Five Pebbles from the Brook Part 5

Finally, I would ask Mr. Everett, whether he believes it was the intention of David, of Isaiah, and Jeremiah, to declare to the Jews of their times that G.o.d would no more accept of burnt offerings and sacrifices! and that the ceremonial law was ipso facto abolished; because, if such pa.s.sages do signify the abolishment of the Mosaic law, it must be considered as having been a dead letter ever since David, Isaiah., and Jeremiah uttered these expressions.

But, says Mr. Everett, p. 357, "the positive declaration of G.o.d, puts the matter [the repeal of the Mosaic law] beyond a doubt."

"Behold the days come, saith the Lord, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel; and with the house of Judah, not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers, in the day that I took them by the hand, to lead them out of the land of Egypt; which my covenant they brake, although I was a husband unto them, saith the Lord: but this shall be my covenant that I will make with the house of Israel, after those days, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts, and I will be their G.o.d, and they shall be my people." Jer. x.x.xi. 31, &c.

I would observe first, that Mr. Everett in applying this pa.s.sage to the purpose for which he has adduced it, has against him the opinions of all those Christian critics whom he allows to excel in critical learning; viz. Michaelis, Ekerman, Lessing, Eichorn, &c.

For this pa.s.sage is quoted to the same purpose in the Epistle to the Hebrews, ch. viii. 8. and all the critics above mentioned maintain, as Mr. Everett allows, that none of the pa.s.sages of the Old Testament quoted in the New, can be supported as prophecies of the things to which they are applied, but hold that they were quoted merely by way of accommodation or allusion.

2. I would observe, that this pa.s.sage is one out of several more in the prophets, which represent that after the general restoration of Israel to their country, G.o.d will put a new spirit in them, and cause them to obey his voice, (which was not done at the giving of the law, the Israelites being left to obey it or not; after being given to understand what should be the rewards of obedience and the curses of disobedience,)' this very chapter of Jeremiah, from which this quotation is taken, expressly representing, that this new covenant is to be made AFTER the Israelites are restored to their own land: which completely excludes the idea that this new covenant can relate to a new religion, fabricated seventeen hundred years ago; and renders the solemnity with which Mr.

Everett has introduced it, somewhat ridiculous.

This new covenant also, is not to put the old law out of remembrance, but is to "write it on their hearts." "Behold, I will gather them out of all countries whither I have driven them in mine anger, and in my fury, and in great wrath; and I will bring them again into this place, and I will cause them to dwell safely: and they shall be my people, and I will be their G.o.d: and I will give them one heart, and one way, that they may fear me for ever, for the good of them and their children after them. And I will make an everlasting covenant with them, that I will not turn away from them, to do them good; but I will put my fear into their hearts, that they shall not depart from me. Yea, I will rejoice over them to do them good, and I will plant them in this land with my whole heart and with my whole soul." Jer. x.x.xii. 37--41. [fn82]

In order to manifest that the prophecy of the new covenant, quoted from Jeremiah by Mr. Everett, had no reference to the promulgation of the new [fn83] law, I had said in my first publication, "that though the prophet speaks of a "new covenant"

he says nothing of a new law. On which Mr. Everett labours greatly to prove, See p. 357 &c. of his book, that the expression "making a new covenant," must signify making a new law, and cannot signify reimposition of the old.

There is a history in the Bible which convicts this opinion of mistake, which I propose in my turn to Mr. Everett's serious attention.

"These are the words of the covenant, which the Lord commanded Moses to make with the children of Israel in the land of Moab, beside the covenant which he made with them in h.o.r.eb. And Moses called unto all Israel, and said unto them; ye stand this day all of you before the Lord your G.o.d, your captains of your tribes, your elders, and your officers, with all the men of Israel; your little ones, your wives, and the stranger that is in thy camp, from the hewer of thy wood to the drawer of thy water; that thou shouldest enter into covenant with the Lord thy G.o.d, &c. Deut. ch. xxix.

And what was the covenant? why, as the reader may find by perusing the rest of this piece of history in the Pentateuch, it was the reimposition of the Law of Moses upon the new generation of Israelites, who were children when their fathers came out of Egypt. So that Mr. Everett must see, that G.o.d's making a new covenant, can be accompanied with a reimposition of the law, since in the instance considered, he has actually done it once before.

I have, however, another pa.s.sage in reserve, which must compel Mr. Everett to resign his unfounded opinions on this subject.

Moses, the giver of the law, after predicting most exactly what should befall the Jewish nation for disobedience to it, in the 28th chapter of Deuteronomy, proceeds in the 30th ch. to inform them, that the time would come, when "the Lord their G.o.d will turn their captivity and have compa.s.sion upon them, and will return and gather them from all the nations whither the Lord their G.o.d hath scattered them."

"If thy dispersion,[fn84] (says the lawgiver) shall be unto the utmost parts of heaven, from thence will the Lord thy G.o.d gather thee, and from thence will he fetch thee. And the Lord thy G.o.d will bring thee unto the land which thy fathers possessed, and thou shalt possess it; and he will do thee good and multiply thee above thy fathers, and the Lord thy G.o.d will circ.u.mcise thy heart, and the heart of thy seed, to love the Lord thy G.o.d with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, that thou mayest live. And the Lord thy G.o.d will put all these curses upon thine enemies, and on them that hate thee, and which persecuted thee. And thou shall return, and obey the voice of the Lord, AND DO ALL HIS COMMANDMENTS WHICH I COMMANDED ON THAT DAY." Deut. ch. x.x.x. [fn85]

In accordance with this express prediction of Moses, that when the Israelites should be gathered out of all countries into their own land, G.o.d would give them a heart and disposition to love the Lord their G.o.d, and to do all his commandments which Moses was then delivering to them are the prophecies of Ezekiel; who in his last chapters, after giving a prophecy of the general return of the descendants of Jacob to their own land, proceeds to predict the division of the country, between the Mediterranean and the Euphrates, among the restored tribes; and minutely describes the plan, parts, offices, and ceremonies, of a new and eternal temple to be raised upon the ancient site of that of Solomon, that is to be consecrated by the re-establishment of the magnificent ritual of Moses, with augmented splendour.

That the prophecy of Moses, and those of Ezekiel, referred to, have never yet been fulfilled, is undeniable; and that they will be fulfilled, will not be doubted by a Christian; and can hardly be disbelieved by a Sceptic, who will take the trouble to compare the history of "the eternal people,"[fn86] with the predictions concerning it which have been fulfilled to the letter.

Mr. Everett, in the 449 page of his work, speaks rather contemptuously of the law of Moses. It is somewhat unusual to see a descendant of savage wanderers of the woods, who painted themselves blue in order to look handsome,[fn87] and whose posterity, and among them Mr. Everett himself, might so far as religion and morals is concerned, but for the instruction originally derived from the law of Moses, be still in the same respectable state, speaking lightly of a Book to which every nation on the Globe, who have any rational ideas of G.o.d or futurity, are absolutely indebted for that invaluable knowledge. The Jewish, Christian, and Mohammedan religions, by which so many of our unfortunate race have been brought to a knowledge of G.o.d, and made candidates for an eternity of bliss, are all founded on, and derived from the Pentateuch. If that Book had never existed, those religions could not have existed. All that part of mankind who have any claims to reason in their Religion, are therefore indebted to this Jew Book for the benefit.

Nor is this all the wonder. The sublime and fundamental Doctrine of the Pentateuch--One G.o.d--Eternal and Supreme---the Almighty Creator and tremendous Avenger--can be traced up to Abraham, that wandering shepherd who at the command of G.o.d left his country and his father's house, to go to a foreign land., where he lived and died a stranger and a pilgrim.

What ideas should we entertain of a man whose tent was frequented by angels, and with whom the Supreme "conversed face to face, as a man talketh with his friend!" of a man who lived and died a shepherd, yet to whom it was predicted four thousand years ago, by Him whose word never fails that "his name should be great, that it should be a blessing, and that in his seed should all the nations of the earth be blessed." Sceptic! has not this prophecy been fulfilled? Is not the name of Abraham a theme of blessing to the Jew--the Christian--the Magian--and the Musselman? Is not his name p.r.o.nounced with reverence throughout the four continents of the Globe. Has not the earth been blessed in his seed? Is there a nation or people upon it, who have any rational ideas of G.o.d or futurity, who have not derived them from Moses, Jesus, or Mohammed? Are we not indebted to these descendants of this wonderful man,[fn89] for the consolations which support the soul under the trials of life, and for the faith and hope that smooth the bed of death? a.s.suredly-- a.s.suredly. The events of past ages have verified the divine origin of the prediction, and ages to come will still farther confirm it.

Mr. Everett objects to the law of Moses, its multiplied forms and ceremonies; but these were mostly not obligatory upon the whole nation, but upon one tribe set apart to this duty, and who had nothing else to do.[fn90]

The influence of these rights [fn91] and ceremonies--and no religion can perpetually exist without them, for after all the [fn92]

man is the slave of his senses, and powerfully affected by the impressions made upon them--cannot be doubted by one who attentively considers their amazing magnificence.

A temple blazing with the most precious productions of the mine,[fn93] and inaccessible to all but the consecrated descendants of one man, standing at the extremity of an immense area covered with variegated marble, and surrounded by magnificent corridors and porticos; a gorgeous host of nearly forty thousand priests,[fn94]: to minister at the ever smoking altar, and to nourish the eternal fire; the golden ewer containing the hallowed blood of atonement, and the censer streaming [fn95]

clouds of fragrance, in the hands of the trembling descendant of Aaron approaching the inner sanctuary of the INVISIBLE AND ALMIGHTY; three hundred sons of song, accompanied with psaltery and cymbal, and "the harp with a solemn sound,"

resounding the attributes of HIM WHO IS, AND EVER SHALL BE;[fn96] and hundreds of thousands of worshippers prostrating their foreheads on the pavement in awe and extacy, as the temple shines forth with the Shechinah, streaming its rainbow glories into the heart of heaven, and covering the earth with its effulgence, plainly showing that G.o.d IS THERE! This, all this Mr. Everett p.r.o.nounces, "all calculated to occupy the attention of a simple and unfeeling [fn97] people." p. 344.[fn98] There is, not however, a philosopher on earth that would [fn99] walk barefoot over its whole circ.u.mference to witness such a sight.

With this terminates my reply to Mr. Everett. I leave it to his consideration, whether he has fulfilled the magnificent promises held out to the public in the splendid table of contents prefixed to his book, from which it should seem as if I were actually crushed into the dust; and I leave it to the consideration of my abused and deluded countrymen, whether the heavy artillery of the law and the prophets, which I have wheeled but from the Old Testament, has not fairly blown the old board fences behind which a crazy superst.i.tion is ensconced, and which Mr. Everett has painted up to look like real fortifications, and mounted with quaker guns, to splinters and fragments.

THE SLING.

WHAT was the real history and character of Jesus Christ?

Mr. Everett had a right to consider my expressions, relative to this subject contained in my first work, as "far from being explicit;" for in fact I hardly knew what to think of the unparalelled son of Mary.

That he was a pious and blameless man, I conceived that no man of good heart could doubt, while the supposition that he claimed to be the Messiah, I believed and still believe to be incompatible with such a character as his.

With the reader's permission, I will now state what I conceive may have been the real truth with regard to him.

I believe that Jesus of Nazareth was certainly a righteous man, and probably one who wished to bring back his countrymen, to a rational observance of the law, and to abandon their traditions.

He appeared in an age when the religious part of the Jewish nation had made the law in many respects of none effect by those traditions, and had rendered their religion a stumbling block to the Gentiles, by reason of the puerile superst.i.tions they had added to it: thus counteracting the express design, for which they had been set apart from other nations, viz. to bring them to the knowledge and acknowledgement of the unity and supremacy of G.o.d;) and violating the command of Moses, "ye shall not add unto the word which I command you, neither shall ye diminish ought from it; for this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the nations, which shall hear all these statutes, and say, surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people." Deut. ch. iv.-- and when the irreligious part of the nation, had become dreadfully corrupt.

The Jewish people at that time were oppressed and despised; the prophets of the Old Testament had taught them to believe that at a time when their oppressions should be at their height, their Messiah should appear. Of consequence the appearance of such a man as Jesus Christ, at that time when they considered themselves as crushed under the Roman yoke, possibly led them or some of them to believe that he might be their expected deliverer. But the Jewish nation at that time were unworthy of such a deliverance. They longed for their Messiah, not for righteousness, but for vengeance sake; not to hail him as the benefactor of the human race, but as the avenger of their wrongs upon all the world who had crushed and despised them.

Such a people were not the lawful candidates for the happiness of the eternal kingdom; and they afterwards learned, by the event of their struggle with the Romans, that they must not expect deliverance till they had become less unworthy of it.

Jesus, by preaching against the traditions of the elders, by not observing the Sabbath day so rigidly as the Pharisees, by denouncing them as hypocrites, t.i.thers of mint anise and c.u.mmin, washers of plates and platters, and neglecters of the weightier matters of the law, justice, judgment, and mercy, as serpents, a generation of vipers, whited sepulchres, and what not, had enraged these superst.i.tious fanatics to the last degree. But they could not wreak their vengeance, because he was protected, by the people whom the gospels represent as expecting with the most anxious impatience, that he would announce himself as their deliverer.[fn100] But when repeated importunity, accompanied by an attempt to seize upon him and by compulsion oblige him to head them, terminated only in causing Jesus to escape and withdraw himself from their wishes [fn101] the people were disgusted, and abandoned him.

The Chief Priests and Pharisees took advantage of this abandonment, to seize him and deliver him to the Roman governor as a dangerous man, who either was willing to head the people against the Romans, or who might be made the pretext of an insurrection, as the people had shown a disposition to recognize him as the Messiah. [fn102] Such I believe to be as near an approximation to the true history of Jesus Christ, as can be made at this day.

Let us now review the points I have endeavoured to establish in this work.

1. I have endeavoured to show that the miracles, supposed by Mr.

Everett to have been wrought by Jesus in proof of his Messiahship, cannot be proved; because that the New Testament is not to be depended on as competent testimony for the real history and real doctrines of Jesus of Nazareth; and therefore, that the question of his Messiahship must in all events be decided by an appeal to the Old Testament.

2. It has been shown, that the prophecies of the Messiah contained in the Old Testament, have not been fulfilled in Jesus; and that those prophecies which Mr. Everett regards as proofs of the Christian religion, were also not fulfilled in Jesus.

3. It has been shown that the law of Moses was intended for a perpetual law for the Jewish nation, "through all their generations forever;" and of course that it is, and must be perpetually obligatory upon them; and consequently whether JESUS BE THE MESSIAH, OR NOT, the Jews are bound to adhere to the law of Moses.[fn104]

4. It has been shown, that [fn105] it is absolutely impossible to know the real history of Jesus with certainty; the Jews and Christians ought for the future to consider his character, not as a subject of dispute, nor an occasion of quarrel, much less as a cause of mutual aversion, but merely as a matter of speculation.

Should these positions ever be recognised by the Jews and Christians as reasonable and true, let us consider what, may be the consequence.

1. The Christians become sensible, that the New Testament is not to be depended on, would cease to hate, to persecute, and to annoy the unfortunate Jews, on account of their rejecting its doctrines.

2. The Christians would themselves adhere to the Old Testament, as the rock and rule of faith and morals; and would worship with the Jews the One Jehovah, without equal or companion, and obey the moral law of the Old Testament, leaving the observance of its ceremonial inst.i.tutions to the nation for whom they were intended:[fn106] like the "devout Gentiles" in the time of Josephus and Christ.

3. The Jews, seeing the Christians Unitarians as well as themselves, would cease to regard the Christians as impious idolaters, and cruel enemies.

4. Both parties would worship and serve G.o.d as brethren, and children of the same father; and await in faith and hope the appearance of the GREAT PERSONAGE, who is to make them and all the good part of mankind, perfectly happy.

Should what I have written have any tendency to promote union and friendly feelings, between the parties to a dispute which has for nearly eighteen hundred years occasioned such cruel oppressions and b.l.o.o.d.y persecutions to the side which is in the right, I shall not have lived in vain; and though the cause in which I have exerted myself has occasioned me much detriment and distress,[fn107] and may possibly ultimately oblige me to die in a foreign land, without a friend to close my eyes; I comfort my heart with the hope, that I may have done somewhat for the great cause of truth, justice, and humanity, and for the promotion of mutual regard and friendly feelings, among a very large portion of the human race.

APPENDIX.

A

For instance, it is said in the 2d. ch. of the Gospel called of Mathew, that Jesus, when brought out of Egypt by his parents, "came and dwelt in the city called Nazereth: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet. "He shall be called a Nazerene."