diff options
| -rw-r--r-- | .gitattributes | 3 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 19879.txt | 4726 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 19879.zip | bin | 0 -> 95526 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | LICENSE.txt | 11 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | README.md | 2 |
5 files changed, 4742 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/19879.txt b/19879.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..c7ac007 --- /dev/null +++ b/19879.txt @@ -0,0 +1,4726 @@ +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 + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK FIVE PEBBLES FROM THE BROOK *** + +***** This file should be named 19879.txt or 19879.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/1/9/8/7/19879/ + +Produced by Charles Klingman + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution. + + + +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at +http://gutenberg.org/license). + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" +or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +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 + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need, is critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org. + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at +http://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at +809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email +business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact +information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official +page at http://pglaf.org + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit http://pglaf.org + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. +To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + http://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. diff --git a/19879.zip b/19879.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..2e407d0 --- /dev/null +++ b/19879.zip diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..a39ad0b --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #19879 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/19879) |