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 FAITH STRENGTHENED, 
 
 '• Know, therefore, this day, and reflect in thy heart, that the 
 Lord he is God, in heaven above, and on the earth beneath, there 
 is none else." — Deutkroxojiy, Chap. iv. ver. 39. 
 
 TRANSLATED BY 
 
 MOSES M C A T T A. 
 
 J 
 
 PKINTED BUT NOT PUBLISHED. 
 ■ 1851.
 
 LONDON: 
 
 PKINTED «T J- WEttTHEIMEa AND CO., 
 
 FIN8BDRY OIUCDS.
 
 /1^ 
 
 THE TRANSLATOR'S 
 
 ADDRESS TO HIS CO-R ELIGI O NIST S. 
 
 As we Israelites do not seek to impose our faith on 
 others — a practice altogether repugnant to Judaism — 
 it is necessary to premise that the following work is 
 intended exclusively for distribution among our Hebrew 
 community. 
 
 Having made this declaration, the Translator informs 
 his Readers, that the ensuina; work will be found to be 
 a faithful version of a valuable theological treatise, 
 entitled ni1^5< pITH ; or, Faith Strengthened. It was 
 originally composed in Hebrew by Isaac ben Abraham, 
 an Israelite, a native of Lithuania. The work was 
 pubhshed a.m. 5393 ; and in De Rossi's " Dizionario
 
 iv TRANSLATOR'S ADDRESS. 
 
 Istorico," the author is designated as the most power- 
 ful opponent and refutant of the doctrines and dogmas 
 of Christianity, that had ever appeared among the 
 Jews. Indeed, an attentive perusal of the little volume 
 cannot fail to convince us, that he was not only an able 
 and a skilful controversialist, but an eminent biblical 
 scholar, a man of deep and extensive research ; and 
 earnest in his investigation of truth. The grand design 
 of his polemics, as he himself tells us, is to establish and 
 make manifest the sublime truths of Israel's Faith, 
 and expose and refute the erroneous views on which 
 Christianity is founded. For this purpose his argu- 
 ments are essentially based on Scripture authority, 
 inasmuch as he derives his entire chain of proofs from 
 apposite biblical texts, with Avhich authorities every 
 page of his work abounds. Arguments and opinions 
 founded on sanctions so high and authoritative, demand 
 our highest respect and most serious meditation. The 
 sound and critical knowledge of the sacred language of 
 our forefathers, for which our author was distinguished, 
 and his perfect familiarity with Bible phraseology, 
 obviously and emphatically enabled him to produce a 
 more exact and accurate version of the original text, 
 than it is possible to find in any authorised English 
 version of the Bible. The result of this superior and 
 decisive advantage was, that he was enabled to obtain
 
 TRANSLATOR'S ADDRESS. v 
 
 a clearer and more definite conception of the real 
 meaning and purport of those obscure and difiicult 
 passages which we find dispersed throughout the Law 
 and the Prophets, and which are so arrogantly and so 
 constantly cited by Christian theologians in support of 
 their creed and doctrine. Of those intricate texts, our 
 Author has given most ample and lucid explanations, 
 and by a train of the most logical, and conclusive 
 reasoning, he ably and forcibly refutes the erroneous 
 and fallacious interpretations put upon them by the 
 opjDonents of Judaism. And, more forcibly to disprove 
 the arguments of his adversaries, and demonstrate the 
 false and untenable foundation upon which they stand, 
 he has, in a cursory view of each book of the so-called 
 New Testament, shown the glaring inconsistences ap- 
 parent in them, and detected and exposed the manifold 
 discrepancies subsisting among their several authors, 
 and the endless and contradictory misquotations from 
 the Hebrew Scriptures which appear in those writings. 
 Thus has our Author presented his people with a well- 
 selected compendium of religious instruction, containing 
 those grand fundamental principles of Judaism, — 
 namely, the belief in One Indivisible God, and the 
 Advent or a Future Messiah. To this mass of 
 Scriptural knowdedge let the biblical student resort, 
 and therein he will find a most valuable aid, with an
 
 vi , TRANSLATOR'S ADDRESS. 
 
 immense economy of time and labour. To this store- 
 house of Scriptural information let the youth of our 
 community also repair, and it cannot fail to afford 
 them ample materials for their perfect conviction of 
 the truth and purity of our holy faith, and weapons 
 of defence against the obtrusive efforts of the over- 
 zealous proselyte-seeker, and the insidious attacks of 
 the hireling missionary. 
 
 Such are the claims and merits, the purport and in- 
 tent, of Faith Strengthened ; but great and invaluable 
 as those claims and merits are in the maintenance and 
 elucidation of our Holy Faith, its worth and usefulness 
 are but little known and imperfectly understood 
 beyond the pale of the theological scholar, the work 
 having been Avritten in the Hebrew language. Actuated, 
 therefore, with a wish to make its invaluable knowledge 
 universally accessible to his Jewish brethren, the Trans- 
 lator has used his best endeavours to render it into the 
 vernacular language of the country, in order that it 
 may no longer be a sealed book, but may freely circu- 
 late amono; all grades and classes of the Jewish com- 
 munity, both in the mother country and in the colonies, 
 and become, in the domestic circle and the private 
 closet, a handbook, and a text authority of the prin- 
 ciples and doctrines of our Holy Religion.
 
 TRANSLATOR'S ADDRESS. vii 
 
 It may here be desirable to remark, that as the style 
 of the Author was rather diffuse, and his language 
 quaint and inharmonious, the Translator has adopted 
 a more condensed and a more congenial phraseology. 
 He has also omitted the superfluous repetition of 
 the same arguments and quotations with which the 
 original work was needlessly overlaid; as also certain 
 epithets and harsh expressions, in which the Author, in 
 despite of the moderation he professed, occasionally in- 
 dulged ; but which doubtless are referrible to the 
 persecuting spirit of the times in which he lived- To 
 those who are acquainted with the metaphorical style 
 of the East, and the unadorned simplicity of European 
 phraseology, it is unnecessary to state the difficulties 
 attendino- the translation of a work like this, so as to 
 adapt it to the taste of educated Englishmen, The 
 difficulty of the task was further enhanced by the 
 daily impediments to which the infirmities incident 
 to old age cast in the way of an Octogenarian. That 
 task, however, has been sweetened by the comfort and 
 serenity of mind which accompany purely spiritual 
 and religious undertakings, and has cheered on its 
 aspirant, with the hope that his toilsome, but gratify- 
 ing, undertaking, will not only tend to raise and excite 
 a spirit of religious inquiry among all classes of the 
 Jewish community, particularly the young and the
 
 viii TRANSLATOR'S ADDRESS. 
 
 inexperienced, but Avill impart new vigour, and bring 
 new honour on the name and profession of the Israelite. 
 
 That Faith Strengthened may realize the exalted 
 aim of its author, must be the ardent wish of every 
 sincere admirer of, and faithful adherent to, the sound 
 and pure principles of that Revelation the Almighty 
 vouchsafed to bestow on his chosen people.
 
 ABSTRACT FROM THE AUTHOR'S PREFACE. 
 
 My religious zeal was aroused, on finding that the name 
 of the Supreme Being was dishonoured, and our Holy 
 Law profaned, by the very people who had been ap- 
 pointed to be the guardians of faith and the witnesses 
 of those grand truths which make the simple man wise, 
 the sorrowing heart glad^ and the dim eyes bright. To 
 my grief, I found that the inquisitive and indefatigable 
 study of religion, which yields due reward to its zealous 
 followers, was not cultivated among us as in former 
 days, and am persuaded that ignorance and growing 
 misapprehensions have added mental to physical burdens. 
 Persecutions arising from religious hatred were heaped 
 upon the children of my faith in all quarters of the 
 globe, and were ever increasing in acrimony, not less in 
 consequence of the low state of knowledge possessed by 
 the Jews in matters of theological controversy than by 
 the confused and mistaken notions which Christians 
 had formed of Judaism. But it is absolutely imperative 
 on man to be at all times prepared to repel any attack 
 made on his belief. In conformity with this observation, 
 
 our sages have recorded their opinion in the following 
 
 B
 
 ii ABSTRACT FROM 
 
 axiom : — " Man ought assiduously to study his own 
 faith, and be competent to give a proper reply to his 
 antagonists," more particularly when we consider that, 
 in the majority of cases, the opposition to our doctrines 
 rests on the misinterpretation of those Scriptures of 
 which we alone are the legitimate heirs and expounders. 
 Influenced by the foregoing reflections, I have under- 
 taken this humble work, which, in its narrow compass, 
 embraces a subject of the utmost importance. It is 
 intended to afi^ord a stronghold to the sincere believer 
 in the Sinaic revelations who may be incapable of de- 
 fending himself, and whose opinions may be exposed 
 to the persevering attacks of his assailant. I refer 
 my co-religionist so situated, to an attentive perusal 
 of the " Faith Strengthened," wherein he will find an 
 ample supply of arguments and proofs in favour and 
 support of our venerable creed. In former years, when 
 I investigated the works of several Christian divines, and 
 had frequent disputations with other literary Christians, 
 I made a point to reason in a mild and dispassionate 
 manner. Indeed, I placed my reliance on the sound- 
 ness of my position, by preserving a constant evenness 
 of temper. Thus I rendered the discussions advan- 
 tageous to myself and more acceptable to my opponents. 
 Seeing that our Holy Scriptures contain immutable 
 truths, revealed to us for the benefit of the whole 
 human race, I have presented in this work such biblical 
 passages as serve to illustrate the genuineness of 
 Judaism, and also such as require elucidation, in order
 
 THE AUTHOR'S PREFACE. • iii 
 
 that the reader may fully perceive that, whatever seems 
 obscure or tendmg to support Christianity, is, indeed, 
 merely so in form, and relates wholly and exclusively 
 to the sacred cause of Judaism — a cause which no 
 argument whatever can depreciate, for the leading ob- 
 ject of our faith is to make erring men look up to the 
 unerring Deity, and inspire the belief that one in- 
 divisible God rules over the destinies of all, requiring 
 no mediator or intercessor to obtain remission for our 
 sins. 
 
 I have endeavoured not merely to explain such pas- 
 sages of our Scriptures as are obnoxious to miscon- 
 struction, but also to arraign before the tribunal of 
 common sense the assertions made by Christians which 
 tend to throw discredit on the truths of the Jewish 
 Faith. For this purpose, I found it advisable to sub- 
 divide this work into two parts. The first portion is 
 devoted to^.an examination of the objections raised by 
 Christians against our religion, and to the proofs cited 
 by them for the corroboration of their own doctrines. 
 The refutation I have given it, is in many cases, based 
 on the contradictoiy nature of their own statements. 
 The second portion comprises a careful review and 
 refutation of the glaring inconsistencies that are dis- 
 coverable in the New Testament. With the view to 
 render the ar2:ument introduced into this work more 
 cogent and conspicuous, I have allotted in the first part 
 a separate chapter to each particular subject of discus- 
 sion. In the second part, it has appeared preferable to 
 
 b2
 
 iv ABSTRACT FROM THE AUTHOR'S PREFACE. 
 
 adopt distinct chapters for those passages of the New 
 Testament which call for a special animadversion and 
 refutation. May the God of all Spirits, who has ren- 
 dered wisdom unfathomable, and who scrutinizes all 
 hidden thoughts, bestow a blessing on my humble 
 efforts, forgive all my unconscious errors, uphold me 
 in my pure faith, and grant his Divine protction to me 
 and all Israel. Amen.
 
 FAITH STRENGTHENED. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 I WAS once asked by a Christian scholar, " Why do you 
 Jews refuse to believe that Jesus Christ was the Mes- 
 siah, evidence concerning him having been given by the 
 true prophets, in whose words you also believe?" 
 
 And this is the answer which I gave him: How is 
 it possible for us to believe that he was the Messiah, 
 as we do not see any actual proof of his Messiahship 
 throughout the prophetic writings. As for the passages 
 which the authors of the Gospel adduce from the 
 words of the prophets, to demonstrate that Jesus the 
 Nazarene was the Messiah, they advance nothing 
 relating to him^ as will be shown in the second part 
 of this work, in which we shall, in regular succession, 
 point out the fallacies set forth in the Gospel. On 
 the other hand, we shall see many incontrovertible 
 proofs in support of our conviction that Jesus was by 
 no means the Messiah. A few of these arguments may 
 be here introduced, 
 
 He was not the Messiah is evident : — 
 
 1st, from his pedigree ; 
 
 2ndly, from his acts ; 
 
 3rdly, from the period in which he lived ; and 
 
 4thly, from the fact that, during his existence, the 
 promises were not fulfilled which are to be realised on 
 the advent of the expected Messiah, whereas the ful- 
 filment of the conditions alone can warrant a belief 
 in the identity of the Messiah.
 
 G FAITH STRENGTHENED. 
 
 1st. As to the pedigree of Jesus, he was not a descend- 
 ant of David, being merely affiliated to him through 
 Joseph, as is testified in the Gospel. For in Matthew, 
 chap. i.,it is written, that Jesus was born of Mary during 
 her virginity, and that Joseph knew her not until she 
 had given birth to Jesus. According to this statement, 
 the pedigree of Joseph can be of no avail to Jesus, and 
 at the same time it is quite evident that the ancestry of 
 Mary was unknown to the authors of the Gospel. But 
 even the relationship of Joseph to David is wanting in 
 proof, there being a discrepancy between Matthew and 
 Luke in their account of his pedigree, which appears 
 clearly Avhen we compare the Gospel of Matthew, chap- 
 ter i., with that of Luke, at the end of chapter iii. 
 Here we see conflicting testimonies ; and where that is 
 the case no belief can be attached to either statement. 
 The prophets, on the contrary, predicted to us that the 
 expected Messiah should be no other than a descendant 
 of David. 
 
 2ndly. As to the works of Jesus, we find that He 
 says of himself, Matthew x. 3-4. " Think not that I am 
 come to make peace on earth ; I came not to send peace 
 but the sword, and to set a man at variance against his 
 father, and the daughter against her mother, and the 
 dau£>'hter-in-law ao;ainst her mother-in-law." On the 
 other hand, we find Holy Writ attributing to the true 
 and expected Messiah actions contrary to those of Jesus. 
 We see here that Jesus says of himself, he is not come 
 to make peace on earth, whereas Scripture says of the 
 true and expected Messiah, in Zechariah ix. 10., ^'And 
 he shall speak peace unto the heathen," etc. Jesus says 
 he came in order " to send the sword on earth," but 
 Scripture says, Isaiah ii. 4., "And they shall beat their 
 swords into ploughshares, and their spears into pruning- 
 hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation,
 
 FAITH STRENGTHENED. 7 
 
 neither shall they learn war any more." Jesus says he 
 came "to put father and son at variance," etc, but Mala- 
 chi says (at the end of his book) that "before the coming 
 of the true Messiah the prophet Elijah shall appear, and 
 turn the heart of the fathers to their children, and the 
 heart of the children to their fathers." Jesus says, 
 concerning himself, Matthew xx. 28, that he is not 
 come to be served by the son of man, but to serve others. 
 Concerning the true Messiah, however, Scripture says, 
 Psalms Ixxii. 11, " Yea, all kings shall prostrate them- 
 selves before him; all nations shall serve him." And 
 Zech. ix. 10, " His dominion shall be from sea even to 
 sea, and from the river even to the end of the earth." 
 Thus states also Daniel, vii. 27, " And all rulers shall 
 serve him and obey him." 
 
 3rdly. As to the period of his existence, it is evident 
 that he did not come at the time foretold by the pro- 
 phets ; for they predicted the advent of the Messiah to 
 happen at the latter days, see Isaiah ii. 2, "And it 
 shall come to pass in the latter days, that the mountain 
 of the Lord's house shall be established on the top of 
 the mountains," etc. Further we read there, verse 4, con- 
 cerning the king Messiah, " And he shall judge among 
 the nations and arbitrate among many people, and they 
 shall beat their swords into ploughshares, and their spears 
 into pruninghooks," etc. Thus is also recorded in 
 Scripture concerning the wars of Gog and Magog, which 
 are to take place in the time of the king Messiah. Vide 
 Ezekiel xxviii. 8, "After many days thou shalt be visited ; 
 in the latter years thou shalt come into the land that is 
 brought back from the sword," as will be explained in 
 the proper place. The same is evident from Hosea, iii. 5, 
 "Afterward shall the children of Israel return, and seek 
 the Lord their God, and David their kinix, and shall 
 revere the Lord and His goodness in the latter days."
 
 8 FAITH STRENGTHENED. 
 
 So we read also in Daniel ii. 28, '^nd (God) maketli 
 known to the king Nebuchadnezzar what shall be in the 
 latter days." Which passage refers to the subsequent 
 prophecy, ib. ver. 44, "And in the days of these kings 
 shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom which shall 
 never be destroyed ; and the sovereignty shall not be 
 left to other people," etc. Hence we see clearly that 
 the prophets predicted that the coming of the true 
 Messiah would happen at the " latter days," and not 
 before. 
 
 4thly. We have to consider the promises contained in 
 the words of the prophets, which were not fulfilled in 
 the time of Jesus, but are to be realised in future at the 
 time of the true Messiah, who is still expected. They 
 may be classed under the following heads : — 
 
 (a.) At the time of the king Messiah there is to be 
 only one kingdom and one king, namely, the true king 
 Messiah. But the other empires and their rulers shall 
 cease at that period, as we read in Daniel ii. 44, " And 
 in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set 
 up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed ; and the 
 kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall 
 break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it 
 shall stand for ever." Whereas, we now actually see 
 that many empires, different in their laAvs and habits, 
 are still in existence ; and that in each empire a different 
 king is ruling; consequently the Messiah is not yet 
 come. 
 
 (b). At the time of the king Messiah, there is to be 
 in the world but one creed and one reliofion, and that is 
 the religion of Israel, as is proved by Isaiah (lii. 1), 
 " Awake, awake, put on thy strength, Zion ; put on 
 thy beautiful garments, Jerusalem, the holy city: for 
 henceforth there shall no more come into thee the uncir- 
 cumcised and the unclean." And further (chap. Ixvi. 17),
 
 FAITH STRENGTHENED. 9 
 
 " Who sanctify themselves and purify themselves [we 
 prefer the literal translation of this obscure passage to the 
 unwarranted and still more obscure translation of the 
 Authorised Version] in the gardens, behind one in the 
 midst of them who eat the flesh of the swine, and the 
 abomination, and the mouse, shall be consumed together 
 saith the Lord." " And (ver. 23) it shall come to pass, 
 that from one new moon to another, and from one sab- 
 bath to another, shall all flesh come and worship before 
 me, saith the Lord." Moreover, it is written in Zecha- 
 riah (xiv. 16), " And it shall come to pass, that every 
 one that is left of all the nations which came against 
 Jerusalem shall even go up from year to year to worship 
 the King, the Lord of hosts, and to keep the feast of 
 tabernacles." Li the same book (chap. viii. 23) we 
 read, " Thus saith the Lord of hosts. In those days it 
 shall come to pass, that ten men of nations of diverse 
 languages shall take hold, even shall take hold of the 
 skirt of a Jew [Authorised Version renders it " of him 
 that is a Jew"], saying. We will go with you ; for we have 
 heard that God is with you." There are many other 
 passages in that book to the same effect. 
 
 (c.) At the time of the Messiah, the idolatrous images 
 and their memorial, as also the false prophets and the 
 spirit of profanity are to vanish from the earth, as may 
 be seen in Zechariah xiii. 2. " And it shall come to pass 
 in that day, saith the Lord of hosts, that I will cut off 
 the names of the idols from the earth, and they shall no 
 more be remembered, also I will cause the prophets and 
 the unclean spirit [literally ' the spirit of uncleanliness'] 
 to pass away from the earth." So also it is written in 
 Isaiah ii. 18, " And the idols he shall utterly abolish." 
 So it is also said in Zephaniah ii. 11. " The Lord will be 
 terrible unto them, for he will cause all the gods of the
 
 10 FAITH STRENGTHENED. 
 
 earth to waste away, and men shall worship Hmi, every 
 one from his place, even all the isles of the heathen." 
 
 {d.) At the time of the Messiah, there Avill be no sins 
 and iniquities in the world, particularly not among the 
 Israelitish nation. Thus we find in the law (Deuteronomy 
 XXX. 6.), " And the Lord thy God will circumcise thine 
 heart and the heart of thy seed to love the Lord thy 
 God with all thine heart and with all thy soul, that thou 
 mayest live." Again, in Zephaniah iii. 13. " The rem- 
 nant of Israel shall not do iniquity, nor speak lies, 
 neither shall a deceitful tongue be found in their mouth." 
 Again, in Jeremiah iii. 13. "At that time they shall call 
 Jerusalem the throne of the Lord, and all the nations 
 shall be gathered unto it, to the name of the .Lord, to 
 Jerusalem, neither shall they walk any more after the 
 imagination of their evil heart." Again, in Ezekiel 
 xxxvi. 25. " And I will sprinkle clean water upon you: 
 from all your impurity, and from all your idols, will I 
 cleanse you. And I will give unto you a new heart, and 
 a new spirit will I put within you, and I will -take aAvay 
 the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you a 
 heart of flesh. And I will put my spirit within you, 
 and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep 
 my judgments and do them." Moreover, see Ezekiel 
 xxxvii. 23. " Neither shall they defile themselves any 
 more with the idols nor with their abominations, nor 
 with their transgressions, and I will save them out of 
 all their dwelling-places wherein they have sinned, and 
 I will cleanse them, and they shall be my j)eople, and I 
 will be their God, and David my servant shall be king 
 over them, and they shall have one shepherd, and they 
 shall walk in my judgments and observe my statutes 
 and do them." 
 
 {e.) At the time of the king Messiah and after the
 
 FAITH STRENGTHENED. 11 
 
 war with Gog and Magog there will be peace and tran- 
 quillity throughout the world, and men will no longer 
 require any weapons of war. So it is written in Isaiah 
 ii. 4. " And they shall beat their swords into plough- 
 shares, and their spears into pruning-hooks ; nation shall 
 hot lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn 
 war any more." See also Ezekiel xxxix. 9. " And they 
 that dwell in the cities of Israel shall go forth and shall 
 set on fire and burn the weapons, both the shields and 
 the bucklers, the bows and the arrows, and the hand- 
 staves and the spears, and they shall burn them with 
 fire seven years (ib. ver. 10.) so that they shall take no 
 wood out of the field, neither cut down a?iy out of the 
 forests, for with the weapons shall they kindle the fire." 
 With these words agrees the prophecy of Hosea ii. 20. 
 according to the division of chapters in the Hebrew 
 Bibles, (in the English version it is chap. ii. ver. 18.) 
 " and I will break the bow and the sword and the battle 
 out of the earth, and I \vill make them to lie down safe- 
 ly." So says also Zechariah ix. 10, " And the battle- 
 bow shall be cut off*, and he shall speak peace unto the 
 heathen, '^ etc. • 
 
 (/.) At the time of the king Messiah there will be 
 peace in the Holy Land between the ferocious and do- 
 mestic animals, so that they will not injure each other, 
 and much less injure a human being, as is evident from 
 the following prophecies of Isaiah xi. 6. " The wolf 
 also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall 
 lie down with the kid, and the calf and the young lion, 
 and the fatling together, and a little child shall lead 
 them." (Ver. 7) "And the cow and the bear shall 
 feed together ; their young ones shall lie down together, 
 and the lion shall eat straw like the ox." (Ver. 8) 
 " And the sucking child shall play on the hole of the 
 asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the
 
 12 FAITH STRENGTHENED. 
 
 cockatrice's den." (Ver. 9) " They shall not hurt nor 
 destroy in all my holy mountain, for the earth shall be 
 full of the knowledge of the Lord," etc. and (ib. Ixv. 25) 
 "And the wolf and the lamb shall feed together, and the 
 lion shall eat straw like the bullock, and dust shall be 
 the serpent's meat. They shall not hurt nor destroy in 
 all my holy mountain, saith the Lord." (See also Ezekiel 
 xxxiv. 25) " And I will make with them a covenant of 
 peace, and will cause the evil beasts to cease out of the 
 land, and they shall dwell safely in the wilderness, and 
 sleep in the woods." (Ver. 28.) "And they shall no 
 more be a prey to the heathen, neither shall the beast of 
 the land devour them," etc. (See also Hosea ii. 20, or 
 in the English version, 18) "And in that day Avill I 
 make a covenant for them with the beasts of the field, 
 and with the fowls of heaven, and with the creeping 
 things of the ground," etc. 
 
 (g.) At the time of the Messiah there will be no 
 troubles, cares, and anxieties, among the restored Israel- 
 ites, who will then be blessed with a prolonged and 
 more happy life, as is foretold in the following passages 
 of Isaiah (Ixv. 16). "He who blesseth himself in the 
 earth shall bless himself in the God of truth, and he that 
 sweareth in the earth shall swear by the God of truth, 
 because the former troubles are forgotten, and because 
 they are hid from mine eyes. (Yer. 19) " And I will 
 rejoice in Jerusalem, and joy in my people, and the voice 
 of weeping shall no more be heard in her, nor the voice 
 of crj'ing." (Ver. 20) " There shall be no more thence 
 an infant of days, nor an old man that hath not filled 
 his days, for the child shall die a hundred years old, but 
 the sinner being a hundred years old shall be accursed." 
 (Ver. 21) "And they shall build houses and inhabit 
 them, and they shall i:)lant vineyards and eat the fruit of 
 them." (Ver. 22) "They shall not build and another
 
 FAITH STRENGTHENED. 13 
 
 inhabit, they shall not plant and another eat, for as the 
 days of a tree shall be the days of my people, and mine 
 elect shall long enjoy the work of their hands." 
 
 {h). At the time of the Messiah the Shechinah (efful- 
 gency of divine presence) shall return to Israel as in 
 former days, and the people of Israel increase in pro- 
 phecy, wisdom, and knowledge, as may be seen by the fol- 
 lowing quotations from the prophets. (Ezek. xxxvii.26) 
 " Moreover I will make a covenant of peace with them ; 
 it shall be an everlasting covenant with them : and I 
 will establish and multiply them, and set my sanctuary 
 in the midst of them for evermore." (Ver. 27) " My 
 residence also shall be among them. Yea, I will be 
 their God, and they shall be my people." (Ver. 28) 
 " And the heathen shall know that I the Lord do sanc- 
 tify Israel when my sanctuary shall be in the midst of 
 them for evermore." (lb. xxxix. 29) " Neither mil I 
 hide my face any more from them, for I have poured 
 out my Spirit upon the house of Israel, saith the Lord 
 God." (lb. xliii. 7) " And he said unto me. Son of man, 
 the place of my throne, and the place of the soles of my 
 feet where I will dwell in the midst of the children of 
 Israel /(?r ever^^^ etc. (lb. xlviii. 35) " And the name 
 of the city from that day shall be, ' The Lord is there' " 
 (Joel ii. 27) " And ye shall know that I am in the 
 midst of Israel, and that I am the Lord your God, 
 and there is none else ; and my people shall never be 
 ashamed." (lb. iii. 1; in the English Version ii. 28) 
 " And it shall come to pass afterwards, that I will pour 
 out my spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and your 
 daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream 
 dreams, your young men shall see visions." (lb. iii. 17) 
 " So ye shall know that I am the Lord your God dwel- 
 ling in Zion my holy mountain : then shall Jerusalem 
 be holy, and there shall no strangers pass through it
 
 14 FAITH STRENGTHExNED. 
 
 any more." (lb. iii. 21) " For I will avenge their blood 
 that I liad not avenged, for the I^ord dwelleth in Zion." 
 (Zee. ii. 14; in the English Version, ii. 10) " Sing and 
 rejoice, daughter of Zion, for, lo ! I come and dwell 
 in the midst of thee, saith the Lord." (Isa. xi. 9) " For 
 the earth shall be fidl of the knowledge of the Lord as 
 the waters cover the sea." ( Jer. xxxi. 34) " And they 
 shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every 
 man his brother, saying. Know the Lord: for they shall 
 know me, from the lowest of them to the highest, saith 
 the Lord : for I will forgive their iniquity, and remem- 
 ber their sin no more." 
 
 The above indications pointed out by the prophets 
 as indispensable attributes of the true Messiah, have 
 not been fulfilled in Jesus the Nazarene. Nor have 
 we hitherto seen realised the prophetic assurances 
 already named, or others that we have omitted, to 
 avoid prolixity. And we therefore arrive at the just 
 conclusion, that the true and expected Messiah has not 
 yet come. In him alone all the predicted attributes 
 jmdoubtedly will be manifested, and through him 
 alone and in no other way, the scriptural promises will 
 be accomplished. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 An argument has been adduced by Christians, to the 
 effect, that the Almighty has rejected the Israelitish 
 nation, because they would not listen to the teachings 
 of the Messiah, his messenger, and because they 
 executed judgment on him. The Lord has, therefore, 
 say they, chosen the Christian nation, and he permitted 
 Christ to suffer martyrdom for their sake and for the 
 salvation of their souls, because they had acknowledged 
 him and put faith in him.
 
 FAITH STRENGTHENED. 15 
 
 REFUTATION. 
 
 This argument is unfounded; for the Christians 
 themselves confess, that before the coming of Jesus, 
 they (as Gentiles) denied the Almighty, and were 
 idolaters. Even after the coming of Jesus, he was not 
 received as a God, nor believed to be such until some 
 hundred years subsequent to his existence. Yea, they 
 (the Gentiles) themselves carried on exterminating 
 persecution against him, his disciples, apostles, and 
 followers. Nero, the emperor of Home, for instance, 
 caused Peter and Paul to die an unnatural death, on 
 account of their endeavours to persuade and urge the 
 people to believe in Jesus. Decius, the Roman emperor, 
 caused, in a like spirit, Laurentius to be roasted alive 
 in the year 254 of the vulgar era, because he persuaded 
 people to embrace Christianity. So acted all the empe- 
 rors that followed him ; they persecuted the Christians, 
 and killed the popes, and those who followed the religion 
 of Jesus, as may be gathered from their ecclesiastical 
 histories. The first Byzantine emperor who adopted 
 the Christian faith, was Constantine, who established 
 laws for his co-religionists 300 years after the 
 death of Jesus. In his days lived Arius who 
 composed a controversial work against the Christian 
 dogmas, but Constantine lent no ear to his opinions. 
 After the death of this monarch, Constantine the Second 
 attached himself to the sect of Arius, and slighted the 
 established doctrines; and his succeeding relative 
 Julian, likewise adhered to the Arian views, and reject- 
 ed the general principles of the Christian Faith. His 
 example was imitated by several of his successors. 
 There are, even in our times, people who acknowledge 
 the authority of Arius, and who constitute the sect 
 called by his name. This (the original repudiation of 
 Christianity by the Gentiles) is also to be noticed among
 
 16 FAITH STRENGTHENED. 
 
 the [ancient] inhabitants of Prussia; when bishop 
 Adelbert of Prague came to them to instruct them in his 
 religion in the year 990, of the Christian era, they cut 
 liim in pieces. The Prussians and Poles were not con- 
 verted to the Christian religion before the eleventh 
 century, and the Scandinavians not until after the 
 1400th year of the vulgar era, as is stated in the 
 Ecclesiastical histories. The majority of the followers 
 of Christianity continue even at the present day to adore 
 in their places of worship images of gold and silver, 
 wood, and stone, and many of them shew divine rever- 
 ence to the wafer, or sacramental bread by prostrating 
 themselves before it. 
 
 These practices they keep up in contradiction to the 
 teachings of Jesus : who rigorously impressed upon his 
 disciples and apostles to abstain from them, as well as 
 from the eating of the sacrifices offered up to idols. 
 We also find in the Gospel, they are forbidden to eat 
 blood, or the flesh of strangled animals ; which inter- 
 dictions are disregarded even by the most scrupulous 
 Christians. They likewise desecrate the true Sabbath- 
 day, the stringent commandment of which, was kept by 
 Jesus, and subsequently by his disciples and his fol- 
 lowers, during the period of 500 years. From that 
 period, the ancient law was superseded by the Pope 
 enjoining to celebrate the first day of the week, Sunday, 
 as the sacred day. Hence arises the question: How 
 can they boast to be the preferred nation, selected in 
 reward of their homage to Jesus; or how can they 
 assume the name of Christians, since there exists among 
 them, no longer any observer of the Mosaical precepts,, 
 which Jesus himself declared inviolable ? Besides, they 
 deviate from his statutes by adding to, and diminishing 
 from the dictates of the Gospel, while he pronounced 
 severe maledictions against those who should venture
 
 FAITH STRENGTHENED. 17 
 
 to add or to diminish from his words, as may be learned 
 from the passages above referred to, and will be set 
 forth more fully in chapter xlix. of this work. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 A MEiMBER of the Greek Church, once addressed me in the 
 following words : — " Do you know wherefore you have 
 no longer a king of your own people ? It is because you 
 have rejected the faith of Jesus Christ and His kingdom, 
 for He was the king of Israel. On this account the 
 empire of Israel has been destroyed." 
 
 I replied to him : " It is known, and evident from the 
 words of the prophets, that in consequence of our mani- 
 fold inicjuities, our kingdom was destroyed in the time 
 of Nebuchadnezzar, when this king led Zedekiah, king 
 of Judah, captive to Babylon. 
 
 " This event took place more than four hundred years 
 before the existence of Jesus. The Jews were then 
 successively subjects of the Babylonians, Medes, and 
 Greeks. Long before the birth of Jesus we had been 
 kept in servitude by the Romans. You may see that 
 proved in your Gospel of Luke, iii. 1, 'In the fifteenth 
 year of Tiberius Ca3sar, Pontius Pilate being governor 
 of Judea,' etc. See also John xix. 15, 'Pilate saith 
 unto them, Shall I crucify your king? The chief priests 
 answered, We have no king but Cassar.' Now, as to 
 your ascribing to Jesus the government of Israel, we 
 are at a loss to know who made him king, and where 
 he ruled over Israel. You, members of the Greek 
 Church, were the parties who first acknowledged Chris- 
 tianity in the kingdom of your Messiah, and you still 
 continue in your faith in Him ; and, nevertheless, your 
 
 c
 
 18 FAITH STRENGTHENED. 
 
 government has been destroyed, and you have no longer 
 a king of your own people : for a Mohammedan ruler, the 
 Turkish sultan, who is now in possession of the Holy 
 Land, extends his sway over Greece. 
 
 There are many other Christian states which formerly 
 elected their own kings, and now are subjected to the 
 Ottoman power. On the other hand, you see the 
 Mahommedans not only disbelieving the doctrines of 
 Jesus, but even mercilessly persecuting the followers of 
 his faith, and notmthstanding this, the empire of 
 the Turks enjoys undisturbed prosperity. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 An eminent disciple of Martin Luther one day, thus 
 argued with me: — -'You know that in our gospel. Acts, 
 v. 34, it is mentioned that Rabbi Gamaliel, a learned 
 and distinguished man, addressed the by-standing Jews 
 in the following terms: (Ver. 38) ' Refrain from these 
 men, and let them alone, for if this counsel, or this work 
 be of men, it will come to nought; (ver. 39) but if it 
 be of God ye cannot overthrow it, but it Avill continue 
 firm, and ye must rebel against the intentions and the 
 counsel of God.' To this he brings forward an example 
 in Theudas and Judas of Galilee, who came forward as 
 Messiahs of their own accord, without approbation and 
 decree of the Almighty, and were in a short time utterly 
 destroyed, with all their followers. 
 
 "You see then with your own eyes (said the Lutheran) 
 that this faith, that is to say, the faith of Jesus and his 
 apostles, has not been destroyed these 1500 years and 
 more ; consequently the before-mentioned trial (of the 
 veracity of the Christian faith proposed by the Jewish 
 doctor) is a convincing and perfect proof, that the words
 
 FAITH STRENGTHENED. 19 
 
 and acts of the founders of Christianity met with the 
 full approbation of God." 
 
 Upon this, I gave him the following reply: — The 
 words reported in the gospel as having been used by 
 Rabbi Gamaliel are not accredited among us ; but were 
 it even acknowledsred that Rabbi Gamaliel did thus 
 express himself, we know that he did not speak in a 
 prophetic spirit, for he was no prophet, but that he 
 expressed merely his views from what he had ex- 
 perienced in his own time of Theudas and Judas of 
 Galilee. Hence it is possible he might have uttered his 
 views, as Scripture says (Psalm xix. 12), "Who can be 
 aware of errors," etc. On the other hand, you may 
 perceive incontrovertible testimony of the contrary from 
 the idolatrous service which preceded Jesus, and which 
 was renewed after his time, and did not cease for so 
 many centuries. You well know that the worship of 
 idols was introduced previously to the existence of our 
 ancestor Abraham ; for Terah the father of Abraham 
 was an idolater, as is recorded in scripture, Joshua 
 xxiv. 2. concerning the father of Abraham and Nahor, 
 *' and they served other Gods." 
 
 Since that period to the present time, 3000 years and 
 more have elapsed; and the worship of images still 
 continues. For we see your Evangelists, who follow in 
 the steps of Martin Luther, accuse those who walk in 
 the faith of the pope of Rome of rendering homage to 
 images in their houses of worship ; yet it is manifest, 
 that image-worship proceeds from the will of God. 
 
 Thus has also the infidel Mohammed instituted the 
 
 spurious religion of the Islams. A religion the falsity 
 
 .of which you yourself acknowledge, and nevertheless 
 
 this delusion lasted for above 1000 vears, and is to this 
 
 day not put down. 
 
 Would you say then that these two creeds, viz., 
 
 c 2
 
 20 FAITH STRENGTHENED. 
 
 Popery and Mohammedanism because they are not yet 
 abohshed, were established by the approbation or com- 
 mand of God ? I have not the slightest idea, that a 
 reasonable being can entertain such a supposition : but 
 the fact is, that the Almighty says " leave the foolish- 
 minded to themselves, for in futurity they will have to 
 render account of their action" (vide treatise Abodah 
 Zarah, on occasion of a question asked of Rabbi Gama- 
 liel). Moreover it is known, from the words of the 
 prophets, that idolatry -will continue till the time of the 
 Messiah, whose advent we expect ; for concerning that 
 period see Isaiah ii. 18., " And the idols he shall utterly 
 abolish." Again Zephaniah ii. 11., "The Lord will 
 be terrible unto them, for he will bring low all the gods 
 of the earth," " and men shall worship Him every one 
 from his place, even all the isles of the heathen." 
 Again Zechariah xiii. 2., " And it shall come to pass 
 in that day, saith the Lord of hosts, that I will cut off 
 the name of the idols out of the land, and they shall no 
 more be remembered " etc. Then will be fulfilled the 
 passage contained in the same prophet, xiv. 9. "And 
 the Lord shall be King over all the earth, in that day 
 the Lord shall he One and His name One^ 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 The same personage argued with me another time, and 
 said, " You ought to know that, as long as you fulfilled 
 the behests of God and his commandments, you were 
 prosperous in this world ; for the kings of Israel were 
 great and mighty, so that our forefathers, and many 
 other Gentile nations, were held under subjection by 
 you ; but now, since you have sinned against God, the
 
 FAITH STRENGTHENED. 21 
 
 case is reversed; for the rule has departed from you and 
 passed over to us, so has our subjection departed from 
 us and passed over to you. For, at present, you have 
 no king or prince among you, and you are held under 
 subjection by all nations. At the same time, our pros- 
 perity is a great proof of the goodness of our faith, as 
 your former prosperity was a proof of the goodness of 
 your faith, hence this your degraded state must be 
 considered a convincing illustration of your evil doings 
 in rejecting our creed." To this I replied: — 
 
 " Your argument is fallacious in all its bearings, for 
 in this world there are many wicked men, whose lot is 
 as prosperous as if they were truly righteous men, 
 while we frequently see the pious labouring under severe 
 afflictions ; an instance of this we find in the success of 
 Nebuchadnezzar the wicked^ and Alexander the Great, 
 who extended their rule over a great part of the world, 
 and especially over the land of the Israelites, nor had 
 there ever been seen kings more prosperous in their 
 government than they were. Yet they, with all their 
 success, cannot be brought forward as an argument in 
 favour of the superiority of the faith of the Gentiles 
 over that of the subjugated Israelites, it being a well- 
 known fact that they (the great kings) were worshij^pers 
 of idols and the planets. Now in our day even you, 
 Christians, agree that Islamism is nothing but a false 
 system introduced by their pretended prophet Mo- 
 hammed ; nevertheless, they are prosperous in this 
 world, and their religion and power spread over a 
 large portion of Asia and Africa: consequently, how 
 can you say that their prosperity is a 'proof of the good- 
 ness of their creed, seeing also that Scripture shews the 
 reverse. Thus Jeremiah says, xii. 1, "For the Lord 
 chastiseth him whom He loveth," etc. The argument, 
 therefore, which you derived from your prosperity iu
 
 22 FAITH STRENGTHENED. 
 
 favor of your religion, is groundless, and must appear 
 so to every man of good sense. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 A Chkistian scholar argued once with me, saying, " We 
 have examined the words of the prophets, and have not 
 found that even a single allusion was made or a pro- 
 phecy revealed, concerning the captivity in which you 
 at present are — namely, the captivity into which you 
 were brought by the Romans. All the prophets speak 
 only about the captivity and the conquest of Babylon 
 by the Medes and Persians, yet not a word is contained 
 in Holy Writ concerning your present capti\'ity nor 
 your deliverance from it, nor of the downfall of the 
 Roman dominion. How can it then be known, that the 
 appointed Messiah has not arrived, or that he is to 
 arrive at some future period — since all the promises 
 recorded in the works of the prophets were fulfilled at 
 the time of the second temple — and it is this to which 
 Matthew alludes, xi. 13, ' For all the prophets and the 
 laAV prophesied until John [the Baptist].' " 
 
 Upon this I made the following reply : 
 
 It is not to be wondered at, that you do not find 
 any statement in the writings of the prophets, concern- 
 ing the present captivity and the redemption therefrom, 
 etc., for it is written Psalm xiv. 70, " He declareth His 
 AV'ord unto Jacob, His statutes and His judgments unto 
 Israel. He has not dealt so with any nation, nor has 
 He made known His judgments unto them." 
 
 But I will shew, first, distinct prophecies concerning 
 our dispersion and our scattered state in this exile — a 
 dispersion which is wonderful — a scattered state, which
 
 FAITH STRENGTHENED. 23 
 
 is unprecedented, for where have we seen 2iny other 
 nation spread throughout all parts of the earth ? 
 
 Secondly. I will bring forward prophecies fixing our 
 continuance in this captivity for a protracted period ex- 
 tending to the latter days; and also promises of the 
 prophets regarding our redemption from this captivity ; 
 and likewise many predictions from the sacred writers 
 respecting the overthrow of the Roman and other 
 powers who must be deemed unworthy to be allied 
 with the nation of Israel at the time of its restoration. 
 There are several other prophecies yet unaccomplished, 
 which will come to pass at the appointed season. 
 
 Now referring to the prophecy concerning the cap- 
 tivity : viz., the captivity effected by the Romans, we 
 read in the law (Deut. xxviii. 64), " And the Lord shall 
 scatter the6 among all people, from the one end of the 
 earth even unto the other;" for, in the Roman captivity, 
 the Jews belonging to the second temple were dis.pr^rsp'-' 
 and scattered in divers countries then possessed by the 
 Romans. They brought with them people of various 
 nations to besiege Jerusalem for they could not make an 
 easy conquest on account of the great valour of the Jews. 
 Such was not the case at the destruction of the first 
 temple, the Jews being then too few and weak, so that 
 the unaided Babylonians were sufficient to reduce them 
 and to lead them into captivity; they were, therefore^ 
 only banished to Babel, as we read at the end of the 
 Second Chronicles (xxxvi. 20), " And them that had 
 escaped from the sWord carried he away to Babylon, 
 where they were servants to him and his sons, until the 
 reign of the kingdom of Persia." Thus we find also in 
 Ezra (ii. 1), " Now these are the children of the 
 province that went up out of the captivity of those 
 Avho had been carried away, whom Nebuchadnezzar, 
 tlie king of Babylon, had carried away to Babylon,
 
 24 FAITH STRENGTHENED. 
 
 and came again unto Jerusalem and Judah, every one 
 into his city." See also in the same prophet (i. 2), " All 
 the vessels of gold and of silver were 5400; all these did 
 Sheshbazzar bring with them of the captivity that were 
 brought up from Babylon into Jerusalem." You see 
 here, from the testimony of Scripture, that the Israelites 
 were only exiled to Babel, and returned only from 
 thence. When we therefore read in Deut. (xxx. 3), 
 " That then the Lord thy God will turn thy captivity, etc., 
 and gather thee from all the nations whither the Lord 
 thy God has scattered thee," we cannot possibly ascribe 
 it to the captivity of Babel, but only to that of Rome. 
 
 When, further, the prophet Ezekiel says (xxii. 15), 
 " And I will scatter thee among the heathen and disperse 
 thee in the countries and cause thy impurity to cease," 
 we cannot possibly refer it to any other than this last 
 captivity, viz., the Roman captivity. For in the cap- 
 tivity of Babylon their impurity was not removed from 
 them. When they had left Babylon and arrived in the 
 Holy Land, there were still among them men who had 
 taken heathen wives, who profaned the sabbath and 
 committed many more iniquities ; hence they became 
 again subject to captivity for their many sins. To this 
 must be referred the remark of the prophet, that by 
 reason of the length of this sad captivity, our sins and 
 our impurities will be removed from us, so that we shall 
 not be exiled again. See Lamentations (iv. 22), " The 
 punishment of thy iniquity is accomplished, daughter 
 of Zion ; he will no more carry thee away into captivity, 
 etc." See also Amos (i. 6), "Thus saith the Lord, For 
 three transgressions of Gaza, and for four, I will not 
 turn away the punishment thereof, because they carried 
 away captive the whole captivity, to deliver them up to 
 Edom" ; and in the same chapter (ver. ix.), " Thus saith 
 the Lord, For three transgressions of Tyre, and for four, I
 
 FAITH STRENGTHENED, 25 
 
 will not turn away the punishment thereof, because they 
 delivered up the whole captivity to Edom, and remem- 
 bered not the brotherly covenant." 
 
 These prophecies referred to the future : viz., to the de- 
 struction of the second temple, for those who had escaped 
 from the captivity of Titus and fled to the countries of 
 the Philistines and to Tyre, both adjacent to the Holy 
 Land, Avere seized and delivered up to the hand of 
 Edom; that is, Titus and his army; for the Nazarene 
 Nations, and the Komans at their head, are alluded to 
 in Scripture under the title of Edom, or daughter of 
 Edom, in like manner as those nations which were con- 
 verted to the creed of Islam, are called by the Hebrews, 
 Ismaelites, on account of their supposed ancestor Ismael. 
 
 Now, what the prophet says (Amos i. 9) concerning 
 the whole captivity, means, that there remained no 
 fugitive or runaway who was not subject to the yoke 
 of the Romans, while there had remained many remnants 
 during the Babylonian captivity who did not yield to 
 the supremacy of the Chaldeans ; and, therefore, went to 
 Egypt, as Scripture testifies (see Jeremiah xliii. 7), 
 " So they came into the land of Egypt, for they obeyed 
 not the voice of the Lord." As to the expression of 
 Amos (i. 9), " And they remembered not the brotherly 
 covenant," it alludes to the covenant that existed 
 between Hiram, king of Tyre, and King Solomon; for 
 Scripture says, " That they made a covenant together 
 and addressed each other as brothers (see 1 Kings 
 ix. 13). 
 
 We shall now proceed to consult scripture respecting 
 our continuance in this protracted captivity ; and we 
 shall perceive that after having surmounted many days of 
 trouble and affliction, the Lord will have mercy again 
 on us in the latter days ; and we shall be convinced 
 tliat, though our deliverance is so long deferred, the
 
 26 FAITH STRENGTHENED. 
 
 Lord will not forget His covenant and His oath which 
 He swore unto our fathers. See Deut. iv. 30, 31, 
 " When thou art in tribulation, and all these things are 
 come upon thee, even in the latter days, thou shalt 
 turn to the Lord thy God, and be obedient unto His 
 voice. For the Lord thy God is a merciful God, and 
 He will not forsake thee, neither destroy thee, nor forget 
 the covenant of thy fathers Avhich He sware unto them." 
 Hosea iii. 4, " For the children of Israel shall abide 
 many days without a king, and without a prince, and 
 without a sacrifice, and without an image, and without 
 Ephod, and without Teraphim — afterwards shall the 
 children of Israel return and seek the Lord, their God, 
 and David their king, and shall reverence the Lord in 
 the latter days." This prophecy evidently refers to our 
 present exile; for we have no king, and no prince in 
 Israel, but are under the dominion of Gentiles and their 
 monarchs. We cannot offer sacrifice to God, or seek 
 information by means of the Urim and Thummim, 
 neither is there a false oracle of the Teraphim, which, 
 according to the representation of idolaters, revealed 
 coming events — besides all Israelites are now in cap- 
 tivity, and what the prophet says, " Afterwards Israel 
 shall return," refers to the latter days, close to the time 
 of salvation when the children of Israel shall come back 
 penitently and seek the Lord their God, and David their 
 king, for then they will regret their ejaculation (1 Kings 
 xii. 16), "What portion have we in David? neither 
 have we inheritance in the son of Jesse;" for he who 
 denies the kingdom of David is as sinful as if he had 
 rebelled against the Lord himself, who has given an 
 everlasting dominion unto David and his seed. At the 
 time of salvation shall be fulfilled the saying of Jeremiah 
 XXX. 9, " They shall serve the Lord their God, and David 
 their king, whom I will raise up unto them." We find
 
 FAITH STRENGTHENED. 27 
 
 besides an allusion to the redemption from the captivity 
 by the Romans in the law, as well as in many passages 
 of the Prophets (see Deut. xxx. 3) " Then the Lord thy 
 God will turn thy captivity and have compassion on 
 thee, and will return and gather thee from all the 
 nations ;"' and (ver. 4.) " If any of them be driven out to 
 the uttermost of heaven, from thence will I the Lord 
 thy God gather thee and from thence will He fetch them.' 
 (Ver. 5.) '' And the Lord thy God will bring thee into 
 the land which thy fathers possessed, and thou shalt 
 possess it, and He will do thee good and multiply thee 
 above thy fathers (ver. 6). And the Lord thy God will 
 circumcise thy heart, and the heart of thy seed, to love 
 the Lord thy God with all thine heart and with all thy 
 soul, that thou mayst live." We see that these passages 
 were not fulfilled on the return of Judah and Benjamin 
 from Babylon; for the number of those who returned 
 amounted to only 42,360, as recorded in Ezra ii. 
 The majority remained in Babylon because they were 
 unwilling to go back to Jerusalem. How then can it 
 be maintained that the promise has been fulfilled, which 
 declares " if any of them be driven out to the uttermost 
 part of heaven, from thence the Lord thy God will 
 gather thee, and from thence will He fetch thee." 
 
 If even at the time of the second temple, during an 
 abode in the Holy Land, the Lord has not done us more 
 good, nor multiplied us more than our fathers — how can 
 it be asserted that the promises have been fulfilled ? viz. 
 " And He will do thee good and multiply thee above thy 
 fathers." For during all the days of "the second temple 
 we were in distress and trouble. See Daniel ix. 25 
 " And after three score and two weeks the streets shall 
 be built again and the wall even in troublesome times." 
 See also the prophecy of Isaiah xliii. 5 "Fear not, for I 
 am with thee ; I will bring thy seed from the East, and
 
 28 FAITH STRENGTHENED. 
 
 gather thee from the West." (Ver. 6). "I will say 
 to the North give up, and to the South keep not back. 
 Bring my sons from far and my daughters from the end 
 of the earth." Again (xi. 12), " And he shall set up 
 an ensign for the nations, and shall assemble the out- 
 casts of Israel, and gather together the dispersed of 
 Judah from the four corners of the earth." See also 
 the prophecy of Ezekiel xxxix. 28, " But I shall gather 
 them into their own land, and leave none of them any 
 more there " (namely in the land of the enemy). 
 
 Assurances of this description, were not realised at 
 the exit of the Israelites from Babylon to Jerusalem, for 
 they not having been dispersed, after the captivity of 
 Babylon, in the four quarters of the globe, how can the 
 promise have been fulfilled that says, " And He shall 
 assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather together 
 the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the 
 earth?" 
 
 There having remained many in the captivity of 
 Babylon, as we have mentioned above, how was the 
 prophecy brought to pass which states " And I will 
 leave none of them there any more ?" We have further 
 to shew that durins; the time of the construction of the 
 second temple, the prediction was not fulfilled which 
 is contained in Isaiah Ix. 10, " And the son of the 
 strangers shall build up the walls; and kings shall 
 minister unto thee." For at that time the heathens 
 derided the Jews, saying (Nehem. iv. 2) '' What are 
 these feeble Jews doing"? etc. And they prevented 
 and interrupted them in building up the walls; more- 
 over the passage, " And kings shall serve thee " was not 
 fulfilled at that period; for we read in Ezra ix. 9 "We 
 are bondsmen; yet our God has not forsaken us in our 
 bondage, but hath extended mercy unto us in the sight 
 of the kings of Persia." This . is also written in
 
 FAITH STRENGTHENED. 29 
 
 Nehemiah ix. 36. " Behold we are servants this day, 
 and for the land that Thou gavest unto our Fathers 
 to eat the fruit thereof, and the good thereof, behold 
 we are servants in it." (Yer. 37) "And it yieldeth 
 much increase unto the kings whom thou hast set over 
 us, because of our sins : also they have dominion over 
 our bodies and over our cattle at their pleasure^ and 
 we are in the greatest distress." Further, we find in Isaiah 
 Ix. 11, '* Therefore thy gates shall be open continually, 
 they shall not be shut day or night." This prediction 
 did not come to pass during the second temple. For 
 we observe in Nehemiah vii. 3, " And I said unto them, 
 let not the gates of Jerusalem be opened until the sun 
 be hot," etc. Hence you may conclude, that not only 
 these promises, as well as the above-mentioned assur- 
 ances, were hot fulfilled during the time of the second 
 temple, but that just the contrary took place in respect 
 to them as we have already related. We must therefore 
 arrive at the conviction, that these prophecies and pro- 
 mises, and many others not mentioned here, referred 
 to our redemption from the captivity in which we now 
 are. 
 
 We shall now proceed to consider the predicted down- 
 fall of the Gentile nations, which is to take place in the 
 days of the expected Messiah. Concerning that period, 
 we read in Numbers xxiv. 17. "I see it, though it will 
 not happen now; I behold it, though not nigh, there 
 shall come a star out of Jacob, and a sceptre shall rise 
 out of Israel, it breaketh down the corners of Moab 
 and crusheth all the children of Seth." The king 
 Messiah, whose grandeur and lustre make him compar- 
 able v/ith the stars of heaven, will, according to this 
 prophecy, subject to his power all the children of Seth, 
 and He will perform such heroic deeds as were never 
 accomplished before Him.
 
 30 FAITH STRENGTHENED. 
 
 To the exploits of this king, are referable the con- 
 quests predicted in the above chapter of Numbers, "And 
 Edom shall become an inheritance, and Seir shall be a 
 possessor of its enemies, and Israel shall do valiant 
 deeds ; and he who is descended from Jacob shall rule, 
 and he that escapeth from the city [of the enemy] shall 
 perish." 
 
 The many predictions regarding Edom recorded in 
 Isaiah, Obadiah, and other prophets, have, by our laws, 
 been explained as alluding to Rome, which, since the 
 time of the destruction of the second temple, has ex- 
 hibited the fiercest persecutors, and most implacable 
 enemies of the Jews and their faith. 
 
 To this effect, Isaiah says, xxxiv. 8, "■ For the Lord 
 hath a day of vengeance, a year of retributions for the 
 controversy of Zion." Every iniquitous act committed 
 by the adversary of Zion will meet with condign visita- 
 tion, and human liberty shall triumph on the ruins of 
 tyranny. Hence he says, " And the redeemed of the 
 Lord shall return and enter Zion with joy, and ever- 
 lasting gladness shall be upon their head. Exultation 
 and rejoicing shall reach them, and sorrow and afilic- 
 tion shall flee from them far away." The comfort pro- 
 mised in the Lamentation of Jeremiah will then be 
 realised, for in iv. 22, it is said: "The punishment of 
 thine iniquity, daughter of Zion, has been fulfilled; 
 be will no more lead thee into captivity. He has visited 
 thine iniquity, daughter of Edom, he hath laid bare 
 thy sins." Love will then be shewn by the Gentiles to 
 the Jews, and according to Isaiah, Ixvi. 20, " They will 
 bring your brethren from among all the Gentiles as a 
 gift unto the Lord .... to Jerusalem, my holy 
 mountain." An objection has been raised against a 
 complete restoration of the Jews, grounded on some 
 partial texts of Scripture; but let us refer those who
 
 FAITH STRENGTHENED. - 31 
 
 make the allegation, to the followmg scriptural passages 
 which afford a complete refutation of such a supposition : 
 For Joel says, " Egypt shall be a desolation, and Edom 
 a howling wilderness, on account of the violence done to 
 the children oiJudah, and on account of the innocent blood 
 which they shed in their land. But Judah shall dwell for 
 ever, and Jerusalem from generation to generation." 
 
 We should not take these words in the narrow 
 limits in which they may present themselves to readers, 
 who fix upon a single scriptural passage without com- 
 paring it with the more extensive detailed passages of a 
 similar character. In fact, we have already stated, that 
 by Edom we understand Eome; and we must, with 
 justice to truth, submit that Egypt means the heavy 
 yoke of the Mahommedan power. 
 
 The Ishraaelites (or Mahommedans) have traced their 
 origin back" to Hagar, " the JMitzrith," or Egyptian 
 bondwoman, and were, therefore, called by the prophet, 
 Mitzrayim (Egyptians). 
 
 It appears also perfectly accountable that the prophet 
 speaks of the children of Judah rather than of the 
 whole house of Israel. For, on the overthrow of the 
 Ten Tribes, the name of the prevailing and distinguished 
 tribe of Judah was adopted to designate the whole 
 nation of Israel. Hence he says, " And Judah shall 
 remain there and for ever, and Jerusalem from gene- 
 ration to generation." Obadiah actually predicts that 
 all Israel (not only Judah) shall obtain the ultimate 
 victory. He says, " And the house of Jacob shall be 
 as a fire, and the house of Joseph as a flame, and the 
 house of Esau as stubble," etc. And he concludes by 
 saying, " And the saviours shall go up to the mount 
 Zion, to judge the mount of Esau, and the kingdom 
 shall belong unto the Lord." 
 
 We will now, for the sake of clearness, review in
 
 32 FAITH STRENGTHENED. 
 
 regular order the prophecies which are unfulfilled, and 
 are yet to come to pass in the days of the expected 
 Messiah. 
 
 1. The ingathering of the Ten Tribes, and their union 
 with Judah and Benjamin under the dominion of one 
 king of the house of Judah (see Ezek. xxxvii. 16), 
 " And now, son of man, take unto thee one staff, and 
 write thereon, for Judah and Israel," etc. 
 
 2. The rise of Gog and Magog, and their incursions 
 into the territory of Israel (see Ezek. xxxviii. and xxxix. 
 See also Zech. xiv. 12), " And this shall be the plague 
 which shall strike all the nations who have carried their 
 hosts against Jerusalem," etc. 
 
 3. The Mount of Olives shall be rent asunder (see 
 Zech. xiv. 4), " And his feet shall stand on that day on 
 the mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem, and 
 the mount of Olives shall be rent asunder in the midst 
 of the east and the west, so as to become a very ex- 
 tended valley," etc. 
 
 4. The river of Egypt shall be divided, and dry up 
 
 prior to the gathering of the exiles of Judah (see Isaiah 
 
 xi. 15, 16). 
 
 '* And the Lord shall cause the tonsue of the sea of 
 ' . . . 
 
 Egypt to be dried up, and He will wave His hand 
 
 against the river in the strength of His spirit, and He 
 
 will smite it into seven rivers. And men shall walk 
 
 through it dry shod, and it shall be a path for the 
 
 remnant of his people which shall remain from Assyria 
 
 as it was unto Israel on the day when they went out of 
 
 Egypt.^' 
 
 5. Ezekiel xlvii. "The waters issued out from under 
 the threshold of the house eastward. And by the river 
 shall grow all trees for meat, whose leaf shall not fade, 
 nor the fruit thereof be consumed. It shall bring forth 
 new fruit according to his month. Because their waters
 
 FAITH STRENGTHENED. 33 
 
 they issued out of the sanctuary, and the fruit thereof 
 shall be for meat, and the leaf thereof for medicine." 
 See ver. 1 and 12, Zechariah, xiv. 8, "And it shall be in 
 that day that living waters shall go out from Jerusalem, 
 half of them toward the former sea, and half of them 
 toward the hinder sea, in summer and in winter shall it 
 be." Joel iii. 18, " It shall come to pass in that day, that the 
 mountains shall drop down new wine, and the hills shall 
 flow with milk, and all the rivers of Judah shall flow 
 with waters; and a fountain shall come forth of the 
 house of the Lord, and shall water the valley of Sheetim.'' 
 
 6. The conversion of the Gentiles to Judaism, see 
 Zech. viii. 23, "They will say (to the Jews), We will go 
 with you, for we have heard that God is with you." 
 
 7. The an^iual pilgrimage of the remnant of all 
 nations to Jerusalem " to bow down to the King the 
 Lord of Hosts," etc. see Zech. xiv. 17. 
 
 8. The celebration of the Sabbath, and the new 
 moons by all the Gentiles (see the end of the Book of 
 Isaiah ver. 23.) 
 
 9. The total extinction of idolatry,. See Isaiah ii. 13, 
 *' And the idols he will consume completely;" and xlvii. 
 17, " They shall turn backward, and be filled with shame 
 who trust in images, and say unto the molten statues, 
 Ye are our gods!" See also Psalm xcvii. 7. 
 
 10. Unity of faith- shall prevail throughout the world. 
 See Isaiah xlviii., " By myself have I sworn, saith the 
 Lord, righteousness hath come forth from my mouth, 
 and a word which shall not emptily return, namely, 
 that unto me every knee shall bend, and by me every 
 tongue shall swear.'' Zech. xiv. 9, " And the Lord shall 
 be a King over the whole earth ; on that day shall the 
 Lord be one and his name One. 
 
 11. The kingdom of Israel shall be the principal one 
 in existence. See Isaiah Ix. 10, " And the children of
 
 34 FAITH STRENGTHENED. 
 
 strangers shall build thy walls, and their kings shall 
 serve thee.^'' Also ibid, " For the nation and the king- 
 dom which shall not be willing to serve thee shall 
 perish, and the people shall be utterly destroyed." 
 Daniel vii. 27, " And the kingdom and the dominion and 
 the multitude of kingdoms under the whole heaven shall 
 be given to the people of saints of the most high, whose 
 kingdom shall be an everlasting kingdom, and all rulers 
 shall serve and obey Him." 
 
 12. Peace shall be restored after the subjugation of 
 the resisting powers. See Isaiah ii. 4, " And they shall 
 strike their swords into ploughshares and their spears 
 into pruning hooks ; nation shall no more lift up sword 
 against nation, and they shall no more learn warfare." 
 Hosea iv., "And the bow and the sword and the warfare 
 I will break down and remove from the land, and ye 
 shall rest in security." 
 
 13. That there should be peace and harmony even 
 among the animals, in the land of Israel ; nor should 
 they harm man. See Isaiah xi. 6, " The wolf shall also 
 dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with 
 the kid, and the calf, and the young lion, and the fatling 
 together ; and a little child shall lead them." ( Ver.7) "And 
 the cow and the bear shall feed ; their young ones shall lie 
 down together, and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. 
 (Ver.8) And the sucking child shall play on the hole of 
 the asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the 
 cockatrice' den. (Ver.9) They shall not hurt nor destroy 
 in all my holy mountain, for the earth shall be full of the 
 knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea." 
 
 The like auspicious promises are repeated and ampli- 
 fied Isaiah Ixv. 6, and Ezekiel xxxiv. 25. Also in Hosea 
 ii. 28, we read, "And in that day, I will make a covenant 
 for them with the beasts of the field, and with the fowls 
 of heaven, and Avith the creeping things of the ground," 
 etc.
 
 FAITH STRENGTHENED. 35 
 
 14. Sin shall no longer prevail. See Deut. xxx. 6, 
 "And the Lord shall circumcise thy heart and the heart 
 of thy seed to love the Lord thy God," etc. Isaiah Ix. 
 21, "And thy people, being righteous altogether, shall 
 possess the land for ever. They are scions of my 
 planting, the work of my hands, my glory." Jerem. iii. 
 17, "At that time they shall call Jerusalem the throne 
 of the Lord, and all nations shall straightway flock into 
 it, and shall no more go after the perversion of their evil 
 heart." Ibid, chap. 1. 20, " In those days and at that time, 
 saith the Lord, the iniquity of Israel shall be sought and 
 not be, and the sin of Judah, and it shall not be found, 
 for I shall forgive those I shall leave behind." Ezekiel 
 xxxvi. 25, 26, " And I shall sprinkle upon you pure 
 water, and ye .shall be clean ; from all your impurities 
 will I cleanse you," etc. " And I will give unto you a 
 new heart, and a new spirit will I put into you, and 
 I will remove the heart of stone out of your flesh ; and I 
 will give unto you a heart of flesh, and my spirit will I 
 put into you, and I wiU do it so that you shall walk in 
 ray statutes, and observe my judgments and do them." 
 Again, ib. xxxvii. 23 and 24, " Neither shall they defile 
 themselves any more with their idols, nor with their 
 detestable things, nor with any of their transgressions ; 
 but I will save them out of all their dwelling-places, 
 wherein they have sinned, and will cleanse them, so that 
 they shall be my people, and I will be their God. And 
 David my servant shall be king over them ; and they 
 all shall have one shepherd; they shall also Avalk in my 
 judgments and observe my statutes and do them." 
 
 15. Ancient troubles and sorrows shall cease for ever. 
 See Isaiah Ixv. 16, " He that blesseth himself in the 
 land shall bless himself with the God of- Truth, and he 
 that sweareth in the land shall swear by the God of 
 Truth ; for the former troubles shall be forgotten, and 
 
 d2
 
 36 FAITH STRENGTHENED. 
 
 be withdrawn from mine eyes." Again (ver. 19), "And 
 I shall exult in Jerusalem, and rejoice in my people. 
 The voice of crying shall not be heard," etc. 
 
 16. The Divine presence (Shechinah) shall be re- 
 stored, as is promised in the prophecy of Ezekiel xxxvii. 
 26, 27, and 28, " And I shall make unto them an ever- 
 lasting covenant, yea, an everlasting covenant it shall 
 be unto them. And I shall favour them and multiply 
 them, and I shall put my sanctuary in the midst of 
 them, my divine presence shall for ever be among them, 
 and I shall be unto them as a God, and they shall be 
 unto me as a people, and all the nations shall know that 
 I the Lord am sanctifying Israel, since my sanctuary 
 shall for ever be amongst them." Again, ib. "And I 
 shall not hide any more my countenance from them, 
 since I have poured my spirit over the house of Israel, 
 saith the Lord God." Joel ii. 27, "And ye shall know 
 that I am in the midst of Israel, and I am the Lord your 
 God residing in Zion my holy mountain ; and Jerusalem 
 shall be holy, and strangers shall no more pass through 
 it." See also Isaiah xi., "And the earth shall be full of 
 knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea." 
 
 17. The prophet Isaiah will appear before the coming 
 of that "great and awful day" (see the end of Malachi). 
 
 18. The future temple will be rebuilt according to 
 the design predetermined by the Almighty (see Ezekiel 
 xl. to xlv). 
 
 19. The ancient division of the Holy Land will be 
 resumed. See Ezekiel xlvii. 13, commencing " Thus 
 saith the Lord your God, This is the border w4iereby 
 ye shall inherit the land according to the twelve tribes 
 of Israel," etc. 
 
 20. The resurrection will take place in those latter 
 days. See Deut. xxxii., " Behold I, even I, am ever 
 the same, and there is no other god with me. I bring
 
 FAITH STRENGTHENED. 37 
 
 to death, and I bring to life again ; I crush and I heal 
 again," etc. Isaiah xxvi. 1 9, " Thy dead shall live 
 again, together with my dead body shall rise again. 
 Awake and sing, ye that live in the dust," etc. See also 
 Daniel xii. 2, "And many of those that sleep in the 
 dust shall awake ; these for eternal life and those for 
 disgrace and everlasting horror." 
 
 These points are subjects of ardent expectation, and 
 will surely be fulfilled at the appointed time of the King 
 Messiah. Nothing that is promised will be withheld, 
 " for God is not a man who lieth." 
 
 A strong corroboration of our belief in the triumphs 
 of the Messiah is afforded us by the description of the 
 fifth kingdom in Daniel ii. The fifth kingdom, not 
 represented by any part of the image seen in Nebu- 
 chadnezzar's vision, will subsist for ever; that is to say, 
 the state and the faith of Israel will supersede all other 
 kingdoms and creeds. This is predicted in the following 
 words of Daniel ii. 44 : — "And in the days of those 
 kings, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which 
 will never be destroyed, and his kingdom will not be 
 left to another people, but it will crush and demolish 
 all those kingdoms, and it shall last for ever." Israel 
 is called " The people of saints (or holy people) of the 
 most High," a designation of which we find many 
 instances in our Holy Scriptures. 
 
 The epithet " holy people" is given us, for example, 
 in Deut. vii. 6, " For thou art a holy people unto the 
 Lord thy God, and He has chosen thee to be unto Him 
 a people select from all the nations," etc. Isaiah Ixii., 
 "And they shall call them, The holy people. The 
 redeemed of the Lord." Jeremiah ii. 3, " Israel is 
 holiness unto the Lord, the firstling of his produce," etc. 
 
 The important passage in Daniel vii. 18, "And the 
 saints of the most high shall receive and possess the
 
 38 FAITH STRENGTHENED. 
 
 kingdom to eternity and to the eternity of eternities," 
 etc., relates, therefore, as every unbiassed reader must 
 perceive, to the people of Israel, and to no other nation, 
 for surely the same Providence which has established us, 
 and has blessed us with a holy revelation, will also watch 
 over us and render our future condition great, glorious, 
 and free from the recurrence of past dangers. 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 Christians have raised the following argument against 
 our restoration : — They say, in the captivity of Egypt 
 you [Jews] have been kept four hundred years; 
 in that of Babylon, seventy years; but in subjugation 
 by the Komans your captivity has been prolonged more 
 than 1500 years. Moreover, you had received pre- 
 dictions which determined with exactness the duration 
 of your two former exiles, while that of the present time 
 was not even revealed to the prophets, so that now it 
 may be said, You are suffering under the curse written 
 in Leviticus xxvi. 38, "And ye shall be lost among the 
 gentiles, and the land of your enemies shall consume 
 you." The very length of your exile is a proof that 
 God does not desire to lead you back to the land of 
 your fathers. 
 
 Reply : — The communication made to Abraham of the 
 period fixed for Israel's captivity in Egypt was merely 
 incidental, it being explanatory of the delay in the 
 appropriation of the territory promised to that patriarch. 
 When the Lord said to him, " Thou must know, thy 
 seed shall be strangers in a land which shall not be 
 theirs, and they shall make them serve, and shall afflict 
 them four hundred years," it intimated that the land 
 would only be allotted to the posterity of Abraham after
 
 FAITH STRENGTHENED. 39 
 
 the iniquity of the first inhabitants of Palestine would 
 be fuU^ and when, according to the unerring Divine 
 prescience, the fit time for releasing the Jews from their 
 taskmasters, and for punishing the Canaanites, would 
 arrive. The long period for Israel's humiliation in 
 Egypt allowed, therefore, ample time for the nations of 
 Palestine to repent and to abandon their evil doings. 
 The length of the Babylonian captivity was, according 
 to our humble view, limited to seventy years, because 
 seventy sabbatical years had been neglected. The 
 duration of the exile of the Jews Avas thus appointed to 
 be equal to the number of years during which the 
 divine ordinance of abstaining from husbandry and of 
 giving rest to the soil, had been broken. Thus we read 
 in Leviticus xxvi. 34 and 35, " Then shall the land 
 enjoy her sabbaths, as long as it lieth desolate, and ye 
 shall be in your enemies' land, even then shall the land 
 rest and enjoy her sabbaths. As long as it lieth desolate 
 it shall rest, because it did not rest in your sabbaths, 
 when ye dwelt upon it." With this passage we compare 
 the following of 2 Chronicles xxxvi. 21 : — " To fulfil 
 the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah until 
 the land had enjoyed her sabbaths, for as long as she 
 lay desolate she kept sabbath, to fulfil three score and 
 ten years." 
 
 The special object of the captivity of Babylon had 
 been attained by the short exile, the wider object of 
 their present exile, however, requires a more prolonged 
 period. We have now to expiate the sins committed 
 from the time of Israel's first entrance into the Holy 
 Land, — sins which have created a division between us 
 and the Lord ; therefore. Divine Wisdom has ordained 
 that we shall abide our time in dispersion until the 
 approach of the latter days. Thus says Ezekiel xxii. 
 15, "And I will scatter thee among the gentiles and
 
 40 FAITH STRENGTHENED. 
 
 disperse thee in the countries, and will consume thy 
 filthiness out of thee. To this captivity also alludes 
 the promise in Lamentations iv. 22, " Thine iniquity, 
 daughter of Zion, is ended ; He will no more cause thee 
 to go into captivity.'' We have already, in a former 
 quotation from 2 Chronicles, shown the real cause of the 
 second captivity, and are now enabled satisfactorily to 
 infer from the above extract from Lamentations that 
 troubles endured in our present exile have been decreed 
 with the view of purifying us from our sins, and of 
 bringing to pass the prediction in Deut. xxx. 6, "And 
 the Lord will circumcise thy heart and the heart of thy 
 seed, to love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and 
 with all thy soul for the sake of thy own life." Li 
 regard to this present captivity, it is also said in Ezekiel 
 xxxvi. 26 and 27, "And I will oive unto vou a new 
 heart, and a new spirit I will place in the midst of you." 
 Again (ib.), "And I will make that you shall walk in 
 ray statutes and observe my judgments and do them." 
 There are many other promises which have not as 
 vet been realized, because the ancient sins are not com- 
 pletely eradicated. We have moreover to state that the 
 time of the ultimate redemption is unrevealed, because 
 the knowledge of it would not encourage the timorous 
 if they were to perceive it to be at too remote a distance, 
 to persevere in godliness, nor would it avail the refrac- 
 tory, who would be the more presumptuous if they were 
 to notice that the approaching restoration is not delayed 
 by their own evil w^ays. The founder of the Christian 
 faith was himself of opinion that the period of the 
 restoration was to remain unknown to his disciples, and 
 he gave, in the book of Acts i. 6 and 7, a striking proof 
 that he was neither a messiah nor a divine being. AVe 
 find there, " When they [viz., the apostles], therefore, 
 were come together, they asked of him, saying, Lord.
 
 FAITH STRENGTHENED. 41 
 
 wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to 
 Israel? And he said unto them, It is not for you to 
 know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath 
 put in his own power." The term of this captivity has 
 indeed not been confided to any man, and is solely known 
 to God, whose knowledge is unsearchable. 
 
 Our opinion, that our restoration depends on re- 
 pentance, is founded on the following passage from 
 Deut. XXX. 1 to 6 : — "And it shall come to pass when 
 all these things are come upon thee, the blessing and 
 the curse, which I have set before thee^ and shall call to 
 mind among all the nations whither the Lord thy God 
 hath driven thee; and thou shalt turn unto the Lord 
 thy God and shalt obey His voice according to all that 
 I command thee this day, thou and thy children with 
 all thine heart and with all thy soul : that then the Lord 
 thy God will turn thy captivity and have compassion on 
 thee, and will return and gather thee from all the 
 nations whither the Lord thy God hath scattered thee. 
 If any of thine be driven out unto the uttermost parts 
 of heaven, from thence will the Lord thy God gather 
 thee, and from thence will He fetch thee; and the Lord 
 thy God will bring thee into the land which thy fathers 
 possessed; and thou shalt possess it, and He will do thee 
 good and multiply thee above thy fathers, and the Lord 
 thy God will circumcise thy heart and the heart of thy 
 seed," etc. 
 
 On our own will, then, depends our repentance, and 
 consequently also the abbreviation of the period of our 
 captivity. 
 
 From the verse in Leviticus xxvi. 38, " And ye shall 
 be lost among the gentiles, and the land of your enemies 
 shall consume you," it must not be inferred that an 
 irrevocable loss or a total perdition is meant. The 
 Hebrew word expressive of loss, " Abad," alludes to the
 
 42 FAITH STRENGTHENED. 
 
 temporary state of despair, — a state in which a man is 
 unable to escape the impending danger, though relief 
 and deliverance may be his portion at some future day. 
 Hence Isaiah xxvii. 13, "And the lost ones in Assyria 
 and those exiled in the land of Egypt shall come," etc. 
 
 If "Abad" (to lose or be lost) were to be taken in the 
 sense of complete perdition or cessation of existence, 
 it could not have been said in Leviticus xxvi. 44, "And 
 even this, when they shall be in the land of their 
 enemies, I shall not reject them nor abhor them so as to 
 consume them and to break my covenant with them, for 
 I am the Lord their God." See also Isaiah Ixvi. 22, 
 " For as the new heavens and the new earth which I 
 am making remain before me, saith the Lord, so shall 
 your seed and your name remain." Jeremiah xxx. 11, 
 " For I am with thee, saith the Lord, to save thee ; 
 though I make a full end of all nations whither I have 
 scattered thee, I will not make a fuU end of thee ; but I 
 will correct thee in measure and will not leave thee 
 altogether unpunished." 
 
 The warning pronounced in Leviticus xxvi. 38, "And 
 the land of your enemies shall consume you," has, un- 
 fortunately been fulfilled in a grievous measure ; many 
 of our brethren have sealed with their blood their fidelity 
 to the faith of their fathers, undergoing the penalties 
 described in Psalm xliv. 22, " For thy sake we are 
 slain all the day long, we are considered like sheep for 
 the slaughter." 
 
 The argument, that the length of our present captivity 
 is a proof of our total rejection from the special favour of 
 the Almighty has no reasonable foundation whatever. The 
 designs of the Almighty take their regular and unerring 
 course through hundreds and thousands of years. They 
 are most wisely conceived, although their working and 
 ultimate completion escape our perception, or extend
 
 FAITH STRENGTHENED. 43 
 
 beyond our terrestrial existence. Besides this, their own 
 history elucidates the truth of the saying uttered by 
 the psalmist (Psalm ex), "A thousand years are in 
 Thine eyes, only like yesterday which is past." The 
 world had existed more than two thousand years before 
 the Almighty revealed Himself, and chose "a nation 
 from the midst of a nation, with trials, and signs, and 
 miracles, and warfare, and a strong hand and an out- 
 stretched arm, and awfully great doings." 
 
 Finally, we would remind those who taunt us with 
 an everlasting abandonment^ because of the restoration 
 not having as yet been granted to us, that the salvation 
 through Jesus, which forms their religious boasting, and 
 which, according to their doctrines, saved the souls of 
 the pious patriarchs from the dominion of Satan, did 
 not come to pass tiU about four thousand years after 
 the creation of man, why should they then object to 
 our waiting for the time of favour when the appointed 
 period of our restoration shall arrive? 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 We were once questioned by a Christian, how we could 
 expect to be reinstated in the inheritance of our several 
 tribes, seeing that we are totally unaware of which 
 tribe we are descended, and being so completely mixed 
 up with each other as not to possess any means of 
 tracing our pedigree ? 
 
 To this we replied : — 
 
 The tribes led into captivity by Salmonassar, king of 
 Assyria, were not destroyed, but merely transported 
 from one country to another. Judali, the principal 
 tribe, and Benjamin, remained alone in Palestine. 
 Many of the exiles of the ten tribes who returned
 
 44 FAITH STRENGTHENED. 
 
 settled among the tribe of Judah, who, continuing in 
 the land of their fathers, gave the name of Judah (in 
 Latin Judceus- hence the curtailed name Jew, formerly 
 spelt Jite) to the whole remnant of Israel. 
 
 Thus we find in the book of Esther, that Mordecai, 
 though descended from Benjamin, was called, like all 
 the other exiles of Persia, a Jehudi (i. e., a Judasan, or 
 Jew). The descendants of the priests and the Levites 
 have to this day retained the knowledge of their origin. 
 Those who are ignorant of their origin will, at the time 
 of our restoration, be endowed by Divine aid, with the 
 necessary knowledge of their descent. For the prophet 
 Elijah will come before " the great and awful day," and 
 he will turn the heart of the children to their fathers' ! 
 
 WE SHALL NOW PROCEED TO THE EXPLANATION OF SUCH 
 BIBLICAL PASSAGES AS ARE ASSUMED BY CHRISTIANS TO 
 BEAR REFERENCE TO CERTAIN POINTS OF THEIR FAITH. 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 Genesis i. 1, " In the beginning Elohim [God] created 
 the heaven and the earth." Elohim, ending in a plural 
 form as though it meant Gods, has been interpreted by 
 Christians as an evidence of the plurality in the Deity, 
 consisting of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, 
 who are denominated Trinity. Our view of the term 
 Elohim is as follows : — 
 
 Those who are conversant with the Hebrew languao^e 
 are aware that Elohim relates not merely to the Supreme 
 Being, but also to angels and human authorities. Ma- 
 noah, the father of Samson (mentioned in Judges 
 xiii. 22), after he found that he had perceived "an 
 angel of the Lord," said, " We shall surely die, for
 
 FAITH STRENGTHENED. 45 
 
 we have seen Elohim.^' In reference to human autho- 
 rities, we read in Exodus xii. 9, " Before the Elohim 
 [judges] the cause of the two men shall be brought, 
 and he, whom the Elohim [judges] shall declare guilty, 
 shall pay twofold unto his neighbour." Having thus 
 shewn that the word Elohim bears various interpreta- 
 tions, it is perfectly out of question to refer it in the 
 first verse of Genesis, to a plurality of persons in the 
 Deity, of which assumption no corroboration whatever 
 is given in our Revelation. 
 
 We should like to understand how the name of Elo- 
 him, given by God to Moses, Exodus vii. 1, in the 
 words, "Behold I have made thee an Elohim to 
 Pharaoh," can be allowed by Christian expounders to 
 allude to a plurality of persons, and represent in a 
 mortal creature a visible Trinity? 
 
 Suppose, for argument's sake, Elohim does allude to 
 a plurality of persons, how could the occurrence of 
 Eloha (the singular form of Elohim) be justified? Thus 
 we find in Deut. xxxii. 15, " And he forsook the Eloha 
 [God] who made him," and Psalm 1. 22, " Ye who forget 
 Eloha [God]." Again, how can the advocates of the 
 existence of a Trinity account for the alternate employ- 
 ment of Elohim and Eloha? See Isaiah xliv. 6, "And 
 besides me there is no Elohim" ; and, in ver. 8, we read, 
 "Is there an Eloha besides me?" If the truth of the 
 doctrine of the Trinity depend on the term " Elohim," 
 the word '''"Eloha" most decidedly disproves it, since it 
 renders the allusion to a plurality perfectly unnecessary. 
 
 The real object in the plural form in Elohim is to 
 represent authority and power. The genius of the 
 Hebrew language admits this particularity not merely 
 in Elohim^ but in words of profane signification. Thus 
 is used Adonim (lords) instead of Adon (lord). For 
 instance, Isaiah xix. 4, " In the hand of a hard Adonim
 
 o^ 
 
 46 FAITH STRENGTHENED. 
 
 [lord, literally lords] f Genesis xxxix. 20, " And the 
 Adonai [lords instead of Adon, Lord] took him, viz., 
 Joseph," etc. ; Exodus xxi., " If V/y.^ [Baiolov, his 
 master] is with him," etc. 
 
 The plural form is used instead of the singular in 
 many modern languages (for instance you instead of 
 thou). 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 Genesis i. 26, "And God said. We will make man in our 
 image according to our likeness, and they shall rule 
 over the fish of the sea,'' etc. 
 
 From the words, " We will make man," the Christian 
 expounders of this verse infer, that an allusion to a 
 plurality of divine persons is made. 
 
 Refutation : — If the verb ^^'^.}. Naasseh^ we will make, 
 related to a divine plurality, why do we find imme- 
 diately afterwards the singular form, "And God created 
 man in Jlis image?" or why not, "And thei/ created 
 man T The same explanation which we have given in 
 the preceding chapter on the employment of the plural 
 form, holds also good in regard to the present passage. 
 
 To bring to mind the manifold powers of the Almighty 
 employed in the creation of the noblest of His creatures, 
 the plural is employed by way of high distinction. We 
 will point out some other passages which contain the verb 
 in the plural for the sake of emphasis, although they 
 indicate a strict unity of person. Genesis xi, 7, " Go 
 to, let us go down and let us confound their speech," 
 instead of "let me^' etc. Job xviii. 2, " Ye shall under- 
 stand, and then z(?e will speak" (instead of / will speak). 
 
 The words of the Almighty, " We will make man in 
 our image," may have been addressed to the Angels,
 
 FAITH STRENGTHENED. 47 
 
 for " He maketh known his will to his servants." Thus 
 we find in Genesis xviii. 17, " Should I conceal from 
 Abraham what I am doing?" In the same chapter 
 occurs a parallel expression to the above-mentioned 
 passage in Genesis xi. 7 ; but there the singular number 
 is used, " I will go down and see." If a doctrine of 
 plurality of personages were to be enforced by the gram- 
 matical form of words, the very alterations which occur 
 between the singular and the plural would frustrate 
 such a doctrine, and suggest doubt and uncertainty 
 instead of confidence and conviction. Our Holy Scrip- 
 tures contradict in the most direct terms every opinion 
 which departs from the belief in an immutable unity, 
 or ascribes corporeity to him in whose spiritual likeness 
 the soul of man is created with the object of acknowledg- 
 ing, obeying, and adoring the eternal one God. 
 
 It is remarkable, that Christians are desirous to make 
 us believe in the doctrine of the trinity, which is so 
 totally unauthorised by our Holy Bible, and even by 
 their o^svn New Testament. 
 
 Our Divine Law tells us expressly in Deut. vi. 4, 
 " Hear, Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord." 
 
 Ibid. iv. 35, " Thou hast been shewn these things, in 
 order to know that the Lord is God, and there is none 
 besides Him." 
 
 And again, ib. (ver. 39) " Thou shalt know to-day and 
 take it to heart, that the Lord he is God in heaven above, 
 and on the earth beneath, and there is none besides." 
 
 Isaiah xliii. 2, says, " I, even I, am the Lord, and 
 there is no saviour besides me " 
 
 Ibid. xliv. 6, "Thus saith the Lord the King of Israel 
 and his Redeemer, I am the first and I am the last, and 
 besides me there is no God." 
 
 Ibid. Iv. 5, " I am the Lord, and there is none else 
 besides me. '
 
 48 FAITH STRENGTH KNED. 
 
 Again (ver. 6), "In order that they shall know, from 
 the rising of the sun [east] unto the west, that there is 
 no one besides me ; I am the Lord, and there is none 
 else." 
 
 Ibid, xl. 18, "And to whom will you liken God, and 
 what likeness have you to compare with him." 
 
 Jeremiah x. 6, " There is none like Thee, Lord. 
 Thou art great, and thy name is great in power." 
 
 Hosea xiii. 4, " I am the Lord thy God from the land 
 of Egypt, and thou shalt know no God but me; and 
 there is no Saviour besides me." 
 
 Psalms Ixxxvi. 10, "For thou art great and doing 
 miracles ; Thou alone art the Lord." 
 
 Nehemiah ix. 6, " Thou alone art the Lord, Thou 
 hast made the heavens, the heavens of the heavens, and 
 all their hosts," etc. 
 
 1 Chronicles xvii. 20, " There is none like unto thee, 
 and there is no God like unto thee, and there is no God 
 besides thee, according to all we have heard with our 
 ears." 
 
 We mio^ht adduce numerous other similar corroborative 
 passages, were it needful. In order to counteract the 
 dangerous effect of the belief in a good and evil prin- 
 ciple (a belief prevailing in Persia, etc.), our Divine 
 Instructor tells us, " Behold now that I even I am ever 
 the same, and there is no God with me; I kill and I 
 bring to life; I crush and heal again." Isaiah xlv. 7, 
 " He formeth light and createth darkness, maketh peace 
 and createth evil ; 1 the Lord am doing all these things.'' 
 The Deity, who calls into being conditions and events of 
 totally opposite natures, and who, by mere power of 
 will brings things into being, or reduces them into 
 annihilation, is, according to all scriptural testimony, 
 the most absolute Unity, and, as such, without the 
 slightest shade of mysticism. This Unity can alone be
 
 FAITH STRENGTHENED. 49 
 
 comprehended by our finite understanding. He who 
 alone possesses absolute power, and is the first cause, 
 is the Creator of Beings who depend on His will, 
 remain ever, and in every respect, subjected to His 
 Supreme Mandate, and are liable to change and decay. 
 Hence, also^ human reason subscribes to the doctrine 
 that God is an absolute and a perfect Unity. 
 
 This absolute Unity cannot, under any logical view, 
 be divided into a Duality or a Trinity. If such division 
 is to be forced upon the faith of man, reason remonstrates 
 against it ; the faculty of thought given to us by the Al- 
 mighty protests against a false representation of the 
 Divine Being, and proves that God has constituted the 
 mind in such a manner as to worship Him in accordance 
 with His true attributes. From the moment that a divisi- 
 bility of essence is attributed to God, we should be com- 
 pelled to maintain, with the Polytheists, that He is defi- 
 cient of omnipresence, and that He is comparable with 
 created matter. How can we, then, repudiate such clear 
 testimonies of God's unity, as are contained in passages 
 like the following, Isaiah xl. 18: "And unto whom will ye 
 liken God, and what likeness have ye to compare unto 
 Him''? We cannot even grant that God from His 
 own resolve would reproduce, and double or treble Him- 
 self. Such an assumption could only spring from the 
 narrowest views of a sophistical or a perverted mind ; 
 but it could not emanate from a faith which commands 
 veneration and rational obedience. 
 
 Even the authors of the New Testament have given 
 opinions which disprove the untenable position of the 
 Christians who make belief in the Trinity an indis- 
 pensable portion of their creed. JVlatthew xii. 32, says, 
 "And whosoever speaketh a word against the Son of 
 Man, it shall be forgiven him; but whosoever speaketh 
 against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven him, 
 
 E
 
 50 FAITH STRENGTHENED. 
 
 neither in this world, neither in the Avorld to come." 
 The same is repeated in Mark iii. 28, 29, and Luke 
 xii. 10. These authorities of the Christians have their 
 data here clearly averred that there is no identity 
 between the true Deity and the personages subsequently 
 added to the name of the Divine Being. In Mark 
 xiii. 32, we have also a proof of the want of identity 
 between the Son and the Father: " But of that day and 
 that hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels which are 
 in heaven, neither the Son^ but the Father." 
 
 Nor do we find throughout the New Testament any 
 evidence to show that the belief in a Trinity constitutes 
 a part of the code of Christianity, or that Jesus and 
 God are to be held as One and the same Being. On 
 the contrary, Jesus himself is made to profess, in 
 Matthew x. 40, " He that receiveth you receives me, 
 and He that receiveth me receiveth Him that sent me." 
 Here Jesus puts himself merely as a messenger of God. 
 Paul, in his epistle to the Romans v. 15, also says, 
 " The gift by grace, which is by one man Jesus Christ," 
 etc. Matthew xx. 18, again says, " Behold, we go to 
 Jerusalem, and the Son of Man shall be betrayed," 
 etc. ; and in verse 28 he states, " Even as the Son of 
 Man came not to be Qninistered unto^ but to minister," 
 etc. 
 
 In the very prayer instituted by Jesus, and denomi- 
 nated after him " The Lord's Prayer," his disciples are 
 taught to invoke the Father who is in heaven, but are 
 not told to use the combination subsequently made of 
 Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. We see clearly that the 
 New Testament affords not a single evidence to autho- 
 rise a change from the pure belief in the Divine Unity 
 to the complex aud unintelligible dogma of that of the 
 Trinity.
 
 FAITH STRENGTHENED. 51 
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 
 Genesis ii. 17, "And from the tree of knowledge of 
 good and evil thou shalt not eat. For on the day thou 
 shalt eat thereof thou shalt surely die." The religious 
 authorities of the Christians deduce from this passage 
 the belief that Adam, by transgressing the Divine pro- 
 hibition, forfeited individually, and through him all his 
 posterity, the enjoyment of the everlasting beatitude of 
 the soul, and that he and his seed, including our patri- 
 archs, prophets, and pious ancestors, fell a prey to hell, 
 from which they were onl}^ saved through the death 
 and intercession of Jesus. The reduplication of the 
 Hebrew phras^ niibH Hl^ (flying thou shalt die, or, thou 
 shalt surely die), is taken to be a proper testimony of 
 this singular tenet. As a further proof that the ancient 
 personages mentioned in the Hebrew Scriptures were 
 aware of the doom awaiting them after their quitting 
 this life on earthy Christian authors have cited the 
 lament of Jacob in Genesis xxxvii. 35, " I shall go 
 down into hell (Sheol) to my son in mourning." Also 
 the words of Hezekiah, in Isaiah xxxviii. 10, have been 
 pointed out as corroborative evidence, for he says there, 
 " I shaU enter the gates of hell (Sheol)." 
 
 Refutation. — When Adam was told by the Almighty, 
 " On the day thou shalt eat thereof thou shalt surely 
 die," it was implied that Adam should actually be 
 punished with the loss of life, on the very same day he 
 should counteract the command of God; but we evi- 
 dently see by his continued existence that he only 
 ensured the penalty of death. A passage similar to the 
 one we have just quoted occurs in 1 Kings ii. 37, where 
 Shimei, once the insolent enemy of the fugitive king, David, 
 was prohibited by the son of that monarch from quitting 
 
 E 2
 
 52 FAITH STRENGTHENED. 
 
 the capital; and lie was told, " On the day thou shalt 
 go forth from Jerusalem and pass the brook of Kidron, 
 thou must know that thou shalt surely die." Yet 
 Shimei was not punished with death on the same day 
 he left Jerusalem. In like sense, we take the Divine 
 injunction ending with the term, " Thou shalt surely 
 die." It meant that on the day Adam would, by his 
 disobedience, incur the displeasure of the Almighty, he 
 would be afflicted by various punishments, such as 
 reaping thorns and thistles, and living by his hard 
 labour on the scanty produce of an unblessed soil, and 
 until his severe trials should terminate in the fatal dis- 
 pensation of death. This sentence being the most 
 prominent and inevitable destiny of the transgressor, it 
 was announced in the first instance, but not with the 
 intent of its being immediately fulfilled. 
 
 As to the idea of the reduplication of the verb " to 
 die," shewing that the punishment attending the trans- 
 gression of Adam was of an hereditary nature, we have 
 found in Scripture a complete refutation of such an 
 interpretation; for we read in Deuteronomy xxiv. 16, 
 "Fathers shall not die for children, nor children for 
 fathers." The principle here laid down cannot solely 
 be referred to the sentence of death, but relates also to 
 every minor punishment, so that neither parents nor 
 children are to be amenable to punishment for each 
 other's misdeeds. 
 
 The reader, on referrins: to the whole matter of 
 Genesis iii., will perceive that it had not been the object 
 of the Almighty to remove Adam from the earth on the 
 day he committed the transgression of the Divine com- 
 mand. The punishments Adam had to endure, received 
 their completion only at his death. In the passage 
 above cited, it is stated that the mission of the first 
 patriarch was the propagation of his species. His mode
 
 FAITH STRENGTHENED. 53 
 
 of subsistence is there pointed out to consist in long and 
 wearying toil, and only after a period predetermined 
 " by the Almighty" the doom was to be accomplished, 
 which was pronounced in the words, "Thou art dust, 
 and unto dust shalt thou return." These last words 
 evidently shew that the retribution of Adam's sin re- 
 lated to the body, and not to the soul, for nothing but 
 the inanimate corpse is the prey of the earth its native 
 element. Of that portion alone it is appositely re- 
 marked in Ecclesiastes xii. 7, " The dust returneth to 
 the earth as it was, but the spirit shall return to God 
 who gave it." 
 
 We see thus that the formula niDH r\)f2 ("dying thou 
 shalt die," or " thou shalt surely die"), alludes to the 
 perishable state of the body, and not to the state of the 
 soul. But we have further evidence that the souls of 
 the posterity of Adam were not consigned to perdition, 
 in consequence of the sin of the first father; for we 
 find in the Levitical laws that abscission of the soul 
 from her people is to be the punishment for various 
 sins. See, for instance, Leviticus vii. 27: So that each 
 man who dies in his own guilt must suffer for his own 
 iniquity, and is severed from his people, that is to say, 
 his soul is excluded from a reunion with the souls of 
 those who have gone before him into the realms of bliss. 
 On the other hand, we find numerous instances, that, 
 in describing the death of the righteous, the text used 
 runs thus : " And they were gathered unto their people," 
 see, for instance, Genesis xxv. 17; Deut. xxxii. 50. A 
 sentence in direct opposition to the annihilation of the 
 soul, illustrating our argument, may be found in Leviti- 
 cus xxii. 3, " That the soul shall be cut off from my 
 presence, I am the Lord." 
 
 In these early records of humanity we have a clear 
 lesson of the immortality of the soul. The pious and
 
 54 FAITH STRENGTHENED. 
 
 worthy are received into undisturbed beatitude, while 
 those who defile themselves by sins are removed from 
 the enjoyment of the glorious contemplation of the 
 Deity. 
 
 Far be it, therefore, from us to put faith in the doc- 
 trine propounded by Christian divines, that the prede- 
 cessors of Jesus were, without regard to their innocence 
 or piety, totally and collectively abandoned, and con- 
 signed to the abode of hell. Far be it from us to 
 believe that, that God causes " His pious servants to see 
 perdition"; that He hated those who loved Him, or that 
 He regarded them favourably Avhile they lived on earth, 
 yet disowned them after they had quitted the scenes of 
 their pious aspirations. 
 
 It is utterly revolting to the mind to attribute to the 
 Almighty the slightest degree of injustice, or of indif- 
 ference to man, whether he be righteous or iniquitous. 
 How could such a prophet as Jonah have prayed, Jonah 
 iv. 3, " And now, Lord, do Thou take my soul from 
 me, for my death is better than my life." Would he, 
 cognisant of the future punishment of the soul, have 
 desired to be taken away from this earth, in order to 
 undergo inevitable torments in after life? Again, when 
 Enoch and Elijah were " taken away by God," as Scrip- 
 ture expresses it, and which removal could happen to 
 the soul only, should we imagine that God designed to 
 manifest His special love to them, by giving them over 
 to constant torments in hell? 
 
 AVe have to combat another unfounded opinion set 
 forth by our antagonists. They maintain that their 
 " God Messiah," through his own death, saved the souls 
 of those who had gone before him from their doom in 
 hell. How can it be asserted that the first sin of the 
 first man should meet with retrospective and prospective 
 atonement, through the perpetration of a far more
 
 FAITH STRENGTHENED. 55 
 
 heinous crime in laying a violent hand on the body of 
 a presumed Deity? The difficulty of the position of 
 those who maintain these views is increased by the very 
 words of Paul, in his epistle to the Romans v. 14: 
 " Nevertheless, death reigned from Adam to Moses, even 
 over them that had not sinned after the similitude of 
 Adam's transgression," etc. 
 
 In Leviticus xviii. 5, we find a still stronger proof of 
 the inconsistency of believing that a divine displeasure 
 was felt against all predecessors of Jesus. We read 
 there, " And ye shall observe my statutes and my com- 
 mandments which man shall perform, and through 
 which he shall live." Scripture here points out to us in 
 the clearest and most incontestable manner, that immortal 
 bliss is conceded to the individual who faithfully adheres 
 to the Divine will, so that man is not in any respect 
 dependant on the acts which may have been performed 
 by his ancestors. We may now apply this reasoning 
 to the sin of Adam, since we see that man receives rewards 
 and punishments according to his performance of the 
 Divine commandments, and" that he is individually re- 
 sponsible for his actions, also Adam could only be per- 
 sonally accountable for the sin he had committed. 
 
 The commandments, being denominated '^ a tree of 
 life, for those who take firm hold of them," do not 
 suggest that our terrestrial existence is to be prolonged 
 by their observance ; but they are calculated to place us 
 on an equality of excellency with the patriarchs, the 
 chosen servants of God. Without closing our ears 
 against truth and reason, we cannot admit that a re- 
 sponsibility is imposed upon man for the sins of his first 
 progenitor. Man's own immortal life is imperilled by 
 his own doings, and therefore God, in His Divine mercy, 
 has enjoined on us His commandments, " which man 
 performeth and lives thereby." Passages to the same
 
 56 FAITH STRENGTHENED. 
 
 effect are repeatedly found even in the book of Ezekiel, 
 see xviii. 19, 20, where he speaks concerning the life of 
 the soul, " He who does judgment and righteousness 
 shall surely live and not die." And again, it is written 
 there, " And who does judgment and righteousness, his 
 soul shall live " ; for except the life of the soul, there is 
 no life but what is succeeded by death. From all that 
 has been adduced hitherto, it is clear, that the holy and 
 righteous men were not condemned to hell, norafflicted 
 with the spiritual torments of the first man, they not 
 having rebelled against the Lord ; but, on the contrary, 
 they found favour in His sight, and secured everlasting 
 salvation through their own merits, without requiring 
 extraneous interference to save their souls. In support 
 of our conviction Ezekiel says, chap, xviii., " The soul 
 that sinneth shall die. The son shall not be visited 
 through the iniquity of the father, nor the father 
 through the iniquity of the son," etc. The object of the 
 prophet is to declare that there shall be no condemna- 
 tion to the soul, except through its own crime, not 
 through the crime of another. It is here in place to 
 settle an apparent contradiction of Scripture — namely, 
 We find stated in the ten commandments, " He visiteth 
 the iniquities of the fathers on their children," etc. ; 
 from this an hereditary punishment seems obvious : but 
 on a close examination, this phrase is satisfactorily 
 explained. The punishment of fathers on their children 
 takes place where the iniquity is continued to be exer- 
 cised by the children ; and therefore Holy Writ holds 
 out the threat of successive visitation, saying, On those 
 ii'ho hate me^ which explanation is applicable to all 
 similar j)assages in Scripture. Conformably to this in- 
 terpretation, the author of the Lamentations says, 
 chap. V. " Our fathers sinned and are no more, and we 
 have borne their iniquities," which means^ " Our fathers,
 
 FAITH STRENGTHENED. 57 
 
 through their guilty conduct, brought on the troubles 
 of the captivity, and they died in consequence of their 
 misdeeds. We also, who succeeded them in this cap- 
 tivity, have added to our own transgressions those of 
 our ancestors, by imitating their evil deeds, and thus 
 fulfilling tlie prediction, Lev. xxvi. 9, " And they who 
 are left among you shall pine away in their iniquity in 
 your enemy's land, and also through the iniquities of 
 their fathers retained among them they shall pine away.'' 
 The pious contemporaries of the captivity, however, as 
 for instance, Jeremiah, Baruch the son of Nerejah, 
 Ezekiel, Daniel mth his companions, and others, were 
 benefited through the very trials which they shared with 
 their sinful brethren ; for among the Gentile governments 
 they were raised to far greater distinction than they 
 had attained under the kino's of Israel. These advan- 
 
 a 
 
 tages they enjoyed solely through the care with which 
 they avoided the deeds of their wicked ancestors; and 
 therefore they laboured not under the infliction of curses 
 which the Almighty ordains to the race of sinners. 
 The opinion of the Christians, that no salvation was 
 granted prior to the death of Jesus, meets with another 
 refutation in Luke xvi. 1 9 : the history of the beggar 
 Lazarus represents that he was after death to repose 
 in beatitude on the bosom of the patriarch Abraham. 
 This shews that Abraham and Lazarus were not in hell, 
 and leads to the conclusion that the pious were not 
 deprived of a felicitous eternity, even before Jesus was 
 said to have redeemed them, but that the wicked only 
 meet with merited retribution. 
 
 We return once more to the reduplication of the term 
 tliou shalt surely die^ which, as we have before stated, 
 has been misapplied to the death of the soul. The 
 argument is totally wrong, and rests on the misappre- 
 hension of the Hebrew idiom, according to which the 
 infinitive is frequently placed before the ordinary tense;
 
 58 FAITH STRENGTHENED. 
 
 see, for instance, 2 Kings viii. 5, " Go and say, Thou slialt 
 surely not live ; and the Lord revealed unto me that he 
 shall surely die" (the infinitive ni/b, die, and HTI, to live, 
 here accompanies the respective future tenses). The 
 sentence quoted here serves as a reply to the question 
 asked by the king, " Shall I recover from my illness ?" 
 (literally live through). The answer can only suit the 
 question. The enquirer asks merely whether he is to 
 live on or die (in a bodily sense), and the answer refers 
 to the death with regard to the body only, and is given 
 with the double verbs. Such a reduplication occurs also 
 in 1 Samuel xiv. 4, where Saul says, jHiV T\\'!y ni/!2, 
 "SurelyJonathan shall die," and in the same book (xxii. 
 16), "]S)^^^^< ni^n n^l^:, "Surely, Ahimelech, thou shalt 
 die. Though the threat of death is expressed with the 
 repetition of the verb ni^ (to die) it has no other sig- 
 nification than bodily death. Other verbs are repeated 
 in a like manner, for instance, Ex. xxi. 20, Dpi'' Dpi, he 
 shall surely be revenged: Ibid (xix. 13, 15< ^^pD^ hyp'O 
 riT'"' Tr\\ " He shall surely be stoned or shot through." 
 Genesis xv. 13, yin^"!^ (knowing thou shalt know) 
 " thou shalt surely know." On the other hand, we find 
 in Scripture that the use of the simple unrepeated verb, 
 T\yi2i to die, is sufficient to indicate perdition of the soul, 
 as, for instance, Eze. xviii. 20, " The soul that sinneth 
 it shall die," HIDn X^H- From the preceding proofs and 
 aro-ument it is established that there is not the remotest 
 allusion to hell in the lament of Jacob. Genesis xxxvii. 
 35, " I shall go down into the grave (Sheol) unto my 
 son mourning." Neither in the thanksgiving oi 
 Hezekiah (chap, xxxviii. 10), where he says, " I shall 
 go to the gates of the grave SiXSJ' (Sheol). Thus we 
 find also in the Psalms (xlix. 15), " Like sheep they 
 are laid into the grave (Sheol)." Again, " Sheol cannot 
 thank thee." In these passages, the word fl^tt (maveth)
 
 FAITH STRENGTHENED. 59 
 
 death might be used appropriately for Sheol (the 
 grave). In other parts likewise Sheol is used as 
 the resting place of the inanimate body ; for instance, 
 Job xiv. 13, "0 that Thou wouldst hide me in the 
 (Sheol);" Eccles. ix. 10, "In the (Sheol) whither thou 
 art going;" Gen. xxxvii. 35, "I will go down into 
 the grave (Sheol) unto my son;" and instances where 
 Sheol means the depth of the earth are to be met with 
 in the Psalms (cxxxix. 8), "If I make my bed in the 
 grave (or depth of the earth), Thou art there;" and 
 Job xi. 8, " And deeper than the grave what canst thou 
 know ? ' 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 Genesis iii. 15, "And I will put an enmity between 
 thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her 
 seed. It shall bruise thy head, and thou shall bruise 
 his heel." The Christians attempt to strengthen their 
 faith by maintaining that the words, " it shall bruise thy 
 head," is a type of Jesus, who is to kiU Satan, styled in 
 holy writ " the serpent." 
 
 Refutation. — The interpretation is fallacious, for if 
 the passage under consideration meant that Jesus was 
 to kill Satan, that is to say, destroy the cause of sin, 
 there ought not to be any sinners among his believers, 
 but since they still continue committing sins, that 
 opinion is overthrown both by their practical life and 
 by the same verse on which they found this doctrine. 
 The end of the passage (thou shalt bruise its heel) shows 
 the unsoundness of such assertions. How could the 
 serpent (sin) do injury after its being destroyed ? 
 Moreover, how could Satan induce the Jews and the 
 heathen to kill Jesus and his disciples, he (Jesus) already
 
 60 FAITH STRENGTHENED. 
 
 having destroyed Satan. Paul himself affords a refu- 
 tation by promising (Romans xvi. 20), "And the God of 
 peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly^ The 
 same writer, in his first Epistle to the Thessalonians, 
 states (chap. ii. 18), "Wherefore we would have come 
 unto you, even I, Paul, once and again, but Satan 
 hindered us." This tends to show that, even after the 
 death of Jesus, in the times of Paul, Satan had still 
 preserved his existence and exercised his dominion 
 over those who had been saved through Jesus, and that 
 the Gospel is at variance with this symbolical inter- 
 pretation. 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 Genesis xxii. 18, " And in thy seed shall the nations 
 of the earth be blessed, because thou (Abraham) hast 
 obeyed my voice." On this verse the Christians found 
 the assertion, that the promise given to Abraham as to 
 the blessing of all nations through his seed, had no 
 reference to the whole race of Abraham's descendants, 
 but specially and exclusively to Jesus as the pre-eminent 
 posterity of the patriarch ; that, therefore, this promise 
 was never realized on other individuals. 
 
 Refutation. — Here, again, we have to treat with a 
 palpable fallacy, because the Christians generally argue 
 in favour of their religion from detached portions of the 
 prophecies, without going deeply into the sacred subject 
 and studying the context. The slightest attention to 
 the verse which precedes the one cited, will enable us to 
 judge that no single individual is meant by the Divine 
 bounty. For there we see plainly predicted, ^'For I 
 will surely bless thee, and multiply thy seed like the 
 stars of heaven, and like the sand on the shore of the 
 sea, and thy seed shall inherit the gates of his enemies ;
 
 FAITH STRENGTHENED. 61 
 
 and with thy seed shall be blessed all the nations of the 
 earth," refers to the whole posterity, which is to be abun- 
 dant as the stars of heaven, and the sand on the shore 
 of the sea. Through the entire seed, through the whole 
 people of Israel the other nations of the earth are to be 
 blessed. Moses gives his testimony to this in address- 
 ing the people of Israel, Deut. i. 10, " The Lord your 
 God hath multiplied you ; and behold ye are this day as 
 the stars of heaven for multitude." To this effect, also, 
 the Almighty gave His assurances to Israel and Jacob, 
 see Genesis xxvi. 4, "In thy seed shall all the nations of 
 the earth be blessed"; and lb. xxviii. 14, the Lord says 
 to Jacob, " And thy seed shall be as the dust of the 
 earth, and thou shall spread abroad to the west, to the 
 east, to the nprth, and to the south, and through thee 
 and thy seed shall all the families of the earth be 
 blessed." The Divine promises of love agree with the 
 one given to Abraham in Genesis xii. 3, " And I will 
 bless them that bless thee, and curse them that curse 
 thee ; and in thee shall all the families of the earth be 
 blessed"; and lb. xviii. 18, "And Abraham shall surely 
 become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations 
 of the earth shall be blessed in him." 
 
 The patriarchs had become a blessing to all the 
 nations of the earth by fearlessly acknowledging the 
 existence, unity, and omnipotence of the Lord, and by 
 proclaiming His name in all their migrations ; and they 
 had raised themselves above all other people by their 
 communion with the Divine Being, who awards true 
 blessing and spiritual beatitude. 
 
 An equal reward of bliss was appointed unto their 
 children following their paths and observing the vir- 
 tuous acts of their forefathers. Agreeably to this, 
 Scripture declares. Genesis xviii. 19, " For I know him, 
 that he will command his children and his household
 
 62 FAITH STRENGTHENED. 
 
 after him, that they shall keep the way of the Lord, to 
 do justice and judgment, that the Lord may bring 
 upon Abraham that which He hath spoken of him." 
 See also Isaiah li. " Look unto Abraham your father, 
 and unto Sarah that bare you : for I called him alone, 
 and blessed him and increased him." It is well known 
 no spiritual blessing has ever fallen to the lot of the 
 Gentiles, unless conveyed to them through the medium 
 of Israel's religion. This will be borne out by the 
 following quotations : — Numbers x. 32, " And it shall 
 be, if thou go with us, yea it shall be, that what good- 
 ness the Lord shall do unto us [Israelites] the same we 
 do unto thee [Gentiles]". Isaiah xiv. 1, " For the Lord 
 will have mercy on Jacob, and will yet choose Israel, and 
 set them in their own land, and the strangers shall be 
 joined with them, and they shall cleave to the house of 
 Jacob." lb. Ivi. 6, " Also the sons of the strangers 
 that join themselves to the Lord to serve him and to 
 love the name of the Lord to be his servants, 
 every one that keepeth the Sabbath from polluting 
 it, and taketh hold of my covenant." (Ver. 7) " Even 
 them will I bring to my holy mountain, and make 
 them joyful in my house of prayer," etc. lb. Ix. iii., 
 " And the Gentiles shall come to thy light, and kings 
 to the brightness of thy rising." Zechariah ii. 15 
 (English version, ver. 11), "And many nations shall 
 be joined to the Lord in that day, and shall be my 
 people, and I will dwell in the midst of thee, and thou 
 shalt know that the Lord of Hosts hath sent me unto 
 thee." lb. viii. 23, " Thus saith the Lord of Hosts, in 
 those days it shall come to pass that ten men out of all 
 languages of the nations, shall take hold, even shall take 
 hold of the skirt of him that is a Jew, saying. We will 
 go with you, for we have heard that God is with you." 
 And Psalms Ixvii. 1, "God will be gracious unto and
 
 FAITH STRENGTHENED. 63 
 
 will bless us, and cause His face to shine upon us." — 
 Selah. " That thy ways may be known upon earth," 
 etc. Passages analogous to the preceding will be amply 
 discussed in the course of this work. 
 
 CHAPTEK XIV. 
 
 Genesis xlix. 10, " The sceptre shall not depart from 
 Judah, nor a law-giver from between his feet, until 
 Shiloh come, and unto him shall belong the gathering 
 of the people." 
 
 The Christians argue from this verse, that the patri- 
 arch Jacob did hereby prophesy the coming of Jesus, 
 whom he (Jacob) called Shiloh, and through him (Jesus) 
 the prophecy was fulfilled ; for the sceptre did not de- 
 part from the Jews until Jesus appeared : with Him 
 only departed royalty from the Jews. 
 
 The Refutation.— The Christians labour under the 
 misconception, that Jesus was a member of the tribe of 
 Judah, and king of the Jews. Now, were this inter- 
 pretion the true one, how can they reconcile it with the 
 fact, that the sceptre did not depart from Judah at the 
 advent of the so-called Shiloh ? Moreover, we find that 
 Judah lost the sovereignty at the destruction of the 
 first temple, when Nebuchadnezzar led Zedekiah, king 
 of Judah, into captivity; an event which happened 
 430 years anterior to the birth of Jesus. During the 
 existence of the second temple, however, we find no 
 indication that a descendant of Judah governed Israel. 
 Herod and his descendant, who occupied the throne 
 until the fall of the second temple, were of low birth, 
 and belonged to the tribe of Judah. How can they, 
 therefore, maintain that the sceptre had not departed 
 from Judah, nor royalty from Israel, until the coming 
 of Jesus ?
 
 64 FAITH STRENGTHENED. 
 
 In investigating the true sense of the words, " Thfe 
 sceptre shall not depart from Judah (meaning the tribe 
 of Judah), we perceive that the patriarch Jacob, by his 
 blessing, bequeathed to Judah the supremacy over his 
 brethren. Accordingly, he says. Genesis xlix. 8, " The 
 children of thy father shall bow down to thee ;'' and on 
 this account he compares him with the lion as the king 
 among; the animals. Hence we find the tribe of Judah 
 taking the precedence in the encampments (see Num- 
 bers x. 13, et seq.), "And Nashon, the prince of that 
 tribe, was admitted on the first day [of the dedication 
 of the tabernacle] to offer up his sacrifice" (see Num- 
 bers vii. 12). Subsequently, when Joshua was dead, 
 and the Israelites inquired of the Lord, Judges i. 1, 
 " Who shall go up for us against the Canaanites first to 
 fight against them ? The Lord said, Judah shall go 
 up," etc. From these passages it appears, that, after 
 the leader had left the tribes without a successor, they 
 inquired which of them should assume the rule and 
 precedency, and the Almighty awarded it to the tribe of 
 Judah who, 1 Chron. v. 2, was the most powerful among 
 his brethren. This superiority may be ascribed to 
 David, who said of himself, 1 Chron. xxviii. 4, " The 
 Lord chose me before the house of my fathers to be king 
 over Israel for ever ; for he hath chosen Judah to be the 
 ruler; and of the house of Judah the house of my 
 father, among the sons of my father he willed to make 
 me king over all Israel." From David the royalty 
 descended to Zedekiah, king of Judah, who was of the 
 seed of David. "With this king the sovereignty de- 
 parted from the tribe of Judah. There remained 
 during the whole series of the two captivities only a 
 few dignitaries as princes and chiefs of the captivities 
 who had been denominated by the patriarch Jacob 
 D^pp^in^ (law- drivers).
 
 FAITH STRENCxTHENED. 65 
 
 During the existence of the second temple, mid also 
 at the time when the priests and their subordinates 
 ruled, there were found princes, descended from David 
 and from the linen ge of Zerubbabel, as is stated in the 
 work ^'' Seder Ngolam Zuta'^ 
 
 It is true, we find that originally King Saul was 
 elected ruler, thouo^h not descendins; from the tribe of 
 Judah, but from that of Benjamin ; but, at that period, 
 it was against the desire of the Almighty to admit a 
 king. On that account he would not have a king 
 chosen from the tribe to which the promise of a perma- 
 nent dynasty had been given; and He appointed for 
 them a king who should occupy tlie throne only for a 
 short time. To this fact Scripture alludes, Hosea xiii. 11, 
 " I gave thee asking in mine anger, and removed him in 
 my wrath," for he and his children were slain, and the 
 sway departed from him. All this misfortune came 
 to pass, because the Israelites had desired a king in the 
 time of Samuel, the prophet of the Lord, who was their 
 judge and leader: hence we find in 1 Samuel viii. 7, 
 " for they have not rejected thee, but me they have 
 rejected from ruling over them." Yet, even in the 
 times of Samuel, the dignity of the leadership was not 
 totally removed from the tribe of Judah, for David was 
 the man who conducted Israel to battle. Hence we 
 must interpret the words " The sceptre shall not 
 depart from Judah," according to their literal sense, viz., 
 that the sceptre of royalty shall not be taken from 
 Judah as long as the kingdom shall last. And the words 
 " nor a lawgiver from hetioeen his feei^' viz., that the 
 lawgivers shall not depart, must have reference to the 
 sages and scribes who, being from the seed of Judah, 
 were rulers and leaders during the captivity; for the 
 chiefs of the captivity were descendants of David, and 
 the majority of our exiled were from the tribe of Judah, 
 
 F
 
 66 FAITH STRENGTHENED. 
 
 and many of them were of the lineage of David. They 
 distinguished themselves as scholars and theologians, 
 i.e. sages and scribes, and therefore they were called 
 lawgivers, in the same manner as Moses, the " chief of 
 the prophets," is called in the Hebrew pplH/b, " law- 
 giver," (see Deut. xxxiii. 21). For there is the portion 
 of the lawgiver concealed, " and he led the heads of the 
 people, and executed the justice of the Lord, and His 
 judgments with Israel." We see, also, in Judges, 
 " From Nachir descended lawgivers, and from Zebulon 
 those who handle the pen of the scribe," which refers 
 asain to the sa^es and the learned who were the rulers 
 of their people. The words from " his feef are syno- 
 nymous with his seed. The word plTSJ^ (Shiloh) signifies 
 the youngest child, or the last child, and is derived from 
 the same root as nHv^J'^"! (and towards her young one, 
 Deut. xxviii. 57), which the Chaldee version renders 
 " and towards the youngest of her children." The term 
 Shiloh refers to our expected king, Messiah, and who 
 will appear in the latter days and be one of the seed of 
 Judah. The words until Shiloh shall come, do not mean 
 that at the coming of Shiloh, the sceptre shall imme- 
 diately depart; but, on the contrary, that it shall not 
 depart thereafter. The word "ly (until) is used in the 
 same sense in the following instances, (Gen. xxviii. 15), 
 " For I will not leave thee until I shall have done 
 what I have promised unto thee;" and (Deut. vii. 24), 
 " No man shaU be able to stand before thee until thou 
 shalt have destroyed them.'' The word iT\p^ meaning 
 " authority," in the verse of Genesis under consideration 
 recurs in the Proverbs, xxx. 17. The supreme power 
 and authority of the Messiah alluded to in Jacob's 
 prophecy is predicted, also, in Daniel, who says " And 
 all rulers shall serve and obey him."
 
 FAITH STRENGTHENED. b7 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 Deut. xiv. 13, " Thou shalt not eat any abomination." 
 The Christians adduce against this passage one from 
 Matthew xv. 11, " Not that which goeth into the mouth 
 defileth man ; but that which cometh out of the mouth, 
 this defileth;" they consider us, therefore, in the wrong 
 for not eating of unclean animals. 
 
 Refutation. — Independent of motives of economy, 
 persons may refuse certain articles of food on different 
 grounds. The food may be too expensive, and, there- 
 fore, unsuitable to persons of a low condition ; or it may 
 be of too inferior a quality, and, therefore, unfit for a man 
 in a hisfh station of life. It is obvious that Christians 
 will not argue, that the food of unclean animals is de- 
 nied us on account of the luxuriousness of such nourish- 
 ment, or the un worthiness of the IsraeUtes, for Scripture 
 inculcates the reverse, viz., that certain creatures are 
 unclean, and that the Israelites are to be a holy nation. 
 Hence, if Christians partake of food denominated un- 
 clean, they must consider themselves unholy. Our 
 conclusion is borne out by Scripture, for we read in 
 Lev. xi. 8, " they [certain animals] shall be unclean unto 
 you." This implies, that they shall be forbidden to you 
 Israelites, who are a holy nation, but not to you, the 
 Gentiles, who have not been equally distinguished by 
 the Almighty. 
 
 Of the same tenor is the admonition in Leviticus, xi. 43 
 and 44, " Ye shall not make yourselves abominable 
 with any creeping thing that creepeth, neither shall you 
 make yourselves unclean with them that ye should be 
 defiled thereby. For I am the Lord your God, ye shall 
 therefore sanctify yourselves and ye shall be holy : for I 
 am holy. Neither shall ye defile yourselves with any 
 
 F 2 •
 
 68 FAITH STRENGTHENED. 
 
 manner of creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth." 
 See also Lev. xx. 25 and 26, "Ye shall therefore put 
 difference between clean beasts and unclean, and between 
 unclean fowls and clean ; and ye shall not make your 
 souls abominable by beast or by fowl, or by any man- 
 ner of living thing that creepeth on the ground, which 
 I have separated from you as unclean. And ye shall 
 be holy unto me; for I the Lord am holy, and have 
 severed you from other people, that ye should be mine." 
 Also, Deut. xiv. 1, 2, & 3, " Ye are children of the Lord 
 your God : ye shall not cut yourselves, nor make any 
 baldness between your eyes for the dead, for thou art a 
 holy nation unto the Lord thy God. And the Lord has 
 chosen tliee to be a peculiar people unto himself above 
 all the nations that are upon the earth. Thou shalt not 
 eat any abominable thing." This portion concludes 
 with the Avords, " Ye shall not eat of anything tliat 
 dieth of itself, thou shalt give it unto the stranger that 
 is in thy gates that he may eat it, or thou mayest sell it 
 unto an alien : for thou art a holy people unto the Lord 
 thy God ; thou shalt not seethe a kid in its mother's milk" 
 (ver. 21). These verses afford sufficient evidence, that 
 such creatures, on account of their being unclean, were 
 prohibited food to the Israelites, who are a holy people, 
 designated the " children of the Lord." For unclean 
 food defiles the body of him who eats of it ; and a defiled 
 body infects the soul. Now, a soul that is defiled will 
 not be admitted into the sanctuary, that is to say, before 
 the Divine presence, but will be deprived of a glorious 
 future. The declaration of the revealed law, that un- 
 clean food defiles the body of the eater, at once over- 
 throws the argument of the Christians, " that things 
 entering the mouth do not defile a man, but only those 
 proceeding from the mouth." 
 
 In what way can the opinion of the Gentiles, based on
 
 FAITH STRENGTHENED. 69 
 
 tlieir Gospel, be reconciled with the various precepts 
 regarding certain animals expressed in many parts of 
 our Holy Writ? for instance, " Do not defile yourselves 
 by them." " Ye shall be defiled through them." " Do 
 not defile your souls by the creeping things," etc. All 
 this must bring conviction, that unclean food doth defile 
 both body and soul. Who then will venture to render 
 lawful what God has forbidden, and annul His statutes? 
 Moreover, if the founders of Christianity had considered 
 it lawful for the Gentiles to partake of unclean food, 
 why did they prescribe to them (in Acts xv. 20), " to 
 abstain from things strangled and from blood "f It 
 ought also to be kept in mind, that Adam incurred 
 punishment for transgressing a command which had 
 been imparted to him only once. How much greater 
 must the transgression be of those who venture to eat 
 of unclean food which had been so repeatedly prohibited 
 to them ? Besides, Ave find great inconsistencies in this 
 principle contained in the Books of Matthew and Mark 
 (" That not what goeth into the mouth defiles," etc.), 
 for many intoxicating drinks will doubtlessly defile when 
 allowed to go down into the mouth of man in excess, 
 while from the mouth of man come out the words of the 
 living God, praises and thanksgivings to His glorious 
 name, wise and moral maxims, and social converse for 
 the interchange of ideas. All such utterance does not 
 defile man; and he may through his words even de- 
 serve to be called a holy man. 
 
 As to our Sacred Scripture, it gives the assurance, 
 that, in times to come, even the Gentiles will abstain 
 from eating blood and unclean and abominable food. 
 See Zech. ix. v. 7, " And I shall remove his blood from his 
 mouth, and his abominations from between his teeth."
 
 70 FAITH STRENGTHENED. 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 Deut. xxvii. 26. " Cursed is he who will not keep 
 the words of this law to fulfil them ; and all the people 
 shall say Amen." The Christians infer from this verse, 
 that the law of Moses curses all who neglect any com- 
 mandment of the law, and there being so many com- 
 mandments, no man can properly practise them : hence, 
 all Jews must be cursed. 
 
 Refutation. — The tenor of this verse does not go to 
 })ronounce a curse against every one who will not keep 
 the obligations and prohibitory laws set forth in the 
 Books of Moses. A strict fulfilment of all the com- 
 mandments is utterly impossible. Even our legislator 
 Moses, the chief of prophets, observed only those which 
 he found practicable out of Palestine; since many of the 
 divine precepts had been especially adapted to and were 
 solely practicable in the Holy Land. How much 
 greater is the claim of other Israelites to be forgiven 
 if they abandon certain precepts, the performance of 
 which is rendered impracticable in consequence of exist- 
 ing circumstances ? nor will they be included in the curse 
 if they transgress a commandment Avhen led astray by 
 the impulse of passion, provided it be followed by sin- 
 cere repentance, " for there is no righteous man on 
 earth who will do good and not sin ;" and repentance is 
 the balm and remedy for the pain and the mortification 
 of sin. An instance is afforded in King David, though 
 he sinned in the case of Uriah, the Hittite, he was not 
 cursed (by reason of his repentance) ; on the contrary, he 
 was blessed by the Almighty with an everlasting bene- 
 diction, since a covenant was made with him that his 
 throne should never be destroyed. vSee Jer. xxxiii. 20, 
 " Thus speaketh the Lord, if ye can break my covenant
 
 FAITH STRENGTHENED. 71 
 
 with the day and my covenant with the night, and there 
 should not be day and night in their season, then may 
 also my covenant be broken with David my servant, 
 that he should not have a son to reign upon his throne." 
 The merit of his general piety availed during a long 
 period to him and his seed after him, and to all his 
 nation. See Isaiah xxxvii. 35, *' And I shall protect 
 the city and save it for mine own sake and for the sake 
 of my servant David." This is a clear evidence, that a 
 man failing to observe a portion of the divine law will 
 not be accursed, so long as no opportunity of evincing his 
 obedience has been afforded him. In like manner will 
 he be spared who, sinning under the influence of passion, 
 resolutely abandons his error, and shews sincere contri- 
 tion. Only suqIi a man is cursed who refuses to believe 
 in the revealed will of the Almighty, or who rejects and 
 contemns the divine commands. 
 
 . In corroboration of the argument, we may refer to the 
 identical words of the passage under consideration, viz., 
 " Cursed is he who will not keep the words of the law 
 to fulfil them.'' If no exception whatever were admis- 
 sible in the rigid observance of the divine precepts, the 
 inspired penman necessarily would have said, " Cursed 
 be he who will not keep every word of the law." The 
 latter words, " to fulfil them/' shews that the maledic- 
 tion concerns only those who evade the opportunity 
 of manifesting their obedience. We further find iji 
 Deut. xxviii. 15, " And it shall come to pass, if thou 
 shalt not obey the voice of the Lord thy God to keep 
 and fulfil all the commands and statutes which I com- 
 mand you this day, all these curses shall come upon 
 thee and reach thee." This warning does not refer to a 
 person who neglects the keeping and fulfilment of all 
 the commandments without any exception, but to him 
 who does not listen to the voice of God, but impiously
 
 72 FAITH STRENGTHENED. 
 
 rebels against it, and shakes off the yoke of divine 
 government. The curses will come upon him if he does 
 not finally return to God with perfect repentance. It 
 is acknowledged that God gave the law to His people 
 from pure love, not for His own sake, but for their 
 benefit; nor did He multiply His commandments to 
 weigh His creatures down with their burden, and bring 
 perdition upon man's soul, but to increase the claim of 
 reward, and prepare the spirit for a glorious futurity. 
 Not a single commandment is to be despised, for each 
 contains the seed of heavenly bliss. The more strictly 
 and diligently man conforms to the number of divine 
 precepts, the greater becomes his worth and merit in 
 the eyes of the Lord. 
 
 We find that Moses yearned to enter into the Holy 
 Land in order to obtain an opportunity to fulfil all those 
 commandments that had been ordained to be practised 
 in Palestine. Here we must remind the reader that the 
 curses proclaimed in Deut. xxvii., obviously relate to 
 the commission of secret and revolting sins, for the 
 maledictions contain the expression ^HD^l Db^l "And 
 who put it (viz., the idol) into a secret 'place^'' while 
 overt transgressions meet punishment from the human 
 tribunal. In a like manner we find, in the same chap- 
 ter, that he will be cursed " who smites his neigh- 
 bour secretly ;" this alludes, also, to the slanderer who 
 secretly injures his fellow-man. A parallel expression 
 occurs in the 101st Psalm, in the words " Whoso privily 
 slandereth his neighbour, him will I cut ofi*." To avoid 
 the error of its being understood with regard to corporal 
 punishment, the law adds the words secretly or privately. 
 A similar curse recoils upon him who refuses to observe 
 certain laws, because he considers the word of God un- 
 important, a presumption which certainly ranks among 
 the secret sins. To sum up our review of these twelve
 
 FAITH STRENGTHENED. 73 
 
 verses of Deut. xxvii., we remark, that in tlic same 
 mode as the public transgressor is punished by public 
 justice here below, so the secret transgressor will be 
 punished by the invisible and supreme justice of our 
 Heavenly Father. Only that man will be condemned 
 who obstinately persists in vice and scornfully disdains 
 mercy which the Lord offers to repentant sinners. This 
 again may be illustrated by the words in (Deut. xxix. 
 29), " The secret things belong to the Lord our God, 
 but matters revealed, belong to us and to our children 
 for ever.'' The Christians have argued against us from 
 this verse without fully comprehending its purport, and 
 we can oppose them on their own grounds, by referring 
 them to the concluding verses of their Gospel, viz., "For 
 I testify unto «every man that heareth the words of the 
 prophecies of these books, if any man shall add unto 
 these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that 
 are written in these books ; and if any man shall take 
 away from the words of the book of these prophecies, 
 God shall take away his part out of the Book of Life 
 and out of the Holy City, and from the promises written 
 in these books." Now the Christians must be well aware 
 that they have acted in contradiction to these emphatic 
 warnings, in having both added and diminished from 
 their own doctrines. Thus, for instance, they have 
 made an innovation by keeping the Sabbath on the iirst 
 day of the week instead of the seventh, for which no 
 sanction whatever can be found in the Gospel. On the 
 other hand, they have totally disregarded commands 
 enforced on them. See Acts xv. 20, where the eating 
 . of blood and of strangled creatures is forbidden. To 
 these coimnands they actually do not conform, for they 
 unscrupulously eat of both these forbidden articles.
 
 74 FAITH STRENGTHENED. 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 Some Christian divines have asserted that the curses 
 pronounced in Leviticus xxvi. 42, relate to the destruc- 
 tion of the first temple, and are therefore accompanied 
 by the consoling words, " And I shall remember the 
 covenant with Jacob, and also my covenant with Isaac, 
 and also my covenant with Abraham I shall remember, 
 and I shall remember the land." In the same light they 
 view the passage, " And I shall remember unto them 
 the first covenant that I brought them out of Egypt 
 before the eyes of the Gentiles to be their God, I am the 
 Lord." The Christians refer these topics to the remem- 
 brance of the second temple, and the redemption is said 
 to allude to the captivity of Babel ; but the subsequent 
 curses contained in Deut. xxviii. are referred to the 
 demolition of the second temple, and hence are unaccom- 
 panied by consolatory words as Israel is to have no 
 restoration from this exile. 
 
 Refutation. — Scripture does not authorise the suppo- 
 sition that the first-mentioned curses refer to the 
 destruction of the first temple only; the warnings 
 contained in Leviticus with regard to the first covenant, 
 though materially and principally referring to the first 
 temple in which the captivity commenced, include, also, 
 the destruction of the second temple and the afflictions 
 suff'ered by Israel in the present captivity. At the 
 same time we perceive that the curses contained in 
 Deuteronomy mention facts relating exclusively to the 
 first destruction. Among the maledictions mentioned 
 in Leviticus xxvi. 31, we read, " And I shall destroy 
 your sanctuaries^'^ the latter word being in the plural 
 must evidently be understood to include both the first 
 and the second temple; nor can the word sanctuaries
 
 FAITH STRENGTHENED. 75 
 
 refer to palaces ; since tlie passage in Leviticus goes on to 
 say " And I shall not smell your sweet savours," there- 
 fore it naturally points to the sacrifices offered up in the 
 sanctuaries. Thus also the curses contained in Deut. 
 xxviii. 29, " The Lord shall cause thee to be smitten 
 before thine enemies ; thou shalt go out against them one 
 way, and in seven ways thou shalt flee before them." 
 This undoubtedly did not take place during the time of 
 the second temple, for then the Jews prevailed, and the 
 Romans suffered a total defeat, as is related by Joseph 
 Ben Gurion. The Roman writers themselves acknow- 
 ledge evidently this fact ; the prophecy, however, was 
 fulfilled during the time of the first temple (see Isaiah 
 xxii. 3) "All thy rulers are fled together, they were 
 bound by the archers ; all that were found in thee were 
 bound together, which fled from a distance." Moreover, 
 if we say there are two captivities, we must also say 
 there are two redemptions, viz., the first already effected 
 at the building of the second temple, and the second 
 expected at a future period ; and what man of sense can 
 believe that the redemption of the second temple was 
 a complete redemption, since the Ten Tribes did not join 
 in the return to Jerusalem? There were only 42,360 
 men of Judah and Benjamin, who availed themselves of 
 the permission given by Cyrus, king of Persia, while the 
 majority still remained in Babylon. Nor can it be said 
 that those Avho had returned to Jerusalem enjoyed full 
 independence, for when settled there, they were tri- 
 butary to the Medes and Persians, as is related in 
 Nehemiah ix. 30, "Behold, we are, now servants, and 
 the land which Thou hast given to our fathers to eat the 
 fruit thereof and its goodly produce; behold, we are 
 servants in it, and it yieldeth much increase to the kings 
 whom thou hast set over us, because of our sins, and 
 also they have dominion over our bodies," etc. Sub-
 
 76 FAITH STRENGTHENED. 
 
 sequently the cruelties experienced proceeded from the 
 Greeks, and afterwards from the Romans. Though the 
 JeAvs sometimes rebelled, and nominated their own 
 kings, yet there was no ruler over them of the posterity 
 of David, on whose house the sceptre will devolve at the 
 final restoration. The Asmoneans were of the tribe of 
 Levi, and members of the priesthood ; and they were 
 succeeded by Herod and his descendants until the ruin 
 of the second temple, as we have mentioned above. 
 
 The inferiority of the second temple may also be 
 judged from the absence of the Ark, the Mercy-seat, the 
 Cherubim, and the Urini, and the Thuramin, and the 
 Shechinah. The temple was deprived of the Shechinah 
 (the manifestation of the divine presence) ; all the pro- 
 phecies ceased, and the former miracles were no longer 
 witnessed. Under these circumstances, how can it be 
 asserted that Israel's redemption was complete? We 
 must rather acknowledge, that the Lord excited com- 
 passion in the heart of Israel's conquerors, and awakened 
 the mind of Cyrus to grant permission to the Jews to 
 return to Jerusalem, to rebuild the temj)le, to serve the 
 Lord, and to be freed from their bondag-e. 
 
 We thus see that the evil consequences of the original 
 captivity still subsisted, and the return from Babylon ; 
 though Herod, after committing great bloodshed among 
 the sages and pious of Israel, built a splendid and mag- 
 nificent temple, yet it is not a matter of doubt that 
 Herod was all the time subjected to the Romans, and 
 held his throne under their authority. All this tends 
 to shew that the- captivity continued from the day 
 of the destruction of the first temple by Nebuchad- 
 nezzar until the present time. The apparent omis- 
 sion in Deut. xxviii. of consolations and the like pro- 
 mises, as are held out in Leviticus at the close of the 
 maledictions, can easily be explained, since in the former
 
 FAITH STRENGTHENED. 77 
 
 portion the words of the covenant are not completed ; 
 for immediately after the denunciations, Moses assem- 
 bled the Israelites to establish the covenant with them 
 while they were standing before the Lord; hence we 
 read in Deut. xxix. 12, " That thou shouldst enter into 
 covenant with the Lord thy God and into his oath." 
 Moses adds in this chapter the oaths of the covenant, in 
 addition to what he impressed on them in the preceding 
 chapter ; then after laying before them the dread of the 
 calamities, he subjoins the most emphatic consolation 
 and promise of perfect redemption. See Deut. xxx. 1 , 
 ' And it shall come to pass when all these things are 
 come upon thee, the blessing and the curse which T have 
 set before thee, and thou shalt call them to mind among 
 all the nation^ whither the Lord thy God has driven 
 thee," (ver. 2) " And shalt return unto the Lord thy 
 /^ God and shalt obey his voice, according to all I com- 
 manded thee this day, thou and thy children, with all 
 thy heart and with all thy soul," (ver. 3) " That then 
 the Lord thy God will turn thy captivity and have com- 
 passion upon thee, and will return and gather thee from 
 all the nations, whither the Lord thy God has scattered 
 thee.'' (ver. 4) "If any of thine be driven out unto the 
 utmost part of heaven^ from thence will the Lord thy 
 God gather thee, and from thence will he fetch thee." 
 (ver. 5) "And the Lord thy God will bring thee unto 
 the land which thy fathers possessed, and thou shalt 
 possess it, and He will do thee good, and multiply thee 
 above thy fathers." Ver. 6, " And the Lord thy God 
 will circumcise thine heart, and the heart of thy seed, to 
 love the Lord thy God with all thine heart and with all 
 thy soul that thou mayst live." Ver. 7, " And the 
 Lord thy God will put all these curses upon thine 
 enemies and on tliem that hate thee which prevented 
 thee." Ver. 8, " And thou shalt return and obey the
 
 78 FAITH STRENGTHENED. 
 
 voice of the Lord, and do all the commandments which 
 I command thee this day.'' Ver. 9, " And the Lord 
 thy God will make thee plenteous in every work of thy 
 hand, and in the fruit of thy body, and in the fruit of 
 thy cattle, and in the fruit of thy land for good : for 
 the Lord will again rejoice over thee for good, as he 
 rejoiced over thy fathers." Ver. 10, " If thou shalt 
 hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God to keep His 
 commandments and His statutes which are written in 
 this book of the law, and if thou turn unto the Lord 
 thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul." 
 Hence, we see that this prediction is awaiting fulfilment, 
 since the particulars contained in the above quotation 
 did not, during the time of the first or second temple, 
 take place. At the same time, we discover in the said 
 passages every consolation that hope can suggest, for it 
 points out at once both our restoration and the redemp- 
 tion of our souls: a redemption which is the truest 
 deliverance from all troubles, and the boon and summit 
 of all human aspirations. The promise with regard to 
 our future state far surpasses the promise given in 
 Leviticus, which alludes merely to our political restora- 
 tion. There is certainlv a distant allusion to the divine 
 regard and consideration of the second temple ; yet, as 
 full liberty never shone upon those who went up, as we 
 have clearly and incontestably shewn, we must neces- 
 sarily conclude, that the curses, as contained in Deute- 
 ronomy, will be succeeded by those superlative and 
 extensive blessings which a future and universal restor- 
 ation will produce for Israel. 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 The Christians offer an objection against the divine law, 
 by stating that the Mosaic code gave no promise to the
 
 FAITH STRENGTHENED. 79 
 
 faithful of bliss in a future state, but limited all reward 
 and punishment solely to our existence here below. 
 They refer us to the 26th chapter of Leviticus, and main- 
 tain that on this account no mention is made in the law 
 or in the prophetic writings concerning the condition of 
 the soul in a future state, and that all predictions relate 
 only to worldly prosperity. 
 
 Refutation. — The divine law dwells in many passages 
 on our reward in this world, man being a compound of 
 matter and spirit; and agreeably to this division the 
 divine commandments are likewise of a double character, 
 some calling on our physical, others on our intellectual 
 powers. Now, the fulfilment of our duties depends on 
 the co-operation of body with mind. Our material state 
 is open and manifest to all, while our spiritual condition 
 remains imperceptible. On this account, Holy Writ 
 treats with clearness and precision on the dispensations 
 affecting our material condition, and touches but lightly 
 upon those affecting the soul in a future state. We 
 must here call attention to the forcible truth, that the 
 uninterrupted enjoyment of peace and prosperity of our 
 corporeal existence must ever be the prime object of our 
 wishes, and the benevolent design of the Almighty. It 
 is only in the tranquil untroubled state of the body that 
 man has an opportunity to devote himself fully and 
 entirely to the faithful performance of the divine behests. 
 When struggling with malady, or suffering from hunger, 
 or labouring under any bodily affliction, it becomes 
 impossible for us to fulfil many of our religious duties. 
 The law, therefore, holds out the reward to its pious 
 followers, that their bodies shall be free from trouble 
 and disease, so that they may be enabled to conform to 
 the Holy Will of the Almighty, and thereby prepare the 
 soul for eternal bliss. We see clearly in Leviticus 
 (xxvi. 11. and 12), that the law, after promising tem-
 
 80 FAITH STRENGTHENED. 
 
 poral happiness, acids also the boon of spiritual welfare. 
 See ibid., " And I shall place my residence among you; 
 and my soul shall not abhor you, and I shall walk among 
 you, and I will be your God, and you shall be unto me 
 a people." Thus was also promised to Abraham and 
 liis posterity worldly success for the performance of the 
 covenant. Spiritual reward is indicated by the follow- 
 ing passage in Genesis (xvii. 7) : "I will be unto thee 
 a God, and to thy seed after thee." In the same chapter 
 (ver. 8) the gracious addition is made, '^ And I shall be 
 unto them a God." The patriarch Jacob, too, when 
 concluding his vow by saying (Gen. xxviii. 21), " And 
 the Lord will be unto me a God," alluding to spiritual 
 welfare, as every thinking man must acknowledge. Not 
 in this portion alone, but throughout the whole law, we 
 meet with a variety of passages bearing reference to the 
 ultimate destination of man, especially where God's 
 immediate influence and supervision over the conduct 
 are expressed. 
 
 The very ceremonial observances ordered in the law, 
 and the whole temple service had no other purpose than 
 to bring the worshipper near the Throne of Mercy, and 
 to purify and to prepare the soul for a more exalted 
 state. The closeness with which God, by His covenant, 
 has bound unto himself the people of Israel, is the 
 reason He called them •' His first-born son," " His chosen 
 one," " His friend," " His beloved," " His holy one," 
 "His portion," and "The bond of His heritage,"" 
 The epithet, rh)}D (Segulah), commonly rendered "pe- 
 culiar people," has occasionally the signification of any 
 object peeuliarly jrrecious and valaahle. This interpre- 
 tation of the foregoing Hebrew word is confirmed in 
 Ecclesiastes ii. 8. The announcement of Divine Grace, 
 or favour, our lawgiver, iMoses, communicated to Israel 
 by denominating them " CliUdren of the Almighty^'' who
 
 FAITH STRExNGTHENED. 81 
 
 are beloved by their Fatlier in Heaven, attached to Him 
 in their present state, and not separated from Him in 
 the life to come. We refer the reader to Deut. xiv. 
 1,2, " Ye are the children of the Lord your God; ye 
 shall not cut yourselves nor make any baldness between 
 your eyes for the dead. For thou art a holy people 
 unto the Lord thy God, and the Lord has chosen thee 
 to be a peculiar people unto Himself above all the 
 nations that are upon the earth." 
 
 The tendency of these passages, is to teach that it is 
 unbecoming to indulge in excess of grief on account of 
 the death of the body, since it is declared that Israel is 
 a nation holy to the Lord and chosen by Him. By tlie 
 word chosen^ we understand that the soul is destined to 
 adhere to Him and to enjoy His presence for ever. If 
 earthly distinctions were intended to be the sole purport 
 of human existence, death would be a more severe 
 visitation on the rich than on the poor. Another allu- 
 sion to a future state, we must refer to Leviticus xviii. 5, 
 "Ye shall, therefore, keep my statutes and my judg- 
 ments, which if a man do he shall live in them, I am 
 the Lord " It cannot be imagined that this relates to 
 longevity on earth, for we do not find that the pious, 
 who observe the divine law, prolong their existence here 
 below, beyond those who transgress; the passage, there- 
 fore, necessarily refers to immortal life. 
 
 The opinion of the opponents of Judaism is that the 
 first man, through his rebellion against the word of God, 
 was condemned to spiritual death. They rest their 
 argument on the passage in Genesis ii. 17, " For on the 
 .day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die," 
 which death they deem to be that of the soul. Now, by 
 comparing this passage with the preceding quotation, 
 we cannot avoid the conclusion that the curse of Adam 
 will have no effect on those who faithfully obey the 
 
 G
 
 82 FAITH STRENGTHENED. 
 
 divine ordinances set forth in the Mosaic law. We 
 refer the reader, also, to the 5th chapter of St. Paul's 
 Epistle to the Romans, which forcibly corroborates our 
 argument; a careful perusal of the foUomng words, 
 from Deut. xxxii. 46, 47, will likewise justify the view 
 here taken : " Set your hearts unto all the words which I 
 testify among you this day, which ye shall command 
 your children to observe, to do all the words of this law, 
 for it is not a vain thing for you, because it is for your 
 life ; and through this thing you shall prolong your days 
 on the earth," etc. Here, two different rewards obtain- 
 able through observance of the Divine Law are held out 
 to man. There is a spiritual reward and a temporal 
 reward. Concerning the spiritual. Scripture says, 
 "For it is your life;" and concerning the temporal 
 reward, we read, " And through this thing you shall 
 prolong your days on the earth." The welfare of the 
 soul, on account of its surpassing value, is mentioned 
 first, though in reality it is the last lot of man. 
 Another allusion to the reward of eternal life is made 
 in Deut. xxxiii. 29, in the very last words recorded in 
 the speech of Moses, " Happy art thou, Israel, who is 
 like unto thee a people saved by the Lord?" This verse 
 conveys the idea that worldly acquisitions, such as 
 dominion, power, conquest and increased wealth do not 
 constitute true happiness, because they can be shared by 
 nations who do not acknowledge God; for true happi- 
 ness is spiritual salvation, of which no people have been 
 declared worthy excepting the people of Israel, as we 
 perceive in the words, " Happy art thou, Israel; who 
 is like unto thee, a people saved by the Lord?"' A truth 
 confirmed in the words Avhich follow, He is " the shield 
 of tliy help," seem to convey the idea, that the boon of 
 spiritual blessings does not exclude temporal happiness ; 
 and that those w^ho devote themselves to the Lord, find
 
 FAITH STRENGTHENED. 83 
 
 also their protection in Him in the time of need. The 
 same idea is expressed in the words of the Psahnist, 
 " Trust in the Lord, He is your salvation and shield." 
 The Divine interposition is further illustrated in the 
 sequel of the verse under consideration (viz. Deut. 
 xxxiii. 29), where we see " The shield of thy help," 
 and " Who is the sword of thy glory;" showing, as the 
 Psalmist says, " That not by their own swords the)' 
 inherited the land." 
 
 A reference to the punishment of the soul is made in 
 Leviticus xxii. 3 ; " Say unto them according to your 
 generations, every man of your seed who shall approach 
 to the sanctuary which the Children of Israel shall 
 sanctify unto the Lord while his impurity is upon him, 
 that soul shalb be cut off from before me; I am the 
 Lord." The words '"''from before me' relate to the soul 
 which originates from a holy source, and to which it will 
 return if found worthy. A similar allusion to the soul 
 is made, ibid xxiii. 29 ; " For whatsoever soul it be that 
 shall not be afflicted on the self-same day shall be cut 
 off from her people ;" and again, " and every soul which 
 shall do any work on the self-same day, that soul shall 
 I cause to be lost in the midst of her people ;" that is to 
 say : she shall not be gathered to the souls of the pious 
 who are denominated " her people." Thus, we find in 
 Genesis xxv. 8, " And he was gathered unto his people;" 
 that is to say : he was gathered to, and associated with 
 the spirits of pious and Godly men. We Avill give a 
 further proof that scripture does not treat here on the 
 mere body; for in Deut. xxxii. 50, we read, " And thou 
 shalt be gathered unto thy people, as Aaron thy brother 
 died in the mountain Hor, and was gathered unto his 
 people." Thus, we see that the term gathering applies 
 exclusively to the soul. Li like manner, Lsaiah Iviii. : 
 " The glory of the Lord gathereth thee in." Balaam, 
 
 G 2
 
 84 FAITH STRENGTHENED. 
 
 though a Gentile prophet, perceiving by the power of his 
 vision that the Israelites not only stood in this world 
 under the special supervision of the Almighty, but had 
 also a blissful end and rich hope after their death ; he 
 therefore prayed for himself to be deemed worthy of par- 
 ticipating in their spiritual bliss in a future state. See 
 Numbers xxiii. 10, " May I die the death of the right- 
 eous, and m}^ last end be as his.'' 
 
 The theme of beatitude of the soul is constantly re- 
 verted to by David in his Psalms, and is the incentive 
 for keeping the commandments of the Divine law, and 
 of pouring forth prayers for its attainment. See Psalm 
 xix. : " The law of the Lord is perfect, restoring the 
 soul." Psalm xxvii. 13, ^' Unless I had believed to 
 see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living." 
 Psalm cxvi. 8, 9 : " For Thou saveth my soul from death, 
 ray eye from tears, my foot from stumbling; I shall 
 walk before the Lord in the land of the living." Psalm 
 XX vi. : " Do not gather in my soul with the sinners." 
 Psalm xvi. 10, 11: " For Thou wilt not leave my soul in the 
 grave ; Thou wilt not let thy pious men see corruption ; 
 Thou makest us know the path of life ; fulness of joy is 
 in thy countenance; delights are at thy right hand for 
 ever." Psalm xlix. 15 : " But God will redeem my soul 
 from the power of the grave, for He will take me, Selah." 
 Psalm XXV. 12, 13: "Who is the man who feareth the 
 Lord, him shall He teach in the way he should choose, 
 his soul shall abide in bliss, and his seed shall inherit 
 the earth." Psalm xxxi. 19 : "How great is Thy good- 
 ness which Thou hast preserved for those who fear 
 Thee." Psalm xxxvi. 7, 8, 9 : " How precious is Thy 
 mercy, God, and the children of men shall be protected 
 under the shadow of Thy wings ; they shall be satisfied 
 with the fatness of Thy house, and Thou shalt give them 
 drink from the stream of Thy delights, for with Thee is
 
 FAITH STRENGTHENED. 85 
 
 the source of life; in Thy light we shall see light." 
 Psalm Ixxiii. 25 : " Who will be for me in Heaven, if 1 
 delight not to be with Thee on earth ?" And various other 
 passages of like description occur throughout the Psalms. 
 Solomon, the son of this sublime poet, has enlarged on 
 the beautiful representation of the Heavenly fruit : he 
 says in Ecclesiastes iii. 21: " Who knoweth the spirit 
 of man Avhich rises on high?" and ibid. xii. 7: "And 
 the dust goeth to the earth as it was, and the spirit re- 
 turneth to God who gave it :" and Proverbs xi. 7 : 
 " When the wicked man dies, hope is lost, and the ex- 
 pectation of his exertions is lost." Ibid xiv. 32 : " The 
 wicked man is driven away by his own evil doings; but 
 the righteous man confideth even in his death." And 
 ib. xxiii. 17, 18^: " Let thy heart not envy the sinner, but 
 abide in the fear of the Lord the whole day ; for surely 
 there is an hereafter, and thy hope shall not be cut off.'' 
 And ibid. xxiv. 14 : "Know, then, that wisdom is equally 
 good for thy soul if thou findest it ; and there is an here- 
 after, and thy hope shall not be cut off." See also 
 Isaiah xlv. 17, where he says: " Israel is saved by the 
 Lord with an everlasting salvation," etc. A parallel 
 phrase occurs in the words of Moses, Deut. xxxiii. 29, 
 viz. : " Happy art thou, Israel, who is like unto thee?" 
 This implies that the spiritual salvation is not a 
 transitory boon, but an everlasting benefit; therefore 
 Isaiah says, in chap. Ivii., " Ye shall not be abashed and 
 not be ashamed through eternity." Isaiah remarks, on 
 the death of a penitent man (chap, v.) " I^aw his ways 
 and I healed him, and led him to his repose, and I 
 •bestowed comfort on him and on his mourners." The 
 words, " And I saw his ways and I healed him," clearly 
 indicate the spiritual healing, that is, the pardon for 
 iniquity. To the same effect we read in Psalm xli. 4, 
 " Heal my soul, for I have sinned unto Thee." Also in
 
 86 FAITH STRENGTHENED. 
 
 Isaiah vi. 10, " And he shall return and be healed," 
 (which means after the expiation of his sins) " I shall 
 lead him to his destination, and thereby bestow comfort 
 upon him, and also to his mourners", who will derive 
 consolation from the knowledge that after his death he 
 will 2')artake of that happiness which is reserved for the 
 pious in the world of souls. The grant of a. glorious 
 reward of the pious is alluded to in Isaiah Iviii. 8, 
 " Then thy light shall break forth like the morning 
 dawn, and thy healing shall spring forth speedily, and 
 thy righteousness shall go before thee, and the glory of 
 thy God shall gather thee, viz., into the place of happi- 
 ness where the souls of the righteous are received in the 
 bond of endless life." The term light applies to the 
 existence of the soul in the region of spirits, where it 
 enjoys immortal bliss in the presence of the Lord. This 
 is further illustrated by what Abigail said to David 
 (1st Sam. XXV. 29), " And the soul of my lord shall be 
 bound up in the bond of the living with the Lord thy 
 God ;" on the other hand she says, with regard to the 
 ■spiritual punishment of the wicked, " And the soul of 
 thine enemies He shall cast away as from a sling." And 
 Ezekiel says (xviii. 8, 9), " The wicked man who turneth 
 away from all his sins which he hath committed, and 
 observeth all my statutes and does judgment and 
 righteousness, he shall surely live;" and further, " When 
 the wicked man returneth from the wickedness which he 
 hath committed, and shall do judgment and righteous- 
 ness, he shall live with his soul." " When he turneth 
 from all his transgressions, he shall surely live and 
 not die." And xx. 13, " And I gave to them my 
 statutes, and my judgments are made known to them 
 whicli if a man doeth he shall live in them." It is per- 
 fectly obvious that the prophet speaks of everlasting life 
 wherein no death can occur, and which may justly be
 
 FAITH STRENGTHENED. 87 
 
 denominated true existence with regard to the future 
 state. Ehhu says (Job xxxiii. 30), " To bring back 
 his soul from perdition to shine in the light of the 
 living." The prophet, Zachariah speaks on that subject 
 in chap. iii. 7, " Thus saith the Lord of hosts, if thou 
 wilt walk in my ways and keep my observances, and 
 judge also my house and guard my court, I will give 
 thee ingress among those who are standing here," (the 
 ministering Angels.) This promise manifestly shows that 
 the soul, after being freed from the body, obtains a bliss- 
 ful habitation in the world of spirits. We may also 
 quote the words of Daniel (xii. 2). "And many of those 
 who sleep in dust shall awake, some for eternal life and 
 some to shame and everlasting contempt, and they that 
 be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament, 
 and they who promote righteousness shall be as stars 
 for ever and ever." 
 
 The above verses found in the law, in the Prophets 
 and in the Hagiography form a sufficiency for our faith 
 in spiritual rewards and punishments hereafter. There 
 are many other passages to be met with in the 
 Divine Law and the Prophets, affording additional evi- 
 dence of the immortality of the soul. 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 Many Christians oppose us with the opinion that the 
 Mosaic law had not been established for a permanent, 
 but only for a limited period, and was totally abrogated 
 by Jesus, who bequeathed to his disciples and followers 
 . a new law which dispensed them from conforming to the 
 ancient statutes and ordinances laid down in the Mosaic 
 code. For (they allege) according to the old law, they 
 (the Israehtes) had been given over to the power of death, 
 while the new dispensation was a law of grace and easy
 
 88 FAITH STRENGTHENED. 
 
 to pmclise. The commaiidinents given, they say, were 
 so rigorous that no man could observe them properly. 
 Hence it came that the fundamental laws, such as cir- 
 cumcision and the observances of the Sabbath, were but 
 temporary, and continued only to the time of the coming 
 of Jesus the Nazarene, who immediately substituted 
 baptism instead of circumcision, and the consecration of 
 the first day instead of the seventh. 
 
 Refutation. — This statement of the Christians is fal- 
 lacious. The Gospel itself refutes their opinion, for in 
 Matthew v. 1 7 to 20, Jesus says to his disciples, " Think 
 not that 1 am come to destroy the Law or the Pro- 
 phets; I am not come to destroy but to fulfil; for verily 
 I say unto you, till Keaven and earth pass one jot or 
 one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law till all is 
 fulfilled;" "Whosoever, therefore, shall break one of 
 these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he 
 shall be called the least in the kingdom of Heaven ; but 
 whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be 
 called great in the kingdom of Heaven." 
 
 The Christians themselves must admit that Jesus and 
 his Asostles were circumcised; for we find that Paul 
 circumcised his disciple, Timotheus, as is recorded in 
 the Acts xvi. ,S, which fact proves, according to their 
 own statement, that the law was not abolished even 
 after the existence of Jesus. The seventh day was also 
 kept sacred by the founders of the Christian religion and 
 its disciples. The Sabbath was observed (the trans- 
 later refers to the book of Feasts and Fasts published 
 18*25) for nearly five hundred years after the vulgar 
 era, when one of the Popes instituted the sanctification 
 of" the first day of the week instead of the proper 
 Sabbath-day. See the record thereon in Zemach David. 
 
 The seventh day is not merely instituted as a cere- 
 monial law, prescribing to us cessation of all labour, but
 
 - FAITH STRENGTHENED. 89 
 
 is to be iield universally sacred by the express word of 
 the Almighty, " Remember the Sabbath-day to keep it 
 holy," Exodus xx. 8. See also ibid xvi. 29, " Behold 
 the Lord giveth you the Sabbath ; therefore He giveth 
 you, on the sixth day, food for two days." The supply 
 of manna during the six days of the week, and the 
 allotment of double the quantity on the sixth day 
 afford a miraculous confirmation of the sanctity of the 
 Sabbath. 
 
 Therefore the Divine Ordinance of the Sabbath can- 
 not be abrogated ; more especially as this command is 
 included in the decalogue, the authority of which is 
 acknowledged by all followers of Christianity. It ap- 
 pears, however, that the Christians have been anxious to 
 abolish the law of Moses on their ow^n accord and 
 responsibility, for they have no authority whatever for 
 doing so from Jesus and his Apostles. If Jesus had 
 really absolved them from the commandments contained 
 in our Bible, wherefore did he urge the observance of a 
 part of them; as, for instance, the honour due to parents, 
 neighbourly loVe and charity? Wherefore did he warn 
 them against homicide, adultery, theft, and false testi- 
 mony? See Matthew xix. On what foundation rests 
 the Apostle's prohibition to abstain from idolatry, incest, 
 and eating of blood and strangled animals? (See Acts 
 XV. 20.) Nor can we comprehend the assertion that the 
 law of Moses must discontinue because the Israelites 
 had been guilty of death according to it, but not 
 according to the law of Jesus, whicli vs'as called the law 
 of Grace. Did not St. Paul order tlie death of one 
 marrying his father's Avife? (See 1st Cor. v. 1 ). Even at 
 the present day, Christians inflict death on the mufr- 
 derer, the adulterer, and tlie thief;* while, according to 
 
 * This was perfectly true at the date when the author wrote. — 
 Translator.
 
 90 FAITH STRENGTHENED. 
 
 the Mosaic dispensation, pecuniary thefts were not 
 punished with death. See Exodus xxi. 16, where it is said 
 " He who stealeth man and selleth him, he shall be put 
 to death," etc. Equally untrue is it that the law of Jesus 
 is more easy to practise than that of Moses. In 
 Matthew xix. 21, Ave find, " If thou wilt be perfect, go 
 and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor." The 
 same is repeated in Luke xviii. 22. This shows that it 
 is required by the laws of Jesus, that man shall dispose 
 of his property and devote it to charitable purposes; 
 the law of Moses, however, decrees that only the tenth 
 part of the harvest shall go for charitable purposes, and 
 the remainder be enjoyed by the owner. This proves 
 that the legislative system of Moses is by no means 
 oppressive; but on the contrary, serves to benefit both 
 the body and the soul. Again, if men have been dis- 
 pensed from obedience to the laws of Moses, why do 
 they acknowledge some of the laws on consanguinity, 
 and prohibit intercourse between the following six 
 degrees of affinity, namely, with the mother, the father's 
 wife, the sister, the brother's Avife, the daughter, and 
 the son's wife ? With regard to other relations they are 
 are not guided by the Divine enactments transmitted 
 to us through Moses; but occasionally they permit 
 the unlawful, and forbid the legitimate degrees of 
 intermarriage. 
 
 The Christians seem here to abandon the solid foun- 
 dation on which we rest our hopes, and act from self- 
 formed opinions. The Gospel jDresents no express code 
 on the points in question, and if these laws are no longer 
 valid which determine the relationship of consanguinity, 
 why did not Jesus introduce new regulations in lieu of 
 the laAvs of Moses? In modern days the Christians are 
 partly guided by the Mosaic code, and partly by human 
 enactments at various periods. They make changes
 
 FAITH STRENGTHENED. 91 
 
 and alterations, accommodating tliem to the customs of 
 the day, and render established principle subservient to 
 temporary wants and arbitrary innovations. Convinced, 
 as we Israelites are, that the divine revelation proceeds 
 from Infinite Wisdom, and is, therefore, in itself complete 
 and perfect in its aim, we cannot possibly admit of any 
 change, deviation, addition, or diminution. Holy Writ 
 warns us on this point. Deut. iv. 2 : " Every word which 
 I command you ye shall observe and do. Thou shalt 
 not add unto it, and not diminish therefrom." Further 
 (chap. iv. 8), " Where is a nation so great which has 
 such just and righteous statutes as all this law is which 
 I place before you this day?" Ibid, " If thou wilt obey 
 the voice of the Lord thy God to observe His command- 
 ments and His. statutes which are written in this book 
 of this law," etc. In the same book (xxxiii. 4) we 
 read, " The law that Moses commanded unto us is an 
 inheritance of the congregation of Jacob." To this we 
 add the words of the Psalmist (Ps. xix. 7 — 9), " The law 
 of the Lord is perfect, restoring the soul; the testi- 
 mony of the Lord is faithful, making wise the foolish ; 
 the statutes of the Lord are just, rejoicing the heart; 
 the commandments of the Lord are pure, enlightening 
 the eyes; the fear of the Lord is clean, standing for 
 ever; the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous 
 altogether." In the same book (Ps. cxix.) he says, 
 " And I will keep thy commandments for ever and ever." 
 We refer also to the conclusion of the prophecy by 
 Malachi, who says, " Remember ye the law of my servant 
 Moses which I commanded him in Horeb, concerning all 
 Israel (giving them), statutes and judgments." These 
 verses give satisfactory evidence, that the divine law in its 
 sublime perfection and simplicity is not to be enlarged or 
 curtailed, and nmch less to be abrogated and superseded
 
 92 FAITH STRENGTHENED. 
 
 by any other code. The immutability of the law is 
 pronounced in Deut. xxviii. 1, " And thou shalt listen 
 to the voice of the Lord, and do all His commandments 
 which I command thee this day." The same is repeated 
 in a subsequent passage, it being said, " If thou wilt 
 but listen to the voice of the Lord thy God to observe 
 His commandments which are written in the book of 
 this law." 
 
 This manifestly proves that the gracious promises and 
 assurances will only be realised provided we rigidly 
 follow the precepts prescribed in the books of Moses. 
 The expression, " this day,'' points out the impossibility 
 of a subsequent legislation, and the unchangeableness of 
 the revealed Will of the Almighty. In a like manner, 
 we learn from the passage, " The law which Moses 
 commanded us," is an inheritance of the congregation 
 of Jacob; that, contrary to the Christian belief, no 
 period whatever has been assigned to limit the duration 
 of the Mosaic code. The law of Moses is to remain an 
 everlasting inheritance to the congregation of Jacob for 
 ever. " For it shall not be forgotten out of the mouth 
 of his seed." The term, " congregation of Jacob," (in- 
 stead of house or seed of Jacob), shews that the law is 
 not merely an inheritance to the children of Jacob^ but 
 to all who may congregate with them, " from the sons 
 of the stranger, who join themselves to the Lord to 
 serve Him, and to love the name of the Lord, and to be 
 His servants. Every one that keepeth the Sabbath 
 from polluting it, and taketh hold of my covenant." 
 " They shall," as Isaiah says (xiv. 1), " be joined with 
 them, and be included in the house of Jacob." The 
 expression, " All His commandments are sure, they 
 stand fast for ever and ever," is no less an evidence of 
 the eternity of the laws contained in the Pentateuch,
 
 FAITH STRENGTHENED. 93 
 
 as -^»^l-, (" for ever"), and U7)]P (" eternally"), imply an 
 uninterrupted and endless course of time. We meet 
 with an unmistakable use of the two words in the 
 Psalm elxviii. 6, " And He has established them for 
 ever and ever, He has given an ordinance and it shall 
 not be infringed." The passage, " And I will keep Thy 
 commandments continually for ever and ever,'' alludes 
 to a period unlimited by time. In accordance with this, 
 we find in Exodus xv. 18, the words 1)^) qSi^S T?t2'^ *** 
 " The Lord shall rule for ever and ever." So likewise 
 in the exhortation of the last of the prophets (Malachi 
 iv. 4), " Remember ye the law of Moses, which I com- 
 manded unto him on Horeb, concerning all Israel (giving 
 him statutes and judgments)," we discover that there 
 will never be aiiy other law besides the law given unto 
 Moses on Mount Sinai. We likewise meet with Gentile 
 authorities, who state that the law of God given to 
 Israel is eternal and perfect — that no succeeding law 
 has ever been given — that those are mistaken who assert 
 that Moses gave the first and Jesus the second law — 
 and that Jesus gave no new law, but merely confirmed 
 the commandments given through Moses. Thus in all 
 these doctrinal points they are found to agree with us. 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 " And many nations shall go and say, Come let us go 
 up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the 
 God of Jacob, and He shall teach us in His ways, and 
 
 -we will walk in His paths, for out of Zion shall go forth 
 the law aiid the word of the Lord from Jerusalem" 
 
 -(^Jj^ii.)^ xnis verse is combined by the Christians with 
 that in Isaiah li. 4: " Hearken unto me, O my people, 
 and give ear unto me, my nation, for a law shall
 
 94 FAITH STRENGTHENED. 
 
 proceed from me, and I will make my judgment for a 
 light of the people." They deduce from it that Isaiah 
 here prophesied that there would be a future covenant, 
 viz., the law of Jesus; the law of Moses having been 
 delivered on Sinai, while the new doctrine of Jesus was 
 promulgated in Zion. 
 
 • Refutation. — The preceding chapter disproves this 
 assertion, we having therein established on incontestable 
 testimony, that the law of Moses is not to be revoked, 
 and that no second revelation is to be added to the 
 former; therefore no inference or support can be de- 
 rived from the above texts. The verses quoted do by 
 no means declare that a new law was to be given by the 
 Almighty, but that the niin, which means instruction 
 and improvement, shall go forth from Zion, and shall 
 be communicated through the advent of the true expected 
 Messiah. Hence, they shall say, " And he shall instruct 
 us in his ways, and we will walk in his paths." The 
 King Messiah is to be the Instructor. In allusion to 
 him, the prophet says, " And he shall judge among the 
 Gentiles." A passage relating to this we read in Isaiah, 
 " Behold the servant on whom I shall rely, for he as 
 judge and a teacher, shall carry out judgment among the 
 Gentiles, and they shall wait for his instruction." A 
 parallel promise is given in the words, " For the law 
 [i. e. instruction] shall proceed from me, and I mil 
 make my judgment rest as the light of Nations." The 
 beneficent activity of the King Messiah is further ex- 
 exhibited in the prediction (Isaiah ii. 4), "■ And they 
 shall strike their swords into ploughshares," etc. 
 
 This justifies the expectation that, in cases where 
 otherwise wars arising from strife and contention would 
 occur, appeals will be made to the King. Messiah, Avho 
 will rule over all nations, and decide which party is in 
 the right, and which in the wrong. Thus, he Avill estab-
 
 FAITH STRENGTHENED, 95 
 
 lish peace between them, and thus prevent warfare be- 
 tween nations. Tlie destructive instruments of battle will 
 no longer be required, but will be converted into imple- 
 ments of husbandry. " Their swords shall be struck into 
 ploughshares, their spears into pruning-hooks; nation 
 shall no longer lift up sword against nation, and they 
 shall no longer learn the arts of war." We acquire by 
 this prophecy a manifest assurance that the law which 
 is to proceed from the Messiah is nothing else but 
 the instruction and propagation of the most humane 
 principles. The Hebrew word miH is very frequently 
 used for conveying the idea of instruction. See Pro v. 
 i. 8, " My son, hear the instruction of thy father, and 
 forsake not the law (or teaching) of thy mother." Fur- 
 ther, ibid. iii. L, " My son, forget not my laws (teach- 
 ings), and let thine heart keep my precepts." And in 
 the same chapter, " for I give you a good doctrine : do 
 not forsake my laws'^ (i. e. instructions). No person 
 will venture to assert, that King Solomon alluded to any 
 new law^ written by himself, or any of his contempora- 
 ries. Controversial opponents, themselves, must ac- 
 knowledge, that the word nilH in the Book of Proverbs 
 has no other meaning but worldly uninspired instruc- 
 tion ; and the inference deducible from this interpreta- 
 tion, with regard to the passage under discussion, is so 
 obvious, that it leaves no ground for vindicating the 
 existence of a new law, subsequent to the one given 
 by Moses. 
 
 CHAPTER XXI. 
 
 Isaiah vii. 14, " Therefore, the Lord shall give unto you 
 a sign ; behold, the young woman is with child, and she 
 will bear a son, and she will call his name EmanueV'
 
 96 FAITH STRENGTHENED. 
 
 (God is with us). This verse is applied by the Chris- 
 tians as an evidence of their faith. The prophet, they 
 say, predicted here, that an Israehtish virgin would 
 conceive, and bare a son (Jesus) under the influence of 
 the Holy Ghost, as is related in the Gospel of Matthew. 
 Refutation. — This assertion rests solely on the sup- 
 port of imagination. The word n^Sy (young woman) 
 used in this verse, does not mean a virgin^ as they main- 
 tain, but signifies merely young woman. See Gen. 
 xxiv. 14, where Abraham's servant says, first, " And 
 there shall be a damsel niy^n to whom I say," etc. : and 
 afterwards, he says, " and there shall be a young woman 
 n^S>n who cometh out to draw water," etc. Both myU 
 and T\u7^ can be applied either to a maiden or a married 
 woman. With regard to a maiden, Ave find in Gen. xxiv., 
 " the young woman run and told her father's household :" 
 and, in Ruth ii., " To whom belongeth this young 
 woman ?" (rTiyiM). lu the same way, we meet with the 
 word T\u7^ meaning simply young female : for instance, 
 Exod. ii. 8, " And the young woman went and called 
 the mother of the child.'' As we express in Hebrew 
 myj and T\uy^ indiscriminately for a virgin or a mar- 
 ried woman, so we apply, respecting a young man, both 
 *iy;3 and D/^ See 1 Sam. xvii. 58, '• Whose son is this 
 lad?" (oSy)' And in the same chapter, v. 56, " AVhose 
 son is this young man ?" ("IJ^j)' Tlie age of adolescency 
 is likewise expressed both by C/lSPy and by D''"Tlp- See 
 Isaiah, liv. 4, "and thou shalt forget the 'shame of 
 D"'/b*l7y i^y youth." And Jer. xxx., " and the disgrace of 
 "•liyj iny youth.^'' This proves, that the female in minor 
 age, whatever her state may be, is denominated alike by 
 rrny^ or T\uy^ in the same manner as the young man in 
 minor years is styled ^yi or oSy* The wife of Isaiah, 
 who was still youthful, is termed in Scripture, n^Sj^ 
 young woman. Moreover, the sense of the chapter is
 
 FAITH STRENGTHENED. 97 
 
 altogether adverse to the exposition of the Christians. 
 It refers to Ahaz, king of Judah, who had been in 
 great trouble and consternation on account of the con- 
 federacy which the monarchs (Pekah, king of Israel, and 
 Rezin, king of Syria,) had determined on, namely, to 
 besiege and subjugate Jerusalem. See Isaiah vii. 2, 
 "And it was told to the house of Dame?, saying, Syria is 
 confederate with Ephraim; and his heart was moved, and 
 the heart of the people, as the trees of the wood are moved 
 with the wind." Hence, the Lord sent to him the prophet 
 Isaiah, to give him courage, that his heart should not 
 be dismayed at their approach — since their design would 
 assuredly be frustrated. To convince him of this, the 
 Almighty gave him a sign, or token that Jerusalem 
 would remain unmolested, and that the territories of 
 Samaria and Damascus would soon be abandoned and 
 deserted. Had it been the purpose of inspired writ to 
 announce, as the Christians maintain, the advent of 
 Jesus, how could Ahaz be concerned in a sign that could 
 only be realized many centuries after his death, or how 
 could any promise cheer his heart that was not to be 
 fulfilled in his own days? It is true, there is also a 
 prophecy, in this chapter, relating to calamities sus- 
 pended over the hostile kings, and which happened 
 within sixty-five years subsequent to the existing dan- 
 ger; " For the head of Syria is Damascus^ and the head 
 of Damascus is Rezin; and within threescore and five 
 years shall Ephraim be broken, that it be no people." 
 But the computation of sixty-five years did not com- 
 mence from the date of the prophecy. At the period 
 when the prophet spoke, his young wife was pregnant^ 
 and bore a son, Avho was first called Emanuel (God is 
 with us), and afterwards, Maher-shalal-hash-baz (speed 
 the plunder, hasten the spoil). " For," says Isaiah, 
 " before the boy shall know how to call father and mother, 
 
 II
 
 98 
 
 FAITH STRENGTHENED. 
 
 the riches of Damascus and the spoil of Samaria 
 shall be taken away before the king of Assyria." The 
 fulfilment of this event is thus recorded in 2 Kings 
 xvi. 9. " And the king of Assyria hearkened unto him, 
 and the king of Assyria went up against Damascus, and 
 took it, and carried the captives to Kir, and slew Rezin." 
 In the same book (xv. 29) the fate of Pekah, king of 
 Israel, is described in the following words. " In the 
 days of Pekah, the son of Remaliah, king of Israel, 
 came to Tiglath-Pileser, king of Assyria, and took Ijon, 
 and Abel-Beth Maachah, and Janoah, and Kedeth, and 
 Hazor, and Gilead, and Galilee, all the land of Naphtali, 
 and carried them captive to Assyria."' Verse 30, 
 " And Hosea, the son of Elah, made a conspiracy against 
 Pekah, the son of Remaliah, and smote him, and slew 
 him, and reigned in his stead, in the twentieth year of 
 Jotham, the son of Uzziah." The word of the prophet 
 Isaiah n;]^ li^f2n) U''^^ nipl " within sixty-five years," 
 is to be understood, as at the completion of these years, 
 counted from the time of the prophecy of Amos, who 
 predicted, concerning Damascus (in his book, i. 5), 
 " And I will break the bolt of Damascus, and cut off the 
 inhabitants of the valley, and even the support of the 
 sceptre from Beth-Eden, and the people of Syria shall 
 go into captivity into Kir, saith the Lord," About 
 Israel, the same prophet predicted (ibid. vii. 11), "And 
 Israel shall be exiled from its territory.'' Hence it ap- 
 pears, that before three years had elapsed after this an- 
 nouncement, the Syrians, and many of the Israelites, with 
 the kings, Rezin and Pekah, were carried into captivity 
 to Assyria. In the twentieth year of Jotham, which 
 was the fourth of Ahaz, Hosea, the son of Elah, killed 
 Pekah, the son of Remaliah, and reigned in his stead. 
 
 There is here a variation of statements with regard to 
 these events, twenty years being ascribed to the govern-
 
 FAITH STRENGTHENED. 99 
 
 merit of Jotham, while subsequently it is mentioned that 
 the occupation of the throne only lasted sixteen years, so 
 that the four additional years must be considered to 
 belong to the reign of his son Ahaz. We reconcile this 
 discrepancy by the view, that, Ahaz having been a 
 wicked king, Scripture prefers adverting to the departed 
 pious king Jotham than to the reigning monarch, the 
 ungodly Ahaz. Thus the sixty -five years expired in 
 the ninth year of Hosea, the son of Elah, when the 
 complete exile of all Israel took place. The following 
 calculation will shew the historical connection between 
 the prophecy and its fulfilment. Amos prophesied two 
 years before the earthquake, which occurred in the 
 seventeenth year of the reign of Jeroboam, the son of 
 Joash, king of Israel. This king ruled twenty-four years 
 after the earthquake. Then Menahem governed twelve, 
 Pekahiah two, Pekah twenty, and Hosea nine years, 
 which make together the sum of sixty-five years. The 
 seven months of the reign of Zechariah and Shalum are 
 omitted from the calculation, being included in the years 
 of the other kings. This calculation has been adopted 
 by several Christian authors. If our opponents should 
 ask who the young woman was to whom Isaiah alluded 
 when he said, " She is with child, and shall bear a son;" 
 we reply, that she was (as we have before asserted) the 
 prophet's wife. This is proved by Isaiah viii. 3, " And 
 I came to the prophetess, and she conceived and bare a 
 son ; and the Lord said unto me. Call his name Maher- 
 shalal-hash-baz." The question may then arise, How 
 could he be called so after the name Emanuel had been 
 previously given to him to afford a sign to Ahaz ? We 
 answer, by showing that the child received not two but 
 three names, in consideration of the three kings con- 
 cerned in the prophecy. Referring to the king of Judah 
 he was named Emanuel (God is with us), to indicate
 
 100 FAITH STRENGTHENED. 
 
 that from tlie time of his birth peace would prevail in 
 Judea. 
 
 Alluding to the king of Israel, he was called Maher- 
 shalal, and in allusion to the king of Syria he received 
 the name of Hash-baz, pointing out by the two latter 
 names, that those monarchs, with all their possessions, 
 would soon become the spoil of the Assyrian kings. 
 The two names are of a synonymous character, and in 
 perfect accordance with each other. Therefore the prophet 
 says, shortly after mentioning Emanuel (vii. 16), " for 
 before the child shall know to refuse the evil and choose 
 the good, the land that thou abhorrest shall be forsaken 
 of both the kings." In the same style he repeats after 
 the name of Maher-shalal-hasli-baz, " For before the 
 child shall have knowledge to call. My father and my 
 mother, the riches of Damascus and the spoil of Samaria 
 shall be taken away before the king of Assyria." See- 
 ing that these two verses are in perfect consonance with 
 each other, the cliild spoken of must needs be the very 
 same, and he being the son of Isaiah, stands a sign and 
 token to these three kings. The intention to express 
 several events by giving several names to one individual, 
 is evident from the double appellation. 
 
 Shear Jashub (i. e. a remainder shall return) is an 
 illustration of the ten tribes who are to remain in their 
 captivity, while the two united tribes of Judah and 
 Benjamin were to return from Babylon to Jerusalem at 
 the expiration of the seventy years. On that account 
 the prophet said, after the second son had been born 
 unto him, " Here 1 stand, and the children which God 
 has given me for signs and tokens in Israel;" and for 
 this purpose only the Almighty bid him meet Ahaz, 
 accompanied by his son Shear Jashub. Though the 
 latter son was then but very young, his two names with 
 opposite meanings stood as tokens for the future destiny
 
 FAITH STRENGTHENED. 101 
 
 of Epliraiin (tlie ten tribes) on the one hand, and of 
 Judah on the other. 
 
 R. David Kimchi has given a forced interpretation to 
 the passage on Emanuel ; believing that this individual 
 was not the son of Isaiah, but of the king. The pro- 
 phet expressing himself (chap. viii. 8), " And the 
 stretching out of his wings shall fill the breadth of tky 
 land, Emanuel;" our expositor supposes, that the 
 possessive, thy, could not have been addressed to a per- 
 son who was not a son of the ruler of the country. 
 But this conclusion is, to me, quite unfounded. We 
 find, frequently, n^lX (thy land), meaning thy ?iative 
 land, or country. See, for instance, Gen. xii. 1, " And 
 the Lord spake unto Abraham, go out of thy land." 
 Now, it is well known, that Abraham was not the lord 
 of the land which he was ordered to quit ; but that the 
 word his land could only be applied to it inasmuch 
 as it was the land of his birth. See also Jer. xii. 15, 
 '* And I shall bring them back, every man to his heritage, 
 and every man to his land." Moreover, suppose Emanuel 
 was the son of a king, how could the land of Israel 
 have been called his country, since he did not succeed his 
 father in the government? I't appears to me, that when 
 Isaiah prophesied, saying, " Behold, the woman is with 
 child," he was not aware tliat he spake about his own 
 wife — just as Samuel was not conscious that he prophe- 
 sied concerning David, when he said to Saul, 1 Sam. 
 xiii. 14, " The Lord has sought unto Himself a man after 
 His own heart, and has appointed him prince over His 
 people." Further, when Samuel said (chap. xv. 28), 
 " The Lord has torn away from thee the kingdom of 
 Israel, and has given it to thy neighbour, who is better 
 than thee;" for being at the house of Jesse, he knew 
 which of the sons he was to anoint for the kingdom; so 
 that when remarkhig to Eliab, he exclaimed, " Surely,
 
 102 FAITH STRENGTHENED. 
 
 the Lord's anointed is before Him ;" but only when he 
 came to David, then the Lord told him to anoint him. 
 With the same ignorance of things unrevealed, in the 
 moments of inspiration, Isaiah prophesied on the young 
 woman, until the token given him in the second pro- 
 phecy rendered it manifest to him ; the Lord saying then 
 to him (chap. viii. 1), " Take unto thee a large scroll, 
 a,nd write upon it with man's pen, Maher-shalal-hash- 
 baz." After which Isaiah writes, " I took unto myself 
 faithful witnesses ; namely, Uriah, the priest, and Zecha- 
 riah, the son of Jebarachiah ; and I came near to the pro- 
 phetess, and she conceived, and bare a son, and the Lord 
 said unto me. Call his name Maher-shalal-hash-baz." It 
 was necessary he should take faithful witnesses, in order 
 to record all the minute parts of the Divine bidding, since 
 he himself had to fulfil all. 
 
 Scripture introduces the words, " And it was told to 
 the House of David^' instead of to " Ahaz," etc. We 
 account for this by the fact, that Ahaz was a wicked 
 man ; and it was thought proper, therefore, to indicate 
 that the miracle did not occur for the merit of this king, 
 but for the merit of his ancestor. The disputant may 
 ask, " In what did, then, the sign and miracle consist, if 
 the prophet predicted merely that a married woman 
 would conceive and bear a son?" We reply, that the 
 sign and the miracle, undeniably, consisted in the assur- 
 ance of an event that could not be foreseen and foretold 
 by a profane man. Conception and birth do not depend 
 on human will ; and many an infant is born that never 
 sees the light : nor can we know whether the mother will 
 give birth to a son or a daughter. Another miracle is, 
 the prediction that the mother of the new-born child 
 would call it Emanuel; and this prediction fulfilled, 
 vouches for the truth of the additional prophecy, that 
 Judali and Jerusalem A\'ould be saved from the attack of
 
 FAITH STRENGTHENED. 103 
 
 two belligerent kings. Again, it is a miracle, that the 
 child, after its birth, was not to suck from the breasts of 
 its mother, like other sucklings, but would feed on but- 
 ter and honey. See Isaiah vii. 15, "Butter and honey 
 shall he eat, that he may know to refuse the evil, and to 
 choose the good." This fare, and the abstaining from 
 mother's milk shall endow him with knowledge to avoid 
 the evil and to prefer the good, and make him excel all 
 other children in intellect. The activity of free agency 
 is to commence with him as soon as he can call father 
 and mother — which renders him pre-eminent among 
 other children of his age. The confirmation of this 
 event is in chap. viii. of Isaiah. 
 
 The Christians maintain, that if that child had been 
 born from the young woman like other children of men, 
 his name couldmot have been called Emanuel (God is with 
 us) : but that this name was quite applicable to Jesus^ 
 who was a compound of the Divine and human nature. 
 
 Refutation It is the Hebrew idiom to join the name 
 
 of the Almighty to the proper names of men, and even 
 to inanimate objects ; for instance, Samuel, Zuriel, Uziel, 
 Michael, Eliezer, Elijah, Isaiah, Zurishaddai, etc. In 
 Genesis xxxiii.^ an altar was called, " El-Elohe Israel" 
 (i. e. God is the God of Israel). In Exodus xvii. 15, an 
 altar is called, " The Lord is my banner." We find the 
 application in Jeremiah xxxiii.16, " The Lord is our 
 righteousness." In Ezekiel xlviii. 35, we find the ex- 
 pression, " The Lord is there," which is apphed to 
 Jerusalem, the Holy city, as a name which will be given 
 to it at the time of the Messiah, when the glorious 
 presence of the Almighty shall return to it. That, 
 however, Jesus should be called by the name Emanuel 
 is not affirmed by any passage of the Gospel. We only 
 find in Matthew i. 20, that the angel saith to Joseph 
 in a dream, " Fear not to receive Mary thy wife, for
 
 104 FAITH STRENGTHENED. 
 
 that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost, and 
 she shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name 
 Jesus (yiSJ'*), for he shall save his people from their 
 sins. Now, all this was done that it might be fulfilled 
 which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying, 
 Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring 
 forth a son, and they shall call his name Emanuel," etc. 
 It is further stated, " And Joseph took unto him Mary 
 his wife, and knew her not until she had brought forth 
 her first-born son, and she called his name Jesus." In 
 Luke ii. 21, we find, " And when the eight days were 
 accomplished for the circumcising of the child he was 
 called Jesus, which was so named of the angel before he 
 was conceived in the womb." From this it appears that 
 Emanuel was a diff'erent individual from Jesus, for 
 Jesus was in no instance called Emanuel — as to the 
 name Jesus, it was given to him by mere chance, there 
 were many other Jews named Jesus. See Ezra ii., iii., 
 and X., and the 2nd book of Chronicles xxxi. The 
 Jews spell Jesus 1K^\ because the J? is omitted in the 
 pronunciation of the Christians ; but suppose the y is to 
 be retained, there is no inference deducible from that in 
 favour of their faith, as Matthew tried to establish for the 
 Christians, to apply the name of Jesus also to the son of 
 Sirach, who wrote a book called Ecclesiasticus. 
 
 Our disputant may ask. Of whom did Isaiah pro- 
 phesy in chap. ix. 6, Avhen he said, " Unto us a child is 
 born, unto us a son is given : on liis shoulders shall be 
 the government: and they shall call him Wonderful, 
 Counsellor, Almighty God, Father of Eternity, Prince of 
 Peace. Of the increase of [his] government and peace 
 there shall be no end [without end, Heb.] upon the 
 throne of David and upon his kingdom, to order it and 
 to establish it Avith judgment and with justice, from 
 henceforth even for ever"? 

 
 FAITH STRENGTHENED. 105 
 
 We give the following reply : Those passages refer to 
 Hezekiah, king of Judah, during whose government 
 Israel experienced, through a divine intercession, a sig- 
 nal deliverance from Sennacherib, king of Assyria, who 
 had raised a siege against Jerusalem with an army of a 
 hundred and eighty thousand valiant men. That this 
 great miracle, namely, the fall of the camp of Sennacherib, 
 referred to in the verses under consideration, was occa- 
 sioned from the regard entertained by the Almighty for 
 " the virtue of the child born unto us," and which, at 
 the time of the prophecy, was already " given unto us." 
 For when Ahaz ascended the throne, Hezekiah had 
 already attained his ninth year. The truth of this ex- 
 position is borne out by the verses antecedent and sub- 
 joined to the passage " for a child has been born unto 
 us.'' The latter .word of the 6th verse of the 9tli chapter 
 of Isaiah must be rendered thus : " And he who is 
 Wonderful, a Counsellor and Omnipotent God, a Father 
 of Eternity, he called his (the child's) name Prince of 
 Peace." The child born unto Ahaz is entitled the Prince 
 of Peace because of the peace granted to Israel in the 
 days of Hezekiah. 
 
 The preceding epithets are applied to the Almighty 
 as indications of marvellous occurrences accompanying 
 the life of Hezekiah, " God showed Himself Wonderful^^^ 
 causing for his (Hezekiah's) sake, the shade of the sun- 
 dial to recede; as " Counsellor," the Lord established 
 his own designs, and frustrated those of Sennacherib ; as 
 " the Omnipotent God," He evinced His divine attribute 
 by suddenly destroying the immense army of the invading 
 king ; as " Father of Eternity," and Ruler of time, who, 
 according to His pleasure, adds to and diminishes from 
 the life of mortals. He manifested His power by pro- 
 longing the life of Hezekiah for a period of fifteen 
 years.
 
 106 FAITH STRENGTHENED. 
 
 The opponent may object to the above translation, by 
 pleading, that he finds in his version of Isaiah the 
 verb (nIiT^) in the passive, viz. : ^' and his name was 
 called^ and not, as we are supposed to read, ^^1f?!5 taking 
 the verb in the active form (he called his name), so that 
 the epithets which follow apply to the child, whose 
 name the Almighty called " Wonderful," etc. 
 
 We know well that Jerome has made a practice of 
 accomodating Scripture to the notions of his own creed; 
 and has endeavoured to establish an authority for his 
 belief in the Divinity of Jesus. All endeavours, how- 
 ever, have failed. Even after adopting the reading of 
 Jerome, we should be entitled to assign the above epithets 
 to Hezekiah, since we have already proved that the nature 
 of the holy language allows application of the name of the 
 Almighty to human beings, and even to inanimate ob- 
 jects, inclusively. To give to Jesus the above appellations 
 is altogether incompatible with his own history. How 
 can he claim the names " Wonderful" and " Counsellor," 
 when it is remembered, that one of his disciples frus- 
 trated his designs^ and betrayed him to his enemies ? 
 How can he merit the title, " Powerful" or " Omnipotent 
 God," who sufi'ered an unnatural death? How can he 
 be the "Father of Eternity," who did not attain 
 even half of the natural period of human life? How can 
 he be distinguished as the " Prince of Peace f" whereas, 
 no peace existed in his days : and as he himself asserted, 
 by saying, " I am not come to bring peace into the 
 earth, but the sword." The Christians avail themselves 
 of the passage, "to the increase of government, and 
 peace without end," to oppose us with the following 
 question : — " If the intention of the prophet had been to 
 prophesy an earthly kingdom, how could he say that 
 his (the king's) government would be without end?" 
 We reply to this, that the expression, " without end^' 
 (rp pN) is a mere figure of speech. We find, similarly.
 
 FAITH STRENGTHENED. 107 
 
 in Isaiah, ii. 7, " And his land was full of silver and 
 ffold, and there was no end to his treasures ; and his 
 land was full of horses, and there was no end to his 
 chariots.' 
 
 Thus we find, also, in Ecclesiastes iv. 8, " There is 
 Qne, and no second, and he has neither son nor brother ; 
 and there is no end to all his troubles." At the end of 
 the above prophecy, Isaiah says, chap. ix. 7, " On the 
 throne of David, and over his kingdom." This passage 
 is a clear refutation of the Christian doctrine of the 
 Messiah, for Jesus never sat on the throne of David, and 
 never ruled over Israel. Should they interpret the 
 throne of David in a spiritual sense, we must declare 
 that the throne of David never meant anything but in 
 relation to terrestrial government. David sat on a real 
 throne, and his kingdom was a positive reality. Scripture, 
 therefore, treats of it here in that sense only, and does 
 not allude to any visionary kingdom. The expression, 
 to establish it, and support it, " in judgment and righte- 
 ousness, now and for evermore," shows that his dominion 
 — that is, the dynasty of David — will never perish. 
 And though an interruption has occurred during the 
 time of the captivity, the government, nevertheless, will 
 in the days of the Messiah, return to the scion of David. 
 See Ezekiel xxxvii. 36, " And they shall live in it, and 
 their children, and their children's children, to eternity, 
 and my servant David shall be prince over them for 
 ever." This whole passage refers to the Messiah, as will 
 be shown hereafter. Our opponents may remark, ' ' How 
 can the idea of eternity be understood from the words 
 * even for evermore,' if the government of the house 
 of David ceased from the time of the captivity?" Our 
 answer to this argument is, that an intermediate cessation 
 destroys not the nature of the perpetual duration ; for 
 we find that the commandment of circumcision, was 
 enjoined on the posterity of Abraham, as an everlasting
 
 108 FAITH STRENGTHENED. 
 
 covenant, (see Genesis xvii. 7), "And iny covenant 
 shall be in your flesh as an everlasting covenant ;" and, 
 nevertheless, the ceremonial was, from sanitary motives, 
 discontinued during the whole period of the journey 
 through the desert. When, however, the tribes had 
 entered the Land of Promise, the practice of that 
 covenant was resumed, and will remain in force, even in 
 the days of the Messiah, as the Prophets have declared 
 to us. See Isaiah lii. 1, "Awake, awake! put on thy 
 strength, Zion; put on thee the garments of thy 
 glory, Jerusalem, thou holy city, for there shall 
 never more enter into thee the uncircumcised and 
 the unclean." The prophet Ezekiel likewise says 
 (chap. xliv. 9), "Thus saith the Lord God, Any son 
 of an alien, of an uncircumcised heart and of un- 
 circumcised flesh, shall not enter into my sanctuary." 
 Another instance we find in the covenant which the 
 Almighty naade with Phineas to grant the high priest- 
 hood to him and his posterity for ever; a long sus- 
 pension occurred among his posterity, for we learn 
 that Eli, Abimelech, and Abiathar ofiiciated as hicrh 
 priests, until King Solomon ascended the throne ; never- 
 theless that dignity reverted to the rightful party, viz., 
 the descendants of Phineas (see 1st Kings ii. 26); 
 where it is related that Solomon deposed Abiathar, and 
 placed Zadok in his office. The same is related in 1st 
 Chron. xxix. 22, "And Zadok they anointed to be priest 
 because he was of the lineage of Phineas ; and though 
 another interruption in the dignity of priesthood took 
 place during the time of the captivity, it will be restored 
 at the coming of the Messiah ; and the words in Numb. 
 XXV. 13, will be realized, "And it shall belong to him 
 and to his seed after him as an everlasting priesthood." 
 Ezekiel informs us on this point by telling us (chap. xliv. 
 15), " And the priests, the Lcvitcs, the children of 
 Zadok^ who observed the observances of my sanctuary,
 
 FAITH STRENGTHENED. 109 
 
 while the children of Israel strayed from me, they shall 
 come nigh unto me." This prophecy is connected with 
 the Advent of the Messiah, as will be explained in its 
 proper place. We have now given a full refutation to 
 mistaken assertions of our opponents, and having 
 founded our arguments on prophecy, they can only be 
 opposed by opponents of truth itself. 
 
 CHAPTER XXII. 
 
 Isaiah lii. 13, " Behold my servant shall prosper, he 
 shall be exalted and extolled, and be very high." In 
 this and the verses that follow until the end of chap. liii. 
 the Christians assert, that the prophecy of Isaiah consti- 
 tutes a prediction of Jesus, the Nazarene, concerning 
 whom Isaiah has said, " He shall be exalted and extolled, 
 and be very high," because to him alone it is asserted 
 these words can be attributed, " Surely he has borne our 
 sicknesses and our pains. He was wounded by our 
 transgressions and oppressed by our iniquities." For he 
 is said to have, by his death, saved their souls from the 
 power of Satan. 
 
 Refutation. — This assertion lacks truth. Scripture 
 having declared, " Behold my servant shall prosper, he 
 shall be exalted," etc. ; how can these words be made to 
 refer to Jesus, after they (the Christians) inconsiderately 
 represent him to be God ? If he were a Divine Being, 
 how could the prophet call him a servant? The Chris- 
 tian disputant may say, that in a corporeal respect he was 
 called servant, and in a spiritual respect he was entitled 
 God." To this defence we object, by referring the 
 reader to chap, x., where we have given comprehensive ju/ 
 proofs of the non-divinity of Christ, by shewing that, by 
 the authors of the Gospel, he was not considered to be a
 
 no FAITH STRENGTHENED. 
 
 God, and much less so by himself. This matter shall 
 again be noticed in the second part of this work ; when 
 we shall refute the several passages of importance 
 relative to the subject in the Gospel. We may be 
 permitted to mention here that the prophetic word, " He 
 shall be exalted and extolled, and be very high," were 
 not fulfilled in Jesus, he having been condemned to death 
 in an inglorious manner, and thus the jDrophecy was not 
 realized in him — " He shall see seed and live many days," 
 for he had no offspring. His disciples cannot be called 
 his offspring, though the word Q^J^ (sons) is applicable to 
 them, and nnx (fathers) to the teachers. The word ynt 
 (seed) is used in the Bible only for bodily heirs; nor do 
 we find that Jesus reached an old age, for he was put 
 to death when thirty-three years of age. We cannot 
 apply the words, " he shall live long" (English version, 
 " prolong his days") to a Divine Being, for the term of 
 longevity is inappropriate to the Deity who is the Prime 
 Cause of all existence, and whose self-existence is eternal ; 
 moreover, we wish to know to whom will the Christians 
 attribute the promise, " Therefore will I apportion unto 
 him spoil among the many, and with mighty men he shall 
 share the spoil." Who are the many and mighty men with 
 whom Jesus is to partake in the spoil? and to whom 
 refer the words, " And he intreated for the trans- 
 gressors"? Did Jesus, who, according to their futile 
 notions, was styled a God, pray for transgressors ? Many 
 more such queries suggest themselves on this theme, 
 but we will first examine the true import of the chapter. 
 The words, " Behold my servant shall prosper," to the 
 end of the 53rd chapter, concern the people of Israel, 
 who are still bearing the yoke of this captivity, and are 
 termed my servant in the singular number, which ex- 
 pression is used in many other places; for example 
 (Isaiah xli.), "And thou, Israel, my servant^ Jacob
 
 FAITH STRENGTHENED. Ill 
 
 whom I have chosen, the seed of Abraham, ray friend." 
 Again, " And I say unto thee, Thou art my servant.'' 
 In chap. xliv. 21, Isaiah says, " And now hear, Jacob 
 my servant^ and Israel whom I have chosen ;" and further 
 on, " Fear not, my servant Jacob ;" and " Remember 
 these things, Jacob and Israel, for thou art my 
 servant.'' " I have formed thee to be my servant." Ibid, 
 xlv. 4, " For the sake of Jacob my servant and Israel 
 my chosen one." We find also in the Prophecies of 
 Jeremiah (xxx. 10), "Fear not, 7ny servant Jacob, saith 
 the Lord, and be not dismayed, Israel." The same is 
 repeated, " Fear not, Jacob 7ny servant, saith the 
 Lord." Similar expressions occur in the Psalms. Psalm 
 cxxxvi. 22, " An inheritance to Jacob Ms servant," etc. 
 AU these passages afford an evidence that the term ser- 
 vant in the singular is frequently addressed to the whole 
 people of Israel. The same form of address in the 
 singular is used in the delivery of the ten command- 
 ments, though directed to an assembly of six hundred 
 thousand persons. 
 
 We may be asked. What connexion with Israel has 
 the following passage in Isaiah liii. 4, 5 : " Surely he 
 has borne our sickness, and carried our pains, and we 
 considered him plagued, stricken by God, and afflicted. 
 And he was wounded by our transgressions, and bruised 
 by our iniquities. The chastisement for the sake of 
 our weal came upon him, and by his wounds we were 
 healed." It may be alleged, that it has never been 
 known at any period that the people of Israel have 
 borne the sicknesses, the pains, and the wounds due to the 
 iniquity of other nations ; and whatever afflictions and 
 troubles Israel have endured, came upon them on account 
 of their own sins, and not for those of other nations. 
 
 In our reply to this objection, we will show, first, 
 that the prophets frequently designate humiliations and
 
 112 FAITH STRENGTHENED. 
 
 adversities by the name of sickness and wounds. Com- 
 pare Isaiah i. 5, 6, " The whole head is sick, and the 
 whole heart faint, from the sole of the foot even unto 
 the head there is no soundness in it, but wounds and 
 bruises and putrifying sores." And again in xxx. 26, 
 " In the day that the Lord bindeth up the breach of his 
 people, and healeth the sore of their wound." In like 
 manner, Hosea vi. 1, "He has torn and He will heal 
 us. He hath smitten and He will bind up." Lamenta- 
 tions ii. 13, "For thy breach is great like the sea, who can 
 heal thee?" Jeremiah x. 19, " Woe is me for my hurt, 
 my wound is grievous, and I said, This is my sickness, 
 and I must bear it.'' Afterwards he explains the mean- 
 ing of this fracture, this sore, and this sickness, by 
 exclaiming (ibid.ver. 20), "My tabernacle is spoiled, and 
 all my cords are broken ; my children are gone forth 
 from me, and they are not," etc. Ibid. xxx. 12, " For 
 thus saith the Lord, Thy fracture is mortifying, thy 
 wound is exceedingly sore." Soon afterwards the con- 
 solation is given in the words in verse 17, ^' I shall 
 bring relief unto thee and heal thee from thy wounds." 
 The prophet then explains in what the healing and re- 
 lief are to consist, viz. (ver. 18), " Thus speaketh the 
 Lord, I shall bring back the captivity of thy tents, 
 Jacob, and I shall have compassion on its inhabitants, 
 and the city shall be built on its ruins, and the palace 
 shall stand in its proper place. There shall again pro- 
 ceed forth from them thanksgiving and the voice of 
 mirth, and I shall increase them, and they shall not be 
 diminished," etc. In chap, xxxiii. 6 to 8, he says, " I 
 bring up into it a remedy and healing, and I shall heal 
 them." Therefore, he explains in what the remedy and 
 healing will consist, in the words, " And I shall bring- 
 back the captivity of Judah and the captivity of Jeru- 
 salem, and T shall build them as formerly, and I shall
 
 FAITH STRENGTHENED. 113 
 
 cleanse them from all their iniquities which they have 
 committed against me," etc. 
 
 From all these verses it appears, that Scripture desig- 
 nates the captivity as attended with calamities, and de- 
 scribes the troubles that took place during the exile under 
 the names of bruises and wounds — but redemption, en- 
 largement, and deliverance. Scripture depicts by the terms 
 of curing and healing. Now, with the prophecy, " My 
 servant shall be prosperous," we receive comfort, and 
 strengthening of our hearts — although we are lowered 
 deeply, and trodden down to the ground by reason of our 
 captivity, hope is offered us for the future ; and through 
 the mercy of the Lord, we shall be raised, and exalted, 
 and promoted to a high degree. When the days of re- 
 storation dawn upon us, the Gentile nations, together 
 with their rulers, in witnessing the deliverance of Israel, 
 and their elevation to a most exalted rank, will be 
 greatly amazed — as they previously have been at our 
 degradation during our captivity, when contumely and 
 insult have been our lot from all nations of the earth — 
 so they will express their wonder at our improved con- 
 dition, and they will say, one to the other, " Now it is 
 manifest to us, that we have all strayed like a flock with- 
 out a shepherd ; each of us has turned his own way ; our 
 fathers inherited fallacy and vanity, in which there is 
 no profit ; no Divine law, nor any true faith, is belonging 
 to any nation of the world except the people of Israel. 
 The plagues and the torments which the Israelites have 
 borne in captivity have not come upon them on account 
 of their sins : we, ourselves, ought to have borne the 
 trouble and the chastisements on account of the great- 
 ness of our iniquity. Surely, the sickness and the pain 
 which ought to have come upon us, came upon them, to 
 atone for our sins : while they were servants under our 
 authority, wliile they have interceded for our welfare, 
 
 I
 
 114 FAITH STRENGTHENED. 
 
 and the success of our kingdoms — yet we considered it 
 differently — namely, that on account of the greatness of 
 their sin, for inflicting death on our Messiah, who is our 
 God, these great calamities have befallen them." So far 
 will go the words of the Gentiles. 
 
 Here we may mention, that the Gentiles are not re- 
 sponsible for their trespasses in the same manner as those 
 to whom the will of God has been revealed. Only when 
 their iniquity is outrageous, when their ill-treatment of 
 righteous Israelites is aggravated, when the enormities 
 inflicted on the Israelites equalled the chastisements im- 
 posed upon those who perished by the Deluge, or of those 
 who shared the fate of Sodom and Gomorrah — it will be 
 then the Lord will visit their iniquities, and bring total 
 destruction upon them : though permitting the suffering 
 and persecution of Israel, he will not allow actual ex- 
 tinction. This forbearance towards us is expressed in 
 Jeremiah xxx. 11, "For I am with thee, saith the 
 Lord, to save thee. For I shall make an end of all 
 the Gentiles among whom I have scattered thee; but of 
 thee I shall not make an end ; I shall correct thee in 
 measure, but I will not hold thee guiltless.'' Amos, like- 
 wise, notices in his book, chap, iii. 2, " I have known 
 you from all the families of the earth ; on that account, I 
 shall visit upon you all your sins :" and in the Proverbs we 
 find "Him whom the Lord loveth, he chastiseth," etc., 
 " and he shall cleave to the house of Jacob." The pu- 
 nishments of Israel are not only for their own good, but 
 also for that of other nations. Hence, Isaiah prophe- 
 sied concerning the restoration of Israel, chap. xiv. 1, 
 " And strangers shall be joined with them." It is well 
 known that Israel is the chosen nation concerning whom 
 it is recorded in Exodus (chap xix. 5), " And ye shall 
 be unto me a peculiar people from among all the nations ; 
 for mine is the earth." All this tends to prove, that 
 the Almiglity revealed His law to Isrnel for the purpose
 
 FAITH STRENGTHENED. 115 
 
 that they should learn to walk in the right way, and to 
 perform righteous deeds. With this distinguished gift 
 for themselves, He has coupled the noble mission that 
 they should become useful to other nations; " For His 
 mercy extends to all His creatures/' With a view to 
 Israel's instrumentality in His Divine government, we 
 find (in Exodus xix. 6), " And they shall be unto me a 
 kingdom of priests and a holy nation." And to tlie 
 same purport says Isaiah (chap Ixi. 6), "And ye shall 
 be named the priests of the Lord ; ye shall be called the 
 servants of our God." " Ye shall eat the riches of the 
 Gentiles, and in their glory ye shall triumph." In nu- 
 merous parts of the Scripture, the people of Israel are 
 called priests^ it being the duty of that class to inculcate 
 religious duties and precepts, and to " teach Jacob judg- 
 ments, and Israel the Law." Thus, it is our vocation 
 to instruct, in the law of the living God, the Gentiles, 
 among whom we are dispersed; and as the Psalmist 
 says. Psalm xcvi. 3, to "relate His glory among the 
 Gentiles, His wonderful works among the nations.'' 
 
 All future felicity of the Gentiles will proceed from 
 Israel, as has been assured to our patriarchs, (see 
 Genesis xii. 3,) "And in thee all the nations of the 
 earth shall be blessed;" and ibid, xxviii. 14, "And 
 through thee and thy seed all the families of the earth 
 shall be blessed." Here we have an additional testimony 
 that the people of Israel are graciously distinguished, 
 the Almighty having appointed them as His portion and 
 inheritance, (see Psalm cxxxv. 4), " The Lord has 
 chosen Jacob for Himself, and Israel as His distinct," 
 (people), or in other words of Scripture, Deut. xxxii. 
 9, " For his people are the portion of the Lord, Jacob 
 is the lot of his inheritance." The law has, therefore, 
 been given to us, with the intention that we should 
 teach to other nations the ways of the Lord. Wlien the 
 
 I 2
 
 116 FAITH STRENGTHENED. 
 
 guide pursues the right road those who follow will 
 safely reach the end of the journey, Avhile the stragglers 
 will undoubtedly lose their way altogether. Therefore 
 must those who wish to arrive at their destination keep 
 close to their leaders; and thus, at a future day, 
 according to the prophecy of Zech. viii. 23, " Ten men 
 from the Gentiles of various tongues shall take hold of 
 the garment of the Jew, saying, We will go with you, for 
 we have heard that God is with you." The felicity of 
 Israel will be shared by those who associate with them 
 in the same manner as Jethro (and his descendants who 
 settled in Palestine) shared in the welfare of our people 
 according to the promise of Moses, Nunbers x. 32, '^And 
 it will come to pass, if thou will go with us, that all the 
 good which the Lord will do unto us we will do unto 
 thee." In Jeremiah xxxv. 19, there is a further evi- 
 dence that the promise given by Moses was fulfilled. 
 The prophet says, " There shall never be wanting to 
 Jonadab, the son of Rechab, a man to stand before me." 
 Here the words, " to stand" mean to endure, to last, in 
 conformity with the phrase used in Isaiah Ixvi. 22, "As 
 the new Heavens and the new earth shall stand before 
 me, saith the Lord, so shall stand your seed and 
 your name." 
 
 Returning again to the examination of Isaiah liii. 
 we have to notice, that, at the time of the restoration, 
 the followers of the Jews will escape unhurt from all 
 the troubles incident to wandering strangers. The 
 Jews will resemble those warriors who, standincr fore- 
 most, are exposed to the most imminent perils, and 
 nevertheless, when the enemies shall be conquered, those 
 who are in the rear shall equally share in the spoil, 
 although not exposed to the same amount of danger. 
 Hence Isaiah liii. 5, says, metaphorically, " He is pierced 
 for the sake of our transgressions, he is bruised for the
 
 FAITH STRENGTHENED. 117 
 
 sake of our iniquity, the cliastisement for our good 
 comes upon him, and through his sore we are liealed." 
 The prophet, proceeding (ibid ver. 12), in the same 
 figure of speech, alludes to the spoil allotted to the 
 front ranks of the divine army of the Israelites, and says, 
 " Therefore will I give him his portion among the 
 many, and with the mighty he shall divide spoil, because 
 he has exposed himself to death, and has been counted 
 among sinners, and has borne the iniquity of many, and 
 interceded for transgressors.'' 
 
 From previous as well as subsequent verses, the 
 reader is enabled to judge that the inspired writings 
 treat solelv on the calamities which Israel has to endure 
 during the captivity, and that compensation will be 
 granted to them from the time of their redemption from 
 the captivity. See, for instance, Isaiah lii. 1, "Awake, 
 awake, put on thy strength, Zion, put on the garments 
 of thy glory, Jerusalem, thou holy city, for there shall 
 no more enter thee the uncircumcised and the unclean." 
 Now this passage is succeeded by the words, " For not 
 speedily shall ye go forth ; ye sliall not go in by flight, 
 for the Lord is going before you, and the God of Israel 
 is gathering you." Then follow these words, "Behold, my 
 servant shall prosper." Chapter liv. 1, commences, "Re- 
 joice, thou barren woman who hast not borne;" and the 
 verses which follow equally indicate Israel's final redemp- 
 tion. All these Divine promises are strictly connected Avith 
 the gracious assurance laid down. Ibid li. 22, " Tims 
 saith thy Sovereign, the Lord my God, who pleadeth 
 the cause of His people; behold, I have taken out of 
 thine hand the cup of trembling, even the dregs of the 
 cup of my fury, thou shalt drink it no more.'' Tlie 
 same harmony is evident between the expression, " No 
 uncircumcised and unclean shall enter there,'' and the 
 oath contained in chap. liv. 9, 10, " For this is as the 
 waters of Noah unto mc ; for as I have sworn that the
 
 118 FAITH STRENGTHENED. 
 
 waters of Noah should no more go over the earth, so 
 have I sworn that I would not be wroth with thee. For 
 the mountains shall depart, and the hills be removed, 
 but my kindness shall not depart from thee; neither 
 shall the covenant of my peace be removed, saith the 
 Lord, that hath mercy on thee." [Having now dwelt 
 generally on the prophecy relative to the restoration of 
 Israel, we shall examine^ more closely, each particular 
 expression. 
 
 Isaiah lii. 13, "Behold my servant shall prosper, he shall 
 be raised and exalted, and be very great." 
 
 The Avord TlDK'*' " he shall prosper," is found again 
 in the 1st Samuel xviii. 14, " And David teas pros- 
 perous in all his ways." " My servant shall prosper," 
 relates to that period when Israel shall leave the 
 countries of its captivity, and be elevated to the highest 
 degree of happiness. " As many were astonished at 
 thee, so was his appearance deteriorated more than that 
 of any man, and his form more than that of the sons of 
 men." The word astonished expresses the surprise which 
 Avill be felt, and is used in the same sense in Ezekiel 
 xxviii. 19, ^' And all who knew thee among the nations 
 were astonished at thee." The astonishment is to be felt 
 by those who are to consider " thy (Israel's) deep humi- 
 liation, and the duration of thy captivity ; and they shall 
 say one to the other, " Truly, his appearance is deterior- 
 ated more than any man, and his form more than that 
 of the sons of men." And indeed it has become pro- 
 verbial among the Gentiles, to exclaim, at the wretched 
 appearance of their neighbour, " he looks as miserable 
 as a Jew." 
 
 " Thus, he shall startle many nations, the kings shall 
 shut their mouths against him, for what has not been 
 told them they have seen, and what they have not heard 
 they have understood.'' 
 
 The prophet Isaiali means to say, that in the same
 
 FAITH STRENGTHENED. IIS 
 
 manner as the Gentiles formerly were amazed at the 
 depth of humiliation into which we had been thrown, 
 they shall, at a future period, be astounded at the height 
 of distinction at which we shall arrive ; and they shall 
 then say to each other^ " who would have believed the 
 report brought to us ?" etc. The kings themselves shall 
 remain dumb and speechless. The verb 1!^Sp'' they 
 shall keep (their mouths) closed or shut, is similarly 
 used in Job v. 16, IT'S n^3p nnVyi "and wickedness 
 closed its mouth." With the above prophecy of Isaiah 
 agrees, also, the prophet Micah, chap. vii. 10, " Gentiles 
 shall see it, and be ashamed, in spite of all their strength; 
 and they lay their hands on their mouths when per- 
 ceiving that our distinctions shall surpass every descrip- 
 tion and prediction : " Who would have believed the re- 
 port loe have heard ; and to whom has the arm of the 
 Lord been revealed f This shall be said by the Gen- 
 tiles at the sight of Israel's prosperity. " We (shall 
 they exclaim), we have put no faith in the hearsay that 
 reached us through the prophets, and now we perceive 
 with our own eyes that more has been done than we had 
 I heard ; for how could we conceive that the omnipotence 
 of the Almighty would manifest itself especially on be- 
 half of such an insignificant and disregarded people !" 
 
 " He grew up before him like a sucking babe, like a 
 root on parched land, without form, without beauty that 
 we might look at him, without comeliness that we might 
 find pleasure in him." 
 
 The purport of this is, that the Gentiles shall declare 
 the rise of Israel is just as preternatural as if a branch 
 were to grow from parched ground. " While groaning 
 under the yoke of his captivity, how could we suppose 
 that he could endure the burdens imposed on him? 
 When we consider their wasted body, and saw ihcm 
 groping their way like the blind, we did, indeed, not
 
 120 FAITH STRENGTHENED. 
 
 envy and covet their lot ; but on the contrary, we vili- 
 fied and spurned them. Isaiah liii. 3, " He was despised 
 and the least of men ; a man of pains, and acquainted 
 with disease, and as one from whom man hideth his 
 countenance, he was despised, and we esteemed him not." 
 This means, How should we (Gentiles) have envied 
 his (the Jew's) lot who was the most despised and ab- 
 ject of the children of men ; who was accustomed to 
 load himself with all the troubles and torments of his 
 exile, which may be compared to pains and diseases. On 
 account of his extraordinary inferiority and degradation 
 we despised him, hiding our faces from him, being un- 
 willing to notice him. " However, he hath borne our 
 diseases, and carried our pains, and we esteemed him 
 smitten of God and afflicted.'' 
 
 This means — The Gentiles after having perceived, by 
 ocular evidence, that he (the Jew) has the truth on his 
 side, they shall say : " We have all wandered like sheep, 
 the miseries and persecutions of the captivity have not 
 befallen him on account of his own iniquity, but ought 
 to have come upon us on account of our iniquity ; and 
 while we believe that he underwent trials and chastise- 
 ments in retribution for his rebellion to God, he (the 
 Jew) suffered in consequence of the transgressions of 
 the Gentiles. "And he was tormented on account of our 
 transgressions ; he was bruised on account of our iniqui- 
 ties; the chastisement of our peace was upon him, 
 and by his bruises, we were healed." The word '^^HD 
 (afflicted) is related to ^<»)-| {pain as women in labour). 
 
 The phrase " the chastisement of our peace was upon 
 him," indicates that this life presents a world of change 
 and vicissitude, no enjoyment is complete and perfect; 
 there is no state of peace without struggle ; there is no 
 quietude without an intermixture of strife and conten- 
 tion, and there is no gladness and enjoyment without
 
 FAITH STRENGTHENED. 121 
 
 sorrow and contrition. All pleasures and delights are 
 intermingled with evils. Hence we (Gentiles) see clearly 
 that "the chastisement of our peace has come upon 
 him;" that is to say, we (Gentiles) have acquired a state 
 of peace, but the struggles by which it was obtained 
 fell to his (the Jew's) lot. Thus he (the Jew) received 
 wounds and bruises, as results of his captivity, while 
 we derived from his vicissitudes healing and restoration, 
 viz., prosperity and dominion. The word XS^ii (healed) 
 is used in an analogous sense, in Exodus xv. 26, "For 
 I the Lord am He who healeth thee^'' which sentence 
 accords with the preceding words, "All the diseases which 
 I put upon the Egyptians, I shall not put ujDon thee." 
 
 The word llTll^ni^ means " by his bruises." The omis- 
 sion of the Dagesh, in the second radical letter, has led 
 some to interpret it " in his society." Those expositors 
 compare the word with that occurring in Hosea iv. 17, 
 viz., DnSX D''l^y "inn " Ephraim is associated with 
 Idols," etc. In that case, it would seem that we (Gentiles) 
 praying to God in society, or in conjunction with them 
 (tne Jews), the Almighty listened to our entreaties and 
 sent us relief from our afflictions. Isaiah liii. 6, " We all 
 strayed like sheep, each of us turned to his own way; 
 and the Lord visited on him the iniquity of us all." 
 
 This means — The Gentiles will make confession of 
 their guilt, by ackDowledging that the Lord is truly and 
 entirely with Israel, and that they (the Gentiles) strayed 
 like a shepherdless flock, every man following his own 
 Avay, and each people worshipping his peculiar god: 
 " but now," will they say, " now we know that our idols 
 are not gods." 
 
 In corroboration of this we find, in Jeremiah xvi. 
 19, 20, " To thee nations will come from the corners of 
 the earth, and they will say. Surely our fathers inherited 
 falsehood, vanity in which there is no profit." Moreover
 
 122 FAITH STRENGTHENED. 
 
 we read there, shall a man make gods unto himself, and 
 they are no gods? (shall the Gentiles continue in their 
 accusation) " We have deserved a most rigorous punish- 
 ment, but the Lord visited and cast our punishment 
 upon Israel. He has hitherto laboured for our sake 
 and borne our yoke and our tribulations, henceforward 
 we "vvill freely and cheerfully labour for him, and subject 
 ourselves to him." 
 
 Therefore Isaiah says, Ixi. 5, " And strangers shall 
 stand forth and feed vour flocks," etc. With the same 
 •view that prophet says (chap. xlix. 23), "And kings shall 
 be thy nursing fathers, their queens thy nursing- 
 mothers ; they shall bow down their faces to the ground 
 before thee, and they shall lick the dust off thy feet, 
 and thou shalt know that I am the Lord, and that those 
 who hope in me shall not be put to shame." 
 
 Isaiah liii. 7, " He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, 
 yet he opened not his mouth ; he is brought as a lamb to 
 the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is dumb, 
 so he openeth not his mouth." For (will the Gentiles 
 say concerning the Israelites) while that people was 
 held captive under our power we extorted from them 
 contributions under various pretexts, and by means of 
 false accusations. We inflicted on them bodily torments, 
 yet they shewed patient endurance under them, and 
 remained silent and calm like the lamb when led to the 
 slaughter, and like the weak defenceless sheep submitting 
 to the shearers. 
 
 This condition of Israel is prefigured in the complaint 
 in Psalm xliv. 11, "Thou givest us away like the 
 sheep that is to be consumed." A similar comparison is 
 made by Jeremiah (chap.l. 17), " Israel is like a scattered 
 flock, the lions have chased them away : first, the king of 
 Assyria has devoured them ; and lastly, Nebuchadnezzar, 
 king of Babylon, has crushed them. Isaiah liii. 8. "He
 
 FAITH STRENGTHENED. 123 
 
 Avas taken away from prison and severe judgment, and 
 who shall speak of his generation ? for he was cut oiFfrom 
 the land of the living, and through the transgression of 
 my people he was stricken." 
 
 This means — That by this time the Israelites will 
 have escaped the direful oppressions to which they had 
 been subjected during their exile ; and it will then be 
 manifest that no human language can supply an ade- 
 quate description of the incessant afflictions endured by 
 the Jews, and of their unswerving belief in the only 
 One God. Then will the Gentiles acknowledge that the 
 visitation which befell the Jews tended less to illustrate 
 the sinfulness of the victims, than the depravity of the 
 persecutors. The word " transgression" is followed by 
 the expression, " my people," for each nation will attri- 
 bute to itself the consequences of the malignity to 
 which Israel had been exposed. 
 
 Isaiah liii. 9, " And he made his grave with the wicked 
 and wi^x the rich his tomb, although he had done no 
 wrong, and no guile had been in his mouth." 
 
 This means — That, in honour of his religion, the 
 Israelite used to expose himself freely to martyrdom, as 
 is confirmed by the above-cited allusion to it in 
 Psalm xliv. 22, " For on account of thee, we are slain 
 all the day, for we are considered like sheep for slaughter, 
 for we have constantly been attacked by false accusation,, 
 through which they sought to inflict on us the retri- 
 butions due to the guilty." 
 
 In all such cases the persecuted parties were not 
 offenders, and we Gentiles felt incensed because the 
 Israelites would not conform to our ill-founded dogmas, 
 and "would not hold deceit in their mouths." For even 
 to escape death the Israelites would not make a con- 
 fession with their lips to which tlicir hearts must give 
 an utter denial. Ibid, 10, "And it pleased the Lord to
 
 124 FAITH STRENGTHENED. 
 
 humble him. He afflicted him with aihnent. Since his 
 soul has offered itself as a sacrifice, he shall see seed and 
 live long, and the delight of the Lord shall prosper in 
 his hand." 
 
 This means— Since Israel has so firmly adhered to the 
 divine law, and has subjected himself to death under 
 religious persecution, we [Gentiles] see no other object 
 for the infliction and chastisements, except that the 
 Almighty visits him with punishments in order to hum- 
 ble and to try him with a view to compensate him for 
 his submission : therefore, in sharing his grave with the 
 Israelite he shall see seed, that is to say, become exceed- 
 ingly numerous. This ellij^tical mode of omitting the 
 word expressive of excess and largeness occurs also in 
 Numbers xiii., where we find 'nit2 ^EJ^^t^ " Men of size," 
 that is, men of large or gigantic size. Other prophets 
 also contribute their testimony to the future increase of 
 Israel. See, for instance, Zech. x. 8, " I will hiss for 
 them and gather them, for I have redeemed them, and 
 they shall increase as they have increased." 
 
 In the same chapter the prophet foretells : " I will 
 bring them into the land of Gilead and Lebanon, and it 
 shall not be large enough for them" (English Version, "no 
 place found for them"). Ezekiel xxxvi. 37, has on the 
 same subject the following prophecy : " I will increase 
 them with men as a flock." The words " he shall live 
 long" have a parallel in Isaiah Ixv. 22, " For as the days 
 of the tree shall be the days of my people." Zechariah 
 says, in chap. viii. 4, " And every man (shall sit) with 
 his stafi" in his hand for very age." 
 
 The Almighty in afflicting and humbling us during 
 our captivity purposes, therefore, to bring to pass our 
 ultimate benefit, and to strengthen our number in the 
 time of our restoration. This is confirmed in Deut. 
 XXX. 5, " And He will make thee better and more
 
 FAITH STRENGTHENED. 12.3 
 
 numerous than thy fathers were." So far go the words 
 which convey the restoration of Israel. The last two verses 
 of the chapter contain the promise added by the Almighty 
 (Isaiah liii. 11), " He shall see of the travail of his soul, 
 and shall be satisfied. By his knowledge shall my righteous 
 servant make many righteous, for he shall bear their 
 iniquities." The words, " by his knowledge," are thus 
 illustrated in Jeremiah xxxi. 34, " For they all shall 
 know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of 
 them." " He shall make many people righteous," means 
 that Israel shall impart its knowledge of righteousness 
 to the Gentiles. See on this point Micah iv. 2, " And 
 many nations shall come and say. Come and let us go 
 up to the mountain of the Lord, and to the house of the 
 God of Jacob, that He may teach us His ways, and we 
 will walk in His paths ; for the law shall go forth from 
 Zion, and^ the word of the Lord from Jerusalem." 
 Hence, Israel, the servant of the Lord, shall, by his 
 righteousness, remove the wickedness of the Gentiles, 
 and through his righteousness peace and happiness shall 
 reign among mankind at large. Isaiah liii. 11, " There- 
 fore will I divide him a portion among the great, and 
 with the mighty he shall divide the spoil; because he 
 poured out his soul unto death, and he was numbered 
 with the transgressors, and he bare the sin of many, and 
 prayed for the transgressor." 
 
 This means — I shall allot him a portion and a reward 
 among the greatest and worthiest men that lived on 
 earth, viz., among the patriarchs and holy prophets. 
 
 The allotment will consist in spiritual beatitude which 
 far surpasses all corporeal well-being. The translation 
 of D"'3*l (great) is justified by the occurrence of yy\ m 
 Genesis, " And the greater [in the English Version, the 
 elder] shall serve the younger." But worldly prosperity 
 is likewise promised in Isaiah's prophecy, as he says,
 
 126 FAITH STRENGTHENED. 
 
 " And with the mighty he shall divide the spoil." " The 
 mighty" are the hosts of Gog and Magog, and the 
 nations who will come to carry on war with Jerusalem, 
 and who will be removed by sudden death. See Ezekiel 
 xxxviii. 22, " I will plead against him with pestilence 
 and with blood, and I will pour down floods of rain 
 upon him, and upon his bands, and upon the many 
 people that a^e with him," etc. Israel shall then par- 
 take of the spoil and property in retribution of the 
 extortion and depredation formerly practised towards 
 Israel. See Zech. xiv. 14, " And the wealth of all 
 heathen shall be gathered together, gold, and silver, and 
 raiment in great abundance." 
 
 Thus Israel shall be compensated for the bodily and 
 mental suiFering heaped upon them during their exile. 
 
 In that epoch, life shall be ransomed by life and pro- 
 perty by property. This is intended by the words, 
 " Because he poured forth his soul unto death." The verb 
 rrij^n " he poured forth" (from the root Hiy) is synony- 
 mous with the expression in Genesis xxiv. 20, "And she 
 poured forth her pitcher," etc. 
 
 "And he was numbered with the transgressors" is 
 analogous to the sentence, "And he made his grave with 
 the wicked." That is to say, the gentiles treated Israel 
 as a wicked, ungodly race, and, therefore, these exube- 
 rant blessings shall now be bestowed unto Israel which 
 are reserved for the upright and God-fearing men, and 
 those who revere His name like the holy patriarchs and 
 the prophets of our people. " He bore the sin of many" 
 means, he was not only free from the wickedness 
 imputed to him by the gentiles, but through his piety 
 he bore their sins and suffered for their iniquity. At 
 the same time he prayed for those nations who had 
 inflicted on him lieavy sufl"erings, and besought the 
 Almighty to grant prosperity and abundance to the
 
 FAITH STRENGTHENED. 127 
 
 kingdoms of the gentiles. See Jeremiah xxix. 7, " And 
 seek the peace of the city whither I have caused you to 
 be carried captive, and pray unto the Lord for it.," etc. 
 With the same tolerant spirit our Rabbins admonish us 
 thus : " Pray for the prosperity of thy native country." 
 The prayers we oiFer up to the Ahnighty are an 
 evidence of our submission to this precept. We pray 
 for the long life and happiness of our gentile rulers, and 
 we address other prayers all tending to prove the interest 
 we take in the welfare of other nations; we pray for 
 the fertility of their land and for the plentiful supply of 
 food required for the nourishment of all. 
 
 CHAPTER XXIII. 
 
 Isaiah Ixiv. 5 (in the English version, ver. 6), "And we 
 are all as an unclean ma7i^ and all our righteousnesses 
 are as a rotten garment and as a leaf, and our iniquities 
 take us away like a wind." A Christian once addressed 
 me in the folio win 2; terms: — "'ihat there is not one 
 man on the earth who does good and sinneth not. Yea, 
 ye must know well that there is not one man capable 
 of observing all the commandments prescribed in the 
 laws of Moses ; and that your righteous acts have not 
 enabled you to attain the end you seek. How inefficient, 
 then, must the prayers and the actions of the Avicked 
 prove?" 
 
 Reply — We must certainly admit that no man can 
 obtain salvation through his own acts alone ; but man 
 must combine with his piety a total submission to the 
 mercy and loving-kindness of the Lord. Jeremiah 
 announces it clearly (chap. xxx. 21), "And I will 
 cause him to draw near, and he shall approach unto me, 
 for who is he whose heart is emboldened to approach 
 unto me ?"
 
 128 FAITH STRENGTHENED. 
 
 The Psalmist says, in the same manner (Psahns Ixv. 
 4), " Blessed is the man whom thou choosest and causest 
 to be near unto thee, that he may dwell in thy courts." 
 Therefore, he prays (in Psalm Ixxix. 9), "Help us, 
 God of our salvation, for the sake of the glory of Thy 
 name, and deliver us and forgive us our sins, for the 
 sake of Thy name." In Psalms xxv. 2, the sacred poet 
 says, " For the sake of Thy name forgive us our iniquity, 
 for it is great." Again in Psalms cxv. 1, " Not unto 
 us, Lord, not unto us, but unto Thy name give glory, 
 for the sake of Thy mercy, and for the sake of Thy 
 faithfulness." Again in Psalms cxliii. 11, "For the 
 sake of Thy name thou shalt quicken me ; for the sake 
 of Thy righteousness thou shalt bring my soul out of 
 trouble." In Psalms xliv. 26, he exclaims, " Arise and 
 deliver us for the sake of Thy loving-kindness, in the 
 greatness of Thy mercy blot out my transgression." 
 And in Psalins Ixxx. 3, he implores the Almighty, 
 " Return unto us, God, and cause Thy oountenance to 
 shine (upon us) and we shall be saved." Thus says, 
 also, the prophet Jeremiah xiv. 7, " If our iniquities 
 testify against us, then grant, God, for the sake of Thy 
 name;" and further, " For the sake of Thy name do not 
 rebuke us." In the Lamentations v. 21, he says " Cause 
 us, Lord, to return unto Thee and we shall be turned." 
 Daniel, in his prayer, ix. 18, 19, uses similar language, 
 " For not on account of our righteousness we pour out 
 our supplications before Thee ; but on account of Thine 
 abundant mercies, O Lord, hear them ; Lord, forgive 
 us ; Lord, hearken and grant them ; delay not, God, 
 for Thine own sake, for Thy name is called upon Thy 
 city and Thy people.'' Numerous other passages might 
 be quoted all conveying the same idea. 
 
 Hence the Almighty has given us the assurance, 
 through His prophets, to deliver us from our captivity,
 
 FAITH STRENGTHENED. 129 
 
 and to blot out our sins and iniquities, not for our sake 
 but for His own sake. Thus Isaiah says, xlviii. 11, " For 
 my sake, for my own sake will I do it." In chap, xliii. 25, 
 the same prophet says, " I, even I, am he who blotteth 
 out thy transgressions for my own sake, and thy sins 
 I will not remember." This is expressed, also, by 
 Ezekiel, xxxvi. 22, " Not for your sake, house of 
 Israel, am I dealing thus, but for my holy name." We find 
 in the same book, chap. xx. 44, "And ye shall know, that 
 I am the Lord, by my dealing for the sake of my name, 
 and not according to your evil ways and your corrupt 
 actions, house of Israel, saith the Lord God.'' We 
 may cite here, also, the words of Jeremiah xxxi. 37, 
 " Thus saith the Lord, If the heavens above shall be 
 measured, or the foundations of the earth be searched, 
 I will also rebuke the seed of Israel for all they have 
 done.'' This divine declaration clearly confirms our 
 opinion that our salvation does not solely depend on our 
 imperfect individual merit and righteousness, but on the 
 mercy of the faithful God, who will never change 
 although we may be found undeserving before him. 
 
 The expression of the prophet, " We are all unclean, 
 and all our virtues are like a rotten garment," has refer- 
 ence to such religious works as are performed through 
 vain-glory and selfish motives, in order to create 
 envy among our neighbours, it is evident enough that 
 the best actions must displease the Almighty when 
 they originate from base motives ; " For the Searcher of 
 hearts," say our sages, " regards the intentions only." 
 Hence the admonition in Deut. xv. 10, " Thou shalt 
 supply him liberally, nor shall thy heart be vexed while 
 thou givest." And in chap, xxviii. 47, we read, 
 " Because thou didst not serve the Lord thy God in joy, 
 and with a cheerful heart. " The above passage, " We are 
 all unclean, and all our righteousness is like a rotten 
 
 K
 
 130 FAITH STRENGTHENED. 
 
 garment," relates, therefore, to the objectionable conduct 
 and impure intentions of those who selfishly labour in 
 the cause of the Almighty, and, as the leaves dropping 
 from the tree are carried away by the wind, so we, in 
 consequence of our sins, are dispersed throughout all the 
 quarters of the globe. 
 
 CHAPTER XXIV. 
 
 Jeremiah iii. 16, " 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." From this 
 the Christians argue that the law of Moses, which 
 was deposited by the side of the ark, would at a future 
 period be annulled. 
 
 Refutation. — In chap. xix. we have already proved by 
 unmistakable evidence, and especially by their own Gos- 
 pels, and even by allusions to their theological writers, 
 that the law of Moses is eternal, and that no new reve- 
 lation will ever supplant our old law. Having then 
 sufficiently proved the feebleness of the opinions adverse 
 to this view, we confine ourselves here to the above 
 quoted explanations: every reader of the Scriptures 
 knows the passage in 1 Kings viii. 9, " There was nothing 
 in the ark but the two tables of stone." These tables 
 having been called the tables of the covenant, the ark, 
 as the receptacle of those tables, was named " the ark of 
 the covenant." The Christians themselves admit that 
 the contents of the tables of the decalogue are immutable, 
 and that no man can hope for the salvation of his soul 
 who repudiates the Ten Commandments. We shall
 
 FAITH STRENGTHENED. 131 
 
 have to return to this subject on reviewing some 
 passages in Matthew xix. So much is certain, that the 
 Christians are enjoined to follow the Ten Command- 
 ments, although they have arbitrarily altered the day 
 appointed for the celebration of the Sabbath, and, al- 
 though no sanction for so doing was given either by 
 Jesus or his disciples ; consequently, the Christians have 
 no right to plead that the ark of the covenant of the 
 Lord, and the two tables with their contents, will ever 
 be forgotten; nor are they justified in the assertion, 
 that the law of Moses will be abrogated : and not be 
 remembered any longer by Israel, since the scriptural 
 passages cited by them do not afford any evidence in 
 support of their argument, particularly as Malachi, the 
 last of the prophets (chap. iv. 4), gives the divine ad- 
 monition, " Ilemember the law of Moses my servant, 
 which I commanded him on Horeb, enjoining it on all 
 Israel with the statutes and judgments." This prophet 
 clearly demonstrates that the divine law will certainly 
 not be abolished at any future time ; on the contrary, 
 that the dignity of Israel and the dignity of Jerusalem 
 will be augmented at a future day. Hence he alludes 
 to those days when Israel shall have increased and mul- 
 tiplied in the Holy Land, and when the Gentile nations 
 shall come to seek the Word of the Lord at Jerusalem. 
 To this effect says Isaiah (chap. ii. 2), " And all nations 
 shall flow unto Him." Those nations shall not profanely 
 ask after the divine covenant, and intrude into the rest- 
 ing-place of the Holy Ark, for they shall be too fully 
 impressed with the sanctity of the house of God, where 
 the throne of iuds-ment will be re-established. The tern- 
 pie will then not be the exclusive locality to which the 
 Gentiles shall flock, but all Jerusalem will be a residence 
 of divine knowledge, whither the Gentiles shall resort in 
 order to call upon the name of the Lord, and to serve 
 
 2 K
 
 132 FAITH STRENGTHENED. 
 
 Him with one accord ; and the sacred and godly duties 
 of man will not be limited only to the precincts of the 
 temple. See Joel iii. 17, " And Jerusalem shall be holy, 
 and strangers shall not pass through it." Here we learn 
 that the holiness of Jerusalem will prevent aliens from 
 entering it for the purpose of desecrating it. The un- 
 worthy among the Gentiles, and the unclean among 
 Israel, will in like manner be kept away through awe of 
 the Holy City ; but the city of the Lord shall spread its 
 conversion arid enlightening influence to the remotest 
 distance. The Gentiles, following the wholesome minis- 
 tration of the chosen race, will be deemed servants 
 of the Lord like the children of Israel. The prophet, 
 therefore, says, " And many nations will join the Lord 
 and shall be my people." In chap. Ivi. 6, 7, Isaiah pre- 
 dicts, " Also the sons of the strangers that join them- 
 selves to the Lord to serve Him, and to love the name 
 of the Lord, to be His servants: every one that keepeth 
 the Sabbath from polluting it, and taketh hold of my 
 covenant, even them will I bring to my holy moun- 
 tain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer: 
 their burnt ofl'erings and their sacrifices shall be ac- 
 cepted upon mine altar; for mine house shall be called 
 a house of prayer for all people." 
 
 This shows that, at the time of the Advent of the 
 Messiah, all nations will pay homage to the holiness of 
 the land of Israel, and the entire land of Palestine will 
 assume the sacredness of the city of Jerusalem ; and the 
 city of Jerusalem will again partake of the sanctity of 
 the Divine Temple. 
 
 CHAPTER XXV. 
 
 Jeremiah xiv. 8, " Hope of Israel, the Saviour in the
 
 FAITH STRENGTHExNED. 133 
 
 time of trouble, why shouldst thou be as a stranger in 
 the land, and as a wayfaring man that turneth aside to 
 tarry for the night? " I was once asked by a Christian 
 the meaning of the expression, " Hope of Israel, the 
 Saviour in the time of trouble." I replied, the pro- 
 phet here addressed the Almighty, as in chap. xvii. 13, " 
 Lord^ the Hope of Israel, all who forsake thee shall be 
 ashamed." The same Deity is the Saviour of Israel in 
 the time of trouble, and there is no other Saviour besides 
 Him. See also chap, xiii., " And there is no Saviour 
 besides me." My interrogator said thereupon, You ought 
 to bear in mind that the prophet, speaking about this 
 Saviour, says, " Why shouldst thou be as a stranger and 
 as a Avayfaring man, that turneth aside to tarry for the 
 night f Does not this prove to you, by means of those 
 prophetic words, that the saving Divine Being would 
 dwell like a stranger on earth, as our Saviour Jesus 
 actually did ? why then do you withhold from him your 
 belief after the prophet gives his testimony about him?" 
 I replied to this, " You Christians are accustomed to 
 establish your objections to our faith, and the evidences 
 of your faith, on detached biblical passages, ^vithout 
 regard to the leading idea, and with the preceding and 
 subsequent words of the text, nor do you make unbiassed 
 comparisons with the parallel sayings of other prophets; 
 for your object is not to expose absolute truth, but to 
 confirm, by means of subtleties and specious reasonings, 
 your preconceived notions." 
 
 The true object of Jeremiah will be found on the 
 perusal of the adjoining passages. Jeremiah having a 
 prescience of the famine which was about to take place 
 in the Holy Land (see the commencement of chap. 
 xiv.), when he saw that the severity of the dearth would 
 exceed all bounds, and the consternation of Jerusalem 
 would put up a cry to heaven ; when he noticed that
 
 134 FAITH STRENGTHENED. 
 
 the calamity would be so universal that the very brutes 
 of the held would suiFer under its scourge, he made the 
 confession recorded in the words, " If our iniquities bear 
 witness against us, Lord, then deal with us according 
 to Thy name." By this he declared, that the trouble 
 had not come upon our people by way of chance, but as 
 a consequence of our misdeeds ; for the famine did not 
 prevail anywhere else except in the Land of Israel; 
 therefore, he implored of the Almighty to grant relief 
 for the sake of His Holy Name : that is to say, God, 
 as proclaimed in His supreme unity by our nation, is on 
 that account called " the God of Israel," whilst we are 
 denominated " His people and the flock of His pasture.'' 
 When He chastises us. He acts in accordance with 
 justice, since our derelictions are numerous, and since 
 we so frequently strayed in the pursuit of idolatry, the 
 perpetration of violence, and in listening to false pro- 
 phets. Jeremiah having thus made confession of our 
 sins, exclaims, by way of entreaty, " Thou Hope of 
 Israel, and its Saviour in the time of trouble !" The 
 prophet hereby implies, that, although they have de- 
 parted from Thy paths, they (the Israelites) still hope 
 that Thou wilt save them from the present distress, and 
 as Thou hast delivered them in every generation, so wilt 
 Thou also now have mercy on them, and not suffer 
 them to be consumed by famine. Then the prophet 
 continues, '' Why wilt Thou be like a stranger and like 
 a traveller who has turned aside to pass the night." By 
 this we have to understand, " That Thou, O Lord^ wilt 
 hide Thy face from us and have no compassion on us, 
 it will appear as if Thou wert not the Lord of the Earth, 
 but as if thou wert a stranger in a foreign country, 
 without power therein to afford relief from trouble." In 
 a similar manner said Moses (Numbers xiv. 15, 16), 
 " And if Thou wilt kill all the people like one man, then
 
 FAITH STRENGTHENED. 135 
 
 the nations who have heard Thy fame will say, Because 
 the Lord had not the power to bring this people," etc. 
 So prays also the Psalmist, " Arise, why wilt Thou sleep ; 
 O Lord, awake, why wilt Thou abandon us for ever;" 
 or, in other words, Permit it not to appear as if Thou 
 wert unmindful of our misery and of our affliction. In 
 fact, all the prophets address the Almighty in an 
 anthropomorphical manner, in order to convey their 
 ideas more intelligibly to their audience. 
 
 The reason that Jereniiah compares the Almighty 
 with a stranger is threefold. 1st. A sojourner in a 
 foreign land, one passing merely through a foreign city, 
 is unable to rescue the oppressed from the hand of the 
 oppressor, or the poor and the needy from the hand of 
 the depredator. For though such strangers or travel- 
 lers be of high rank, their authority is too inconsider- 
 able, when in a foreign land, to afford any assistance to 
 those around them. Thus the Sodomites said about 
 Lot : " This one man came to live here as a stranger, 
 and now he will be even a judge." 2ndly. Though a 
 man be a native or an established settler, he may be 
 unable to give assistance in times of trouble, being 
 deprived of the requisite influence and presence of mhid. 
 Bewildered about his own safety, he is utterly incapaci- 
 tated to extricate others from their unfortunate state. 
 3rdly. Even he can only grapple with those who are 
 inferior in valour and strength, but when met with a 
 superior force he must either desist or submit. Hence 
 the prophet says, " Why wilt thou be like a mighty man 
 who is unable to save." 
 
 In order, however, at the same time, to teach that 
 such a^ondition is totally incompatible with the divine 
 nature of the Almighty, and to show that the Almight}' 
 is really the God of the heavens and of the earth, and at 
 the same time d^vells among us, the prophet, by the
 
 136 FAITH STRENGTHENED. 
 
 addition, " But Thou art among us," refutes the impu- 
 tation that the God of Israel is a stranger, and rather 
 proves that He is established where we sojourn, and that 
 we are the strangers and not He; that we have, there- 
 fore, the best founded expectation that He will save us. 
 The same declaration, " Thou art in the midst of us," 
 stands in just opposition to the question, " Why "wilt 
 thou be like a bewildered man?" The prophet suggests 
 that the Almighty, far from being perplexed by the 
 suddenness of terrific occurrences, rather manifests him- 
 self as an incomparable and omnipotent deliverer. In 
 like manner we see in the words, " And Thou art among 
 us," a repudiation of the idea that " Thou art like a 
 strong man who cannot deliver," when resisted by a 
 superior force ; for the prophet now acknowledges, " And 
 Thy name is called upon us, for Thou hast long been 
 adored by us as the God of Israel. Thou hast brought 
 us out from the land of Egypt with a strong hand, and 
 an outstretched arm." 
 
 The very words of the Decalogue connect the divine 
 unity with the deliverance from Egypt, since it is said, 
 " I am the Lord thy God who hath brought thee out of 
 the land of Egypt." It is a notorious fact, that Scrip- 
 ture in various places points out the condescension of 
 God, who allied His name with Israel, by saving them 
 from various troubles. See, for instance, Leviticus xxii., 
 " Who hath brought you out of Egypt, in order to be 
 unto you a God." When the subjects of King Hezekiah 
 were rescued from the hand of Sennacherib, king of 
 Assyria, the Almighty was also acknowledged as God of 
 Israel. See 2 Kings xix. 20, " Thus saith the Lord 
 God of Israel, Since thou hast prayed unto me ^ncern- 
 ing Sennacherib, the king of Assyria, I have heard thee." 
 The prayer here alluded to was received favourably, 
 because it expressed unconditional submission to the
 
 FAITH STRENGTHENED. 137 
 
 all-powerful Being who alone rules the destinies of 
 His creatures. Further views of the faith of Israel in 
 the salvation by the Lord, may be obtained from Deut. 
 iii. 24, where we read, " For who is a God in heaven 
 or in the earth, who could perform anything like unto 
 Thy deeds and Thy mighty works?" Isaiah says, (chap, 
 xiv.) " Truly Thou art an invisible God, the God of Israel 
 and its Saviour." Jeremiah (chap, iii.) says " Verily 
 in the Lord our God is the salvation of Israel ; our trust, 
 our reliance is therefore in Thee, and Thou wilt neither 
 abandon nor forsake us." Thus we understand the 
 quotation from Jeremiah, which is placed at the heading 
 of this chapter, and which is totally misapplied when 
 referred to on account of his having been a stranger on 
 earth. 
 
 CHAPTER XXVI. 
 
 Jeremiah xvii. 4, "And I will cause thee to serve thine 
 enemies in the land which thou knowest not; for ye 
 have kindled a fire in mine anger, which shall burn for 
 ever." 
 
 Christian expositors have explained this verse by the 
 assertion that Jeremiah here predicted an everlasting 
 captivity, from which no redemption is to be hoped. 
 
 Refutation. — The Hebrew words Q7iy iy occur in 
 Scripture in three significations. First, in application 
 to an existence unUmited by time. Thus, we have in 
 2 Samuel vii. 26, " That Thy name may be magnified 
 for ever, by saying The Lord of Hosts is the God of 
 Israel." In 1 Chron. xvii. 24, we also find, " In order 
 that Thy name may be magnified for ever, by saying. 
 The Lord of Hosts is the God of Israel." The second 
 meanhig of uh)}^ iy for ever, relates to man's limited 
 existence on earth, (see 1st Samuel i. 22), "That he
 
 138 FAITH STRENGTHENED. 
 
 may sit here for ever." And 2ncl Samuel xii. 10, David 
 is thus forewarned, " The sword shall Jiever ("ly *TiDn N? 
 oSiy) depart from thy house." The word never merely 
 relates to David's lifetime. In the third place, the 
 Hebrew expression D^iy ly stands distinct from the 
 forenamed two meanings, and relates to a period finite 
 in the prescience of the Almighty, but unlimited 
 according to the knowledge of men. See Isaiah xxxii. 
 14, " Because the palaces shall be forsaken, the multi- 
 tude of the city shall be left ; the forts and towers shall 
 be dens /or ever^ a joy of wild asses, a pasture of flocks." 
 The limitation of the words for ever is shewn in the verse 
 immediately following, " Until the spirit be poured 
 down upon us from on high, and the wilderness be a 
 fruitful field," etc. The destruction decreed to last/(?/' 
 ever will, nevertheless, give way to restoration as soon as 
 the spirit, that is to say the favour of the Lord, shall 
 descend on us. The term it shall burn for ever^ refers 
 to the third signification ; but it cannot mean the infini- 
 tude of eternity as some Christians would have us 
 believe, because all the prophets have predicted a com- 
 plete restoration to the whole house of Israel. What 
 can be more explicit than the following passages: — 
 Isaiah, in chap. Ixvi. 20, says, "And they (the Gentiles) 
 shall bring all your brethren a gift from all nations as 
 a gift unto the Lord, on horses and in chariots," etc. 
 Jeremiah xxx. 8, says, " Strangers shall no more enslave 
 them (the Israelites.") Ezekiel xxxix. 6, 29, says, "And 
 they shall know that I am the Lord their God, since I 
 have caused them to be exiled among the Gentiles; and 
 I will gather them into their land, and I will not suffer 
 any of them to remain behind, and I will no more hide 
 my countenance from them, as I have poured out my 
 spirit over all the house of Israel, saith the Lord God." 
 Such well defined promises admit of no contradiction, 
 or they have all proceeded from the same divine source.
 
 FAITH STRENGTHENED. 139 
 
 CHAPTER XXVII. 
 
 Jeremiah xviii. 7, " In an instant I shall speak con- 
 cerning a nation and concerning a kingdom, to pluck up 
 and to pull down and to destroy it." 
 
 From this and the ensuing verses, Christians have 
 concluded that the Jews vainly expect the fulfilment of 
 those promises which refer to a prosperous futurity. 
 They tell us (Jews), your hopes must be disappointed. 
 Sinfully you have acted, yea sinfully in the sight of the 
 Lord, for all the promises ol the prophet, whether for 
 good or for evil, are given conditionally. The Almighty 
 ordains a propitious future for a people or for an indivi- 
 dual; and if the people or the individual, by evil acts, 
 become unworthy of such a benefit, it is withheld, and 
 the Almighty substitutes evil for the intended good ; and 
 when the people or the individual again repent and 
 improve, the imminent punishment is withdrawn, a 
 favour is bestowed instead, as has been exemplified by 
 the history of Jonah in Nineveh. The Christians inter- 
 pret, therefore, the above passage from Jeremiah thus — 
 "At one instant I decree the destruction of a people or 
 of a kingdom, etc. When, however, the people or the 
 kingdom amend their conduct, I withhold the threatened 
 calamity. At another instant 1 resolve to deal out 
 benefits. When, however, the ]^)eople offend me, and 
 act disobediently, I recall my decrees of grace." To this 
 the Christians add the following imputation : — The 
 Almighty has, time after time, released Israel from the 
 tyranny of their enemies. Admonition after admonition 
 He sent to them through His prophets to induce them 
 not to follow the instigations of a corrupt heart, and lie 
 imposed on them the duty of obeying His commandments 
 and statutes. The Israelites, however, whenever they
 
 140 FAITH STRENGTHENED. 
 
 felt the soothing help of the Lord, hardened their hearts 
 again, and neglected the biddings of the Almighty. 
 This has induced Him to abhor them and to reject them 
 altogether. And He will never again favour them. 
 See 2 Kings xvii. 20, " And the Lord rejected all the 
 seed of Israel and afflicted them, and delivered them 
 into the hand of spoilers until He had cast them out of 
 His sight." 
 
 Thus says also Jeremiah (chap.xv. 1), " And the Lord 
 said unto me, If even Moses and Samuel were to stand 
 before me, my mind would not be towards this people; 
 cast them out of my sight and let them go forth." 
 
 Refutation. — It is a false accusation to allege, that 
 we Jews expect the fulfilment of the divine promises so 
 long as we persevere in evil doings^ and commit sins 
 like depraved men, and still expect a reward as if we 
 were true and zealous servants of God. Far be from 
 us any such presumption. But we do profess with an 
 unshaken confidence that we shall one day cling to the 
 Lord with an undivided heart, and that the Almighty 
 will receive us in mercy, subdue our misdeeds, and then 
 bring to pass all the glorious predictions given by the 
 prophets. We rely on the words pronounced in Deute- 
 ronomy iv. 30, " When thou shalt be in trouble, and 
 when all these things shall have befallen thee, in the 
 latter days thou shalt return to the Lord thy God and 
 hearken to His voice ; for the Lord thy God is a merciful 
 God, He will not suffer thee to be weakened, nor will He 
 destroy thee, nor will He forget the covenant with thy 
 fathers which He swore unto them." We may also advert 
 to chap. XXX. 1 — 7, of the same book, " And it shall 
 come to pass, when all these things shall have come upon 
 thee, the blessing and the curse which I have set before 
 thee, and when thou shalt have taken it to heart among 
 all the nations among which the Lord thy God shall have
 
 FAITH STRENGTHENED. 141 
 
 banished thee, that thou shalt return with all thine heart 
 and with all thy soul to the Lord thy God, and obey His 
 voice according to all that I command unto thee this 
 day, thou and thy sons. And the Lord thy God shall 
 bring back thy captivity, and gather thee from among 
 all the people whither the Lord thy God shall have 
 scattered thee. Even if thine outcasts be at the end 
 of the heavens; even from thence shall the Lord thy 
 God gather thee, and even from thence shall He take 
 thee, and the Lord thy God shall bring thee into the 
 land which thy fathers inherited ; and thou shalt inherit 
 it, and He shall do good unto thee, and He shall make 
 thee more numerous than thy ancestors. And the Lord 
 thy God shall circumcise thy heart, and the heart of thy 
 seed, to lovq^the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and 
 with all thy soul, for the sake of thy life. And the Lord 
 thy God shall bring all these imprecations upon thine 
 enemies, etc., when thou shalt return to the Lord thy 
 God." The prophets have also announced the constancy 
 of our future adherence to the Lord, and have made the 
 fulfiment of the good promised dependent on our full 
 repentance. See Isaiah xliv. 22, "I have blotted out 
 thine iniquities like a thick cloud, and thy sins like a 
 cloud; return unto me, for I have redeemed thee." Also 
 Jeremiah (iii. 14) says, " Return unto me, ye backslid- 
 ing children, saith the Lord, for I am married unto you, 
 and I Avill take you one from a city, and two of a family, 
 and I will bring you into Zion." See also Ezekiel xxxiii. 
 11, " Say unto them, As I live, saith the Lord God, 
 I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that 
 the wicked turn from his way and live : turn ye, turn 
 ye from your evil ways, for why will ye die, house 
 of Israel?" In like manner, says Hosea (xiv. 1, 2), 
 " Turn, Israel, unto the Lord thy God, for thou hast 
 stumbled through thine iniquity. Take with yourselves
 
 142 FAITH STRENGTHENED. 
 
 words, and turn unto the Lord, and say unto Him : Thou 
 who forgivest every iniquity, receive us graciously, and we 
 will render the calves of our lips" (i. e. thanksgivings). 
 Zechariah, in chap. i. 3, says, " And thou shalt say unto 
 them. Thus saith the Lord of Hosts : Return ye unto 
 me, saith the Lord of Hosts, and I will return unto you, 
 saith the Lord of Hosts." 
 
 To the same effect, says Malachi iii. 7, " Since the 
 days of your fathers ye have departed from my statutes, 
 and ye have not observed them : return unto me, and I 
 will return unto you, saith the Lord of Hosts." Similar 
 passages abound among the prophets, which tend to 
 prove that repentance is the fundamental condition on 
 which all our hopes hinge, for no human being escapes 
 the commission of sin. See Ecclesiastes vii. 20, " For 
 there is no righteous man in the earth who doeth good 
 and sinneth not." Therefore our All-gracious Ruler 
 has taught us the means of repentance, and the ways to 
 avoid the snares of depravity. David had committed 
 many transgressions, and subjected himself with sincere 
 submission to the divine chastisements : his sins were, 
 therefore, forgiven him, and his good works were ac- 
 cepted in favour of him and his posterity. See Isaiah 
 xxxvii. 35, " And I shall protect this city to save it for 
 my sake, and for the sake of my servant David.'' King 
 Manasseh affords another instance of pardon having been 
 obtained through sincere repentance, although he had 
 exceeded his predecessors in the indulgence of an iniqui- 
 tous conduct ; yet the Lord was pleased with his contri- 
 tion, and reinstated him on his throne. Consequently 
 we thus interpret the passage, " At an instant I shall 
 speak," etc. The reparation of Israel's conduct is the 
 only condition of their escape from the infliction of con- 
 dign punishments ; therefore the prophet continues the 
 divine messaoje in the following manner : " Now go to,
 
 FAITH STRENGTHENED. 143 
 
 speak to the men of Judah and to the inhabitants of 
 Jerasalem, saying, Thus saith the Lord, behold I frame 
 evil against you, and devise a device against you ; return 
 ye now every one from his evil way, and correct your 
 ways and your doings." Nor are we disposed to imagine 
 that we should suffer less for our sins than our fore- 
 fathers did for theirs. On the contrar}% we are 
 admonished to be equally vigilant as our ancestors in 
 the avoidance of sin ; and when our frail human nature 
 betrays us into sinful acts, it becomes our imperative 
 duty to resort to sincere repentance, for only then the 
 Lord receives us and casteth our sins into the abyss of 
 oblivion. See Ezekiel xviii. 21, " But if the wicked 
 will turn from all his sins that he hath committed and 
 keep all my statutes, and do that which is lawful and 
 right, he shall surely live, he shall not die. All his 
 transgressions that he has committed, they shall not be 
 mentioned unto him ; in his righteousness that he hath 
 done he shall live." 
 
 We may mention here, also, that the many divine 
 predictions and promises which are of a cheering character 
 have been given in the unconditional and irrevocable 
 form of an oath; for instance, Ibidxxxvi. 7 — 12, "Thus 
 saith the Lord God, I have lifted up mine hand, (which 
 is the symbol of an oath) that the Heathens that are 
 around you shall surely bear their shame. But ye, 0, 
 mountains of Israel, ye shall shoot forth your branches 
 and yield your fruit to my people of Israel, for they are 
 at hand to come. For behold I am for you, and I will turn 
 unto you, and you shall be tilled and sown. And I will _ 
 multiply men among you, 0, all ye house of Israel, even 
 all of it; and the cities shall be inhabited, and the 
 wastes shall be builded, and I will multiply among you 
 men and cattle, and they shall increase and bring fruit, 
 and I will settle you after your old estates, and will do
 
 144 FAITH STRENGTHENED. 
 
 better unto you than at your beginnings, and ye shall 
 know that I am the Lord ; yea, I will cause men to walk 
 among you, even my people Israel; and they shall 
 possess thee, and thou shalt be their inheritance, and 
 thou shalt no more bereave them of men.'' 
 
 Thus the Almighty communicates to us in Ezekiel's 
 prophecy, that he will prosperously re-establish the Holy 
 Land in its primitive condition, and even enlarge His 
 bounty upon it, so that it shall no longer consume Israel, 
 its inhabitants. 
 
 The disputant cannot raise an objection and maintain 
 that the prophecy of restoration is merely given condi- 
 tionally, for there an oath is expressed, lifting of the 
 hand^ which does not admit of any condition whatever. 
 See Deut. xxxii. 40, where we read, " For I lift up my 
 hand unto the heavens, and I say, As true as I live for 
 ever." Nor can it be asserted that this assurance 
 merely relates to Israel's exit from Babylon, for at that 
 period the Lord did not raise Israel to its pristine state, 
 and then the whole of Israel did not return to their land ; 
 the ten tribes of Israel were omitted, and no more than 
 42,360 men of the tribe of Judah and Benjamin actually 
 came back. Neither was Israel at that time spared from 
 affliction, as it will be at the future redemption, which 
 is clearly demonstrated by the contents of the above 
 prophecy, and other passages, (see Ezekiel xxxvi. 
 22 — 28). In fact, the whole concluding part of the 
 chapter speaks in an unconditional tone. And this is 
 quite natural ; for where the Almighty has given predic- 
 tions relating to the glory of His name, and not that of 
 our name, no conditional language could be applied. We 
 have, in other similar passages decided and uncon- 
 ditional assurances (see, for instance, Isaiah liv. 9, 10), 
 "For this is as the waters of Noah unto me ; for as I have 
 sworn that the waters should no more go over the
 
 FAITH STRENGTHENED. 145 
 
 earth, so have I sworn that I would not be wroth 
 with thee. For the mountains shall depart and the 
 hills be removed; but my kindness shall not depart 
 from thee, neither shall the covenant of my peace be 
 removed, saith the Lord that hath mercy on thee." 
 Thus we find, ibid chap. Ixii. 8, 9, '' The Lord hath 
 sworn by His right hand, and by the arm of His 
 strength: Surely, I will no more give thy corn to 
 be food for thine enemies, and the sons of the strangers 
 shall no more drink thy wine for which thou hast 
 laboured. But those that gather it shall eat it and 
 praise the Lord, and they that have brought it together 
 shall drink it in the courts of my holiness." See also 
 Jeremiah xxxi. 35, 36, 37, " Thus saith the Lord, who 
 giveth the sun for a light by day, and the ordinances of 
 the moon, and of the stars as a light by night, who 
 divideth the sea when the waves thereof roar : The Lord 
 of Hosts is His name. If those ordinances depart from 
 before me, saith the Lord, then the seed of Israel shall 
 also cease from being a nation before me for ever. 
 Thus saith the Lord, If the heavens above can be mea- 
 sured, and the foundations of the earth searched out 
 beneath, I will also cast off the seed of Israel for all 
 that they have done, saith the Lord." When our oppo- 
 nent takes into consideration all these passages, hoAV can 
 he maintain that the Almighty has cast off and disowned 
 Israel, and will no more vouchsafe to His people a re- 
 demption from this captivity ? Surely the restoration 
 will at last take place; then His anger will no more 
 visit us, then His loving-kindness and His covenant 
 of peace will no more be drawn from us, then He 
 will no more cast us away, and no more deprive us of 
 establishment as a nation. Our past sins will then no 
 longer be remembered, but He will graciously pardon 
 all our former errors and transsfressions. For Jeremiah
 
 146 FAITH STRENGTHENED. 
 
 has, in the above prophecy, expressly announced in the 
 name of the Lord, " I will pardon their sins, and re- 
 member their iniquity no more." Neither can the 
 argument be founded on the words occurring in 2 Kings 
 xvii. 20, " And the Lord rejected all the seed of Israel, 
 and afflicted them, and He gave them into the hands of 
 spoilers, until He cast them out of His sight." This 
 rejection and casting away is only a temporary punish- 
 ment limited to the period of the captivity, but is not 
 final and perpetual; consequently it is not a dissolu- 
 tion of the ancient covenant. See, on this, Leviticus 
 xxvi. 44, " And yet for all that, when they be in the 
 land of their enemies I will not cast them away, nor will 
 I abhor them to destroy them utterly, and to break my 
 covenant with them, for I am the Lord their God." 
 The periods for their removal are fixed by the Almighty, 
 and only known to Him, who, by means of frequent 
 chastisements, desires to remove from them all that is 
 unbecoming and objectionable. See Isaiah i. 25, " And I 
 will turn my hand upon thee, and purely purge thy dross, 
 and remove all the base metal ; and I will restore thy 
 judges as at first, and thy counsellors as at the begin- 
 ning ; afterwards thou shalt be called the City of Right- 
 eousness, the faithful city." Similar to this prophecy 
 are the words of Ezekiel xxii. 15, " And I will scatter 
 thee among the heathen, and disperse them in the coun- 
 tries, and will consume thy filthiness out of thee." All 
 this tends to prove the object of our exile as solely to 
 purify us, to rid us of inherent imperfections, and to 
 free us from the pollution of our sins. Hence the pro- 
 phet, with a view to our ultimate purification, says, in 
 Lamentations iv. 22, " Thy iniquity, daughter of 
 Zion, is ended; He shall no more cause thee to be a 
 captive." Now, we will show that no argument can be 
 established against us, from the words of Jeremiah
 
 FAITH STRENGTHENED. 147 
 
 XV. 1, " And the Lord said unto me, Though Moses and 
 Samuel stood before me, yet my mind would not be 
 toward this people ; cast them out of my sight, and let 
 them go forth." 
 
 These words were addressed to Jeremiah after the 
 Lord had charged him thrice not to intercede on behalf 
 of Judah and Benjamin, that they might be led into 
 captivity like the other ten tribes. For the Lord had 
 said to Jeremiah, chap. vii. 15 16, "And I will cast 
 you out of my sight as I have cast out all your brethren, 
 even the whole seed of Ephraim : therefore, pray not 
 thou for this people, neither lift up a cry or prayer for 
 them, neither make intercession to me, for I will not 
 hear thee." Now the Lord explained to him the reason 
 why He would not listen to his intercessions, and he 
 says (in verse 17, 18), " Seest thou not what they do in 
 the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem? 
 The children gather wood, and the fathers kindle the 
 fire, and the women knead their dough, to make cakes 
 for the queen of heaven, and pour out drink offerings 
 unto other Gods that they may provoke me to anger." 
 In the same book, chap. xi. 11, He says, "Therefore, 
 thus saith the Lord, Behold, I will bring evil upon them, 
 from which they shaU not be able to escape ; and though 
 they shall cry unto me I will not hearken unto them." 
 Also here the reason is pointed out why the Almighty 
 would refuse to grant his prayer (ibid v. 13), we find, 
 " For according to the number of thy cities were thy 
 Gods, Judah," etc. And in the same chapter we 
 have a second warning of the Almighty that Jeremiah 
 should not intercede (Ibid. v. 14), " Therefore, pray not 
 for this people, nor offer up a cry or supplication for 
 them, for I will not hearken in the time that they cry 
 unto me in their trouble." For how could the Almighty 
 be favourable to a petition for mercy while they con- 
 
 L 2
 
 148 FAITH STRENGTHENED. 
 
 tinued in the sin wliicli caused the infliction : nor could 
 impenitent sinners find grace with Him. Hence the 
 words, Ibid., " And they shall cry unto me, but I will 
 not hear them." The imminent evil relates to sword, 
 pestilence, and famine. See chap, xiv., " For through 
 the sword, pestilence, and famine, I destroy them." 
 When, therefore, Jeremiah perceived that the prayer 
 for the house of Judah was in vain, he prayed 
 (chap. xiv. 7), "0 Lord, though our iniquities testify 
 against us, do it for thy name's sake." The prophet 
 then concludes with the words, " We are called by Thy 
 name; therefore, forsake us not." Upon this follows the 
 reply of the Almighty : " Thus saith the Lord unto this 
 people, Thus have they loved to wander, they have not 
 refrained their feet, wherefore the Lord doth not accept 
 them ; He will now remember their iniquity and visit 
 their sins." Hereby is meant — Since the Jews have 
 mistrusted me, and have preferred to seek their pro- 
 tection among the Egyptians and the Assyrians, in order 
 to escape the danger of adversaries, and since the Jews 
 have not refrained from following profitless objects, I 
 will remove them and render them the captives of their 
 enemies. But, before 1 shall lead them into exile, I will 
 remember their iniquity by famine, and visit their sin 
 by the sword and by pestilence. 
 
 After having acquainted the prophet that his people 
 had no hope of deliverance from the evils decreed upon 
 them, the third injunction was given to Jeremiah not to 
 ofi*er up a supplication for the deliverance of the people 
 (see Ibid. chap. xiv. 11, 12), " Then said the Lord unto 
 me, Pray not for this people for their good ; when they 
 fast I will not hear their cry, and when they off"er burnt 
 offering and an oblation, I will not accept them, but I 
 will consume them by the sword, and by the famine^ and 
 by the pestilence." Here again, allusion is solely made
 
 FAITH STRENGTHENED. 149 
 
 to their prayers coming from an impenitent heart, and 
 offered up during their perseverance in wickedness. 
 
 The present passage reminds us of the one in Isaiah 
 i. 15, 16, " And when ye spread forth your hands, I 
 will hide mine eyes from you ; yea, when ye make many 
 prayers I will not hear; your hands are full of blood; 
 make you clean ; put away the evil of your doings from 
 before mine eyes ; cease to do evil." The verses we have 
 quoted demonstrate that favourable reception of prayers 
 is only denied so long as those evil deeds continue which 
 bring the punishment to pass, but the supplications 
 meet with grace when the supplicant renounces his sinful 
 conduct. The pious prophet Jeremiah seeing, then, that 
 his influence was insufficient among the unfortunate 
 transgressors,^ppealed once more to the Almighty not to 
 reject them and not to abhor them, for the sake of His 
 holy name, since the Lord had been acknowledged on 
 earth as the God of Israel. He prayed also to the 
 Almighty not to suffer Jerusalem, known as the seat of 
 the glory of the Lord, to be reviled ; moreover, not to 
 break His covenant made Avith the Israelites when he 
 brought them out of Egypt. Hence, he says in Jeremiah, 
 xiv. 21, " Do not abhor us for Thy name's sake, do not 
 disgrace the throne of Thy glory; remember us, and 
 break not Thy covenant with us." Thereupon the Lord 
 replies, that the prayer of Jeremiah would not avail to 
 rescue the Israelites from the calamities of the evil 
 ordained for them on account of their iniquities ; and 
 even if Moses and Samuel, who were superior prophets, 
 were to raise their voice in the behalf of the trans- 
 gressors, to avert the punishment of the sword, pestilence, 
 and famine, their prayer wil not avail. To this Divine 
 resolve these words refer — " Cast them out of my sight 
 (presence), and let them go forth And it shall come 
 to pass, if they say unto thee. Whither shall we go forth ?
 
 150 F^TH STRENGTHENED. 
 
 then thou slialt tell them, Thus saith the Lord: Such as 
 are for death, to death ; and such as are for the sword, 
 to the sword ; and such as are for the famine, to the 
 famine ; and such as are for the captivity, to the cap- 
 tivity." So that all instigators to sin will meet with the 
 fatal sentence assigned for them, while those who have 
 been betrayed into sin will have to go into captivity," 
 and save nothing but their lives. For the Lord desireth 
 not to exterminate them altogether. See Jeremiah v. 
 18, " And even in those days I will not make an end of 
 you." Nor were the prayers of Moses of any avail when 
 the Israelites first sinned in worshipping the golden 
 calf, nor on their giving way to the insinuations of the 
 spies sent from the desert to search the Land of Promise ; 
 also when the instigators of sin were punished with 
 death, and the survivors who had yielded to the bad 
 example were visited with the merited punishment. 
 The intercession on behalf of the transgressors would 
 have proved fruitless unless the instigators had been first 
 removed by sword, pestilence, and famine. But as soon 
 as the necessary chastisement would be inflicted, and 
 the remaining sinners would have expiated their sins by 
 the miseries attending the exile, He will graciously 
 receive them at the epoch of the restoration, and although 
 they should not then be purified entirely from their 
 sins. He will have compassion on them for the sake of 
 His name, as is said in 1 Samuel xii. 22, " For the Lord 
 will not forsake His people on account of His great 
 name, since the Lord has vouchsafed to make you His 
 people." The same is said in Isaiah xlviii. 9, 10, 11, 
 " For my name's sake I will defer mine anger, and for my 
 praise will I refrain for thee, that I cut thee not off. 
 Behold I refine thee, but not with silver. I have chosen 
 thee in the furnace of afiliction. For mine own sake, 
 even for mine own sake, will 1 do it, for why should my
 
 FAITH STRENGTHENED. 151 
 
 name be polluted, and I will not give my ^lory unto 
 another." The re-establishment of the Holy City is an 
 inducement to exalt us as His own people. See Isaiah 
 Ixii. 1, " For Zion's sake, I will not delay, and for 
 Jerusalem's sake I will not rest, until her righteousness 
 shall go forth like a bright light, and her salvation like 
 a brilliant flame." Nor will the Almighty ever be 
 unmindful of the covenant made with our ancestors. 
 See Leviticus xxvi. 44, "And even in the land of their 
 enemies I will not reject them, nor rebuke them to con- 
 sume them, and to destroy my covenant with them, for I 
 am the Lord their God." This promise was subse- 
 quently repeated in the prophecy of Ezekiel xvi, 60, 
 " And I will remember my covenant made with thee in 
 the days of t|iy youth, and I will establish unto thee an 
 everlasting covenant." Again, ibid. ver. 62, " And I 
 will establish my covenant with thee, and thou shalt 
 know that I am the Lord, in order that thou mayest 
 remember me, and feel shame ; but thou shalt open thy 
 mouth no more on account of any degradation of thine, 
 while I shall forgive thee for all thou hast done, saith the 
 Lord." This last quotation clearly shews, that, although 
 we have rebelled in the eyes of the Lord, he, neverthe- 
 less, will grant us forgiveness for His own sake, and for 
 the sake of His covenant. 
 
 The promised favour will not be Avithheld from us, 
 and we shall have passed through all our ordeals ; we 
 shall, at the appointed time, be planted again on our soil 
 enjoying the perfect favour of the Almighty, and He 
 will fulfil the promise given in Jeremiah xxxii. 41, 
 "And I shall rejoice over them to do good unto them, 
 and I will in truth plant them in their land, with all my 
 heart and with all my soul." We have thus had an 
 opportunity to demonstrate that the threatened evils 
 will finally be counterbalanced and replaced hj benefits.
 
 152 FAITH STRENGTHENED. 
 
 CHAPTER XXVIII. 
 
 Jeremiah xxxi. 15, "Thus saith the Lord, A voice is 
 heard in Ramah, lamentation and bitter weeping, 
 Kachael is weeping for her children, refusing to be com- 
 forted on account of her children, because they are not 
 to be found." 
 
 The Christians adduce this passage as a prophecy 
 relating to their creed, and as if Jeremiah had here 
 predicted the slaying of the children in Bethlehem, 
 decreed by King Herod. For that king is said to have 
 learnt that in Bethlehem of Judah a child had been born 
 that was intended to be in future a king of the Jews, 
 and as he could not ascertain who the future pretender 
 was and where to be found, he ordered all the children 
 under the age of two years, in and about Bethlehem, to 
 be massacred. To this event the words quoted above 
 refer, as the reader will find by examining Matthew ii. 
 
 Refutation. — We have, on a former occasion, shown 
 that the Christians support the doctrine of their religion 
 by sentences dissevered from their contexts and con- 
 nection, without regard to the concurrence of the entire 
 paragraph from which their quotations are taken. If, 
 according to their suppositions, Rachel, was weeping for 
 the ruthless slaughter committed amono; the children of 
 Bethlehem Judah, the question arises, why was not 
 Leah represented as the grieving mother, since it was 
 from her that those victims of the tyranny of Herod 
 were descended ? Another question arises : what con- 
 nection has the bereavement there spoken of with the con- 
 soling promises given by the Lord ? ( Jer. xxxi. 17), "And 
 they shall return from the land of their enemy, and the 
 children shall return to the boundary." The follow- 
 ing explanation of the passage will, however, produce
 
 FAITH STRENGTHENED. 153 
 
 conviction : — The prophet speaks here allegorically. 
 The children alluded to here are the ten tribes in exile. 
 These ten tribes are comprised under the designation of 
 Ephraini (the tribe descended from Rachel) ; therefore 
 she is weeping for her children who are banished from 
 their country by the kings of Assyria. The ten tribes 
 were called Ephraim^ because their first king, after 
 their defection from the king of Judah, was Jeroboam, 
 the son of Nebat, from the tribe of Ephraim. This is 
 confirmed by the prediction in Jeremiah vii. 15, "And 
 I shall cast you away from my presence, as I have cast 
 away all your brethren, the whole seed of Ephraim." 
 
 The last Hebrew word in the verse cited in the 
 beginning of this chapter (Jer. xxxi. 15), is IJ^^X which, 
 in reality, (^es not mean they are not (to be found) ; 
 but he (or it, is not to be found), because the singular 
 relates here to the word W^ (people), which is implied; 
 for when the tribes of Judah and Benjamin returned 
 from the Babylonian captivity, the ten tribes did not 
 return with them, nor was the place of their settlement 
 fully known ; for this reason the Avhole number of the 
 missing children (or people) is expressed in the singular. 
 Alluding to the restoration of the whole people in the 
 days of the Messiah, the prophet Jeremiah continues, in 
 the name of God (ibid. xxxi. 16, 17), " Refrain thy 
 voice from weeping, and thine eyes from tears, for thy 
 Avork shall be rewarded, saith the Lord. And they 
 shall come again from the land of their enemies. And 
 there is hope in thine end, saith the Lord, that thy chil- 
 dren shall come again to their own border." These verses, 
 which are all connected with one another, give the most 
 intelligible proof that the prophet did not allude to the 
 death of the children of his people, but to their disper- 
 sion. By this interpretation we can make sense of 
 the 18th verse of the same chapter, ^'1 have heard
 
 154 FAITH STRENGTHENED. 
 
 Ephraim lonely bemoaning himself thus: Thou hast 
 chastised me, yea, I was chastised as a young bullock 
 untrained to the yoke." Again, ibid. ver. 20, "Is 
 Ephraim my dear son, is he my darling child " ? And 
 again, ibid. ver. 21, " Set thee up waymarks, make unto 
 thee high heaps, set thine heart towards the highway, 
 even the way towards which thou wentest; turn again, 
 O Virgin of Israel, turn again towards thy cities," 
 These words refer to the return of the captives of 
 Israel. The ultimate and complete return of the tribes 
 of Israel was also predicted by Ezekiel xxxvii. 19, 
 " Thus saith the Lord God, I wiU take the stick of 
 Joseph which is in the hand of Ephraim, and the tribes 
 of Israel his fellows, and will put them with him, even 
 with the stick of Judah, and make them one stick, and 
 they shall be one in mine hand." This chapter points 
 out the gathering of the ten tribes, and their re-union 
 with the tribes of Judah and Benjamin, as also their sub- 
 ordination under one king in the days of the Messiah. 
 
 We have already, in a former part of this work, noticed 
 that the restoration of the ten tribes was not intended 
 to happen at the return from the captivity of Babylon, 
 and that altogether only 42,000 went back to the Holy- 
 Land. 
 
 Certain Christians have asserted that the name of 
 Israel, mentioned in particular parts of Scripture which 
 relate to the restoration, is restricted to the ten tribes ; 
 but this is not true, for it is written, that Israel shall be 
 remembered by the tribe of Judah. See chap. xxx. 18, 
 " And I shall bring back the captivity of Jacob's tents;" 
 and in the same book, chap, xxiii. 6, we find, " In his 
 days shall Judah be saved and Israel shall dwell in 
 safety." Amos ii., speaks first of the three transgres- 
 sions of Israel, and then of those of Judah, meaning 
 by those of Israel, the ten tribes. But when the name,
 
 FAITH STRENGTHENED. 155 
 
 Israel, alone occurs, it includes also the two tribes of 
 Judah and Benjamin, it being the collective name of 
 the whole people. 
 
 CHAPTER XXIX. 
 
 Jeremiah xxxi. 31, " Behold the days come, and I will 
 make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with 
 the house of Judah." The Christians assert that the 
 prophet Jeremiah here foretold the giving of a new law 
 for the people of Israel — viz., the Gospel of Jesus of 
 Nazareth. 
 
 Refutation. — Scripture does not aUude here to the 
 substitution of a new law for the old one, but merely 
 the making of a new covenant, a covenant independent 
 of the law. Thus we find in the history of Phineas 
 (Numbers xv. 12), " Behold I give him my covenant 
 of peace." The covenant thus made could not possibly 
 mean the emission of a new law intended for Phineas 
 alone. In Leviticus xxvi. 42, we meet with a like men- 
 tion of a covenant, "And I shall remember my covenant 
 with Jacob, my covenant with Isaac, and also my 
 covenant with Abraham will I remember," etc. From 
 this mode of expression, nobody would venture to infer 
 that the Almighty gave a special law to each of the 
 patriarchs. Covenants also are made between man and 
 man. Thus we find, in Genesis xxi. 32, " They two 
 [Abraham and Abimelech] made a covenant with each 
 other." Returning now to the true sense of the verse 
 at the head of this chapter, we find that the Almighty 
 has reserved for Israel the bestowal of a new covenant 
 of protection when they shall be restored to their land, 
 a covenant which, unlike the former one, will never be 
 dissolved. On that account the prophecy continues (in
 
 156 FAITH STRENGTHENED. 
 
 Jeremiah xxxi. 31 and following verses), that the 
 future covenant will not be according " to the cove- 
 nant I made with their fathers in the day that I 
 took them by the hand to bring them out of the 
 land of Egypt, which covenant they broke," etc. After 
 this introduction, the prophet proceeds, " But this 
 shall be the covenant that I will make with the 
 house of Israel; I will put my law in their inward 
 parts, and write it in their hearts, and will be their God, 
 and they shall be my people." These quotations suffice 
 to show, that the Almighty had not intended to issue a 
 new law, but to impress His ancient divine law on their 
 hearts, that it never should be forgotten throughout all 
 time. The reader, on referring to chap, xix., will find 
 that we demonstrated there the perpetuity of the divine 
 law as it was given on Sinai ; consequently the promul- 
 gation of a new law supplanting the former cannot 
 possibly take place. 
 
 CHAPTER XXX. 
 
 HosEA ii. 11, " And I will cause all her mirth to cease^ 
 her feast days, her new moons, and her Sabbaths, 
 and all her solemn festivals." From this passage the 
 Christians argued, that, on the coming of Jesus Christ, 
 the dispensation of the laws for keeping Sabbaths, neAV 
 moons, and festivals, was revoked, and the Lord found 
 no more any pleasure in Israel's observance of those 
 days; as was declared in Isaiah i. 14," Your new moons 
 and your appointed seasons my soul hateth." 
 
 Refutation. — The prophet here merely announces that 
 during the severe adversities resulting from the exile, the 
 rejoicing formerly attendant on the festive seasons, will 
 cease, and affliction come in its stead. This may be 
 seen on referring to the accom[)anying verses, and is
 
 FAITH STRENGTHENED. 157 
 
 confirmed by the subsequent events. After the desola- 
 tion of the temple, when the Israelites were prevented 
 from the due observance of their religion, the obligation 
 of the Sabbath and the enjoyments of the festivals 
 were forgotten. See Lamentations ii. 6, " The Lord 
 has caused the solemn days and the Sabbaths to be for- 
 gotten in Zion," which took place because " He hath 
 increased to the daughter of Judah, mourning and 
 lamentation." Had it been the intention of the 
 prophets Isaiah and Hosea to predict the cessation of 
 the Sabbaths and festivals, how could they and later 
 prophets so emphatically urge the strict observance of 
 these solemn days? See for instance, Isaiah Ivi: Nor 
 does it follow from the expression, " Your new moons 
 and your appointed festivals my soul hateth," that the 
 Almighty was weary of the sacred observances, and 
 desired to have them abrogated ; but it is obvious, that 
 the evil-doers of that period assembled at the sanctuary 
 for idolatrous purposes. Their celebration of the Sab- 
 baths and festivals could not be acceptable while they 
 worshipped idols, and not the true. Divine Being, as 
 appears from the context of the first chapter of Isaiah. 
 Were the Christian interpretation true, that the abo- 
 lition of the sacred days is expressed in the first chapter 
 of Isaiah why then, does the very same book conclude 
 with the following prophecy Avhich is to be fulfilled at 
 the coming of the Messiah? "And it shall come to 
 pass that from one Sabbath to another, and from one 
 new moon to another, all flesh shall come to bow down 
 before Me, saith the Lord." In like manner, Zecha- 
 riah prophesied in the last chapter of his book, ver. 16, 
 " And it shall come to pass, that every one who is left 
 of all the nations which came up against Jerusalem, 
 shall even go up from year to year to worship the King, 
 the Lord of Hosts, and to keep the feast of tabernacles."
 
 15S FAITH STRENGTHENED. 
 
 This shows that the festivals are to continue even at the 
 time of the Messiah, when not only the Jews, but also 
 the Gentiles then in existence, will solemnly observe the 
 days of Holy Convocation. We have, moreover, to refer 
 the reader to the nineteenth chapter of this work, where 
 we remarked that even Jesus and his disciples held the 
 Sabbath holy, and that, only several centuries after his 
 death, a pope ordered the first day of the week instead 
 of the seventh to be kept as the day of rest. Thus we 
 prove that this innovation runs counter to the very 
 doctrines inculcated by Jesus. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXI. 
 
 Amos ii. 6, " Thus saith the Lord, For three trans^res- 
 sions of Israel, and for four I will not turn away the 
 punishment thereof ; because they sold the righteous 
 and the poor for the value of a pair of shoes.'' 
 
 Some Christian writers have attributed this prophecy 
 to the fate of Jesus, who was sold for thirty pieces of 
 silver ; and they have asserted that the fourth trans- 
 gression being the sale of their righteous One will never 
 be pardoned to Israel, and the consequence of this sin 
 has been our present captivity. 
 
 Refutation — The interpretation betrays a want of 
 due appreciation of the connecting sentences, and the 
 parallel sayings by other prophets. The above verse 
 
 means, that a casual concurrence of the three crimes 
 
 idolatry, incest, and homicide — was not the primary 
 cause of Israel's expulsion from the Holy Land, but the 
 chief cause was the universal depravity that prevailed 
 throughout the nation^ of which the mercenary leaders of 
 the people gave the iniquitous example. The prophet 
 Amos says, therefore (chap. v. 12), " They persecute 
 the just, they take a bribe, and oppress the poor in the
 
 FAITH STRENGTHENED. 159 
 
 gate." The word pH!^ (righteous) used there has no 
 reference to the man who leads a godly life, but only to 
 the man whose cause is unimpeachable before the tri- 
 bunal of justice, and in whose favour the sentence of the 
 judges ought to be given. The word pH^ here is of 
 the same signification as in Exodus xxiii. 8, where it 
 is said, that the bribe given to the judge, " perverteth 
 the words of the righteous." The expression, " for they 
 oppress the need^ for a pair of shoes," means, that the 
 judge, for the most insignificant bribe, turns the scale of 
 justice, and deprives the poor hapless man of his right, 
 by pronouncing in favour of the guilty who ofi'ers the 
 bribe. The prophet also inveighs against rich sinners. 
 Amos viii. 4, " Hear this, ye who swallow up the 
 needy, even to make the poor of the land to fail, saying, 
 When will tfte new moon bo gone that we may sell the 
 corn, and the Sabbath that we may set forth wheat, 
 making the ephah small and the shekel great, and falsify- 
 ing the balances of deceit : that we may buy the poor 
 for ourselves, and the needy for a pair of shoes, yea, and 
 sell the refuse of the wheat?" This passage is, in word- 
 ing and sense, closely related to that of chap, ii., and 
 both convey the idea of an iniquitous proceeding in 
 buying and selling. We notice, in the above quo- 
 tation, that the new moon was then more strictly 
 observed, and ordinary pursuits were suspended, and, 
 judging from the admonitions of the prophets, it 
 would appear that they indulged in convivial and 
 social entertainments. Compare with this 1 Sam. xx. 5, 
 beginning with " To-morrow is new moon," and the 
 second book of Kings ii. 4, " Why goest thou to-day to 
 him [to the prophet], since it is neither new moon, nor 
 Sabbath;" as the injustice described in the Book of 
 Amos relates merely to the mercenary conduct of the 
 superiors in legal decisions, and to the grovelling dispo-
 
 160 . FAITH STRENGTHENED 
 
 sition of buyers and sellers in their several dealings, it 
 must be deemed utterly futile to construe those words of 
 Amos as alluding to the history of their Saviour. Be- 
 sides, if the prophet had intended to make any allusion 
 to Jesus, he ought to have ascribed the transgression to 
 the tribes of Judah and Benjamin, who alone resided in 
 the Holy Land in the days of Jesus, while the ten tribes 
 were scattered among their enemies, and could take no 
 part whatever in the proceedings agaihst Jesus. 
 
 Nor can it be asserted that the expression, " And for 
 the fourth transgression will not turn aside the punish- 
 ment thereof," conveys the announcement, that Israel 
 will never be pardoned for the sale of Jesus, for we find 
 the very same mode of expression applied to the trans- 
 gressions of Damascus, Gaza, Tyre, Edom, etc., who 
 had no concern whatever in the sale of Jesus. When 
 we read Scripture with proper attention we arrive at the 
 very opposite conviction to the opinion of the Chris- 
 tians respecting our eternal condemnation. See, for in- 
 stance, the following passages : Psalm cxxx. 8, *' And 
 He will redeem Israel from all their sins." Jeremiah 
 xxxiii. 8, " And I wiU cleanse them from all their ini- 
 quities which they committed against me, and I will 
 pardon all their iniquities with which they sinned and 
 rebelled against me." In the same book (chap. 1. 20) 
 we read, " In those days and at that time, saith the 
 Lord, the iniquity of Israel shall be sought for, and not 
 be seen; and the sins of Judah, and they shall not be 
 found ; for I shall forgive all whom I shall cause to re- 
 main." 
 
 CHAPTER XXXIII. 
 
 Amos v. 2. " The virgin of Israel is fallen : she shall no 
 more rise ; she is forsaken upon her land ; there are none
 
 FAITH STRENGTHENED. 161 
 
 to raise her up." From this verse it has been argued, 
 that the downfall of Israel is determined for ever, that 
 our captivity will never terminate, and that we have no 
 chance of redemption. 
 
 Refutation. — It appears from other words of the same 
 prophet that this prediction does not relate to the per- 
 petual condemnation of Israel; for he says, at the close 
 of his book (chap. ix. 14, 15), " And I will bring back 
 the captivity of my people Israel, and they shall build 
 the waste cities, and inhabit them, and they shall plant 
 vineyards and drink the wine thereof, and they shall 
 also make gardens and gather fruit of them. And I 
 will plant them upon their land, and they shall no more 
 be rooted out of their land Avhich I have given them, 
 saith the Lord thy God." Since a contradiction in the 
 prophetic promises cannot be admitted, the above pas- 
 sages can only be explained in the following manner. 
 The prophet, after having related the evils which await 
 Israel on account of their iniquitous conduct, reproaches 
 them in chap. iv. 6, of the same book, five successive times, 
 " And ye have not returned unto me, saith the Lord." 
 
 He continues, in the same chapter 12, " Thus I will do 
 unto thee, Israel! and because I will do this unto 
 thee, prepare to meet thy God, Israel" ! which implies . 
 penitence and good deeds; for then He will do good 
 unto thee and change thy sufferings into happiness, for 
 He is thy God who dispenses evil and good according to 
 your doings." In order to represent Him to the mind 
 as the universal Disposer of Events, the prophet goes on 
 to say (Ibid. iv. 13), "For lo! He that formeth the 
 mountains, and createth the wind, and declareth His 
 purposes unto man, that changes the morning into dark- 
 ness, and treadeth upon the high places of the earth, the 
 Lord, the God of Hosts, is His name.'' As Creator of 
 the world He is cognizant of everything. He is the 
 
 M
 
 162 FAITH STRENGTHENED. 
 
 Maintainer and Supporter of all things, the most dis- 
 tant events He inspects clearly; and He, through His 
 prophets, acquaints man with His designs. As He makes 
 light and darkness alternate for the benefit of His 
 creatures, He makes also the good and the evil to effect 
 His will among the children of men. Thus He is to be 
 worshipped under the name of God of Hosts as the 
 God of the whole Universe. Thus He does, as Supreme 
 Judge, dispose us to submit to His decrees; and 
 although we may occasionally suffer in consequence 
 of our errors and failings^ we still feel that His protec- 
 sion extends over us in strict accordance -with His 
 goodness. This idea is conveyed by the whole tenor of 
 the fourth chapter of the book of Amos, and forms an 
 appropriate introduction to chap. v. which begins thus, 
 "Hear ye the word which I take up against you, even 
 a lamentation, house of Israel ! The virgin of Israel 
 is fallen ; she shall no more rise," etc. He speaks here 
 of the virgin of Israel, and announces that the physical 
 energies of the people are exhausted by the tyranny of 
 strangers and by the loss of those sent into exile ; their 
 own kings and rulers had no longer power to effect the 
 repentance required, and therefore a Divine intervention 
 was necessary to accomplish their restoration. The 
 prophet therefore. Ibid. v. 3, brings the sad message, — 
 " For thus saith the Lord, The city that went out by a 
 thousand shall leave a hundred, and that which went 
 forth by a hundred shall leave ten to the house of 
 Israel." According to the prophet, the calamities con- 
 tingent on the fall of Israel would be fearful, for they 
 Avould be cast down by the sword, or decimated by 
 famine and pestilence, and only a small portion would 
 be spared for the captivity. Against such national 
 prostration the prophet points out the sole remedy, con- 
 sisting in sincere repentance. The terrifying announce-
 
 FAITH STRENGTHENED. 163 
 
 ment of Israel's destruction is, therefore, entirely miti- 
 gated by the Divine counsel, Amos v. 4, " Thus saith 
 the Lord unto Israel, Seek ye me, and ye shall live." 
 It is well understood that the term to seek^ means to 
 become penitent. Isaiah, in Iv. 6, 7, uses a similar 
 expression, " Seek ye the Lord, while he is yet to be 
 found." He explains there his admonition by saying, 
 " The wicked man shall leave his way, and the iniquitous 
 man his thoughts, and return unto the Lord, and He 
 will have compassion on him." This shows that the 
 prophet Amos has not predicted the irretrievable ruin 
 of Israel, but that it may hope to obtain, through 
 penitence, its restoration and revival, as a nation. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXin. 
 
 MiCAii v. 2, " But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though 
 thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of 
 thee shall come forth unto me a ruler in Israel, whose 
 goings forth have been from everlasting." This verse 
 has been designated by the Christians as confirming their 
 faith ; and they assert that the prophet meant to say that 
 their Messiah would be born at Bethlehem, and they 
 declare that it is impossible for Israel to expect that the 
 Messiah will be born there, seeing that the city of 
 Bethlehem has already been destroyed. 
 
 Refutation. — ^For three reasons it is impossible to 
 vindicate this prophecy in favour of Jesus, setting aside 
 the numerous other unsubstantial arguments they allege 
 to prove that he was the true Messiah. First, — The 
 above scriptural passage has no special allusion to 
 him. The birth of Jesus in Bethlehem does not 
 entitle him to the claim of being the Messiah, for 
 hundreds and thousands of children were born at 
 Bethlehem, and that casualty did not constitute 
 
 M 2
 
 164 FAITH STRENGTHENED. 
 
 them Messiahs. Secondly, — We read there, " From 
 thee shall come forth unto me a ruler." Now, as to 
 Jesus of Nazareth, he was by no means a ruler. On 
 the contrary, the people ruled over him, as is evinced 
 by the mode of his death. Thirdly, — It is not said that 
 Bethlehem would be the birth-place of the Messiah, for 
 we find that the prophet adds there, " And his going 
 forth shall be of olden times." But the sense of the 
 verse is this: Thou Bethlehem, although one of the 
 minor localities among the cities of Judah, from thee a 
 man shall come forth (i. e., trace his descent back to 
 thee), who shall be a ruler in Israel, and that same man 
 will be the King Messiah who will be a descendant of 
 David who came from Bethlehem. See 1 Sam. xvii. 12, 
 where he is termed " The son of an Ephrathite from 
 Bethlehem Judah." The words "since olden times," 
 relate to the great space of time elapsed between the 
 reign of David and the coming of the Messiah. We 
 must also call the attention of the reader to the chapter 
 preceding and the passages following the verse on which 
 we are treating, and it will then be perceived that 
 the whole prophecy is applied to the terrific convul- 
 sions predicted to happen at the epoch of the "latter 
 days." In connection with this prophecy must be read 
 the announcements of Ezekiel xxxviii. and xxxix., and 
 Zechariah xiv. : We must not be deterred from the 
 adoption of this interpretation by the frequent recur- 
 rence in Amos iv. of the particle which, by its significa- 
 tion " And now," may be considered to indicate, that 
 the subject of the prophecy is close at hand, for we 
 frequently find the same nri^ (now) is used merely to 
 make an event present to the imagination, which eyent 
 may, nevertheless, be exceedingly remote from its actual 
 fulfilment. 
 
 See, for instance, . Isaiah xliii. 19, " Behold I am doing
 
 FAITH STRENGTHENED. 165 
 
 a new thing, now it shall spring forth." This prophecy 
 trciited of an event to be fulfilled long after the time in 
 which the prophet lived, ibid. xlix. 19 : " For now thou 
 [0 land] art straightened, and without inhabitants, but 
 those who swallow thee up are yet far away." See also 
 Ezekiel xxxix. 25, " Now I shall bring back the cap- 
 tivity of Jacob, and have mercy upon all the house of 
 Israel." And ibid, xliii. 9, " Now they shall remove 
 from me their lewdness and the carcasses of their kings." 
 Thus we have also an allusion to the days of the Messiah 
 in Micah v. 4, '^ For now he shall be magnified to the 
 ends of the earth." In the same sense must be viewed 
 the concluding words of chap. iv. (in the English ver- 
 sion ver. I of chap, v.), " Now gather thyself in troops, 
 O daughter of troops, He hath laid siege against us. 
 With a rod they shall smite the cheek, even Him who is 
 the Judge of Israel." The last words are borne out by 
 Zechariah xiv. 2, " And half of the city shall go into 
 captivity." For then the judges and leaders of the 
 people will be exposed to the most mortifying humilia- 
 tion, in order to purify the remnant of Israel by the 
 trials of persecution. See ibid. xiii. 9, " And I shall 
 bring the third part into the fire, and I shall purify 
 them as silver is purified, and try them as gold is tried 
 etc." Having now shown that the verse cited at the 
 commencement of the chapter must be interpreted in 
 connection with the preceding passages, we will discuss 
 it in relation to the subsequent verses. We have in 
 Micah V. 3, " Therefore, he Avill give them up until the 
 time that she who travaileth has given birth." The 
 meaning of this verse is, that Israel, compared with a 
 woman in the pain of labour, shall suffer until the 
 period of the delivery (^. 6\, redemption), and ultimately 
 obtain the looked-for consolation. In like terms, says 
 Jeremiah, in chap. xxx. 7, " And it is a time of trouble
 
 166 FAITH STRENGTHENED. 
 
 for Israel, and it shall be delivered therefrom." Thus 
 says also Daniel in chap. xii. 1, of his book, "And it 
 shall be a time such as never had been since it became 
 a nation, and at this time thy people shall be rescued." 
 The words in Micah v. 3, " And the remnant of his 
 brethren shall return with the children of Israel," mean 
 the remnant of the brethren of the Messiah — viz., the 
 children of Judah and Benjamin who are scattered 
 among the nations, shall return to their own land, 
 together with the ten tribes of Israel. The word S^ iu 
 this verse has the same signification as tDJ7 meaning 
 together with. In the same sense it occurs in Exodus 
 XXXV. 22, " And the men came together icith the woman." 
 This prophecy of Micah is identical with that given in 
 Hosea ii., " And the children of Judah and the children of 
 Israel shall assemble together, and they shall make unto 
 them a chief, and go up from the land." Returning again 
 to Micah v. 4, we further read, " And he shall stand and 
 feed in the strength of the Lord," etc. This must natu- 
 rally be attributed to the King Messiah, who will be 
 endowed with extraordinary powers. Then "they 
 shall abide," which means they shall then continue in 
 the land in undisturbed peace. With this we compare 
 chap. iv. 4, " And every man shall abide under his vine 
 tree, and under his fig tree, and none shall make him 
 afraid," for the awe of the Messiah shall prevail through- 
 out the whole earth. The following words in Micah v. 5, 
 "And this shall be the time of peace, when Ashur 
 (^. ^., Assyria) shall come into our land," are equivalent 
 to the words in Zechariah ix. 13, " And he shall speak 
 of peace to the nations." Ashur represents the enemy 
 who brought terror into our countiy: such enemies 
 shall, in the times of the Messiah, be utterly impotent. 
 " We shall set up near him seven shepherds and eight 
 principal men." The rendering of vSy " by or near
 
 FAITH STRENGTHENED. 167 
 
 him," is justified by the occurrence of the same Hebrew 
 word ill that verse in Numbers ii. 20, " And near him, 
 or together ivith him, in the tribe of Manasseh." 
 
 The words shepherds aiidi principal men (or princes of 
 men) relate to the leaders who will be appointed by 
 the Kino- Messiah. The numbers " seven and eijzht 
 must be taken as indefinite signs of number, meaning 
 only many, as we find in Ecclesiates, " Give a portion unto 
 seven and also unto eight." The word shepherds {i. e., 
 pastors) is synonymous with principal men (or, literally, 
 princes of men), and means therefore overseers of the 
 people. Micah, chap. v. 5, 6, continues, "And they 
 shall lay waste the land of Ashur with the sword." 
 
 The v/ord iy"Tl (and they lay waste) occurs in the 
 same sense iK Jeremiah xi. 16, " And they shall break 
 his branches"; and Ibid. ii. 16, " And they shall break 
 the crown of thy head." Micah then speaks of the 
 land of Nimrod, which was Babel, as is clear from 
 Genesis x. 10^ " And the beginning of his kingdom 
 was Babel." Thus the Messiah shall deliver us from 
 the Assyrians when they come into our land, and when 
 they break in upon our borders. The King Messiah will 
 rescue us from the power of arbitrary tyrants, so that 
 we shall no more be molested by invading enemies. 
 Ashur and Babel are selected by Micah as examples of 
 Israel's enemies, because those two powers destroyed 
 the Holy Land. The prophet then gives the consolation, 
 Micah V. 7, " And the remnant of Jacob shall be in the 
 midst of many nations as dew from the Lord, as the 
 showers upon the grass, that tarrieth not for man, nor 
 waiteth for the Son of Man." This verse means that 
 those who escape the tyranny of the enemies shall be 
 placed under the special protection of the Almighty, 
 and no human power shall prevail against the remnant 
 of Israel. As the descent of dew is beyond human in- 
 fluence, so Israel shall be beyond the reach of human
 
 1G8 FAITH STRENGTHENED. 
 
 influence. The prophet then introduces a second com- 
 parison and says, " And the remnant of Jacob shall be 
 among the Gentiles in the midst of many people, as a 
 lion among the beasts of the forest." Israel is thereby 
 compared with the most powerful creature unto which 
 all other animals are inferior, and therefore he resumes, 
 Micah V. 9, " Thine hand shall be exalted above thine 
 adversaries, and all thine enemies shall be cut off." 
 This prophecy is in connection with the following: 
 Micah V. 10, " And I will cut off thy horses out of the 
 midst of thee, and I will destroy thy chariots, and I 
 will cut off the cities of thy land, and throw down all 
 thy strongholds." For at that period Israel will attain 
 a supremacy which will render war needless, and all 
 hostile preparation will be superseded by universal 
 peace. Hence Zechariah says, chap. ii. 4, "And Jeru- 
 salem shall be inhabited as a town without walls." 
 
 The whole tendency of the prophecies we have now 
 treated on, shows evidently that unfulfilled events are 
 spoken of relating to the time of our Messiah when we 
 shall be gathered together to the Holy Land, and when, 
 after the overthrow of the opposing powers, universal 
 peace shall reign on earth. No man can argue that 
 those promises were fulfilled by Jesus of Nazareth, or 
 his disciples. For the founders of the Christian religion 
 passed their lives in unmitigated trouble, nor can it be 
 asserted that an allusion to the Eternal God is implied 
 by, " And his coming forth is from ancient time from 
 the days of old." We cannot possibly attribute to the 
 Infinite Being a "coming forth"; moreover, we shall 
 have occasion to show, from our refutation of the 
 Gospels, the total impropriety of giving Jesus the title 
 of God, and from what we have advanced hitherto, it is 
 quite evident that Jesus was just as far from being a 
 Messiah, as he was from being a Divinity.
 
 FAITH STRENGTHENED _ 169 
 
 CHAPTER XXXIV. 
 
 Haggai ii. 9, " The glory of this hitter house shall be 
 greater than that of the former, saith the Lord of Hosts, 
 and in this place will I give peace, saith the Lord of 
 Hosts." Christians have raised the question, In what 
 did the glory of the latter house consist, seeing that the 
 Jews, during the time of the first temple, were indepen- 
 dent, and during that of the second temple they were 
 vassals of the Persians, Syrians, and Romans, the last 
 of whom ultimately destroyed the temple and banished 
 the Jews. They therefore interpret it to signify that the 
 existence of Jesus, during the time of the second temple, 
 constituted its glory. 
 
 Refutation. — The word 111^ (glory) has two signifi- 
 cations. In the first place, it means worldly distinction 
 and opulence. In this meaning, we find it in Genesis 
 xxxi. 1 : " And from Avhat belongeth unto our father, 
 he has gotten all this Tli^n (wealth)." The same is 
 meant in Proverbs iii. 16, "In his left hand are riches 
 
 and glory. ^' In the second sense, *'\\2'2 means the real 
 or spiritual distinction. For instance, in 1 Sanmel iv. 21, 
 we have " the glory hath departed from Israel." See 
 also Psalm Ixxxv. 9, " That glory may dwell in our 
 land"; and Zechariah ii. 5, " And for glory I shall be 
 in the midst of her." Some commentators have assio:ned 
 this second sense to the passage under consideration, 
 and they say that the superior glory of the second 
 temple consisted in the entire absence of idolatry; some 
 have said that the word 11^^ relates to the first or fic- 
 titious kind of glory, because Herod is said to have 
 decorated the temple in the most gorgeous style. But 
 sucli an interpretation is set aside by the non-fulfilment 
 of Haggai's prophecy (chap. ii. 9), " And in that place
 
 170 FAITH STRENGTHENED. 
 
 will I give peace, saith the Lord of Hosts.'' For during 
 the existence of the second temple no peace reigned in 
 the land; but according to Daniel, " the street and the 
 entrenchment Avere to be built amidst the troubles of the 
 times." Much less can it be said that the glory of the 
 temple Avas reserved for the days of Herod, for from his 
 house contention never departed, and after his death suf- 
 ferings never ceased with the Jews, until their final over- 
 throw. Nor can we admit that theglory of the second temple 
 consisted in its longer duration — a point discussed in the 
 Tahnud (Baba Bathra), for Scripture makes no mention 
 of the glory being attributable to the length of the time 
 durino" which the temple was constructed or lasted. 
 And even if the duration of the second temple had ex- 
 ceeded by double the time that of the first temple, the 
 word glory could not have been assigned to this distinc- 
 tion. Besides this, we must also notice that the peace 
 promised to reign in the latter times, did by no means 
 prevail during the existence of the second temple. The 
 real object of the prophecy under consideration is to 
 show, that the human labour displayed in rearing the 
 second temple was esteemed but insignificant by the 
 Almighty, for the prophet announces a complete change 
 of heaven and earth. See ibid. ii. 6, " For thus saith 
 the Lord of Hosts, There is one thing yet which is a 
 little matter with me, that I shake the heavens and the 
 earth, and the sea and the dry land." Then also will 
 the prophecy be fulfilled, " and the valuable things of 
 all nations shall come" (as contributions to the glory of 
 the house of God). Hitherto such an event has not 
 yet come to pass; but it will take place when all the 
 nations of the earth, who are adverse to the Jews (and 
 who are termed in Scripture, Gog and Magog), shall be 
 su1)jugated and pacified. See Ezekiel xxxviii. 19, 20, 
 " In my jealousy, and in the fire of my wrath have 1
 
 FAITH STRENGTHENED. 171 
 
 Spoken, Surely in that day there shall be a great shaking 
 in the land of Israel : so that the fishes of the sea and 
 the fowls of the heaven, and the beasts of the field, and 
 all the creeping things that creep upon the earth, and all 
 the men that are on the face of the earth, shall shake at 
 my presence," etc. The restoration of the latter temple 
 has, on that account, been brought into connection with 
 the battle of Gog and Magog {i, <?., the ultimate cessa- 
 tion of all warfare). At that time the temple will be 
 erected in surpassing splendour, and testifying all is the 
 Lord's according to the expression by Haggai, that " the 
 gold and the silver belong unto Him." At that time the 
 true glory of th* house of God will be made manifest, 
 and will excel that of the preceding temple. The She- 
 chinah (the Divine presence) will re-appear there, and 
 there everlasting peace will take up its abode. To this 
 alludes Haggai, by saying at the end of his book, chap, ii., 
 V. 21, 22, " Speak to Zerubbabel, governor of Judah, say- 
 ing, I will shake the heaven and the earth ; and I will 
 overthrow the throne of kingdoms, and I will destroy the 
 strength of the kingdoms of the heathen, and 1 will 
 overthrow the chariots and those who ride in them : and 
 the horses and their riders shall come down, every one 
 by the sword of the brother." A similar vision seen by 
 the prophet Zechariah, is also unconnected Avith the 
 second temple, but relates to events to come in the 
 latter days ; for after fearful collisions of the last hostile 
 kingdoms, the Messiah, descendant of Zerubbabel, will 
 come, and He will be the perfection of all rulers. Hence 
 Haggai says, in the concluding words of his book, 
 chap. ii. 23, '' And I will make thee — Zerubbabel — as a 
 signet, for I have chosen thee, says the Lord of Hosts." 
 The fulfilment was not to take place in the immediate 
 times of Zerubbabel, for He remained during all His 
 life in the same position as Governor of Israel, without
 
 172 FAITH STRENGTHENED, 
 
 being ever raised to that exalted rank of which Haggai 
 speaks. 
 
 But we find in Scripture similar promises, which were 
 to be accomplished among a later posterity. Thus^ 
 for instance, the Almighty said to Abraham, when He 
 made a covenant with him to give him the I^and of 
 Canaan as an inheritance (Genesis xv. 7), "I am the 
 Lord who hath brought thee out of Ur of the Chaldeans 
 to 2;ive thee this land for an inheritance." 
 
 This prediction undoubtedly related merely to the 
 posterity of Abraham, as is set forth in the very same 
 chapter (v. 18), " In that day the Lord made a cove- 
 nant with Abraham, saying. Unto thy seed have I given 
 this land," etc. We must, therefore, of necessity ex- 
 plain the prophecy of Haggai as referring to the third 
 temple^ of which Ezekiel, in chap. xl. and in subsequent 
 passages, et passim^ has given such an elaborate and 
 distinct description. He has given us the express 
 announcement that the Divine presence would reveal 
 itself there in its fullest glory. See Ezekiel xliii. 4 — 7, 
 " And the glory of the Lord came into the house by the 
 way of the gate which faces the east. So the spirit took 
 me up and brought me into the inner court, and behold 
 the glory of the Lord filled the house. And I heard one 
 who was speaking unto me, and a man stood by me. And 
 he said unto me. Son of Man, The place of my throne and 
 the place of the soles of my feet where I will dwell in 
 the midst of the children of Israel for ever, the house of 
 Israel shall no more defile my Holy name," etc. This 
 prevalence of universal peace will form the superior 
 glory of the latter temple. The inferiority of the second 
 temple may also be argued from the absence of the 
 Holy ark, of the mercy seat, of the Urim and Thummhn, 
 etc. ; but in the third temj)le, which is to be raised at a 
 future day, all the tokens of Divine glory will be
 
 FAITH STRENGTHENED. 173 
 
 restored and serve as a pledge for the endurance of 
 perpetual peace. Hence the prophet Haggai says, "And 
 in this place will I grant peace, saith the Lord of Hosts." 
 Utterly untenable is also the assertion of the Christians, 
 that the glory of the second temple consisted in the 
 event of the birth of Jesus. For, when he was born, 
 the temple was fast approaching its dissolution and 
 lacked that peace expressly promised. Besides this, 
 Jesus himself admitted, that his object was not to aiFord 
 peace; for he says in Matthew x. 34, " Think not that 
 I am come to send peace on earth, I came not to send 
 peace, but a sword." This forms a positive evidence 
 that the promise 6f universal peace remains still to be 
 accomplished. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXV. 
 
 Zech. ix. 9, " Rejoice very much, O daughter of Zion. 
 Shout, daughter of Jerusalem. Behold thy king 
 Cometh unto thee; He is just and has been saved; He 
 is poor and riding on an ass." On the authority of 
 St. Matthew xxi. 5, the Christians maintain that the 
 prophet, on pronouncing this prediction, had in view the 
 entrance of Jesus into Jerusalem on the back of an ass. 
 Refutation. — The whole prophecy from which the 
 above portion is taken, bears internal evidence to the 
 fallacy of this interpretation; for the prophet speaks 
 solely of the ingathering of Israel and of the advent of 
 the Messiah in the latter days. To arrive at this truth, 
 the verse must be read in its relation with the antecedent 
 and subsequent verses. Refer to the commencement of 
 Zech. ix. 1, where we read, " The burden of the word 
 of the Lord upon the land of Hadrach and Damascus, 
 his resting place." The letter ^ occurring in this verse
 
 174 FAITH STRENGTHENED. 
 
 in the word J*'^^^^ means upon^ concerning, or relating 
 to. It occurs in the same sense in Isaiah xxi. 13, " The 
 burden upon Arabia," and the same meaning has the 1 in 
 many other passages of Scripture. 
 
 The lands of Hadrach and Damascus shall, in the time 
 of the Messiah, be united with the land of Israel, and be 
 termed the resting-place of the Divine glory, just as the 
 ancient and more limited country of Israel was desig- 
 nated the resting-place of the Divine Glory. 
 
 In this mode, the Psalmist says in Psalm xcv. 11, 
 " Unto whom I sware in my wrath, they should not 
 enter into my rest ;" or, as we find this expression more 
 largely expanded in Deuteronomy xi. 12, it is the land 
 " which the Lord thy God inquireth after; the eyes of 
 the Lord thy God are continually upon it." Now, in 
 the times of the Messiah, the eyes of the Lord will rest 
 favourably on the lands of Hadrach and Damascus, 
 because all worship displeasing to the Divine Being will 
 give way to the acknowledgement of pure truth. In the 
 same way, many will also, in the other countries adjacent 
 to our ancient fatherland, be incorporated in the pos- 
 session of the House of Jacob, and according to the 
 expression of Zechariah ix. 1, " The eye of man shall 
 be directed unto the Lord, as the eyes of all the tribes 
 of Israel shall be towards the Lord ; for all nations will 
 say unto the men of Judea, " We will go with you, for 
 we have heard that God is among you." The words of 
 Jeremiah xxiii. 17 fully bear upon this subject, "Now 
 they say unto my scorners, the Lord hath said. Ye shall 
 
 havejyedce^ " etc. 
 
 Zech. ix. 2, " Also Hamath borders thereon, and also 
 Tyre and Zidon, yet they were wise." Those towns, 
 though considered as foreign countries (See Amos vi. 2), 
 will, in future, form only one empire with that of Israel. 
 As to the wisdom of Tyre and Zidon, it is often alluded
 
 FAITH STRENGTHENED. 175 
 
 to by the prophets, as may be seen in Ezekiel xxviii. 
 Such wisdom, available in worldly matters, will not 
 prove of advantage against the supremacy of Israel. 
 For, although " Tyre did build herself a strong-hold and 
 heaped up silver as the dust, and fine gold as the mire 
 of the streets, the Lord will cause her to grow poor." 
 Zech. ix. 3. In rendering the words Hi^lV, " He will 
 cause her to grow poor," we are guided by the terms 
 occurring in 1 Samuel ii. 7, " The Lord maketh poor 
 and maketh rich." Zechariah ix. 4, further says, "And 
 He will smite her poAver in the sea, and she shall be 
 devoured with fire." This shows that temporal means 
 will be utterly disregarded, and that confidence in 
 perishable substance will be lost with the disappearance 
 of the substance itself Grand structures shall become 
 insignificant, the towers of refuge and the walls of 
 protection shall be demolished, and devouring fire shall 
 demonstrate that man can never raise a bulwark against 
 the will of the Lord, and that he can only fortify himself 
 with the firmness of faith. 
 
 Again, we read in Zechariah ix. 5, '' Ashkelon shall 
 see it and fear, and also Gaza be much afraid; and 
 Ekron too, for He hath put to shame her trust." Terror 
 shall emanate from the consciousness of their former 
 unworthiness, and terror shall be followed by humilia- 
 tion and desolation, as the natural consequences of 
 depraved conduct. Therefore Zechariah says in the 
 same chapter, ver. 6, " The outcasts shall dwell in Ash- 
 dod, and I will cut ofi* the glory of the Philistines, and I 
 will take away the guilt of blood out of his mouth, and 
 his abominations from between his teeth." All this 
 part, which is introductory to the verse at the heading 
 of this chapter, shows that a total conversion from un- 
 godly feelings and practices will take place in the 
 countries adjacent to Palestine, and that they will be
 
 176 FAITH STRENGTHENED. 
 
 spared only to become faithful followers of our God, and 
 like the Jebusite of former days, to be subjected to 
 Israel. The various nationalities will then be joined 
 into one faithful body; all will serve with equal ardour 
 the God of Israel, saying in the words of Zechariah 
 viii. 23, '* We will go with you, for we have heard that 
 God is with you." The multitude of worshippers will 
 abundantly increase so that the land of Israel will not be 
 able to contain them, and therefore the boundary will, 
 according to Divine promise, be enlarged, and Palestine 
 extend in proportion as the faith of the followers of 
 Judaism shall spread; for to speak with Isaiah liv. 1, 
 " The children of the desolate wife are greater than the 
 children of the married wife," that is to say, the children 
 returning from captivity will far exceed those who once 
 left their native land. Hence Isaiah says, ibid. ver. 2, 
 " Enlarge the place of thy tent, and let them stretch 
 forth the curtains of thine habitations : spare not, lengthen 
 thy cords, and strengthen thy stakes; for thou shalt 
 spread to the right and the left," etc. Jeremiah, too, 
 affords a picture of the future enlargement of Jerusalem, 
 See chap. xxxi. 38, " Behold days shall come, saith the 
 Lord, and the city shall be built unto the Lord from 
 the tower of Hananeel to the gate of the corner," etc., 
 and he concludes this prediction with the assurance, " it 
 shall not be destroyed, nor shall it ever be broken down." 
 As at that time the temple of the Lord will consequently 
 be larger than it had been in former days, as is testified 
 by Ezekiel xl. and in subsequent parts. The peace which 
 will at that time rule in Palestine will be fairly esta- 
 blished, so that no man shall have to apprehend any 
 danger from abroad. Zechariah therefore predicts, 
 chap. ix. 8, " I will set up an army for my house, of 
 those who proceed towards it, of those who return from 
 it ; and no oppressor shall move against them any more,
 
 FAITH STRENGTHENED. 177 
 
 for now I have seen it with mine eyes." With this 
 prophecy we may compare Zechariah ii. 5, " For I, 
 saith the Lord, will be unto her a protecting wall of fire 
 round about." The expression, "For now I have seen it 
 with mine eyes," relates to the time of the fulfilment, 
 when the Jews will find relief from all tribulation ; and 
 then the Lord, who had turned his countenance from us, 
 will again look upon us in mercy. In the same sense, 
 we find in Exodus ii. 2o, " And God saw the children 
 of Israel," by which is meant, " He looked upon them 
 graciously." This forms a suitable introduction to the 
 words, '' Rejoice v^ry much, daughter of Zion ; shout, 
 daughter of Jerusalem." The occasion of such joy 
 is afforded by the occurrence of blissful events pro- 
 mised to happen in the days of the Messiah. Zion or 
 Jerusalem is here addressed, individually, as the most 
 important part of tlie Holy Land. Then He says, 
 "Behold, thy King cometh unto thee; He is right- 
 eous, and is saved"; for the King Messiah will be a 
 righteous Man; and, through his righteousness He will 
 be saved from the destructive attacks of his assailants. 
 
 The Christians have perverted the sense of V^iJ he 
 is saved, and have rendered it as if it were y.^PHD a 
 Saviour. The authors of the English version have, 
 with consistent faithfulness, taken an opportunity for 
 perverting the sense by translating it ambiguously, and 
 with more ingenuity than honesty, " and having salva- 
 tion," instead of "having been saved," Such subtei'- 
 fuges do not strengthen, however, the cause of religion. 
 We must notice, at the same time, that the word ^^^2: 
 would not aid their interpretation, for we find this word 
 also in the passive sense, for instance, "13^ D^J^.^^iD T>)^) 
 and " The saved ones shall go up to judge the mount of 
 Esau." The word ^jy, occurring in the verse at the 
 beginning of this chapter, means meek and modest. A 
 
 N
 
 178 FAITH STRENGTHENED. 
 
 similar description of the character of the Messiah is 
 given in Isaiah xhi. 2, " He shall not cry aloud and not 
 raise himself up^ and not make his voice to be heard 
 abroad ; a feeble reed He shall not break," etc. The ap- 
 pearance of the Messiah on the back of an ass is to 
 indicate his disdain of all vain display, and also that, at 
 the time of his advent, the use of horses for battle will 
 no longer be required. This is amplified in the an- 
 nouncement, " And I will cut off the chariots from 
 Ephraim and the horses from Jerusalem, and the bow of 
 warfare shall be cut off.'' Thus is also the message 
 given by Hosea ii. 1 8, " And the bow and the sword 1 
 will break from the land ; and I shall cause them to lie 
 down in security." 
 
 Still more forcibly this is predicted in Isaiah ii. 4, 
 " And they shall beat their swords into ploughshares 
 and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation shall no 
 more lift up the sword against nation, and they shall no 
 more learn the art of war." For this reason, Zechariah 
 says, " And He shall speak peace unto the nations." 
 This shows again, that the Messiah will conciliate hostile 
 nations, according to Daniel vii. 27, " All rulers serve 
 Him and obey Him." Thus Zechariah ix. 10, says, 
 " And His dominion shall be from sea to sea, and from 
 the rivers to the ends of the earth." Then the Prophet 
 continues (chap. ix. 11), "Thou also who art in the 
 blood of thy covenant, I have sent thy prisoners from 
 the waterless pit." 
 
 In these words he addresses Israel, who will be saved 
 through the blood of Abraham's covenant, to which we 
 have adhered in spite of all temptation during the cap- 
 tivity, which is denominated a pit without water. We 
 come now to verse 12, of the same chapter, " Turn ye 
 to the stronghold, ye prisoners of hope, even to-day do 
 I declare, that I will render double unto thee." This
 
 FAITH STRENGTHENED. 179 
 
 may be interpreted in the following manner : — Israel, 
 ye prisoners, ever hopeful of your ultimate salvation, ye 
 shall return to God, who is the stronghold and the tower 
 of strength to those who trust in Him, for to-day I tell 
 you again, you shall receive a double portion of all joys 
 lost during the toils of your captivity ; and thus I repeat 
 the promise conveyed to you through the prophet Isaiah 
 (chap. Ix. 17), " Instead of the silver I shall bring gold," 
 etc.; and again (chap. Ixi. 7), "For your shame, ye 
 shall have double, and in return for confusion, they shall 
 rejoice in their ]^ortion; therefore, in their land they 
 shall possess the double," etc. 
 
 The object of the word, " double," is merely to express 
 that God will abundantly bestow his gracious favours : 
 hence the word H^^P is not confined to the literal sense 
 of twice or twofold. Thus we have in Jeremiah xvii. 18, 
 "And I will destroy them with double destruction." 
 Thus the word " double" signifies merely a frequent 
 recurrence of the same thing. In chap. ix. 13, Zechariah 
 continues, " For I have bent thy way, Judah, towards 
 me. I have filled the bow, Ephraim, and raised thy 
 sons, Zion, against thy sons, Javan {i.e. Greece), 
 and made thee as the sword of a mighty man." 
 
 Here he alludes to the days of the Messiah when all 
 Judah and Ephraim, that is to say, all Israel, will return 
 to their land. For we have already shewn, in a former 
 part, that, at the return from Babylon, only a small 
 portion of the Jews again settled in their own country. 
 Now, in the time of the Messiah, all will take their 
 abode in the land of their inheritance, and they will be 
 no more divided into two kingdoms. This may be 
 fully seen on referring to Ezekiel xxxvii. The prophet 
 there tells us, that the children of Zion will prevail over 
 the children of Javan. 
 
 Sometimes we find in Scripture Gog and Magog as 
 
 N 2
 
 180 FAITH STRENGTHENED. 
 
 expressive of the opponents of the Jews, for both Javan 
 and Magog aj^pear in the genealogical enumeration of 
 nations in Genesis x. 1, 2, as brethren and as sons of 
 fJapheth. 
 
 Having now shown that this chapter aifords no 
 foundation for the claims of Jesus to be the Messiah, 
 since in his days those significant predictions remained 
 altogether unfulfilled, we proceed to sum up the points 
 we have discussed. 
 
 1. In the days of the Messiah, will take place the 
 gathering of Judah and Ephraim, that is, of all Israel. 
 
 2. Many nations will join Israel as the people of the 
 Lord. 
 
 3. Gog and Magog, that is, the powers opposing 
 Israel, will be overthrown. 
 
 4. Undisturbed peace will then reign throughout the 
 world. 
 
 5. The King Messiah will have dominion over all the 
 world. 
 
 On the other hand, we have shewn that, in the days 
 of Jesus, not one of those favourable events occurred, 
 but, indeed, the reverse took place. The King Messiah 
 is to declare cessation of warfare and permanent peace, 
 while Jesus the Nazarene says, in Matthew x. 34, 
 " Think not that I am come to send peace on earth; I 
 come not to send peace, but the sword." 
 
 The true Messiah is to have his dominion from sea to 
 sea and from the river to the ends of the earth ; but Jesus, 
 the Nazarene, had no worldly power over the smallest 
 territory; for he says in Matthew xx. 28, " The Son of 
 Man (i.e. Jesus) came not to be served, but to serve," 
 etc. From all this it is obvious that Christians have 
 no foundation on which to establish their dogma of a 
 Messiah.
 
 FAITH STRENGTH EN ED. 181 
 
 CHAPTER XXXVl. 
 
 ZecHxVriah xii. 10, "And I will pour upon the house 
 of David and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem the 
 spirit of grace and supplications, and they shall look up 
 to me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn 
 for him as in the mourning for an only son, and be in 
 bitterness for him, as is the bitterness for the first- 
 born." 
 
 The Christians cite this verse as a testimony of the 
 regret which Israel will feel at a future time for having 
 pierced and slain Jesus, who combined human and 
 Divine nature; therefore the Israelites will mourn for 
 him, as one mourns for an only son. 
 
 Refutation. — On an unprejudiced perusal of the whole 
 prophecy^ of which the above forms part, our Christian 
 brethren would have perceived, that the contents are 
 solely referable to the confusion of empires during the 
 latter days, or, as we are accustomed to call that era, 
 the appearance and fall of Gog and Magog. We will 
 elucidate this by taking an attentive view of the entire 
 chapter. It commences with tlie warning, " Behold, I 
 will make Jerusalem a cup of trembling unto all the 
 people round about." "The cup of trembling" means 
 the confusion and terror which will seize all nations at 
 that period, " and also Judah who shall be engaged in 
 the siege against Jerusalem.' For the foreign nations 
 invading the Holy Land, in order to conquer its capital, 
 will coerce and compel the children of Judah to assist 
 in the siege of Jerusalem. In that time, says Zechariah 
 xii. 3, " I will make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all 
 people; all that burthen themselves with it shall be cut 
 in pieces, though all the people of the earth be gathered 
 together against it." The ill fate formerly attending
 
 182 FAITH STRENGTHENED. 
 
 the welfare of the Jews will now befall the Gentiles ; for 
 the prophet continues, " In that day, saith the Lord, I 
 will smite every horse with terror, and his rider with mad- 
 ness, and I will open mine eyes upon the house of Judah, 
 and I will smite every horse of the nations with blind- 
 ness." This supernatural intervention of the Almighty 
 will bring the Jewish leaders to reason, on seeing the 
 extraordinary power displayed in behalf of Jerusalem. 
 "And the governors of Judah shall say in their heart, The 
 inhabitants of Jerusalem are too strong for me, through 
 the Lord their God." The leaders of Judah will then no 
 longer side with the devourers of their people, but will 
 pour out their wrath on the enemies of the Jews, for the 
 Almighty has declared, ver. 6, "In that day will I make 
 the governors of Judah like a hearth of fire among the 
 wood, and like a torch of fire in a sheaf; and they shall 
 devour all tlie people round about, on the right hand 
 and on the left, and Jerusalem shall be inhabited again, 
 in her own place, even in Jerusalem." For during the 
 troubles of our captivity, the ancient city of the Lord 
 has become like an exile from her own soil; in the 
 future, however, she will be restored to herself again, in 
 her pristine glory. The Lord will then show mercy even 
 to those, who, in their forgetfulness of duty and national 
 affection, have risen against the metropolis of that people 
 and their faith ; and He will spare the Jews who first 
 assisted in the siege, as He will spare the inhabitants of 
 Jerusalem who suffered from the siege. The prophet 
 therefore says, " The Lord also shall save the tents of 
 Judah first, that the inhabitants of Jerusalem may not 
 magnify themselves against Judah." The success attend- 
 ing the cause of the Jews will be granted in such a 
 manner as not to disturb the unanimity and brotherly 
 feeling so indispensably requisite for the restoration of 
 our people. The Jews will, at that time, be invested
 
 FAITH STRENGTHENED. 183 
 
 with new vigour : " And he that is feeble among them 
 at that day shall be as David;" that is to say, the 
 weakest among the Jews shall be distinguished as a 
 hero, and be equal in courage to David. " And the 
 house of David shall be godly as a messenger of the 
 Lord before them." The Messiah himself will act as a 
 messenger of the Lord, and in his own person will lead 
 his subjects to battle against the hostile nations. Now 
 the prophet proceeds*by saying, ibid, chapter xii. 9, 10, 
 " And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will seek to 
 destroy all nations that come against Jerusalem. And 
 I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the in- 
 habitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of 
 supplications, and they shall look upon me whom they 
 have pierced," etc. 
 
 The prophet having, in this manner, alluded to the 
 great superiority of the Jews in the latter days, says 
 now, that they will look to him in humility and contri- 
 tion, on account of those who have been pierced and 
 killed in war. The Jews will be so assured of the 
 Divine assistance in their restoration, that they will 
 feel afflicted on account of those who shall become the 
 first victims of their warfare with the Gentiles. Thus 
 Joshua and the Israelites were afflicted when first 
 beaten by the inhabitants of Ai. That leader of the 
 Israelites then exclaimed, (Joshua vii. 7), " Wherefore 
 hast thou caused this people to pass over the Jordan," 
 etc. And again (ver. 8), " Lord, what shall I say, after 
 Israel have tui'ned their backs before their enemies " ? 
 In the same manner, the people shall, in the days 
 of the Messiah, look up in contrition to God, and im- 
 plore pardon on account of their having pierced {i. e., 
 destroyed) the innocent. The term ^iyt\ fli^ is equal to 
 the term ll^yi on account of, or because^ and does not 
 mean " whom,'" as it has been generally rciidered. In
 
 184 FAITH STRENGTHENED. 
 
 Ezekiel xxxvi. '21, we have I^N DX in the same sense, 
 " And I shall do it on account of your walking (or 
 because ye shall walk) in my statutes." The interest in 
 the life of a fellow-man will be deeply felt during 
 the latter thirty days that the Jews shall mourn for any 
 man slain in the battle, as one is who mourns for the 
 loss of an only son, and they shall be in bitter grief for 
 him, as if it were for a first-born child. The compari- 
 son, with the loss of a first-born son, gives, in a few 
 words, a picture of the intensity of grief. The subse- 
 quent comparison with the mourning of Hadadrimmon, 
 we cannot further explain, there being no mention on 
 record of the cause and circumstances of that mourning. 
 The prophet then shows how each family in Israel will 
 partake in the afiliction caused by the report of the 
 fallen in war; and as it is a well-known fact, that the 
 mourning tidings vibrate more keenly in the hearts of 
 feeling women, than in the hearts of interested men, the 
 prophet draws a distinguishing line between the mourn- 
 ing of the two sexes; and, speaking of the high families 
 of Israel, he says, " And the land shall mourn, each 
 family separately, the family of the house of David sepa- 
 rately, their wives separately," etc. The description 
 given here of the belligerent parties, and of the result of 
 their actions near and at Jerusalem, evidently relates to 
 a time not yet recorded in the pages of history. The 
 Christians have therefore no basis, on which to rest their 
 religious theory of the death of Jesus. Were there only 
 a shadow of truth in their pretension,. that the grief 
 predicted by the prophet was to emanate from the mode 
 in which Jesus met with his end on the cross, the pro- 
 phecy ought to be worded, " And they will mourn for 
 me^ and be in bitterness for me" The fallacy of the 
 assertions of the Christians, with regard to this prophecy, 
 is not only to be proved from this detached part, but is
 
 FAITH STRENGTHENED. 185 
 
 also to be considered from what we demonstrated in the 
 preceding parts. See, for example, chap, x., where we 
 have treated on the inconsistency of considering Jesus 
 as the Messiah, and of the absolute impossibility of ac- 
 knowledging him as the Godhead. 
 
 i 
 
 CHAPTER XXXVII. 
 
 Zbchariah xiii, 7, " Awake, sword, against my shep- 
 herd, and against the man who is my fellow, saith the 
 Lord of Hosts ; smite the shepherd, and the sheep shall 
 be scattered, and I will turn my hand against the little 
 ones." 
 
 According to the opinion of the Christians, the pro- 
 phet meant Jesus by the " Man who is my fellow," and 
 the disciples of Jesus by the expression, " Smite the 
 shepherd and the sheep shall be scattered." This asser- 
 tion rests on what we read in St. Mark xiv. 27. 
 
 Refutation. — The explanation given by the Christians 
 to the above passage is devoid of truth. The context 
 to which the above verse belongs, relates exclusively to 
 the downfall of the kings of Palestine and to the dis- 
 persion of Israel. Simultaneously with that event, the 
 destruction of idolators was to take place, and the 
 righteous alone were to be saved from utter annihilation. 
 The command given to the sword to " smite the shep- 
 herd who is my fellow," merely signifies that those kings 
 shall be punished who oppress the Jews, and who, in 
 their delusion, believe they are doing a godly work in 
 persecuting a religious people, and, in their inordinate 
 conceit, imagine that they are the vicars and associates 
 of the Almighty, whereas in the minds of those men the 
 serpent of temptation whispers, as it did to our first 
 parents, " And ye shall be like unto God, knowing good 
 and evil."
 
 186 FAITH STRENGTHENED. 
 
 This conceit we have met with among the rulers in 
 Asia and Africa, where enlightenment has made less 
 rapid strides than in Europe; and on that account 
 humiliation is most needful to the uninstructed in order 
 to teach them to know the littleness of pride and the 
 superiority of meekness. " Smite the shepherd, and the 
 sheep shall be scattered." This passage indicates that 
 the rulers of the Gentiles, who boast of their iniquitous 
 government, shall be overthrown ; and, from their fall, 
 the deliverance of Israel will arise. There are many 
 shepherds that must be struck prior to Israel's entire 
 deliverance ; for, unlike the ancient captivity in Egypt, 
 the Jews are now scattered throughout numerous states 
 and kingdoms. The return of our people to the inheri- 
 tance of their fathers will, therefore, not take place in 
 one collected body, but in numerous detached hosts. 
 The term r'•^i1Sm of the above passage occurs also in the 
 form of a noun in Isaiah xi. 12, " And he shall gather 
 the dispersed (n*l^33) of Judah." "And I will turn my 
 hand against the little ones." This passage likewise 
 alludes to the subdued and powerless princes who shall 
 be visited with humiliation according to their demerits. 
 The Almighty will lend His help to those who have 
 been the victims of malice. The inhabitants of the 
 earth shall be awfully roused from their delusion, obeying 
 the call of Isaiah, who says (chap, xxxiv. 1, 2), "Come 
 near, ye nations, and listen, for the Lord will execute 
 judgment on the cruel persecutors of His people." 
 
 CHAPTER XXXVIIL 
 
 Malaciii i. 11, " For from the rising of the sun to the 
 going down of the same, my name is great among the 
 Gentiles; and in every place incense is offered up unto
 
 FAITH STRENGTHENED. 187 
 
 my name, and a pure offering, saith the Lord of Hosts." 
 The Christians maintain that this prophecy bears upon 
 their faith, which has been so extensively diffused in the 
 world. 
 
 Refutation. — We do not discover in these words of 
 Malachi any allusion to the faith of Christianity, which 
 had no existence at tiie era of the prophet. We know 
 well that Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi, were con- 
 temporaneous, and lived about three hundred years 
 anterior to Jesus. At the time of the last prophet, the 
 Gentiles were worshippers of the heavenly constellations, 
 and of idols representing those constellations. It Avas 
 not, however, the intention of Malachi to expatiate on 
 the abominations of Idolatry, but he merely delivered a 
 reproof to the sinners of Israel who offered up loathsome 
 sacrifices, and thereby profaned the name of the 
 Almighty. Hence he says (chap. i. 1*2), " But ye are 
 profaning it by saying, The table of the Lord is polluted, 
 and the fruit thereof, even the meat, is contemptible." 
 Subsequently, the prophet reproaches the people, and 
 says, " And ye bring an offering which has been stolen, 
 and the lame and the sick." Whoever reads with 
 attention the lesson of the prophet, will find that he 
 rebukes the Israelites for their having acted worse in 
 their sacrifices to God, than the Gentiles towards their 
 idols." In this reproof he accords with Ezekiel v. 7, 
 " And ye have not dealt in the fashion of the Gentiles 
 that are around you." While the Israelites neglected 
 to imitate what was laudable in the worship of the 
 Gentiles, they blindly followed their reprehensible prac- 
 tices, and, therefore, Ezekiel blames his people by saying 
 (chap. xi. 12), " In my statutes ye have not walked, 
 and after my judgments ye have not acted, but ye have 
 acted after the customs of the Gentiles that are around 
 you." *' And in every place incense is offered u}) unto
 
 188 FAITH STRENGTHENED. 
 
 my r.aiiie." Hereby a comparison is made betweeif 
 the sordidness in the sacrifices of the Israelites and the 
 greater liberality of the idolators in their ofi'erings to 
 their false gods. For if the latter had been asked to 
 whom they paid these tokens of reverence, they would 
 have answered, to a Divine power that governs the des- 
 tinies of mankind, and, therefore, they were filled with awe 
 and devotion, in spite of all their errors. But although 
 those Gentiles had not a pure and an elevated idea of the 
 Supreme Being, they were able to act agreeably to his 
 revealed will; and, therefore the prophet was justified 
 in declaring in the name of the Lord, " For my name is 
 great among the Gentiles." But since a worship cannot 
 be approved in which a creature is put on an equality 
 with the Creator, the Gentiles would only find favour 
 by acquiescing in the sublime belief of an omnipresent 
 and omnipotent Deity ; for such a belief alone aifords 
 real gratification to the reasoning mind and to the wish- 
 ful lieart. Hence Malachi (iii. 4) goes on to say, " And 
 the sacrifices of Judah and Jerusalem shall be pleasant 
 unto the Lord as in days of old, and in former years." 
 The means of finding favour in the eyes of the Almighty 
 will only then increase when religious obstacles shall be 
 removed. The favour of the Lord is therefore con- 
 tingent on the purity of His worshipper, consequently 
 Malachi declares (chap. iii. 3), " And he shall sit as a 
 refiner and as a purifier of silver; and He shall purify 
 the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, 
 that they may ofi'er unto the Lord an offering in right- 
 eousness." It is natural, that the sons of Levi and the 
 priests should be prominently noticed in this propliecy, 
 for those spiritual guides of the people were the very 
 men who were designated " as the despisers of my name." 
 Those who lead the way to sin must also by their ex- 
 ample naturally be the first to meet with punishment.
 
 FAITH STRENGTHENED. 189 
 
 The verse which heads this chapter has a beautiful pa- 
 rallel in Psalra cxiii. 3, " From the rising of the sun to 
 tlie groino; down of the same, the name of the Lord is 
 praised. The Lord is high above all nations." It could 
 not be said, that David included all contemporaneous 
 Gentile nations in the adoration of the God of Israel; 
 and that he considered all the heathen to be believers in 
 the same Deity. For he condemns the practices in the 
 worship of the heathen in the very same book, saying 
 (Psalm cxv. 4 — 9), " Their idols are of gold and of 
 silver, the works of the hands of man ; they have mouths 
 and speak not, they have eyes and see not, they have 
 ears and hear not, they have noses and smell not, they 
 have hands and feel not, feet and walk not, they speak 
 not with their throats. Like unto them are those that 
 make them, yea, all those that trust in them. Let Israel 
 trust in the Lord, He is their shield and their help." 
 Nearly the same terms are used in Psalm cxxxv. 19. We 
 see, then, that the Gentiles, with all their errors, wished 
 to adore a First Cause of all existence ; yet the Psalmist, 
 as well as the prophet spoken of above, deemed the faith 
 and the observances of Israel as those strongholds by 
 which the mind of man obtains true eminence and con- 
 solation ; consequently there is not the slightest motive 
 to forsake the path which our religion points out to its 
 followers, and to adopt a faith so manifestly at variance 
 with our ancient law. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXIX. 
 
 Malachi, at the end of the book, saith, " I'ehold, I will 
 send you the prophet Elijah before the coming of tlie 
 great and awful day." 
 
 It has been asserted by Christian interpreters of this
 
 190 FAITH STRENGTHENED. 
 
 passage, that we Jews vainly expect the fulfilment of 
 this prediction, because it has already been realized in 
 the person of John the Baptist, who in spirit was equal 
 to Elijah ; it being said in Matthew xi. 10, that Jesus 
 declared that John was the Elijah predicted by Malachi. 
 They particularly cite chap. xvii. of Matthew, where 
 Jesus is made to affirm (ver. 12 and 13) " But I say 
 unto you that Elijah is come already, and they knew 
 him not, but have done to him whatever they listed." 
 Thus his disciples were led to believe that Elijah and 
 John were identical in the above prophecy. 
 
 Refutation. — How can they deny the personal identity 
 of the Prophet, mentioned in chap. iv. 5? Who would 
 venture to affirm that any other person is signified than 
 the real Prophet Elijah, a truth equally manifest in the 
 following passages: 1 Kings xviii. 21, "And Elijah 
 drew near." — 2 Chronicles xxi. 12, " And a writing of 
 Elijah the prophet reached him." If the prophecy 
 under consideration had had reference to an indefinite 
 individual, it would have been communicated in such 
 terms as the following, " Behold, I shall send a man 
 like the Prophet Elijah." Besides, he might have said, 
 in terms which could not have failed to produce con- 
 viction, " Behold, I shall send you John." What 
 necessity to have called him Elijah? Our argument 
 gains in strength by the very statements contained in 
 the Gospel of St. John i. 21, "And they asked him 
 [John], What then, art thou Elias [Elijah], and he 
 said, I am not.'" — "Art thou that Prophet? and he 
 answered, Ac>." Comparing this passage with an asser- 
 tion made in Matthew, we find a most glaring contra- 
 diction in the two Gospels. See Matthew xvii. 10 to 13, 
 " And his disciples asked Him [Jesus], saying. Why 
 then say the Scribes, that Elias [Elijali], must first 
 come? And Jesus answered and said unto them, Elias
 
 FAITH STRENGTHENED. 191 
 
 [Elijah] shall first come and restore all things. But 
 I say unto you that Elias [Elijah], is come already, 
 and they knew him not, but have done unto him what- 
 soever they listed ; likewise shall also the Son of Man 
 suffer of them. Then the disciples understood that he 
 spake to them of Jonn the Baptist." It is utterly un- 
 necessary to illustrate any further similar expressions 
 bearing so visibly the stamp of human invention; and 
 we are fully prepared to estimate the value of the 
 interpretation given to this discrepancy by the Christian 
 commentators, who maintain that John declined the 
 title of "Prophet Elijah" out of pure humility. Humi- 
 lity will not allow us to utter an intentional untruth in 
 order to establish our superiority. Faithful prophets 
 have openly avowed their missions and the object of 
 their appearance before the world. We dismiss, there- 
 fore, the claim of the Christian interpretation as totally 
 unsatisfactory and unfounded. 
 
 CHAPTER XL. 
 
 Psalm ex. 1, " The Lord said unto my lord, Sit thou at 
 my right side, until I make thine enemies thy footstool." 
 
 I heard once a Christian scholar plead that this pas- 
 sage can only have reference to Jesus, who was the 
 combination of divinity and humanity ; for of whom else 
 could David have spoken as " my Lord" sitting at the 
 right hand of the Almighty ? 
 
 Refutation. — To this 1 made the following rejJy : — 
 We attribute to David the composition of the 137th 
 Psalm, commencing, •' On the rivers of Babylon we sat 
 and wept," a Psalm obviously treating of the Babylonian 
 Captivity, which took place about four centuries after 
 the death of David. An allusion to so distant a
 
 192 FAITH STRENGTHENED. 
 
 period could only have been made by a holy and an 
 inspired writer. 
 
 There are also many passages in the book of Psalms 
 which relate to the poet himself, as for instance, Psalm 
 ii. 7, " I will declare it as a law. The Lord spoke unto 
 me, Thou art my son, to-day I have begotten thee." In 
 the same light must be considered many other subse- 
 quent Psalms. There are Psalms of another character, 
 the object of which is to describe the period of the 
 Jewish exile; to this class belongs the above-mentioned 
 Psalm cxxxvii. Of the like prophetic character is 
 Psalm Ixxix. 1, commencing, " God, the heathen have 
 come into thine inheritance, they have defiled thy holy 
 temple.*' In a similar sense we take Psalm Ixxiv. 10, 
 " Wherefore, O God, hast thou for ever forsaken us ?" 
 All such Psalms were composed for the captives of 
 Israel through inspiration. We find other Psalms which 
 have a still more remote bearing, and take within their 
 range the gathering of the captives, and the days of the 
 Messiah. See, for instance, Psalm xcvi. 1, commencing, 
 " Sing unto the Lord a new song," etc. This and other 
 Psalms were dictated by holy inspiration, and originated 
 most likely from some occurrence which urged the mind 
 of the poet to enlarge upon the future restoration of 
 Israel. Sometimes the cause of the production of such 
 Psalms is recorded and pointed out by expressions more 
 or less definite. See, for instance. Psalm xx. 1, " The 
 Lord shall answer thee on the day of trouble," in which 
 David spoke first of his own sorrow, and then passed 
 over to those awaiting the children of Israel while 
 engaged in hazardous warfare. In the same category 
 stands the Psalm, " God said unto my Lord (master). 
 Sit thou at my right-hand until I make thine enemies 
 thy footstool." Firstly, David speaks concerning himself, 
 perhaps taking occasion to treat on this subject when
 
 FAITH STRENGTHENED. 193 
 
 his men had sworn "that he should no longer go with 
 them to battle," on account of the danger to which he had 
 so rej)eatedly exposed his life in conflict with the Philis- 
 tines. See 2 Samu^ xxi. 17, " Then the men of David 
 swore unto him, saying, Thou shalt no longer go out with 
 us to battle, that thou quench not the light of Israel." 
 The psalm in question seems to have emanated from the 
 impression made on the poet, while his men were anxious 
 to prevent him from exposing his life any more in battle, 
 and speaking, as it were, in their name, he makes them 
 utter an appeal to himself in the following words, " God 
 saith to my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand until I make 
 thine enemies thy footstool." Now, whether David was 
 or was not the author of this appeal, we must allow that 
 in any case this emphatic exhortation was well calcu- 
 lated to work a powerful effect on the mind of a man 
 so pious as King David. Being thus assured of the 
 protection of God, as confirmed by the words, " The 
 Lord shall send the rod of thy strength from Zion," 
 which is, that " He will send thee help from his sanctuary, 
 He will support thee from Zion," as tliat holy city 
 was the distinguished locality which " the Lord chose 
 for his abode" ; the words which follow, " Thy people 
 shall be willing on the day of thy power," mean. Thy 
 subjects, king, will freely offer their lives to spare 
 thine, while thou keepest away from danger. The 
 passage, " Thou art my priest for ever according to the 
 word concerning Melchizedek," means. Thou shalt, 
 during all thy life, be unto me like Melchizedek, king 
 of Jerusalem, who was denominated king and priest of 
 the most high God. See Genesis xiv. 18, " And 
 Melchizedek, king of Salem, caused bread and wine to 
 be brought out, and he was a priest of the most high 
 God." That David's sacred compositions rendered him 
 worthy to be adorned with the title of j^r^V.*?^ appears 
 

 
 194 FAITH STRENGTHENED. 
 
 evident enough from Scripture, as is exemplified in the 
 Second Book of Samuel, where we read, that David 
 built an altar, offered up burnt-offerings and peace- 
 offerings, which, accompanied by prayer and entreaty, 
 " were accepted b}' the Lord, and the plague was 
 stnyed in Israel." The words ^niTl hv ii^ the passage 
 in the psalm in question, mean " according to." We 
 find it in the same sense in Job x., " according to thy 
 knowledge." The letter > in ^'pr\T\ is paragogic as the 
 * in *n;i1 (Lamentations i. 1). We must mention here, 
 by way of digression, a misinterpretation given to the 
 passage, " And Melchizedek brouglit out wine and 
 bread." The Christians believe, that the bread and 
 wine were offered as articles of sacrifice, but plain 
 sense compels us to believe tliat the presentation of these 
 things was merely for the entertainment of his guests. 
 The tenth part given by Abraham to Melchizedek, 
 qnalified the latter to be denominated priest of the Most 
 High God. Hence we see that the Psalmist meant 
 none but himself, in the composition we have been 
 treating of, while, on the other hand, lie alluded to the 
 future condition of the dispersed people, when in his 
 inspiration he proclaimed (Psalm xcvi. 6), " Sing ye 
 unto the Lord a new song, let the whole earth sing unto 
 the Lord." Thus he says also in the subsequent psalm, 
 '* The Lord reigneth; let the earth be glad, many isles 
 shall rejoice." Those psalms, as we said above, allude 
 to the still unfulfilled ingathering of Israel. It appears 
 to be a most unjustifiable assertion of the Christian 
 expounder of the psalms to maintain that the phrase, 
 " To sit at the right hand of God," applies to an actual 
 son of God, for the Bible contains immerous proofs that 
 the metaphor, "the right hand of God," solely signifies 
 " Omnipotence of the Deity." What other interpretation 
 could be assigned to the following sentences (Ps. cxviii.
 
 FAITH STRENGTHENED. 195 
 
 verse 16), " The right hand of the Lord is exalted, the 
 right hand of the Lord worketh mighty things." 
 Exodus XV. 16, " Thy right hand, Lord, is glorified 
 in strength; thy right hand, Lord, crusheth the 
 enemy." Even when speaking of man, "the right 
 hand" implies strength and exertion. See for instance 
 Psalm cxliv. 7, " And their hand is the right hand of 
 falsehood. '' To take the word in a narrow and literal 
 sense, must involve the expounder in the glaring fallacy 
 of applying corporeality to one whom he believes to be 
 the Son of God. To a Jew, it would almost appear 
 blasphemy literally to ascribe a right or a left hand 
 to the Deity, a spiritual being to whom no attribute 
 of corporeality can be absolutely ascribed. When the 
 believer is urged to place himself on the right hand of 
 the Lord, he can only understand that it is his duty to 
 seek the protection of the Omnipotent. The more we 
 read of Scripture, the more proofs we find that many 
 parts of the Bible have been misinterpreted in order to 
 favour a certain religious dogma. The psalm we are 
 treating of has the expression, " The Lord hath sworn, 
 he will not repent," which phrase has been considered 
 as alluding to anew dispensation by which the sacrifices 
 of flesh and blood should cease, and be substituted by 
 oblations of bread and wine. But it has not been 
 borne in mind that the Deity never changes his views. 
 " He is not a man that he should repent." Ordinances 
 once given must be binding upon us, and upon all suc- 
 ceeding generations. We have already disposed of this 
 subject in chapter xix., to which we refer the reader. 
 
 CHAPTKR XLl. 
 
 Daniel vii. 13, "I saw in the night visions, and, behold, 
 
 o 2
 
 196 FAITH STRENGTHENED. 
 
 one like tlu," Son of Man came with the clouds of 
 hc'iven, and came to the Ancient of days, and they 
 brcjught him near before him.'" The Christian expo- 
 sitors of Scripture ascribe the object of this prophecy 
 to the advent of their Messiah, who, according to 
 their view of this prophecy, was to be a superhuman 
 being ; otherwise, how coukl he come with the clouds of 
 heaven ? 
 
 Refutation. — The prophet speaks here of a dream, in 
 which things are meant to be represented in their literal 
 sense. If the dream exliibits preternatural visions, the 
 interpretation does not require a preternatural fulfil- 
 ment. Daniel mentioned in the same chapter the 
 destruction of the four kingdoms, and predicted that an 
 enduring dominion will be granted to no other than the 
 people holy to the Most Higli God. See ibid., verse 18, 
 " And the holy ones of the Most High shall receive the 
 dominion, and possess the kingdom for ever and ever, 
 even for ever and ever." Again, verses 26, 27, "And the 
 judgment shall sit, and they shall take away his domi- 
 nion to consume and to destroy it unto the end. And 
 the kingdom and the dominion, and the greatness of the 
 kingdom under the whole heaven shall be given to the 
 people of the saints of the Most High, whose kingdom 
 is an everlasting kingdom, and all kingdoms shall serve 
 and obey him." 
 
 The clouds of heaven mentioned in tlie quotation at the 
 head of this chai)ter, bring to mind the heavenly rule 
 Avhich ordains changes on high, in the region which lies 
 beyond the reach and influence of man. He that raises 
 clouds, and makes them descend again to fructify the soil, 
 must be acknowledged as the same supreme agent, and 
 disposer of the fate of man. The idea is familiar to other 
 prophets also. See, for example, Jeremiah xiv. 22, "Are 
 there among the vanities of the heathen any that send
 
 FAITH STRENGTHENED. 197 
 
 down rain, and do the heavens yield them abundant 
 showers ?" " Is it^ot thou who art our God, and surely 
 we will hope in thee; for thou doest all these things." 
 The fleet clouds are often used as symbols of the swift- 
 ness with which God carries out His decrees. See 
 Isaiah xix. 1, " Behold, the Lord riding on a light 
 cloud, and He is come to Egypt." Jeremiah iv. 13, 
 "Behold, like unto a cloud he rises up; like a whirl- 
 wind are His chariots. Isaiah Ix. 8, " Who are those 
 that are flying like a cloud, and like doves to their 
 windows." 
 
 The superhuman powers developed in the divine dis- 
 pensations are pointed out by Daniel ii. 34, " Thou 
 saAvest that a stone was cut out, but not by any hands, 
 which smote the image on his feet." In a like manner, 
 he mentions, in the same chapter, the aid that will be 
 afi^orded by God (ver. 44), " And in the days of these 
 kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom which 
 shall never be destroyed, and the kingdom shall not be 
 left to other people," etc. Thus the last kingdom on 
 earth will be exalted beyond the others, by enjoying the 
 special protection of heaven, and divine help shall 
 descend upon the empire of the chosen ones, " as rain 
 descends upon the earth blessed by the Lord." 
 
 Christians argue, that the government spoken of by 
 Daniel must belong to a Divine Being, because we read 
 " His dominion shall be an everlasting dominion." But 
 we take those words in the sense that the kingdom shall 
 be a perpetual and an inalienable inheritance, descend- 
 ing from father to son without interi'uption. Hence 
 Daniel says, " And his kingdom shall not pass away." 
 And again in chap. vii. 27, " And all rulers shall serve 
 and obey Him." The last mentioned prediction is most 
 decidedly not realised in the person of Jesus, fur the
 
 198 FAITH STRENGTHENED. 
 
 Jews, the Mahommedans, and many other nations are 
 not subject to the dominion of Jesus. 
 
 Christians may perhaps plead and say that the ex- 
 pression " all rulers,'' refers to a great number merely, 
 and is applied here as in Genesis xxiv. 10, " And he had 
 in his hand all the goods of his master." But the con- 
 necting words must ever be our guide in cases of doubt- 
 ful interpretation. Hence the word all, here and in any 
 other similar case, cannot be taken in a limited sense ; 
 for the prophet Daniel says, " And the kingdom, and 
 the dominion, and the greatness of the kingdom which 
 is under all the heavens shall be given to him." More- 
 over, he expressly states in chap. ii. 44, " I shall break 
 in pieces and consume all those kingdoms, and it shall 
 stand for ever." The same prediction we find in Isaiah 
 Ix. 12, "For the nation and the kingdom which shall 
 not serve thee shall perish; yea, those nations shall be 
 utterly destroyed." The above-mentioned quotation, 
 page 196 ante^ " And the saints of the Most High shall 
 obtain the kingdom," has sole reference to the children 
 of Israel. A few citations from Scripture wiU show that 
 the title saints^ or holy ones^ is frequently given to Israel. 
 Exodus xxii. 31, " And ye shall be unto me a holy peo- 
 ple. Deut. vii. 6, " For thou art a holy people unto the 
 Lord thy God, the Lord thy God has chosen thee to be 
 unto hira a nation distinct from all the nations on the 
 face of the earth " Isaiah Ixii. 12, " The holy people, 
 the redeemed ones of the Lord." Daniel vii. 21, 22^ 
 " And I beheld the same horn made war with the saints 
 and prevailed against them, until the Ancient of days 
 came, and judgment was given to the saints of the Most 
 High, and the time came that the saints possessed the 
 kingdom." And again, ver. 25, "And he shall speak 
 great words against the Most High, and shall wear out
 
 FAITH STRENGTHENED. 199 
 
 the saints of the Most High, and think to change times 
 and laws, and they^sliall be given into his hand until a 
 time and times and the dividing of time." Ibid. viii. 24, 
 " And his power shall be mighty, but not by his own 
 power shall he be mighty, and he shall destroy wonder- 
 fully, and shall prosper and act, and shall destroy the 
 mighty and the holy people." And ibid. xii. 7, " It shall 
 be for a time, times, and a half, and when he shall have 
 accomplished the scattering the power of the holy peo- 
 ple, all these things shall be finished." 
 
 As Israel is called in Scripture the holy people of the 
 Lord, so, on the other hand, is the Almighty represented 
 as the Holy One of Israel. See Isaiah xii. 6, " For 
 great is the Holy One of Israel in the midst of thee." 
 Ibid, xxxvii. 23, " And thou hast lifted up thine eyes 
 against the Holy One of Israel." Ibid. xii. 14, " 1 have 
 helped thee, saith the Lord, and the redeemer, the Holy 
 One of Israel." Jeremiah 1. 29, " for he rebelled against 
 the Lord, against the Holy One of Israel." 
 
 The appellation, in Daniel, Most High, which the 
 Christians have endeavoured to appropriate to Jesus, is 
 attributable to Israel, as will be seen on examining other 
 parts of the Scriptures. See Deuteronomy xxvi. 19, 
 '^ And to make thee most high above all the nations 
 which He hath made for His praise, for His name, and 
 for His glory ; and that thou mayest be a holy people 
 unto the Lord thy God as He hath spoken." Ibid, 
 xxviii. 1, "And the Lord will make thee most high 
 above all people of the earth." 
 
 From all these passages, it is evident that Israel could 
 not yield to any other nation the title given to it in holy 
 writ, and it must be acknowledged that the saints of the 
 Most High God can only be of that people which is de- 
 clared to be most high among the nations of the earth. 
 
 The prophecies, showing that the wicked Gentiles shall
 
 200 FAITH STRENGTHENED. 
 
 perish, and that the righteous shall unite with Israel, 
 are sufficient evidences to prove, that also the present 
 prophecy relates solely to the chosen people, for surely 
 no expounder could reason away the lucid and simple 
 announcement made by Isaiah iv. 3, " And all that shall 
 be left in Zion, and that remain in Jerusalem, shall be 
 called holy." And again in Ix. 21, "And thy people, 
 altogether righteous, shall inherit thy land for ever." 
 
 Thus we see that Daniel had no other object in view 
 than to represent in his prophecy the final glory of Israel. 
 
 CHAPTER XLII. 
 
 Daniel ix. 26, "And after threescore and two weeks 
 shall an anointed man be cut off, and shall have nothing, 
 and a noble people cometh that shall destroy the city 
 and the sanctuary, and its end shall be in a flood, and, 
 until the end, war is ordained to devastate." It is asserted 
 by Christians that this verse reveals the fate of Jesus, 
 who is to be cut off childless. 
 
 Refutation. — In order to see how untenable is the 
 position of the interpreters who rest their faith on such 
 grounds, we must follow again the only just rule that can 
 be adopted, and explain the verse from its context. We 
 find in the same chapter (ver. 24), " Seventy weeks are 
 determined upon thy people, and upon the holy city, to 
 make an end of sins, and to make a reconciliation for 
 iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and 
 to seal up visions and prophets, and to anoint the Holy 
 of Holies." The seventy weeks are evidently a given 
 period of time elapsing from the destruction of the first to 
 the destruction of the second temple. See Jeremiah xxix. 
 10, "For thus saith the Lord, that after seventy years be 
 accomplished at Babylon, I will visit you, and perform
 
 FAITH STRENGTHENED. 201 
 
 my good word towards you, in causing you to return 
 to this place." An?! Lamentations iv. 22, " The punish- 
 ment of thine iniquity is completed, daughter of Zion, 
 He will not again lead thee into captivity." According 
 to the vision of Daniel mentioned in chapter vii. of his 
 book (the seventh and following verses), he saw that 
 the fourth animal (indicating Rome) would persecute 
 Israel for a great length of time; and he meditated 
 on the visions which were not clear to him, because he 
 had not received a special revelation concerning the 
 latter captivity of the Jews. Hence he sa3^s, at the 
 conclusion of the seventh chapter, "As for me, Daniel, 
 my cogitations much troubled me, and my countenance 
 changed in me, but 1 kept the matter in my heart." 
 The same prophet had similar doubts regarding his 
 visions, when he heard the announcement (spoken of in 
 chap, viii.) of the cessation of the continual sacrifice, 
 and of the destruction of the sanctuai;}'', and of the 
 overthrow of the people (see chap. viii. 13, 26). He 
 then thought that the predicted length of Israel's cap- 
 tivity related to that state into which his people then 
 were precipitated ; he therefore was told, " Conceal this 
 vision, for it shall be for many days." This communi- 
 cation the prophet ibund at variance with the one made 
 to Jeremiah, that the captivity would last for seventy 
 years only. We have to explain on this occasion the 
 meaning of " the evening and the morning," mentioned 
 in the original Hebrew of chap. viii. 14* This expression 
 is illustrated in Zechariah xiv. 7, '' And in the eventide 
 there shall be light." The prophet Daniel perceived in 
 this that the darkness of Israel's troubles would be 
 dispelled by the light of Salvation. See, in addition to 
 
 * It is singularly remarkable that these words, upon which the 
 prophet laid peculiar stress (see ibid, ver. 26), are omitted in the English 
 version.
 
 202 FAITH STRENGTHENED. 
 
 this Jeremiah xxx. 7, " And it is a time of trouble for 
 Jacob, and he shall be saved fron:i it." The reverse 
 state of destruction is depicted by gloom and darkness. 
 See Amos viii. 9, " And I shall darken the earth on a 
 day of light." 
 
 Chapter viii. ver. 13, 14 of Daniel, amply show that the 
 prophet laboured originally under the opinion that the 
 intended protraction of the captivity was owing to the 
 iniquity of the people, and that they would pine in the 
 state of banishment for two thousand three hundred days 
 (signifying years) ; therefore he prayed to God to remove 
 His wrath and anger. Neither did the angel of the 
 Lord acquaint him of the actual termination of the last 
 captivity. Daniel was only given to understand, that the 
 cessation of prophecy would extend to the whole length of 
 time necessary for the expiation of the sins of his people, 
 for then would be fulfilled the prediction mentioned 
 at the close of Lamentations iv. 22, " Thy iniquity, 
 daughter of Zion, is ended ; He shall no more cause thee 
 to be led into captivity." Regarding the last exile of 
 Israel, the prophet Ezekiel has recorded similar expres- 
 sions in his book (chap. xxii. lb, "And I will scatter thee 
 among the heathen, and disperse thee in the countries, 
 and will consume thy filthiness out of thee." The com- 
 plete restoration, which we expect during the latter days, 
 will be crowned v/ith " everlasting righteousness" (see 
 Daniel ix. 24). This is confirmed by the agreement of 
 many prophecies. See Isaiah li, 6, "And my salvation 
 shall be for ever, and my righteousness shall not be 
 abolished."' Jeremiah xxiii. 5, "And I will raise up 
 unto David a righteous scion, and a king shall reign and 
 prosper, and he shall do justice and righteousness in the 
 earth." Isaiah xi. 4, 5, "And he shall judge the poor 
 with righteousness, and righteousness shall be the girdle 
 of his loins." And at that time all Israel will be desig-
 
 FAITH STRENGTHENED. 203 
 
 nated by the term j-ighteous. See Isaiah Ix. 21, "And 
 thy people will altogether be righteous-'' Again, ibid, 
 chap. Ixi. 3, " And men shall call them oaks of righteous- 
 ness.'' The Psalmist likewise affords a testimony, since 
 we find in Psalm Ixxii. 7, "In his days the righteous 
 man shall flourish, Jerusalem will then be called, the 
 abode of righteousness, the holy mount." We shall 
 then say, in the words of Jeremiah (chap, xxiii. 6), '' The 
 Lord our righteousness." The Messiah himself, accord- 
 ing to the same prophet (chap, xxiii. 6), will assume the 
 title, " The Lord our righteousness," as we have already 
 shewn in Chapter XIX. of this work. 
 
 The words of Daniel (chap. ix. 24) may be taken in 
 the following sense : — " And vision [prophecy] shall be 
 sealed up," that is to say, it will be finally determined 
 and confirmed, for we find a repetition of the same 
 words with the same signification in Job xxiii. 16, 
 " And he sealed up the chastisement." It cannot, 
 therefore, be pretended that prophecy will then dis- 
 continue altogether, for we read in Joel ii. 2><, " And it 
 will come to pass afterwards that I shall pour out my 
 spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and your daughters 
 shall prophesy." The epoch of the restoration will thus 
 completely restore the forfeited boon of Prophecy. 
 
 We return now to the explanation of the conclusion 
 of verse 24, in Daniel ix. " And to anoint the Holy of 
 Holies," which means that at the restoration of Israel, 
 the Holy of Holies, or the Temple, will receive its 
 new consecration after having lain desolate during the 
 whole period of the captivity. An extensive description 
 of that solemnity is to be found in the prophecy of 
 Ezekiel, chapter xliii. 
 
 The seventy weeks spoken of in Daniel ix., are enig- 
 matic terms, conveying the various epochs of Israel's
 
 204 FAITH STRENGTHENED. 
 
 fate during their second occupation of the Holy Land 
 and their subsequent exile. The first epoch, designated 
 in chap. ix. verse 25, expressed by seven weeks, is 
 evidently in allusion to Cyrus; for it is said there, 
 " Know and understand that from the giving forth of 
 the word to restore and rebuild Jerusalem, until the 
 anointed prince there shall be seven weeks." Now, we 
 know well from the prophecy in Isaiah xlv. 6, that 
 Cyrus was called the anointed king, for we find there, 
 " Thus saith the Lord to his anointed king" (to Cyrus), 
 etc. ; and in the same chapter the Lord announces, " he 
 shall build my city and send back my captives." The 
 termination of sixty-two weeks is remarkable for the 
 cessation " of an anointed king,^^ that is to say, Israel is 
 according to that prophecy to be bereft of his last ruler. 
 " And there is none for him, there is no anointed ruler 
 for the people of Israel." The cessation of a ruler over 
 Israel is simultaneous with the fall of the Temple, and, 
 consequently, alluded to the conquest by Titus, when 
 Israel ceased to exist as a nation, and was deprived of 
 its Temple, its ruler, and its country. If the Christians 
 take an impartial view of this chapter Daniel, they 
 cannot possibly imagine that it alludes to Jesus, who 
 suffered on the cross nearly half a century before the 
 exile of Israel. 
 
 The contradictory remarks made by Christian exposi- 
 tors on this chapter, afford ample proof of the scanty 
 notions they have of its real signification. Scientific 
 readers who are anxious to obtain a view of all the con- 
 tradictions which beset the path of the Christian ex- 
 pounders of Daniel, will find an interesting account 
 given in Abarbanel's commentary on the book of Daniel, 
 which bears the title Mangne Hayeschungah (the 
 Fountains of Salvation).
 
 FAITH STRENGTHENED. 205 
 
 With this chapteT, we shall conclude the elucidation 
 of Scriptural passages cited by Christians in support of 
 their faith. 
 
 CHAPTER XLIII. 
 
 Some small portion of Christians have reproached the 
 Jews with the disbelief in the Apocryphal books; but 
 such persons have been confuted by scholars of their 
 own creed. The works comprised under the collective 
 title " Apocrypha," were composed at a late period after 
 the dispersion of Israel, when prophecy was totally ex- 
 tinct, and when inspiration no longer elevated the com- 
 positions of religious writers. The Apocrypha has, 
 therefore, no claim on our religious reverence. Some of 
 these books may have an historical foundation, others 
 are based on fiction and mere invention ; and the whole 
 of the Apocrypha was composed in the Greek language, 
 which language does not bear the stamp of authority in 
 the mind of the Jew; we may therefore dismiss this 
 subject without entering into further detail. 
 
 CHAPTER XLIV. 
 
 I OBSERVED to somc Christians, that after the advent of 
 the Messiah, there will be but one faith and one religion 
 throughout the world. See Isaiah xlv. 23, " I have 
 sworn by myself, the word is gone out of my mouth in 
 righteousness, and shall surely not be recalled, that 
 before me every knee shall bend, and by me every tongue 
 shall swear." Zephaniah iii. 9, " For then shall I turn 
 (restore) unto all the people a pure tongue, that they 
 shall call upon the name of the Lord, and serve him with
 
 206 FAITH STRENGTHENED. 
 
 one accord." The Christians themselves must admit that 
 there will take place a union of ftiith, since John acknow- 
 ledges in his Gospel, chap. x. 1 6, that there will be " One 
 shepherd and one flock." Now, since the doctrine of 
 unity of faith is admitted on all sides, it is not necessary 
 to argue which of the three principal creeds will prevail, 
 whether the Jewish, the Christian, or the Mahommedan ; 
 for surely if one of those is to be adopted, the other two 
 will of necessity fall. When we peruse the statements 
 of the prophets, we must undoubtedly acknowledge that 
 Israel's faith is intended to survive all others. See, for 
 instance, Isaiah lii. 1, " Awake, awake, put on thy 
 strength, Zion, put on the garments of thy glory, 
 for neither the un circumcised nor the unclean shall ever 
 enter again into thy gates." Scripture evidently desig- 
 nates the Christians by the name of uncircumcised^ and 
 the Mahommedans, in despite of their frequent ablutions, 
 deserve, in many respects, the epithet unclean. These 
 two sects are more especially pointed out in prophecy, 
 because they, as the representatives of Edom and Ish- 
 mael, have alternately held possession of Jerusalem since 
 its destruction by Titus. 
 
 From the time of the coming redemption, the prophet 
 declares that none of the uncircumcised and the unclean 
 shall ever again enter the gates of the Holy city. In the 
 same manner says the prophet (Joel iii. 17), " And Jeru- 
 salem shall be holy, and no stranger shall enter therein." 
 Respecting the same two nations, says the prophet Isaiah, 
 " They that sanctify themselves and purify themselves in 
 the gardens behind one in the midst of them, who eat the 
 flesh of swine and the abominations and the mice, they 
 shall perish together, saith the Lord." Those persons 
 who sanctify and purify themselves are obviously the 
 Ishmaelites, who defile themselves by the most licentious 
 indulo-ences. The reflective form of the Hebrew verb, 
 
 O 7
 
 FAITH STRENGTHENED. 207 
 
 as used in this quotatios., conveys the idea of pretension 
 and false claim, and in such a position are those of whom 
 the prophet says, they " sanctify and purify themselves." 
 The expression, "the eaters of swine's flesh and other abo- 
 minations," has allusion to the Christians, and their creed 
 will therefore perish during the wars of the latter times. 
 Concerning the people of Israel, however, Isaiah says, 
 chap. Ixvi. '30, " And they shall bring all your brethren 
 from all the Gentiles as an offering unto the Lord, on 
 horses and chariots, and in litters, and upon mules and 
 upon swift beasts, to my holy mount of Jerusalem, saith 
 the Lord, as the children of Israel bring an offering in 
 a holy vessel into the house of the Lord." The nations 
 surviving the wars of the latter times shall show honour 
 to the Israelites, and hasten to join the true service of 
 the Lord; hence the prophet says (chap. Ixvi. 23), "And 
 it shall come to pass, that from one new moon to the 
 other, and from one Sabbath to the other, all flesh shall 
 come to bow down before me, saith the Lord." In the 
 prophecy of Zechariah, we likewise find (chap. xiv. 16), 
 " And it shall come to pass, that all who have been 
 spared of all the Gentiles who come up against Jeru- 
 salem, shall come up from year to year to bow down 
 before the King, the Lord of Hosts, and to celebrate the 
 feast of Tabernacles." The prediction of a periodical 
 visit to Jerusalem by all the Gentiles, for the observance 
 of the festivals of the Lord, is an evident proof that they 
 are to be united with the ancient nation of Israel. With 
 this view the prophet Zechariah says (chap. viii. 23), 
 " Thus saith the Lord of Hosts, At that time ten men 
 from all the tongues of the Gentiles shall take hold of 
 the skirts of a man that is a Jew, saying. We will go 
 with you, for we have heard that God is with you." 
 The same prophet declares in another place (chap.ix.7), 
 " And I shall remove his guilt of blood from his mouth,
 
 208 FAITH STRENGTHENED. 
 
 and his abomination from beneath his teeth, and also he 
 shall be left unto our God." This proves that they will 
 abstain from eating unlawful food, like those who are 
 born Israelites. We have ah-eady dwelt on this point, 
 and refer the reader to Chapters XV. and XXXV. j 
 
 of this work. In order to prove the strength of our ■ 
 
 doctrine beyond any doubt, we have only to add the 
 clear prediction of the same prophet (Zechariah xiv. 9), 
 " And the Lord shall be king of the whole earth ; on 
 that day the Lord shall be one, and his name one." The 
 Lord Avill no longer be adored under the restricted title ; 
 
 of King of Israel, as he actually is described by Isaiah, i 
 
 who says (chap. xliv. 6), " Thus saith the Lord, the King ^ 
 
 of Israel and his Redeemer, the Lord of Hosts, I am the 
 first and I am the last, and besides me there is no other 
 God." And again, chap. xlv. 15, " Surely thou art the > 
 
 God who art hidden, the God of Israel, and his Deliverer." 
 In chap. liv. 6, that prophet informs us of the extension of I 
 
 the name of the God of Israel, to that of the God acknow- 
 ledged by all nations : he says, " For thy Maker is thy 
 Husband, the Lord of Hosts is his name, and thy Re- t 
 
 deemer is the Holy One of Israel, he shall be called the - 
 
 God of the whole earths The one God, and his one and 
 only law of Sinai, will be acknowledged by all the inha- 
 bitants of the earth ; no principle of Duality or of Trinity ^ 
 will then prevail. " All nations thou hast made will then 
 come," as the Psalmist exclaims (Ps. Ixxxvi. 9), "and : 
 bow down before Thee, and honour Thy name." And 
 as throughout the realms of the universe the Supreme 
 King of heaven will be acknowledged, so throughout all 
 the kingdoms of the earth will his anointed King, Messiah, 
 be the only worldly ruler. We shall have another op- 
 portunity of treating on the last-mentioned subject when 
 discussing, in the second part of this work, the merits of 
 the contents of the other chapters of the Gospel of John.
 
 FAITH STRENGTHENED. 209 
 
 We conclude this Chapter with the conviction that men 
 of understanding and reading, attentively considering 
 such passages as we have quoted, cannot any longer 
 conscientiously refuse their assent to our belief of the 
 future universal establishment of the Faith of Israel. 
 
 CHAPTER XLV. 
 
 I HAVE to set forth the following objection to the 
 Christian religion. If our Christian brethren are 
 sincerely anxious to separate truth from falsehood, they 
 ought to examine the passages of the Old Testament 
 quoted in the Gospel, and ascertain whether they are 
 really applicable or not. A brief survey of such topics 
 shows, that the quotations in the Gospel can never be 
 considered cogent or satisfactory. Whoever reads the 
 statement made by the prophets must at once grant, that 
 they never had it in contemplation to afford any clue or 
 even a preference for the admission of a change or abju- 
 ration of the Faith of Israel. Besides this, the authors 
 of the Gospel have occasionally garbled and perverted 
 the form as well as the sense of the original text, and 
 have thus based their erroneous opinion on an unstable 
 foundation. Even in matters relating to history, where 
 the fact has no relation to prediction and fnlfilment, 
 they have resorted to misrepresentation, which does not 
 argue in favour of the veracity of their faith, or of their 
 sound knowledge of the Scriptures. We shall examine 
 these discrepancies in the Second Part of this work,. 
 and will now only make a few cursory remarks on one 
 or two points. 
 
 Matthew, in the first chapter, (ver. 8) of his Book, says, 
 " And Joram begat Ozias." This is not to be found in 
 the Old Testament. In 1 Chronicles iii. ver. 11, we 
 
 p
 
 210 FAITH STRENGTHENED. 
 
 read the following genealogy : Joram his son, Ahaziah 
 his son, Joash his son, Jotham his son." Azariah, 
 father of Jotham, here mentioned, was Uzziah, men- 
 tioned elsewhere in our Scripture, consequently the 
 three generations of Ahaziah, Joash, and Amaziah, are 
 emitted in the Gospel of Matthew. The omission is not 
 caused by any oversight, but must have been intentional, 
 in order to reduce the generations to the like number as 
 those from Abraham to David, and thus to make both 
 series of genealogy appear to consist of fourteen gene- 
 rations. Nor is the enumeration of the third series of 
 fourteen generations during the Babylonian captivity, 
 and coming down to Jesus, anything but a mere inven- 
 tion, in order to lead to the opinion that the three 
 genealogical divisions ending in Jesus, were ordained 
 as a special manifestation from the Almighty. Equally 
 unsound is the tale of Matthew that Jesus was brought 
 forth bv a Vir^^in, in order to fulfil the words of 
 Isaiah vii. 14, '' Behold, the young woman [accord- 
 ing to the vulgate a virgin] shall conceive and shall 
 bear a son, and thou slialt call his name Emmanuel." 
 What connection with the birth of Jesus has the 
 address made by Isaiah to King Ahaz, in order to 
 remove his fear of the two hostile kings then threatening 
 Jerusalem? What comfort could it possibly have 
 afforded to Ahaz, and how could it have allayed his 
 terror, if the prophet, in proof of his divine mission, had 
 given him a sign which could notand was not to be realized 
 for more than five centuries after the death of the king? 
 A fair examination of the entire passage in Isaiah will 
 be found in Chapter XXL of this work. The same dis- 
 cordance between the word of Scripture and its appli- 
 cation in the New Testament, will be found in referring 
 to the following passage of Matthew ii. 14, 15, "And 
 he [Joseph] arose and took the young child and his
 
 FAITH STRENGTHENED. 211 
 
 mother by nigh^ and departed into Egypt. And he 
 was there until the death of Herod ; that it might be 
 fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, 
 saying, " Out of Egypt have I called my son." The 
 prophet alluded to in this portion of the gospel is 
 Hosea, who in reality says (in chap. xi. 1), " When 
 Israel was a youth I loved him, and from Egypt I called 
 my son." The fulfilment had not been delayed to the 
 times of Jesus, but had taken place in the days of Moses 
 when the Lord had told him (Exodus iv. 22, 23), 
 " And thou shalt say unto Pharaoli, Thus saith the I>ord. 
 Israel is my first-l)orn son ;" and again, " Send away 
 my son that he may serve me." What connection 
 between Prophecy and the New Testament can be dis- 
 covered in the following passage of St. Matthew? (chap. 
 ii. 16, 17, 18,) " And Herod sent forth and slew all the 
 children that were in Bethlehem from two years old and 
 under. Then was fulfilled that which was spoken by 
 Jeremiah the prophet, (chap. xxxi. 15), saying, Rachel 
 is weeping for her children, and would not be comforted 
 because they are not." Whoever roads the complete 
 passage delivered by Jeremiah, will soon perceive that 
 he speaks of the captives^ who, he says, ibid. ver. 16, 
 " Shall return from the land of the enemy." And sub- 
 sequently the prophet continues to say. (ibid. ver. 17), 
 "And the children shall return to their boundary." 
 It is thus quite evident, that Jeremiah is representing 
 the lamentations of an afilicted mother, who alludes to 
 the children who are living in captivity, and not those 
 who have been massacred by a tyrant : the ten tribes 
 being called by the name of Ephraim the descendants 
 of Rachel ; who was represented as a becoming 
 emblem of maternal grief for her unhappy children. 
 Moreover, if the prophet had intended to point out the 
 afiliction created by the massacre of the children in 
 
 r 2
 
 212 FAITH STRENGTHENED. 
 
 Bethlehem Judah, he would have selected Leah as the 
 representative of the wounded spirit of a bereaved 
 mother; for she and not Rachel was the female ancestor 
 of the inhabitants of Bethlehem.' Various other re- 
 marks on this passage have already been made in the 
 Chapter XXVIII. of this work. 
 
 In the same second chapter of j\Iatthew, ver. 23, we 
 read, " And he came and dwelt in the city called 
 Nazareth^ that it might be fufilled which was spoken by 
 the prophets, He shall be called a Nazarene." It is 
 quite certain that the writings of our prophets afford not 
 the slightest authority in support of this quotation. 
 
 In Matthew v. 43, Jesus is made to say, " Ye have 
 heard tliat it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neigh- 
 bour and hate thine enemy." Now we maintain that 
 the additional injunction of hating the enemy floAved 
 from the inventive mind of the author of the Gospel, 
 and that it is not to be found in any part of the Jewish 
 law. What we find in our law concerning the treat- 
 ment of our enemy, is conveyed in totally different 
 terms. See Exodus xxiii. 4, *' If thou meet thine 
 enemy's ox or his ass going astray, thou shalt surely 
 bring it back to him again. If thou seest the ass of 
 him that hateth thee lying under his burden and 
 wouldst forbear to help hira, thou shalt surely help 
 with him." Again, see Leviticus xix. 17, 18, "Thou 
 shalt not hate thy brother in thine heart, thou shalt in 
 anyAvise rebuke th}- neighbour, and not suffer sin upon 
 him. Thou shalt not avenge, nor bear any grudge 
 against the children of thy people, but thou shalt love 
 thy neighbour as thyself." The same precept is repro- 
 duced in Proverbs xxv. 21, "If thine enemy be hungiy, 
 give him bread to eat; and if he be thirsty, give him 
 water to drink." 
 
 In Matthew xxiii. 35, " Jesus reproaches the Jews for
 
 FAITH STRENGTHENED. 213 
 
 having slain Zacharius, son of Barachias, " between the 
 temple and the altar." In this reproach an insufficient 
 acquaintance with our Holy Books is shown, inasmuch 
 as it was Zachariah, the son of Jehoiada, the priest, who 
 was slain (see 2 Chronicles xxiv, 22). Some Christian 
 commentators endeavour to explain away this dis- 
 crepancy, asserting that the father of Barachias had two 
 names. But this is a clumsy subterfuge, for the priest 
 Zechariah, the son of Jehoiada, lived in the days of 
 Joash, king of Judah, while Zechariah, the son of 
 Berachiah, j)rophesied during the reign of Darius; 
 therefore several centuries intervened between the exist- 
 ence of the two men bearing the name Zechariah. 
 
 In Mark ii. 25, Jesus is made to say to the Pharisees, 
 " Have ye never read what David did when he had 
 need, and was an hungered, he and they that were with 
 him ? How he went into the house of God in the days 
 of Abiathar, the high-priest, and did eat the shew-bread, 
 which is not lawful but for the priest, and gave also to 
 them that were with him?" This author of the Gospel 
 likewise evinces an inattentive perusal of our Scriptures, 
 since David did not go to Abiathar, but he went to 
 Ahimelech, the father of Abiathar. See 1 Samuel xxi. 
 1, '' And David came to Nob, to Ahimelech the priest"; 
 and ibid., chap. xxii. 20, " And one of the sons of 
 Ahimelech, the son of Ahitub, named Abiathar, escaped 
 and ran after David." Nor did David come to Ahimelech 
 with his followers, as the above quotation from j\fark 
 would lead one to suppose. For Ahimelech asked David 
 (1 Samuel xxi. 1), "Why art thou alone, and no man 
 with thee?" In St. John xiii. 34, Jesus comnmnicates 
 to his disciples, " A new commandment I give unto you. 
 That ye love one another." This commandment is 
 decidedly not new. Moses laid it down in the words, 
 " Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself."
 
 2U FAITH STRENGTHENED. 
 
 In Acts vii. 4, is to be seen, " Then came he [Abra- 
 ham] out of the land of the Chaldeans and dwelt in 
 Haran, and from thence, when his father was dead, He 
 [God] removed him into the land wherein ye now 
 dwell." This is erroneous, for Abraham quitted Haran 
 durinoj his father's lifetime. And since Terah, the 
 father of Abraham, died in Haran at the age of 205 
 years, he must have resided there for sixty years after 
 the departure of Abraham The following statement 
 will prove this, according to the account given in 
 Genesis : — Terah was seventy years old when he begat 
 Abraham, and the latter, when seventy-five years old, 
 quitted his. father; and Terah having died at the age of 
 205 years, he must, therefore, have been still living for 
 sixty years after his son's departure. The order in 
 which the history of Terah and Abraham is given in 
 Genesis xi. and xii. has most probably led to the inac- 
 curacies we have pointed out. 
 
 In Paul's Epistle to the Romans ix. 24, the Gentiles 
 are declared to be on an equality with the Chosen People. 
 " Even us whom he hath called, not of the Jews only, 
 but also of the Gentiles." As he says also in Hosea, 
 " I will call them my people which were not my people, 
 and her beloved which was not beloved." Whoever 
 peruses the first and second chapters of Hosea will find 
 that Paul made use of the most tortuous means in order 
 to shew that the Gentiles are meant by that prophet. 
 So long as the people of Israel, through sin, forfeited 
 the favours of God, they were stigmatised by the desig- 
 nation " Loammi (no more my people), and Lo-ruchamah 
 (not received in mercy), but on returning to God, 
 the Judgment was, according to the prophet, to 
 be reversed, and they would bear the title ^^ Ammi" (my 
 people), and '^ Biichamah" {received in mercy). The 
 contents of Hosea's prophecy completely refute Paul's 
 attempt to assimilate the Gentiles with the Jews.
 
 FAITH STRENGTHENED. 215 
 
 In the same fTiiith chapter of Paul (ver. 33), a quo- 
 tation from Isaiah is inserted, " Behold I lay in Zion a 
 stumbling-stone and rock of offence, and whosoever 
 believeth on him shall not be ashamed." This quotation 
 is a mere fabrication of the author. In Isaiah viii. 14, 
 we find only, " And he shall be for a sanctuary, and for 
 a stone of stumbling and for a rock of offence to both 
 houses of Israel ; for a gin and for a snare to the inha- 
 bitants of Jerusalem." In chapter xxviii. 16 of the 
 same prophet, we read, " Therefore, thus saith the Lord 
 God, Behold I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone of 
 trial, a precious corner-stone, which shall be well 
 founded, yea, securely founded; he that believeth shall 
 not hasten from it." Paul thus combines various distinct 
 passages to make them serve his own views. 
 
 In chap. X. 11 of Paul's Epistle to the Romans, and 
 1 Peter ii. 6, an inaccurate version of the above is given, 
 " He that believeth on him shall not be ashamed" (or 
 confounded). Scripture thus mutilated can certainly 
 not uphold the fabric of human faith. Again, Paul 
 says, in Rom. x. 6, 7, " Say not in thine heart, Who 
 shall ascend into heaven ? (that is, to bring Christ down 
 from above); or who shall descend into the deep? (that 
 is, to bring up Christ again from the dead). But what 
 saith it? The word is nigh thee; even in thy mouth 
 and in thy heart : that is the word of faith wliich we 
 preach." The words separated by Paul from their con- 
 text, allude to the Divine promise contained in Deute- 
 ronomy XXX. 3, *' God will turn the captivity of Israel, 
 and replace all evils with blessings," ver. 2, "if thou wilt 
 turn to the Lord with all thy heart and with all thy soul." 
 " For this commandment or precept which I conunand 
 thee this day is not hidden from thee, neitlier is it far oft\ 
 It is not in heaven that thou shouldst say. Who shall go 
 up for us to heaven and bring it unto us, that we may hear 
 it and do it." Ibid. H, 12, The grace of the Almighty
 
 216 FAITH STRENGTHENED. 
 
 here points out to us the magnitude of the duty of 
 repentance, and the ease of accomplishing it. Commonly, 
 the value of worldly advantages is estimated according 
 to the difficulty of obtaining them. But the precious- 
 ness of repentance consists in the means which the 
 Almighty has placed within our reach; and therefore 
 the subject closes with the terms, ibid. ver. 14, " but the 
 thing is very nigh unto thee. It is in thy heart and in 
 thy mouth, that thou mayst do it." 
 
 In the Epistle to the Hebrews, x. 5, Paul quotes the 
 following words from our Scriptures : — " Sacrifice and 
 offering thou wouldst not, but a body thou hast prepared 
 me." The true passage, occurring in Psalm xl., is, 
 however, thus worded : " Sacrifice and offering thou 
 didst not desire, mine ears hast thou opened," etc. The 
 Psalmist touched here only on the subject of obedience 
 as agreeing with the announcement made by Moses 
 previously to the delivery of the Decalogue. See 
 Exod. xix. 5, where it is said, " And it shall come to 
 pass, if ye diligently hearken unto my commandments 
 and keep my covenant, that ye shall be unto me a dis- 
 tinct people from among all nations, fiDr mine is the 
 earth." The matter is further developed by Jeremiah, 
 who says in his book, chap. vii. 22, 23, " For I spoke 
 not unto your ancestors, and I commanded not unto 
 them concerning the burnt-offering and sacrifices; but 
 this I commanded them, saying, Hearken unto my voice." 
 Again, in 1 Samuel xv. 22, obedience is enforced in pre- 
 ference to sacrifice, " Hath the Lord as great delight in 
 burnt-offerings and sacrifices as in obeying the voice of 
 the Lord ? Behold, obedience is better than sacrifice, to 
 attend unto him is better than the fat of rams." We 
 thus see that sacrifices were not ordained for their 
 intrinsic value, but were intended to lead sinners into 
 the temple, where they might meditate on the mercy 
 of God while performing the prescribed offering. Sacri-
 
 FAITH STRENGTHENED. 217 
 
 fices conscquently^produced the same sanctifying effect 
 on the mind, as healing medicines do on the body. We 
 have here selected only a few Scriptural passages from 
 those incorrectly cited in the New Testament, but will 
 resume the subject more minutely in the Second Part 
 of this work. 
 
 Many Christian commentators have lost their wa}^, 
 while attempting to reconcile those inconsistencies whicli 
 we perceive in the New Testament, and they have found 
 it necessary to assert, that it is not right to argue on 
 those dubious matters. If that principle be true, it 
 certainly would be better if the Jews were left un- 
 molested by the assailants of their ancient religion, and 
 if they were left free from the obtrusion of doctrines 
 which interest neither faith nor reason. 
 
 CHAPTER XLVI. 
 
 There is a striking instance of the fulfilment of pro- 
 phetic warnings exhibited in the chastisement inflicted 
 on the Gentiles, who relentlessly persecuted the Jews. 
 There has never yet been a ruler exercising tyranny 
 over the Jewish people who escaped with impunity. 
 For although the Almighty deems it proper to visit 
 Israel's transgressions, He does not suffer mortal man 
 to act arbitrarily and fiendishly, where he is employed 
 as the instrument of Divine Providence. Thus Pharaoh, 
 Sennacherib, Nebuchadnezzar, Haman, and other per- 
 secutors of the Jews, met with the retribution suited to 
 their excesses, notwithstanding the calamities of exile 
 falling upon the Israelites for their continuance in sin. 
 They had not forfeited the title of God's people and His 
 heritage, and He never disowned them so far as to 
 destroy them totally; for the sole object of His cor- 
 rections was to bring them back from their ini(|uitous
 
 218 FAITH STRENGTHENED. 
 
 conduct. And because He never rent asunder the tie of 
 the covenant made with their fathers, He is in all parts 
 of Scripture mentioned as their God. This is illustrated 
 by the following quotation: — Leviticus xxvi. 44, " And 
 even this I will do, when they shall be in the land of 
 their enemies, I will neither despise nor loathe them so 
 as to consume them, and to break my covenant with 
 them, for I am the Lord their God." In their own 
 country they committed sins arising from their pros- 
 perity and affluence, their punishment was, therefore, 
 adjusted to their evil ways. The loss of the " goodly 
 land," and the degradation from an independent to a 
 dependent state, and from riches to poverty, were the 
 chastisements proportioned to their withdrawal from 
 the ways of God. In this respect, they shared the fate 
 of a king's minister who has fallen into disgrace with 
 his sovereign ; even after his estate has been confiscated, 
 he still remains a subject of his master, and in lowering 
 him the king merely exercises his royal prerogative. 
 Should now a stranger undertake to cast further 
 humiliation upon the fallen courtier, will not his master 
 direct his displeasure and vengeance upon him who 
 tramples on the fallen man? History has, indeed, amply 
 shewn that in the very same countries in which the Jew 
 suffered persecution for his faith, the persecutors soon 
 engaged in sanguinary conflicts among themselves under 
 various pretexts. After the expulsion of the Jews from 
 England, France, Spain, and Germany, unheard of 
 cruelties ensued, the description of which excites the 
 utmost horror in every breast, while, on the other hand, 
 the countries in which the Jew was left unmolested, 
 bore the most undeniable proofs of civilization, and 
 obtained by providential retribution the enjoyment of 
 prosperity. This state of quietude will ever remain 
 uninterrupted wherever toleration prevails, although new 
 sects may start u[) in defiance of newly established creeds.
 
 FAITH STRENGTHENED. 219 
 
 This opinion is founded on our own experience as well 
 as on the following Scripture testimonies : — See Deute- 
 ronomy vii. 15, " And the Lord shall remove from thee 
 every sickness and all the evil diseases of the Egyptians ; 
 He shall not put them upon thee, but give them upon 
 thine enemies." Ibid. chap. xxx. 7, " And the Lord thy 
 God shall put all these oaths upon thine enemies and 
 upon thy haters who have persecuted thee." See also 
 Isaiah xli. 11, 12, " Behold all those who were incensed 
 against thee shall be ashamed and confounded ; they 
 shall be as nothing, and they that strive with thee shall 
 perish. Thou shalt seek them and not find them. 
 Even them that contended with thee; they that war 
 against thee, shall be as nothing, and as a thing of 
 nought." Ibid. chap, xlvii. 5, 6, " Sit thou silent and get 
 thee into darkness, daughter of the Chaldeans; for 
 thou shalt no more be called the Lady of Kingdoms. 
 I was wrath with my people, I have polluted mine 
 inheritance, and given them into thine hand. Thou 
 didst shew them no mercy : upon the ancient thou hast 
 very heavily laid the yoke." Ibid.chapt xlix. 26, "And 
 I will feed them that oppress thee with their own flesh, 
 and they shall be drunken with their own blood as with 
 sweet wine, and all flesh shall know that I the Lord 
 am thy Saviour and thy Redeemer, the mighty one of 
 Jacob." 
 
 See also Jeremiah ii. 3, " Israel is holiness unto the 
 Lord and the first fruits of his increase; all that devour 
 him shall off*end ; evil shall come upon them, saith the 
 Lord." 
 
 Ibid. xxx. 16, " Therefore all they that devour thee 
 shall be devoured; and all thy adversaries every one of 
 them shall go into captivity, and they that spoil thee 
 shall be a spoil, and all that })rey upon thee, will I give 
 for a prey." Joel iii. 2, " I will gather all nations, and 
 bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat, and will
 
 220 FAITH STRENGTHENED 
 
 plead with them there for my people and for my 
 heritage Israel, whom they have scattered among the 
 nations, and divided my land." The same prophet says, 
 at the conclusion of his book, chap. iii. 19, "Egypt 
 shall be a desolation, and Edom shall be a desolate 
 wilderness, for their violence against the children of 
 Judah, because they have shed innocent blood in their 
 land." Obadiah, in his prophecy (ver. 10), says, " For 
 the violence against thy brother Jacob, shame shall 
 cover thee, and thou shalt be cut off for ever." See 
 also the remaining part of this prophecy. Zephaniah 
 ii. 9^ 10, " Therefore as I live, saith the Lord of hosts, the 
 God of Israel; surely Moab shall be as Sodom, and the 
 children of Amnion as Gomorrah, even as the breeding 
 of nettles, and salt pits, and a perpetual desolation ; the 
 residue of my people shall spoil them, and all the 
 remnant of ray people shall possess them. This they 
 shall have for their pride, because they have reproached 
 my people and magnified themselves." And at the 
 conclusion of the book, the prophet says (iii. 19), 
 " Behold at that time I will undo all that afflict thee ; 
 and I will save her that halteth and gather her that 
 was driven out, and I will set them as praise and fame 
 in every land where they have been put to shame." 
 Zechariah i. 15, "I am very sore displeased with the 
 nations that are at ease; for I was but little displeased, 
 and they helped forward the affliction." Ibid. ii. 8 and 
 9, " For thus saith the Lord of hosts, after the glory 
 hath he sent me unto the nations which have spoiled 
 you ; for he that touch eth you touclieth the apple of his 
 eye. For, behold, I will turn my hand upon them, and 
 they shall be a spoil unto their own servants, and ye 
 shall know that the Lord of hosts hath sent me." See 
 also Psalm Ixxxiii. 1, commencing " O God, keep not 
 thou silence." Chapters xxv., xxvi., xxxv., and that
 
 FAITH STRENGTHENED. 221 
 
 portion of xxxvi.,*to verse 16, of the book of Ezekiel, 
 afford further elucidation on the subject. 
 
 CHAPTER XLVII. 
 
 The following argument may be raised against the 
 Christians who oppose Judaism. They either believe 
 that the Jews tormented and crucified Jesus with his 
 will or against his will. If with his will, then the Jews 
 had ample sanction for what they did, and could in that 
 case only have merited the Divine approbation, acting 
 as they then did in conformity with the ejaculation of 
 David in Psalm xl. 8, " I have been desirous to perform 
 Thy will;" and Psalm cxliii. 10, " Teach me to perform 
 Thy will." The Jews must also have followed the 
 admonition of Ezra x. 11, "And now give ye thanks 
 unto the Lord the God of your fathers, and execute his 
 desire." In addition to this we must ask, that if Jesus 
 was really -willing to meet such a fate, what cause was 
 there for complaint or affliction? And why did he pray 
 in the manner narrated in Matthew xxvi. 39, " And he 
 [Jesus], went a little further and fell on his face and 
 prayed, saying, my Father, if it be possible let 
 this cup pass from me, nevertheless not as I will but as 
 thou wilt." After Jesus had been fixed to the cross he 
 gave evident proof of his non-identity with the Deity 
 by exclaiming, " My God ! my God ! why hast thou 
 forsaken me?" This argues that the will of God was 
 different from that of Jesus, and that he bore no closer 
 relation to the Creator than belongs to every other 
 mortal. 
 
 We will now proceed to the other alternative, and 
 suppose that the crucifixion of Jesus was done against 
 his will. In this case the question arises. How could he 
 be designated a God while he was incapable of resisting
 
 222 FAITH STRENGTHENED. 
 
 the power of those who brought him to the cross, and 
 how could he be held as the Saviour of all mankind who 
 could not save his own life ? 
 
 The adoration paid to Jesus after his death recalls 
 to our mind the passage in Ezekiel xxviii. 9, " Wilt 
 thou say before him that slayeth thee, I am God ; but 
 thou art a man and not a God in the hand that slayeth 
 thee." 
 
 CHAPTER XLVIII. 
 
 We would submit to discussion the question whether 
 the Christians have any foundation for the belief that 
 Jesus wrouo^ht his beneficial works for the salvation of 
 the souls of his believers, and through his sufferings and 
 his blood, he saved the followers of his creed from 
 everlasting perdition in hell ? If that were the case, 
 the Christians would be dispensed from doing good 
 actions, and be irresponsible for evil deeds. A passage 
 occurring in St. Paul's First Epistle to the Corinthians 
 (chap. vi. 9,) will moreover show that the fall of Jesus 
 was only of advantage to the upright, but not to sinners. 
 " Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit 
 the kingdom of God." Of this we find a detailed 
 explanation in the subsequent verses. Now, if sinners 
 devoid of merit cannot be saved, why should the 
 righteous who have merits require any intercession in 
 order to obtain the Divine favour? It would appear 
 then that the death of Jesus serves neither for the 
 salvation of the sinner, nor for the salvation of the 
 righteous. 
 
 Should the Christians argue that the death of Jesus 
 was intended only to rescue from hell the souls of those 
 who were involved in the sin of Adam, then we would 
 refer back to the pages wherein we have fully proved
 
 FAITH STRENGTHENED. 223 
 
 that the prophet^^nd the pious could not reasonably, 
 and according to Scriptural evidence, incur damnation 
 on account of the fall of Adam. 
 
 CHAPTER XLIX. 
 
 An extraordinary degree of inconsistency presents itself 
 in numerous points, when we compare the doctrine of 
 the Christians with the teachings of Jesus and his 
 Apostles. 
 
 ]n the first place, we find that Jesus does not, in any 
 part of the New Testament, call himself " God^'' but 
 continually calls himself ''^ Man^''^ or " the Son of Many 
 The title of Divinity attributed to Jesus is consequently 
 conferred upon him without the sanction of that Book, 
 the authority of which can alone be of value to the 
 Christians. 
 
 In the second place, we notice that Jesus expresses 
 himself, in various places, that he did not come to 
 abolish the law of Moses, but to uphold it. Thus we 
 read in Matthew v. 17, 18, " Think not that I am come 
 to destroy the law or the prophets : I am not come to 
 destroy, but to fulfil : for verily I say unto you, till 
 heaven and earth pass, one jot, or one tittle, sliall in no 
 wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled." In a similar 
 manner, we find in Luke xvi. 17, "And it is easier for 
 heaven and earth to pass, than one tittle of the law to 
 fail." Nevertheless, the Christians persist in believing 
 that the Mosaic dispensation is no longer in force, but 
 has been superseded by that of Jesus. 
 
 In the third place, we observe, from the words of 
 Jesus, that he thought everlasting bliss depended on 
 obedience to the holy laws of Moses, for Avhen asked by 
 the rich man, what he was to do in order to earn beati- 
 tude in life everlasting, Jesus answered (Matthew
 
 224 FAITH STRENGTHENED. 
 
 xix. 17, 18, " If thou wilt enter into life, keep the 
 commandments. The rich man said unto hira, Which 
 commandment? Jesus answered, Thou shalt do no 
 murder; thou shalt not commit adultery; thou shalt not 
 steal; thou shalt not bear false witness ; honour thy father 
 and thy mother; and thou shalt love thy neighbour as 
 thyself." The Christian of our day adds, that the sole 
 condition on which life eternal depends, is the belief in 
 Jesus as the Saviour of the soul. Jesus moreover taught 
 the young man " If thou be perfect, go and sell that 
 thou hast, and give to the poor." This precept we have 
 never yet seen performed by any Christian. 
 
 In the fourth place, we do not anywhere find the 
 Christian who submits to the humiliation enjoined by 
 Jesus on his disciples, when he said (Luke vi. 29) " And 
 unto him that smiteth thee on the one cheek, offer also 
 the other; and him that taketh away thy cloak^ forbid 
 not to take thy coat also," etc. 
 
 In the fifth place, we have to point out that, while 
 the Christians believe that Mary, after having given 
 birth to Jesus, still remained a virgin, Jesus himself 
 was not of that opinion; for, according to John ii. 4, 
 he said, " Woman, what have I to do with thee"? 
 
 In the sixth place, we find the Christians at variance, 
 not only differing from the Mosaic, or rather Noachic 
 prohibition of eating blood, but even from the injunc- 
 tion we read in Acts xv. 20, "But that we write unto 
 them ijthat they abstain from poHutions of idols, and 
 from fornication, and from things strangled, and from 
 blood." See also ibid. xv. 29 and xxi. 25. 
 
 CHAPTER L. 
 
 We would ask the Christians who take the New Testa- 
 ment as a substitute for the Mosaic law, how they
 
 FAITH STRENGTHENED. 225 
 
 could venture to add, or diminish from the doctrines 
 set forth in that law, seeing that the most severe de- 
 nunciations are pronounced against him, who would 
 dare either to add to, or omit the doctrines contained 
 therein. 
 
 As points of addition, we must consider — First, 
 The dogma of the Trinity. The New Testament itself 
 furnishes us only with proofs against the existence of 
 a Trinity, as w^e have already shown in the tenth chapter 
 of this book. 
 
 Secondly, We do not learn from the New Testament 
 that Jesus called himself God, or that he arrogated to 
 himself the unbounded power of the Almighty. 
 
 Thirdly, We have to ask those members of Christianity 
 who worship images, how they could introduce a worship 
 which runs counter to the stringent prohibitions of 
 Jesus regarding this matter? For lie proliibited his 
 disciples from tasting the very flesh of animals sa- 
 crificed in honour of images. The defence attempted 
 by those who bow to images is perfectly untenable. 
 They allege that the images merely recall to mind 
 the memory of holy men and women, ;iiid that they 
 do not pay adoration to their inanimate representa- 
 tions. They, however, cannot deny that the form is 
 polytheistic, and that, in their estimation, their bowing 
 and prostration, and praying before those figures of 
 saints, imparts a Divine character to those images. 
 
 Fourthly, The Christians, in visiting upon the Jews 
 the death of Jesus, are acting against his expressed 
 opinion ; for, according to Luke xxiii. 34, Jesus said, 
 " Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do." 
 
 The wide scope to cruelty which has been given by the 
 assumption of the right of avenging the death of Jesus 
 on the Jews, has been sadly demonstrated in the con- 
 duct of the worst of men, who have heaped upon the 
 
 Q
 
 226 FAITH STRENGTHENED. 
 
 inoffensive false accusations and acts of violence. As to 
 the Christians' omission of acts enjomed by Jesus, we 
 will point out — 
 
 First, The non-adoption by Christians of the precept 
 to sell their property, and distribute among the poor the 
 money thus realized: Matthew xix. 16, and Luke xviii. 
 22. No Christian, according to our knowledge, ever 
 acquiesces in this mode of doing charity. 
 
 Secondly, The Christians do not practise the following 
 admonition, contained in Luke vi. 35, '' Love ye your 
 enemies, and do good, and lend, and hope for nothing 
 again;" and Matthew v. 44, "Love your enemies, bless 
 them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, 
 and pray for them who despitefully use you and perse- 
 cute you." 
 
 Thirdly, The Christians have, without authority, 
 abolished the law, repeated in the New Testament^ that 
 they should abstain from eating blood and the flesh of 
 the strangled, as we have shewn in the preceding chapter, 
 by citing Acts xv. 29, and xxi. 25. 
 
 If Christians thus evade well-defined doctrines of the 
 New Testament, they cannot cast any reproach on the 
 Jew, who, from conscientious motives, refuses adherence 
 to the new doctrines of the Christian religion. 
 
 Thus we have fairly established our objections to 
 Christianity in the various arguments adduced in the 
 preceding chapters, wherein we have refuted the attacks 
 made by Christians upon the Jewish faith. 
 
 Let not the reader blame us for having occasionally 
 made repetitions. Our desire has by no means been to 
 swell the volume, but merely to render our arguments 
 more clenr and effective. 
 
 End or the First Part.
 
 FAITH STRENGTHENED. 227 
 
 SECOND PART. 
 
 BEING A REFUTATION OF STATEMENTS CONTAINED IN THE 
 NEW TESTAMENT. THE VERSION OF THE NEW TESTAMENT 
 USED BY THE AUTHOR WAS THAT MADE BY SIMON BUDNJ, 
 PUBLISHED IN 1572, WHOSE VERSION IS CONSIDERED THE 
 MOST AUTHENTIC. 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 It is notorious, that, in no part of the New Testament 
 do we find that Jesus intended to pass as the author of 
 a New law; but, on the contrary, that he admitted the 
 perpetual duration of the Mosaic Law, as we have shewn 
 in the 19th, 20th, 24rh, 29th, and 30th chapters of the 
 First Part of this work. Besides, it is ascertained, that 
 the New Testament was composed many years after Jesus. 
 It has been averred even by Jerome, in his Latin version 
 of the New Testament, that Mark and Lukewrote merely 
 from hearsay. Jerome seems to have thereby indirectly 
 acknowledged the Apocryphal character of those com- 
 positions, and admitted the true origin of the incon- 
 gruities and contradictions which occur in various parts 
 of those books. We must also direct the attention of 
 the reader to the incorrect manner in wliich portions of 
 our prophets are quoted and explained therein. Very 
 frequently the words of our Scripture are there actually 
 changed and perverted from their true signification. 
 In fact, after a careful perusal of the Chi-istian Cjuion 
 of faith, we have been impressed witli the conviction 
 
 q2
 
 228 FAITH STRENGTHENED. 
 
 that the authors of the New Testament have overlooked 
 either intentionally or unintentionally, the real meaning 
 and bearing of our original Sacred writings. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Matthew i. contains an account of the genealogy of 
 Jesus, and traces back the descent of Joseph, the hus- 
 band of ]\lary, to Solomon son of David. The enume- 
 ration of his ancestors terminates thus (ver. 15, 16, 17), 
 " And Eliud begat Eleazar. and Eleazar begat Matthan, 
 and Matthan begat Jacob, and Jacob begat Joseph, the 
 husband of Marv, of whom was born Jesus, who is 
 called Christ. So all the generations from Abraham to 
 David are fourteen generations, and from David until the 
 carrying away into Babylon are fourteen generations, 
 and from the cariying away into Babylon unto Christ 
 are fourteen generations." 
 
 Tn Luke iii. 23, 24, however, the genealogy of Jesus 
 differs from that given by Matthew; for he assigns the 
 descent of Joseph, the husband of Mary, to Nathan the 
 son of David. The parentage of Jesus is there 
 described as follows : " And Jesus was the son of 
 Joseph, which was the son of Heli, which was the son of 
 Matthat, which was the son of Eevi, which was the son 
 of Melchi, etc., etc. Thus while, according to Matthew, 
 there are forty-two generations, reckoning back to 
 Abraham, there are twenty-six according to the names 
 mentioned in Luke. Besides this, the list of names given 
 in Matthew is not calculated to afford a correct know- 
 ledge of the descendants of David, for three generations, 
 Ahaziah, Jaos^ and Amaziah, are omitted, and Uzziah 
 is ropresented to be the son of Joram. See the correct 
 genealogy in 1 Chron. iii., and in the historical part of 
 the Second Book of Chronicles beginning at chapter xxii. 
 etc.
 
 FAITH STRENGTHENED. 229 
 
 It appears that the omission of three generations 
 of kings was done advisedly, in order to make out 
 Matthew's three series of fourteen generations. How- 
 ever, after all, it must be owned, that contradictory 
 accounts of the generations have no reference to Jesus, 
 but only to Joseph. For, as Mary is stated to have 
 remained a virgin, even after her marriage with Joseph, 
 we do not see the use of putting forth a long string 
 of names which had no relation to the founder of the 
 Christian religion. 
 
 This perplexing matter has not escaped the enquiry 
 of Christian scholars, and they meet it by asserting that 
 Luke does not contradict the account of Matthew, but 
 mentions the same Kings under different names, in the 
 same manner as Solomon is called Uzziah, Azariah, and 
 Jehoiachin. This defence is not admissible, as Luke 
 mentions Nathan, the brother of Solomon, as the 
 ancestor of Jesus ; it cannot, therefore, be supposed that 
 Solomon bore the name of Nathan. We further observe, 
 that Matthew reckons eighteen generations, and Luke 
 twenty-three, from David to Zerubbabel. Again, from 
 Abraham to Jesus, Matthew makes out forty-two, and 
 Luke forty generations. This cannot be reasoned 
 away but by taking various names as the designation of 
 the same person. Besides, we find in our Scriptures 
 only two or three of those contained in the list of the 
 ancestors of Jesus who had several names. And as to 
 those men who lived between Abraham and David, not 
 one is represented in our Sacred Writings as having 
 possessed two names, so that the contradictory enume- 
 rations in the New Testament still remain unreconciled. 
 Some scholars have contrived to offer another palliation 
 of the suspicious account. They say Matthew alone 
 gave the ancestral origin of Joseph, but that Luke 
 stated that of Mary, who was also of the seed of David
 
 230 FAITH STRENGTHENED. 
 
 by his son Nathan, and that Mary's origin was mixed 
 up with that of her husband, because man and wife 
 are one flesh. Such apologies are frustrated by the 
 very words of Luke (chap, iii.), who speaks expressly of 
 Joseph to show that through him the royal ancestry 
 of Jesus was established. Those who assert that Jesus 
 took his pedigree from his mother, only ought to find 
 in the genealogy of Jesus the son of Mary, the son of 
 Heli, the son of Matthew, etc. ; thus all suspicion of ei'ror 
 would have been obviated. Those who make an at- 
 tempt to defend their position by quoting " Man and 
 wife are of one flesh," should recollect that this expres- 
 sion has reference only to their conjugal fidelity and 
 afi^ection, but not to their descent. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 Matthew i. 22 and 23, sets forth that Jesus was born 
 of a virgin, in order that it might be fulfilled which 
 was spoken by the prophet, " Behold, a virgin shall be 
 with child and shall bring forth a son, and they shall 
 call his name Emmanuel." 
 
 The reader will remember, from the First Part of this 
 work that we have had frequent occasion to speak of 
 the method employed in the New Testament and other 
 Christian works, of citing from our Scriptures certain 
 passages, which, on careful examination, have no refer- 
 ence whatever to the immediate subject. Thus they 
 quote also the passage from Isaiah vii. 1-1, "Behold 
 nibSyn " (meaning the young woman and not virgin) 
 " is with child, and about to bring forth a son." The 
 prophecy was given to Ahaz, King of Judah, in order 
 to aUay his apprehensions regarding the two kings who 
 were to come to carry on war against Jerusalem.
 
 FAITH STRENGTHENED. 231 
 
 What connectioii^^could there subsist between a sign 
 necessary to convince the King of Jerusalem, and 
 the event of the birth of Jesus which happened so 
 many centuries after ? How could Ahaz receive conso- 
 lation from prophecy, the fulfilment of which he was not 
 to live to see? 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 Matthew i. concludes with these words concerning 
 Joseph, the husband of Mary; "And [he] knew her 
 not until she had brought forth her first-born son, and 
 he called his name Jesus." The wording of this passage 
 shows, in the first place, that after she had brought 
 forth "her first-born son" Joseph did " know her;" and 
 secondly, the appellation of Jesus the " first-born son," 
 proves that the same mother bore more children than 
 one, otherwise the term first-horn could not be applicable. 
 This harmonizes well with Matthew xiii. 55, where 
 Jesus, "the carpenter's son," is mentioned together with 
 his brother "James, and Joses, and Simon, and Judas." 
 This passage is an incontrovertible contradiction of the 
 opinion of those who consider Mary to have been a vir- 
 gin before and after she had given birth to Jesus. 
 
 The English version of Matthew i. 23, has, ''^ And they 
 shall call his name Emmanuel ;" but in the Hebrew origi- 
 nal, we have nx^pl " (^nd she shall call.'' 
 
 It is also a striking fact that the name Emmanuel was 
 not given to Jesus by the virgin. Nor do we find that 
 the Emmanuel mentioned in Isaiah was ever to be con- 
 sidered the Messiah.
 
 232 FAITH STRENGTHENED. 
 
 * 
 
 1, 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 Matthew ii. 14 and 15, " When he [Joseph] arose, he 
 took the young child and his mother by night and 
 departed into Egypt; and was there until the death 
 of Herod, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken 
 by the prophet, saying, Out of Egypt have I called 
 my son." 
 
 The misapplication of the evidence taken from Hosea 
 xi. 1, is perfectly obvious. He speaks of the chosen 
 people delivered from bondage. He says, " When 
 Israel was young I did love it ; and* out of Egypt I 
 called my son." This allusion to the pristine state of 
 Israel fully agrees with the message Moses gave to 
 Pharaoh. Exod. iv. 22 and 23, " Thus saith the Lord, 
 Israel is my first-born son, and I have said unto thee, 
 Send away my son that he may serve me." 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 Matthew ii. 16, 17, " And Herod sent forth and slew 
 all the children that were born in Bethlehem, and in all 
 the coasts thereof, from two years old and under. Then 
 was fulfilled that which was spoken by Jeremiah the 
 prophet, chap. xxxi. 15, saying, "Rachel [was] weeping 
 for her children, and would not be comforted because 
 they are not." 
 
 The construction of these words of the prophet is 
 incompatible with what follows. For we read in the 
 same chapter of Jeremiah, ver. 17, "And the children 
 shall return to their boundaries." This cannot mean 
 slain, but only captive, children. The ten tribes are 
 here alluded to as the captives who are mentioned under
 
 FAITH STRENGTHENED. 233 
 
 the collected name Ephraim^ because their first king 
 Jeroboam was of the tribe of Ephraira, the descendant 
 of Rachel. Had Jeremiah's prophecy had any connec- 
 tion Avith the extermination of the infants of Bethlehem 
 Judah, it would not have been for Rachel to weep, but 
 for Leah, the ancestress of the children of Judah. See 
 chapter xxviii. of Matthew. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 Matthew ii. 23, " And he came and dwelt in a city 
 called Nazareth, that it might be fulfilled which was 
 spoken by the prophets. He shall be called a Nazarene." 
 This quotation has been falsely made, and is not to be 
 found in any part of our prophetic writings; which 
 subject has been more fully treated of in the former 
 part of this work. See Chapter xxiii. of First Part. 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 Mat'IHEW iv. 1 — 11, " Then was Jesus led up of the 
 Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the Devil. 
 And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, 
 he was afterwards an hungered. And when the 
 tempter came to him he said. If thou be the Son of 
 God, command that these stones be made bread. But 
 he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live 
 by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out 
 of the mouth of God. Then the Devil taketh him into 
 the Holy City, and setteth him on a pinnacle of the 
 Temple, and saith to him, If thou be the Son of God, 
 cast thyself down : for it is written, He shall give His 
 angels charge concerning Thee ; and in their hands they
 
 234 FAITH STRENGTHENED. 
 
 shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot 
 against a stone. Jesus saith unto him, It is written 
 again, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God. Again, 
 the Devil taketh him up into an exceeding high 
 mountain, and sheweth him all the kingdoms of the 
 world, and the glory of them, and saith unto him, All 
 these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and 
 worship me. Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee 
 hence, Satan ; for it is written. Thou shalt worship the 
 Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve." 
 
 The same subject occurs in Luke iv. The reader must 
 certainly perceive by this narrative that the Jesus 
 tempted by Satan, is not intended to pass for a God 
 incarnate. For can any man, in his sound senses, sup- 
 pose that Satan would have presumed to tempt one 
 whom he knew to be a God ; or can it be imagined that 
 he would have dared, as a creature, to lead him away 
 by force against his will ? Reason recoils from such a 
 belief. 
 
 CHAPTER VIIL 
 
 Matthew iv. 13 — 15, "And leaving Nazareth, he [JesusJ 
 came and dwelt in Capernaum, which is upon the sea 
 coast, in the borders of Zebulon and Naphtali. That 
 it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias the 
 prophet, saying, The land of Zebulon and the land of 
 Naphtali, by the way of the sea beyond Jordan, 
 Galilee of the Gentiles." Let the reader refer to 
 Isaiah ix. 1, and see whether the detached passage, as 
 given in the New Testament, proves anything relating 
 to Jesus. There we read that the anguish is not 
 abating which is poured down upon " her" [Israel]. "The 
 first time it came lightly upon the land of Zebulon, and
 
 FAITH STRENGTHENED. 235 
 
 the land of NaphtaM; and the latter time, it fell heavily 
 upon her by the way of the sea, on the side of Jordan, 
 and the boundary of the Gentiles." The prophet had 
 spoken of the preponderance of the empire of Ashur 
 over that of Israel, and he stated that Tiglath Pilessar, 
 king of Assyria^ had at first extended his conquest over 
 the lands of Zebulon and Kaphtali; and therefore the 
 calamity was deemed to be confined to a narrow com- 
 pass in the sight of Israel. But afterwards the misery 
 became oppressive, when Sennacherib marched against 
 Judah, and took all its fortified cities; so that Jeru- 
 salem was the only country that escaped. The whole 
 country of Palestine being thus ravaged, the prophet 
 pointed out the utmost limits of the country as the 
 marks of the extent of the devastation; hence the 
 allusion to Jordan and the sea, which were the boun- 
 daries of the nation. The borders of the neighbouring 
 Philistines were therefore called " the boundaries of 
 the Philistines." When Sennacherib came up to attack 
 Jerusalem, the angel of the Lord destroyed 185,000 
 warriors. Then it was that, according to Isaiah viii. 2, 
 " The people who had walked in the darkness of trouble 
 saw" — namely, the light of deliverance, after the total 
 fall of Sennacherib. That salvation is termed " light," 
 is shewn by the expression in Esther viii. 16, " Unto 
 the Jews was light." Isaiah continues, chap. ix. 3, 
 " Thou hast made great the nation (namely, in their 
 position among other nations) ; Thou hast increased 
 their joy before Thee, according to the joy in harvest" ; 
 thus expressing their gratitude and devout sentiments 
 at the miraculous escape from the overwhelming number 
 of the enemy, and their exultation during the distribution 
 of the spoil found in the Assyrian camp. " For Thou 
 hast broken the yoke of his burden" ; that is, Thou hast 
 frustrated the designs of the cruelty of the Assyrian
 
 ^36 FAITH STRENGTHENED. 
 
 king ; " And the stiiiF of his shoulder, and the rod of 
 his oppression, as in the day of Midian..' [When 
 Gideon, with a handful of men, routed in the night the 
 army of the invading Midianites ; so that also then a 
 supernatural help saved Israel from utter ruin] . For 
 the attack of the assailants was as the shock of an 
 earthquake — that is to say, this warfare differed from 
 all others in which garments were rolled in blood; 
 whereas in this war there was no bloodshed by human 
 weapons, but the weapons of destruction were " burning 
 and of full fire," The prophet then continues to say, 
 " For unto us a child has been born, unto us a son 
 has been given, and the government has [fallen] on his 
 shoulders." By this prediction was meant Hezekiah, 
 king of Judah, in whose days the signal deliverance 
 happened. This prophecy was given to Ahaz after 
 the birth of Hezekiah, and in consideration of the 
 future piety of this child, this Divine consolation was 
 given. The son who was given us, and who was 
 proved to have been Hezekiah, was nine years old 
 when Ahaz ascended the throne. 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 Matthew iv. 18, 19, " And Jesus, walking by the shores 
 of Galilee, saw two brethren, Simon, called Peter, and 
 Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea, for they 
 were fishermen, and he said unto them, Follow me, and 
 I will make you fishers of men." The same is related 
 iu Luke V. 10, "And Jesus said unto Simon, Fear not, 
 from henceforth thou shall catch men." This meta- 
 phorical language employed by Jesus, appears most 
 inapt and undignified. The net catches the unwary by 
 stealth, and those who are eauglit are destined to death 
 by those who spread the net.
 
 FAITH STRENGTHENED. 237 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 Matthew v. 17, 18, 19, " Think not that I am come to 
 destroy the law, or the prophets. 1 am not come to 
 destroy but to fulfil. For verily 1 say unto you, till 
 heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle shall 
 in no wise pass from the law till all be fulfilled. Whoso- 
 ever, therefore, shall break one of these least com- 
 mandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called 
 the least in the kingdom of heaven : but whosoever shall 
 do and teach them, he shall be called great in the 
 kingdom of heaven." So in Luke xvi. 17, "And it is 
 easier for heaven and earth to pass aw^ay than one tittle 
 of the law to fail." These words are in direct opposition 
 to tlie belief and the assertion of the Christians, that 
 the law of Moses has been superseded by the coming of 
 Jesus. Thus, circumcision is replaced by baptism, and 
 the sanctity of the seventh day is deferred to the keep- 
 ing of the first day of the week. With the same in- 
 excusable freedom, many other Divine laws have been 
 rejected by the Christians, only few having been re- 
 tained, such as those regarding incest and moral enact- 
 ments, respect to parents, love to our neighbour, 
 charity to the poor, avoidance of theft, rapine, adultery, 
 murder, sliedding of blood, and some other crimes 
 which reason enforces, and which other nations, who 
 were without revelation, had acknowledged before the 
 coming of Jesus. On this subject we have enlarged in 
 Chap. XJX. of the First Part of this work. 
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 
 Matthew v. 43, " Yc have heard that it hath been said, 
 " Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy.".
 
 238 FAITH STRENGTHENED. 
 
 This passage, which is pretended by Matthew to be 
 taken from some part of our Scriptures, originated 
 partly in his own imagination. Scripture no where 
 bids us to hate our enemy, but teaches us a totally 
 different doctrine; for we find in Exodus xxiii. 4, 5, 
 " If thou meet thine enemy's ox or his ass going astray, 
 thou shalt surely bring it back to him again. If thou 
 seest the ass of him that hateth thee, lying under his 
 burden, and wouldst forbear to help him, thou shalt 
 surely help with him." See also Levit. xix. 17, 18, 
 " Thou shalt not hate thy brother in thine heart : thou 
 shalt rebuke thy neighbour and not suffer sin upon 
 him. Thou shalt not avenge nor bear any grudge 
 against the children of thy people, but thou shalt love 
 thy neighbour as thyself. I am the Lord." Again, in 
 the Book of Prov, xxiv. 17, " When thine enemy falleth 
 do not rejoice, and when he stumbleth let not thine 
 heart rejoice." And ibid, xxv. 21, " If thine enemy be 
 hungry, give him bread to eat, and if he be thirsty, give 
 him water to drink." 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 Matthew viii. 19, 20, " And a certain scribe came and 
 said unto him, Master, I will follow thee whithersoever 
 thou goest. And Jesus said unto him, The foxes have 
 holes, and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son 
 of Man hath not where to lay his head." The same 
 saying is recorded in Luke ix. 57. This passage we 
 deem a strong proof of the consciousness of Jesus that 
 he was not God. For, if he had really been filled with 
 such a conceit, why should he have called himself the 
 Son of Man f And, moreover, why should he have 
 dissuaded others from relying on him? Perhaps he bore
 
 FAITH STRENGTHENED. 239 
 
 in mind the admoilition given in Psalm cxlvi. 3, " Do 
 not rely on princes nor trust in the son of man, for salva- 
 tion belongeth not unto him." Or perhaps the words 
 of Jeremiah in chap. xvii. 5, " Cursed is the man who 
 relieth on man." Had he imagined he was God, why 
 should he have said he had nowhere to lay his head? 
 Would he not have considered the whole earth to be 
 his own resting-place; for does not the Psalmist remind 
 us in Psalm xxiv. 1, "That the earth is the Lord's, 
 and the fidness thereof, the world, and the inhabitants 
 therein?" 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 Matthew x. 34, " Think not that I am come to send 
 peace on earth : I came not to send peace, but a SAvord. 
 For I came to set a man at variance against his father, 
 and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter- 
 in-law against her mother-in-law." The same matter is 
 treated of in Luke xii. 51, and is a strong indication 
 that Jesus Avas not filled with that spirit of peace so in- 
 dissolubly attached to the office of Messiah. For, regard- 
 ing the expected Messiah, Zechariah, in chap. ix. 10, 
 says, " And he will speak peace unto the nations." 
 Concerning that period it was prophesied by Isaiali in 
 chap. ii. 4; and in Mic. iv. 3, " Nation shall not lift up 
 the sword against nation." How much less will it tlien 
 be allowable that a man should "be set at variance 
 against his father?" On the contrary, the Divine pro- 
 mise runs thus (in conclusion of Malachi), " And he 
 shall restore the heart of the fathers unto the cliildren, 
 and the heart of the children unto their fathers."
 
 240 FATTH STRENGTHENED. 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 Matthew x. 40, Jesus is made to say to his apostles, 
 " He that receiveth you receiveth me, and he that 
 receiveth me receiveth him that sent me." By this 
 expression, the Christians are reduced to the necessity 
 of believing that Jesus and his apostles are identical; 
 and as they are taught that three make one, they ought, 
 by parity of reasoning, to deduce the inference from 
 the present passage, that the trinity, with the twelve 
 apostles, make altogether one unity. 
 
 CHAPTER XY. 
 
 Matthew xi. 13, 14, Jesus is made to say, "All the 
 prophets and the law prophesied until John, and if ye 
 will receive it, this is Elias which was for to come." See 
 the same passage in Luke xvi. 1 6. From this it would 
 seem that it was intended to inculcate a belief, that the 
 law and the prophecies had only a certain temporary 
 object in view, which was to find its point of completion 
 in John, a contemporary of Jesus. On the other hand, 
 Jesus declared in Matthew v. 1 7, " Think not that I 
 am come to destroy the law or the prophets; I am not 
 come to destroy, but to fulfil " (see our opinion on this 
 subject in Chap. XIX. of the First Part of this work). 
 We would ask the question, how did he fulfil the pre- 
 dicted ingathering of the Ten Tribes, and the carrying 
 on of the war against Gog and Magog? We would also 
 notice a discrepancy between the opinion held out in 
 this chapter of Matthew, that John was the Elias 
 (Elijah) of the Bible, and the following statement made 
 by the author of the Gospel of John : " And they asked
 
 FAITH STRENGTHENED. 241 
 
 him, What then? Art thou Elias ? And he saith, I 
 am not. Art thou the Prophet? And he answered, 
 No." (See Chap. XXXIX. of the First Part of this 
 work). 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 Matthew xii. 32, ^' And whosoever speaketh a word 
 against the Son of Man it shall be forgiven him, but 
 whosoever speaketh against the Holy Ghost it shall not 
 be forgiven him, neither in this world, neither in the 
 world to come." See also Luke xii 10. Both Matthew 
 and Luke acknowledge, by this warning, that Jesus is the 
 Son of Man ; and that he and the Holy Ghost are not 
 identical, consequently they were fully convinced that 
 there is no doctrine in the Testament enforcing the 
 belief in a triune deity, and that such a notion rests 
 merely on imagination. 
 
 CHAPTER XVJI. 
 
 Matthew xiii. 55 ; it is related here that the Jews said 
 of Jesus, " Is not this the carpenter's son? And is not 
 his mother called Mary, and his brethren James, and 
 Joses, and Simon, and Judas ? And his sisters, are the}' 
 not all with us ?" See also Mark vi 3. How then can 
 the Christians constantly worship Mary as a virgin, 
 she having given birth to the several brothers and 
 sisters of Jesus? 
 
 CHAPTER XVIJI. 
 Matthew xv. I to 25, When tlie Pharisees blamed his 
 
 R
 
 24-2 FAITH STRENGTHENED. 
 
 disciples for eating without previously washing their 
 hands, Jesus argued that whatever enters the mouth 
 does not defile man, but that defiles him which goes out 
 of the mouth. The same is said in Mark vii. from the 
 beginning to verse 24. If that were true, why should 
 the Law of Moses prohibit us from eating certain 
 unclean things? See also Levit. xi. 8, " And ye shall 
 not defile yourselves with them [viz. the unclean animals] 
 lest ye grow unclean through them." This shows, that 
 a certain class of food is considered by Divine authority 
 as impure and unlawful. By what right then did Jesus 
 dare to contradict the law, and to absolve his Jewish 
 followers from prohibited meats. If unclean food did 
 not defile the mouth of the eater, why did the Apostles 
 forbid the eating of blood and of the flesh of strangled 
 animals ? And did not Adam commit a sin, even 
 according to the belief of the Christians, by the act of 
 eating of that of which he was enjoined not to eat ? 
 How much strong drink is able to defile the soul of 
 man is early demonstrated in Scripture, as we learn from 
 tlie history of Noah and Lot. Wliile on the other 
 hand the expression of Jesus that words coming out 
 of the mouth of man alone defile him, is subject to 
 great limitation. For all praising and thanksgiving 
 oiFered up to the Almighty, as well as all wise, moral 
 and social converse do not defile the soul. 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 Matthew xix. If) and subsequent verses, "And behold 
 one came and said unto him. Good master, Avhat good 
 thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life ? And he 
 said unto him. Why callest thou me good? There is 
 none good but one, that is God ;" an expression which
 
 FAITH STRENGTHENED. 243 
 
 proves that Jesus Ts not God. Then Jesus continued, 
 " If thou desirest spiritual salvation keep the command- 
 ments." An injunction indicating that there is no 
 salvation without the observance of the law of Moses. 
 He [the querist] saith unto him, " Which ?" Jesus said, 
 " Thou shalt do no murder. Thou shalt not commit 
 adultery. Thou shalt not steal. Thou shalt not bear 
 false witness. Honor thy father and thy mother, and 
 thou shalt 'ove thy neighbour as thyself." Further he 
 said, " If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that which 
 thou hast and give to the poor." The same is to be found 
 in Mark x. 21. In Luke xviii. 22, Jesus thereby advises, 
 ■' Sell all rhat thou hast and distri])ute unto the poor," 
 etc. Jesus, in saying there is none good but one, that 
 is God, taught his followers a monotheistic principle. 
 He taught them at the same time that salvation depends 
 on the observance of the Divine commandments. All 
 these injunctions, given by Jesus, are renounced by 
 Christians ; and thus, having thrown off those incon- 
 venient and onerous observances taught in the New 
 Testament, they might well allege that the severe 
 precepts of the Mosaic Law were abrogated, and must 
 give place before a Lawgiver whose laws they think 
 proper to disregard. We would ask, which precept is 
 the most severe, that of Jesus, which demands that a 
 man should divest himself of his property for the benefit 
 of the poor, or the Mosaic Law, which ordains that a 
 tithe only should be devoted to holy purposes, leaving 
 the remainder at the free disposal of the owner of the 
 property ? 
 
 CHArTER XX. 
 
 Matthew xx. 23, Jesus, addressing his disciples, namely 
 
 r2
 
 244 FAITH STRENGTHENED. 
 
 the two cliildrcn of Zebedee, says, " To sit at my right hand 
 and at my left is not mine to give, but it shall be given 
 to them, for whom it is prepared of my Father," The 
 reader will find the same idea expressed in Mark x. 
 Now if tlie Son is less powerful than the Father, how 
 can it be asserted that the Father and Son are all one? 
 
 CHAPTER XXI. 
 
 Matthew XX. 28, Jesus thus communicates to his disci- 
 ples, " Even as the Son of Man came not to be ministered 
 unto, but to minister," etc. The same is stated in 
 Mark x. 45, By this passage, Jesus makes the decla- 
 i-ation destructive of the dogma of his divinity, that he, 
 being the son of man, is a servant and not a master; or 
 in other words, that he is not the King Messiah of 
 whom it was said of Zechariah, in his book, chap. ix. 10, 
 - '• And his kingdom shall extend from sea to sea, and from 
 the river to the ends of the earth." Also, in Psalm Ixxii. 
 11, "And all kings shall bow down unto him, all 
 nations shall serve him." And in Daniel vii. 14, " And 
 all rulers shall serve and obey him." 
 
 CHAPTER XXII. 
 
 Matthew xxiii. 35, " That upon you may come all the 
 righteous blood shed upon the earth from the blood of 
 the righteous Abel unto the blood of Zacharias, son of 
 . Barachias, whom ye slew between the temple and the 
 altar." This reproach rests on an error regarding the 
 names, for it was Zachariah, the son of Jehoiada the 
 priest, whom they sIcav (See 2 Chro. xxiv, 21). It is 
 impossible to admit the attempted reconciliation accord-
 
 FAITH STRENGTHENED. 24a 
 
 ing to which ZechFrriah, the son of Jehoiada the priest, 
 and Zechariah, the son of Barachiah, are identical. 
 For the priest of that name was skiin in the days 
 of Joash, king of Judah, about two hundred and fifty- 
 four years prior to the destruction of the temple; while 
 the prophet Zechariah did not prophesy until the 
 second year of Darius, the son of Artachsasta, during 
 the Babylonian captivity. Such errors in the mouth of 
 Jesus are decidedly unfavourable to the divine inspira- 
 tion attributed to him, as well as to the authors of the 
 New Testament. 
 
 CHAPTER XXIII. 
 
 Matthew xxvi. 6, 7, " Now when Jesus was in Bethany, 
 in the house of Simon the leper, there came unto him a 
 woman having an alabaster box of very precious oint- 
 ment, and poured it on his head." In Mark xiv. 3, the 
 narrative is given in the following words, " And being 
 in Bethany, in the house of Simon the leper, there came 
 a woman having an alabaster box of ointment of spike- 
 nard, very precious, and she brake the box and poured 
 it on his head." In Luke vii. 37, however, the version 
 is far different; " And behold a woman brought an ala- 
 baster box of ointment, and stood at his feet behind him, 
 and anointed them with ointment." Then Jesus said to 
 Simon, the master of the house (ver. 46), "my head 
 with oil thou didst not anoint, but this woman hath 
 anointed my feet with ointment." 
 
 In John xii. 3, the story is narrated thus : '' Then 
 took Mary a pound of ointment of spikenai-d, very 
 costly, and anointed the feet of Jesus." These extracts, 
 from the several books of the New Testament, are 
 curious specimens of the want of agreement between 
 the several authors, who of necessity would luive been
 
 246 FAITH STRENGTHENED. 
 
 in perfect unanimity, had they been under the influence 
 of Divine inspiration. 
 
 CHAPTER XXIV. 
 
 Matthew xxvi. 39, " And he (Jesus) went a little 
 further and fell on his face, and prayed, saving, 0, 
 my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me ; 
 nevertheless, not as I will, but as thou wilt." See 
 likewise Mark xiv. 35, and Luke xxii. 41. This pas- 
 sage refutes the Christian belief, that Jesus offered 
 himself spontaneously as the sacrifice for the salvation 
 of mankind. If that had been the case, why should he 
 have hesitated and prayed for the removal of the bitter 
 cup of his portion; and why should he have exclahned, 
 " My God ! my God ! why hast Thou forsaken me?" (see 
 Matthew xxvii. 46). This is another proof that the 
 Father and the Son are not identical, and that the 
 design of the one does not accord with that of the 
 other. 
 
 CHAPTER XXV. 
 
 Matthew xxvii. 9, 10, " Then was fulfilled that which 
 was spoken by Jeremy the prophet, saying, " And they 
 took the thirty pieces of silver, the price of him that 
 was valued, and whom they of the children of Israel did 
 value, and gave them for the potter's field, as the Lord 
 appointed me." Here, again, we meet with the usual 
 misapplication of Scriptural passages. The quotation, 
 taken from Zechariah xi. 12, 13, runs as follows: " So 
 they weighed for my price thirty pieces of silver. And 
 the Lord said unto me, Cast it unto the potter," etc.
 
 FAITH STRENGTHENED. 247 
 
 The unbiassed reader need merely refer to the context, 
 from which this passage is extracted, in order to obtain 
 the conviction that the prophet wished to convey a 
 far different idea than Matthew found in it. Zechariah, 
 in the chapter before us, represents the fate of the 
 children of Judah during the captivity, who had become 
 the prey of the enemy for having transgressed the com- 
 mandments of the Almighty, and hence he designates 
 the Jews of the second temple as the flock of the 
 slaughter. 
 
 The prophet Zechariah's account (in chap. xi. 7), of 
 having taken two staves, the name of the one being 
 " Beauty," and the name of the other " Bands," must 
 not be viewed in its literal, but in its metaphorical 
 sense. The staves signify the leaders of Israel, for the 
 shepherd conducts his flock by means of the staff or 
 crook in his hand. Now the prophet hereby intimates 
 that Israel would be treated according to the merit 
 of their doings. The Staff " Beauty " {i. e. lenient treat- 
 ment) was used in the early days of the second temple, 
 when such leaders as Nehemiah and Zerubbabel stood 
 at the helm of Government; while tlie misgovernment 
 of the succeeding rulers, which crippled and ultimately 
 destroyed the energies and well-being of Israel, was de- 
 signated "Bands" (z. e., harsh treatment). The simul- 
 taneous death of three righteous leaders, alluded to by 
 the prophet, may have been in reference to Haggai, 
 Zechariah, and Malachi, after whose decease severe ca- 
 lamities came upon the Jewish nation. 
 
 The shepherd in the prophecy claims his wages — that 
 is to say, he demands that the pious observance of the 
 Divine statutes should be offered as a compensation for 
 the special favours of the Almighty. The thirty pieces 
 of silver are a figurative representation of the righteous 
 men of the time, who were cast to their potter {%, e.
 
 248 FAITH STRENGTHENED. 
 
 literally thrown upon the mercy of their Former or 
 Creator). The Staff (termed Bands) was broken ; for 
 we learn from our history that the misrule prevailing in 
 Jerusalem was productive of Israel's overthrow. Indeed, 
 it seemed as if every successive bad Government had 
 been destined to be the avenger of the misdeeds of its 
 predecessor. Whether it be correct or not, to refer the 
 details of the prophecy to certain known historical 
 characters, this much is evident, that the political go- 
 vernment of the Jews, and their destiny, are the circum- 
 stances alluded to by the prophet. No thinking man 
 can however, admit that the prophecy had reference to 
 Jesus, in whose fate his Jewish contemporaries were so 
 little concerned. 
 
 CHAPTER XXVL 
 
 Matthew xxvii. 46, " And about the ninth hour, Jesus 
 cried with a loud voice, saying, ' Eli, Eli, lama sabach- 
 thani,' — that is to say, ' My God ! my God ! why hast 
 thou forsaken me'"? See the same passage in Mark 
 XV. 34. 
 
 By this exclamation, Jesus clearly announced that he 
 was not a God, but was like other mortals, who invoke 
 God in the day of trouble. 
 
 CHAPTER XXVII. 
 
 Matthew xxviii. 18, "And Jesus came and spake unto 
 them {i. e., his disciples), All power is given unto me in 
 heaven and in earth." This passage does not show that 
 he was a Divine Being ; for, had he been so, he would not 
 have asserted that the power was given to him. To God,
 
 FAITH STRENGTHENED. 249 
 
 nothing can be gi^en ; for " Unto him belongeth the 
 dominion and the power" He is the Giver, and 
 not the Receiver. It could not be maintained, that 
 Jesus received the dominion from his Father; for in 
 that case the Bestower and the Acceptor must incon- 
 testably be considered as two separate and distinct 
 Beings. This concludes our views concerning the book 
 of Matthew. 
 
 CHAPTER XXVIII. 
 
 Mark ii. 25, " And he [Jesus] said unto them, Have ye 
 never read what David did when he had need and was 
 an hungered, he and they that were with him ? How, 
 when he went into the house of ^ God, in the days of 
 Abiathar, the high priest, and did eat the shewbread, 
 which is not lawful to eat, but for the priests, and gave 
 thereof to them that were with him." This passage is 
 also to be found in Matthew xii. 3, and in Luke vi. 3 ; 
 but all these authors have fallen into the same error, 
 and labour under the same misconception. For this 
 happened in the time of Ahimelech, the priest, and not 
 in the time of Abiathar, as maybe seen in 1 Samuel xxi. 1 , 
 " David came to Nob, to Ahimelech, the priest," etc. 
 But Abiathar was one of the sons of Ahimelech, the son 
 of Ahitub, who escaped and fled after David. Now, from 
 the express question put to him, we see that David 
 came alone to Ahimelech, and that no one was with him ; 
 " Why art thou alone, and no man with thee ?" 
 
 CHAPTER XXIX. 
 
 Mark iii. 31 — 35, "There came then his brethren and 
 his mother, and standing without, sent unto him, calling
 
 250 FAITH STRENGTHEiN ED. 
 
 him; and the multitude sat about him, and they said 
 unto him, Behold thy mother and thy brethren without 
 seek thee. And he answered them, saying. Who is my 
 mother, or my brethren ? And he looked round about 
 on them which sat about him, and said. Behold my 
 mother and my brethren. For whoever shall do the 
 will of God, the same is my brother, and my sister, and 
 mother." The same subject occurs in Matthew, at the 
 close of chap. xii. ; and in Luke viii. 1 9. It appears from 
 these statements, that his own mother, and brothers, and 
 sister, would not believe in him, and be his disciples, and 
 that he would not go to meet them who were of his own 
 flesh. The allusion to mutual discord between them is 
 confirmed by the statement of Johnvii. 5, " For neither 
 did his brethren believe in him," 
 
 CHAPTER XXX. 
 
 MarkxI. 11, 12, 13, " And on the morrow, when they 
 were come from Bethany, he (Jesus) was hungry ; and, 
 seeing a fig-tree afar ofi* having leaves, he came, if hapl} 
 he might find anything thereon ; and when he came to 
 it, he found nothing but leaves, as the season of figs was 
 not yet come. And Jesus answered and said unto it, 
 No man eat fruit of thee for evermore." See also 
 Matthew xxi. 18. Jesus acted here neither as a Divine 
 person, nor as a man in whom the Divine Spirit dwelt. 
 For he surely might have known that the fig-tree bears 
 its fruit only at the appointed season ; nor would any 
 discreet person cast a malediction on a tree merely for 
 being thus disappointed. Moreover, if Jesus, by his 
 mere word, was able to render a tree barren, might he 
 not as well, by the power of his word, have made the 
 tree bring forth its fruit at the bidding of the moment,
 
 FAITH STRENGTHENED. 251 
 
 in order to appease 4iis hunger ? I, having once made 
 use of this argument with a Christian, he explained it 
 away by asserting tliat the passage has only a spiritual 
 signification, and that the tig-tree named was but a 
 symbol used by Jesus to represent the Jewish nation, 
 in like manner as the prophets designate them the 
 "vine-tree," and that Jesus had cursed Israel for having 
 rejected him as their spiritual teacher. I rejoined that, 
 in our prophecies regarding the time of the expected 
 and true Messiah, we are promised that in the days of 
 the Messiah, knowledge and prophecy shall increase 
 and prevail throughout the world ; as it is said in Joel 
 ii. 27, 28, " You shall know that I aia in the midst of 
 Israel, and that I am the Lord your God, and none 
 else, and my people shall then never again be put to 
 shame. And then I shall pour out my spirit upon all 
 flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy." 
 From this prophecy, it is clear that many of the indis- 
 pensable conditions, requisite for the advent of the 
 Messiah, had not yet been fulfilled, but were still to 
 come. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXI. 
 
 Mark xiii. 32, Jesus is made to say to his disciples, 
 " But of that day and that hour knoweth no man, no, 
 not the angels which are in heaven, neither tlie Son 
 but the Father." Here we have a clear proof that 
 Jesus, who is called " the son of Mary," is not a God, 
 seeing that he could not foretell events. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXII. 
 
 Luke i. 26, There it is related that the angel Gabriel
 
 252 FAITH STRENGTHENED. 
 
 came as a messenger sent by God to Mary in her virgin 
 state, when she was espoused to Joseph of the house of 
 David, and that He announced to her she would con- 
 ceive and bear a son, who would be holy, and be called 
 a son of the highest ; that the throne of David would be 
 assigned to him by the Lord God for occupation, and 
 that he would reign over the house of Jacob for ever, 
 and of his kingdom there shall be no end." 
 
 This statement disagrees with those made in other 
 parts of the New Testament, and casts strong suspicion 
 on the veracity of a book asserted to be written under 
 the influence of inspiration. If Mary had received 
 such a divine message, why did she and her children 
 refuse faith in, and obedience to that Son of God, and 
 why did she and her offspring keep away from the 
 circle of the disciples of him whom she had borne through 
 the intervention of a miracle? See Mark iii. 31. A 
 marked contrast also appears between the words of 
 Luke i. 26, and those in John vii. 5, which we had 
 occasion to quote in a former chapter, viz., " His 
 brethren did not believe in him." Would it not have 
 been the duty of the virgin-mother to inform her 
 children what a strong claim her first-born had on their 
 pious attachment to him? Again, why did Mary name 
 her son "Jesus?" If he were to be named Emmanuel^ 
 according to the interpretation given to the famous 
 passage in Isaiah, which is especially cited in Matthew i. 22, 
 why did the angel hold out the never-fulfilled promise 
 that Jesus would sit on the throne of David ? Moreover, 
 why was Jesus called the descendant of David, since it 
 is alleged that he was not the offspring of Joseph, of 
 the house of David, but was begotten of the Holy 
 Ghost ? The number of contradictions also is increased 
 by the words of Paul in his First Epistle to the Corin- 
 thians, chap. XV., ver. 28, for there it is said, " Then
 
 FAITH STRENGTHENED. 253 
 
 shall the son also httnself be subject unto him, that put 
 all things under him." This is an additional proof that 
 the kingdom of Jesus is not intended to continue 
 throughout eternity, but is to be only of a temporary 
 nature; hence, we arrive at the conclusion, from the 
 very authorities of the Christian faith, that the Father 
 and the Son are totally distinct personages. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXIII. 
 
 This chapter is omitted by the translator as unim- 
 portant in itself, and inapplicable to the general 
 argument. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXIV. 
 
 Luke ii. 33, " And Joseph and his mother marvelled at 
 tliosc things which were spoken of him," 
 
 " The child tarried behind in Jerusalem, and his 
 parents knew not of it." " And when they saw him 
 they were amazed, and his mother said unto him, Son, 
 why hast thou thus dealt with us ? Behold, thy father 
 and I have sought thee sorrowing," ver. 43, 48. Ibid, 
 iv. 22, " And they said, Is not this Joseph^s son ?" See, 
 also, John i. 45, " Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Josej)h;'' 
 and ibid. vi. 42, ^' Is not this Jesus the son of Joseph, 
 whose father and mother we know ?" 
 
 These passages afford a complete refutation of the 
 doctrine of the miraculous conception of Jesus, and 
 thereby undermine the groundwork of the Christian 
 faith. '
 
 254 FAITH STRENGTHENED. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXV. 
 
 Luke iii. 23. The genealogy of Jesus, as treated in this 
 and the subsequent verses, is contradictory to that in 
 Matthew i. For Luke commences thus : " The list of 
 the descent of Jesus" — " And Jesus [as was supposed]* 
 was the son of Joseph, the son of Heli, the son of 
 Matthat, the son of Levi, the son of Malachi," etc., etc. 
 In Matthew, where tlie origin of Joseph is traced back 
 to Solomon, the son of David, the enumeration of the 
 ancestors of Joseph closes in the following manner : — 
 " And Eliud begat Eleazar, and Eleazar begat Matthan, 
 and Matthan begat Jacob, and Jacob begat Joseph, the 
 husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus." We 
 have already shown above that Matthew enumerates 
 forty- two generations, from Abraham our father; but 
 Luke counts only twenty-six. From tliese contrary 
 statements one might fairly ask, which Joseph was the 
 husband of Mary? Was it Joseph, the son of Heli, the 
 son of Matthat, the son of Levi, as Luke supposes; or 
 was it Joseph, the son of Jacob, the son of Matthan, the 
 son of Eleazar, as Matthew supposes ? If we are to 
 believe the words of Luke, then the statement of 
 Matthew must be incorrect, and vice versa. Luke, in 
 tracing back the descent of Jesus to the first ancestor, 
 says that Jesus was the son of Adarn^ the son of God. 
 Hence it would seem that Jesus had no better title to 
 the designation of the son of God than every other 
 descendant of Adam. 
 
 * The words, " as ivas supposed," inserted here in the copies of the 
 translators of Luke, are a gratuitous interpolation, intended to make 
 us Jews believe that the author himself used the words, fro-m the 
 apprehension that he was affording an argument militating against the 
 Divinity of Jesus. — Note bv the Translator.
 
 FAITH STRENGTHENED. 255 
 
 CHAPTER XXXVI. 
 
 Luke iv. 17 — 21, "And there was delivered unto him 
 [to Jesus] the book of the prophet Esaias, and when he 
 had opened the book, he found the place where it was 
 written, ' The Spirit of God is upon me, because he hath 
 anointed me to preach the Gospel to the poor. He hath 
 sent me to heal the broken-hearted, to preach deliver- 
 ance to the captives, and recovery of sight to the blind, 
 to set at liberty tliem that are bruised, to proclaim the 
 acceptable year of the Lord.' And he closed tlie book, 
 and he gave it again to the minister, and sat down. And 
 he said unto them, ' This day is this Scripture fulfilled 
 in your ears.' " Isaiah Ixi. is here quoted in a garbled 
 manner. In order to lay more stress on the healing 
 powers attributed to Jesus, the gift of restoring sight to 
 the blind is added to the mission of the preteiided Mes- 
 uah. On the other hand, it is omitted to be quoted 
 that this would be ■ — "A day of vengeance to our God, 
 to comfort all mourners, to give to the mourners of 
 Zion glory instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead 
 of mourning, the cloak of praise instead of a gloomy 
 spirit." Jesus had no right to attribute to himself the 
 glory of deeds he had not performed. Isaiah spoke 
 here of himself. And by the words, " The Lord hath 
 anointed me," he meant nothing more than that he had 
 received the Divine unction as a prophet. It was he 
 who was sent forth to offer consolation, in order that 
 the Israelites, during their long sufferings, should not 
 despair of the Divine aid, and of their future restoration. 
 They, the exiled children of Israel, were addressed by 
 the prophets " as the afilictcd, the broken-hearted, the 
 captives, the prisoners, the mourners of Zion." They 
 alone stood in need of the prophetic consolatory pro- 
 mises, and to whom alone they had reference.
 
 256 FAITH STRENGTHENED. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXVII. 
 
 Luke vi. 27 — 29, " Love your enemies, do good 
 to them that hate you. Bless them that curse you, 
 and pray for them which despitefully use you. And 
 unto him that smiteth thee on the one cheek offer also 
 the other, and him that taketh away thy cloak, forbid 
 not to take thy coat also." This injunction is a repeti- 
 tion of what is to be found in Matthew v. 39. These 
 injunctions were and are, however, not only disregarded 
 by the members of the Christian religion, but were not 
 even practised by Jesus himself in the spirit in which the 
 words imply. For in John xviii. 22, we find that 
 Jesus, when beaten by a bye-stander, instead of offering 
 quietly his other cheek, very naturally argued with 
 him on the unfairness of such summary proceeding. 
 Nor did Paul silently submit to the order given by the 
 priest, that he should be smitten on the mouth (Acts 
 xxiii. 2, 3), or offer his cheek in meek contentment, 
 but indignantly swore, " God shall smite thee, thou 
 whited wall." If the precept were broken, obviously 
 from its extreme rigour, by the very disciple who 
 promulgated it, it is strange to ascribe to the doctrines 
 of Jesus, as is done in certain parts of the Gospel^ a 
 greater degree of practicability than to the original laws 
 of Moses, a fact that must convince every thoughtful 
 man that Christian doctrines are not always infallible. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXVIII. 
 
 Luke xi. 37, 38, and 41, " And he [Jesus] went in 
 and sat down to meat, and when the Pharisees saw it, 
 they marvelled that he [Jesus] had not first washed
 
 FAITH STRENGTHENED. 257 
 
 before dinner." Tb this expression of purpose Jesus 
 responded, " Now do ye Pharisees make clean the 
 outside of the cup and the platter; but your inward 
 part is full of ravening and wickedness. Ye fools, did 
 not he that made that which is without make that 
 which is within also? But rather give alms of such 
 things as ye have, and behold all things are clean 
 unto you." 
 
 These arguments are merely quoted here, to show 
 how illogical some of the replies are which are put into 
 the mouth of the assumed Son of God. 
 
 The negligent, and those who are indifferent to 
 cleanliness, might screen themselves under such dicta; 
 plain sense, however, would have suggested an answer 
 of a different character. Other sayings of similar incon- 
 sistency in the replies of Jesus are recorded in the book 
 of ^fatthew. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXIX. 
 
 Luke xvi. 22, 23, Lazarus is stated to enjoy after 
 his death the bliss of immortality in the bosom of 
 Abraham, whilst the rich man, who indulged in the 
 pleasures of this world, is to suffer the torments of 
 hell. It is further said, that there subsists an infinite 
 distinction between the abode of glory and that of 
 perdition. 
 
 According to this account, it does not appear that 
 either Abraham or Lazarus were after their death 
 doomed to the punishtnent of hell, although the alleged 
 work of the redemption of mankind had not yet been 
 achieved by Jesus. We are therefore at a loss to know 
 what the Christians mean by salvation wrought by 
 Jesus, and what can be the danger of tl.e original 
 
 s
 
 258 FAITH STRENGTHENED. 
 
 sin, when we see that it did not affect those who died 
 unredeemed. 
 
 CHArTER XL. 
 
 LuKR xxiii. 34, " Then Jesus said, Father pardon them, 
 they know not what they do." 
 
 This appeal refutes the opinion of the Christians, 
 who maintain that the Jews suffer the punishments of 
 the Ahnighty for having put Jesus to death. 
 
 Can the Christians believe that God would not accept 
 the supplication of Jesus? 
 
 Whether the supplication wasaccepted or not accepted, 
 it is clear that the Jews do not lie under the punishment 
 of the Almighty, in consequence of that deed. 
 
 CHAPTER XLI. 
 
 John i. 21, "And they asked him, What then? Art 
 thou Elias? and he said, I am not. Art thou that pro- 
 phet? and he answered, No." 
 
 This verse completely contradicts the statement made 
 in Matthew xi. 13, 14, according to which John is 
 included in the list of prophets, and is held to be the 
 last of them. The words used in that book, which we 
 have had occasion to adduce, run as follows : " All the 
 prophets and the law prophesied until John ; and if ye 
 will receive it, this is Elias [Elijah], which was for to 
 come." In Matthew xvii. 1*2, 13, Jesus, in alluding to 
 John, affirms that the forerunner of himself as a Messiah 
 had come, although he had not been acknowledged as 
 such. He says there, " Elias [Elijah], is come already, 
 and they knew him not, but have done unto him what-
 
 FAITH STRENGTHENED. 259 
 
 ever they listed. Likewise shall also the Son of Man 
 suffer of them. Then the disciples understood that he 
 spake of John the Baptist." 
 
 Once, on representing this contradiction to a Christian, 
 he evaded a direct answer by the retort, that Samuel 
 likewise denied his true mission, for he told Saul that 
 he was on his way to offer up sacrifices, while his real 
 object was to anoint David as king of Israel. 
 
 The cogency of this reply is not apparent, for Samuel 
 made no secret of his mission to David to whom he had 
 to communicate the Divine will, but observed the 
 necessary caution with Saul, to whom he had not 
 been sent. Different, however, was the case with the 
 pretended Eli as. 
 
 If he [John], had to bring the Jews the tidings of the 
 advent of the Messiah, he very strangely performed his 
 duty, by denying his character and concealing his 
 message. 
 
 CHAPTER XLII. 
 
 John ii. 4, " Jesus saith unto her (viz., to his mother 
 Mary), Woman, what have T to do with thee?" and ibid, 
 chap. xix. 26, " When Jesus, therefore, saw his mother 
 and the disciple standing by whom he loved, he saith 
 unto his mother, Woman, behold thy son." If he had 
 believed that his mother had miraculously given birth 
 to him, and still continued in her virgin state, would he 
 not have addressed her by the more endearing and exalt- 
 ing appellation than the simple term woman? The 
 mode in which he addressed his mother here, and on 
 various other occasions narrated in the New Testament, 
 shows that he was not at all impressed with the sanctity 
 
 s2
 
 260 FAITH STRENGTHENED. 
 
 of the commandment, " Honour thy father and thy 
 mother." 
 
 CHAPTER XLIII. 
 
 John. ii. 18 — 20, " Then answered the Jews, and said 
 unto him [viz., to Jesus], What sign showest thou unto 
 us, seeing that thou doest these things? Jesus answered 
 and said unto them, Destroy this temple, and in three 
 days I will raise it up. Then said the Jews, Forty and 
 six years was this temple in building, and wilt thou rear 
 it up in three days? 
 
 Could Jesus prove his divine character by thus advis- 
 ing the Jews to lay a sacrilegious hand on the sacred 
 edifice? And, moreover, it was most unreasonable to 
 ask that the Jews, who did not believe in his divine 
 power, should commit an action that should consign the 
 temple to everlasting destruction, merely for the sake of 
 testing the reality of his character. 
 
 CHAPTER XLIV. 
 
 John vi. 38, "For I [viz., Jesus], came down from 
 heaven not to do mine own will, but the will of Him 
 that sent me." 
 
 If Jesus alludes here to the descent of his soul to the 
 earth, is order to inhabit the body, then he has pro- 
 nounced a common-place doctrine, for every human 
 body in possessed of a soul ; but if he meant that he 
 descended from heaevn in flesh, then the assertion is at 
 variance with the other accounts, according to which he 
 Avas born of a woman in Bethlehem, in a manger. See 
 Luke ii. 7. Moreover, we see here an acknowledgment
 
 FAITH STRENGTHENED. 2G1 
 
 of the all-import afTl fact of his non-identity with the 
 Godhead, as he professed to be only the agent of Him 
 who sent him. 
 
 CHAPTER XLV. 
 
 John vii. 5, " For neither did his brethren believe in 
 him." If his own brothers, men of the same flesh and 
 blood, and the nearest judges of the powers attributed 
 to him, felt no inducement to admit his pretensions; 
 surely we Jews may be excused for discrediting what 
 his own contemporaries and brothers rejected as in- 
 credible. 
 
 CHAPTER XLVI. 
 
 John vii. 15, " And the Jews marvelled, saying, How 
 knoweth this man letters, having never learned ?" 
 
 Talmudical tradition informs us that he had a teacher, 
 who was named R. Joshua Ben Peracliiah, and that 
 master and scholar had fled into Egypt to escape the 
 persecution of King Janai. 
 
 CHAPTER XLVII. 
 
 John viii. 3, " And the scribes and Pharisees brought 
 unto him a woman taken in adultery; and when they 
 had set her in the midst, tliey said unto him, Master, 
 this woman was taken in adultery, in the very act. 
 Now Moses in the law, commanded us that such 
 should be stoned. But what sayest thou ? And he 
 said unto them, ' He that is without sin among you, 
 let him first cast a stone at her. And he said to the
 
 262 FAITH STRENGTHENED. 
 
 woman (verse 11), "Neither do I condemn thee; go, 
 and sin no more." 
 
 The laxity of this sentence is not only opposed to the 
 Mosaic injunction, " Thou shalt remove the evil from 
 the midst of thee :" but it is also practically disavowed 
 by the Christian legislation, according to which, the 
 adulteress is subjected to the severest rigour of the law, 
 on account of the injury it would necessarily occasion to 
 the happiness of society. 
 
 CHAPTER XLVIII. 
 
 John viii. 40, " But now ye seek to kill me, a man that 
 hath told you the truth which I have heard of God." 
 
 If he had been identical with God, he would not have 
 told the Jews that he had received his revelation from 
 God. The truth proceeds from his own mouth, that he 
 was not a Deity incarnate. What the opinion of his 
 disciples was regarding this Divinity subsequently attri- 
 buted to him, is sufficiently manifest, in spite of the 
 many obscure expressions that occur in the New Testa- 
 ment; for instance, Paul says plainly, in his epistle to 
 the Romans, chap. v. 1 5, " The gift of grace which is 
 hy One Man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many." 
 In every part of the New Testament where Jesus speaks 
 of himself, he represents himself as the Son of Man, 
 and not as God. 
 
 CHAPTER XLIX. 
 
 John x. 16, " And other sheep I [Jesus] have, which 
 are not of this fold ; them also I must bring, and they 
 shall hear my voice, and there shall be one fold and one 
 shepherd."
 
 FAITH STRENGTHENED. 26^ 
 
 The truth^ vvhidti is coiitciined in this passage has no 
 reference to himself, for the union of faith was not ac- 
 complished by him, and will only take place at a future 
 period, when the proper time shall arrive. This is 
 testified by the following passages of Scripture. Isaiah, 
 in chap. xlv. 23, says, " Thus I have sworn by myself, 
 the word is gone out of my mouth in righteousness, and 
 shall not return, For unto me every knee shall bow, and 
 every tongue shall swear." Zephaniah iii. 9, " For then 
 will I turn to the people a pure language, that they may 
 all call upon the name of the Lord, to serve Him with 
 one consent." The predominance of Judaism over all 
 the religions of the Gentiles is dwelt on in the following 
 extracts from the prophets: Isaiah Ixvi. 23, "Awake, 
 awake, put on thy strength, Zion; put on thy beauti- 
 ful garments, Jerusalem, the Holy City; for hence- 
 forth there shall no more come unto thee, the uncircum- 
 cised and the unclean." Ibid, chap, Iii. 1, "And it 
 shall come to pass, that from one new moon to another, 
 and from one Sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to 
 worship before me, saith the Lord." Zechariah xiv. 16, 
 " And it shall come to pass, that every one that is left 
 of all the nations which came against Jerusalem shall 
 even go up from year to year to worship the King, the 
 Lord of Hosts, and to keep the feast of tabernacles." 
 As to the attribution of the sovereignty of empires to 
 the future King Messiah, we find in Daniel ii. 44, "And 
 in the days of these kings shall the God of Heaven set 
 up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed, and the 
 kingdom shall not be left to other people ; but it shall 
 break in pieces and consume all those kingdoms, and it 
 shall stand for ever." 
 
 Ibid vii. 27, " And the kingdom and the dominion, 
 and the greatness of dominion under the whole lieaven, 
 shall be given to the people of the saints of the Most
 
 264 FAITH JSTRENGTUENED. 
 
 High, whose kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and all 
 the dominions shall serve and obey Him." Numbers 
 xxiv. 17, "I see it [it will not happen] now, I behold 
 it, but not nigh ; there shall come a star out of Jacob, 
 and a sceptre shall rise out of Judah, and he shall 
 smite the corners of Moab, and overthrow the children 
 of Sheth." 
 
 CHAPTER L. 
 
 John x. 30, " I [Jesus] and my Father are one." Ac- 
 cording to the opinion prevailing among the Christians, 
 Jesus declared in these words his perfect identity with 
 the Godhead; but we have already noticed a passage 
 which completely refutes this view. For we find in 
 Mark xiii. 32, " But of that day and that hour know- 
 eth no man, no, not the angels which are in heaven, 
 neither the son, but the Father." 
 
 Every attempt to reconcile the two contradictory 
 verses, only leads to new perplexities. The more we 
 examine into the purport of the New Testament, the more 
 clearly we perceive its general tenor is not to deify Jesus ; 
 and that the doctrines which assign to him the title of 
 God, have arisen from want of due investigation, and 
 are not upheld by the force of sound argument. 
 
 CHAPTER LI. 
 
 John x. 33 — 36, " The Jews answered him [Jesus]. 
 For a good work we stone thee not; but for blasphemy, 
 and because that thou, being a man, makest thyself 
 God. 
 
 " Jesus answered them, Is it not written in your law.
 
 FAITH STRENGTHENED. 265 
 
 I said ye are gods?* If he called them gods unto whom 
 the Word of God came, and the Scripture cannot be 
 broken : say ye of him, whom the Father hath sanctified 
 and sent into the world, Thou blasphemest, because I 
 said, I am the Son of God?" 
 
 The equivocal reply of Jesus for styling himself God, 
 argues more against than in favour of his claim. In 
 quoting in his above defence the words of Psalm Ixxxii. 6, 
 '• I have said, Ye are gods, and sons of the Most High 
 altogether," he has not borne in mind that the 
 psalmist spoke with the very purpose of showing that 
 those who call themselves sons of God, betray by their 
 own nature that they delude themselves and others ; for 
 he goes on to say, " But surely ye die like other men, 
 and fall like any one of the princes." The occurrence 
 of the word Elohim (gods), does not even show that the 
 Divine Being is really alluded to. We have instances 
 that both angels and judges are designated by that term, 
 and that it is equal to the expression of higher powers 
 or authorities. See Judges xiii. 22, "We must die, for 
 we have seen an Elohim" (a superior being). In 
 Exodus xxii. 9, we read, " The cause of both men shall 
 come before the Elohim" (the judicial authorities), and 
 whom those Elohim find guilty, " he shall pay a double 
 portion to his neighbour." Similar use is made of the 
 word Elohim in various places of our Scriptures. In 
 Psalm Ixxxii. 1, the word gods [Elohim] has the same 
 signification as angels and messengers of the Almighty. 
 
 When God said to Moses, " Behold, I have made thee 
 a god unto Pharaoh," He spoke merely of him as of a 
 messenger who came in the name of the Most High. 
 The misquoted passages abounding in the New Testa- 
 ment betray the scanty and superficial knowledge its 
 authors possessed of the language and purport of our 
 Holy Scripture.
 
 266 FAITH STRENGTHENED, 
 
 CHAPTER LII. 
 
 John x. 38, " That ye may know and believe that the 
 Father is in me, and I in Him." The same is repeated 
 in chap. xiv. 11. In chap. xvii. 21, it is said, " That 
 they all may be one, as thou, Father, art in me, and 
 I in Thee, that they also may be one in us ; that the world 
 may believe that Thou hast sent me. And the glory 
 which Thou gavest me, I have given them, that they 
 may be one even as we are one. I in them, and Thou 
 in me, that they may be made perfect in one," etc. 
 
 The junction of Father and Son is conferred also 
 upon the twelve apostles. If, therefore, the Christians 
 thought it necessary to change their belief in the Divine 
 unity, they were not justified in adopting the term 
 " Trinity," inasmuch as the twelve apostles are placed 
 on an equality with Jesus, and they might, with the 
 same latitude of argument, be well included in the 
 coalition of Divine personages. 
 
 CHAPTER LIII. 
 
 JoHNxiii. 3, ''Jesus, knowing that the Father had given 
 all things into his hands," etc. See, also, ibid. xvi. 15, 
 " All things that the Father hath are mine;" and Mat- 
 thew xxviii. 18, "All power is given unto me in heaven 
 and in earth." This assumption of Supreme dominion 
 is in total opposition to the oft -quoted passage of 
 Mark xiii. 32, " But of that day and that hour knoweth 
 no man, no, not the angels which are in heaven, neither 
 the son, but the Father only." A like inconsistency in 
 ascribing to Jesus at one time the possession, and at 
 another a deficiency, of Supreme dominion, is percep-
 
 FAITH STRENGTHENED. 267 
 
 tible in Matthew xx. 23, where Jesus owns that it is not 
 within his power to allot to the meritorious certain dis- 
 tinctions in future life. We have before quoted from 
 Matthew viii. 1 9, that Jesus confessed he had no place 
 on which to rest his head, and was poorer than the fox 
 in the field and the bird of the heavens. In John xiv. 
 28, he states, " The Father is greater than I." Such 
 repeated discrepancies must deprive the New Testament 
 of all title of a genuine and inspired work. 
 
 CHAPTER LIV. 
 
 John xiii. 34, Jesus asserts, " A new commandment I 
 give unto you, that ye love one another," etc. This 
 commandment was by no means a new one. Moses had 
 inculcated it in the words, " Thou shalt love thy 
 neighbour as thyself." Matthew xix. 19, and xxii. 39, 
 admit that Moses was the first who promulgated this 
 precept. 
 
 CHAPTER LV. 
 
 John xvii. 3, Jesus says, " And this is life eternal, that 
 they might know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus 
 Christ, whom thou hast sent." 
 
 In this verse, Jesus acknowledged himself to be 
 merely a messenger, and not an integral part of the 
 Deity. The awe and worship due to the Almighty is 
 also, in Timothy i. 17, declared to belong to God alone; 
 for we find there, "Now unto the King eternal, immortal, 
 invisible, the only -svise God, be honour and glory for 
 ever and ever, amen." 
 
 If Jesus does not share the glory of God, he must be
 
 268 FAITH STRENGTHENED. 
 
 dependant on the will of his Creator, like every other 
 creature. 
 
 CHAPTER LVL 
 
 John xviii. 3, etc., " Judas Iscariot, having received a 
 band of men from the chief priests and pharisees, cometli 
 with lanthorns," etc., and was asked by Jesus, " Whom 
 seek ye ? and they answered and said, Jesus of Nazareth, 
 Jesus saith unto them^ I am he. And Judas also, who 
 betrayed him, stood with them." 
 
 This account of the betrayal differs from that given 
 in Matthew xxvi. 47 ; Mark xiv. 43 ; and Luke xxii. 47 ; 
 for, according to those authors of the respective parts 
 of the Gospel, Judas gave a secret sign to his compa- 
 nions, saying, " Him whom I shall kiss, that same is he, 
 hold him fast." 
 
 CHAPTER LVIL 
 
 \ 
 John xix. 15, " The chief priests answered, We have no 
 
 king but Csesar." 
 
 Those who are of opinion that the Jews lost their 
 
 independence on account of their putting Jesus to death, 
 
 find here a complete refutation. The Caesar alluded to 
 
 was the Emperor Tiberius, who had, according to 
 
 Luke iii., placed Pilate over Jerusalem. 
 
 CHAPTER LVIII. 
 
 John xx. 17, "Jesus saith unto her [Mary Magdalene], 
 Touch me not ; for I am not yet ascended to my Father ;
 
 FAITH STRENGTHENED. 269 
 
 but go to my bretlfren, and say unto them, I ascend 
 unto my Father and your Father, and to my God and 
 your God." 
 
 Jesus shewed here clearly that he was no God, but 
 was m the same subjection to God as his brethren. 
 
 It cannot, therefore, be asserted on the authority of 
 this passage, that Jesus meant anything more by styling 
 himself " the Son of God," than the Holy Scriptures 
 indicate by such passages as Deut. xiv. 1 , " Ye are 
 children of the Lord your God." The expression " Son 
 of God,^^ has not the slightest reference to a Superhuman 
 Being. 
 
 CHAPTER LIX. ' 
 
 Acts i. 6 and 7, *' When they [the Apostles], therefore, 
 were come together, they asked of Jesus, saying, Lord, 
 wilt thou at this time restore again the kino-dom to 
 Israel? and he said unto them. It is not for j^ou to 
 know the times or the seasons which the Father has 
 put in his own power." 
 
 The enquirers were evidently awaiting the restoration, 
 and learnt from his own avowal, that he did not con- 
 sider himself the restorer of the kingdom of the Jews. 
 At the same time he owned, that the termination of 
 Israel's exile is only known to the Almighty. If Jesus 
 had considered himself divinely inspired, he would have 
 given an answer in unison with his supernatural 
 knowledge. 
 
 CHAPTER LX. 
 
 Acts v. 34, " Then stood there up one in the council- ^
 
 270 FAITH STRENGTHENED. 
 
 pharisee, named Gamaliel, a doctor of the law, and said 
 unto the Jews, Ye men of Israel, take heed to yourselves 
 what ye intend to do as touching these men ; for if this 
 council, or this work, be of men, it will come to nought :" 
 (verse 39) "but if it be of God, ye cannot overthrow 
 it; lest, haply (perhaps) ye ^be found even to fight 
 against God " 
 
 The subject is cited here for the purpose of following 
 the order of the passages which claim a refutation. 
 We have already noticed that the duration of a sect 
 does not constitute a proof of the veracity of their 
 tenets, otherwise, the Mahommedan faith would be 
 entitled to nearly the same belief as that of the Chris- 
 tians. 
 
 CHAPTER LXI. 
 
 Acts vii. 4, " Then came he out of the land of the 
 Chaldeans and dwelt in Charran, and from thence, when 
 his father was dead, they brought him into this land 
 wherein ye now dwell." We have already pointed 
 out that this statement of Abraham's departure from 
 Charran, after the death of his father, is erroneous. 
 Instead of recapitulating our proof, we refer the reader 
 to Chapter XLV., of the first part of this work. 
 
 It is true that the death of Terah, though happening 
 after the departure of Abraham, is mentioned before it ; 
 but that is the frequent mode of Scripture narrative. 
 In the same Avay we find the death of Isaac recorded 
 before the selling of Joseph, although a brief calculation 
 would show that he survived thirteen years after the 
 selling of his grandson.
 
 FAITH STRENGTHENED. il71 
 
 CHAPTER LXII. 
 
 Acts vii. 7, "And the nation to whom they shall be 
 in bondage will I judge, said God, and afterwards sliall 
 they come forth and serve me in this place." 
 
 From this quotation it appears, that the disciples of 
 Jesus were but superficially versed in biblical knowledge. 
 For in Genesis (chap. xv. ) no such words as " in this 
 place," are to be found; and in Exodus iii. 12, the 
 expression is, " When thou shalt bring out this people 
 from Egypt, ye shall serve God on this mountain.''^ 
 
 CHAPTER LXIII. 
 
 Acts vii. 14, " Then sent Joseph, and called his father 
 Jacob to him, and all his kindred, threescore and 
 fifteen souls. So Jacob went down into Egypt and 
 died, he and our fathers, and were carried over into 
 Sychem, and laid in the sepulchre that Abraham 
 bought for a sum of money of the sons of Emmor, the 
 father of Sychem." 
 
 The many errors put together in so small a compass 
 are sufficiently obvious. In the first place, we know 
 that Jacob's family that came down to Egypt, inclusive 
 of Joseph and his sons, amounted to seventy persons, 
 and not to seventy -five. See Genesis xlvi. 27, and 
 Deut. X. 22. 
 
 Secondly, Jacob was not buried in Sychem (Scha- 
 chem), but in the cave of Machpelah, in Hebron. 
 
 Thirdly, The "fathers" of the several tribes were not 
 buried in Egypt, Joseph only being buried there, but 
 his remains Moses carried away with him at the time of 
 the departure of tlie Israelites from Egypt.
 
 272 FAITH STRENGTHENED. 
 
 Fourthly, Abraham did not buy the cave of Mach- 
 pelah of the children of Emmor (Hamor), the son 
 of Schachem," but of Ephron, the Hittite. 
 
 Fifthly, the plot of field, situated near Schachem, 
 was purchased by Jacob, and not by Abraham. The 
 author of the Acts had but a confused idea of the 
 several purchases made by the patriarchs Abraham and 
 Jacob, and his statements respecting them must have 
 been from hearsay. 
 
 Sixthly, Schachem i;Schechem, Sychem), was the son, 
 and not the father of Emmor (Hamor). 
 
 CHAPTER LXIV. 
 
 Acts vii. 43, " Yea, ye took the tabernacle of Moloch, 
 and the star of your god Remphan, figures which ye 
 made to worship them, and I will carry you away beyond 
 Babylon." This quotation from the prophecy of Amos 
 is incorrect. In chap. v. 26, 27, it is thus expressed: 
 " But ye have borne the tabernacle of your Moloch, 
 and Chiun your images, the star of your God, which ye 
 made to yourselves. Therefore I will cause you to go 
 into captivity beyond Damascus," etc. Quotations 
 misapplied, or garbled, destroy the authenticity of a 
 work instead of supporting it. 
 
 CHAPTER LXV. 
 
 Acts viii. 9, 10, 11, "There was a certain man called 
 Simon, which beforetime in the same city, used 
 sorcery, and bewitched the people of Samaria, giving 
 out that himself was some great one, to whom they all
 
 FAITH STRENGTHENED. 273 
 
 gave heed from {lie least to the greatest, saying, This 
 man is the great power of God, and to him they had 
 regard, because that of long time he had bewitched them 
 with sorceries." 
 
 In days when credulity and superstition were rife, 
 and sorceresses were deemed to be inspired messengers 
 of the Almighty, it was easy to impress a belief that 
 the son of a woman was an incarnate deity, but in an 
 age, when sorcery is discredited, and superstition dis- 
 couraged, it is strange that such a belief should be 
 inculcated, and that men should attempt to convert the 
 Jews to the inconsistent doctrines that still prevail, that 
 Jesus was a God on earth. 
 
 CHAPTER LXVI. 
 
 Acts x. 11 — 16, " And Peter saw heaven opened; and 
 a certain vessel descending unto him, wherein were all 
 manner of four-footed beasts of the earth, and wild beasts, 
 and creeping things, and fowls of the air. And there 
 came a voice to him, saying. Arise, Peter, kill and eat. 
 But Peter said. Not so. Lord, for I have never eaten 
 anything that is common or unclean. And the voice 
 spake unto him again the second time, What God hath 
 cleansed, that call not thou common." The same is 
 stated ibid. chap. xi. 6. Tn Paul's first epistle to the 
 Corinthians, chap.x. 25, the following doctrine is taught : 
 " Whatsoever is sold in the shambles, that eat, asking no 
 questions for conscience sake." Mark, (chap. vii. 16), 
 declares only such things unclean which come out of the 
 mouth, but not those which go into the mouth. We 
 have already animadverted on the inconsistency of such 
 declarations when compared with the stringent in- 
 junction enforced in the very same book, to abstain 
 
 T
 
 274 FAITH STRENGTHENED. 
 
 most rigidly from blood and flesh of torn or strangled 
 beasts. See what we have noticed before, when treat- 
 ing on Matthew xv. in the Second Part of this Work. 
 
 CHAPTER LXVTI. 
 
 Acts xiii. 21, Paul says of the Israelites, " And after- 
 wards they desired a king, and God gave unto them 
 Saul, the son ^of Kish, a man of the tribe of Benjamin, by 
 the space of forty years." 
 
 Paul erred in assigning to Said such a protracted 
 reign. Saul had governed only two years when his 
 dereliction of the will of God, in his war against the 
 Amalekites, threw him into disfavour, so that he for- 
 feited his crown. Samuel was then immediately sent 
 to anoint David, who was about twenty years old ; when 
 he [David] ascended the throne, he was but thirty years 
 of age (see 2 Samuel v. 4); consequently Saul could 
 not have governed Israel more than ten years. If we 
 follow an hypothesis of Albo, the author of the book 
 entitled Sepher Ikkarim, SjuiI did not occupy the throne 
 even so long a time ; but certainly could not have re- 
 mained king for forty years. 
 
 CHAPTEll I. XVIII. 
 
 Acts xiii. 33, Paul proves thnt Jesus is the Son of God, 
 by quoting from the second Psalm: "Thou art my Son, 
 this day have I begotten thee." 
 
 The reference to that psalm is objectionable, since the 
 royal psalmist spoke here of his own person. It was 
 against himself that the Gentiles raged, and carried on 
 their warfare, when he had commenced his government.
 
 FAITH STRENGTHENED. 275 
 
 See 2 Samuel V. 17, "And the Philistines had heard 
 that they had anointed David king over Israel, and all 
 the Philistines came to seek David," etc. 
 
 He called himself justly the Messiah, Anointed of the 
 Lord, for that title was lawfully given to him as the 
 ruler of his people. Having been established as the 
 chief of Israel, by the express command of the Lord, 
 he was justified to mark those rebelling against him as 
 rising " against the Lord, and against His Anointed." 
 The words in Psalm ii., " And I have anointed my 
 king," occur in the actual history of David, in 1 Samuel 
 xvi. 1, " I shall send thee to Jesse, of Bethlehem, for 
 among his sons I have seen for myself a king." " Zion, 
 my holy mountain," (Psalm ii.), which was the metro- 
 polis, and was called " the city of David." It was that 
 king to whom it was said, " Thou art ray son, 1 have 
 this day begotten thee." The title So7i, was given to 
 all those who, by faithful obedience, attached themselves 
 to the service of God. In Exodus iv. 22, Israel was 
 called "my first-born son"; and in Hosea i. 10, "It 
 will be said unto them, Ye are the sons of the living- 
 God." On the day when Samuel anointed David as 
 king of Israel, " he was changed into another man." 
 and we read in 1 Samuel xvi. 13, " And Samuel took 
 the horn of oil, and anointed him in the midst of his 
 brethren, and the Spirit of the Lord descended upon 
 him." The adoption of man by God is called, in biblical 
 language, "to beget." See Deuteronomy xxxii. 18, 
 " Thou hast forgotten the rock that begat thee." The 
 words, "Ask of me, and I shall give nations for an in- 
 heritance," were fulfilled to David, who .humbled the 
 Philistines (2 Samuel viii.), and made Amon, and Moab, 
 and Edom, ti-ibutary to himself. With reference to 
 Jesus, he 'had no dominion whatever to merit the title 
 of a Messiah (Anointed King). He said of himself 
 
 t2
 
 276 FAITH STRENGTHENED. 
 
 that he was " not come to be ministered (served) unto, 
 but to minister" (serve others). Moreover, why should 
 Jesus have been invited to " Ask of me, and I will give 
 nations for an inheritance," since as the incarnate Son of 
 God, the whole earth ought to have belonged to him, 
 and not some selected portion of it? 
 
 CHAPTER LXIX. 
 
 Acts xiii. 35 — 37, Paul says, " Wherefore, he says also 
 in another psalm, Thou shalt not suffer thine Holy One 
 to see corruption. For David, after he had served his 
 own generation by the will of God, fell on sleep, and was 
 laid unto his fathers, and saw corruption ; but he whom 
 God raised again, saw no corruption." 
 
 The addition, that ''David saw corruption," shows 
 that Paul misunderstood the sense of the passage he 
 quoted. The word 6'c/iac/i6^ (rendered "corruption") 
 means a pit, and is synonymous with grave ; for David 
 relied on the salvation of the soul of the righteous, and 
 expressed his conviction, that the body alone goes down 
 to the pit, and not the soul with it, into perdition. 
 
 Passages, in which the word schachet (pit) occurs, in 
 Psalm xciv., " Until a pit is dug for the iniquitous 
 man." Proverbs xxvi. 27, " He who diggeth a pit, shall 
 fall into it." Psalm vii. 15, " He who makes a hole and 
 diggeth it, will fall into the pit he hath made." We 
 cannot perceive, therefore, the authority Paul had to 
 apply the words of that psalm otherwise than in a sense 
 in which its auth(jr had evidently designed it.
 
 FAITH STRENGTHENED. 277 
 
 CHAPTER LXX. 
 
 Acts xv. fr(>m ver. 1 to 12. It is there related that 
 certain men of the sect of the Pharisees rose up, and 
 said that the Gentiles could not be saved unless they 
 abided by the law of Moses, and that, upon the deli- 
 very of this opinion, the apostles and elders came 
 together to deliberate; and they argued much upon 
 this matter. Peter then settled the dispute by saying, 
 *' Why tempt ye God to put a yoke upon the neck of 
 the disciples, which neither our fathers nor we were 
 able to bear. But we believe that, through the grace 
 of the Lord Jesus Christ, we shall be saved, even as 
 they." 
 
 Peter, by this remonstrance, contradicts the opinion 
 held by Jesus, as is shown by the advice given to the 
 rich man, who had consulted him respecting which of 
 the laws he should observe, etc. (see Matthew xix.). 
 We have, moreover, in a former chapter, shown that 
 the law of Jesus, when carried out to the letter, is more 
 rigorous than the Mosaic code, and utterly impracticable 
 in the affairs of social life. We have already pointed 
 out that the suggestion made by Jesus to the rich man, 
 to the effect that he should sell all he had and distribute 
 the money among the poor, was wisely disregarded by 
 all his disciples and followers. Paul also deemed it 
 proper to designate the law of Moses " a yoke ol" 
 bondage" (Galatians v. 1), and that he would not sub 
 mit to the passive endurance of the humiliation recom- 
 mended by Jesus. See Chap. XXVII. of the Second 
 Part of this work.
 
 278 FAITH STRENGTHENED. 
 
 CHAPTER LXXL 
 
 Acts xv. 17. The Apostle James cites a verse from 
 Amos ix., changed into the following terms: — " That 
 the residue of men might seek after the Lord, and all 
 the Gentiles upon whom my name is called, saith the 
 Lord, who doeth all these things." 
 
 The true passage runs thus : — "In order that those 
 may inherit the remainder of Edom, and of all the 
 Gentiles upon whom my name is called, saith the Lord 
 who doeth this." The prophecy does not predict the 
 acquisition of the inheritance in favour of other men, 
 but in favour of Israel," upon whom the name of the 
 Lord is called. See Deut. xxviii. 1 0, "And all the 
 people of the earth shall see that the name of the Lord 
 is called upon thee." 
 
 CHAPTER LXXIL 
 
 Acts xv. 20, 29. The apostles enjoin on their followers 
 the frequently-repeated commands to abstain from 
 sacrifices to idols, and from fornication, and from things 
 strangled, and from blood." How the Christians 
 respect these prohibitions we have already adverted to 
 in Chap. XLIX. and L. in the First Part of this work. 
 
 CHAPTER LXXIIL 
 
 Acts xvi. 1, " Paul, going to Derbe and Lystra, met 
 Timothy, the son of a certain woman who was a Jewess, 
 and he took and circumcised him, because of the Jews 
 who were in those quarters," From this quotation, and
 
 FAITH STRENGTHENED. 279 
 
 the records of history, it is evident that original Chris- 
 tianity did not dispense with the circumcision of Jews 
 received within its pale. Is it not, then, sinful to attempt 
 to persuade Jews to abandon those rites wliich the 
 founders and first propagators of the Christian religion 
 actually confirmed by their own acts ? 
 
 CHAPTER LXXIV. 
 
 Acts xvi. 2. Paul, by circumcising Tiniotliy, proved 
 that the Mosaic dispensation of circumcision had not 
 been abrogated. On the other hand, he wrote to the 
 Galatians (chap, v. 2), " Behold, I, Paul, say unto you, 
 ^ that, if ye be circumcised, Christ shall profit you 
 nothing; for I testify again to every man that is cir- 
 cumcised, that he is a debtor to do the whole law." If 
 circumcision were of no avail for Timothy, why did his 
 master circumcise him ? If, however, that sacred act 
 was indispensable, and bound the man fully through 
 the covenant of Abraham to adhere to the command- 
 ments and the laws of Moses, how is it that Paul deemed 
 it perfectly consistent to break by precept those very 
 teachings of Moses? 
 
 CHAPTER LXXV. 
 
 Acts xvi. 30. The keeper of the prison asked Paul 
 and Silas, " Sirs, what must I do to be saved ? and they 
 said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt 
 be saved and thy liouse." 
 
 The answer of the apostles does not coincide with 
 the answer given by Jesus in Ahitthew xix. 10; Mark 
 X. 17; and Luke xviii. 19; wherein ho exacted of the
 
 280 FAITH STRENGTHENED. 
 
 inquirer full obedience to the laws of Moses, in order to 
 obtain salvation. 
 
 CHAPTER LXXVI. 
 
 Acts xxviii. 3. Paul being bitten by a viper, felt no 
 harm from the effects of the poisonous bite, and was, 
 therefore, held by the ha7^harians surrounding him, to 
 be a God. 
 
 The ease with which a human being was deified in 
 those days, accounts for the astonishing superstitious 
 belief that Jesus was at the same time mortal and a 
 God. 
 
 CHAPTER LXXVII. 
 
 Paul's epistle to the Romans. 
 
 Romans v. 14, " Nevertheless, death reigned from Adam 
 to Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the 
 similitude of Adam's transgression," 
 
 Other copies have the contrary. " Who had sinned 
 after the similitude," etc. 
 
 If death reigned to the days of Moses only, how is 
 the question to be explained: How could Jesus be 
 considered the Saviour of mankind, if the dominion of 
 death had been made to cease through the laws of 
 Moses, " which, if a man performeth, he liveth in them ?" 
 See the question fully discussed in Chapter 1. of the 
 First Part of this work.
 
 FAITH STRENGTHENED. 281 
 
 CHAPTER LXXVIII. 
 
 Romans ix. '24 — 26, " Even us, whom he has called, 
 not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles. As he 
 says also in Hosea, I will call them my people, which 
 were not my people, and her beloved which was not 
 beloved. And it shall come to pass, that in the place 
 where it was said unto them, Ye are not my people, 
 there shall they be called the children of the living 
 God." 
 
 It is immaterial for us to know whether it was 
 ignorance or intentional perversion which prompted 
 Paul to refer to Hosea for a purpose which that prophet 
 had not in view. It suffices to refer to Hosea i., in 
 order to ascertain that the prophet alludes not to the 
 Gentiles, but exclusively to Israel, who, when obedient 
 to the law of God, were to be called Ammi, " (my 
 people"), and Ruhainah, ("she who is pitied"); but 
 when disobedient they were to be called Lo-Ammi, 
 " (not my people)," and Lo-Ruhamah, " (not to be 
 pitied)." And again in ver. 10, we read, "And it 
 shall come to pass that in the place where it was said 
 unto them, Ye are not my people, there it shall be said 
 unto them. Ye are the sons of the living God." 
 
 CHAPTER LXXIX. 
 
 Romans ix. 33, "As it is written. Behold, I lay in Zion, 
 a stumbling stone and a rock of offence, and whosoever 
 believeth on him shall not be ashamed." 
 
 This passage is a collection of short sentences, igno- 
 rantly or ingeniously packed together, to show that 
 Jesus is the only Saviour of those who found " their 
 stumbling ].)lock in Zion." In cliap. viii. 14, of
 
 282 FAITH STRENGTHENED. 
 
 Isaiah, we find, " And he shall be for a sanctuary and 
 a stumbling stone, as a rock of offence to the two houses 
 of Israel, and as a snare and a gin to the inhabitants of 
 Jerusalem." And the prophet continues (chap, xxviii. 
 16), " Therefore thus saith the Lord God, Behold 
 I have laid a foundation in Zion, a tried stone, a pre- 
 cious corner stone, well established, well founded. He 
 who believes shall not hasten (away from it)." 
 
 Another incorrect quotation from our Scriptures is 
 also to be found in Romans x. II, "For the Scripture 
 saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed." 
 Peter in his first Epistle (chap. ii. 6), quotes from 
 treacherous memory, " Wherefore also it is contained 
 in the Scripture, Behold I lay in Zion a chief corner- 
 stone, elect, precious, and he that believeth on him 
 shall not be confounded." 
 
 The arbitrarily detaching or connecting various words 
 of Scripture to verify doctrines, not taught in our Sacred 
 Books, is, according to our opinion, its own refutation, 
 and highly blameable. 
 
 CHAPTER LXXX. 
 
 Romans x. 6 — 9, " Say not in thine heart. Who shall 
 ascend into heaven? (that is, to bring Christ down 
 from above) ; or. Who shall descend into the deep? (that 
 is, to bring up Christ again from the dead). But what 
 saith it (viz. Scripture)? The word is nigh thee, even 
 in thy mouth, and in thy heart, that is, the word of 
 faith which we preach : That if thou shalt confess with 
 thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine 
 heart that God has raised him from the dead, thou shalt 
 be saved." 
 
 If those to whom Paul was preaching had referred to
 
 FAITH STRENGTHENED. 283 
 
 the thirtieth chapter of Deuteronomy, they might have 
 perceived that the words of Moses were misconstrued 
 by the Apostle. That part of our law tells us merely 
 that it is within the reach of every man to be penitent, 
 and obtain mercy and pardon. 
 
 Our lawgiver having spoken in general terms, " If 
 thou wilt turn to the Lord thy God, with all thy heart 
 and all thy souy etc., goes on to say, " For the com- 
 mandment which I give thee this day is not hidden 
 from thee, nor is it too far off. It is not in heaven 
 that thou mightest say, Who shall go up into heaven for 
 us, and bring it down for us that we may practise 
 it?" etc. 
 
 It having been shown that the nature of the gift of 
 mercy is put in juxtaposition with the ease of acquiring 
 it, we are enabled to comprehend the expression, " This 
 matter is very near unto thee, it is in thy heart and thy 
 mouth that thou mayest do it." 
 
 CHAPTER LXXXI. 
 
 Romans xi. 26, " And so all Israel shall be saved, as it 
 is written. There shall come out of Zion the deliverer, 
 and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob." 
 
 The true words of the prophet (Isaiah lix. 20), do 
 not indicate that the Messiah will turn away ungodliness 
 from Jacob, but that "a redeemer will come to Zion, 
 and to those who return from transgression in Jacob, 
 saith the Lord." 
 
 CHAPTER LXXXIL 
 
 Romans xvi. 20, " And the God of peace shall bruise
 
 284 FAITH STRENGTHENED. 
 
 Satan under your feet shortly," etc. In 1 Thessalonians 
 ii. 18, Paul says, " We would have come unto you 
 again, even I, Paul, but Satan hindered us." 
 
 The Christians, in consequence of the above quota- 
 tions, maintain the belief that the power of Satan was 
 broken by the death of Jesus, who " bruised the head 
 of the serpent." If so, how then did it happen that 
 Satan, after the death of Jesus, had such sway as to 
 obstruct the very apostles of Jesus in the pursuit of their 
 ministrations ? 
 
 CHAPTER LXXXIII. 
 
 Paul's first epistle to the Corinthians. 
 
 1 Corinthians v. 1, Paul reproaches his followers that 
 " there be fornication among them, and that one of 
 them had committed incest by marrying his father's 
 mfe." 
 
 If Paul, as all his writings indicate, considered the 
 Christians dispensed from observing the Mosaic Law, 
 where was their boundary of religious duties or trans- 
 gressions, seeing that Jesus had not promulgated a new 
 code of laws? Surely, no permission had been granted 
 by the founder of Christianity, so that his followers 
 should observe part of the Mosaic laws, and reject the 
 remainder. 
 
 CHAPTER LXXXIV. 
 
 1 Corinthians vi. 3, Paul says, " Know ye that we shall 
 judge angels?" Great must have been the Apostle's 
 presumption if he believed that corporeal man should 
 be the judge of incorporeal beings! The greatest
 
 FAITH STRENGTHENED. 285 
 
 prophets of Israel admitted that the angels were beyond 
 the comprehension of our finite sense. How could the 
 invisible be summoned before the tribunal of the 
 visible? 
 
 CHAPTER LXXXV. 
 
 1 Corinthians vii. 18 — 20, "Is any man called being 
 circumcised, let him not become uncircumcised. Is any 
 called in uncircumcision, let him not be circumcised. 
 Circumcision is nothing, and uncircumcision is nothing, 
 but the keeping of the commandments of God. Let 
 every man abide in the same calling wherein he was 
 called." In the Epistle to the Galatians, chap. v. 3, 
 he also says, " For I testify again to every man that is 
 circumcised that he is a debtor to do the whole lain^ 
 These words ought to be kept in constant remembrance 
 by those Christians wlio urge us to abandon our holy 
 faith and adopt their religious observances. 
 
 CHAPTER LXXXVI. 
 
 1 Corinthians x. 8, " Neither let us commit fornication, 
 as some of them committed, and fell in one day three 
 and twenty thousand." 
 
 In this brief passage there is an error, which in every 
 other work might pass unnoticed. A book, which 
 assumes to be dictated by inspiration, ought to be 
 accurate in every particular. In Numbers xxv., Ave 
 read that/cwr and twenty thousand and not three and 
 twenty thousand^ fell by the visitation of pestilence.
 
 286 FAITH STRENGTHENED. 
 
 CHAPTER LXXXVII. 
 
 1 Corinthians xv. 54, " So, when this corruptible shall 
 have put on mcorruption, and this mortal shall have 
 put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the 
 saying that is written. Death is swallowed up in victory ; 
 Death where is thy sting ! grave where is thy 
 victory !" This passage is not a true quotation from 
 our Scripture, being a mixture of two unconnected 
 verses. Isaiah, chap. xxv. 8, says only, " He has 
 swallowed up Death to perpetuity" ; and Hosea, 
 chap, xiii., says " Where are thy pestilences, Death ? 
 Where are thy destructions, grave? 
 
 \ 
 CHAPTER LXXXYIII. 
 
 Paul's epistle to the galatians. 
 
 Galatians i. 18, " Then, after three years, I went up 
 to Jerusalem to see Peter, and abode with him fifteen 
 days. But other of the Apostles saw I none, save 
 James, the Lord's brother." Paul represents here, 
 James, the brother of Jesus, as an apostle of Jesus, and 
 he contradicts thereby the statement made by John, 
 chap, vii 5, " For neither did his [viz., Jesus'] bre- 
 thren believe in Him." We have enlarged on these 
 contradictions in our discussions on Luke ii. and 
 Mark iii. 
 
 CHAPTER LXXXIX. 
 
 Galatians iii. 13, Paul says, "Christ has redeemed us 
 from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us ;
 
 FAITH STRENGTHENED. 287 
 
 fo]' it is written, Cursed is every man that hangeth on a 
 tree." It is a most extraordinary conclusion, that an 
 ignominious death, suffered by Jesus, sliould have be- 
 come the means of releasing his followers from their 
 adherence to the ancient law of God, in order not to be 
 subjected to the curse of the law. Surely submission 
 to, and not abandonment of the law, should have been 
 recommended. 
 
 CHAPTER XC. 
 
 Galatians iii. 16, " Now to Abraham and his seed were 
 the promises made : He saith not, and to seeds as of 
 many ; but as of one, and to thy seed, which is Christ." 
 
 Want of acquaintance with the genius of the Hebrew 
 language has led the author of the epistle to a wrong 
 conclusion. When seed signifies posterity^ it is never 
 put in the plural number. See Genesis xiii. 15, "For 
 all the land which thou seest, 1 will give to thee, and to 
 thy seed for evermore." Immediately after this promise, 
 we read, " And thy seed shall be like the dust of the 
 earth." This relates to the numbers of individuals, and 
 not to a single individual. Again, we find in Genesis 
 XV. 5, " And He caused him to go out (of the house) 
 and He spake, Look now up to heaven, and count the 
 stars, if thou canst count them; and He said unto him, 
 Thus shall be thy seed." 
 
 Ibid. ver. 13, "And He spake unto Abraham, Thou 
 shalt surely know that thy seed shall be strangers in a 
 land which is not their's." These examples may suffice, 
 but similar ones may be found in various parts of 
 Scrijiture. These aimotations afford abundant proof 
 that the term seed^ in the promise given to Abraham, 
 refers to an entire nation.
 
 288 FAITH STRENGTHENED. 
 
 CHAPTER XCI. 
 
 Paul's Epistle to the Ephesians. 
 
 Ephesians iv. 8, " Wherefore, he saith, when he ascended 
 up on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto 
 men." 
 
 The quotation seems to be made from memory. 
 The Psahnist (Ixviii. 18) who addresses the Almighty, 
 says, " Thou hast taken gifts from men," and not thou 
 hast given gifts. 
 
 \ CHAPTER XCIL 
 
 Paul's First Epistle to the Thessalonians. 
 
 1 Thessalonians ii. 10, Paul says, " Ye are witnesses, 
 and God also, how holily, and justly, and unblameably, 
 we behaved ourselves among you that believe." 
 
 In a teacher of men, whose object it was to establish 
 a new faith, it appears unbecoming to mention jirst^ 
 men, as witnesses^ and secondly^ God. A candid 
 perusal of the writings of Paul accounts for this pecu- 
 liarity of arranging his ideas. He impresses on the 
 reader the suspicion that he was guided by expediency, 
 more than by true religious feeling, and that his mind 
 was not influenced by the elevated sentiments of piety. 
 
 CHAPTER XCIII. 
 
 Epistle of James. 
 James ii. 14, to the end of the chapter. The author of
 
 FAITH STRENGTHENED. 289 
 
 this Epistle recommends good works as superior to mere 
 faith ; and then he continues, " Was not Abraham, our 
 tather justified by works, when he had offered Isaac, his 
 son upon the altar? Likewise also, was not Rahab, the 
 harlot, justified by works, when she had received the 
 messengers, and had sent them out another way ? For 
 as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without 
 works is dead also." 
 
 The opinion here cited meets with the contradiction 
 of Paul, who writes in his Epistle to the Eomans, chap, 
 iii. 19, " Therefore, by deeds of the law shall no flesh be 
 jusfijied.^' Again, he says, in the same chapter, ver. 28, 
 " Therefore, we conclude that a man is justified by faith 
 without the deeds of the law." In his Epistle to the 
 Galatians, chap. ii. 16, Paul repeats the assertion, that 
 faith in Jesus is of greater avail than the observance of 
 the law, by saying, "Knowing that a man is not justified 
 by the works of the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ." 
 At the end of that chapter, he maintains, " If righ- 
 teousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in 
 vain." The like doctrine is enforced in chap. iii. from the 
 beginning to the end. Also throughout the Epistle to 
 the Hebrews, chap, xi., it is maintained that faith is 
 preferable to works. See again, ibid. ver. 17, where it is 
 said, " Abraham, tried by faith, offered up Isaac." 
 Again, ibid. v. 31, ^^ By faith the harlot Rahab perished 
 not with them that believed not, when she had received 
 the spies in peace." We, Jews, are not anxious to 
 reconcile the discrepancies occurring in the New Testa- 
 ment, and to decide whether more truth is to be found 
 in one than in the other of those opinions. All our as- 
 pirations lead us to adopt a mode of life in exact 
 conformity with the Holy Law, which tells us, " A7id it 
 shall be accounted to us as righteousness if we keep and 
 fidfil all these commands.'^ 
 
 u
 
 290 FAITH STRENGTHENED. 
 
 CHAPTER XCIV. 
 
 Epistle to the Hebrews. 
 
 This Epistle is the production of an anonymous writer. 
 Some have ascribed it to Luke, others to Paul. In the 
 early days of Christianity it was rejected as Apocry- 
 phal. 
 
 CHAPTER XCV. 
 
 Hebrews i. 5- — 9, " For unto which of the angels said 
 he, in former times, Thou art my son, this day have I 
 begotten thee ? And, again, I will be to him a father, 
 and he shall be to me a son. And again, when he 
 bringeth in the first begotten into the world, he says, 
 Let all the angels of God worship him. And of the 
 angels, he saith. Who maketh his angels spirits^ and his 
 ministers a flame of fire ? But to the Son he saith, 
 Thy throne, God, is for ever and ever. A sceptre of 
 righteousness is the sceptre of thy kingdom. Thou 
 hast loved righteousness and hated iniquity ; therefore 
 God, even thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of 
 gladness above thy fellows.'' 
 
 The errors of the author of this epistle are as many 
 as the quotations with which he strives to confirm his 
 views. The connexion established between Jesus and 
 the seventh verse of Psalm ii., " Thou art my son, this 
 day have I begotten thee," we have already presented 
 in a proper light in our remarks on Acts viii. 33. We 
 have there fully proved that David applied those 
 elevated words to himself. Hence Christians are not 
 justified in deducing from it doctrinal points. The
 
 FAITH STRENGTHENED. 291 
 
 promise made in 5 Samuel viii., " I shall be unto him 
 as a father, and he shall be to me as a son," was made 
 regarding Solomon, the son of David. The Christians 
 themselves would not like to refer these words to Jesus, 
 since the prophecy contains the prediction, "Whom, if he 
 commit iniquity, I shall chastise him with the rod of men, 
 and with the stripes of the children of men." As to 
 Jesus, it is well known that his worshippers are imj)ressed 
 Avith the conviction that he never committed any sin. 
 
 The author of the Epistle pretends to discover in our 
 Scripture, that the angels of God were bound to worship 
 Jesus. We find, in Psalm xcvii., " All ye gods, worship 
 /te/?2," viz., that God who is spoken of as the Lord of the 
 whole earth. The words, " Thy throne, God^ is for 
 ever and ever," are wrongly quoted from Psalm xlv. 6. 
 We read there Kis-au-hau Mohim, which means, " Thy 
 throne (is) of God," and not " Thy throne, God." 
 Thus we find, in 1 Chron. xxix. 21, " And Solomon sat 
 on the throne of the Lord." The Lord being the 
 acknowledged king of Israel, the throne occupied by 
 David and his posterity was described as the throne of 
 the Lord. This throne is to be occupied by the 
 descendants of David for time everlasting. Thus Daniel 
 prophesies, in chap, ii., "The God of heaven will establish 
 a throne which shall not be destroyed throughout 
 eternity. 
 
 To be convinced that our interpretation is correct, 
 let the reader merely refer to the continuation of the 
 words of Psalm xlv. 7, " Thou lovest righteousness and 
 hatest iniquity; therefore hath God, even thy God^ 
 anointed thee." If Jesus is God, could the Psalmist 
 address him with such words as thy God ? 
 
 u2
 
 292 FAITH STRENGTHENED. 
 
 CHAPTER XCVI. 
 
 Hebrews ii. 7, " Thou madest him a little lower than 
 the angels, thou crownedst him with glory and honour." 
 In verse 9, it is said, " Jesus who was made a little 
 lower than the angels." It is remarkable, that Jesus, 
 as the inferior being, should have been destined to be 
 worshipped by the angels, who were his superiors. On 
 referring to the eighth Psalm, ver. 3, 4, 5, 6, we find 
 that the author of the Epistle, in quoting some words, 
 has perverted their real purport. The Psalmist in 
 using the ejaculation, " When I behold the heavens, the 
 works of thjl fingers, and the moon and the stars which 
 thou hast fixed," must be understood as if he had ex- 
 pressed himself in the following words : — I am so struck 
 with awe and wonder, that I feel the utter nothingness 
 of human creatures; and 1 say to myself, "What is 
 mortal man, that thou rememberest him, and the son 
 of man, that thou takest note of him." The frailty and 
 mortality of man, suggested to the Psalmist the sense of 
 a deep humility; on the other hand, man is rendered 
 conscious of his noble state, as the possessor of an im- 
 mortal spirit^ which makes him almost an equal to the 
 ministering angels on high. It is with respect to this 
 supreme endowment that the Psalmist exclaims, "Thou 
 hast made him but little less than the angels and hast 
 crowned him with glory and honour." Blessed with 
 intelligence, he rules the inferior creatures of the field 
 and the forest, of the air and the sea. 
 
 This Psalm has, consequently, no allusion to any non- 
 Jewish doctrine, but is a sublime amplification of the 
 divine resolve, as contained in Genesis, " We will make 
 man in our image, according to our likeness, and they 
 shall rule over the fish of the sea, and the birds of the
 
 FAITH STRENGTHENED. 293 
 
 heaven, and thej3easts, and over the whole earth." 
 Taking this plain view of the several portions of Scrip- 
 ture, the candid reader will agree with us, that the 
 inflexible truth of our revealed writings does not allow 
 the shade of a proof in favour of the rank given to 
 Jesus in the mystical theology of the Christians. 
 
 CHAPTER XCVII. 
 
 Hebrews viii. 8. The following quotation is made from 
 Jeremiah xxxi. 31, " Behold the days come, saith the 
 Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house 
 of Israel." 
 
 A refutation of the interpretation given by the 
 Christians to this verse, has been ofl^'ered in the First 
 Part of this work. Chap. XXIX. The author of the 
 Epistle to the Hebrews, in ver. 13 of the same chapter, 
 says, " In that he saith a new covenant, he hath made 
 the first old. Now that which decayeth and waxeth old 
 is ready to vanish away." The writer was not aware 
 that spiritual matters do not wear out like old garments. 
 He might have found a correct opinion in Psalm cxi. 7, 8, 
 "The works of His hands are truth and judgment; 
 faithful are all His ordinances; well supported for ever^ 
 and made with truth and integrity." 
 
 Equally decided are the words of Isaiah on this 
 subject. He says, chap. xl. 8, " Grass drieth up, the 
 flower withereth, but the word of our God shall stand 
 for ever.^' 
 
 CHAPTER XCVIII. 
 
 Hebrews x. 5. Referring to Psalm xl., Paul states.
 
 294 FAITH STRENGTHENED. 
 
 " Wherefore when he cometh into the world, he saith, 
 Sacrifice and offering thou wouldst not, but a body 
 thou hast prepared me." The quotation is erroneous. 
 The Psalmist says, " Sacrifice and offering thou wouldst 
 not, mine ears thou hast opened ; burnt offering and sin 
 offering thou didst not desire." The Psalmist expressed 
 by this, that obedience to God is the chief duty of man, 
 and that listening to Him is better than an offering, and 
 hearkening to Him " is more acceptable than the fat of 
 rams." 
 
 That pious feelings, and not mere ceremonials, were 
 the essential requisites, we have already demonstrated 
 in the First Part of this work. 
 
 CHA.PTER XCIX. 
 
 Revelation. 
 
 Revelation vii. 5. In enumerating the Twelve Tribes 
 of Israel, the tribe of Dan is omitted, and that of 
 Manasseh mentioned in its stead, although the tribe of 
 Joseph might have naturally included that of Manasseh. 
 This shows that the author of the Revelation was 
 imperfectly acquainted with the very rudiments of 
 Biblical history. If the instructor himself be un- 
 instructed, what can his disciple profit by the knowledge 
 emanating from such a source? 
 
 CHAPTER C. 
 
 Revelation xxii. 18, 19, "For I testify unto every 
 man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this 
 book, If any man shall add to these things, God shall
 
 FAITH STRENGTHENED. 295 
 
 add unto him the^lagues that are written in this book. 
 And if any man shall take away from the words of the 
 book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out 
 of the book of life, and out of the Holy City, and from 
 the things that are written in this book." 
 
 The Christians have nevertheless ventured to make 
 changes of a most glaring nature. The removal of the 
 sabbath to the first day of the week is not authorised 
 by Jesus or any of his apostles. The eating of blood, 
 and the flesh of strangled beasts, etc., is a palpable 
 infringement of the dictates of the apostles, as has been 
 amply proved in Chap. III. of the First Part of this 
 work. 
 
 Thus, having accomplished all my intention, I offer 
 thanks to God, who is One and Indivisible ; He is the 
 first and the last ; besides Him there is no God. 
 
 THE END.
 
 INDEX OF QUOTATIONS. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 GENESIS. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Chap. XXIX. 
 
 . 
 
 Verse 
 
 20 
 
 - 
 
 Page 
 
 46 
 
 Chap 
 
 .11. 
 
 - Verse 
 
 17 - 
 
 Page 81 
 
 „ I. 
 
 . 
 
 » 
 
 26 
 
 - 
 
 » 
 
 — 
 
 
 XXV. 
 
 ,j 
 
 18 - 
 
 
 83 
 
 „ XI. 
 
 - 
 
 H 
 
 7 
 
 - 
 
 » 
 
 — 
 
 
 XXIV. 
 
 ~ ,> 
 
 14 - 
 
 
 96 
 
 „ XVII. 
 
 - 
 
 J5 
 
 17 
 
 - 
 
 >J 
 
 47 
 
 
 XII. 
 
 >, 
 
 1 - 
 
 
 101 
 
 „ XI. 
 
 - 
 
 )> 
 
 7 
 
 - 
 
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 — 
 
 
 XXIII. 
 
 ») 
 
 - 
 
 
 104 
 
 „ II. 
 
 . 
 
 )J 
 
 17 
 
 - 
 
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 51 
 
 
 XVII. 
 
 » 
 
 7 - 
 
 
 108 
 
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 - 
 
 » 
 
 31 
 
 - 
 
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 XII. 
 
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 3 - 
 
 
 115 
 
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 - 
 
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 17 
 
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 53 
 
 
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 14 - 
 
 
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 13 
 
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 58 
 
 
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 20 - 
 
 
 126 
 
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 - 
 
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 33 
 
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 59 
 
 
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 32 - 
 
 
 155 
 
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 - 
 
 « 
 
 15 
 
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 — 
 
 
 X. 
 
 j» 
 
 10 - 
 
 
 167 
 
 „ XXII. 
 
 - 
 
 » 
 
 18 
 
 - 
 
 99 
 
 60 
 
 
 XXX. 
 
 » 
 
 1 - 
 
 
 1G8 
 
 „ XXVI. 
 
 - 
 
 i> 
 
 4 
 
 - 
 
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 61 
 
 15 
 
 XV. 
 
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 7, 18 
 
 
 172 
 
 „ XXVIII. 
 
 - 
 
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 14 
 
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 180 
 
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 - 
 
 •1 
 
 18, 
 
 19 
 
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 18 - 
 
 
 193 
 
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 - 
 
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 10 
 
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 63 
 
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 10 - 
 
 
 198 
 
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 - 
 
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 15 
 
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 66 
 
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 27 - 
 
 
 271 
 
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 7,8 
 
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 80 
 
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 15 - 
 
 
 287 
 
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 - 
 
 »> 
 
 21 
 
 - 
 
 19 
 
 
 
 » 
 
 XV. 
 
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 5,13 
 
 
 — 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 EXO 
 
 DUS 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Chap. XII. 
 
 - 
 
 Verse 9 
 
 - 
 
 Page 3, 45 
 
 Chap. XXXV. 
 
 - Verse 22 - 
 
 Page 166 
 
 „ VII. 
 
 - 
 
 » 
 
 1 
 
 - 
 
 It 
 
 45 
 
 » 
 
 IL 
 
 » 
 
 25 - 
 
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 177 
 
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 58 
 
 91 
 
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 195 
 
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 13 
 
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 19 
 
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 19 
 
 198 
 
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 89 
 
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 22,23 
 
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 211 
 
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 29 
 
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 212 
 
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 216 
 
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 232 
 
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 285 
 
 „ XXIII. 
 
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 159 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 *«* It may not be superfluous to remiad the biblical student, that this elaborate abstract has 
 been supplied, iu order to afford facility of reference, a desideratum without which this work 
 could not be considered complete.
 
 INDEX OF QUOTATIONS. 
 
 LEVITICUS. 
 
 Chap 
 
 .XXVI. 
 
 - Verse 38 P 
 
 age 
 
 38 
 
 Chap. XXVI. 
 
 - Verse 11, 12 
 
 Page 79 
 
 J» 
 
 XXVI. 
 
 ,, 
 
 34,35 
 
 )» 
 
 39 
 
 „ XVIII. 
 
 J) 
 
 5 - 
 
 „ 81 
 
 » 
 
 XXVI. 
 
 jj 
 
 38 - 
 
 41 
 
 ,42 
 
 „ XXII. 
 
 » 
 
 3 - 
 
 „ 83 
 
 J> 
 
 XXVI. 
 
 ~ >» 
 
 44 - 
 
 >, 
 
 42 
 
 „ XXII. 
 
 ») 
 
 - 
 
 „ 136 
 
 99 
 
 VII. 
 
 »? 
 
 27 - 
 
 ,5 
 
 53 
 
 „ XXVI, 
 
 >, 
 
 44 - 
 
 146, 151 
 
 J) 
 
 XXII. 
 
 ,» 
 
 3 - 
 
 » 
 
 — 
 
 ., XXVI. 
 
 „ 
 
 42 - 
 
 „ 155 
 
 5? 
 
 XVIII. 
 
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 5 - 
 
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 55 
 
 „ XIX. 
 
 9> 
 
 17,18 
 
 „ 212 
 
 ?> 
 
 XXVI. 
 
 j» 
 
 9 - 
 
 ?, 
 
 57 
 
 „ XXVI. 
 
 >> 
 
 44 - 
 
 „ 218 
 
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 XI. 
 
 i> 
 
 1,43,44,, 
 
 67 
 
 „ XIX. 
 
 >, 
 
 17,18 
 
 „ 238 
 
 V 
 
 XX. 
 
 " jj 
 
 25, 26 
 
 J» 
 
 68 
 
 „ XI. 
 
 >, 
 
 8 „ 
 
 „ 242 
 
 >J 
 
 XXVI, 
 
 ?, 
 
 42,31 
 
 ,» 
 
 74 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 NUMBERS. 
 
 
 
 
 Chap 
 
 . XXIV. 
 
 - Verse 3 - 
 
 Page 
 
 29 
 
 Chap. XXV. 
 
 - Verse 13 - 
 
 Page 108 
 
 >> 
 
 X. 
 
 " J* 
 
 32 - 
 
 SJ 
 
 62 
 
 „ X. 
 
 ji 
 
 32 . 
 
 „ 116 
 
 >> 
 
 X. 
 
 », 
 
 13 - 
 
 >, 
 
 64 
 
 „ XV. 
 
 j» 
 
 12 - 
 
 „ 155 
 
 5» 
 
 VII. 
 
 >> 
 
 12 - 
 
 »» 
 
 64 
 
 „ 11. 
 
 »» 
 
 20 - 
 
 „ 167 
 
 >• 
 
 XXIII. 
 
 '» 
 
 10 - 
 
 J> 
 
 84 
 
 „ XXIV. 
 
 » 
 
 17 - 
 
 „ 264 
 
 DEUTERONOMY. 
 
 Chap 
 
 . XXX. . 
 
 Verse 6 - 
 
 Pag 
 
 5 10 
 
 Chap. XIV, 
 
 Ver 
 
 3e 1,2 
 
 Page 81 
 
 »» 
 
 XXVIII. - 
 
 » 
 
 64 - 
 
 », 
 
 23 
 
 99 
 
 XXII. 
 
 „ 
 
 46,47 
 
 „ 82 
 
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 XXX. - 
 
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 3 - 
 
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 24 
 
 99 
 
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 29 - 
 
 ) „82, 83 
 \ 85 
 
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 30, 31 
 
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 5, 6, j 
 
 
 26 
 27 
 
 99 
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 60 - 
 
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 40 
 
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 26 - 
 
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 41 
 
 99 
 
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 45 
 
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 12 - 
 
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 VII. 
 
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 6 - 
 
 „ 198 
 
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 13 - 
 
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 67 
 
 
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 19 - 
 
 „ 199 
 
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 26 - 
 
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 68 
 70 
 
 
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 11,12 
 
 j„ 215 
 
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 ,,72,73 
 
 
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 15 - 
 
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 XXIX. - 
 
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 75 
 
 
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 ,» 
 
 22 - 
 
 „ 271 
 
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 XXIX. - 
 
 » 
 
 12 - 
 
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 77 
 
 
 XXXII. - 
 
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 18 - 
 
 „ 275 
 
 J, 
 
 XXX, 
 
 9, 
 
 1—10 
 
 „77 
 
 ,78 
 
 
 XXVIII. - 
 
 » 
 
 10 - 
 
 „ 278
 
 INDEX OF QUOTATIONS. 
 
 Chap. I. 
 
 *" JOSHUA. 
 
 Chap. VII. - Verse 7, 8 - Page 183. 
 
 JUDGES. 
 Verse 1 - Page 64] | Chap. XII 
 
 EUTH. 
 Chap. II, - ' - - Page 96, 
 
 Verse 22 - Page 2C5 
 
 
 
 
 
 I. SAMUEL. 
 
 
 
 
 Chap. XIV. 
 
 - Verse 49 
 
 - 
 
 Page 58 
 
 Chap. XII. 
 
 - Verse 22 
 
 - Page 150 
 
 „ XXII. 
 
 )» 
 
 16 
 
 - 
 
 n 
 
 „ XX. 
 
 ft 
 
 5 
 
 - „ 159 
 
 „ VIII. 
 
 i> 
 
 7 
 
 - 
 
 „ 65 
 
 „ XVII. 
 
 i> 
 
 12 
 
 - „ 164 
 
 „ XXV. 
 
 ») 
 
 29 
 
 - 
 
 „ 86 
 
 „ II. - 
 
 )> 
 
 7 
 
 - „ 175 
 
 „ XVII. 
 
 >> 
 
 56,58 
 
 „ 96 
 
 „ XXI. 
 
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 1 
 
 - „ 213 
 
 „ XIII. 
 
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 14 
 
 - 
 
 „ 101 
 
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 20 
 
 »» "" 
 
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 )> 
 
 28 
 
 - 
 
 » 
 
 „ XV. 
 
 79 
 
 22 
 
 - „ 216 
 
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 )7 
 
 1 
 
 - 
 
 „ 102 
 
 „ II. - 
 
 11 
 
 1 
 
 - „ 249 
 
 „ XVIII. 
 
 ») 
 
 14 
 
 - 
 
 „ 118 
 
 „ XVI. 
 
 >J 
 
 13 
 
 •• ., 275 
 
 » I. - 
 
 )) 
 
 22 
 
 
 „ 137 
 
 II. SA] 
 
 MUEL. 
 
 
 
 
 Chap. VII. 
 
 - Verse 26 
 
 - 
 
 Page 137 
 
 Chap. V. - 
 
 - Verse 4 
 
 - Page 274 
 
 „ XII. 
 
 >i 
 
 10 
 
 - 
 
 „ 138 
 
 „ IV.- 
 
 » 
 
 17 
 
 - „ 275 
 
 „ XXI. 
 
 » 
 
 17 
 
 . 
 
 „ 193 
 
 „ VIII. 
 
 )i 
 
 
 - „ 271 
 
 I. KINGS. 
 
 Chap. IX. 
 
 Verse 13 - Page 25 
 
 Chap. II. 
 
 - 
 
 Verse 26 - Page 108 
 
 „ XII. - 
 
 „ 16 - „ 26 
 
 „ VIII. 
 
 - 
 
 „ 9 - „ 130 
 
 „ II. 
 
 „ 37 „ 51 
 
 „ XVIII. 
 
 - 
 
 „ 21 - „ 190 
 
 
 11. KINGS. 
 
 
 
 Chap. VIII. 
 
 Verse 5 - Page 58 
 
 Chap. XVII. 
 
 - 
 
 Verse 20 Page 140, 146 
 
 „ XVI. - 
 
 „ 9 „ 98 
 
 „ 11. - 
 
 - 
 
 „ 4 . „ 159 
 
 „ XV. 
 
 „ 29, 30 - „ - 
 
 I. CHRONICLES. 
 
 
 
 Chap. XVII. - 
 
 Verse 20 - Page 48 
 
 Chap. III. - 
 
 - 
 
 Verse 11 ■ Page 209 
 
 „ V. - - 
 
 „ 2 - „ 04 
 
 „ III,, XXII. 
 
 - „ 228 
 
 „ XXVIII, - 
 
 4 . 
 
 „ XXIX, 
 
 - 
 
 „ 23 - „ 291 
 
 „ XXIX. - 
 
 „ 22 . „ 108 
 
 
 
 
 Chap, XXXVI. 
 „ XXXVI, 
 „ XXXI, 
 
 II. CHRONICLES. 
 
 Verse 20 - Page 23 
 
 „ 21 - „ 39 
 
 104 
 
 Chap, XXI, 
 » XXIV. 
 
 Verse 12 
 
 Page 190 
 „ 244
 
 INDEX OF QUOTATIONS. 
 
 Chap. II. 
 
 „ I. 
 « IX. 
 
 - Verse 1 
 
 - « 2 
 
 - ., 9 
 
 EZRA. 
 
 Page 23 
 „ 24 
 ., 28 
 
 Chap. II., III., X. - Page 104 
 
 „ X. - - Verse 11 - 
 
 Chap. IV, 
 » IX. 
 „ VII. 
 
 Verse 2 - 
 „ 36, 37 
 ,, 3 - 
 
 NEHEMIAH. 
 
 Chap. VIII. 
 
 e 28 
 29 
 
 Chap. IX. - - Verse 6 
 „ IX... - „ 30 - 
 
 ■ Page 48 
 
 ■ „ 75 
 
 ESTHER. 
 
 - Verse 16 - Page 235. 
 
 
 JOB. 
 
 Chap. 
 
 XVII. - 
 
 Verse 
 
 2 
 
 - 
 
 Page 
 
 46 
 
 Chap 
 
 XXXIII. - 
 
 Verse 30 - 
 
 Page 87 
 
 11 
 
 XIV. 
 
 »i 
 
 13 
 
 .- 
 
 >i 
 
 59 
 
 1, 
 
 V. - 
 
 » 
 
 16 - 
 
 „ 119 
 
 !> 
 
 xr. - 
 
 » 
 
 8 
 
 - 
 
 >i 
 
 — 
 
 i» 
 
 XXXIIL - 
 
 ?, 
 
 16 - 
 
 „ 203 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 PSAI 
 
 .MS. 
 
 
 
 
 
 Psalm XXII. - 
 
 Verse 11 
 
 . 
 
 Page 
 
 7 
 
 Psalm LXV. - 
 
 Verse 
 
 4 - 
 
 Page 128 
 
 » 
 
 XIX. 
 
 » 
 
 12 
 
 - 
 
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 19 
 
 17 
 
 LXIX. - 
 
 » 
 
 9 - 
 
 i> 
 
 11 
 
 XIV. 
 
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 22 
 
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 33 
 
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 10 
 
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 15 
 
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 58 
 
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 „ 203 
 
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 LXXXVL 
 
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 „ 218 
 
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 123 
 
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 LXXXII. 
 
 », 
 
 11 - 
 
 „ 244
 
 INDKX OF QUOTATIONS. 
 
 PSALMS (continued). 
 
 Psalm 11. 
 
 - 
 
 Verse 
 
 ! 12 
 
 1 
 
 Page 274 
 
 Psalm XLV. 
 
 - Verse 6, 7 
 
 Page 291 
 
 „ VII. 
 
 _ 
 
 )» 
 
 15 
 
 275 
 „ 276 
 
 „ vin. 
 
 - „ 3, 4 
 5,6 
 
 } „ 292 
 
 „ LXVIII. 
 
 - 
 
 » 
 
 18 
 
 - 
 
 „ 288 
 
 „ CXI. 
 
 » 7, 8 
 
 „ 203 
 
 „ IL 
 
 - 
 
 rr 
 
 — 
 
 - 
 
 „ 290 
 
 „ XL. 
 
 )> — 
 
 ■ » 294 
 
 „ XCVIL 
 
 - 
 
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 JEREMIAH. 
 
 Chap. III. 
 
 - 
 
 Verse 13 
 
 - 
 
 Page 10 
 
 Chap 
 
 ). XI. 
 
 . 
 
 Verse 11 
 
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 Chap. IV. 
 
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 Chap. V. - 
 
 1, IV. 
 
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 40, 146 
 
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 INDEX OF QUOTATIONS. 
 
 
 
 
 EZEKIEL 
 
 (continued). 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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 XXXIV. - 
 
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 Pag 
 
 3 12 
 
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 „ 82 
 
 fi 
 
 X. - 
 
 „ 
 
 11,6-9 „ 282 
 
 )) 
 
 IX. 
 
 »J 
 
 24 
 
 - 
 
 „ 214 
 
 )> 
 
 XI. - 
 
 » 
 
 26 - „ 283 
 
 J» 
 
 IX 
 
 ?J 
 
 23 
 
 - 
 
 „ 215 
 
 jy 
 
 XVI. 
 
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 20 - „ - 
 
 3J 
 
 X. 
 
 »J 
 
 11, 
 
 6,7 
 
 » 
 
 jj 
 
 III. - 
 
 » 
 
 19, 28 „ 289 
 
 
 
 
 
 I 
 
 . CORIN 
 
 THIANS. 
 
 
 
 Chap 
 
 V. - 
 
 - Verse 
 
 1 
 
 - 
 
 Page 89 
 
 Chap. 
 
 VI.- 
 
 Verse 3 - Page 284 
 
 >> 
 
 VI.- 
 
 ■ 5) 
 
 9 
 
 
 „ 222 
 
 Jt 
 
 VII. 
 
 ,' 
 
 18,20 „ 285 
 
 )> 
 
 XV. 
 
 ■ »1 
 
 28 
 
 - 
 
 „ 252 
 
 f) 
 
 X. - 
 
 », 
 
 8 - „ - 
 
 ;? 
 
 X. - 
 
 !) 
 
 25 
 
 - 
 
 „ 273 
 
 V 
 
 XV. 
 
 », 
 
 54 - „ 286 
 
 ?) 
 
 V. - 
 
 M 
 
 1 
 
 
 „ 284 
 
 GALA! 
 
 lAN^ 
 
 5. 
 
 
 
 Chap. 
 
 V. ■ 
 
 - Verse 
 
 1 
 
 - 
 
 Page 277 
 
 Chap. 
 
 III. - 
 
 Verse 16 - Page 286 
 
 IJ 
 
 V. - 
 
 » 
 
 2 
 
 - 
 
 „ 279 
 
 yy 
 
 III.- 
 
 )• 
 
 16 - „ 287 
 
 >f 
 
 V. - 
 
 ») 
 
 3 
 
 - 
 
 „ 285 
 
 1» 
 
 11. - 
 
 „ 
 
 - - „ 289 
 
 )» 
 
 I. - 
 
 ji 
 
 18 
 
 - 
 
 „ 286 
 
 
 
 
 
 Chap, II. 
 
 EPHESIANS. 
 
 CUap. IV. - Verse 8 - Page 288. 
 
 I. THESSALONIANS. 
 
 Verse 18 - Page 60, 284 | Chap. 11. - 
 
 Verse 10 - Page 288
 
 HEBREWS. 
 
 
 Verse 5 - Page 216 
 
 Chap. 11. - 
 
 - Vcise 7 - Page 292 
 
 „ 17,31 „ 289 
 
 „ VIII 
 
 „ 8,13 „ 293 
 
 „ 5,9 „ 290 
 
 „ X. - 
 
 „ r. - „ - 
 
 INDEX OF QUOTATIONS. 13 
 
 TIMOTHY. 
 
 Chap. I. - Verse 17 - Page 2()7. 
 
 Chap. X. ■■ 
 „ XI. - 
 V I. - 
 
 JAMES. 
 
 Chap. II. - Verse 14 - Page 288. 
 
 I. PETER. 
 
 Chap. II. - Verse 6 - Page 282. 
 
 REVELATIONS. 
 
 Chap. VII. - Verse o - Page 294 | Chap. XXII. - Verses 18, 19 - Page 294
 
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