The Grounds of Christianity Examined by Comparing The New Testament with the Old

conceived by them to supply, at least, plausible arguments to prove that Jesus of Nazareth was the Messiah? Are there no other passages in the prophets besides those quoted in the New Testament, and

considerat

f so, it is a very singular circumstance, that the inspired authors of the New Testament did not make use of them, instead of others not so much to the purpose. This circumstance of itself should teach us to examine the prophecies in question with caution, and also with candour, since man

sembly, saying. Let me not hear again the voice of the Lord my God, neither let me see his great fire any more, that I die not. And the Lord said unto me, they have well spoken that which they have spoken. I will raise them up a prophet from among thei

s himself afterwards, at the command and appointment of God, declared to be his successor, and who was endowed with the spirit which was upon Moses, (see Deut. xxxi. 33, xxxiv. 17,) and to whom the Jews then promised to hearken, and pay obedience to, as they had done before to Moses. But others understand them to be a promise of a succession of prophets, to whom the Jews might upon all occasions have recourse; an

herein Grotius and Le Clerc, and most of the Jews, take them. I shall give my

at do these things are an abomination to the Lord; and because of these abominations the Lord thy God doth drive these people out from before thee. For these nations which thou shalt possess hearkened unto observers of times, and unto diviners. But as for thee, the Lord thy God hath not suffered thee to do so. Then follow the words about the prophet, The Lord thy God will raise unto thee a prophet from the

n, is the reason given why they should not hearken to a diviner, &c., when they came to that land; which reason could have no force unless they were to have, 1st,-an immediate prophet in Canaan; for what sense is

for the plural, according to the frequent custom of the Hebrew language, as is shown by Le Clerc and Stillingfleet, in loco; for one single prophe

were intended, in laying-down a rule for the test or trial of the prophets before mentioned, in such a manner as impli

are about to possess, (says the Jewish paraphrast) hearken to jugglers and diviners; but you shall not be like them; for your priests shall enquire

h the Lord sent him to do, &c.- it is nothing at all. For every one perceives, that the word like may be, and frequently is, used in scripture, and in common language, to signify, similarity in some, though not in every, particular

interpretation; since God might to-morrow, if such were his will, raise up a prophet like unto Moses in every respect, wh

erning him, I foresaw the Lord always before my face, for he is on my right hand, that I should not be moved. Therefore did my heart rejoice, and my tongue was glad; moreover also my flesh shall rest in hope. Because thou wilt not leave my soul in Hades, [the place of departed Spirits] nor suffer thy holy one to see corruption, thou hast made known to me the ways of life; thou shalt make me full of joy with thy countenance. Men and brethren, l

saints, in general. The passage is quoted from the 16th Psalm; and I will give a literal translation of it from the original, which will make the propriety or impropriety of Peters quotation perfectly obvious. The contents and import of the Psalm, according to the English version, are as follow; David, in distrust of his merits, and hatred of idolatry, fleeth to God for preservation, He showeth the hope of his calling, of the resurrection, and of life everlasting. And the passage in question, according to the original, reads thus:-I have set the Lord always before me: Because he is on my right hand, I shall not be moved: Therefor

in their prayer to the 2d Psalm why did the heathen rage," &c., as being a prophecy of the

knew nothing about it. And 3rdly, Those who were concerned did by no means form vain designs, since they effected their cruel purposes. And lastly, From that time to the present, Go

y no means signifies that this Messiah was to be born in Bethlehem, as asserted by Matthew; but only, that he was to be derived from Bethlehem, the city of Jesse, the father of David of famous memory, whose family was venerable for its antiquity, being of the days of hidden ages. And this interpretation is known, and acknowledged, by Hebrew scholars. But in order to cut short the dispute, w will permit the

cometh unto thee, the righteous one, and saved, or preserved [according to the Hebrew] lowly, and riding upon an ass, an

thout being thus necessarily demonstrated to be the Messiah. And unless, as said before, every tittle of the marks given by the prophets to designate their Messiah, be found in Jesus, and in any other claiming to be that Messiah his being born in Bethlehem, and riding upon an ass into Jerusalem, will by no means prove him to be so. Besides, those who will take the trouble to look at the context in Zechariah, will find, that the event spoken of in the quotation, is spoken of as contemporaneous with the restorati

erced, in this place signifies blasphemed, or insulted, as it is understood by Grotius, who confirms this rendering from the Hebrew of Levit. xxiv. 11, where in this passage the Israelitish woman's son blasphemed the name of the Lord. The Hebrew word translated blasphemed is from the same root with the Hebrew word translated pierced in the passage in Zechariah quoted above. So that the passage ought to be translated thus:-I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and supplications, and they shall look towards me whom they have blasphemed. [To look towards God is a phrase frequently met with, and well understood.] Now, to enable us to understand more perfectly this passage, let us consider the context, where we shall find that it states, that there was to be a war in Judea, and a siege

es given by the venerable Surenhusius) prove nothing. We must, therefore, devote the remainder of this long chapter to the consideration of the three famous prophecies, on which Christians have not hesitated, with triump

and prove, from prophecy, that the Messiah is already come? A. From these two prophecies-The sceptre shall n

these overwhelming

ounded! on the contrar

being so easi

ge, refers to their Messiah. But they do not allow

his feet, for ever; for Shiloh shall come, and to him shall the gathering of the people be. So that the prophecy does not intimate that the Messiah should come before the sceptre be departed from Judah; but that it should not depart for ever, but shall be restored when Shiloh comes. This is the plain and obvious sense of the prophec

bly inviting the Hebrew to discuss the point, who does so most ably and respectfully toward his Christian antagonist, and unanswerably establishes the interpretation above stated, by the laws of the Hebrew language, by the ancient interpretation of the Targum, by venerable tradition,

laborate defence; and it must be confessed, that if this prophecy relates to the Messiah, it is by far the most plausible of any that are brought forward in favour of Jesus Christ. It merits, therefore, a thorough discussion,

port. Now, if this passage can relate only to the Messiah, it will throw into utter confusion the whole scheme of the prophetical scriptures. But if it can be made to appear, that it does not necessarily relate to him; if it can, consistently with the context, be otherwise applied, the whole difficulty vanishes. Now, the authors of the New Testament have applied this prophecy to the Messiah, and to Jesus as the Messiah; and for doing so, they have been accused of misapplication of it-from th

y be made apparent, and evident, we will new lay before the reader this famou

tions of the earth. [That the Jewish nation is spoken of, in the singular number and under the title of Gods servant frequently in the Old Testament, is well known, and will be here made certain by a few examples. Isaiah xli. (the chapter preceding the prophecy,) But thou Israel my servant,

ore than the sons of men.) That is-And many were astonished at thee, on account of thy abjec

mouths at him; for that which had not been told them, shall th

stances, from the depth of degradation to the height of prosperity and honour. So that they shall lay their hands upon their mouths, which had beforetime reproac

ot he shall grow up, as in the English version] before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry

as the interest the Lord took in them made known? For it was a dispised people, feeble, and wretched, like a tender pl

nd acquainted with grief: and we hid, as it were, our f

en of sorrow, and familiar with suffering. We looked upon them

e our griefs, and c

ey are, nevertheless, the means appointed to remove the sufferings of an afflicted world, for God hath conne

him smitten of G

as a God- abandoned race, and devoted to wretc

bruised [for or by] our iniquities: the chastisement of ou

ment, we being suffered to do so, to chastise them for their sins, and to prove their obedience; and this chastisement is that by which o

rned every one to his own way, and the Lord hat

r ignorance, being without the knowledge of God, or of his law. Yet the Lo

s mouth. He was taken from prison and from judgment, and who shall declare his generation, [into his manner of life, who stoopeth to look? according to the Hebrew] for he was cut off out of the land of the living

the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so they opened not their mouth. They were taken from the dungeon to be slain, they were wantonly massacred, and every man was their foe; and the cause of the sufferers who condes

was deceit in his mouth-which he interprets thus:-We (the former speakers) raised against them false accusations of impiety, on account of their religion, and refusing to worship our idols; but their rich

n his hands. [This proves that this prophecy cannot refer to any individual, but may refer to the Jewish nation, because one individual cannot be put to death, and yet see his seed, and prolong his days.] After [o

religious truth, shall they make many wise, for many nations shall go, and say, come ye, and let us ascend

ide the spoil, because he poured out his life unto death, and was numbered with the t

duty, they willingly exposed themselves to death, and were accounted as transgressors, and bo

ah, we refer him to the Munimen Fidei, contained in Wagenseil's Tela Ignea, where he will find it amply illustrated, and defended. Here, in this work, we shall content ourselves with proving, that this prophecy can by no means relate to Jesus, from these circumstances:-1. Jesus certainly was not exalted and magnified, and made very great upon earth, which, as has been shown, was to be the scene of the exaltation of the Old Testament Messiah; but was put to a cruel and disgraceful death. 2. He was not oppressed by pecuniary exactions, as is said of the subject of this prophecy. 3. He was never taken from prison to die, for he was never in one. 4. He did not see his seed, nor prolong his days, since he died

as for ages held up to the view of the unbelieving race, as cutting off beyond doubt their hope of Israel from ever appearing, since the time so distinctly foretold had elapsed. But such is the ins

ith the event of the crucifixion. At length Marsham, a learned Englishman, declared, and demonstrated, that his predecessors, in this enquiry, had been grossly mistaken, for that the prophecy in all its parts was totally irrelevant and irreconcileable with t

and understand, that from the going forth of the word to restore and build Jerusalem, unto the anointed prince, shall be seven weeks; and (in) threescore and two weeks, the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times. And after threescore and two weeks shall the anointed (one) be cut off, and be without a successor; (Heb. and not, or none to him) and the city and the sanctuary shall be destroyed# by the people of t

of the Messiah; and I shall fully demonstrate that it hath not the most distant reference to that even

d from thence he concluded that the captivity was prolonged on account of the sins of the nation. This doubt arose from his not understanding the prophecy, and, therefore, the angel said unto him,-I am now come forth to give thee skill and understanding. And he proceeds to inform him, that as soon as he began to pray, and God saw, his perplexity, the royal command went forth from him, th

in what manner the answer of the angel in it, agreed to Daniels question, and also the

g words:-Thus saith the Lord God of Israel unto me, Take the wine cup of this fury at my hand, and cause all the nations to whom I send thee, to drink it- Jer, xxv. 15. H

sdom of God decreed to wait according to this number. For which reason, and because the prophets say that the restoration of Israel is to be contemporaneous with the destruction of their enemies, Daniel appears to have. judged, that the sins of his nation would be done away by the seventy years of the captivity of Babylon; and, therefore, the angel informed him of his error, by telling him, that this was not to be the case with his nation, for that their wickedness was come up before God, and their sin was very grievous; and that, therefore, their sins would not be atoned for by seventy years, as in the case of the rest of the

d ninety years, the time elapsed from the destruction o

ians, Greeks and Romans. And although they, at one time, threw off their yoke, and had kings of the Asmonean and Herodean families, yet was there no king among them of the seed of David, neither had they the Shechinah, nor the Urim and Thummim, all which is a manifestation that it was not a perfect redemption, but only a visitation, with which God was pleased to visit them; so that they were allowed to build a temple to the Lord, by the permission of Cyrus, and according to the measure given by him. This was that they might be the better enabled to do the works of repen

erms, he descended to particulars; and laid down three

he going forth of the word to restore and build Jerus

lied by God himself in the xlv. ch. of Isaiah. Thus saith the Lord to his anointed, to Cyrus. 2. It is a singular fact, that the appellation Messiah is never applied to the expected deliverer of the Israelites in the whole bible, except, perhaps, in ii. Psalm. It is an appellation indifferently applied to kings, and priests, and prophets; to all who were anointed, as an induction into their office, and has nothing in it peculiar and exclusive; but the application of it to the expected deliverer of Israel, originated in and from the Targums. 3. In order to make this prophecy, and this phrase, Messiah the prince, or the anointed prince, apply to Jesus of Nazareth, Christia

wo weeks, the street shall be built agai

ning of which, the Romans came, and warred against them, and at length entirely destroyed the cities of Judah, Jerusalem, and the temple. For, from the time that Cyrus first gave leave to build the temple, till its completion, was twenty-one years; and its duration, four hundred and twenty; in the whole, sixty-three weeks, or four hundred and forty one years. But the angel made his division at sixty-two weeks, as he afterwards described what was to come to pass in the last week (and

nd not, or, none, to him]-and the city and the sanctuary shall be destroyed by the people of the prince that

ss Lev. iv. 3-If the Messiah Priest, (or anointed priest) doth sin, &c.]-and have no successor; and the city and the temple shal

all strengthen the covenant with many, for one week. And in the midst of the week (i. e.

d treaties made with the Romans, and in fact did bring over many. 2. On account of the distress of the siege, the daily sacrifice did in fact cease to be offered in the temple som

ention made in it of a Messiah to be cut off, have eagerly endeavoured to press it into their service, i

r, will be obvious from this single observation, that the anointed one, or Messiah, who, the prophet says, was to be cut off, was to be cut off AFTER the threescore and two weeks, i. e., at the destruction of Jerusalem, or within the seven years preceding that

Levis Letters, to Priestly; and those who are desirous of seeing an account of the various, contradictory, perplexed and multitudin

at Jesus is the Messiah of the Old Testament; and those of our readers who love truth, are, we trust, now made sens