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.