(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.]