A friendly address to the Jews. Stating the motives to serious enquiry into the cause of their present dispersion, and the requisites to a right enquiry respecting Christian doctrine. The characteristics of the Messiah from the Prophets. And the testimonies in favour of Jesus as the Christ. : To which is added, a letter to Mr. D. Levi; containing remarks on his answer to Dr. Priestly's Letters to the Jews; shewing, that however his arguments may affect the opinions of Dr. Priestly, they form no objection against the Christian religion. / By J. Bicheno.

A friendly address to the Jews. Stating the motives to serious enquiry into the cause of their present dispersion, and the requisites to a right enquiry respecting Christian doctrine. The characteristics of the Messiah from the Prophets. And the testimonies in favour of Jesus as the Christ. : To which is added, a letter to Mr. D. Levi; containing remarks on his answer to Dr. Priestly's Letters to the Jews; shewing, that however his arguments may affect the opinions of Dr. Priestly, they form no objection against the Christian religion. / By J. Bicheno.

Table of contents

Title page

ADVERTISEMENT.

CONTENTS.

INTRODUCTION.

CHARACTERISTICS OF THE MESSIAH, FROM THE ANCIENT PREDICTIONS OF THE PROPHETS.

TESTIMONIES IN FAVOUR OF THE CHARACTER, WORKS, AND DOCTRINE OF JESUS.

A LETTER TO MR. D. LEVI; CONTAINING Remarks on his Answer to the Letters which Dr. PRIESTLEY addressed to the JEWS.

The following BOOKS (lately published) are for Sale at the Providence Book-Store, opposite the Market.

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A FRIENDLY ADDRESS TO THE JEWS. STATING The MOTIVES to serious Enquiry into the Cause of their present Dispersion, and the REQUISITES to a right Enquiry respecting the Christian Doctrine. The CHARACTERISTICS of the MESSIAH from the Prophets. And the TESTIMONIES in Favour of JESUS as the CHRIST.

TO WHICH IS ADDED, A LETTER TO MR. D. LEVI; CONTAINING REMARKS ON HIS ANSWER TO DR. PRIESTLEY's LETTERS TO THE JEWS; SHEWING, That however his Arguments may affect the OPINIONS of Dr. PRIESTLEY, they form no OBJECTION against the CHRISTIAN RELIGION.

BY J. BICHENO.

PRINTED AT PROVIDENCE (R. ISLAND) BY CARTER AND WILKINSON, AND SOLD AT THEIR BOOK AND STATIONARY STORE, OPPOSITE THE MARKET. 1795.

ADVERTISEMENT.

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AS the design of the author of the following pages, is to solicit attention to the proofs in favour of Christianity, and not to recommend his own peculiar ideas of it, he has endeavoured, as far as the subject will admit, to guard against thrusting forward his own private opinions. What this man believes, or that, is nothing to an enquirer after religious truth. The fountain is open, and whosoever will may come, and take of the water of life freely. He is a kind neighbour who directs the stranger, and assists the weak; but he who would intrude upon another the water of his pitcher, be it pure or polluted, seeks to beguile him of his right, and honours himself more than he ought.

The plan of the following Address was struck out, and partly executed, before the author saw the Letters which Dr. Priestley has lately addressed to the Jews. He thought whether that publication might not render this unnecessary: but on perusal, imagined that what was projected might still have its use; and as some others have joined in the same opinion, this is an additional motive (conscious as he is of his deficiencies) to offer it to the Public, hoping that candour will pass over those defects, which greater experience may discover; and praying that the blessing of God may make it the means of promoting Truth and Righteousness.

CONTENTS.

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Introduction, Page 1

Characteristics of the Messiah from the ancient Predictions of the Prophets, Page 19

Testimonies that Jesus is the Christ, Page 59

A Letter to Mr. D. Levi, containing Remarks on his Answer to the Letters which Dr. Priestley addressed to the Jews, Page 67

INTRODUCTION.

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YE children of Abraham, and of the covenant which God made with your fathers, permit a stranger affectionately to solicit your attention to matters of the highest concern both to you and the Gentile nations.

Long has been the captivity, and sore the afflictions which your tribes [...]ve endured. Surely then it is time to awake to serious consideration, and to enquire wherefore it is that the anger of God against you still endures. Doubtless there is a cause which bears a just proportion to your sufferings; for the Lord doth not afflict willingly the children of men.*

As Assyria of old was the rod in God's hand to chastise your fathers, till they should acknowledge their transgressions, and turn to him; so the more modern nations (though the sin of their conduct is not hereby extenuated) have been the instruments of inflicting upon you the divine displeasure. The folly and the wrath of man has been made to praise the righteous government of God. Great indeed have been the evils which you have endured from the several nations, Heathen, Mahometan, and Christian: and though, in general, they have now adopted maxims of government more humane, and your [Page]sufferings are in a measure abated (which, it may be hoped, is the prelude of your deliverance, and the token of God's returning mercy) yet your captivity continues, and Jerusalem is trodden down of the Gentiles. But where is the humiliation and deep repentance, which, according to the prophets, shall be the forerunners of your deliverance, and which God shall reward with such manifestations of his favour as no nation has ever experienced? Are not the most thinking among you constrained to lament, that your repentance is not more manifest, and that you apply yourselves with no more seriousness to enquire the cause of God's anger? Was not the illumined eye of prophecy directed towards your tribes, to observe your conduct in these last days, when the prophet said, ‘The Lord hath poured upon him the f ury of his anger, and the strength of battle; and it hath set him on fire round about, yet he knew it not; and it burned him, yet he laid it not to heart*?’

What was the covenant which God made with your fathers? To Abraham he promised, ‘I will be a God unto thee, and to thy seed after thee: and I will give unto thee, and to thy seed after thee, the land wherein thou art a stranger, all the land of Canaan for an everlasting possession; and I will be their God†’ By Moses he said, ‘If thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God, to observe and to do all his commandments which I command thee this day; the Lord thy God will set thee on high above all nations of the earth. But it shall come to pass if thou wilt not hearken, that all these curses shall come upon thee; cursed shalt thou be in the city, and cursed shalt thou [Page]be in the field. And the Lord shall scatter thee among all people, from one end of the earth even unto the other.—And it shall come to pass when all these things are come upon thee, and thou shalt call them to mind among all the nations whither the Lord thy God hath driven thee, and shalt return unto the Lord thy God, and shalt obey his voice, then the Lord thy God will turn thy captivity, and have compassion upon thee*.’ For your transgression the Lord hath scattered you; and till you repent and turn to him, you can entertain no well-grounded hope of his favour.

Considering th [...] length of time which has elapsed since your c [...]y and temple were destroyed, and you banished from your country; considering the evils which you have and do still, in a measure, endure; and the felicity which awaits you, when you return unto the Lord, and obey his voice, it is surely worth while to set yourselves earnestly to enquire, with seriousness and candour, into the cause of God's displeasure, and wherefore it is that he [...]ath not heard your groanings, as he did those of your fathers in Egypt, and remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob: for be assured he is faithful to his promise, and no length of time can invalidate his covenant. He is waiting that he may be gracious, and that he may have mercy upon you†.

Your present dispersion, and that hope which the promises of God give you of temporal prosperity, when you shall repent and seek the Lord with your whole heart, are motives to induce you to search and see what those sins are which have brought upon you such unparalleled marks of the divine displeasure, and which prevent the accomplishment [Page]of the promises; but that guilt which sin unrepented of brings upon the soul, and those unspeakable evils to which it exposes you in the world to come, present to you still stronger motives to apply yourselves to this work. Those temporal sufferings which may be endured in this life, are but the shadow of that displeasure which pursues the guilty into the world of spirits. To say the least, it is highly probable that you have not yet discovered the principal cause of God's anger, and consequently have not acknowledged it before him: had you done so, we may be sure that the merciful and faithful God would long ere this have turned your captivity, and have had mercy upon you. Enquire therefore why your God so long contendeth with you.

Whether the Christian religion (not as held forth in the creeds of erring men, but as contained in our sacred scriptures) be from God or of man, is surely worthy of attentive examination. What I would request of you is, not to condemn what you have never examined, but to bestow upon the subject that serious and unbiassed attention, which both its own nature and your peculiar circumstances demand.

Seeing that your present captivity was foretold by him whom Christians acknowledge as the Messiah*; seeing that it took place from the days he announced; examine whether it be not for rejecting him, and continuing in opposition to his kingdom. At least, it is worth the trouble of enquiry. And the more so, as our sacred scriptures†, while they declare your temporary rejection to be for unbelief hold forth promises of your restoration when you shall repent and believe. When this event shall take place, the prophecies in our scriptures declare, that then shall be accomplished the glorious things [Page]foretold in yours. Your rejection till such an event being thus affirmed, when no human foresight could possibly discover it; and all circumstances, even to the present distant day, instead of at all discrediting the prophecy, uniting to establish its authenticity; should, to say the least, induce you, as reasonable men, so far to lay aside your prejudice, as to enquire seriously whether your fathers may not have fallen into an error, and whether there may not be more evidence for the truth of Christianity than you have hitherto been willing to think. Seeing that the prediction respecting your rejection is verified, it is, at least, such a presumption in favour of the inspiration of the promise of grace, when you shall believe, as should incline you to a candid enquiry: and I shall endeavour to shew, by and by, that your own prophets have predicted the same thing.

And are there not many other reasons, which ought to induce you to examine this matter with the greatest attention? Such as that general expectation of the Messiah which prevailed about seventeen or eighteen hundred years ago, and which has prevailed more or less ever since; from whence many pretenders have set up for the expected deliverer; and who have been followed, till their imposture has been made manifest. And what is recorded of your Rabbi Elias, who lived about two hundred years before the appearance of Jesus, is an argument in favour of that enquiry which I would urge upon you. He said (no matter from whence he derived his intelligence) he said the world was to stand six thousand years before the great sabbath, two thousand before the law, two thousand under the law, and two thousand under the Messiah. The last two thousand are nearly gone, and no Messiah hath appeared, if Jesus be not he; if he be, then we see (thus [Page]far) the accomplishment of this prediction; and the clearest light is thrown upon many of the prophecies; such as the seventy weeks of Daniel, the glory of the second temple, &c. If Jesus be the Christ, then these two thousand years are employed for the enlightening of the Gentiles, and fulfilling the other prophecies. And though Israel, for the sin of rejecting him, has been in bondage these seventeen hundred years, yet this does not discourage us from hoping in the promises, Ye shall be gathered, before the consummation of all things, to the feet of the Messiah, and he shall be your King to save you. Yes, we may hope that his favour, as the light, in breaking upon you, and that the day is not very far off, when the voice of mercy shall say, ‘Awake and sing ye that dwell in the dust, for thy dew is as the dew of herbs, and the earth shall cast out the dead*.’—But however this may be, all these things put together form a powerful argument to induce you to an attentive examination.

It must be owned, to the reproach of professing Christians, that through the impiety of their lives, their corruptions of the Christian doctrine, their intolerance towards each other, and their persecutions of your nation, they have contributed not a little towards perpetuating your abhorrence of their profession; yet, seeing these are not the test of the truth or falsehood of our scriptures, any more than the idolatry and other bad practices of your forefathers were of the truth or falsehood of the laws of Moses; you are not hereby justified in continuing to reject Jesus as the Messiah, without examining the proofs which lie before you. If you have no better reasons for rejecting Christianity than those derived from the practices of professing Christians, you might as well reject religion in every form, and deny that God ever spoke [Page]to man—to the law and to the testimony. Compare our scriptures with yours; try the matter by the severest rules; see with your own eyes; judge with your own understandings; and then say, after dispassionate enquiry, whether the religion of Jesus bears those marks of imposture which you have been used to think it does.

Free and unbiassed enquiry is the glory of human nature. To be a Heathen, a Jew, or a Christian, because our fathers were so, is unbecoming any reasonable creature, arrived at years of understanding. That man is of no religion whose profession is not from conviction, and there can be no conviction but from enquiry. He who grounds his faith on the authority of others, and then studies only for confirmation, seeks not truth by the light of truth, and is therefore ever liable to embrace falsehood; and should he be so very fortunate as to embrace truth, in him it is no virtue.— Rise, then, O man, who art created after the image of thy God; seek truth, and thou shalt find her; forsake her not, and she shall preserve thee; love her, and she shall keep thee.

But, what is necessary to a fair enquiry after truth? What is indispensable to your investigation of Christianity, that you may form the conclusion of virtuous men, and know whether it be of God or no? Humility, candour, a dispassionate temper, the love of truth, and the love of God. Do these guide and warm your hearts? Come, then; Religion rises to meet you; her books are open.

No man in this enquiry (if he bring with him a heart rightly disposed) need despair of finding the good and right way; for surely that Religion which comes from God, carries with it an evidence which is discernible by the most simple and unlettered, whose minds are not corrupted [Page]by vice, or warped by prejudice. But let all, while they attend to that evidence which is held forth in the Jewish and Christian scriptures, seek to God, by earnest supplications, for his spirit to teach them to profit, and to lead them by the way they should go*: For that heart which is unseasoned with the salt of grace, and a stranger to serious devotion, is utterly unfit for the enquiry before us.

The first requisite (next to a devout spirit) to a right enquiry after truth, is humility. We must ever despair of that man's errors being rectified, who is so confident that he is right, that he will give no ear to any thing which opposes his opinions; nor allow any force in arguments, however cogent, which may tend to shake the foundation on which his system is built. When any pretender to religion has adopted certain articles of faith, and laid them down as unquestionable truths, and will not allow of his liability to mistake; nor attend to any reasonings, or proofs, which go to show him his error; his mind is in a state the most unfit for the discovery of truth.

Would you examine the evidence for, and against, the Christian religion, with that temper of mind which the case deserves, you must think of those articles of your faith, which you have been used to lay down as unquestionable truths (such, for instance, as relate to a suffering Messiah) with that humbleness of mind, which becomes men liable to err. Where is the man who is so enlightened as to be able to penetrate through all the darkness which hangs over many of the prophecies, especially before their fulfilment? For we are to remember, that prophecy, in general, is not meant as history, to give us clear and specific ideas of the persons or [Page]things spoken of. Here, no more is revealed than is necessary to encourage the hopes of God's servants, and identify the persons and things when they appear; and thus bear witness to the truth of God's word. The general contents of a prophecy may be very intelligible, yet the application of it to time and persons may be very uncertain. There must be obscurity in a prophecy, as well as shade in a picture; all its lines must not stand in a full light; for if the prophecies were open and barefaced as to all their parts and circumstances, they would obstruct the course of human affairs, and hinder, if it were possible, their own accomplishment. Modesty and sobriety are in all things commendable, but in nothing more than in the explication of these sacred mysteries. Surely a man must read but little, and think less, who does not feel himself constrained to acknowledge that many of the prophecies are hard to be understood. No man of humility, while he stands on the brink of this vast abyss, but must hide his face and cry, ‘O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out! Who hath known the mind of the Lord, or who hath been his counsellor?’ —It is not for any man to say, when God promises a Saviour to the world (for to the race of Adam he was promised before the call of Abraham, or the promise that he should be of his seed; as well as after by the mouth of the holy Prophets, who announced him as the light of the Gentiles, as well as the Redeemer of Israel) it is not for any man to say, when God promises a Saviour to the world, under what character, or variety of characters, he is to appear, till God himself makes it known. His [Page]appearance may be the reverse of that which human wisdom suggests: for the wisdom of men is foolishness with God. But by the prophecies, (hard as many of them are to be understood, especially before their fulfilment throws light upon them) God has made known to his church the characters which his Anointed is to sustain. But a teachable humility is an indispensable requisite to a right understanding of them.

If any man say, "My sentiments of the Messiah's character are certainly right, and must not for a moment be called in question;" then, in this case, whatever the Prophets may teach, must bend to preconceived opinion, however great the violence. This state of mind is the most opposite to fair enquiry; and he who is in an error, must be in an error still. Nothing can save him. The preaching of an archangel would not illuminate his mind.

But, do you feel those impressions of humility, which teach you to be diffident where there is a possibility of erring? Is your heart disposed to bow implicitly to the Revelation of God, without regard to preconceived opinion? Is any man amongst you praying, ‘O Lord, who can understand his errors? Cleanse thou me from secret faults. As a sinful man, I am prone to err, and ever in danger from the deceptions of prejudice.—Thy counsels, O Lord, are a great deep. As a child, I beseech thy Spirit to instruct me. That which I know not teach thou me, and I will keep it unto the end.’ Furnished with these dispositions of mind, truth is not far from you. Seek, and ye shall find.

And need I intreat the wise to lay aside that national pride and prejudice which puts men upon justifying whatever their ancestors may have done? Need I intreat you to do all you can toward [Page]divesting yourselves of that extravagant opinion which all men are too apt to entertain of those who have appeared in favour of their own sentiments, to the utter neglect and contempt of all such as may have appeared on the opposite side; as if with these there could be neither wisdom nor virtue? This prejudice must be sacrificed to the love of truth, or you are never likely to find it.

Consider; was it an impossible, or even an improbable thing, that that generation of men, among whom Jesus appeared, should be so blind and wicked as to persecute and crucify the true Messiah, should God, in his inscrutable providence, permit them so to do, as he did their fathers to persecute and slay the holy Prophets? And where is the man amongst you who can say, ‘I am so enlightened into the counsels of God, I have such a certain understanding of the prophecies, that I know it is not fit for God to permit such an event; I know that the prophecies, covered with darkness as many of them are, allow of nothing like it.’ Is such man to be found? Surely not.— ‘Who can by searching find out God*?—My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord†’

According to your own historian, Josephus, that generation was the most wicked that ever existed amongst men. He represents the leaders of the people, and even the chief priests, as profligate wretches, who had purchased their places by bribes, or some other acts of iniquity; and who maintained their ill acquired authority by the most flagitious and abominable crimes. These rulers he represents as dissolute and abandoned to the last degree; while the multitude, set on by these corrupt examples, ran headlong into [Page]every sort of iniquity, and by their endless seditions, robberies and extortions, armed against them both the justice of God and the vengeance of man.

And with all this desperate wickedness, which deformed their character, were they fond of the most idle and superstitious fancies, and strongly possessed of th [...] [...]otion of the approach of a Messiah, who should appear with all the marks of external pomp and magnificence; emancipate them from the Roman yoke; establish a worldly kingdom; and bring all the Gentile princes to the feet of the Jewish nation? If God, then, whose thoughts are not as man's thoughts, and whose ways are past finding out, should send a Messiah amongst them, whose first and outward appearance should be the reverse of their expectations; in whose pretensions there is nothing flattering to the pride and ambition of man; and who, instead of winking at the vices and errors of the times (which it was the interest of an impostor to do) should attack, with faithfulness, the wickedness, errors and prejudices of all ranks of men, without partiality—if this were the case, is it at all to be wondered at that such a generation of men, without the fear of God, and blind to that excellence which only is excellence in the sight of the Most Holy, should despise and reject such a Messiah? Is it at all marvellous, that men governed only by worldly motives, and whose hearts and lives were estranged from all good, should do every thing in their power to get him out of their way, who was constantly exposing the degeneracy of their principles, and pouring out the threatenings of God against their vices? Surely the voice of reason and truth says, ‘No; the wicked will do wickedly.’

[Page] Certain I am, that there is nothing in the conduct of such men towards such a person, though the most blameless in his life, the most amiable in his manners, and though he had performed a thousand times more wonders of power and goodness than are recorded of Jesus, which may not be as satisfactorily accounted for on the principles of degenerate nature, as the conduct of any of their forefathers towards the prophets whom they persecuted and slew.

And if it be probable (and more than probable) that the men among whom Jesus appeared were blind and wicked enough to murder the true Messiah, if God should permit them so to do, is it not as probable that the next and succeeding generations might be so under the power of prejudice as to exert all their talents to justify the conduct of their fathers, not only by misrepresenting the characters of Jesus and his followers, but also by giving such glosses to the prophecies as might best agree with their prejudices, and which might tend to turn away the force of those arguments which Christians deduced from the in favour of their cause? Certainly it is. And hence your writers have explained away the clearest predictions of the Messiah, till there remains scarce any proof of the promise of such a person.

Considering then the probability of this misguiding prejudice, it highly becomes you, as reasonable men, seeking after truth, and as you wish to know the cause of God's displeasure, to be on your guard, and cautious of receiving implicitly what your wisest men have taught, and especially in their comments on the Prophecies; for as it is on these that the truth or imposture of Christianity turns, and as, the plain and most obvious meaning of them being admitted, [Page]numbers of them appear to meet and have their accomplishment in Jesus, they are necessitated by their principles to seek after such interpretations as may least favour Christianity. To find out truth, you must see with your own eyes; you must read the prophecies, and judge for yourselves; you must carefully look into our scriptures, and see what is there related and taught respecting Jesus and his doctrine; and on these, jointly, you must ground your conclusion, for or against. To these, in conjunction, we appeal as the test of truth, and not to what erring men have wrote or said on this side or that; for as your sacred writings, in every essential part, remain uncorrupted in spite of all your backslidings, and amidst all the various fortunes which have awaited you; so do ours in spite of the degeneracy of Christians, their vices, and their errors.

To our sacred books, in conjunction with yours, let us therefore appeal. In the course of my acquaintance with those of your nation, I have more than once had occasion to observe, that their greatest stumbling-block has been their taking that for Christianity, which is no more than fallible explication, or mere human opinion. But search the scriptures themselves; compare ours with Moses and the Prophets, and see what these testify of Christ, and how they agree. Examine whether the authenticity of the facts related, and the divinity of the doctrines taught, in our scriptures, and those related and taught in yours, do not stand upon the same ground. Examine, as men of wisdom and candour, whether the external and internal evidence of their being from God, or otherwise, do not stand or fall together.

Were there such men as Moses, David, Isaiah, [Page]&c. and did they do, teach and write, what is ascribed to them? And were there not such persons as Jesus, Matthew, Paul, &c. and did not they do, teach and write, what is ascribed to them?—The answer of prejudice or indolence is nothing.—What is the answer of reason, after dispassionate enquiry? In the former case, the truth rests on the characters of the relaters, the ci [...]umstances which attended them, the credibility of history, &c. So in the latter. There is no greater proof that the Lord appeared to Moses in the wilderness, and spoke to him out of the midst of a burning bush*; than that Peter, James and John, saw Jesus transfigured on the mount†. There is no greater proof that Elijah was taken up into heaven‡, and that Elisha, with the mantle of his ascended Master, divided the waters of Jordan, than that Jesus was carried up into heaven in the presence of his disciples‖, and that they afterwards healed the most obstinate diseases in his name§.

That what Moses and the Prophets taught was of divine authority, rests eminently on the internal evidence which accompanies their doctrine. We contemplate the characters of the men, the views which actuated them, the circumstances which attended them, the moral excellence of their doctrine, &c. and the more we examine, the more we are obliged to acknowledge whose servants they were, and that they spake as they were moved by the Spirit of God. Whether Jesus were sent of God, and what he taught divine, or not, rests on the same evidence. As to his doctrine; if what he taught tends to give us unworthy ideas of the Creator, to alienate our hearts from the God of Abraham, and to [Page]slacken the moral obligations of men, then he is not of God. But if his doctrine be replete with every moral excellence; if its tendency be to correct the wickedness of the world, to purify the heart, and elevate the mind to God, then hath it all the proofs of divinity which the writings of Moses and the Prophets possess. Let us compare the doctrine.

Ex. xx. 3. ‘Thou shalt have no other Gods before me.’

Deut. vi. 4. ‘Hear, O Israel, The LORD our God is one LORD.’

Micah vi. 8. ‘What doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?’

Luke xii. 5. ‘I will forewarn you whom ye shall fear: Fear him, which, after he hath killed, hath power to cast into hell.’

1 Cor. viii. 4—6. ‘We know that an idol is nothing in the world, and that there is none other God but one. To us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we in him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by him.’

Matt. xxii. 37—40. ‘Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. [Page]On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.’

Now compare the facts, and see if there be any thing related in our scriptures less worthy of God, or less credibly attested, than in yours.

Gen. xxii. 1 and 2. ‘God said to Abraham, Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering.’

Gen. xxvi. 4. ‘The LORD appeared to Isaac, and said, In thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed.’

Luke i. 26—38. ‘The angel Gabriel was sent from God unto a city of Galilee, named Nazareth, to a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph; and the virgin's name was Mary. And the angel said unto her, Thou shalt conceive and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name JESUS.’

Luke ii. 8—14. ‘The angel of the Lord appeared to shepherds, keeping watch over their flocks by night, and said unto them, Fear not: for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day, in the city of David, a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.’

[Page] Gen. xviii. ‘The LORD appeared unto Abraham in the plains of Mamre, veiled in a human body, and ate and communed with him.’

John i. 14. ‘The Word was made slesh and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father) full of grace and truth.’

I repeat it; Examine whether, upon dispassionate investigation, there is any thing taught or related in our scriptures, less worthy of God, less compatible with the eminence of the divine perfections, or less credibly attested, than in yours. I speak as unto wise men; examine the ground on which you stand; examine ours; and say, if you can discover, wherein ours is less firm than yours. If you examine with that candour which the importance of the subject demands, you will surely find that he who invalidates the evidence of the Christian religion's being from God, sets aside the proofs of the divinity of yours. They stand or fall together. The Christian is the Jewish brought to perfection. Here we see the things signified by the law, and the fulfilment of the promises, and predictions of the Prophets.

Notes

*

Lam. iii. 23.

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*

Is [...]. [...]lii. [...].

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†

Gen. xvii. 7.8.

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*

Deut. xxviii. 1, 15, 16, 64. Deut. xxx. 1, 2, 3.

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†

Isa. xxx. 18.

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*

Matt. xxi. 33—44. xxiii. 34—39. xxiv.

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†

Rom. xi.

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*

Isa. xxvi. 19.

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*

Isa. xlviii. 17.

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*

Job xi. 7.

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†

Isa. lv. 8.

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*

Exod. iii.

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†

Matt. xvii.

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‡

2 Kings ii.

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‖

Luke xxiv.

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§

Acts iii.

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CHARACTERISTICS OF THE MESSIAH, FROM THE ANCIENT PREDICTIONS OF THE PROPHETS.

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IT is to be expected that the great Anointed of God, the works which he is to perform, and the salvation which he is to bring, will occupy the most distinguished place in prophecy, and be the chief theme of inspiration. This was the idea of the ancient Jews; hence when jealous Herod was informed of the birth of the King of the Jews*, he gathered together the chief priests and scribes of the people, who might be supposed best skilled in the mysteries of the sacred books, and demanded of them where Christ should be born. And they said unto him, ‘In Bethlehem of Judea, for thus it is written by the prophet†’ &c. And that this was the idea of the ancient Jews appears from the Talmud, which says that all the prophecies of the Prophets related to Christ. But, is it not a truth much to be lamented, that since [Page]the days of Jesus, those who have been prejudiced against him, exerting all their ingenuity to give to the prophecies such explanations as might least agree with his character and doctrine, have thus well nigh shut him out of the holy scriptures? So that those prophecies which most obviously refer to him, are made to terminate in the Prophet who speaks, or in Josiah, Zerubbabel, Joshua the high priest, Cyrus, or any other person, the most unlikely; as Hircanus, whom Herod slew; Agrippa the younger, &c. It much interests you, therefore, to examine the sacred writings with your own understandings, and to consider well, whether many of those prophecies which your writers make to refer to others, do not point to the Messiah. And in many cases, where inferior characters and events may be the ground-work of what the Prophets speak, it is worth while to consider whether the Messiah be not the ultimate object in whom the principal matters terminate. It agreeing not with the design of prophecy that its whole meaning should lie unconcealed, we find that many of the prophecies are of a mixed nature, and point to two objects at once, or speak of one as the type of another. Thus predictions, relating to the return from Babylon, under the edicts of Cyrus and his successors, are mixed with others which respect your return and glory in the last days, and one is made the type of the other. Thus David often speaks of himself as a type of the Saviour who was to come; and in like manner the Prophets often speak of others. The prophecies are a sort of enigmas, which nothing but the accomplishment can explain; with this key, all the mystery is laid open, and he who runs may read—with these ideas respecting the prophetic writings, let us candidly [Page]enquire what your sacred scriptures predict of the Messiah, and see whether they meet with accomplishment in Jesus or not.

I. They foretel of him that he is to be a person of supereminent character; superior to all preceding prophets, priests or kings; superior to all men, and even to angels. Hence such language as this, ‘Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee*—"The LORD said unto my Lord, sit thou at my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool†." — Unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called, Wonderful, Counsellor, the mighty God, the everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace†’

Now, do such predictions as these appear to be fulfilled in Jesus? Is there any thing related in the history of his character, works and offices, which bears any likeness to the eminence of the person here pointed out? Take the book and read. ‘The angel said unto Mary, Thou shalt bring forth a son, and shalt call his name JESUS. He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David; and he shall reign over the house of Jacob forever§."—"Jesus saith unto Philip, He that hath seen me hath seen the Father. Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me‖?"—"In Christ dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily**."—"God, who at sundry times, and in divers manners, spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets hath in these last days spoken unto us by [...] Son, whom [Page]he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds†."—"And he hath on his vesture, and on his thigh, a name written, KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS†.’

Do you expect in the Messiah a supereminent character? Behold him who was crucified, whom God hath raised from the dead, and made both Lord and Christ.—And hear his language. Who before Jesus ever spoke in such language of majesty? ‘Come unto me all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me§. "I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live. And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die‖’ Well might it be said, ‘The people were astonished at his doctrine, for he taught them as one that had authority, and not as the Scribes**!’ Well might the officers who were sent to take him be disarmed of their purpose, and say, "Never man spake like this man††." All he says and all he does is worthy of the eminence of God's Anointed!

But do you object, ‘Is not too much ascribed to him?’ What means Jesus when he says, "He that hath seen me hath seen the Father?" And what Paul, when he asserts, ‘In Christ dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily?’ In return (for Christians acknowledge their insufficiency) it might be asked, What meant Moses when he said, ‘The LORD (with two angels) appeared to Abraham in the plains of Mamre, in the likeness of a man, and ate of the meat which he set before them. And as [Page]soon as he had left communing with Abraham he went his way*?’ What is meant when it is said, ‘God called unto Moses out of the bush, and said, Moses, Moses, I am the God of thy father, the God of Abraham, the God Isaac; and the God of Jacob; and Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look upon God†?’ And what means Hezekiah where he prays, ‘O LORD, God of Israel, that dwellest between the Cherubims†?’ What, is the Eternal Spirit the object of human sight? No. Was he, whom heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain, circumscribed within the limits of a body, a burning bush, or the glory which rested over the mercy-seat? Surely that man must have formed very unworthy ideas of the Divine Nature, and of the eminence of Jehovah's perfections, who thus thinks.— ‘§ Behold God is great, and we know him not! How little a portion is heard of him‖!’

II. Examine the prophecies, and see whether the Messiah was not to be born of a virgin. Is not this idea suggested in those words of God, which conveyed to our fallen parents and their descendants the first promise of grace? ‘The LORD God said unto the serpent (the devil) I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between her seed and thy seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel**.’ Consult also Isa. vii. 14. ‘Behold [Page]a virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.’ Jer. xxxi. 22. ‘The Lord hath created a new thing in the earth, a woman shall compass a man.’ To say the least, these difficult passages serve to confirm our faith in the truth of the event, when it comes to pass. And seeing that nothing is too hard for God; seeing that such a miraculous conception would be to the honour of the Messiah, and worthy of the supereminence of his character; seeing that though conceived out of the ordinary course of nature, he may still be of the feed of Abraham, and the son of David (his mother being in that line) and as there is nothing in the prophets which obliges us to reject this idea, it is more than probable that these predictions refer to such an event.—In Jesus they are all accomplished, as you may see, if you will read Matt. i. and Luke i.

III. According to the Prophets, a notable messenger is to go before the Messiah to prepare his way. ‘The voice of one that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the LORD, make straight in the desert an high way for our God†."—"Behold I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me, and the LORD whom ye seek shall suddenly come to his temple. Behold I will send you Elijah the prophet, before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD*.’

All this makes it evident, that some eminent prophet is to precede the coming of the Messiah†. [Page]But we are not to suppose this messenger or prophet to be Elijah himself coming from heaven, but one who shall come in the spirit of that prophet; as the Messiah is often called David, because, as David was a holy man, after God's own heart, and the saviour of Israel, so the Messiah†.

Let us now attend to the history of Jesus, and see whether there be any prophet preceding his appearance, bearing any likeness to the prediction. ‘An Angel appeared to Zacharias while he executed the priest's office in the temple, and said unto him, Thy wife shall bear thee a son, and thou shalt call his name John. He shall be great in the sight of the Lord; and many of the children of Israel shall he turn to the Lord their God. And he shall go before him in the spirit and power of Elias, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just; to make ready a people prepared of the Lord*."—"Now in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Cesar, the word of the Lord came unto John, the son of Zacharias, in the wilderness. And he came into all the country about Jordan preaching the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins. As it is written in the book of the words of Esaias the prophet, saying, The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight. And as the people were in expectation, and all men mused in their hearts of John whether he were the [Page]Christ or not, John answered saying unto them all, I indeed baptize you with water, but one mightier than I cometh, the latchet of whose shoes I am not worthy to unloose†’

Contemplate his history, work and doctrine. An angel announced him; a man of a holy life; he baptized in water, as the emblem of regeneration, the emblem of dying to sin, and rising to newness of life: he preached repentance, and gave notice of the sudden appearance of him who had been the burthen of prophecy. All the people held John to be a prophet†; and hence they supposed (according to Josephus§ who speaks highly of his character, as do other Jewish writers) that Herod's army on a certain occasion miscarried in judgment upon him for putting John to death. On account of his piety and doctrine he obtained the character of "One of the wise men of Israel." It was from this high estimation in which he was held, that a solemn deputation was sent to him to enquire who he was‖? He confessed that he was not the Christ, nor Elias (not literally, according to the then prevailing idea of the Elias who was to come) not that prophet (of whom Moses spoke) but the voice of one crying in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way of the Lord, as said the prophet Esaias‖.’ Does not this messenger well agree with the predictions which pointed out that prophet to the notice of Israel, who was to go before the face of the Lord, and prepare the way for the appearance of his Anointed?

IV. As the Messiah was to be a Prophet of the highest rank (and more than a Prophet) may it not be expected, that in proof of his mission he [Page]should perform miracles, and prophecy of things to come? It is evident that the ancient Jews expected that their Messiah would do many wonderful works; hence some said unto Jesus, ‘What sign shewest thou unto us, seeing that thou doest these things*?" and others said, When Christ cometh, will he do more miracles than these†?’ Perhaps it was in reference to these prophetic gifts that it was said, ‘Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy Power§’ And again, the ‘Spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledg and of the fear of the LORD‖’ &c. But whether the Prophets have directly spoken of this or not, it is surely perfectly consistent with his character thus to be invested with power from on high, (and in some sense necessary) to demonstrate that he is of God. It may be justly expected that he who is represented as the most eminent Prophet, the great burthen of prophecy, of whom inspiration hath spoken and sung from the depths of antiquity, should be distinguished with gifts superior to others**.

An impostor might shew juggling signs and wonders, which might deceive the ignorant; or, perhaps, by the agency of evil spirits (who may be able to look farther into causes and effects than men) he might be able to discover [Page]events which lay hid from common eyes, and by those signs might lead the people after strange gods, as Moses forewarned†. God might permit these things as the trial of obedience. But, did ever any impostor raise the dead, or give sight to one who was born blind? Such wonders as these require the agency of the Creator, and which was never granted to a deceiver. If miracles, which nothing but the power of God can perform, be any proof of a true Prophet, here proof abounds. By a touch, by a word, by the efficiency of his will, he healed all manner of diseases, cast out devils, controled the elements, and raised the dead.

None pretend to deny that Jesus wrought many wonderful works, far transcending human power. So irresistible is the proof of it, that your nation have been obliged to allow it. Many who saw them, indeed, said ‘He casteth out devils, through the prince of the devils†,’ and others, to get rid of the argument, which is drawn from hence in favour of his being from God, have pretended that he did them by means of some ineffable name of Jehovah. But surely, it is too irrational (not to say too impious) to suppose, that the great Eternal would permit his name to be turned into a talisman to favour the tricks of a juggling impostor; or that a few letters, however arranged, or however pronounced, should have in them the power of healing diseases, and raising the dead. This might do in the very darkest ages of superstition; but have not all men, where revelation, reason and philosophy, have carried their light, learnt more wisdom? Surely that poor man who was born blind reasoned better than this, when they of the Sanhedrim said unto him, ‘We know [Page]that God spake unto Moses; as for this fellow, we know not whence he is*’ The man answered and said unto them, ‘Why herein is a marvellous thing that ye know not from whence he is, and yet he hath opened mine eyes. Now we know that God heareth not sinners; but if any man be a worshipper of God, and doth his will, him he heareth. Since the world began was it not heard that any man opened the eyes of one that was born blind; if this man were not of God, he could do nothing." q. d. "It is marvellous indeed that you, great and learned men, should not know from whence this man is, who hath wrought such a miracle; when we unlettered and blind beggars know, that the holy and Almighty God is not the accomplice of deceivers; we know that such power, as in this case is manifested, is communicated only to them who are the true servants of God.’ Ah! man, thou knowest not the power of prejudice, or thou wouldst marvel at nothing. Prejudice makes light darkness, and darkness light; good evil, and evil good.

And is the gift of foretelling future events a criterion of a true Prophet, and what may be expected to dwell in the Messiah in an eminent manner? In Jesus we find the Spirit of the Lord, the spirit of wisdom and understanding. He perceived the thoughts of mens hearts. He knew beforehand who would betray him. His eye penetrated into the depths of futurity, and saw through the future fortunes of the Jewish nation. What meant he to teach the Jews by his parable of the husbandmen who first refused to render unto the householder the fruit of his vineyard, and afterward murdered his only [Page]son*? What meant he when he faid, ‘There shall not be left here (in the temple) one stone upon another that shall not be thrown down. —Many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many. Then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time†?’ But

V. However great and numerous the proofs of the Messiah's mission, yet they are not to be attended with that terror which prevailed at Sinai. Hear Moses. ‘The Lord thy God will raise up unto thee a Prophet, from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me; unto him shall ye hearken. According to all that thou desiredst of the Lord thy God in Horeb in the day of the assembly, saying, Let me not hear again the voice of the Lord my God, neither let me see this great fire any more, that I die not†,’ &c. This is clearly a promise of the Messiah, and a prophetic description of his character. And how perfectly does the [...]story of the doctrines, and works of Jesus, agree with this prediction! Here are no thunders, nor lightnings, nor the voice of trumpets, to make even a Moses fear and quake, and the people exclaim, ‘Let not God speak with us, lest we die.’ The lowest may approach to learn of Jesus, for he is meek and lowly in heart; and what he hath heard of his Father, that he speaketh in language which does not terrify, but invites attention. His doctrine is at once full of grace, and full of truth. Though it astonish, it does not affright; and if to confirm his mission he display the power of God, yet it is in a way which accords with the promise. His wonders are wonders of compassion and kindness; [Page]and even where there may be some mixture of terror, mercy predominates. ‘All they that had any sick with divers diseases, brought them unto him, and he laid his hands on every one of them, and healed them. And devils also came out of many, crying out, saying, Thou art Christ the Son of God*.’—He raised the dead; but he never called for sire to come down from heaven to destroy mens lives. He stilled, but he never raised a tempest. He is in all things according to the desire of Israel in Horeb. ‘And whosoever will not hearken unto my words, saith the Lord, which he shall speak in my name, I will require it of him†.’ God foresaw that some would not hearken to this Prophet, whom he promises. Search the scriptures, and see whether they do not testify of Jesus, and prove him to be the promised Prophet.

VI. Both the life and doctrine of the Messiah are to be eminently holy; both agreeing with that law which was written with the finger of God, and given to Moses in Mount Sinai. He is to be like unto Moses, in that he is to speak the pure word of God. All he teaches must be agreeable to his holy law, and in the name of no other God. Of whom does the Psalmist speak, but of the promised Saviour, where, as Prophet, he says, ‘Thou lovest righteousness, and hatest wickedness; therefore God, thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows. All thy garments smell of myrrh, and aloes, and cassia‖?’—Of whom speaks Isaiah? ‘There shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, righteousness shall be the girdle of his loins, and faithfulness the girdle of his reins. The Lord is well [Page]pleased for his righteousness sake; he will magnify the law, and make it honourable†’

View the life of Jesus. Who can convict him of sin? Though his enemies charged him with blasphemy and sedition, where is the proof? He said, he was the Son of God. And what saith the scripture? ‘Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee§.’ He said he was a King. And of whom spoke David? ‘Why do the heathen rage and the people imagine a vain thing? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord, and against his Anointed.—Yet have I set my King upon my holy hill of Sion.— Kiss the Son, lest he be angry†.’ Does not David here speak of some one superior to himself; but of whom he (as a persecuted prince) was a type? Of one, who, like Jesus, was persecuted by Herod, and Pontius Pilate, and the rulers of the Jews? But though agreeable to the prophecy he said, "I am a King;" yet he said also, "My kingdom is not of this world;" and when the populace would have taken him by force, and made him King, he departed into a mountain himself alone; for he was God's, and not man's Anointed. He was superior to receiving honours from men.—They charged him with violating the holiness of the sabbath. But why? Only because he did good, healed the sick, and taught the difference between unnecessary works, and those of necessity and mercy; between superstitions scrupulosity about triles, and real sanctity.

Examine his doctrine. Did he not teach the fear and worship of the one true God? Did he not enforce that moral law which God gave [...]t Sinai? Yes, he magnified the law, and made [Page]it honourable. Not so his enemies; they put outward rites in the place of inward sanctity, and made void the law by their traditions; they turned [...]he holy religion of God into ostentation; and instead of obeying his precepts from the heart, did all they did to be seen of men. But what part does Jesus act? Does he, like the false prophets of former days, shape himself and his doctrine according to the times; and hoist himself into credit by arts of flattery, and words of peace? No. See the zeal which animates his bosom, for the glory of God, the honour of his law, and the conversion of men.—See, he lays the axe to the root of the trees; denounces the woes of God against hypocrisy; shews the fallacy of all religion, but that of the heart; teacher men to worship him, who is a Spirit, in spirit and in truth; and to cleanse themselves, not only with the outward washing of water, but their hearts, and their lives, with the waters of repentance. Read his sermon on the mount*. Read all he taught. He who believes not, must acknowledge, that the morality of his doctrine is worthy of the character he assumes.

VII. The Messiah, according to the Prophets, is to be eminent for mercy, gentleness and goodness; ‘He shall feed his flock like a shepherd; he shall gather the lambs with his arm, and carry them in his bosom, and shall gently lead those that are with young†. He shall not cry, nor lift up, nor cause his voice to be heard in the street. A bruised reed shall he not break; and the smoking flax shall be not quench†.’

And did not all these kind affections shine bright, both in the doctrine and actions of Jesus? He taught men to love one another, and do good, even against evil. ‘Ye have heard that [Page]it hath been said, an eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth. But I say unto you, That ye resist not evil. Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you. That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven§. This is my commandment, that ye love one another‖.’

And observe, he does not say and do not; he practises his own precept. The history of his actions is the history of goodness, mercy and gentleness. When his misguided disciples asked leave to call for fire, as Elias did, to come down from heaven, to destroy those Samaritans, who, (because they were Jews) denied them the rights of hospitality, he turned and rebuked them, and said, ‘Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of. For the Son of Man is not come to destroy mens lives, but to save them*.’ He went about doing good. Did the blind cry to him, ‘Have mercy on us, O Lord, thou Son of David? He had compassion on them, and touched their eyes, and immediately their eyes received sight†.’ Did he behold an afflicted widow, following her only son to the grave? ‘He had compassion on her, and said unto her, weep not; and he touched the bier, and said, Young man, I say unto thee arise.—And he delivered him to his mother†.’ And when he beheld the tears of repenting sinners, who wept for their transgressions, and sought the mercy he came to display, with as much compassion as majesty, he said, ‘Thy sins are forgiven: Thy faith hath saved thee, go in peace¶.’ [Page]When he contemplated the miseries which, like a destructive tempest, were hastening to fall upon his people, ‘He beheld the city and wept over it‖.’ Even when his countrymen (with the Roman soldiers) at the instigation of revengeful priests, and corrupt rulers, were shedding his blood; in the midst of his pains, compassion overflowed his heart, and he prayed, ‘Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do**.’ Yes, and his prayer shall be answered; for though the Lord hath stricken his people for their sins, yet he hath not cast them off forever. When they shall acknowledge their transgressions, he will forgive the iniquity of their sin. Is not this the Christ?

VIII. The doctrine of the Messiah is to be full of grace. For thus spake the prophets, ‘Thou art fairer than the children of men, grace is poured into thy lips*." "The spirit of the Lord God is upon me; because he hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek: he hath sent me to bind up the broken hearted, &c.†" "And he shall speak peace unto the heathen†.’

Hear the doctrine of Jesus.— ‘God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life§. —There is joy in the presence of the angels of God over a sinner that repenteth¶.—And he said, A certain man had two sons, and the younger of them said to his father, Father, give me the portion of goods that falleth to me—and he took his journey into a far country, and there wasted his substance i [...]otous living. And when he had [Page]spent all, there arose a mighty famine in that land; and he began to be in want. And when he came to himself he said, How many hired servants of my father have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger! I will arise and go to my father, and will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven and before thee.—And he arose and came to his father. But when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran and fell on his neck, and kissed him, &c.¶’ Merciful Creator! As a father pities his repenting children, and forgives their follies, dost thou so pity and forgive repenting sinners, who turn to thee? We adore thy mercy, which hath given us such assurances of grace; we receive him as thy Prophet, who thus makes known thy compassions; we repent that our sins have grieved his Spirit!—And ye who are weary with the burthens of this present evil world, hear the consoling doctrine of Jesus which is sent to you; ‘Blessed are they that mourn; for they shall be comforted. Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake; for theirs is the kingdom of heaven*.—Let not your heart be troubled. In my Father's house are many mansions. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also. Ye now have sorrow; but I will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice, and your joy no man taketh from you†.’

Well did Isaiah prophecy, ‘The Lord God hath anointed me to preach good tidings to the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the broken hearted.’ Well did Jesus say to the men of Nazareth, when, in their synagogue, he read [Page]these words of the prophet, ‘This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears†.’ We with them bear witness, and wonder at the gracious words which proceed out of his mouth. His doctrine droppeth as the rain, and his speech distilleth as the dew; as the small rain upon the tender herb, and as the showers upon the grass.

Who, unless his heart be corrupted by vice, or his mind darkened by prejudice, can hear, or read, the doctrine of Jesus, which is at once so replete with sublimity. and mercy, and not discover upon the face of it the stamp of heaven? Is not this he who was to come, or, do we look for another?

IX. If we examine prophecy, we shall find the period marked out for the Messiah's appearance. ‘The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come, and unto him shall the gathering of the people be*.’ This is allowed to be a prophecy of the Messiah, and shews that before the arrival of this period, when Judah, as well as Ephraim, should cease to be a kingdom, he must appear. Again. ‘Seventy weeks (490 years) are determined upon thy people, and upon thy holy city, to finish transgressions, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most holy. Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and build Jerusalem, unto the Messiah the Prince, shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks; the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times. And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not [Page]for himself, and the people of the prince that shall come, &c.†’

And when the Lord would encourage Zerubbabel and his people, in building the second temple, was it not by promising, that that house which they were then building (and which Herod afterwards repaired) should be blessed with the presence of the Desire of all nations? ‘Who is left among you, that saw this house in her first glory? And how do you see it now? Is it not in your cyes in comparison of it as nothing? Yet now be strong.—I will shake all nations, and the Desire of all nations shall come, and I will fill this house with glory, saith the Lord of hosts.— The glory of this latter house shall be greater than the former, saith the Lord of hosts, and in this place will I give peace, saith the Lord of hosts*.’

You have doubtless been taught to give such explanations to these passages, as may least favour the Christian cause. But for a moment, as lovers of truth, lay aside as much of the prejudice of education as you can, and consider whether the appearance of Jesus does not exactly answer to these predictions, and afford the easiest solution. Judah hath shared the same fate with Ephraim, and the sceptre is departed; but before their polity was utterly broken, and they scattered over the face of the whole earth, Jesus appeared to gather together in himself all people, Jews and Gentiles. And, exactly at the time foretold by Daniel, he made his appearance, and was cut off, but not for himself.

To get rid of the argument which this passage offers, in favour of Jesus being the Christ, your writers have explained it as not referring to the promised BRANCH of David; though [Page]they are not agreed among themselves of whom the Prophet speaks. Some by the Messiah, in the 25th verse, understand Zerubbabel, others Joshua the high priest, and a third class interpret it of Cyrus. By Messiah, in the 26th verse, who was to be out off, some understand Hircanus the high priest, whom Herod ordered to be put to death; and others, king Agrippa, who, they say, was out off by Vespasian. But is not this contrary to the plain meaning of the text, and offering it the greatest violence? It is evident, to every unbiassed reader, that one person is spoken of through the prophecy. The number of weeks that were to pass, before the appearance of Messiah the Prince, prove that neither Zerubbabel, Joshua nor Cyrus, could be the person referred to. From the order to restore and build Jerusalem, unto the Messiah the Prince, were to be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks, i. e. sixtynine weeks: but which is thus broken into two periods, to mark out the important event of Jerusalem's restoration, and the time it should take to perfect that work, viz. seven weeks (fortynine years.) But, even supposing the Prophet to say, ‘It is seven weeks to the Messiah the Prince;’ this does not agree with either of these persons. Read. ‘From the going forth of the commandment (either that recorded in Ezra i. vi. or vii.) to restore and build Jerusalem, shall be seven weeks." It is not "From the destruction of Jerusalem to the Messiah the Prince," but, "From the going forth of the commandment to restore and build it, to the Messiah’ &c. Who (under God) sent forth the commandment? Cyrus, Darius, or Artaxerxes. And to whom was it given as the heads of the Jewish nation? Was it not to Zerubbabel, Joshua, or Ezra? To make Cyrus, Zerubbabel, [Page]or Joshua, therefore, the Messiah the Prince, will involve us in the greatest absurdities. The plain meaning (without any breaks to mark out intervening events) is, ‘From the going forth of the commandment to restore and build Jerusalem, to the Messiah the Prince, shall be sixty-nine weeks.’ Count them, and your finger will rest upon ‘JESUS OF NAZARETH THE KING OF THE JEWS.*’

The Messiah, mentioned in the 26th verse, which some interpret of Hircanus, and others of Agrippa, is surely no other than the person spoken of in the preceding verse. Nothing can be plainer. But is not the person here pointed out of more eminence than either of these? Was Hircanus the most holy? or did his cutting off make reconciliation for iniquities, and bring in everlasting righteousness? Did he confirm the covenant with many for one week? Criticism and prejudice may make the text applicable to any body, or speak any thing which may answer a purpose; but look on the face of it, and say whose likeness it bears. As to Agrippa, he does not appear to be of eminence enough to be thus spoken of; and of his cutting off there is not sufficient proof, and none at all for the ends and consequences of it mentioned in the prophecy. When expositors are reduced to such contradictions and glaring absurdities, is it not a reason, at least, to examine candidly, whether Jesus, in whose history and pretensions the prophecy meets with the easiest solution, be not the person pointed out? The Messiah was to appear after sixty-nine weeks; then did Jesus appear.—He was to be cut off, but not for himself, so was it with Jesus.— He was to finish transgression, to make an end of sin, to make reconciliation, and to bring in everlasting [Page]righteousness; and this, the Christian doctrine teaches us, Jesus did.—He was to confirm the covenant with many for one week; this Jesus did, by the ministry of his forerunner and of himself. —And then was the people of the prince to come and destroy the city and sanctuary, as did the Romans in less than forty years after the cutting off of Jesus. If this be not a prophecy of the Messiah, the BRANCH of David, the Prince of princes, where shall we find a promise of him which may not be quibbled away?

And if Jesus be not the person, where shall we find in the records of history that Desire of all nations, whose presence was to fill the second temple with glory? This temple has been long since destroyed, and not one stone left upon another to denominate it the same. And where do we find the fulfilment of the promise of remarkable peace, if not in that doctrine of peace which was preached by and through Jesus? that doctrine whose gentle stream blesses the souls of the righteous with peace, amidst all the agitating tumults and troubles of the world. Surely this is that Desire of all nations who was to come and speak peace to them who are near, and to them who are afar off.

Having advanced thus far in your enquiries after the characteristics of the Messiah, and the pretensions of Jesus, stop, and consider well the weight of evidence for and against. And let it be remembered, that it is nothing to the purpose, that in some instances you may suppose the prophecies misapplied; or, at least, that they will bear a different interpretation; or that you may think you discover some things in the history of Jesus which accord not with the prophecies, or which lay the gospel open to objections. The matter to be considered is, the great mass of [Page]evidence. And remember the truth of the doctrine of Christianity does not depend for its proof, any more than the law of Moses, upon the etymology of a word, or upon some detached circumstance. A very little wit sharpened by prejudice may cut, and pare, and trim a word to suit any purpose, and give to detached circumstances any appearance. But here is a great body of prophecy and a vast body of facts, which are superior to the arts of criticism. They form a long extended range of mountains, which no assault of man can shake or separate, and which no length of time can impair.

Whilst the prophecies remain, and the history of Jesus is known, neither Jew nor Gentile need be at any loss for grounds of enquiry into the truth or imposture of the pretensions of the Son of Mary. If Christianity be an imposture, surely it is the most extraordinary one that was ever heard of! Is it not strange, that so many prophecies should unite their testimonies in its favour? Is it not singular, that to get rid of the accumulated testimony to the truth of the pretension of Jesus, we must put the most forced and unnatural construction upon many of the sacred predictions? What ought a wise man, who fears God, to do? Should he resist such evidence, because some things turn up in the Messiah's character the reverse of what he has been used to think of it? the reverse of what fallible men have taught him to believe? Should he resist such evidence, because in some instances he discovers what he cannot explain, or the propriety of which he cannot see? Surely not. Go, O man, if thou fearest God, and wouldst lay hold on his covenant, go into thy closet, and shut thy door upon thee; pray to him who seeth in secret, and whose cars are open to the prayers of the righteous; pray that he would pour his spirit upon [Page]thee, to teach thee wherefore it is that he contendeth with your nation, what the sin of Israel is, and where the way of truth; for he hath not forgotten his covenant. He waiteth that he may be gracious.

X. Enquire whether the prophets have not predicted, that the Jewish people are to reject the Messiah, and for that reason be scattered over all nations, till they repent? Moses supposes the possibility of some refusing to hear that Prophet which God would raise up, as you may see Deut. xviii. 19. There are many prophecies which clearly speak of this. I shall mention but two or three. The former part of the 32d chap. of Isaiah is evidently a prophecy of the Messiah: ‘Behold a king shall reign in righteousness,’ &c. Here the Prophet speaks of the excellence of the Messiah's government, ver. 4. ‘The heart of the rash shall understand knowledge,’ &c. But remark his different language, ver. 9th and on, ‘Rise up ye careless women that are at ease, hear my voice ye careless daughters; give ear unto my speech. Many days and years shall ye be trouble.— Upon the land of my people shall come up thorns and briars.—The palaces shall be forsaken, the multitude of the city shall be left, the forts and towers shall be for dens forever, a joy of wild asses, a pasture of flocks.’ And how long shall these days and years of trouble continue? ver. 15. ‘Until the spirit be poured upon us from on high,’ &c. How perfectly does this accord with the Christian faith! What a clear delineation of facts subsequent to the rejection of Jesus! Was he the promised King, the man who was to be a hiding place from the wind? Did his doctrine tend to make the heart of the rash understand knowledge? But the [Page]chief priests and elders, with the rulers of the people, procured his death: and since this for many days and years hath Israel been in trouble; the land of God's people is thorns and briars; the palaces are forsaken, and their days and years of trouble will not end till the Spirit be poured upon them from on high, and they repent. Then this ‘work of righteousness shall be peace, and the effect of righteousness, quietness, and assurance forever.’ ver. 17.—See also Isa. xlii. After the Prophet hath surveyed with rapture the glory and grace of the Redeemer's character and government, he turns his eyes towards a darker scene. ver. 22. ‘But this is a people robbed and spoiled; they are all of them snared in holes, and are hid in prison houses; they are for a prey, and none delivereth; for a spoil, and none saith restore.’ ver. 23. ‘Who among you will give ear to this? Who will hearken and hear for the time to come? ver. 24. Who gave Jacob for a spoil, and Israel to the robbers? Did not I the Lord, against whom they have sinned? For they would not walk in his ways, neither were they obedient unto his law. ver. 25. Therefore he hath poured upon them the fury of his anger, and the strength of battle, and it hath set him on fire round about, yet he knew it not; and it burned him, yet he laid it not to heart.’

Are you enquiring after truth? Attend then to this remarkable and affecting description. If Jesus be the Christ, and your sufferings the consequence of rejecting him, what elucidation does this prophecy receive? This Elect of God hath brought forth judgment to the Gentiles, he hath brought the blind by a way which they know not, he hath taught them the knowledge [Page]of the one true God, and the way to eternal life. Happy would it be if all who have seen this light walked in it! And are God's people after all this robbed and spoiled? Hath the Lord given Jacob for a spoil, and Israel to the robbers, because they would not walk in his ways, nor be obedient to his laws? Surely it is because they have done as Jesus said, ‘A certain householder planted a vineyard, and let it out to husbandmen. And he had a son, one only son, and he sent him that he might receive the fruit of his vineyard, saying, They will reverence my son. But they caught him, and cast him out of the vineyard, and slew him*.’ Yes, for this he hath poured upon him the fury of his anger, it hath set him on fire round about, but he knows it not, he lays it not to heart.—Many more prophecies might be produced in proof that Israel was to reject the Messiah, as chapters xlix. l. liii. &c. But this may suffice.

XI. The Messiah is to endure sufferings and death. Proofs of this abound in the Prophets; and though, as in the case of all the other prophecies, this should not be without obscurity, till the event throw light upon the prediction, yet its clearness is more than sufficient to induce a candid lover of truth seriously to enquire whether that same Jesus who was crucified, and is said to have risen again from the dead the third day, be not the Christ. What is the meaning of those words of the Lord to the serpent in Gen. iii. 15. ‘I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel?’ Doubtless there is much obscurity in the text, as there is in the whole relation which Moses gives of the fall of man. [Page]But undoubtedly, it means something more than that mankind and serpents were to be averse to each other. In this sentence was conveyed a promise of grace and restoration to fallen man. The seed of the woman is to destroy the works of the devil. Nor does this enigmatical manner of expression at all operate against the text being a promise of life, a promise that some one distinguished seed of the woman should remedy the mischief which the devil brought on the human race. The promise of salvation, from the evils of the fa [...] is as the light which shineth more and more unto the perfect day. It dawned on Adam; it shone on Abraham; and grew brighter and brighter through the successive stages of prophecy. The Messiah's appearance is perfect day, which dissipates the shadow that obscured the prospect of the ancient church. Is this then a promise of him, of whom the after Prophets foretold, that he should assemble the outcasts of Israel, and stand for an ensign of the people, to whom the Gentiles should seek*? He is to be a suffering Saviour. This perfectly agrees with innumerable other predictions. What a picture of crucifixion does David draw in the 22d Psalm! And of whom does Isaiah speak when he says, ‘Many were astonished at thee, his visage was so marred more than any man's, and his form more than the sons of men†?’ Your ancient interpreters, before the days of Jesus, expounded the verse preceding this, as a prophecy of the Messiah, and say, ‘This is the King Messiah, who is extolled above Abraham, above Moses, above angels†.’ If the 13th verse belong to the Messiah, why not the 14th?

But let us compare the prophecies with the history of Jesus, and see how they agree.

[Page] Gen. iii. 15. ‘I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy bead, and thou shalt bruise his heel.’

Ps. ii. 2. ‘The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel against the Lord and his Anointed.’

Ps. xxii. ‘All they that see me laugh me to scorn, they shoot out the lip,’ &c.

[Page] Ps. xxii. 16. ‘They pierced my hands and my feet.’

18. ‘They parted my garments among them, and cast lotsupon my vesture.’

Isa. lii. 14. ‘Many were astonished at the [...], his visage was so marred more than any man's, and his form more than the sons of men.’

Isa. liii. 1. ‘Who hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed?’

Isa. lii. 3. ‘He is despised and rejected of men, a man of sorrows, and acquainted with griefs, and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.’

[Page] Isa. liii. 10. ‘It pleased the Lord to bruise him, he hath put him to grief.’

Micah v. 1. ‘They shall smite the Judge of Israel with a rod upon the cheek.’

And when the Lord promises [...]od to Judah [Page]in the latter day, and above all, his Spirit to awaken them to repentance, he says,

Zech. xii. 10. ‘And they shall look upon me whom they pierced, and they shall mourn for him as one mourneth for his only son.’

[Page] John xvi. 33. ‘In the world ye shall have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.’

1 John iii. 8. ‘He that committeth sin is of the devil, for the devil sinneth from the beginning; for this purpose was the Son of God manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil.’

Matt. ii. ‘Herod sought the young child's life.’

xxvi. 3, 4. ‘Then assembled together the chief priests and the scribes, and the elders of the people, and consulted that they might take Jesus by subtilty, and kill him.’

xxvii. 26. ‘When Pilate had scourged Jesus, he delivered him to be crucified.’

Matt. xxvii. 39—43. ‘They that passed by reviled him.—Likewise also the chief priests mocking him,’ &c.

[Page] Matt. xxvii. 35. ‘They crucified him, and parted his garments, casting lots: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Prophet,’ &c.

Matt. xxvii. 29, 30. ‘And when they had platted a crown of thorns, they put it upon his head, and they bowed the knee before him, and mocked him, saying, Hail, king of the Jews! and they spit upon him, and took the reed and smote him on the head.’

John xii. 37 and 38. ‘But though he had done so many miracles before them, yet they believe not on him, that the saying of Esaias the Prophet might be fulfilled,’ &c.

Matt. xiii. 55. ‘Is not this the carpenter's son?’

John i. 11. ‘He came unto his own, and his own received him not.’

xii. 42. ‘Many among the chief rulers believed on him, but [Page]because of the Pharisees they did not confess him, for they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God.’

Luke xxii. 42—44. ‘Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless, not my will, but thine be done. And there appeared an angel unto him from heaven strengthening him, and being in an agony he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground.’

Matt. xxvii. 46. ‘My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?’

Matt. xxvi. 67. ‘They spit in his face and buffeted him, and others smote him with the palms of their hands.’

xxvii. 30. ‘They took a reed and smote him on the head.’

[Page] John xix. 34. ‘One of the soldiers with a spear pierced his side, and forthwith came thereout blood and water—that the scripture should be fulfilled, They shall look on him whom they pierced*.’

XII. According to the prophets, the Messiah is to sustain the dignity of the priesthood; and hence it is written, ‘The LORD said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand until I make thine enemies thy footstool. The LORD hath sworn and will not repent, Thou art a priest forever after the order of Melchisedeck†.’ Whom can David call his Lord, to whom Jehovah spake, but that righteous Branch, who was to spring from him? He is to be a priest; but not after the order of Aaron, but after the order of Melchifedeck, who united in his person both the kingly and priestly dignities. Hear also Zechariah, [Page] ‘Thus speaketh the LORD of hosts, saying, Behold the man whose name is the BRANCH, and he shall grow up out of his place, and he shall build the temple of the LORD. Even he shall build the temple of the LORD; and he shall bear the glory, and shall sit and rule upon his throne, and he shall be a priest upon his throne*.’ The branch here is undoubtedly the same with him of whom the angel spake to Joshua; (chap. iii. 8) God's anointed. Your Rabbins reckon among the names of the Messiah that of The BRANCH. Who else can this be? It was no unusual practice with the prophets to predict and shew things to come, not only by words, but by accompanying actions, that thus what they delivered might make the deeper impression.

Hence this Prophet was commanded to put a crown upon the head of Joshua the high priest, while he delivered this prophecy respecting the promised Branch, as [...] significant emblem (agreeable to the manners of those days) of the union of the priestly and kingly dignities in the person of the Messiah. And was not his priesthood prefigured by the temple service? Was there not some meaning and instruction hid under the character of the high priest, and the service on which he waited? Certainly there was. The office itself, the sacrifices which he offered upon God's altar, and the mediation which he made for the people, were all full of spiritual meaning; they were the pictures of things to come, that when those things appeared they might be known. Your Rabbins† have acknowledged their ignorance concerning these mysteries untill the spirit from above shall be poured out upon them; yet suppose that they signify the sacrifices which Michael [Page]offereth of the souls of the just. Christians are taught, that this Michael is Christ, who hath appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.*.

As every high priest under your law was ordained to offer gifts and sacrifices, it was necessary that this Priest, thus promised and typified, should have somewhat to offer agreeable to his office, or he is not a priest.—He offered himself a sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling favour; and thus was fulfilled what Isaiah had predicted, ‘When thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand†.’

But this Priest, though slain, must rise from the dead, and ascend to heaven, the most holy place made without hands, there to appear before God, and make intercession for us. For David, who long ago saw corruption, and now dwells among the dead, said, ‘My flesh shall rest in hope, for thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, (in the state of the dead) neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption. Thou wilt shew me the path of life†.’ And again, ‘The chariots of God are twenty thousand, even thousands of angels: the Lord is among them as in Sinai, in the holy place. Thou hast ascended on high, thou hast led captivity captive, thou hast received gifts for men: yea, for the rebellious also, that the Lord God might dwell among them§.’

In Jesus, by his rising from the dead, and ascending to heaven, we see the full accomplishment of these predictions. And it is written in our sacred scriptures, ‘If any man sin, we have [Page]an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous, and he is the propitiation for our sins; and not for ours only, but for the sins of the whole world*.’

And thus is brought to pass what the Prophets looked forward to with the rapture of inspiration. ‘Sacrifice and offering thou didst not desire.—Then said I, [...]o, I come; in the volume of the book it is written of me: I delight to do thy will, O my God: Yea, thy law is within my heart†."—"Surely shall one say, In the Lord have I righteousness and strength. In the Lord shall all the seed of Israel be justified. and shall glory. Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong: because he hath poured out his soul unto death; and he was numbered with transgressors, and he bare the sin of many, and m [...]de intercession for the transgressors‡.’

XIII. As the Messiah is to sit a Priest upon his throne, so also a King. ‘Behold a King shall reign in righteousness—he shall be as rivers of water in a dry place, as the shadow of a great [Page]rock in a weary land§."—"He shall stand for an ensign of the people; to it shall the Gentiles seek; and his rest shall be glorious—he shall assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth†.’ Over Jew and Gentile shall he reign a glorious Prince. The prophecies abound with testimonies respecting these gracious designs of God, in subjecting both the Jewish and Gentile nations to his Anointed.

1. The Gentiles are to be the subjects of the Messiah's kingdom. To effect this, he is to deliver them from the darkness of error, vice and idolatry. And what can we conceive more worthy of the Maker of all, more worthy of the Messenger of his covenant, or more glorious to his truth?

Of whom did David speak when he said, ‘All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn unto the LORD; and all the kindreds of the nations shall worship before thee: for the kingdom is the LORD's, and he is governor among the nations*?’ And to what glorious even did the prophet Isaiah point the hopes of Israel, when he said of God's Elect, ‘He shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles. He shall not fail, nor be discouraged, till he have set judgment in the earth: and the isles shall wait for his law†?’ Doubtless the hopes of God's people were directed, by these predictions, to the conversion of the idolatrous nations. And though that day is not arrived, when the knowledge of the Lord shall cover the earth as the waters do the sea‖, for the doctrine of the kingdom of God is as a grain of mustard-seed, yet has not the light of God spread far, [Page]and done much, towards the destruction of idolatry§, the reign of that wicked one who seduced our first parents! And is there not a firm foundation laid for the kingdom of peace and righteousness? Our scriptures have foretold a declension of the Christian church; and warned us of Antichrist, whose sorceries should prevail one thousand two hundred and sixty years, to the hindrance of the peaceful and righteous kingdom of God. When this period terminates, then we hope to see fulfilled, the glorious things which are spoken of the city of God.—We hope it is at hand. Then shall he sprinkle many nations, and sanctify them for his own inheritance, as he did Israel of old in Horeb, when Moses with the blood of the covenant sprinkled the people; and then, as at Sinai, to the ends of the earth shall it be heard, ‘All that the LORD hath said will we do, and be obedient.’ Our eyes are fixed on your nation, praying for your conversion, that by this the Gentiles may be awakened to a more attentive consideration of the doctrine which they profess; and, from your rising, receive that increase of light, which shall chase away this darkness which now obscures us. ‘Awake, awake then by repentance, and put on thy strength, O Zion. How beautiful upon the mountains shall the feet of him be, who bringeth good tidings, who publisheth peace! Thy watchmen shall lift up the voice, with the voice together shall they sing. The Lord will make bare his arm in the eyes of all the nations, and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God*.’

For, 2dly, with the Gentiles, he is to gather together the dispersed of Israel and Judah: to bring them back to God, from whom they have [Page]departed; and to restore them to their own land. Of this speak the Prophets. ‘And it shall come to pass in that day that the Lord shall set his hand again the second time to recover the remnant of Israel, and gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth†."—"Behold the days come, saith the Lord, that I will raise unto David a righteous BRANCH.—In his days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely, and this is the name whereby he shall be called, THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS*."—"He shall sit as a refiner; then shall the offering of Judah and Jerusalem be pleasant unto the Lord as in the days of old and as in former years††.’

Thus the salvation of Israel, their conversion from sin, and restoration to their own land, are clearly the works of the Messiah‡; nor can it reasonably be doubted, but that these prophecies refer our hopes to a period not yet arrived. They were not accomplished by the restoration under Cyrus and his successors; for since that you have been awfully§ defiled with your transgressions, and are so now; you have been a prey to your enemies, and the beasts of the land have devoured you; from which evils the prophets promise deliverance‖ when the Messiah [Page]shall rise to save you. But length of time does not make void the promise; nor do your present circumstances at all tend to weaken the proof of Jesus being that Saviour whom God promised; on the contrary, considered in connexion with the other prophecies, your present dispersion serves much to confirm it. We have shewn, from your prophets, that Israel was to reject the Messiah, and for it to experience days and years of trouble, till they should repent. Our scriptures teach, that God having raised up his Son Jesus, sent him to bless you, by turning you from your inquities;—that had you obeyed his voice, he would have gathered you together, as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings; he would have saved you, but ye would not; therefore your house was left unto you desolate; —that for unbelief ye were broken off, though not cast away; but that when ye shall believe, ye shall be grafted in again, and all Israel shall be saved; as it is written, ‘There shall come out on Sion a Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob.’

Allowing, for a moment (prejudice aside) that Jesus is the promised Saviour, your nation treating him as they did, was it not just in God (for surely it must be a crime the most aggravated) to chastise them for it, til [...] they repent? And though his chastisements extend through more than seventeen hundred years (they continuing still in unbelief) does this at all render void the promise, if on their repentance his Saviour rise up for their deliverance, and perform for them all the good which the prophets have promised?

But in the Messiah you expect a temporal Saviour only, and are prejudiced against Jesus, because he is held forth principally as spiritual [Page]one, and that for all people. But surely the account which the Christian Scriptures give us of the character of Christ, and of the nature of his work and kingdom, is by no means contradictory to the ancient prophecies; or at all derogatory either to the perfections of God, or the glory of his Anointed. If you search the prophecies, ur biassed by prejudice and a worldly heart, you may soon learn, that the Saviour who is promised, is to be not only a temporal one to you, but also a spiritual one to all people. Hence that feast of fat things and victory over death, of which Isaiah speaks*. Hence he stiles him "The light of the Gentiles†." And Malachi says, ‘He shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the Lord an offering in righteousness†.’ Surely the prophets speak of something more than temporal blessings! It is a feast suited to the wants of the soul; it is light which informs the mind, and purification from moral pollution. And is not this a more glorious work, thus to save all people, than merely to bring back the scattered tribes of Israel to the land of Canaan, whilst the rest of mankind, to whom their numbers bear no proportion, are lest, without receiving any benefit from him, in darkness, idolatry, and death? Yes, he is the Saviour of all people, the King of all nations! He brings spiritual as well as temporal salvation. His feast is for all people; and he will destroy the face of the covering, and the veil, that is spread over all nations.

Notes

*

Matt. ii. 4.

↵

†

Micah v. 2.

↵

*

Ps. ii. 7.

↵

†

cx. 1.

↵

†

Isa. ix. 6.

↵

§

Luke i. 30—33.

↵

‖

John xiv. 9 and 10.

↵

**

Col. ii. 9.

↵

†

Heb. i. 1, 2.

↵

†

Rev. xix. 16.

↵

§

Matt. xi. 28, 29.

↵

‖

John xi. 25, 26.

↵

**

Mark i. [...]2.

↵

††

John vii. 46.

↵

*

Gen. xviii. 1, 8, 33.

↵

†

Ex. iii. 6.

↵

†

2 Kings xix. 15.

↵

§

Job xxxvi. 26. xxvi. 14.

↵

‖

Much praise is due to Dr. Priestley for the benevolence of the motives which induced him to address the Jews. No doubt but it was from the charity of his heart. Pity that his intemperate zeal for his own peculiar opinions should fully that charity, by indiscriminately traducing those as idolators who hold the divinity of Jesus Christ.

↵

**

Gen. iii. 15.

↵

†

Isa. xl. 3.

↵

*

Mal. iii. 1. iv. 5.

↵

†

Whether there may not be two such persons predicted of, one to precede the Messiah's first appearance, and the other previous to his coming at the end of the world, deserves consideration. Nor shall we add absurdity to the obscurity of prophecy, if we suppose all these predictions to have a general reference to these two persons, whilst that in Isaiah might more immediately point out the Messiah's first messenger; and that in Mal. iv. 5, [...]ay direct our attention more especially to that prophet who shall come before the end of the world, that great and dreadful day of the Lord, which shall burn as an oven.

↵

†

Ezek. xxxiv. 2 [...].

↵

*

Luke i. 5.

↵

†

Luke iii.

↵

†

Matt. xxi. 26.

↵

§

Antiq. Lib. 18. c. 7.

↵

‖

John 1.19—28.

↵

‖

John 1.19—28.

↵

*

John ii. 18.

↵

†

Matt. xii. 38.

↵

§

Psal. cx. 3.

↵

‖

Isa. xi. 2.

↵

**

Dr. Priestley speaks of the miracles of Jesus Christ as inferior, in point of magnitude and splendour, to those of Moses, The justness of this concession might be disputed. The miracles of Moses, in general, were as the splendour of lightning; but those of Jesus Christ were as the sun, clear, steady and benign.

↵

†

Deut. xiii. 1.

↵

†

Matt. ix. 34.

↵

*

John ix. 29, &c.

↵

*

Matt. xxi. 33.

↵

†

Matt. xxiv. 2, 5, 21.

↵

†

Deut. xviii. 15, 16.

↵

*

Luke iv. 40, 41.

↵

†

Deut. xviii. 19.

↵

‖

Ps. xlv. 7, 22.

↵

†

Isa. xi. 1, 5. xlii. 21.

↵

§

Ps. ii. 7.

↵

†

Ps. ii. 1, 2, 6, 12.

↵

*

Matt. v. vi. vii.

↵

†

Isa. xl. 11.

↵

†

Isa. xlii. 3.4.

↵

§

Matt. v. 38, 39.44, 45.

↵

‖

John xv. 12.

↵

*

Luk. ix. 54, &c.

↵

†

Matt. xx. 34.

↵

†

Luke vii. 12, 13, 14, 15.

↵

¶

Luke vii. 48, 50.

↵

‖

Luke xix. 41.

↵

**

Luke xxiii. 34.

↵

*

Ps. xlv. 2.

↵

†

Isa. lxi. 1.

↵

†

Zech. ix. 10.

↵

§

John iii. 16.

↵

¶

Luke xv. 10.

↵

¶

Luke xv. 11, &c.

↵

*

Matt. v. 4, 10.

↵

†

John

↵

†

Luke i [...]. 21, 22.

↵

*

Gen. xlix. 10.

↵

†

Dan. ix. 24, 25, 26.

↵

*

Hag. ii. 3, 4, 7, 9.

↵

*

John xix. 19.

↵

*

Matt. xxiii. [...]3, &c.

↵

*

Isa. xi. 10

↵

†

Isa. lii. 14.

↵

†

Tanchuma, vid. Pooli in loco.

↵

*

God's sending the Messiah into the world, and to his own degenerate people especially, for the purpose of reclaiming from those wicked principles and practices which univerfully prevailed at that time (to say nothing of the other ends of his coming) was the most forcible expression of his abhorrence of sin. It was (so to speak) as if things were brought to that issue, that the Creator determined on this alternative,—"You shall reform, or mine anointed shall fall a sacrifice."—They would not reform; and he fell a victim to the depravity of men.—But adored be the God of infinite wisdom and grace, who has made even this salutary to all them who repent; and who by the doctrine of the cross will new-principle mankind!

↵

†

Ps. ex. 1, 4.

↵

*

Zech. vi. 12, 13.

↵

†

Manachem on Lev. i. See Ainsworth.

↵

*

Heb. ix. 26.

↵

†

Isa. liii. 10.

↵

†

Ps. xvi. 9—11.

↵

§

Ps. lxviii. 17, 18.

↵

*

1 John, ii. 1, 2.

↵

†

Ps xl. 6, 7, 8.

↵

‡

Isa. xlv. 24, 25. liii. [...]. If any were to ask, ‘How can the blood of Christ make atonement for sin? How can his death and mediation redeem sinners from the curse of the law, and reconcile them unto God?’ In return it might be asked, ‘How could the blood of beasts, presented in the most holy place by the mediating priest, make reconciliation for the sins of Israel?’ What means your law where it is said, ‘It is the blood which maketh an atonement for the soul?’ Lev. xvii. 11. Must a Jew, in these cases, acknowledge his insufficiency to account for the ways of God? At best can he do no more than resolve them into his sovereign pleasure? What answer then can such a man expect from a believer in the atonement and mediation of Jesus? With what propriety can he object to the Christian religion, because of this inexplicable doctrine?

↵

§

Isa. xxii. 1, 2.

↵

†

Isa. xi. 10, 12.

↵

*

Ps. xxii. 27, 28.

↵

†

Isa. xlii. a, 4.

↵

‖

Isa. xi. 9.

↵

§

Isa. xiii. 8—18.

↵

*

Isa. lii. 2.7, 8.1.

↵

†

Isa. xi. 11, 12.

↵

*

Jer. xxiii. 5, 6.

↵

††

Mal. iii. 3, 4.

↵

‡

Whether the Jews will be converted to Christianity before their restoration to Canaan, or afterwards; whether it will be effected by the visible appearance of Jesus Christ, as some conclude from Zech. xiv. and suck like predictions, or in a more ordinary way, according to others, is not the present enquiry. However this deeply humble themselves for expect God's favour till they deeply humble themselves for their sins, and which cannot be, unless they set themselves seriously and dispassionately to search their ways. Let them do this, and no doubt can be entertained but mercy will break upon them, let the order or method of the fulfilment of the prophecies [...]e as it may.

↵

§

See Jer. iii. 12.

↵

‖

Ezek. xxxiv. 23, 25.

↵

*

Isa. xxv. [...]9.

↵

†

Ib. xiii. 6.

↵

†

Mal. iii. 3.

↵

TESTIMONIES IN FAVOUR OF THE CHARACTER, WORKS, AND DOCTRINE OF JESUS.

[Page]

LET us now consider the testimonies which are borne in favour of Jesus being the CHRIST. There are testimonies which might be collected from profane authors; but let us confine ourselves to what the historians of Jesus and the writers of the Acts of the Apostles have written. As relators of plain facts, what they affirm is as credible as what any other historian may have affirmed; especially as they could have no interest in deceiving, but the contrary; and as, if what they related were not true, they might easily have been detected, and thus they would have destroyed the cause they meant to establish; for these things were not done or spoken in a corner. It is certain then, that multitudes of all conditions did entertain a high opinion of the character, works, and doctrine of Jesus; and even his enemies have given testimony in his favour.

[Page] All men took John for a prophet; even they who have not believed in Jesus have testified that he was of God. It is a criterion of your own, that ‘A prophet unto whom another prophet beareth witness, he is a prophet out of doubt, and needeth no farther trial*’ Did not John bear witness and testify, ‘I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and it abode on him? And I saw and bare record that this is the Son of God†.’ And what said the multitude when they saw and heard him? ‘All things which John spake of this man were true. And many believed on him†.’ Some said of his miracles, ‘It was never so seen in Israel§." "He hath done all things well (without trick or collusion.) He maketh both the deaf to hear and the dumb to speak‖.’ And of his doctrine the officers who were sent to take him testified, "Never man spake like this man**." And what was the argument which the chief priests and Pharisees opposed to the excellence of his doctrine? An argument worthy of that generation! ‘Are ye also deceived? Have any of the rulers, or of the Pharisees, believed on him††?’ Even Judas the traitor was constrained by the terrors of his conscience to hear witness to his innocence, ‘I have finned in that I have betrayed innocent blood‡‡.’ His judge, time-server as he was, said to his accusers, ‘I find no fault in this man touching those things whereof ye accuse him. No, nor Herod; for I sent you to him. I will therefore chastise him and release him. And they cried out all at once, saying, Away with this man, [Page]and release unto us Barabbas. Pilate willing to release Jesus, spake again to them, but they cried, Crucify him, crucify him. And he said unto them the third time. "Why, what evil hath he done*?’ —But, he gave sentence as they required! What a mock of justice is the whole of his trial! ‘A way with this man, crucify him, crucify him,’ is here both law and testimony! But, does such a prophet perish in Jerusalem without a tear? Is innocence led to crucifixion unlamented? No. ‘There followed him a great company of people, and of women, which bewailed and lamented him. And all the people that came together to that sight, beholding the things which were done,’ (the injustice of his condemnation, the kindness of his heart in the midst of his sufferings, the darkness and earthquake which proclaimed his character) ‘they smote their breasts, and returned†." "And when the centurion, and they that were with him, watching Jesus, saw the earthquake, and those things that were done, they feared greatly, saying, Truly, this was the Son of God†.’

He is crucified. And will no friend own him, and give him a burial worthy of so divine a Messenger? ‘Behold there was a man named Joseph, a counsellor, and he was a good man, and a just, and had not consented to the counsel and deed of them (of the Sanhedrim). This man went unto Pilate, and craved the body of Jesus. And he took it down§." And there came also Nicodemus (a ruler of the Jews) and brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes. Then took they the body of Jesus, and wound it in linen clothes, with the spices, [Page]as the manner of the Jews is to bury; and laid it in a sepulchre hewn in stone†’—Thus was Messiah cut off, but not for himself; and rich and poor bore testimony that he had done no violence, neither was [...]y deceit in his mouth†.—But shall he remain among the dead to see corruption [...] No. He cannot be held a prisoner, who h [...] [...]ower to lay down his life, and power to take it [...]gain; and who only descended into the regions of the dead, that he might destroy him who had the power of death, and obtain eternal redemption for us. On the third day he rose from the dead, in the presence of them who watched his grave, and was seen of above five hundred brethren at once§. ‘And after forty days he led his disciples out as far Bethany; and he lifted up his hand, and blessed them: and it came to pass while he blessed them, he was parted from them, and carried up into heaven‖.’

After his ascension, when his disciples (inspired with the gift of tongues) announced, ‘That their Lord was risen from the dead, and exalted to sit on the right hand of God, to be both Lord and Christ,’ the multitude, when they heard this, were pricked in their hearts, and said, ‘Men and brethren, what shall we do? and the same day there were added unto the disciples about three thousand souls*.’ What, in the eye of reason, but the power of truth, and the energy of God's spirit, could bring over such a multitude at once, to own one for the Christ, who had been crucified but a few days before; when such an acknowledgement would expose them to the insult of the rabble, and the persecuting power of the great?

[Page] Furnished with wisdom and power from above, the unlettered apostles went forth preaching Jesus, and proving that he was the Christ; confirming the truth of their doctrine by healing divers diseases, insomuch that the rulers who persecuted them, though they had gone so far as to put Jesus to death, knew not how to proceed; ‘and they conferred among themselves, saying "What shall we do to these men? for that, indeed, a notable miracle hath been done by them, is manifest to all them that dwell in Jerusalem, and we cannot deny it. But that it spread no further among the people, let us straitly threaten them, that they speak henceforth to no man in this name*.’ And a Pharisee, named Gamaliel, a doctor in great reputation, advised his fellow magistrates, on a like occasion, to let these men alone. ‘Ye men of Israel, take heed to yourselves, what ye intend to do as touching these men.—Let them alone; for if this counsel or this work be of men, it will come to nought; but if it be of God, ye cannot overthrow it, lest, haply, ye be found to fight against God. And to him they agreed†.’

It is not brought to nought. God was with his servants, and unarmed and unskilled as they were in the wisdom of the world, not only did multitudes of the Jews receive the doctrine of the cross, but nations and people, embracing the gospel, have turned from idols to serve the living and true God; and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, even Jesus, who delivered us from the wrath to come. Before the power of his doctrine, their oracles are struck dumb, their images are beaten to pieces, and their idols laid desolate. It hath [Page]been spreading and growing for more than one thousand seven hundred years; and though, as was foretold, antichrist hath for ages deceived the nations, and retarded the progress of the kingdom of God, yet truth is breaking forth as the light, and it shall shine to the ends of the earth: it shall make the wilderness and the solitary place glad: the desert shall rejoice, and blossom as the rose*. The doctrine of the kingdom of God (purified from the corruptions of man) shall fill the earth with the knowledge of the Lord†. ‘And he shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people: and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more. O house of Jacob, come ye, and walk in the light of the Lord†."—"No lion shall be there, nor any ravenous beast shall go up thereon§.’ No, princes shall then be nursing fathers, and no more beasts of prey: and for persecuting priests, the Lord will set up shepherds over his flock, who shall feed them; and they shall fear no more; ‘And the ransomed of the Lord shall return and come to Zion with songs, and everlasting joy upon their heads; they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.’

Has the gracious God held forth such hopes to the children of men? Do both your and our scriptures unite in assurances of grace, and peace, in the latter day? Surely then, no exertions of diligence, no sacrifices of prejudice, can be thought too much; if, by any means, you may be enlightened into the cause, as far as you are concerned, of that displeasure which withholds [Page]the accomplishment of these promises of mercy. Behold your nation, when the light of God's countenance shone upon his people. He gave you a land of milk and honey. Jerusalem was a quiet dwelling place. God was known in her palaces for a refuge. Thither the tribes went up, the tribes of the Lord, unto the testimony of Israel, to give thanks unto the name of the Lord; for there were set the thrones of judgment, the thrones of the house of David.

But how are ye fallen from your former felicity! Without a country, without a temple, without any certain dwelling place, ye are cast out and left desolate! How hath the Lord covered the daughter of Zion with a cloud, and cast down from heaven unto earth the beauty of Israel! Yes, it is the hand of God which is stretched out to scatter you, and make your plagues wonderful, till ye are become an astonishment, a proverb, and a by-word, among all the nations whither the Lord hath led you. And wherefore doth he thus afflict the children of Abraham, to whom he promised to be a God forever? Doth his promise fail? No. ‘Jerusalem hath grievously sinned, therefore she is removed*.’ Search, then, and try your ways, that ye may turn again to the Lord; who taketh not pleasure in the death of a sinner, but that he would return from his way and live†. Search the scriptures, and see what they testify of the promised Messiah. Seeing that the sceptre is [...]eparted from Judah—that the seventy weeks of Daniel have been so long ago expired—that that temple hath been so long since destroyed, in which the Desire of all nations was to appear, and your expectations so repeatedly disappointed—seeing that the law and the prophets are so clearly illustrated in the pretensions [Page]of Jesus—examine whether he be not the Christ.

Yes, Adam, who received the first promise of salvation—Abraham, with whom God established his covenant—Moses and Aaron, and all the prophets, lift up their voice, and testify that this is the seed of the woman, that prophet who was to come and enlighten all nations with his doctrine; him in whom all the seed of Israel shall be justified and glory: the righteous branch, who shall sit and rule upon his throne, and be a priest upon his throne, after the order of Melchizedeck. They all cry, ‘O that ye had hearkened to God's commandments! then had your peace been as a river, and your righteousness as the waves of the sea.—Be wise now, therefore, serve the Lord with fear—Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and ye perish from the way: blessed are all they that put their trust in him*’

Notes

*

Maim. Ains. on Deut. xviii.

↵

†

John i. 32, 34.

↵

†

x. 41, 42.

↵

§

Matt. ix. 33.

↵

‖

Mark vii. 37.

↵

**

John vii. 46.

↵

††

vii. 47.48.

↵

‡‡

Matt. xxvii. 4.

↵

*

Luke xxiii. 4, 14.15, 16, 18, 20.21, 22.

↵

†

xxiii. 27.48.

↵

†

Matt. xxvii. 54.

↵

§

Luke xxiii. 50, 51, 52, 53.

↵

†

John xix. 39, 40.

↵

†

Isa. liii. 9.

↵

§

Matt. xxviii. Cor. xv. 6.

↵

‖

Luke xxiv. 50, 51.

↵

*

Acts ii.

↵

*

Acts vi. 15, 16, 17.

↵

†

Acts v. 34.

↵

*

Isa. xxxv. 1.

↵

†

Isa. xi. 9.

↵

†

Isa. ii. 4, 5.

↵

§

Isa. xxxv. 9, 10.

↵

*

Lam, i, 8.—iii, 40.

↵

†

Ezek. xviii. 22.

↵

*

Isa. xlviii. 18. Ps. ii. 10—12.

↵

A LETTER TO MR. D. LEVI; CONTAINING Remarks on his Answer to the Letters which Dr. PRIESTLEY addressed to the JEWS.

[Page]

Newbury, June 11, 1787.

SIR,

I THIS day received the answer to Dr. Priestley, which you informed me you was about to publish when I saw you in London; and I take the liberty of addressing a few lines to you, on the subject of discussion between you. I hope you will excuse the freedom, and be assured, though I may controvert your positions, that good-will and the love of truth are the governing principles of my heart; and which, I trust, will guard me against saying any thing which might be offensive to an ingenuous mind, or unworthy the subject in dispute.

I assume not the stile of an answerer; that falls to the share of those who are better qualified: and though, from what I have advanced in my Friendly Address to the Jews, there may be some [Page]propriety in my taking notice of what you have brought forward against the divinity of the Christian religion, yet the limits which I have prescribed myself, will allow me to do no more than make a few cursory Remarks upon your principal arguments, and briefly shew, that, however they may affect the opinions of Dr. Priestley, they contain no solid objection against the divinity of the Christian religion, as held forth in our sacred scriptures.

Surely, Sir, a man is not criminal for endeavouring to convince his neighbour of what he supposes to be error; or for offering his hand, though it should be a weak one, [...]o assist him in his researches after truth. His principle will plead for him, should he need an excuse, so long as he employs no other means than what reason and religion approve; for though you may not think the law of Moses (the law of rites) obligatory on all mankind; yet you must allow, that the Christian religion, if it be true, is certainly obligatory on a Jew in the highest degree. A Christian then who seeks to make converts, in the spirit of love, is by no means the object of blame, as you insinuate in your introductory letter.

Your sufferings from Christians, you say (p. 18) is one great argument with you against Christianity's being the peaceable kingdom of the Messiah, as foretold by the Prophets; but you confess (p. 19) that the doctrines of Christianity do not teach, or authorize, to shed the blood of Jews (and you might have added of any people) and that you carefully distinguish between the doctrine and its professors. Is the doctrine of Jesus Christ in itself peaceful, so that if all men were to live under its influence, would the prophecies in this particular meet with accomplishment? [Page]And who can say, in that case, they would not? Here then is a strong presumptive evidence in its favour. Have the prophets any where said that the doctrine of the Messiah's kingdom would instantaneously produce its great effects, in enlightening the Gentiles, in taming the ferocity, and subduing the wickedness of men; so that they should no longer hurt nor destroy*? No. The stone which was cut out of the mountain without hands, and which smote the image†, that figured the monarchies of the earth, and brake it in pieces, and afterwards became a great mountain, so that it filled the earth, at first was small; time brought it to perfection. The doctrine of Jesus hath not yet produced all the effects which the Prophets predicted, and which in its nature it is calculated to produce. Antichrist has retarded its progress; but it shall prevail. It is prevailing. The reformation, for which you thank God (p. 6) is one event in his unsearchable government, which forwards the kingdom of peace; and he must shut his eyes who does not see that increasing light, which tends to the perfection of that kingdom, which God in his inscrutable providence, for the trial of the nations, and for the purposes of his own glory, hath so long permitted the wickedness of man to counteract. It is no argument then against Christianity, because all the good foretold by the Prophets is not at once produced, if in its own nature it be calculated to produce it; and especially if the same authority which demands our cordial reception of it informs us, that this kingdom of God is as a grain of mustard-seed, and that before the glorious days of righteousness and peace it promises, iniquity shall prevail, and the man of sin deceive the nations.

[Page] As to what you have said (p. 20, &c.) respecting Jesus Christ as the second person in the Trinity, or as a simple Prophet, according to some, it deserves re-examination. Your idea of personality in the Trinity is not, I think, the idea of well-informed Trinitarians. There may be people (though I know of none, objectionable as the language of some may be) who conceive of three persons in the Godhead as they do of the persons of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. But however such persons may think in this case, look into our scriptures (these are the only test by which to try Christianity;) they certainly teach the unity of God as much as your scriptures do. Do yours say, ‘Hear, O Israel, Jehovah our God is one Jehovah*?’ Ours speak the same language, ‘There is none other God but one.—To us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we in him: and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by him†."—"Now a Mediator is not a Mediator of one: but God is one †.’ It is readily allowed, that that is said of Jesus Christ which it would be blasphemy to say of any mere creature, as, ‘The Word was with God, and the Word was God§."—"In him dwelleth all fulness of the Godhead bodily‖."—"God was manifest in the flesh¶.’ But this does not destroy the unity of the Godhead any more than the doctrine of Jehovah's appearing to Abraham veiled in a human body**, or of his dwelling in the Shechina††; when we know that Jehovah is uncircumscribed by the heaven of heavens. There is but one Infinite Intelligence, uncircumscribed, and undivided in his nature; and when you can [Page]tell us how he dwelt in the man who appeared to Abraham, or between the cherubim; a Christian will then be able to inform you how the fulness of the Godhead dwelt in Jesus Christ bodily. How he who was with God, was God.

With this eminence of character which is ascribed to Jesus, who can dispute his right to abrogate the Mosaic dispensation, or to alter the law of marriage, of which you speak?—Yea, even supposing him a mere man, according to Dr. Priestley, if he came with sufficient credentials, the Jews were obliged to receive him, though he announced himself commissioned to abrogate the ceremonial law. Moral laws are of eternal obligation; but positive institutions depend on the will of the legislator. God may add to, or take from them, as he pleases. For though the command given by Moses to the tribes of Israel, Deut. iv. 2, binds them from altering God's institutions according to their caprice, yet it by no means conveyed the idea that the Legislator himself was bound from adding or diminishing at his pleasure, and as circumstances should require. It would have been as sinful in an Antediluvian to alter the then positive institutions of God, as for a Jew in after days; and yet, it could not [...]nter into the heart of any Israelite, when God at Sinai enlarged this law of rites, to suppose that this formed an argument against the divine mission of Moses. It is now, as it always was, sinful for any man, at his pleasure, to alter the positive laws of God; but God himself is not bound in like manner. And of this abrogation of the Mosaic institutions the prophets appear to have predicted. See Jer. iii. where the prophecies evidently speaking of the return of Israel from the present dispersion. On their repentance, the promise is, ver. 14, 15, 16, ‘I will bring you to Zion: [Page]And I will give you pastors according to mine heart, which shall feed you with knowledge and understanding. And it shall come to pass, when ye be multiplied and increased in the land, in those days, saith the Lord, they shall say no more, The ark of the covenant of the Lord; neither shall it come to mind; neither shall they remember it; neither shall they visit it; neither shall that be done any more.’ The credentials of Jesus, then, and these only, constitute the matter of enquiry; if they be valid, though he alter or abrogate the law of Moses, he is yet a divine messenger. Chastity is a moral law; but whether a man shall be allowed a plurality of wives, or only one, as in the beginning; whether he shall be permitted to divorce his wife for every cause, or for adultery only*; or what sort of punishment shall be inflicted on the incontinent, whether it shall be left to the decision of human laws, or whether God himself shall prescribe a law to enforce punishment in this world, or reserve the punishment in his own hand for a future state, as in a thousand other cases, depends on his sovereign pleasure. If Jesus Christ hath set loose from moral obligations, or at all encouraged us to treat the righteous precepts of God slightly; if his credentials are no more than the signs and wonders of a juggling impostor, and he say, "Let us go after other gods;" then is [Page]there a good argument against his pretensions, but not otherwise.

As to your objection against receiving Jesus as a Prophet, because his discourses are not called prophecies, it is void of all force; words are nothing. And as to the objection which you make to him, because, as you say, he taught not in the name of God, it is founded in mistake; turn to John v. 42 and 43: ‘I know you that ye have not the love of God in you. I am come in my Father's name, and ye receive me not.’—vii. 15, 18. ‘The Jews marvelled, saying, How knoweth this man letters, having never learned? Jesus answered them and said, My doctrine is not mine, but his that sent me. If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself,’ &c.—And what though the Apostles went forth preaching Christ, how does this operate against the divinity of the Christian religion? What did they preach? that some god was to be worshipped beside the God of Abraham? No; they preached that God had raised Jesus from the dead, and exalted him with his right hand to be a prince and a Saviour*. With the Jews they reasoned out of the scriptures, opening, and alledging that Christ must needs have suffered, and risen again from the dead; and that Jesus was the Christ†.—The Gentiles, they taught to worship the one true God; and that, by Jesus, whom he had raised from the dead, he would judge the world in righteousness.‡—To all they preached that God was, in Christ Jesus, reconciling the world unto himself. They went forth into the world, proclaiming the fulfilment of that promise, ‘I will [Page]also give thee for a light of the Gentiles, that thou mayest be my salvation unto the end of the earth§;’ and that now was accomplishing, by the exaltation of Jesus Christ, that ancient prediction, ‘Thus saith the LORD, the Redeemer of Israel, and his Holy One, to him whom man despiseth, to him whom the nation abhorreth, to a servant of rulers, kings shall see and arise, princes also shall worship, because of the LORD that is faithful, and the Holy One of Israel, and he shall choose thee.’ Thus they preached, that the God of Israel only was God, and that he who was crucified was his Christ.

If Jesus holds not a higher rank than any of the prophets, even than Moses himself, I, with you, cannot see the propriety of his preaching in the language he often did. But, allowing him to be superior not only to all prophets, but to angels themselves, the true Messiah, him of whom Isaiah spoke, when he said, ‘Unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given, and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, the Mighty God, the everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace*;’ with this supereminence of character, he may preach himself, ‘The light of the world.’ It is true, this is an instance not to be paralleled in scripture; but, do not you Jews say of the Messiah, ‘He is extolled above Abraham, above Moses, above angels?’ What wonder, then, as in his character he hath no parallel, he should deliver his doctrine in a manner peculiar to himself? The prophets foretold that he should be given for a light of the Gentiles; he declares he is so. The majesty of his doctrine is one proof, viewed in [Page]connexion with others, that he is the person of whom the prophet spake, ‘Behold, my servant shall deal prudently, he shall be exalted, and extolled, and be very high†.’

You say (p. 29 and 72) that before Christians attempt to convert the Jews to Christianity, they should settle among themselves what honours are due to Jesus, and in what the work of salvation consists; otherwise the Jews, among the variety of opinions which prevail, might be deterred therefrom, by reason of the difficulty attending the making a proper choice of that which is right. But, to the law, and to the testimony. It is not the creed of Athanasius, or Arius, or Calvin, or Socinus, or Dr. Priestley, or of any body, which you are called to examine, much less to subscribe. Our facred writings are open to you; what do they teach? and how do the doctrines there taught agree with the law and the prophets? Christians differ in their explications of these writings, as do the Jews about theirs: examine them without regard to the opinions of others. What Mr. Lindsey or Mr. Romaine may have said about Christianity, or of what constitutes a Christian, is of no more weight with the thinking, than any thing which may have been said by the most obscure. The sacred writings are every thing in the question before you.

You say (p. 73) ‘Although the reformed churches, with the whole body of diffenters, are more charitable than the Catholies, yet, unless a person firmly believe the doctrine, and the merit of the blood and sufferings of Christ, as the Messiah and Saviour of the world, there is no salvation for him.’ This wants a little softening, but suppose it did not, it is nothing to the purpose. Your business is [Page]with the gospel of Jesus Christ, and not with the gospel of the church of Rome, of Geneva; of England, or of any other church; so that (p. 76) you are not called to forsake a religion given by God himself, for manifest contradictory opinions; but to accede to that same true religion, brought to perfection by the appearance of the Messiah.

As I dare say the goodness of your heart will have no objection, I will blot out the 30th page, and pass on to what you advance respecting your present captivity.

You endeavour to prove (p. 33 and on) that your present captivity is a continuation of the Babylonish; and that you now suffer for the sins of your ancestors previous to that period, which, you argue, they at their return never repented of, but in a partial way; that their chief matter of repentance was about the strange women, and not for persecuting the prophets. This is making the whole nation, for the sake of a favourite opinion, a body of hypocrites, and holding them forth as deficient in the most essential principle of true repentance—sorrow for all sin. This is making God to shew his approbation of a people who were wanting in the essential requisite to true goodness, and who slattered him with hypocritical words. We cannot admit this idea for a moment, which is so reproachful to Israel, and so unworthy of God. In Nehemiah ix. 26, they confess the sin of their fathers in slaying the prophets, who testified against them; and the great provocation which they wrought, for which they were delivered into the hands of their enemies. See also their confessions in the 34th and 35th verses. And what did they do in testimony of their abhorrence of the deeds of their fathers? ‘They made a covenant, and sealed it; and [Page]every one having knowledge and understanding, entered into a curse, and into an oath, to walk in God's law, which was given by Moses, the servant of God, and to observe and do all the commandments of the Lord*.’ If this be not proof of sincere and universal repentance, then no words are sufficient to tell us what such repentance is. There is no ground then, in the sacred writings, for what you assert respecting your present captivity, as the same with the Babylonish, because the sins previous to that were not repented of; for as to your explication of Daniel's prophecy of the seventy weeks, in support of your position, it appears to me to be forced to the last degree. My limits will not permit me to stay long on this article: I shall only observe, there is not that close connexion between the prophecy contained in the 8th chapter and this in the 9th, as you would persuade us; nor does any thing appear in this chapter which might lead us to think that Daniel was now involved in any perplexity about the two thousand three hundred days. It is Jeremiah's seventy years which gives occasion to his prayer. The prophecy of the two thousand three hundred days, was in the third year of Belshazzar; this was in the first of Darius, a period of twelve or fourteen years distance.

To see what false principles you go upon, in your application of the events and persons here spoken of, you need only review your 58th page. ‘Know, therefore, and understand (that) from the going forth of the commandment to restore and build Jerusalem, unto the anointed Prince (shall be) seven weeks. I have already,’ &c. You make this an assurance to Daniel, that so far would God be from prolonging the [Page]seventy years spoken of by Jeremiah, that he would shorten them to forty-nine, the distance of time from the destruction of the first temple to Cyrus, who was the anointed prince. Read the text again; it is not ‘from the going forth of the commandment to destroy the first temple, unto the anointed Prince, shall be seven weeks:" but, "know, therefore, and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and build Jerusalem, unto the Messiah the Prince (or the Anointed Prince) shall be seven weeks and threescore and two weeks.’ This needs no comment.

Instead of thus perplexing the prophecy, as your system obliges you to do, is it not more natural, and much more agreeable to the tenor of the prophecy, to suppose that the commandment here refers to that of Cyrus, recorded in Ez. i. or of Artaxerxes, chap. vii. when they had leave to erect themselves into a body politic; and the seven weeks (forty-nine years) as marking out the time which it would take for perfecting their city and establishment; sixty-two weeks, (434 years) after which Messiah the Prince (whoever he be) was to appear, and be cut off? This is certainly the most natural way of understanding the prophecy; for it must appear clear to every unbiassed reader, that the Messiah in the 25th ver. and the Messiah in the 26th, who is to be cut off, is the same person. And surely if this prophecy be considered dispassionately, in connexion with others which speak of the Saviour who was to come, it must evidently appear a clear prediction, both of the time of his appearance, and of his passion.

In your second letter (p. 67, and on) you proceed to compare the divine mission of Christ with that of Moses. After hinting that the miracles [Page]which Jesus wrought were such as might be performed without the immediate assistance of God, you proceed to prove, that Moses was not believed by the Jewish nation merely for the miracles which he wrought, and that there was not only no such great necessity for those of Jesus as for those of Moses, but that they were scarcely just or rational, and that miracles only are not a sufficient proof of a divine mission.

Did Jesus by a touch, by a word, by the mere efficiency of his will, heal all manner of diseases, cast out devils, and raise the dead? And do not such works as these transcend all human power? It certainly lies upon you to prove, that he did not perform what is ascribed to him, or to inform us how a human being can do such things without the immediate assistance of God.

You say (p. 83) ‘The miracles of Moses were not the especial proofs of his mission.’ What passed at Sinai, it is true, was a more forcible conviction than any of the other miracles, that he was divinely commissioned, and calculated to make deeper impressions on the minds of the people; such impressions as their rude state required: but it does not hence follow, that the other miracles, which may be said to be wrought more immediately by Moses, if they were such as no man could do unless God were with him, were not sufficient to prove his divine mission. If he had done no more than what he did in Egypt, and at the red sea, the people were bound to receive him as from God; the Lord thus judged when he gave him his mission, and endued him with those powers*: the people thus judged, and followed him. That God gave them more brilliant proofs afterwards was from sovereign pleasure, and to answer his wise purposes: [Page]but it is never said or intimated, that those other miracles did not prove his mission. And we may observe, if those miracles were not sufficient to stamp upon their minds such indelible proofs of his mission as to make them obedient to his laws, so no more was the appearance at Mount Sinai sufficient to produce the effects you speak of; for they did afterwards call in question his divine mission; they again and again rebelled against him, and even before forty days were expired lost the impression of the one living God, and made a calf, and danced, and sung, ‘These are thy gods. O Israel.’

As to there not being that necessity for the miracles of Jesus as for those of Moses, whether it be so or not, it proves nothing. But suppose there were not that natural necessity here as in the case of dividing the sea, yet was there not a moral necessity? It is a strange sort of reasoning for a man to say in the case of Jesus, or of any messenger from God, ‘This and that is not so necessary as the miracles of Moses, and hence cannot be offered as proofs of their mission in comparison of Moses, and therefore I will reject them.’ The question is not whether the miracles of Jesus were as dazzling to the senses as those of Moses, but whether they surpassed all power but that of God. True, to feed five thousand men, besides women and children, with five loaves and two fishes; to open the eyes of one born blind, or to raise a man to life who had been dead three days, is not so tremendous as some of the miracles in Egypt; they do not make such impressions of terror as the thunder and lightning, and voice of trumpets, at Sinai; but do they afford less proof of divine mission? No unprejudiced man can say they do. Your business is to prove, that the miracles ascribed to Jesus were [Page]not true and genuine, or all you say about necessity, or comparison with Moses, amounts to nothing. As is the case with your observations on Deut. xiii. 1. For before that text can operate against the mission of Jesus, you must prove, that what are called his miracles were only the signs and wonders of a juggling impostor, and that he says, "Let us go after other gods."

You particularly justify yourself in rejecting Jesus as the Messiah (p. 67, and on) because the credentials which he offers in proof of his mission bear no comparison with the especial proof of Moses' mission, i. e. with the testimony which was given at Sinai. It is true, here is no thunder and lightning, and God speaking from a fiery mountain (though nature bore awful testimony to the character of Christ when he died upon the cross, and proof abounds that he rose from the dead, and ascended to heaven) but as you argue about necessity, permit a believer in Jesus to do so likewise. There was not that necessity for such appearances as those at Sinai for the confirmation of the divine mission of Jesus, as there was for that of Moses. There (if I may so speak) was laid the foundation of that stupendous superstructure which God meant to raise, the redemption of man, the salvation of the world. Thus his wisdom chose to ascertain the beginnings of his work. This foundation laid, and sanctified by the most solemn sanctions of heaven, Moses' mission is confirmed; all he wrote or taught is ratified; and that Revelation which is from God is identified. In this Revelation a Saviour is made known, and his work prefigured; God's Anointed is promised; and through the successive stages of prophecy predictions shine brighter and brighter, which give assurance of his future appearance, and paint in the most glowing colours the glory of his person, [Page]the dignity of his character, the offices he is to sustain, and the work he is to perform. Yea, they tell us from what family he is to spring, in what town to be born, with a thousand other circumstances intended to identify his person when he came. A messenger, whom all the Jewish nation took for a prophet, announced his approach. He appears, makes known who he is, and to the sublimity of his doctrine he adds miracles in proof of the divinity of his mission. He heals diseases, he casts out devils, he controls the elements, he rises the dead, he bids them search the scriptures which testify of him, he claims their faith, and declares, ‘He that believeth in me shall never die.—If ye believe not that I am be, ye shall die in your sins.’ Though crucified, he rises from the dead; and in proof of his resurrection, and ascension to heaven, his disciples perform miracles in his name, the truth of which the bitterest enemies of Jesus could not deny, even though the vice and prejudice of their hearts stirred up their passions to resist conviction. What necessity for the terrors of Mount Sinai to be repeated here? Moses and the prophets (the truth of whose words the thunders and lightnings of Sinai have ratified) bore testimony to Jesus as the Christ. And the works which the Father gave him to finish, he did; which works bear witness of him that the Father hath sent him*. All is agreeable to the request of Israel in Horch, ‘Let me not hear again the voice of the LORD my God, neither let me see this great fire any more, that I die not†.’

These remarks might be extended, by taking notice of some of the lesses objections which you state against the Christian religion. Nor would it be difficult to demonstrate the folly of that man who rejects Christianity, because he supposes [Page]he spies out some little matters, which lay i [...]. open to objection; but which bear no proportion to the great weight of evidence that preponderates in its favour. It might be shewn, that all which you can object to the two miracles which you have picked out of the gospel history (p. 78) makes no more against the divinity of our sciptures, than what an infidel (without considering the manners of the times, without allowing for probable attending circumstances, and by the help of his distorting imagination) might alledge against the divinity of yours, from some detached facts culled out of them. Such an one might suppose it unjust in the Israelites to spoil the Egyptians‡; he might fancy it "irrational" that—but let him fancy— ‘The just shall live by his faith§.’

It might be shewn that your objection (p. 88) to the words Jesus recorded, John v. 37, originates in a wrong understanding, not only of this passage, but of that also in Exod. xxxiii. 11. Enquiry might be made after the proof, that the Jews in the days of Jesus so understood the seventy weeks of Daniel, as to know that their city and temple were to be destroyed, when they were, and which you produce (p. 86) for the purpose of setting aside the evidence of Jesus being endued with the gift of prophecy. But this, and much more which might be said, may be unnecessary for me to enter upon, as my design in writing this letter was only to drop a few Remarks, and to thank you for favouring the public with a statement of your objections. If you will forgive my thus addressing you, and attribute it to the true motives which influence me, you will confer an obligation on a lover of all good men;

And your affectionate servant, J. BICHENO.

Notes

*

Isa. xi.

↵

†

Dan. ii.

↵

*

Deut. vi. 4.

↵

†

1 Cor. viii. 4—6.

↵

†

Gal. iii. 20.

↵

§

John i. 1.

↵

‖

Col. ii. 9.

↵

¶

1 Tim. iii. 16.

↵

**

Gen. xviii.

↵

††

2 Kings xix. 15.

↵

*

Some among the Jews understood the law of Moses in Deut. xxiv. 1, as tolerating divorces only in cases where a man found his wife guilty of some action which was really infamous, and contrary to the rules of virtue; others taught that the least reasons were sufficient, as, if she did not dress his meat well, or he saw a woman whom he liked better. The Pharisees who applied to Jesus (Matt xix. 3) seem to have been of this latter opinion. No man of virtue will hesitate which doctrine to approve, that embraced by these Pharisees, or that taught by Jesus Christ. Surely this is most agreeable both to the law of nature and the law of Moses.

↵

*

Acts v. 30, 31.

↵

†

Acts xvii. 2, 3.

↵

‡

Acts xxii. 31.

↵

§

Isa. xlix. 6, 7.

↵

*

Isa. ix. 6.

↵

†

Isa. lii. 13.

↵

*

Neh. ix. 38—x. 28, 29.

↵

*

Ez. iv. 1—9.

↵

*

John. v. 36.

↵

†

Deut. xviii. 15—19.

↵

‡

Exod. xii. 35, 36.

↵

§

Hab. ii. 4.

↵

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Title statement

A friendly address to the Jews. Stating the motives to serious enquiry into the cause of their present dispersion, and the requisites to a right enquiry respecting Christian doctrine. The characteristics of the Messiah from the Prophets. And the testimonies in favour of Jesus as the Christ. : To which is added, a letter to Mr. D. Levi; containing remarks on his answer to Dr. Priestly's Letters to the Jews; shewing, that however his arguments may affect the opinions of Dr. Priestly, they form no objection against the Christian religion. / By J. Bicheno.

Bicheno, J. (James), d. 1831.

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Publisher

Text Creation Partnership,

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Ann Arbor, MI :

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2011-05.

ID [DLPS]

N21522

ID [TCP]

N21522

ID [STC]

Evans 28290

ID [NOTIS]

APW6016

ID [IMAGE-SET]

28290

ID [EVANS-CITATION]

99012148

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Early American Imprints, 1639-1800 ; no. 28290.

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(Evans-TCP ; no. N21522)

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— A friendly address to the Jews. Stating the motives to serious enquiry into the cause of their present dispersion, and the requisites to a right enquiry respecting Christian doctrine. The characteristics of the Messiah from the Prophets. And the testimonies in favour of Jesus as the Christ. : To which is added, a letter to Mr. D. Levi; containing remarks on his answer to Dr. Priestly's Letters to the Jews; shewing, that however his arguments may affect the opinions of Dr. Priestly, they form no objection against the Christian religion. / By J. Bicheno., Bicheno, J. (James), d. 1831..

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[4], 83, [1] p. ; 20 cm. (4to)

by Carter and Wilkinson, and sold at their book and stationary store, opposite the market.,. Printed at Providence (R. Island) :: 1795.. (Bookseller's advertisement, p. [84].)

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