalmist of Israel. The Spirit
+of Jehovah spake by me, and his word was [fn111] in my tongue.
+The God of Israel said, the Rock of Israel spake to me. He that
+ruleth over mankind [or the human race. See the Hebr.] shall be
+just, ruling in the fear of God, And he shall be as the light of the
+morning when the sun ariseth, even a morning without clouds; as
+the tender grass springing out of the earth by clear shining after
+rain.--But the sons of Belial shall be all of them as thorns thrust
+away, because they cannot be taken with hands; but the man that
+shall touch them must be fenced with iron, and the staff of a
+spear; and they shall be utterly burned with fire in the same
+place." 2. Sam. ch. xxiii, 1.--7.
+
+" I have set my king upon my holy hill of Zion, I will declare the
+decree, Jehovah hath said unto me. Thou art my son, this day
+have I begotten thee; ask of me, and I shall give thee the nations
+for thy inheritance, and the utmost parts of the earth for thy
+possession. Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron: thou shall
+dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel." Ps. 2. See also Ps. 21.
+
+"He shall judge thy people with righteousness, and thy poor with
+judgment. The mountains shall bring peace to the people, and the
+little hills by righteousness. He shall judge the poor of the people,
+he shall save the children of the needy, and shall break in pieces
+the oppressor. They shall fear thee as long as the sun and moon
+endure throughout all generations. He shall come down like rain
+upon the mown grass: as showers that water the earth, [compare
+2. Sam. ch. xxi. [fn112] 3. 4.] In his days shall the righteous
+flourish; and abundance of peace as long as the moon endureth.
+He shall have dominion also from sea to sea, and from the river
+unto the ends of the earth. [" his dominions shall be from sea even
+to sea, and from the river even unto the ends of the earth." Zech.
+ix: 10.] they that dwell in the wilderness shall bow before him, and
+his enemies shall lick the dust, The kings of Tarshish and of the
+isles [i. e. of Europe and the west,] shall bring presents; the kings
+of Sheba and Seba shall offer gifts. All kings shall fall down before
+him: all nations shall serve him. For he shall deliver the needy
+when he crieth; the poor also, and him that hath no helper. He
+shall spare the poor and needy, and shall save the souls of the
+needy. He shall redeem their soul from deceit and violence: and
+precious shall their blood be in his sight. And he shall live, and to
+him shall be given of the gold of Sheba; prayer also shall be made
+for him continually; and daily shall he be praised--His name shall
+endure for ever: his name shall be continued as long as the sun:
+and men shall be blessed in him: all nations shall call him blessed.
+Blessed be Jehovah God, the God of Israel, who only doeth
+wondrous things. And blessed be his glorious name for ever; and
+let the whole earth be filled with his glory. Amen, and
+Amen.[fn113] Ps. 72.
+
+"Thou speakest in vision of thy holy [or pious] one, and saidst, I
+have laid help upon one that is mighty: I have exalted one chosen
+out of the people. I have found David my servant; with my holy oil
+have I anointed him: with whom my hand shall be established:
+mine arm also shall strengthen him. The enemy shall not exact
+upon him: nor the sin of wickedness afflict him. And I will beat
+down his foes before his face, and plague them that hate him. But
+my faithfulness and my mercy shall be with him: and in my name
+shall his horn be exalted. I will set his hand also in the sea, and
+his right hand In the rivers. He shall cry unto me thou art my
+father, my God, and the rock of my salvation. Also I will make him
+my first born, higher than the kings of the earth, My mercy will I
+keep for him for evermore, and my covenant shall stand fast with
+him. ["although my house be not so with God: yet he hath made
+with me an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things and sure."
+2. Sam. ch. xxiii. 5.] His seed also will I make to endure forever,
+and his throne as the days of heaven.--My covenant will I not
+break,-nor alter the thing that is gone out of my lips. Once have I
+sworn by my holiness that I will not lie unto David. His seed shall
+endure for ever, and HIS THRONE AS THE SUN BEFORE ME. It
+shall be established for ever as the moon, and as a faithful
+witness in the heaven." Ps. 89.
+
+"Jehovah said unto my Lord, sit thou on my right hand, until I
+make thy enemies thy footstool. Jehovah shall send the rod of thy
+power out of Zion: rule thou in the midst of thine enemies.--
+Jehovah at thy right hand shall strike through kings in the day of
+his wrath. He shall judge among the nations; he shall fill the
+places with the dead bodies: he shall wound the heads over many
+countries." Ps. 110.
+
+"It shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of
+Jehovah's house shall be established in the tops of the mountains,
+and shall be exalted above the hills; and all the nations shall flow
+unto it. And many peoples shall go and say, Come ye, and let us
+go up to the mountain of Jehovah, to the house of the God of
+Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his
+paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the Law, and the word of
+Jehovah from Jerusalem. And he shall judge among the nations,
+and shall rebuke many peoples: and they shall beat their swords
+into ploughshares, and their spears into pruning-hooks: nation
+shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war
+any more." Is. ch. ii.
+
+" Unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given; and the
+Principality shall be upon his shoulder; and the Wonderful
+Counsellor, The Mighty God, The everlasting Father shall call his
+name the Prince of Peace.[fn114] [See. the Heb.] Of the increase
+of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the
+throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it and to establish
+it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever.
+The zeal of Jehovah of Hosts will perform this."' Is. ix: 6, 7.
+
+"There shall come forth a rod out of the stem (or stump, i. e. the
+roots of a tree cut down) of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of
+his roots, and the spirit of Jehovah shall rest upon him, the spirit of
+wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the
+spirit of knowledge and the fear of Jehovah, and shall make him of
+quick understanding in the fear of Jehovah; and he shall not judge
+after the sight of his eyes, neither reprove after the hearing of his
+ears: but with righteousness shall he judge the poor, and reprove
+with equity for the meek of the earth; and he shall smite the earth
+with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips shall he
+slay the wicked. And righteousness shall be the girdle of his loins,
+and faithfulness the girdle of his reins. The wolf also shall dwell
+with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid: and the
+calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child
+shall lead them. And the cow and the bear shall feed: their young
+ones shall lie down together; and the lion shall eat straw like the
+ox. [fn115] And the sucking child shall play on the hole of the asp,
+and the weaned child shall put his hand on the cockatrices den.
+They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain: for the
+earth shall be full of the knowledge of Jehovah, as the waters
+cover the sea. And in that day there shall be a root of Jesse,
+which shall stand for an ensign of the peoples; to it shall the
+Gentiles seek; and his seat shall be glory." [See the Hebr.] Is. ch.
+xi. "And it shall come to pass in that day, that Jehovah shall set his
+hand again the second time to recover the remnant of his people
+which shall be left, from Assyria, and from Egypt, and from
+Pathros, and from Cush, and from Elam, and from Shinar, and
+from the islands of the sea. And he shall set up an ensign for the
+nations, and shall assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather
+together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the
+earth." Is. ch. xi.
+
+"And he will destroy in this mountain the face of the covering cast
+aver all the peoples, (i. e. their ignorance of God's dispensations)
+and the vail that is spread over all the nations. He will swallow up
+death in victory, (or to eternity), and Jehovah God will wipe away
+tears from off all faces: and the rebuke of his people shall he take
+away from off all the earth: for Jehovah hath spoken it, and it shall
+be said in that day, Lo, this is our God; we have waited for him,
+and he will save us; thus saith [fn116] Jehovah; we have waited
+for him, we will be glad, and rejoice in his salvation." Is. xxv. 7--9.
+
+"The wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad for them; and
+the desert shall rejoice and blossom as the rose. It shall blossom
+abundantly and rejoice even with joy and singing: the glory of
+Lebanon shall be given unto it, the excellency of Carmel and
+Sharon, they shall see the glory of Jehovah, and the excellency of
+our God. Strengthen ye the weak hands, and confirm the feeble
+knees, Say to them that are of a fearful heart. Be strong, fear not,
+behold your God will come with vengeance, even God with a
+recompense, he will come and save you. Then the eyes of the
+blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be
+unstopped. Then shall the lame man leap as an hart, and the
+tongue of the dumb sing: for in the wilderness shall waters break
+out, and streams, in the desert. And the parched ground shall
+become a pool, and the thirsty land springs of water: in the
+habitation of dragons where each lay, shall be grass, with reeds
+and rushes. And the ransomed of Jehovah shall return and come
+to Zion with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads, and
+sorrow and sighing shall flee away." Is. xxxv.
+
+"Comfort ye, comfort, ye my people, saith your God. Speak ye
+comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her, that her warfare is
+accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned; for she hath received
+of Jehovah's hand, double for all her sins. The voice of him that
+crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of Jehovah, make
+straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be
+exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low: and the
+crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain. And
+the glory of Jehovah shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it
+together: for the mouth of Jehovah hath spoken it. The voice said,
+Cry. And he said, What shall I cry? All flesh is grass, and all the
+goodliness thereof is as the flower of the field. The grass
+withereth, the flower fadeth; because the spirit of Jehovah bloweth
+upon it: surely the people is grass. The grass withereth, the flower
+fadeth; BUT THE WORD OF OUR GOD SHALL STAND FOR,
+EVER." Is. xl.
+
+"My people shall know my name: therefore shall they know in that
+day, that I am He that doth speak; behold it is I. How beautiful
+upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings,
+that publisheth peace; that bringeth good tidings of good, that
+publisheth salvation, that saith unto Zion, Thy God reigneth! Thy
+watchmen shall lift up the voice, with the voice together shall they
+sing; for they shall see eye to eye, when Jehovah shall bring again
+Zion. Break forth into joy, sing together ye waste places of
+Jerusalem; for Jehovah hath comforted his people, he hath
+redeemed Jerusalem, Jehovah hath made bare his holy arm in the
+eyes of all nations; and all the ends of the earth shall see the
+salvation of our God." Is. lii.
+
+G. G.
+
+The good Christians of the United States, I do nut use the term in
+sarcasm, for they are good, speak in their books and sermons of
+the Christian religion as if it were every where the same as in the
+grand, free, and liberal republic. But the Fact is not so. An
+American who reads the poems of Homer, or Ovid's
+Metamorphoses, laughs at the religion of the ancient Greeks and
+Romans as a ridiculous folly; but when he visits those countries in
+Christendom which are not Protestant, he will be inclined to regard
+their religion as a blasphemy against the Most High. Go where
+you will in those countries, if you look into their churches, you
+invariably nod "a molten image, or picture, and a teacher of lies."
+[fn117]
+
+The prophets of the Old Testament reproached the idolatrous
+Jews, that "according to the number of their cities were their
+gods." But in the countries I speak of, the number of gods is
+according to the number of churches, and even houses; for every
+house contains an image or picture of some saint or other, who is
+considered as the tutelary guardian of the family.
+
+H
+
+Mr. Everett observes upon this prophecy of Jeremiah p. 75. of his
+work, "as it is near two thousand years since David has failed of a
+temporal prince up on his throne, and a temporal successor of
+Levites, and since it is declared that it shall NEVER fail of these,
+we must suppose that a spiritual secession and a spiritual service
+were intended: or else the solemn promise.-of God has been for
+two thousand years, without fulfillment."
+
+"Ut semper!"------
+
+Sternhold and Hopklns had great qualms, When they did quaver
+David's Psalms; "Which made their hearts full glad. But had the
+prophet back been sent, To hear them SING,--and you
+COMMENT, They surely had run mad."
+
+I
+
+PASSAGES FROM THE OLD TESTAMENT PREDICTING THE
+RESTORATION OF THE DISPERSION.
+
+"Behold the former things are come to pass, and new things do I
+DECLARE: BEFORE THEY SPRING FORTH I TELL you them."
+
+"I will bring thy seed from the east, and gather thee from the west:
+I will say to the north, give up; and to the south keep not back:
+bring my sons from far, and my daughters from the ends of the
+earth. Every one that is called by my name: for I have created him
+for my glory, I have formed him; yea I have made him. Is. xliii: 3, 6,
+7.
+
+"Thus saith the Lord God, behold I will lift up my hand to the
+Gentiles, and set up my standard to the peoples; and they shall
+bring thy sons in their arms, and thy daughters shall be carried
+upon their shoulders. And kings shall be thy nursing fathers, and
+their queens thy nursing mothers; they shall bow down to thee
+with their face toward the earth, and shall lick up the dust of thy
+feet: and thou shalt know that I am Jehovah, for they shall not be
+ashamed that wait for me. Shall the prey be taken from the
+mighty, or the lawful captive delivered. But thus saith Jehovah.
+Even the captives of the mighty shall be taken away, and the prey
+of the terrible shall be delivered: for I will contend with him that
+contendeth with thee; and I will save thy children. And I will feed
+them that oppress thee with their own flesh: and they shall be
+drunken with their own blood, as with sweet wine: and all flesh
+shall know that I Jehovah am thy Saviour, and thy Redeemer, the
+Mighty One of Jacob." Is. xlix.
+
+" Jehovah shall comfort Zion, he will comfort all her waste places:
+and he will make her wilderness like Eden, and her desert like the
+garden of Jehovah; joy and gladness shall be found therein;
+thanksgiving and the voice of melody. Hearken unto me my
+people, and give ear unto me O, my nation: for a law shall
+proceed from me, and I will make my judgment to rest for alight of
+the peoples. My righteousness, is near, my salvation is gone forth,
+and mine arms shall judge the peoples: the isles shall wait upon
+me, and on mine arm shall they lean."
+
+[See the Heb.] Is. li.
+
+"Fear not, for thou shalt not be ashamed; neither be thou
+confounded: for thou shalt not be put to shame: for thou shalt
+forget the shame of thy youth, [i. e. thy ancient Idolatry] and shalt
+not remember the reproach of thy widowhoods [i. e. thy two
+dispersions] any more. For thy Maker is thy Husband, Jehovah of
+hosts is his name, and thy Redeemer the Holy one of Israel; the
+God of the whole earth shall he be called. For Jehovah hath called
+thee as a woman forsaken and grieved in spirit, and a wife of
+youth, when thou hadst been refused saith thy God. For a small
+moment have I forsaken thee; but with great mercies will I gather
+thee. In a little wrath I hid my face from thee for a moment, but
+with everlasting kindness will I have mercy upon thee, saith
+Jehovah thy Redeemer. For this is as the waters of Noah unto me:
+for as I have sworn that the waters of Noah should no more go
+over the earth; so have I sworn that I will not be wroth with thee,
+nor rebuke thee. For the mountains shall depart, and the hills be
+removed: but my kindness shall not depart from thee, neither shall
+the covenant of my peace be removed, saith Jehovah that hath
+mercy on thee. O thou afflicted, tossed with tempest, and not
+comforted: behold I will lay thy stones with fair colours, and lay thy
+foundations with sapphires, and I will make thy windows of agates,
+and thy gates of carbuncles, and all thy borders of pleasant
+stones, and thy children shall be taught of Jehovah, and great
+shall be the peace of thy children. In righteousness shalt thou be
+established: thou shalt be far from oppression: for thou shalt not
+fear, and from terror, for it shall not come near thee." Is. liv.
+
+"Behold thou shalt call a nation that thou knowest not, and nations
+that knew not thee shall run unto thee, because of Jehovah thy
+God: and for the Holy one of Israel; for he hath glorified thee," Is.
+lv. 5.
+
+"Behold the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness
+the peoples; but Jehovah shall arise upon thee, and his glory shall
+be seen upon thee. And the Gentiles shall come to thy light and
+kings to the brightness of thy rising. Lift up thine eyes round about
+and see; all they gather themselves together, they come to thee:
+thy sons shall come from far, and thy daughters shall be nursed at
+thy side. Then thou shalt see and flow together, and thine heart
+shall fear and be enlarged; because the abundance of the sea
+shall be converted unto thee, the forces [or wealth] of the Gentiles
+shall come unto thee. The multitude of camels shall cover thee;
+the dromedaries of Midian and Ephah: all they from Sheba shall
+come: they shall bring gold and incense: and they shall show forth
+the praises of Jehovah. All the flocks of Kedar shall be gathered
+together unto thee, the rams of Nebaioth [i. e. the chiefs of the
+Arabs Nebaioth was the eldest son of Ishmael] shall minister unto
+thee: they shall come up with acceptance to mine altar,
+[doubtless, because they have been worshippers of one sole God
+of Abraham and the prophets since, the days of Mohammed] and I
+will beautify the house of my glory. "Who are these that fly as a
+cloud, and as the doves to their windows? Surely the isles shall
+wait for me, and the ships of Tarshish first, to bring thy sons from
+far, their silver, and their gold with them; unto the name of
+Jehovah thy God, and to the Holy One of Israel because He hath
+glorified thee. And the sons of strangers shall build up thy walls,
+and their kings shall minister unto thee, for in my wrath I smote
+thee, but in my favour have I had mercy on thee. Therefore thy
+gates shall be open continually; they shall not be shut day nor
+night: that men may bring unto thee the forces of the Gentiles, and
+that their kings may be brought. For the nation and kingdom that
+will not serve thee shall perish; yea those nations shall be utterly
+wasted. The glory of Lebanon shall come unto thee, the fir-tree,
+the pine-tree, and the box-tree together, to beautify the place of
+my sanctuary: and I will make the place of my feet glorious. The
+sons also of them that afflicted thee shall come bending unto thee:
+and all they that despised thee shall bow themselves down at the
+soles of thy feet; and they shall call thee the city of Jehovah, The
+Zion of the Holy One of Israel. Whereas thou hast been forsaken,
+and hated, that no man went through thee, I will make thee an
+eternal excellency, a joy of endless [ac. to the Heb.] generations.
+Thou shalt suck the milk of the Gentiles, and shalt suck the breast
+of kings: and thou shalt know that I Jehovah am thy Saviour and
+thy Redeemer, the mighty One of Jacob. For brass I will bring
+gold, and for iron I will bring silver; and for wood brass, and for
+stones iron: I will also make thy officers peace, and thine exactors
+righteousness. Violence shall no more be heard in thy land,
+wasting nor destruction within thy borders: but thou shalt call thy
+walls Salvation, and thy gates Praise. The sun shall be no more
+thy light by day: neither for brightness shall the moon give light
+unto thee: but Jehovah shall be unto thee an everlasting light, and
+thy God thy Glory. Thy sun shall no more go down; neither shall
+thy moon withdraw itself; for Jehovah shall be thy everlasting light,
+and the days of thy mourning shall be ended. Thy people also
+shall be all righteous: they shall inherit the land forever, the branch
+of my planting, the work of my hands, that I may be glorified."' Is
+ch. Ix.
+
+"Thou shalt be a crown of glory in the hand of Jehovah, and a
+royal diadem in the hand of thy God. Thou shalt be no more
+termed forsaken: neither shall thy laud any more be termed
+desolate--For as a young man marrieth a virgin, so shall thy sons
+marry thee: and, as the bridegroom rejoiceth over the bride so
+shall thy God rejoice over thee." Is. ch. Ixii.
+
+"Rejoice ye with Jerusalem, and be glad with her all ye that love
+her: rejoice for joy with her all ye that mourn for her: that ye may
+suck, and be satisfied with the breasts of her consolations: that ye
+may milk and be delighted with the abundance of her glory. For
+thus saith Jehovah. Behold I will extend Peace to her like a river,
+and the glory of the Gentiles like an overflowing stream: then shall
+ye suck, ye shall be borne upon her sides, and be dandled upon
+her knees. As one whom his mother comforted so will I comfort
+you; and ye shall be comforted in Jerusalem." Is. Ixvi.
+
+"Thus saith Jehovah, keep ye judgment, and do justice: for my
+salvation is near to come, and my righteousness to be revealed.
+Blessed is the man that doeth this, and the son of man that layeth
+hold of it, that keepeth the sabbath from polluting it, and keepeth
+his hand from doing any evil. Neither let the son of the stranger
+who hath joined himself unto Jehovah, speak, saying, Jehovah
+hath utterly separated me from his people--the sons of the
+stranger that join themselves to Jehovah, to serve him, and to love
+the name of Jehovah, to be his servants, every one that keepeth
+the Sabbath from polluting it, and taketh hold of my covenant:
+even them will I bring to my holy mountain, and make them joyful
+in my house of prayer: their burnt offerings and their sacrifices
+shall be accepted on mine altar; for mine house shall be called a
+house of prayer for all peoples. Jehovah God which gathereth the
+outcasts of Israel saith, yet will I gather others to him beside those
+that are gathered to him." Is. ch. Ivi.
+
+"Tell ye and bring them near; yea, let them take counsel together:
+who hath declared this from ancient time? who hath told it from
+that time: Have not I Jehovah? and there is no God else beside
+me; a just God and a Saviour, there is none beside me. Look unto
+me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the Earth: for I am God and,
+there is none else. I have sworn by myself, the word is gone out of
+my mouth in righteousness, and shall not return, that unto me:
+every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear. Surely, shall one
+say, in Jehovah have I righteousness and strength: even to Him,
+shall men come: and all that are incensed against Him shall be
+ashamed. In Jehovah shall all the seed of Israel be justified, and
+shall glory." [fn119] Is. xlv. 21. &c.
+
+ ERRATA.
+
+(The manuscript of this book was written in little more than three
+weeks at Cairo, amidst the hurry and bustle of my preparations to
+accompany Ismael Pasha to the Upper Nile. It has been printed
+without my having had it in my power to correct any of the proofs.
+In consequence of one or both of these circumstances the
+following. Errata almost entirely literal have been committed. I
+believe however that the Scholar will not find any misstatement of
+facts, nor the Logician any flaw in the arguments; the book lays
+before the Public. On these two points I feel quite secure in this
+respect: I calmly and firmly lay my gage at the feet of all
+Christendom. Let him who dares to take it up, do it.)
+
+
+
+[fn1  for "chooseth," read "chusest."]
+
+[fn2 for "possessions," read "prepossessions"]
+
+[fn3 for "these," read "their"]
+
+[fn 4.  Mr. Everett appears willing to allow, as said before, the
+existence of these contradictions in the narratives of the
+Evangelists, particularly in their accounts of the resurrection of
+Jesus, [See p.456. of his work.] but maintains their credibility
+nevertheless, and in justification of this opinion, he quotes p. 457,
+the contradictions of the historians of the execution of the Marquis
+of Argyle; a fact nevertheless not doubted. But the cases are by
+no means parallel; that a rebel should be decapitated is a fact of
+notorious frequency in British history and very probable in itself,
+and as it is a fact without consequence, no man will be inclined to
+doubt it, if it be affirmed by history, notwithstanding some
+contradictions in the accounts of the circumstances of his
+execution.
+
+But I would ask Mr. Everett--if the same historians who report the
+execution of the Marquis of Argyle; had also affirmed that three
+days after he had his head cut off, he appeared again alive to his
+particular friends with his head on, talking and dining with them;
+and that one of these historians represent this to have taken place
+at London--another at Edinburgh--and a third at Stirling, would Mr.
+Everett, or any man in his senses, hesitate to consider these
+contradictions in the accounts of such a supernatural event as of
+no weight? Let us add to this another consideration.--Suppose
+that the Marquis of Argyle was a man of irreproachable and
+admirable character, and enthusiastically beloved by his friends,
+and that these friends believed in certain ancient prophecies
+which predicted that a Scotchman should arise, who should make
+Scotland supreme over all the earth, and live himself for ever; and
+that these friends believed the Marquis of Argyle to be the man:
+but that disappointed in their expectations by seeing him suffer his
+head to be cut off, they had their hopes revived by the appearance
+of this story of his having been seen alive by twelve of his most
+intimate friends, who were the heads of the party who had
+believed that the Marquis of Argyle would fulfill the prophecies
+aforesaid, and not content with receiving this contradictory story
+with avidity themselves, (which after all might have been invented
+as a salvo for his non-fulfillment or postponing the fulfillment of
+these prophecies, by submitting to be decapitated) insisted that
+every body else should believe it too, on pain of eternal
+damnation!--Would not Mr. Everett be inclined to suspect that
+these friends of the Marquis of Argyle were deluded men, and
+possibly noncompos mentis; and suppose that these friends of the
+Marquis of Argyle had told their party that he had been taken up to
+Heaven, for a time, but would return again into the World, before
+that generation had passed away, and would then fulfill the
+prophecies aforesaid; and that this party, notwithstanding, that the
+Marquis of Argyle did not come again before that generation had
+passed away nor for eighteen hundred years afterwards, still
+retained their belief in the aforesaid circumstances, and still
+insisted that everybody else should believe them too on pain of
+eternal damnation; would not Mr. Everett consider these men as
+certainly distracted? "Mulata[fn5] nomine de te fabula narratur,"
+Mr. Everett.]
+
+[fn5 for "mulata" read "mulatto"]
+
+[fn6 Dr. Campbell in his notes to his translation of the Evangelists
+in loco. tries to prove that the Greek words in the Gospel of
+Matthew, which undoubtedly strictly and literally Signify "in the
+evening of the Sabbath," or "at the end of the Sabbath," may
+mean "the Sabbath being ended,"; which, if it could be
+established, would set aside the objection I have mentioned.]
+
+[fn7 for 24 read 36]
+
+[fn8 for 54 read 34]
+
+[fn9 Of lrenaeus and. Tertullian Mr. Everett remarks, that
+"Tertullian was a very shrewd writer, [yes indeed, and of his
+fraudulent shrewdness Middleton gives some notable instances in
+his true inquiry] and Irenaeus less fool than knave," p. 471. of Mr.
+Everett's work. I would observe to Mr. Everett, that this Irenaeus is
+the first writer who mentions the four Gospels, and that the
+Fathers of the Church who came after him in affirming the
+genuineness of the four Gospels appeal to this Irenaeus this "half
+fool, half knave," as the authority and voucher for their
+authenticity; the evidence for their authenticity stops short with
+him. Justin Martyr who flourished about the year 140 of the
+Christian Era, in his apology quotes, indeed, Memoirs of Jesus
+Christ which he says, were written by Apostles and Apostolick
+men. But it is, acknowledged by Bishop Marsh in his notes to
+Michaelis Introduction, to the New Testament, that the quotations
+of Justin Martyr are so unlike the expressions in the received
+Evangelists to which they appear to refer, that one of two things
+must be true; either that Justin does not quote our present
+Gospels; or else, that they were in his time in a very different
+state, than what they now are.
+
+Papias who wrote about 116 of the Christian Era says, that
+Matthew wrote a Gospel "in Hebrew which every one interpreted
+as he was able," but says nothing of a Gospel of Matthew in
+Greek; and that the present Greek Gospel called of Matthew could
+not be a translation from Matthew's Hebrew, appears from
+Bishops Marsh's Dissertation on the origin of these[fn10] first
+Gospels; where he proves that it is not a translation of one work,
+but a compilation from several. The same is maintained by the
+German Theologians to be presently mentioned.
+
+[fn10 for "these," "the three"]
+
+[fn11 These Sybiline oracles so often, and so confidently appealed
+to by the Fathers of the Church, are now universally allowed to
+have been forged by the Christians themselves: of them Scaliger
+speaks as follows.
+
+"Quid pseudo--Sybilina oracula quae Christiani gentibus
+objiciebant, quum tamen e Christianorum officina prodiissent in
+Gentium autem Bibliothecis non reperirentur? Adeo verbum Dei
+inefficax esse censuerunt, ut regnum Christi sine mendaciis
+promoveri posse diffiderent? atque utinam illi firimi mentiri
+coepissent," apud La Roche Mem. Lit. 7. 331. as quoted by Mr.
+Everett, p. 228. of his work.
+
+If the reader will consult Toland's Amyntor, he will find appended
+to that work, a list of the names of I think about a hundred
+Gospels, Epistles, and Revelations, forged by the Gentile
+Christians in the first centuries of the Christian Era. The
+Celebrated Semler, so distinguished for his knowledge in Biblical
+criticism and ecclesiastical antiquities, has said, as Mr. Everett
+allows, p. 464 of his work, that the general Epistles of James,
+Peter, and John and Jude, and the book of Revelations, contained
+in the New Testament at present, must be also placed upon the
+long list of pious frauds, fabricated in the first ages of Christianity.]
+
+[fn12 It is an allowed principle of liberal criticism, that when the
+expressions of an author are capable of two senses, one of which
+would make him contradict himself, and the other would leave him
+consistent, it is but fair to suppose that he meant to be consistent,
+and therefore should be interpreted in the sense which would
+exclude self contradiction. How has the liberal Mr. Everett acted
+on an occasion of this kind? I had said in my first work "the Jewish
+Christians, the disciples of the twelve Apostles, NEVER received,
+but rejected every individual book of the present New Testament."
+
+I had also maintained, that the Gospels were forged after the
+middle of the second century. Now any reasonable man would I
+believe understand me as using the expressions, "Jewish
+Christians, the disciples of the twelve Apostles," in the same
+sense as when we speak of the followers of Plato, Whitfield, or
+Wesley, by the name of Disciples of Plato, Whitfield, or Wesley,
+without confining the expression to signify their immediate
+disciples; the insertion of the words, "never received," also
+suggests that this must have been my meaning. Nevertheless Mr.
+Everett, in order to bring me in contradiction with myself in order to
+serve a turn of his own, remarks upon my words, "without
+presuming to decide upon the opinions of a writer, so keen in
+detecting dissonances as Mr. English, I do presume to think, that if
+every individual book, of the present New Testament, was
+rejected, by the disciples of the twelve Apostles, that they must
+have been in being at the time they were rejected, and therefore
+could not have been forged, a century after that period. I am not
+conscious of any wish to weaken the force of Mr. English's
+arguments, by affecting to speak of them in contemptuous terms, I
+would, as I have, answered them fairly, or not at all." p.445.]
+
+[fn13 If so, what becomes of all Mr. Everett's laboured argument
+upon Jesus' prophecy of the destruction of Jerusalem contained in
+p. 401 et seq. of his work; if it be true that the prophecy was
+written, after the events predicted took place!]
+
+[fn14 If this opinion be true, and Bishop Marsh may be considered
+as having almost demonstrated it to be so in his dissertation upon
+the origin of the three first Gospels, it follows, that these Gospels
+could not have been written by the Apostles, and immediate
+followers of Jesus Christ; for certainly, men personally and
+intimately acquainted with all his actions, and all his doctrines, (as
+were his Apostles and all his immediate followers, and influenced
+too by the Holy Ghost, as they are all represented to have been in
+the book of Acts, ch. iv. 31,) in setting about writing Memoirs of
+Jesus, would write from their own complete, inspired and personal
+knowledge; and would not compile from "books which had gone
+through various hands, and been variously altered and added to in
+the passage." No! such a procedure would be that of men who
+had no personal knowledge of the events they undertook to
+record; and who were therefore obliged to consult books for
+information.
+
+In order to place in a fair light the absurdity of supposing the four
+Gospels to have been written by the Apostles and first followers of
+Jesus, I will suppose, a case. Suppose there should appear in the
+world, four different Lives of Napoleon pretending to have been
+written by four of his aids de camp, who had constantly been near
+his person, from the time that he commanded the troops in Paris
+till his dethronement; and that one of them represented that the
+expedition to Egypt took place when he was General of the troops
+in Paris, another that it took place when he was first Consul, and
+the others that it took place when he was Emperor. Would any
+man believe, that ALL these books were written by aids de-camp
+of Napoleon, who had been constantly near his person from the
+time that he commanded the troops of Paris till his
+dethronement?]
+
+[fn15  The New Testament, is I believe unparalleled among all the
+ancient books that have come down to us for the number, and
+importance of the corruptions, and alterations, it has undergone.
+What! can learned Christians tell us of several hundred thousands
+of various readings, in copies of a small book like the New
+Testament--that almost every, perhaps every verse has been
+altered, interpolated, or retrenched in some copy or other--and
+then add in the same breath that the book is nevertheless to be
+received, as containing the uncorrupted doctrines of the founders
+of Christianity? If we did not know the inconsistency, and
+blindness of prejudice, one might be tempted to suspect that these
+learned men were hardly sincere.
+
+What! is it to be insisted on that a book which Providence has
+evidently abandoned to carelessness, or to roguery, or to both,
+was nevertheless intended by the Supreme, as a credible record
+of an ultimate, permanent and universal religion for all mankind!!--
+The insane effrontery of such a supposition deserves to be hooted
+out of countenance.
+
+Mr. Everett says, p. 243. of his work "that not one of the books of
+the New Testament, nor all of them together, were intended to be
+a forensic defence of Christianity. On the contrary, the historical
+books are brief, and imperfect memoirs, which were not designed,
+nor supposed to contain all the faces, and which do not set forth,
+nor profess to set forth the evidences of the religion. The
+Epistolary parts are the counsels, instructions and affectionate
+sentiments which the occasions of the infant churches, drew from
+their founders. Now from these we expect, to collect the whole of
+Christianity, of its doctrines, its precepts, and its sanctions." Can
+Mr. Everett confidently believe, that God Almighty, who
+descended to the earth, to deliver a Code to one nation would
+have left the world to collect as they could a complete, universal,
+and permanent code of religion and, morals from "brief and
+imperfect," interpolated and corrupted memoirs, and a few
+occasional letters?]
+
+[fn16  Mr. Everett recommends to me to adopt as an appropriate
+motto for the second edition of my first work, a passage from
+Celsus which speaks of the dispute, between the Jews and
+Christians as a "quarrel about the shadow of an ass." p. 327. of
+Mr. Everett's work.
+
+Is it so indeed! How then has it happened that Mr. Everett's
+Coreligionists have for fifteen hundred years persecuted,
+despised, oppressed, trampled underfoot millions, plundered and
+massacred hundreds of thousands, tortured, racked, and roasted
+alive thousands of the Jewish nation; and all in a quarrel about
+"the shadow of an ass!" O shame, where is thy blush. O meek
+eye'd humanity, how hast thou been outraged and trampled on!
+
+For my own part I do not consider it as a quarrel about "the
+shadow of an ass," I rather think it has a much greater
+resemblance to a quarrel about an ass in the Lion's skin; in which
+quarrel the Christians have shown themselves to be every thing
+but the Fox in the Fable upon that subject.]
+
+[fn17  Mr. Everett, also quotes my words in another place into the
+211 page of his work. "The Jews had certainly good reason from
+their prophecies, to expect no Messiah but one who should set on
+the Throne of David, and confer Liberty and happiness on them,
+and spread peace and happiness throughout the earth, and
+communicate the knowledge of God and virtue, and the love of
+their fellow men to every people."
+
+Is this a character "whose laurel is to be watered by tears," the
+leaves of which is to "grow green in an atmosphere filled with
+sighs and groans?" I would ask Mr. Everett.]
+
+[fn18 Mr. Everett says page, 107. with great gravity, "to hear the
+Evangelists charged in vulgar terms with misquoting and changing
+words, by one, who could himself fall into the errors and the
+misrepresentations we have just exposed, has moved me to a
+warmth of language, which I did not think to have used. But, I beg
+pardon: it is the New Testament which teaches us, that we
+"beware lest we condemn ourselves, in what we judge another."
+And Mr. English has let us know that the New Testament morality
+is pernicious to society. Justly, most Justly, does Dr. Leland
+observe, that "it would be hard to produce any persons whatever,
+who are chargeable with more unfair, and fraudulent management
+in their quotations, in curtailing, adding to, and altering the
+passages they cite, or taking them out of their connexion, and
+making them speak directly contrary to the sentiments of their
+authors than the Deistical Writers!!" They are indeed sad dogs, it
+must be allowed, Mr. Everett.]
+
+[fn19 See Appendix B]
+
+[fn20 Mr. Everett considers the happy reign of the Messiah as
+having actually commenced with the era of Jesus Christ, and that
+we are actually enjoying its blessings. Of course he must consider
+his being whipped, and gibbetted by his own subjects, and leaving
+the world in the hands of those holy men, Tiberius, Nero, Caligula,
+Domitian, and Heliogabalus, kingdom rising against kingdom, and
+nation against nation; (though the prophets declare that in the
+reign of the Messiah "nation shall not lift up sword against nation,
+neither shall they learn war any more,") famines, earthquakes, and
+pestilences in divers places, (though the prophets declare that in
+the reign of the Messiah, the earth shall become a Paradise, and
+that God shall wipe all tears from off all faces, and sorrow and
+sighing shall flee away,) that horrid Jewish war in which perished
+more than eleven hundred thousand of the Jewish nation, while
+the rest were dispersed and enslaved, (though the prophets say,
+that in the reign of the Messiah the Jews should enjoy the most
+perfect and endless happiness,) the theological quarrels, frauds,
+forgeries. Councils, and Excommunications, and an endless detail
+of Battle and Murder, the irruptions and devastations of the Goths
+Huns and Vandals, the rise and establishment of "these venerable
+institutions," the Popedom and the Inquisition, the persecutions
+and wars excited by St. Dominic, the wars of Charlemagne, and
+the Teutonic Knights upon the Germans, giving them no
+alternative but the Gospel or the Sword, the Crusades, the pious
+exploits of Cortez and Pizarro in America, the comfortable state of
+things during the dark ages, the Massacre of St. Bartholomew,
+and the wars carried on by the Catholicks against the Protestants,
+and the wars since carried on by the Protestants and Catholicks,
+indiscriminately with each other, as among those "blessed events,
+and happy changes," I use Mr. Everett's words, intended by "the
+highly figurative language," of the Old Testament prophets
+predictive of the reign of the Messiah! If the reader will pursue
+those predictions contained in Appendix, B, or that beautiful
+compend of them in Pope's "Messiah" he will I believe allow, that if
+it were possible for such things as the above mentioned, to be
+really intended by those prophecies, they would be the greatest
+hoax, and the most flagrant and enormous verification of the old
+proverb "parturiunt montes nascitur ridiculus mus," on record.
+
+[fn21  It is worth notice that when the term "Saviour," is applied in
+the Old Testament to men, it invariably signifies a temporal
+deliverer, for instance, Judges iii. 9.15, in the Hebrew.]
+
+[fn22  The writers of the Old Testament frequently speak of the
+head, hands, ears, eyes, and even nostrils of the Deity. Will Mr.
+Everett infer that because these expressions must be understood,
+figuratively, that whenever the sacred writers speak of heads,
+hands, ears, eyes, and noses of men, that said heads, hands,
+ears, eyes, and noses had no physical existence, but must be
+interpreted figuratively? If so, I do not despair of seeing Mr.
+Everett publish a dissertation, crowded by numerous quotations
+from the Rabbies, in order to prove, that the history of David's
+cutting off the head of Goliath, was in all probability merely a
+figurative account, in the oriental style, of the success of the
+prophet David in a controversy he had with a certain Philistine
+Heathen Priest of the God Dagon, ("strange sea monster, upward
+man, and downward fish:") who had written a book in order to
+prove against the Israelites) that their law was "a dead letter," and
+they themselves no "nation."]
+
+[fn23  Paul in the first Epistle to the Thessalonians appears to say,
+as he affirms "by the word of the Lord," that the second coming of
+Jesus to do all this, should take place during the life time of the
+generation to whom he was writing, for he says 1 Thess. ch. iv,
+15, speaking of the Christians who had died before he wrote, "this
+we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive
+and remain unto the coming of the Lord, shall not prevent them
+which are asleep. For the Lord himself shall descend from Heaven
+with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and the trump of
+God; and the dead in Christ should rise first. Then we which are
+alive and remain, shall be caught up together with them in the
+clouds, to meet the Lord in the air, and so shall we ever be with
+the Lord."
+
+The Gospels represent Jesus as saying, that there were some of
+that generation who should not taste of death till they saw him
+come in the manner that Paul describes. For Mark, in the xiii. ch.
+of his Gospel, after representing Jesus as prophecying the
+destruction of Jerusalem, says that his discourse at that time went
+on as follows.
+
+"But in those days after that tribulation, (i. e. after the siege and
+destruction of Jerusalem) the sun shall be darkened, and the
+moon shall not give her light. And, the stars of Heaven shall fall,
+and the powers that are in Heaven shall be shaken. "And then
+shall they see the son of man coming in the clouds with great
+power and glory, and then shall he send his angels, and shall
+gather together his elect from the four winds, from the uttermost
+part the earth to the uttermost part of Heaven. Verily I say unto
+you, that this generation shall not pass till all these things be done.
+Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass
+away." Mark, xiii. 24, &c.]
+
+[fn24  after "was" insert "according to Mr. Everett,"]
+
+[fn25  Mr. Everett has produced some authorities which make it
+doubtful whether the genuine reading in this place was "thy saints
+or thy pious ones," in the plural, or thy "saint, or thy pious one;" in
+the singular. The matter is not worth disputing about, if it be made
+evident that the Psalm refers to David.]
+
+[fn26  Mr. Everett p. 87. of his work: in trying to prove that the
+original word signifies "corruption," has unhappily produced a
+passage which not only proves nothing in his favour, but a great
+deal in mine.  "Therefore, says Daniel, I was left alone, and saw
+this great vision, and there remained no strength in me, for my
+comeliness was turned in me into corruption ("the word here in the
+original is from the same root as that, in the 16 Psalm translated
+by me destruction?") and I retained no strength." Dan. x. 8. Most
+commentators on this passage, I believe, suppose that Daniel
+meant to signify that he was petrified at the sight of the angel; and
+that his physical faculties were suspended through terror. Does
+Mr. Everett suppose, that the prophet meant to; signify that he
+was actually putrified at the sight of Gabriel?]
+
+[fn27  for "Acts 4. 45" read "Acts 4:25"]
+
+[fn28  "Let the high praises of God be in their mouth, and a two
+edged sword in their hand. To execute vengeance upon the
+nations, and punishments upon the peoples: To bind their kings
+with chains, and their nobles with fetters of iron; to execute upon
+them the judgment written; this honour have all his saints. Praise
+ye Jehovah. Ps. cxlix. This passage alludes to the same doctrine:
+there are many in the psalms and prophets of the same import. It
+is but justice however to the Hebrew prophets to add, that they
+hold the balance of justice between Jew and Gentile very fairly, in
+representing that on account of the superior light vouchsafed to
+the former, God would punish them "double for all their sins;" and
+that before they shall be advanced to the eternal supremacy
+promised them, the most terrible trials and severities shall
+exterminate the wicked and worthless from the nation.]
+
+[fn29  Which is of the same family as the religion of Thibet. The
+Christians believe that God became incarnate in the infant Jesus.
+The Thibetians and Chinese believe that God is incarnate in the
+person of the Grand Lama. And each of them considers the other
+as "ignorant and deluded idolaters."]
+
+[fn30  All the Christians throughout the world, except the
+Protestants who do not constitute more than a fifth of the Christian
+world, kneel and pray before the crucifix, images, and pictures of
+Christ, the Virgin Mary, and the Saints. Their churches are
+crowded with images and pictures, before which they burn lamps,
+tapers, and incense. The great toe of the right foot of an ancient
+bronze statue of Jupiter, christened St. Peter, in the magnificent
+Church of St. Peter at Rome, is nearly worn off by the devout
+kisses and rubbings of the worshippers of that Saint, If the spirit of
+the Unitarian Jew Peter, could animate that statue, I believe that
+the foot of it would have long since kicked the teeth down the
+throat of some of his worshippers. See Appendix, G. G.]
+
+[fn31  That Mary is "the Mother of God!" is the creed of all the
+Christian sects except the Protestants, and Nestorians.
+
+The European and Asiatic Christian churches, except a precious
+handful of Unitarians, appear to act upon the principles of the old
+Samaritans. So these nations feared Jehovah, and served their
+graven images, both their children, and their children's children; as
+did their Fathers, so do they unto this day." 2 Kings xvii 41.  Their
+religion is as inconsistent and inconsequent as the conduct of
+Nebuchadnezzar; who "answered unto Daniel, and said, of a truth
+it is that your God is a God of Gods, and a Lord of Lords," Dan.
+ch. ii. 47. And who, notwithstanding, set up an idol of gold, and
+commanded all peoples, nations, and languages to fall down and
+worship the golden image that Nebuchadnezzar the king had set
+up: and threatened that whoso falleth not down; and worshippeth
+should be cast into a burning fiery furnace." ch. iii, and who on
+another occasion "acknowledged and blessed the most high, and
+praised and honoured him that liveth forever and ever, whose
+dominion is an everlasting dominion, and his kingdom from
+generation to generation:" ch. iv. and who notwithstanding
+destroyed his Temple, and lodged its sacred vessels in the
+treasure house of his idol. The service of the Christian churches
+not Protestant resembles Bellshazzar's feast. They drink out of the
+golden, and silver vessels, which they have "taken out of the
+Temple of the house of God which was in Jerusalem," and praise
+the Gods of gold, of silver, of brass, of wood, and of stone,[fn32]
+which see not, nor hear, nor know. And the result of the business,
+if the Old Testament predict the truth, will be, that the mysterious
+menaces written by the figures of God, will be fulfilled in
+confusion, wo, and destruction]
+
+[fn32  I allude to the crucifixes, images, and pictures of Christ, the
+Virgin Mary and the Saints, with which all Christian churches, not
+protestant are filled.]
+
+[fn33  for "come" read "came"]
+
+[fn34  This is incorrect, Bethlehem is at present one of most
+populous cities in Palestine.]
+
+[fn35  I request the reader to look at the Hebrew of Gen. x 14.
+which Mr. Everett must have neglected to do: as otherwise I
+cannot account for his having referred to a passage which directly
+establishes my interpretation of the passage in Micah against his
+own.  I trust that this little circumstance will induce Mr. Everett to
+have a fellow feeling for some errors which he says exists [fn36] in
+my first publication.  He will find some further proofs adduced from
+his book in the course of this work, of the truth of the old adage,
+"humanium est errare."]
+
+[fn36  for "exists" read "exist"]
+
+[fn37  v. 10. of the ix. Ch. Of Zechariah, "and I will cut off the
+chariot from Ephraim, and the horse from Jerusalem, and the
+battlebow shall be cut off; [i.e. there shall be war no more]; and he
+[i.e. the Messiah,] shall speak peace unto the nations: and his
+dominion shall be from sea even to sea, and from the river even to
+the ends of the earth."  Has this been yet fulfilled or have the
+nations called Christians, for the last 180 years, been more
+peaceable than others? on the contrary, is it not they who have
+perfectionated the arts of war and destruction!]
+
+[fn38 "I render me," says Mr. Everett, "because I cheerfully allow"
+with Eichorn and De Rossi in loco, that it is supported by most
+authorities." Why then does Mr. Everett abuse and insult me, p.
+103, 104., for neglecting to notice the other reading he mentions,
+which he considers not to be the true one! If it be erroneous, what
+is it good for and if it be false, how has the inspired Evangelist
+quoted a false reading, (Gospel according to John ch. xix. 34.
+&c.,) in order to make out a prophecy?
+
+I had objected in my first publication that the assertion of Stephen,
+when filled with the Holy Ghost, that "When Abraham went out of
+the land of the Chaldees, he dwelt in Haran, from thence, after his
+father was dead, God led him unto this land in which ye dwell."
+Acts vii. 4., directly contradicts the chapter in Genesis, where the
+Story of Abraham's leaving Haran is related, for it is certain from
+thence, that Abraham left his father Zerah[fn39] in Haran alive
+when he departed, and that he did not die till many ' years
+afterwards."
+
+On this Mr. Everett observes, "The difficulty is this, that Zerah is
+said in Genesis ch. 11. to have been seventy years old when
+Abraham was born, and to have lived two hundred and five years.
+But Abraham is also said to have left Haran when he was aged
+seventy-five years [Genesis xii. 14.]; at which time of course; his
+Father was one hundred and forty-five years old, and therefore
+must have lived sixty years after his son Abraham left Haran. But
+Stephen in the passage in question says, that Abraham left Haran
+after his Father was dead. Now this direct contradiction is quite
+cleared up by the Samaritan copies of the Pentateuch, which give
+the whole age of Zerah exactly 145 years: and confirm the
+account of Stephen, that Abraham waited till the decease of his
+father, and then immediately left Haran.  Had Mr. English no light
+upon this subject, but what he derived from his unlettered Rabbi,
+or even from the Commentators whose "troubles" he finds or
+feigns, one could not blame him for passing over this fact in
+silence.  But I remember well the time, when Mr. English
+collected[fn40] the text of the Samaritan copy as it stands in
+Kennicott's Bible, for the express purpose of ascertaining the
+diversity of the Hebrew and Samaritan texts. To suppress now a
+reading from this copy, which entirely removes his objection,
+argues a deplorable forgetfulness, or a willful fraud; and it would
+be a piece of affectation in me to speak of it in milder terms," p.
+340. of Mr. Everett's work.
+
+To put this courteous language to the blush, it is only necessary to
+observe, that the most distinguished Hebrew Critics [I think, if my
+memory does not deceive me, I may name De Rossi, for
+instance,] adhere to the reading of the Hebrew bible as the true
+one, and have not suffered themselves to be swayed by the
+strong Christian motives which have biassed Mr. Everett in this
+instance. Stephen, who was a Jew, would also never have given
+the preference to a reading-of the Pentateuch of the Samaritan's,
+which also abounds with blunders. The Gentile author of the Book
+of Acts probably fabricated the speech.]
+
+[fn39  for "Zerah" read "Terah"]
+
+[fn40  for "collected" read "collated"]
+
+[fn41 Mr. Everett, in. a note to p. 194 of his work, speaks of
+Salathiel and Zorobabel as succeeding to the "throne of Judah
+after the Babylonish captivity. Any one who will read the books of
+Ezra and Nehemiah with attention, will be satisfied that this
+language is quite ridiculous: forasmuch as that Salathiel was a
+captive slave at Babylon, and Zorobabel was but at best the
+Governor of Judea for the King of Persia, and all the Jews under
+his command were subject to the orders of Tabnai[fn42] and
+Shether Boznia. "Governors beyond the river" for the Persian
+King. See Ezra ch. ix. 8, 9. Neh. ch. vi. 6, 7. and ch. ix. 37. In this
+and in many other instances, Mr. Everett in order to gain his
+cause, has been obliged to forget the command recorded in "the
+beggarly elements," to have been given from Mount Sinai, "thou
+shalt not speak in a cause to decline after many to wrest
+judgment." Exod. xxiii, 2. There are, however, cases in which
+lawyers allow that this precept may be dispensed with, particularly
+if the cause be of great importance: and more particularly still
+when the client pays well.]
+
+[fn42  for "Romans" read "Asmonaeans"  for "Tabnai" read
+"Tatnai"]
+
+[fn43 The Jewish Rabbies have been treated, by the Christian
+controversial writers, in the same manner as the foolish King of
+Israel was treated, by the messengers of the defeated Benhadad.
+"Now the men [the messengers of Benhadad] did diligently
+observe whether any thing would come from him, and did hastily
+catch at it." 1 Kings, ch. xx 33. The famous work of Dr. Allix,
+exposed by Nye, where Allix tries to show by quotations from
+Jewish writings, that the ancient Jews were Trinitarians, is a
+notable instance of this. Mr. Everett's work itself, enables me to
+lay before the reader one at least, which will verify my
+observation.
+
+Mr. Cary in his refutation of my first work, quoted with great
+solemnity, one Rabbi Alshek as maintaining that the 53d. of Isaiah
+referred to the Messiah. Every one of Mr. Cary's lay readers,
+undoubtedly have supposed that this was the truth, the whole
+truth, and nothing but the truth. But it was not. The whole truth
+leaks out in Mr. Everett's work, in a note to p. 143, where Mr.
+Everett says, that this famous Rabbi "having acknowledged that
+the prophet had the Messiah in view [in the 53d. of Isaiah,], he
+afterwards applied the oracle to some other person, and finally to
+Moses!" Now in the name of common sense I would, ask, of what
+value can the testimony and authority of a man be, who could be
+capable of such contradictory nonsense as this.
+
+The Jewish Rabbies, in general, have verified completely the
+prediction of the prophet. "Jehovah said, Forasmuch as this
+people draw near to me with their mouth, and with their lips do
+honour me, but have removed their heart far from me, and their
+fear toward me is taught by the precepts of men, [possibly alluding
+to the traditions of the elders,] therefore, behold I will proceed to
+do a marvellous work among this people, even a marvellous work
+and a wonder; for the wisdom of their wise men shall perish, and
+the understanding of their prudent men shall be hid," Is. ch. Xxix.
+13, 14.
+
+Mr. Everett says, that it is notorious that the Rabbies the most
+contemptible critics on the sacred writings that have appeared, p.
+49. and in another part of his work, says that they are so silly that
+he is almost ashamed to quote them, 229. Notwithstanding all this,
+he is continually justifying his own follies by appealing to theirs:
+such is Mr. Everett's respect for the understandings of his readers,
+that he is continually hauling the poor Rabbies to the bar of the
+public; he makes them "hold up their culprit paws," and pinches
+their ears to make them say what he pleases. His pages are
+crowded with their names; unutterable names; names which
+reduce "arms! and George! and Brunswick!" into tameness and
+insignificance. If such means of defending Christianity are
+successful, I shall no longer doubt that it was possible for the Devil
+Asmodus to have been corked up in a bottle by the hard words of
+a conjurer.]
+
+[fn44  for "carinficina," read "carnificina"]
+
+[fn45  Or "soliloquize upon" the original word in the Hebrew is
+used in this sense in Is. ch. xiv. 16]
+
+[fn46  "Thou hast made us the offscouring and refuse in the midst
+of the peoples," says Jer. Lam. ch. iii. 45.]
+
+[fn47  The prophet here compares Israel to the scape goat, who
+had the sins of the people-laid upon him, and was banished into
+the wilderness.]
+
+[fn48  for "with" read "through"]
+
+[fn49 Or "fierce oppressor." See Eichorn's Lex. In loc.]
+
+[fn50  "In deaths often" says Paul, meaning terrible dangers or
+sufferings.]
+
+[fn51  Mr. Everett in his zeal to catch me at a fault with regard to
+this prophecy of Isaiah, has himself stumbled and fallen. I had
+maintained in my first work, in reference to this passage, that of
+the subject of this prophecy it is; said, "He shall see his seed and
+shall prolong his days," and that therefore it could not relate to
+Jesus who had no posterity. Mr. Everett in his remarks upon this
+p. 147 of his work, spiritualises the word "seed," and says it
+relates to the church, and he exclaims against me as follows, p.
+147. "What indolent carelessness it is to say that the word seed
+shall not be spiritualized here, when the very next verse says, he
+shall see the travail of his soul."  "What poor mortals we are," says
+Sir Hugh!  If Mr. Everett will look at the Hebrew, he will find that
+the "indolent carelessness" he speaks of, was not mine but his; for
+the Hebrew word translated travail, has no reference whatever to
+childbearing, but signifies fearful toil, or painful distress. The
+English word travail, in the time of the translators of the Bible had
+this signification. They have employed it in this signification in the
+passages following: "And Moses told his father-in-law all that the
+Lord had done unto Pharoah and to the Egyptians for Israel's
+sake, and all the travail that had come upon them by the way." Ex.
+ch. xviii. 8. Again, "this sore travail hath God given to the sons of
+men to be exercised therewith." Eccles. i. 13.  As Mr. Everett says,
+p.114 of his work, "It is good to be positive but better to be correct;
+and the reader I doubt not will agree with me, that such
+dogmatical blundering as this is prevent-. ed from being offensive
+only as it is ludicrous."]
+
+[fn52 The prophet represents here, that Israel should be to the
+nations what Aaron was to the Jews. Aaron was considered as
+bearing away the sins of the Jews on the day of atonement. "Ye
+shall be named the priests of Jehovah, and in men shall call you
+the ministers of our God." Is. ch. lxi. 6.]
+
+[fn53  Have their complaints been "fiercer" than the flames of the
+piles of Madrid, Lisbon, Paris, Italy, Germany, and England, in
+which thousands of them have been burnt to ashes? For shame!
+Mr. Everett. The recording angel may drop a tear upon what you
+have written, not to blot it out, but in compassion for the miseries
+for which you seem to think words of "complaint" are an
+equivalent.]
+
+[fn54  Mr. Everett, after having poured forth what is quoted above,
+very consistently adds in a note to p. 137, "I cheerfully agree with
+one of the most active benefactors of the Jewish nation, who while
+he acknowledges these facts, changes the blame of them to the
+Christians." Very true, and truly I do not know, what right one man
+has to trample another into the mire, and then abuse him for being
+dirty. Mr. Everett remarks upon the same subject, p. 210, "Bowed
+down with universal scorn, they have been called secret and
+sullen; cut off from pity and charity, they have been thought selfish
+and unfeeling, and are summoned to believe on the Prince of
+Peace by ministers clothed with terror and death."  What an
+unconscious comment from the pen of a Christian on the words of
+the prophet.  "He was despised and the outcast of men, a man of
+sorrows, and familiar with suffering, and we hid as it were our
+faces from him; he was despised and we esteemed him not."]
+
+[fn55 I have had the satisfaction to find, since my return to
+America, that the distinguished Christian Hebraeist, Rosenmuller,
+in his notes on the Old Testament, maintains as I do, that the 53d.
+of Isaiah, refers not to Christ, but to the Hebrew nation, of which
+the following extract from the work referred to may serve as proof,
+"In tot. V. T. locis Messias tam variis modis describatur, tamen ne
+unicum quidem vestigium deprehenditur unde collegere jure
+posset existimasse veteres Haebreos Messiam quem expectabant
+talia esse perpessurum quae ministrum divinum hac pericopa, [Is.
+53.] descriptum perpessum esse legimus. Ubicunque vel in
+Psalmis vel in prophaetarum libris de Messia agitur semper nobis
+proponitur imago potentissimi regis, felicissimi herois,
+gloriossissimi reipublicae statoris, coloribus ab imperii Davidici aut
+Salomonei flore, regumque orientalium pompa sumptis depicta."
+Rosenmuller's notes on the 53d. of Isaiah.]
+
+[fn56 for "will" read "well"]
+
+[fn57  "Thou hast put forth a riddle unto the children of my people."
+says Sampson's Philistine wife to him, Judges ch. xiv. 16.]
+
+[fn58  I had made the same objection in my first publication. Mr.
+Everett, in his elaborate view of my arguments upon the 53d. of
+Isaiah, has not thought proper to notice this objection: possibly he
+thought it a trivial one.]
+
+[fn59  Buxtorf's remark upon the very word in Is. 53. ch. is
+"arctatus, coarctatus, oppressus, oppressus tuit, propria
+exactiquibus." Buxtorf's Heb. Lex.  Mr. Everett p. 146 of his work
+says, that Robertson declares that the radical idea of the word
+which Mr. English insists upon rendering "he was oppressed by
+pecuniary exactions", to be "fearful distress." To this I answer, that
+Robertson was a Christian and had a reason for saying so.]
+
+[fn60  The only works I have had to aid me in the composition of
+this book, are Mr. Everett's work, a Hebrew Bible, [fn61] and
+Lexicon, and the English Bible. I have not been able to procure
+any thing beyond this in Egypt, and think myself fortunate in
+having so much.]
+
+[fn61  before "and" insert "Grammar"]
+
+[fn62  for "violations" read "quotations"]
+
+[fn63  Gospel ac. to John. xii, 38. Rom. x. 16. Acts viii.,32, 33.]
+
+[fn64  That Grotius would sometimes prevaricate to serve a turn is
+certain. There is an anecdote on record, contained in the notes to
+Gibbon's account of Mohammed in his Roman History, which
+proves this. In Grotius' famous book on the truth of the Christian
+Religion, there is a story that Mohammed had a tame pidgeon
+which he taught to come and peck in his ear, in order to make his
+followers believe that the bird was the organ by whom he received
+revelations from God. This story is not believed, nor was ever
+heard of among the Musselmen. On the publication of Grotius'
+book, a friend learned in Oriental Literature, came to him and
+asked him for his authority for this story, Grotius frankly owned
+that he had none, in other words that the story was a pious fraud
+in order to stigmatize Mohammedanism. "This story" Gibbon says,
+"was accordingly left out of the Arabic version of Grotius' Book,
+intended to circulate among the-Musselmen, for fear that they
+should laugh at such a piece of ignorance or effrontery: but it still
+maintains an edifying place in those copies printed for the perusal
+of Christians."! I quote from memory.
+
+It is really a pity that the Protestant Church, which like a Magdalen
+professes to repent other errors committed during her former
+connection with "the mother of abominations," should yet retain so
+many of the bad habits contracted during their past intimacy.
+Some folks have even pretended to have observed, that
+notwithstanding their old quarrel, they seem to have
+recommenced a "nodding acquaintance." I hope the report is
+untrue.]
+
+[fn65 Mr. Everett will probably say, that he made these deadly
+stabs at my character upon the same principle that the New
+England Cobbler killed the Indian Hogan Mogan. "Not out of
+malice, but mere zeal Because he was an infidel."]
+
+[fn66 I have a right to believe so, for Mr. Everett quotes Priestley's
+notes, p. 339 of his work. Dr. Priestley united in his character, the
+rare concurrence of a keen controversial writer, with great fairness
+and candour. He seems always to have been willingly disposed to
+resign an untenable opinion, when convinced by the arguments of
+his opponent. His conduct in regard to the question between the
+Jews and Christians, may be considered as a proof of this. He
+wrote letters to the Jews in defence of Christianity, which were
+replied to by Levi. In this controversy Levi had evidently the better
+of Priestley.  Priestley seems to have been sensible of this, which
+occasioned him to examine the question more minutely. The result
+of his examination led him to avow, in a Dissertation in the
+Theological Repository published in England, I believe in the very
+one which Mr. Everett refers to [Theol. Rep. vol. 5.] that the
+prophets clearly justify the Jews for expecting as their Messiah, a
+glorious monarch of the house and name of David, who should
+reign over them and all the human race; but he also maintained as
+I think in the same Dissertation, that Jesus Christ is nevertheless
+predicted by the 53d. of Isaiah. Several years afterwards, when
+Priestley resided in America, he published his notes on Scripture,
+wherein he abandons the Christian interpretation, of the 53d. of
+Isaiah, and applies it as I do to the Jewish nation.]
+
+[fn67  If all that Mr. Everett has said upon this subject were true, it
+would amount after all only to an argument ad prejudicium, for the
+Jews of past times, who believed the dreams of the Rabbies, but
+is of no weight whatever with those who reject them, as do all the
+Biblical critics of the present day.]
+
+[fn68  There occurs to me an instance of carelessness or
+something worse on the part of Mr. Everett in p. 342 of his work. I
+had said in my first publication, that "there is in the speech of
+James, Arts xv. a quotation from Amos in which, to make it fit the
+subject, (which after all it does not fit) is the substitution of the
+words "the remnant of men," for "the remnant of Edom," as it is in
+the original." On this Mr. Everett remarks with astonishing'
+composure, "There are few of my readers to whom I need say,
+that the same Hebrew word means 'men,' and 'Edom,' according'
+as it is pronounced, and St. James has as fair a right to pronounce
+it men,' as Mr. English has to pronounce it 'Edom.'" The only way
+by which Mr. Everett can escape the charge of fraud in this affair,
+is by allowing that he did not take the trouble to look at the
+passage quoted from Amos, ix. 12. in the Hebrew Bible, from
+which it will appear that neither St. James, nor any other Saint,
+has a right to read the passage "the remnant of men" (or Adam;)
+because the Hebrew word contains a letter (vau,) which the word
+Adam does not contain, and which limits its signification to Edom.
+
+I would observe by the. way, that the passage in Amos "that they,
+(i. e. Israel,) may possess the remnant of Edom, and of all the
+heathen (or nations) which are called by my name, appears to
+contain an allusion to the Christians and Mohammedans, who are
+the only nations besides the Jews who invoke, the name of
+Jehovah, and profess faith in his prophets. There are not a few
+passages in the prophets, which have a significance at present,
+which they could not have had at the time the predictions were
+uttered.]
+
+[fn69  for "sun" read "been"]
+
+[fn70  for "simple" read "single"]
+
+[fn71  In the beginning of the 9th. ch. of Daniel, the prophet says;
+"I Daniel, understood by books the number of years whereof the
+word of the Lord came to Jeremiah the prophet, that he would
+accomplish seventy years in the desolations of Jerusalem. And I
+set my face unto the Lord God, to seek by prayer and
+supplications with fasting, sackcloth and ashes." It appears from
+his prayer, that he supposed the Babylonish captivity of seventy
+years, would terminate the chastisement of his nation. Upon which
+the angel Gabriel was sent to "give him skill and understanding,"
+and to inform him, that their chastisement would not be terminated
+by the captivity of seventy years, but by one of "seventy times
+seven," i. e. a long and undefined period. The words "seven," and
+"seventy," were frequently used by the Hebrews to signify an
+indefinite number, and "seventy times seven" is a Hebreism used
+to signify a great and indefinite number. Thus one of the disciples
+of Jesus is represented as asking him, "Lord, how oft shall my
+brother sin against me, and I forgive him; until seven times? Jesus
+saith unto him, I say not unto thee, until seven times, but until
+seventy times seven." Mat. ch. xviii. 21, 22.]
+
+[fn72  In my first work I had alleged this prophecy of Daniel, and
+had inserted this word "in" enclosed in a parenthesis, in order to
+signify, that it was not in the original, but was suggested by it as
+necessary to the sense of the original. This "in," in a parenthesis,
+the zealous Mr. Everett, who loves to find fault, pronounces to be
+"an absolute interpolation," "and a shameless one too." p. 157 of
+his work.]
+
+[fn73  The reader will see that I suppose the original to make one
+period of seven weeks, and one of sixty-two. "The English
+translation renders it "seven weeks and threescore and two
+weeks," making one period of the two. This appears to me to be
+inadmissible: because if the prophet meant to signify but one
+period, he would, as I think, have said, according to the analogy of
+the Hebrew language, not "seven weeks, and threescore and two
+weeks," but "nine weeks and threescore, weeks," In the Hebrew
+the clauses of the seven weeks, and sixty and two weeks, are
+separated by a character which frequently, in the Hebrew Bible,
+performs the function of a full stop.]
+
+[fn74  delete "Joshua]
+
+[fn75  read "heels over head"]
+
+[fn76  Mr. Everett appear; himself to have been somewhat
+embarrassed by the gravity he is obliged to maintain in holding
+forth this antithetical "analogy." For he says, that he forbears "to
+pursue analogies like these, which though they abound in the
+writings of the Old Testament, [I challenge him to point out a
+single such instance] and are familiar to all the nations of the East,
+have long been succeeded among us by a stricter style of
+reasoning" p. 178. They have indeed been long since exploded by
+the Modern Biblical Critics: and I doubt not that if this curious
+analogy should ever be subject to the notice of Eichorn or
+Lessing, they would in their closets peruse it "with a smile or a
+sigh."]
+
+[fn77  "Who is this that cometh from Edom, with dyed garments
+from Bozrah? this that is glorious in his apparel, travelling in the
+greatness of his strength?--I that speak in righteousness mighty to
+save. Wherefore art thou red in thine apparel, and thy garments
+like him that treadeth in the winefat--I have trodden the wine press
+alone; and of the peoples there vas none with me: for I trode them
+in mine anger, and trampled them in my fury, and Their blood
+sprinkled upon my garments, and I have stained all my raiment.
+For the day of vengeance is in mine heart, and the year of my
+redeemed is come. And I looked, and there was none to help: and
+I wondered there was none to uphold, therefore mine own arm
+brought salvation unto me; and my fury it upheld me, and I trode
+down the peoples in mine anger, and made them drunk in my fury,
+and I brought down their strength to the earth." See Is. ch. lxiii. in
+the Hebrew. This passage relates to the "Great and Terrible Day
+of Jehovah." mentioned in Malachi. The Psalms of the Prophets
+abound with descriptions of [fn78] it both terrible and magnificent.
+See for example Ezekiel xxxviii: & xv-xix chapters. Joel ch. iii. and
+Zech. ch. xiv.]
+
+[fn78  for "of" read "and"]
+
+[fn79  The enumerations given by the Jews themselves are
+always below the truth. They conceal the real amount for
+particular reasons. In Spain and Portugal, where it is dangerous
+for a man to be known to be a Jew, there are notwithstanding,
+many thousands; probably one third of the population of Portugal
+is of Jewish descent. I have seen a Jew at Paris, who had resided
+several years in Spain, who has told me, that the number of his
+nation in Spain is great and unsuspected. I believe him, for Orobio
+and Acosta, both Jews of the Peninsula, affirm that Jews
+disguised as Christians, were to be found not only among the
+populace of the Peninsula, but among the nobles and bishops. In
+those countries (Spain and Portugal,) where the Inquisition
+obliged every body to be educated as Christians, the fathers who
+were secretly Jews, were accustomed, when their children came
+to the years of discretion, to inform them of their descent, and to
+engage them secretly to conform to the religion of their fathers. If
+they found their conversion impracticable, these wretched parents
+were accustomed to poison such children, to prevent their
+communicating the dangerous secret to the Inquisition, which
+would occasion the whole family to be burned alive. See the
+Biography of Orobio and Acosta for some interesting information
+upon this subject.]
+
+[fn80  for "exonerated" read "consecrated"]
+
+[fn81  "David shall never want a man to sit upon the throne of the
+house of Israel, neither shall the priests the Levites want a man
+before me," i. e. the house of David and the tribe of Levi shall
+never be extinct, when called upon to fulfil the prophecies of the
+kingdom of the Messiah, and the re-establishment of the ritual of
+the temple, David will not want a man to sit upon the throne of the
+house of Israel, neither will the priests the Levites want a man to
+do sacrifice. And how was this to be secured, because says God,
+"as the host of heaven cannot be numbered, neither the sand of
+the sea measured, so will I multiply the seed of David my servant,
+and the Levites the priests that minister unto me." That this is the
+sense of the phrase "shall not want a. man," is evident from the
+employment of the same expression by Jeremiah in xxxv. of his
+Prophecies: "Thus saith Jehovah of Hosts, the God of Israel:
+Jonadab the son of Rechab shall not want a man to stand before
+me for ever, ch. xxxv. 19. i. e. not that a particular descendant of
+Jonadab the son of Rechab should always be standing in the
+presence of the Lord for ever: but that he should never want a
+representative, his posterity should never be cut off. It is a singular
+fact that the descendants of Jonadab the son of Rechab still exist
+in Arabia, preserving' the customs of their fathers; they are called
+"Beni al Khaib," i. e. descendants of Heber. See Jud. ch. iv. 11.
+
+To these considerations it may be added, that Jeremiah himself
+predicts the dethronement of the house of David, the destruction
+of the temple, and the captivity of the priests, and the whole
+Jewish nation, and as it is an allowed principle of sound criticism
+that if the expressions of a writer are capable of two significations,
+one of which would make him contradict himself; and the other
+would leave him consistent: it is but fair to suppose that he meant
+to be consistent, and should be interpreted in the sense which
+excludes self contradiction.]
+
+[fn82  Ezekiel gives a. prophecy of the same events spoken of by
+Jeremiah, and in these words. "Thus saith Jehovah God; I will
+even gather you from the peoples, and assemble you out of the
+countries where ye have been scattered; and I will give you the
+land of Israel. And I will give them one heart, and I will put a new
+spirit within you; and I will take the stony heart out of their flesh,
+and will give them a heart of flesh, that they may walk in my
+statutes, and keep mine ordinances, and do them; and they shall
+be my people, and I will be their God." Ezek. x. xi. 17, 18, 19, 20.
+Now what is meant in the Old Testament by "God's statutes, and
+God's ordinances," is not the Mosaic law always signified by these
+expressions? Again, Ezek. says, ch. xxxvi. 23, &c. "I will sanctify
+my great name, which was profaned among the nations, which ye
+have profaned in the midst of them; and the nations shall know
+that I am Jehovah, saith the Lord God, when I shall be sanctified
+in you before their eyes. For I will take you from among the
+nations, and gather you out of all countries, and will bring you into
+your own land; then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye
+shall be clean; from all your filthiness and from all your idols will I
+release you. A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I
+put within you; and I will take away the stony heart out of your
+flesh, and will give you a heart of flesh, and I will put my spirit
+within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall
+keep my judgments and do them." See also Ezekiel, ch. xxxvii.
+from verse 20 to the end.]
+
+[fn83  for "the" read "a"]
+
+[fn84  Ac. to the Hebrew.]
+
+[fn85  In my first publication I had maintained, that Jesus Christ
+had not taught the abolishment of the Law, and alleged in proof
+the passages following. "Think not I am come to destroy the law or
+the Prophets; I am not come to destroy but to fulfil. For verily I say
+unto you. Till heaven and earth pass, one jot [i. e. the smallest
+letter of it] or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law till all be
+fulfilled." (or consummated) Mat. v. 17. 18. "It is easier for heaven
+and earth to pass, than one tittle of the law to fail." Luke. xvi. 17.
+Mr. Everett has a device by which he thinks he can evade the
+gripe of these passages: perhaps the following may satisfy him
+that there is no way of escape. Luke reports, Acts xxi. 20. that
+James the bishop of the mother church of Jerusalem, said to Paul,
+"Thou seest brother, how many thousands of Jews there are
+which believe: [i. e. are Christians] and they are all zealous of the
+Law." Now if Jesus Christ had taught the abolishment of the Law,
+it appears to me that, his followers would not have been zealous
+in adhering to it: as to do so would be giving the lie to their
+master's doctrine.]
+
+[fn86  So called, in Is. Ch. lxvi. 22.]
+
+[fn87 The ancient Britons were savages and painted themselves
+blue when wishing to appear in full dress. In truth it is hardly three
+hundred years since the bears of Europe have learned to walk up
+on their hinder legs, and had "a man's heart given unto them." And
+it is only about two hundred years since "the wild boar out of the
+forest" [fn88] has become a learned pig. It is not much more than
+a hundred years since the people of Boston, have left off hanging
+their fellow creatures for being witches and Quakers.]
+
+[fn88  after "forest" insert "of the North"]
+
+[fn89  Mohammed was descended from Abraham through
+Ishmael.]
+
+[fn90  The numerous regulations concerning defilement, and the
+ritual of purification, contained in the Pentateuch, were very proper
+in reference to the immediate and personal presence of the
+Divinity among the Israelites, which therefore rendered the most
+perfect cleanliness a duty. These regulations were also adopted to
+the peculiar circumstance of the Jewish nation, which, was
+separated from all the rest of mankind and not obliged to go over
+their frontier to mingle with other people. But it is very true that
+such regulations are "not calculated for us" Gentiles; because men
+who are obliged constantly to mingle with other men, cannot
+observe them.]
+
+[fn91  for "rights" read "rites"]
+
+[fn92 delete "the"]
+
+[fn93  According to 1 Chron. ch. xxix, 3, &c. the gold employed in
+adorning the Temple, amounted to at least 8000 talents, and the
+silver to 17000 talents. This vast mass of treasure was given by
+David and his princes: how much was added to it by Solomon is
+not said.]
+
+[fn94 The number of the males of the tribe of Levi in the time of
+Moses, is said, Numbers, ch. xxvi. 62. to have been twenty three
+thousand. But in the reign of Solomon the number of males of the
+tribe of Levi from thirty years and upwards, was thirtyeight
+thousand. See 1 Chron. ch. xxiii, 3.]
+
+[fn95  for "streaming" read "steaming"]
+
+[fn96  The name of the Deity "JEHOVAH," is a compound of two
+Hebrew words, the first of which signifies "HE IS," and the second
+"HE SHALL BE." The word JEHOVAH expresses these two
+sublime ideas in three syllables.]
+
+[fn97  for "unfeeling" read "unreflecting"]
+
+[fn98  Mr. Everett represents me as supposing (because I
+maintain that it is the sense of the prophets that the temple of
+Jerusalem will oneday be the house of prayer for all mankind) that
+all nations must come and worship at the temple three times a
+year as the Jews were required to do. See Mr. Everett's work, p.
+207.
+
+But if Mr. Everett were more familiar with the Bible, he would learn
+that the prophets represent that this visit to the future temple, from
+other nations than the Jews, will be required only once a year.
+"And it shall come to pass, that every one that is left of all the
+nations which came against Jerusalem, shall even go up from
+year to year to worship the King Jehovah of Hosts, and to keep
+the feast of Tabernacles." Zech. ch. xiv. 16.
+
+Now supposing that the Old Testament predicts the truth in
+affirming that the earth is to be restored to its primitive state, as it
+was at the beginning, when God viewed every thing that he had
+made, and behold it was very good.  If the earth is spontaneously
+to produce the delicious nourishment which we may suppose that
+Adam enjoyed, a journey once a year through an ever varied
+paradise to the temple of Jehovah, can surely be no toil. If a
+person will look at the situation of Jerusalem on a map of the
+world, he will be sensible, that no spot on earth is as eligible to be
+chosen for a common centre of worship for mankind as that city. It
+stands about sixty miles from the Mediterranean, which
+communicates with the Atlantic, and not many days Journey from
+the Red Sea, which communicates with the Indian Ocean. And
+when the winds and waves shall cease to be dangerous, who
+would not desire to visit as often as possible, the land which is
+said to be "the glory of all lands," and illuminated by the ineffable
+symbol of the immediate presence of the Lord of the Universe, at
+whose effulgence "the sun shall be ashamed, and the moon
+confounded."
+
+Neither is it necessary to suppose, that I know of, that every man
+of the human race should be annually present; if some come from
+all nations, all nations may be said to come. See Appendix, I.]
+
+[fn99  after "would" insert "not"]
+
+[fn100  "And Jesus walked in the temple in Solomon's porch. Then
+came the Jews round about him, and said unto him, how long dost
+thou draw our souls asunder? If thou be the Messiah, tell us
+plainly." John x, 23, 24. See the original Greek.]
+
+[fn101  When Jesus therefore perceived that they would come,
+and take him by force, to make him a king, he departed again into
+a mountain, himself alone." John vi. 15.]
+
+[fn102  It is remarkable that the gospels represent Jesus as
+refusing to acknowledge himself to the Jews as the Messiah. The
+gospels say, that Jesus confided his Messiahship to the disciples
+as a secret, with express injunctions not to betray it. "Then
+charged he his disciples that they should tell no man that he was
+the Messiah." Mat. xvi. 20. See also Mark viii. 29. and Luke ix. 21.
+This makes it possible that he never did claim that character, and
+that the glory [fn103] in the gospels that he had told it as a secret
+to his disciples, was invented in order to furnish a reply to the
+Jews, who might have told the first Christians, that Jesus had
+never told them so, and of course never pretended to be
+considered as such, and that the Christians could not justly blame
+them for rejecting pretensions which Jesus never made to them,
+to whom especially he ought to have plainly declared them if he
+wished them to be received. The truth of the matter appears to be,
+that the notion of the Messiahship of Jesus, had originally no
+better foundation than the mistaken enthusiasm of his followers.]
+
+[fn103  for "glory" read "story"]
+
+[fn104  The case of the Jews and Christians is parallel to that of
+"the prophet of Judah," and "the prophet of Bethel." The Christians
+allow that God himself gave the law to the Jews, but they say to
+the Jews that Jesus was ordered by God to repeal it.
+
+"It was said unto me (says the prophet of Judah) by the word of
+Jehovah, Thou shalt eat no bread, nor drink water there, (at
+Bethel the chapel of the golden calf,) nor turn to go by the way
+that thou camest. He (i. e. the prophet of Bethel) said unto him, I
+am a. prophet also as thou art; and an angel spake unto me by
+the word of Jehovah, saying; Bring him back with thee into thine
+house, that he may eat bread, and drink water. But he lied unto
+him. So he went back with him, and did eat bread in his house,
+and drink water."
+
+"And. it came to pass, as they sat at the table, that the word of
+Jehovah came unto the prophet that brought him back: and he
+cried unto the man of God that came from Judah, saying, Thus
+saith. Jehovah, forasmuch as thou hast disobeyed the mouth of
+Jehovah, and hast not kept the commandment which Jehovah thy
+God commanded thee, but camest back, and hast eaten bread
+and drunk water in the place, of the which Jehovah did say unto
+thee, eat no bread, and drink no water, thy carcase shall not come
+unto the sepulchre of thy fathers." 1 Kings, ch. xiii.]
+
+[fn105  after "that" insert "as"]
+
+[fn106  1. If the Christians should do this, the fundamental articles
+of their creed, would be, to love the Lord their God with all their
+heart, and with all their mind, and soul, and strength, and to love
+their neighbours as themselves: for on these two commandments
+hang all the law and the prophets.
+
+2. If the Christians should do this, they would have precisely the
+same Scriptures which the apostles and first Christians had, and
+which they considered as sufficient. Even Paul himself
+pronounces, that the Old Testament was "given by inspiration of
+God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for
+instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be perfect,
+thoroughly furnished unto all good works." 2 Tim. ch. iii. 16.
+
+3. If the Christians should do this, all the endless and rancourous
+disputes about the trinity, incarnation, atonement,
+transubstantiation, worship of the Virgin Mary, the saints, their
+images and relics, the supremacy of the Pope, et id genus omne,
+would be quietly laid upon the shelf, and torment mankind no
+more.
+
+4. The hundred sects into which Christians are divided, would
+coalesce; for it is the New Testament which keeps them asunder.
+So long as that book is believed to contain a Revelation from God,
+there can be no peace. For pious and good men who believe that
+it is of divine authority, and who are zealously disposed to
+discover from its contents "what is the mind of the spirit," must
+necessarily be divided in their opinions; BECAUSE the New
+Testament is not only inconsistent with the Old, but is also
+inconsistent with itself too; and must therefore necessarily create
+a diversity of opinions in those who reverence it as the word of
+God. This is the grand secret, and everacting cause, which has
+made scisms in the church.]
+
+[fn107  Mr. Everett, p. 427 of his work, alluding to my anticipations
+in one of my publications, in which I expressed myself as aware of
+what I should have to encounter, in consequence of my
+undertaking on behalf of the oppressed, and slandered Jews; says
+with something like "the charity of a monk, and the meekness of
+an inquisitor," that "the affecting allusion he (Mr. English,) has
+made to his prospects in the world, has many a time restrained
+me, when I ought to have used the language of indignation."
+
+If a man had told me, that in consequence of my enterprise I
+should encounter great misfortunes, I should have answered, I
+expected, and was prepared to meet them. But if he had told me,
+a native of the New World discovered a few centuries ago, that the
+time would come when I should write upon this subject, in the very
+land, and almost on the very spot that gave birth to Moses and the
+Pharoahs, I should have thought him amusing himself with a jest;
+nevertheless such is the fact. I write this book; on the banks of old
+Nile, and in sight of the pyramids.]
+
+[fn108  I have read in a Magazine, of an itinerant Methodist
+preacher, not perfectly acquainted with the sublime arts of reading
+and writing, who, in a sermon of his in praise of Industry, alledged
+as a proof of God's aversion to idleness, that God commanded
+Moses, when he built the Tabernacle in the wilderness, to cover it
+with "BEGGAR'S SKINS." The English Translation says Ex. ch.
+xxvi 14. with BADGER'S SKINS."  Now I suppose that if such a
+quotation from the Old. Testament was found in a work whose title
+page represented it to have been written by Bishop Marsh, that
+there is not a scholar, in. Christendom, who would not pronounce
+the book to be a forgery.]
+
+[fn109  Mr. Everett says p. 243, of his work that "not one of the
+books of the New Testament, nor all of them together, were
+intended to be a forensic defence of Christianity." The-Epistle to
+the Hebrews, at least, convicts this opinion of mistake.
+
+He says also p. 273., "As to what Mr. English, after Collins,
+proceeds to say, that the authors of the books of the New
+Testament always argue absolutely from the quotations they cite
+as prophecies out of the books of the old Testament, it is so far
+from being correct, that it is highly notorious, that they do not
+argue from them at all." Mr. Everett must have felt very desperate
+to venture upon such an assertion in the face of the Epistle to the
+Hebrews. Mr. Everett may succeed with some in facing down
+argument, but he is mistaken if he thinks, that
+
+"Stubborn facts must still give place "To his unpenetrable face,
+"Which-makes its way through all affairs, &c. &c."']
+
+[fn110  Bishop Marsh does honour to his English honesty and
+common sense, in refusing to allow that such strong expressions
+can signify a mere accommodation of a passage in the Old
+Testament. See his Notes to Michaelis' Introduction to the New
+Testament.]
+
+[fn111  For "was" read "is"]
+
+[fn112  For 21 read 23]
+
+[fn113   This Psalm is entitled in the English version "a prayer for
+Solomon," It should have been translated "a Psalm of Solomon."]
+
+[fn114  Mr. Everett says p. 51. that "the Septuagint
+discountenances this rendering." What is that to me? I chose to
+abide by the original Hebrew, and not to follow a blundering,
+garbled, and interpolated version, which frequently imposes a
+false sense upon the original, and not unfrequently no sense at all.
+more Christiano.]
+
+[fn115  Mr. Everett, p. 52. considers this expression as a decisive
+proof that the prophecies of the Messiah's kingdom, must be
+understood figuratively. Is Mr. Everett so ignorant of his Bible as
+not to know, that it represents that at the beginning animals did
+not prey upon each other, and if it was so once, which Mr. Everett
+will not deny, it may be so again. See Gen. ch. i. 30.]
+
+[fn116  for "thus saith" read "this is"]
+
+[fn117   The Greeks, Russians, and Copts will not worship
+images, for that they say is flagrant idolatry; but they say there is
+no harm in praying before a picture. Their churches and houses
+are full of them. I have heard of a Greek bishop who employed a
+famous Italian painter to make a picture of the bishop's patron,
+Isaiah [fn118]: when it was finished he refused to take it, and
+expressed himself much shocked, by its appearance. The painter
+asked why?
+
+"your picture, said the bishop is scandalous, the figure stands out
+from the canvass absolutely as if it were a statue; it would be
+idolatry in me to pray before such a picture."
+
+[fn118  for "patron Isaiah" read "patron saint"]
+
+[fn119   "In the mountain of the height of Israel will I plant it: and it
+shall bring forth boughs and bear fruit, and be a glorious cedar
+and under it shall dwell all fowl of every wing; in the shadow (if the
+branches thereof shall they dwell. And all the trees of the field
+shall know, that I Jehovah have brought down the high tree, have
+exalted the low tree, have dried up the green tree, and made the
+dry tree to flourish, I Jehovah have spoken it and I will do it."
+Ezech. xvii. 23.]
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Five Pebbles from the Brook, by 
+George Bethune English
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