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 olorreal Seminary: 
 PRINCETON, N. J. 
 
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oombse oS3n5) 
 
 A COURSE 
 
 OF 
 
 S& ER MeO: Nea 
 
 ON THE BIBLICAL PASSAGES ADDUCED BY CHRISTIAN 
 THEOLOGIANS IN SUPPORT OF THE 
 DOGMAS OF THEIR FAITH. 
 
 Preached in the Bayswater Synagogue 
 
 BY 
 
 HERMANN ADLER, Px. D., 
 
 Minister of the Congregation. 
 
 ann 05> py mn 
 pinpand awn nD yo 
 
 PRINTED BY REQUEST. 
 
 X onda : 
 TRUBNER & CO., 60, PATERNOSTER ROW. 
 1869. 
 

 
 P, VaLLentiNE, Printer, 34, Alfred Street, Bedford Square, W.C, 
 
 
 
PREBPACE. 
 
 ee rien 
 
 ‘ 
 
 Turse Sermons have been committed to the Press in 
 deference to the wishes expressed by a great number of my 
 own Congregation, as well as by other members of the 
 Jewish Community. But, while complying with these 
 wishes, I feel it my duty to repeat here emphatically what 
 I have mentioned in the body of this little work,—that 
 it is intended for defence, and not for offence. It was not 
 my purpose when I delivered these Discourses, nor is it 
 iy intention in now printing them, to attack the religion 
 professed by the majority of our countrymen. My object 
 is simply to acquaint my brethren in faith with the true 
 meaning of the passages in the Bible, which are com- 
 
 monly cited by theologians in support of the dogmas of 
 
iv PREFACE. 
 
 
 
 Christianity ; and to expose the unsoundness of interpre- 
 tations, which are disseminated among us by missionaries 
 with a zeal as misguided in its motives, as it is barren in 
 results, 
 
 I have given in the following pages what I conceive to 
 be the true explanations of those passages; they have 
 been culled, in the main, from the writings of the prin- 
 cipal commentators on the Bible and of our religious philo- 
 sophers. I have also derived considerable assistance from — 
 the controversial works bearing upon the subject, such as 
 rage pin by R. Isaac Troki, pAys3 by R. Lipp- 
 man Miblhausen, and ANT) MANNA AW ND 
 FDNM by R. Isaac Lopez. 
 
 With the exception of some necessary revisions, the 
 Sermons are printed in the same form as that in which 
 they were delivered. I have, for this reason, retained the 
 brief exhortations which were addressed to young con- 
 gregants on the occasion of their becoming sy 49 
 (attaining their religious majority). I have also added 
 the Sermon preached last Pentecost ; for, although it did 
 not form a portion of the course, it treated of a kindred 
 topic, 
 
 A few of the subjects touched upon in these pages, 
 
PREFACE. Vv 
 
 
 
 have for the reason above mentioned been treated with 
 less explicitness than their importance would seem to 
 demand. I ardently hope, that I have acted judiciously, 
 both in what I have said, and in what I have left unsaid. 
 May these Sermons contribute, by the blessing of God, 
 to achieve the object, which must be dear to the heart of 
 
 every Israelite—to vindicate the truth of his heaven-born 
 Faith ! 
 
; Th Vane i, iv) 
 PU le Nid ria ide) 0 
 val re bi Pitah aL mY 
 4 i ry 
 
 erat praes pen wy rh i: 
 
 ei 
 i Jal 
 
 7 
 
 
 
SERMON I. 
 
 PREACHED ON SABBATH Y)¥5) YUN ‘DB 
 
 (APRIL 25TH), 5628. 
 
 My DEAR BRETHREN, 
 
 JupaIsM is not a proselytizing faith: it 
 seeks neither to make converts nor to attack 
 other creeds, believing as it does that ‘‘the 
 sincere and virtuous professors of every religion 
 may hope to enjoy future bliss.”* But Judaism 
 is at the same time filled with the greatest soli- 
 citude to defend the citadel of its faith from all 
 assaults; Judaism is exceedingly jealous not te 
 allow one single member of its flock to stray 
 from the fold. 
 
 * Maimonides, Hilchoth Melachim, chap. viii., 10, II. 
 Teshuba, chap. ii, 6. 
 B 
 
2 SERMON I. 
 
 We acknowledge with warmest gratitude the 
 religious liberty, the civil equality, we enjoy in 
 this blessed land, where ‘‘ we may walk in free- 
 dom with none to molest us or make us afraid.” 
 But just on this account we deplore the more 
 deeply the unceasing efforts made by men of 
 misguided, misdirected zeal, to win our brethren 
 over to their faith. We must deplore that want 
 of tolerance which prompts those self-created 
 dispensers of salvation to imagine, that we are 
 temporally and eternally lost, unless we abjure 
 our religion. We must deplore the fact that 
 immense sums are spent, year after year, by 
 Societies for promoting Christianity among the 
 Jews, in turning bad Jews into worse Christians 
 —sums that might be spent worthily in con- 
 verting to humanity that seething mass of vice 
 and depravity which festers in the heart of this 
 great city, or in imparting instruction to the chil- 
 dren who throng our courts and alleys, and who 
 grow into manhood in ignorance of the first 
 lessons of virtue. We must grieve, grieve 
 deeply, that the holiest possessions of man, his 
 faith and his conscience, should be made 
 matters of barter and purchase. 
 
 Now we cannot, and we certainly do not, wish 
 to cope with those Societies in the employment 
 
A 
 
 SERMON I. 3 
 
 
 
 of their most powerful instrument, the golden 
 bait, with which they entice a few ignorant or 
 deceitful stragglers. But we must not allow to 
 pass unchallenged the arguments which they 
 adduce from the Bible for the purpose of prov- 
 ing the truth of their faith, and which they try 
 to disseminate by means of missionaries and 
 tracts distributed broadcast over the whole land. 
 I do not believe, that an Israelite is ever 
 truly convinced by any such arguments. But, 
 alas! many are so ignorant of the Bible, and of 
 the signification of the words in the original, 
 and so little acquainted with the context of pas- 
 sages which may be quoted, that they are too 
 often at a loss for a reply. And if not shaken 
 in their faith they are put to shame, and allow 
 their adversaries to triumph overthem. I know 
 full well by my own experience how very often 
 in our intercourse with our fellow-citizens reli- 
 gious questions are brought forward; and it is 
 surely a source of deepest reproach and humilia- 
 tion, if we, who have been appointed the custo- 
 dians of Revelation, are unable satisfactorily 
 and conclusively to answer them. It is for this 
 reason that I feel I am fulfilling a sacred obliga- 
 tion, if in a course of sermons I point out to 
 you, and carefully explain, the principal passages 
 
¥ 
 4 SERMON I. 
 
 of Scripture that are adduced by Christian theo- 
 logians in support of their dogmas. I do so, in 
 fulfilment of a wish that I know lies at the 
 hearts of most of my congregants, and in 
 obedience to the exhortation of an ancient 
 teacher, Rabbi Eleazar ben Arach, who said 
 
 ‘“‘ Be diligent in studying the Law, so that you 
 may know how to reply to him who would create 
 doubts in your mind.’’* 
 
 The author of this maxim, one of the most 
 eminent of our sages, lived at the time when 
 Christianity began to develop itself, and when 
 its professors often engaged in religious disputa- 
 tions and controversies with the Jews. Rabbi 
 Eleazar knew well that in these encounters a 
 thorough knowledge of the Law would prove a 
 mighty and successful weapon, a sharp sword to 
 cut through the knotted web of sophistry. 
 
 I was once engaged in such a controversy, 
 when my adversary triumphantly remarked, that 
 the third word in the Bible proved the truth of 
 
 
 
 * Pirke Aboth, chap. ii., 14. That this maxim refers to 
 the arguments adduced by the professors of Christianity may 
 be gathered from the corresponding passages, Sanhedrin (p. 
 38), and Pirke de R. Eliezer, chap. ii, 
 
SERMON I. 5 
 
 the principal dogma of Christianity. The word 
 ody is there used to denote the Deity, and 
 my antagonist asserted that this word being in 
 the plural clearly proved, that the Godhead con- 
 sisted of more than one person. 
 
 Before entering upon the doctrine of the unity 
 of God, so clearly and unmistakably enunciated 
 in the Bible, I answered him that the second 
 word in the Bible NJ refuted his argument. If 
 DN were indeed a plural noun, the verb which 
 it governs ought to be in the plural also. We 
 ought to find in the text INVA and not N32. As 
 the verb is used in the singular, the substantive 
 with which it agrees, the word DON, must 
 necessarily be considered as singular also.* 
 
 It is true that the word, terminating as it does 
 in O°, has a plural form, but we have as much 
 right on that account to consider it plural as 
 to call the words D*}5 “‘face,” OM “life,” BYyI 
 “youth,” plurals. The Hebrew, like almost every 
 
 * The same argument is used in Bereshith Rabbah (p. ro), 
 
 by R. Simlai.  qyqa mands nos oxdnw ns oem ew 
 san owes on" Sews onsd oe ond tox obyn ne 
 onyx obs sa wwe on jd own ood xo Sew 
 om exes pin 2 ws Noe NSD DIND pe ND WN 
 ond sox ods, 809 MYND NDS PS NIA AD > DN 
 
 somos, 892 NON PRD DND TN OTN NTO 
 
6 SERMON I. 
 
 other language, has in its vocabulary words witha 
 plural form but having a singular signification. 
 The term orioy is of this class of words, the 
 reason being that it signifies the concentration 
 of powers PIMNTN “W4. Thus the Hebrew word 
 for master has a plural form, e.g.ADV ‘TN 7p 
 ‘“‘ And Joseph’s master took him.’’* yoya OSX 
 $Y “If the owner thereof be with it.’’§ ) 
 
 But we must bear in mind that Dds is not 
 the only name applied to God in our Holy Lan- 
 guage; there are many others that are as strictly 
 singular in form as they are singular in meaning. 
 I need only mention the WES OW, the Sacred 
 Tetragrammaton (which, on account of its 
 sanctity, we are not allowed to utter); also Mm? 
 and "ty by the Almighty God. 
 
 If the Deity indeed consist of more than one 
 Being, how is it that in one verse of Isaiah, 
 (xLIv., 6), we find the word denoting Him in 
 the plural form D° mos ys “Wa ‘* Beside 
 me there is no God,” and in the same chapter 
 (v. 8), inthe singular, syban myoy wen “Ts 
 there a God beside me ?” 
 
 * Gen. xxxix., 20. Vide Rashi ad Gen. xxxv. 7., 
 SUES: RR, Gs 
 
SERMON I. 7 
 
 
 
 Again, the term pbs is applied to a judge: 
 omy nat so! Dos “y “<The cause of the 
 parties shall come before the judge.”* The Lord 
 said to Moses mp? DON WRN AS ““T have 
 made thee a god to Pharaoh,”’§ 7.¢., a direct re- 
 presentative of myself. Now, if it were true 
 that the plural form of Dry points to a Trinity, 
 we must conclude that Moses and each of the 
 judges were triune beings. 
 
 This explanation will at once dispose of the ar- 
 gument that is sought to be deduced from the 
 expression snby2 DIN mivya noe SEN) 
 inv1d “The Lord said, We will make man in 
 our own image after our likeness.” || The fact that 
 the Lord said “‘ we,’ and not “1” (will make), 
 is alleged to point to the dogma of the Trinity. 
 Nothing, however, can be clearer than that here 
 the so-called pluralis excellentia or pluralis mages- 
 ticus is used, and that this form is introduced to 
 give befitting dignity and emphasis to the nar- 
 rative of the creation of man—a being who was to 
 be formed in the image of the Most High. In 
 a similar manner we find the plural employed by 
 nee i 
 
 * Ex, xxil., 8. § Ex. vil, 1. 
 || Gen. L, 26. 
 
8 SERMON I. 
 
 kings in their decrees, just as at the present day 
 sovereigns use the plural in their proclamations. 
 Thus Artaxerxes says in Ezra (iv. 18), ‘‘the letter 
 which ye sent unto us:” and (vil., 24), ‘‘ also we 
 certify you.” Yet no one would conclude from 
 these expressions that they referred to more than 
 oneruler.* And indeed, as ifthe Bible would at 
 once dissipate the idea that there could be more 
 than one Deity, the singular form of the pro- 
 nominal suffix is used in the very next verse, 
 (Gen. i. 27) SOY DINT ny OY NTN 
 ‘“*So God created man in His image.”$ 7 
 
 One word will suffice to dispose of the argu- 
 ment with reference to the threefold repetition 
 of the word Wp, “holy,” in the adoration of 
 the Angels.|| This simply denotes emphasis. 
 In Jeremiah vii., 4, ‘7 S5°m “the temple of 
 the Lord,” and in chap. xxii. 29. {US “earth,” 
 
 * Thus we in our common intercourse address a single 
 person with the plural pronoun “ you.” Germans use the 
 third person plural as the pronomen reverentia. 
 
 § Many other instructive instances are adduced in the Talmud 
 (Sanhedrin p. 38) to show ]7"¥2 ]NDwWN OA MPHY DID 95 
 that wherever a passage occurs which might give rise to doubts, 
 another placed in juxtaposition, serves at once to remove the 
 difficulties. cf. Jalkut Daniel § 1065. 
 
 || Isaiah vi. 3. 
 
et 4 Dd ( 
 Ceo pase ome b. Sr WR or & 
 BS Pra t me r 
 “f 6 
 SERMON I. 9 
 
 are three times repeated. Were there then three 
 temples? Are there three earths? 
 
 But there is surely no need for me to dwell 
 farther on the subject.* All these cobwebs of 
 subtilties are at once swept away by the 
 distinctness with which Holy Writ tells us 
 IMS 71 “The Lord is One:”§ solely simply 
 one. The words “IT& 7 not merely signify 
 that the Lord is One, and that there are 
 no other gods beside Him (in contradiction to 
 the polytheistic belief of heathen nations) but 
 one without any division of parts.|| The Christian 
 doctrine of a plurality in unity, viz., that there 
 pugnant to reason and opposed to the words of 
 Scripture. 
 
 * T will only mention as a curiosity the argument in favour 
 ot the Trinity adduced by the Rev. Mr. Liddon in the 
 Bampton Lectures of 1866, from the threefold repetition of 
 the Most Holy Name in the benediction of the priests. He 
 says: ‘* A single mention of the sacred name would have been 
 most natural in a system the object of which was to impress 
 belief in a Divine unity.” Is it not astonishing that an ac- 
 complished scholar like Mr. Liddon should stoop to such 
 quibbling ? 
 
 § Deut. vi., 4. 
 
 | cf. Ezekiel xi, 19. HN 35 ond nna «and I will give 
 them ove heart.” 
 
% 
 ole dius ¢% 
 > ae 
 
 f= 
 
 »> Cer wel] é j nd ¥ ee Ade we Uber 68 ro} eA AF 
 
 10 SERMON I. 
 
 
 
 The next passage to which I would direct 
 your attention is the tenth verse of the 4gth 
 chapter of Genesis. In the benediction which 
 the patriarch bestows upon Judah, he says: 
 
 ee Paine yon Pao Pprig | mae Daw “IDS 
 roy nop dyn bse xin 
 ‘ihe ‘sceptre. shall “not hs from Judah 
 
 nor the lawgiver from between his feet until 
 Shiloh cometh; and unto him shall the gath- 
 
 ering of the people be.” This is the render- 
 ee 
 
 ing of the passage given by Christian trans- 
 lators, who consider it to be one of the principal 
 references to the founder of their faith con- 
 tained in the Pentateuch. They allege that 
 the verse signifies, that dominion would belong 
 to Judah, until their Messiah—who, they say, is 
 here spoken of by the name of Shiloh—should 
 come, when the sovereignty would be taken 
 from Judah. And they assert that this pro- 
 phecy has been fulfilled; for within seventy 
 years after the author of their faith had ap- 
 peared, the second temple was destroyed, and 
 Judah was deprived of his political supremacy.* 
 
 A very conclusive answer, however, can be 
 
 
 
 * Vide Hengstenberg, Christology of the Old Testament, 
 vol. 1., p. 59. 
 
 er 
 
SERMON I. ; 5 it 
 
 
 
 given to this argument. The sovereignty of 
 Judah did not cease at the advent of the so- 
 called Shiloh; it ceased 588 years before the birth 
 of the Nazarene, when Nebuchadnezzar carried 
 Zedekiah, King of Judah, into captivity. During 
 the entire period of the second temple, not one 
 king of the tribe of Judah ruled over the nation. 
 The Jewish kings, during this period, were 
 the Maccabees, (who, being high priests, were 
 members of the tribe of Levi,) and Herod the 
 Great, with his descendants, who were foreign- 
 .ers. How, then, can it- be maintained that 
 ‘the sceptre did not depart from Judah, nor the 
 lawgiver from between his feet,’ until the 
 coming of the Nazarene? Again, throughout 
 the whole Bible the word "DY is never ap- 
 plied to any personage. It is the name of a 
 well-known town in the centre of the Holy 
 Land, belonging to the tribe of Ephraim. In 
 this city, the tabernacle was pitched at the con- 
 quest of Canaan by the Israelites under Joshua, 
 and there it remained until the time of Eli.* 
 The passage probably refers to an important 
 event in Jewish history.) When Rehoboam 
 the son of Solomon ascended the throne, and 
 
 * Judges xviii. 31 ; I Samuel i. 3, et passim, § I Kings xii. 
 
 5E 
 
 a 
 
12 SERMON I. 
 
 made himself unpopular by acts that were 
 devoid of wisdom and discretion, the tribe of 
 Ephraim proclaimed its own independent au- 
 thority, and it was joined by nine other tribes. 
 This revolution took place at Shechem, close 
 to which Shiloh, for centuries the place of 
 general and national assemblies, was situated.* 
 From that time Judah, who had exercised so 
 great a preponderance in the nation;) who, in 
 the wanderings in the desert, had marched at 
 the head of the tribes; to whom, in times 
 of national danger or difficulty, the leadership 
 had been entrusted; from whom sprang David, 
 the first king over united Israel, and Solomon, 
 the ruler of the nation, at the height of its pros- 
 perity; Judah now no longer maintained his 
 supremacy. The translation of the passage, 
 then, ought to run, ‘‘ The sceptre shall not de- 
 part from Judah, northe lawgiver from between 
 his feet, until he cometh to Shiloh, and the 
 people gather to him.”’ This is the interpretation 
 of the passage given by Rashbam,|| and followed 
 
 
 
 * Judges xxir-19, § I Chron. v, 2. 
 || Yzde the Commentary (attributed to Rashi) on II Chron, 
 x. is: 82D Ty pana ndw ear spy onidnn a xb 
 ya5ond ony nap dow oyans ow poond now man 
 43) msbon npbrs ow) 
 
SERMON I. 13 
 
 
 
 by most Jewish translators. I cannot state 
 with absolute certainty that it is the correct 
 one, for there is scarcely any other passage in 
 Scripture which equals this in difficulty, and 
 there is none which has called forth a greater 
 variety of expositions. I have, however, shown 
 you that the Christian interpretation of the 
 passage cannot by any possibility be correct, 
 opposed as it is to the events of history.* 
 This exposition concludes my discourse of to- 
 day. Next Sabbath I propose to consider some 
 passagesin Isaiah which are believed by Christian 
 commentators to refer to the founder of their 
 faith. I shall also commence my exposition of 
 the important fifty-third chapter of that Prophet, 
 which I would ask you previously to read care- 
 fully, so that you may be able to follow and 
 remember the arguments I shall bring before 
 you. And I shall truly rejoice if by my expla- 
 nations I succeed in arming you with some 
 knowledge of the Bible, so that, in obedience to 
 the counsels of the Sage, you may be enabled to 
 reply to him who would raise doubts and diff- 
 
 * I deem it right to mention that the Targum and some 
 few of our commentators refer this passage to the Messiah 
 whose advent we expect. This point will be fully treated in 
 Sermon IX. 
 
17 SERMON I. 
 
 
 
 culties in your minds,—so that you may be able © } 
 proudly to unfurl, and triumphantly to wave 
 
 the banner of our faith before the nations of the 
 world. V7 
 
 | t Ak eel: pow 
 Jha (pow ech, aes fbn fs pAall OURS 4 
 
 | ws 
 DT ctake ward ore fates At off for 
 has heal nvri4eb, he (ve Visdod. ) pbotlh oN 
 ke Shiberb, and he Heedsnce O por 
 but ‘ jer of- pws tp oe & iis OS 
 
 tai) i Va cho ft lne nen 
 oo Qe eh CTRL Ators ae 
 
 f 
 
 he ae acd s 
 ot Yay) PEG SO: TR) Wi acl: 
 Coe ‘he fa the tig eek é A 
 
SERMON II. 
 
 PREACHED ON SABBATH Dep) Mid AN '5 
 (MAY 2ND). 
 
 I PROCEED to lay before you some passages 
 contained in the writings of the sublimest of 
 prophets, Isaiah, than whom no prophet has been 
 believed by Christian expositors to make more 
 frequent and distinct references to the founder 
 of their faith. The reason of this belief lies 
 in the fact, that the book called by the name 
 of Isaiah contains frequent allusions to, and 
 clear predictions of, the advent of a Messiah. 
 But it will not be difficult to prove to you, 
 that these prophecies were not fulfilled in the 
 appearance of the Nazarene. Besides these 
 prophecies, however, there are many passages 
 not at all bearing upon the advent of the 
 
os 
 
 16 SERMON II. 
 
 Anointed, which, by being mistranslated and 
 wrenched from their context, have been made 
 to appear as if confirming some of the doctrines 
 of the Christian Church. 
 
 A noteworthy instance of this is to be found 
 in the explanation given by Christian writers of 
 the fourteenth verse of the seventh chapter: 
 nibh saa npoyn man nis o3d sin on int p25 
 
 MSY jay MNP 12 
 
 ‘Therefore the Lord Himself shall give you 
 a sign. Behold, a virgin shall conceive and 
 bear a son, and call his name Immanuel.” 
 
 This text is supposed to announce the super- 
 natural birth of the Nazarene; and it is alleged 
 that his divine nature is indicated by the name 
 Sey (‘God with us’) which he is to re- 
 ceive. Now, the answer to this argument is 
 twofold. In the first place, andy is not syn- 
 onymous with ndina, the expression used in 
 the Bible to denote a virgin. One quotation— 
 «npbya i JIT) —1s sufficient to show that 
 the word my does not signify ‘‘ virgin.” It 
 simply denotes a young woman, one who is 
 either marriageable or already married. Se- 
 
 *° Prows SX. “FQ. 
 lxx (497Y > Weep Gevos, 
 
dpa —0) H- 
 
 é 
 
 AAA 
 
 & 
 
 Jk deta nt d sy sia then Wess 
 
 SERMON II. 17 
 
 condly, the use of the name byiay conveys no 
 proof that reference is intended to a Divine 
 personage; for,in Hebrew, many names, both of 
 men and of things, are found compounded with 
 
 & “God,” and other appellations of the Deity. 
 Thus we find bso" ‘‘who is like unto God?” 
 Gyawd “the majesty of God; Wx “God is 
 my help;” ,MJiN! “gift of the Lord;” mo 
 ‘Jah is my God.” Again, such terms as 
 bs soy by ‘a Worde-God on israehs* 
 ‘D) ‘7 “the Lord my banner,’’§ are applied to 
 altars, signifying that they were erected to 
 glorify the Lord, and to serve as memorials of 
 the gracious help He had vouchsafed. We also 
 read|| that the name of the Messiah is to be 
 PTS ‘1 ‘‘the Lord is our righteousness.” Yet 
 this cannot be taken as a proof that the Messiah 
 was to be a divinity, for the same title is ap- 
 plied to the city of Jerusalem.4 
 
 * Gen. xxxiii. 20. Vide Rashi ad locum. 
 
 § Ex, xvii. 15. 
 
 | Jeremiah xxiii. 6, 
 
 © Jeremiah xxxiii. 16. This name signifies, that the mere 
 mention of the Messiah and of Jerusalem will call to mind 
 the righteousness of the Lord. Ct. Baba Bathra, p. 75, 
 m ver neopn bw wow Sy aqpa mwow yom 929 ON 
 
 soowiy mw ops 
 C 
 
18 SERMON II. 
 
 
 
 But it is by referring to the context that the 
 strongest objections to the Christian view are 
 made apparent. MRezin, King of Syria, and 
 Pekah, King of Israel, are allied together 
 against Ahaz, King of Judah. Ahaz is greatly 
 terrified, and Isaiah is sent by the Lord to 
 encourage him and the nation, and to assure 
 them by a sign that in a little time the enemies 
 of the king would be confounded. Mention is 
 made of this sign in the words quoted above; 
 and then the text continues (v. 16): “‘ For be- 
 fore the child shall know to refuse the evil, and 
 choose the good, the land that thou abhorrest ”’ 
 (Syria and Israel) ‘‘ shall be forsaken of both her 
 kings.” 
 
 The question must at once present itself to 
 every mind,—How could the prediction of the 
 supernatural birth, that is supposed to have 
 taken place at least seven hundred years after 
 these events, serve as an encouragement to 
 Ahaz, and a sign that the divine promise of the 
 preservation of his land from its enemies would 
 be fulfilled ? 
 
 The following is the most probable expla- 
 nation of the passage. The word mp?y refers 
 to the young wife of the prophet himself; she 
 was to bear a son, whom she was to call 
 
SERMON II. 19 
 
 
 
 Immanuel, this name being intended to indi- 
 cate the protection which the Lord would 
 grant the nation. The fulfilment of this pro- 
 phecy is narrated in the following chapter, 
 where we read,* ‘And the prophetess con- 
 ceived and bare a son. ‘Then said the Lord 
 to me, Call his name Maher-shalal-hash-baz ;”’ 
 (2. e., speedy booty, hasty spoil.) ‘‘ For before 
 the child shall have knowledge to cry, My 
 father and my mother, the riches of Damas- 
 cus and the spoil of Samaria shall be taken 
 away before the King of Assyria.” It is quite 
 evident that the child, here spoken of, is 
 the child whose birth was predicted in the 
 preceding chapter, and that while the name 
 given by the mother was intended to indicate 
 the protection God would grant the people, 
 the name given by the prophet himself was 
 to indicate the manner in which that pro- 
 tection would be manifested—viz., by the 
 speedy destruction and ruin of the two allied 
 kings. / 
 
 The next passage of Isaiah that we have to 
 consider is to be found in chapter ix., 6, 7: 
 
 
 
 * Isaiah viii. 3, 4. 
 
20 SERMON I]. 
 
 -by men vom aby ya ubads abs op 
 SY Ty vay 122 ON Pui XDD iow sph pow 
 spa by porps otbwy min mad nib 
 baying mqypdy anix pond imsbep by) a9 
 
 = 
 
 :obiy oy) nays mp 
 
 The verse is translated as follows in the An- 
 glican version :— 
 
 “For unto us a child is born, unto us a 
 son is given: and the government shall be upon 
 his shoulder; and his name shall be called 
 Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The 
 everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. Of 
 the increase of his government and peace, there 
 shall be no end, upon the throne of David, 
 and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to es- 
 tablish it with judgment and with justice from 
 henceforth even for ever.” 
 
 You are aware how, from the words “And 
 his name shall be called... .. . The mighty 
 God, The everlasting Father,” the divinity of 
 the Nazarene is sought to be deduced. 
 
 But the application of these verses to the Christ- 
 ian Messiah can only be maintained by their being 
 violently torn from their context. Both the pre- 
 
SERMON II. aI 
 
 ceding and the following verses speak distinctly of 
 the campaign which the King of Assyria, Senna- 
 cherib, is about to undertake against Jerusalem. 
 “Now, therefore, behold, the Lord bringeth up 
 upon them the waters of the river, strong and 
 many, even the King of Assyria, and all his glory ; 
 and he shall come up over his channels, and go 
 over his banks; and he shall pass through 
 Judah; he shall overthrow and go over; he 
 shall reach even to the neck.” * Then there 
 would be terrible fear and alarm throughout the 
 land, ‘‘and behold, trouble and darkness, dim- 
 ness of anguish.”’§ The prophet, in continua- 
 tion, predicts how the Lord would send them a 
 wondrous deliverance: ‘“‘ They that dwell in 
 the land of the shadow of death, upon them 
 shall the light shine.’’|| He foretells in general 
 terms how that mighty host would be defeated, 
 not in battle, but by a miraculous, an awful dis- 
 pensation: “for every battle of the warrior is 
 with confused noise, and garments rolled in 
 blood, but this shall be with burning and fuel of 
 fire.” 4] This passage refers to the Divine visi- 
 
 
 
 * Isaiah viii. 7, 8. § Ibid., viii. 22. Cf. Il Kings xix. 
 | Ibid., ix. 2. | Ibid., ix. 5. 
 
22 SERMON II. 
 
 tation by which the army of Sennacherib was 
 cut off in one night.* As the poet sings— 
 
 ‘* For the Angel of Death spread its wings on the blast, 
 And breathed in the face of the foe as he pass‘d ; 
 And the eyes of the sleepers wax’d deadly and chill, 
 And their hearts but once heay’d, and for ever grew still.’’§ 
 
 Now, why will the Lord thus deliver Israel ? 
 The prophet states the reason in the verse im- 
 mediately following (v. 6): ‘‘For unto us a 
 child is born, unto us a son is given.” The 
 miracle shall come to pass in the reign and for 
 the sake of Hezekiah, the future King of Judah, 
 who would be pious and act virtuously, and of 
 whom it is said, that “he trusted in the Lord 
 God of Israel; so that after him was none like 
 him among all the kings of Judah, nor any 
 that were before him.” || When Isaiah declared 
 this prophecy at the commencement of the 
 reign of the wicked king Ahaz, his son and 
 heir-apparent Hezekiah was twelve years of 
 age, and had already given promise of a God- 
 
 * IIT Kings xix. 35; Isai. xxxvii. 36; If Chron. xxxii. 21. 
 § Byron’s Hebrew Melodies—The Destruction of Sen 
 
 nacherib. 
 || I1 Kings xviii, 5. 
 
SERMON II. 23 
 
 fearing life. To him the verses in question 
 refer. It is therefore written, Sy) a5) a eo) 
 *‘for unto us a child has been born,’ not aby 
 ‘‘shall be born;” 19 } 4 Ja “a son has 
 been given,” not jz’ “shall be given.” How, 
 then, can this prediction by any possibility refer 
 to the founder of the Christian faith, who was 
 born nearly seven hundred and fifty years after- 
 wards? 
 
 Difficulties have been raised on account of 
 the high and exalted names and qualities that 
 are attributed to Hezekiah. But it can be easily 
 shown that these epithets are in perfect har- 
 mony with the idiom of the Hebrew language. 
 33 by should be rendered ‘‘ the mighty hero,”’ 
 not ‘‘the mighty God.” There are numerous 
 passages in the Bible in which by is not ap- 
 plied to the Deity, but to heroes, e. g., ANID ON 
 “the mighty men of Moab;”* D™)33 by 
 ‘the strong among the mighty.’”§ Nebuchad- 
 nezzar is called D3 by “the mighty one of 
 the heathens.”’|| But even if we take by in its 
 
 * Exod. xvi. 15. § Ezekiel xxxii. 21, 
 || Zbid., xxxi. 11. 
 
24 SERMON II. 
 
 
 
 usual signification of “‘God,” the appellation 
 would be almost a synonym of the very name 
 which Hezekiah bore, M! pin “Strength of 
 God.* I have already told you that it was a 
 practice in Hebrew to form proper names com- 
 pounded of various titles of the Deity. § 
 
 “TY ‘AN simply signifies “ perpetual, constant 
 father,” and denotes that Hezekiah would be 
 the devoted benefactor of his people. We find 
 IX used several times in this sense in the Bible 
 —as: “And He hath made me a father to 
 Pharaoh;”’ || “I was a father to the poor;” 
 “‘ And he shall be a father to the inhabitants of 
 Jerusalem.” ** 
 
 The title, ‘“‘ Prince of Peace,” seems to be pe- 
 culiarly applicable to Hezekiah when we bear in 
 mind the miraculous deliverance, which the Lord 
 vouchsafed to the nation, and the peace and tran- 
 quillity that Judah enjoyed during his reign. 
 But how could that title with any degree of justice 
 be applied to the founder of the Christian faith, 
 who himself said, “‘ Think not that I am come 
 
 eee ee EE ee ee ee ee ee 
 
 * Vide Sanhedrin, p. 94, PPnY “PIh XT A Ip Arn 
 :Doway onvard sw? mx 
 
 § Supra p. 17. || Gen. xl, 8. 
 
 @ Job xxix, 16, ** Tsai, xxii, 23: 
 
SERMON II. 25 
 
 to send peace on earth; I came not to send 
 peace, but a sword.” 
 
 How could the words, ‘“‘ Upon the throne of 
 David and upon his kingdom,” be applied to one 
 who never occupied that throne? Surely, with 
 all these facts before us, we cannot be surprised 
 that not only the Talmud * and our most ancient 
 and valued commentators, Rashi, Ibn Ezra, 
 Kimchi and Abarbanel, but also critical Chris- 
 tian commentators, (of whom I will only men- 
 tion the most learned, Gesenius,$) are unani- 
 mous in referring these verses to King Hezekiah. 
 
 I shall now proceed to the consideration of 
 the celebrated prophecy of Isaiah, consisting of 
 part of the fifty-second and the whole of the 
 fifty-third chapter. 
 
 Upon this prophecy, Christian controversialists 
 lay the greatest stress. Indeed, it is the only 
 one that Paley brings forward in his ‘‘ Evidences 
 of Christianity.” || It is believed to contain the 
 prediction of the sufferings which the author of 
 their faith was to endure, and the doctrine of 
 the so-called “‘ vicarious atonement.” 
 
 As I suppose you to be familiar with the 
 
 * Sanhedrin, p. 94. 
 § Commentar iiber den Jesaia, vol, i., p. 361. 
 || Part II., chap. 1. 
 
26 SERMON II. 
 
 chapter, I shall limit myself to giving you a 
 brief abstract of its contents. 
 
 The prophet predicts that the time will come 
 when the servant of the Lord, who had long 
 been despised and rejected, would be exalted 
 and honoured. The Lord had caused him to 
 suffer sorrow and affliction during a long period, 
 and to be smitten and chastised for the trans- 
 gressions and iniquities of others. But though 
 stricken, persecuted, and oppressed, he re- 
 mained patient andresigned. ‘‘ He was brought 
 as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep be- 
 fore her shearers is dumb, so he opened not his 
 mouth.” And as a reward for this patience, he 
 should enjoy prosperity, length of life, a nume- 
 rous offspring ; he should divide his portion with 
 the great, and share the spoil with the strong. 
 
 It i8 asserted by Christian theologians that 
 this prophecy refers to their teacher, who, they 
 say, after having been persecuted by his con- 
 temporaries, offered himself as an atonement on 
 behalf of his nation, obtained for them remis- 
 sion of their sins, and was exalted by being 
 translated to heaven. 
 
 To this I reply, first, that the supposed ac- 
 cordance of the events of the Nazarene’s life 
 with this prophecy proves nothing; for, accord- 
 
SERMON II. 27 
 
 
 
 ing to the opinions of many eminent critics, the 
 writings containing an account of his life and 
 death were not contemporary records, but were 
 compiled about 200 years after the occurrence 
 of the events purporting to be related in them, 
 and the various circumstances were then de- 
 scribed in such manner as to tally with the 
 prophecies of Isaiah. History was shaped to 
 accord with prophecy ; in fact, to use a homely 
 but expressive simile, the foot was cut so as to 
 fit the shoe. 
 
 Secondly, there are numerous reasons which 
 make it impossible to take the prophecy in the 
 sense accepted by Christian commentators. Of 
 these I proceed to state concisely some of the 
 principal. 
 
 I. All the preceding chapters, from the com- 
 mencement of the 4oth, speak of a time when 
 Israel would be in captivity. In this very 
 chapter we read “ loose thyself from the bands 
 of thy neck, O capTive daughter of Zion.’”* 
 The Nazarene, however, was born while the 
 second Temple was still standing, and Israel 
 enjoying comparative independence. 
 
 II. The passage commences “IY Ory man 
 “behold my servant shall prosper.” The ex- 
 
 * Isai, lii. 2. 
 
28 SERMON II. 
 
 pression ‘servant of the Lord,’ so often met with 
 in the Bible, and especially in the writings of this 
 prophet, is not once distinctly applied to the future 
 redeemer; and if this expression is intended to de- 
 note the Nazarene, him who was believed to be 
 God, how can he be called the servant of God ? 
 
 Miy it is “here said ‘of “that servant “of the 
 Lord that he would prosper, be exalted and 
 extolled, and that kings would shut their mouths 
 in adoration before him; and, from the meaning 
 which the words have in the original,* we learn 
 that these events were to take place in his life- 
 time. These predictions, however, were not 
 fulfilled in the lifetime of the Nazarene. In- 
 stead of being magnified and exalted he was 
 sentenced to an ignominious death. 
 
 IV. The prophecy states of him§ Y 3} AN‘. 
 ‘‘ he shall see his seed.”” This signifies that the 
 servant of the Lord should leave anoffspring. The 
 Nazarene, however, is said to have died childless. 
 Disciples cannot be meant by this expression, for 
 we nowhere find disciples called YI} ‘ offspring.’ 
 They are sometimes termed O'J3 ‘ children,’ 
 
 *Thus 57 denotes temporal prosperity, cf. Josh. i., 7, 8; 
 2 Kings xviii. 7; Prov. xvii. &. 
 § Chap, lili. ro. 
 
SERMON II. 29 
 
 
 
 even as a teacher is called SN ‘father.’ But 
 the word }} is nowhere used in this metaphori- 
 cal sense ; it has never any other meaning than 
 that of natural offspring. 
 
 V. The verse continues—D%) FN! ‘“‘he shall 
 prolong his days.” ‘This expression in Hebrew 
 is only applicable to temporal life, but we do 
 not find that the Nazarene’s days were pro- 
 longed, for it is related, that he was put to death 
 at the age of thirty-three. Nor can the length- 
 ening of days be held to refer to his divinity, for 
 length of days cannot be attributed to God, to 
 Him ‘‘who is the first and the last, and of whose 
 years there is no end.” 
 
 VI. It is stated* ‘‘therefore will I divide him 
 a portion with the great, and he shall divide 
 the spoil with the strong.” This clearly refers 
 to temporal triumphs. But who were the great, 
 who the strong, with whom he divided the 
 spoil? 
 
 VII. “And he made his grave with the 
 wicked, and with the rich in his death.’§ 
 Gesenius remarks]|| that this prediction if applied 
 to the Nazarene has not been borne out by the 
 facts, as related in the so-called New Testament. 
 
 
 
 * Chap. lili. 12. § Chap. li. 9. 
 || Commentar iiber den Jesaia, vol. ili. p. 186. 
 
30 SERMON II. 
 
 The exact reverse was the case; for he was 
 put to death not with the rich, but among 
 criminals ; his grave was not with the wicked, 
 for his body was placed in the grave of the 
 wealthy Joseph of Arimathea. 
 
 VIII. The words in the 8th verse, “DY yw 
 Tay, Ya} are translated “for the transgression 
 
 of my people was he stricken.” This translation 
 is incorrect, for Dy is a plural, the equivalent of 
 nab and the passage should be rendered, “‘ for 
 the transgression of my people were they 
 stricken.”” This would seem to point to the 
 fact that a collective body and not a single indi- 
 vidual is spoken of. 
 
 IX. The section concludes with the words, 
 ‘‘and made intercession for the transgressors.” 
 Must not the question present itself to our 
 minds, To whom did the Nazarene pray, seeing 
 that he was said to be God himself ?§ 
 
 All these (and the list could be greatly ex- 
 
 * Vide Gesenius gram. Lehrgeb. pp. 216, 221. 
 
 § For further objections I refer you to a work entitled 
 “¢ Israel Avenged,” written in Spanish by Isaac Orobio de 
 Castro, (translated into French by Henriques, London, 
 1770; and into English by Grace Aguilar,) which shows, 
 verse by verse, that this chapter cannot be taken in the sense 
 applied to it by Christian expositors. 
 
SERMON II. 31 
 
 tended) are forcible and strong objections to the 
 Christian explanation of the prophecy. Several 
 of the above arguments, indeed, have not been 
 adduced by Jewish but by Christian expositors,* 
 and all evidently point to the true sense of the 
 chapter which I shall expound to you next Sab- 
 bath. I shall then show you that the prophecy 
 refers to our nation, Israel, the servant of the 
 Lord, whose sufferings and degradation were ne- 
 cessary for the accomplishment of his mission, but 
 by whose glorious exaltation in the latter days 
 the nations of the world will be impelled with all 
 the strength of conviction to put their faith in 
 the One and only God. 
 
 * I may mention especially Gesenius, Hitzig, and Knobel, 
 whose commentaries on Isaiah are classical works. 
 
SERMON III. 
 
 PREACHED ON SABBATH “VON '5 (MAY QTH.) 
 
 
 
 In my last discourse I commenced my explan- 
 ation of the prophecy contained in the 52nd and 
 53rd chapters of Isaiah, and I endeavoured to 
 show you by an analysis of some of the expres- 
 sions that the interpretation given by Christian 
 theologians could not be the true one. I shall 
 now ask you to consider that prophecy compre- 
 hensively, my purpose being to show you that 
 the doctrine which is alleged to be contained in 
 it,—a doctrine which is the corner-stone of 
 Christianity,—is quite irreconcilable with the 
 teachings of the Bible. 
 
 The doctrine is that of vicarious atonement. 
 It is averred that by the sin of Adam all man- 
 kind incurred everlasting condemnation, and 
 that for the purpose of saving them the Nazarene 
 suffered bodily and mental affliction on earth, 
 
SERMON III. 33 
 
 nay, even an ignominious death. It is further 
 taught that unless man believe in this ke- 
 deemer he is lost eternally, and that only the 
 acknowledgment of his atonement can bring sal- 
 vation. The doctrine of this atonement is chiefly 
 founded upon the following verses of this chapter. 
 ‘* Surely he hath borne our griefs and carried our 
 sorrows ; yet we did esteem him stricken, smit- 
 ten of God, and afflicted. But he was wounded 
 for our transgressions, he was bruised for our 
 iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was 
 upon him ; and with his stripes we are healed,” 
 (verses 4 and 5). Again: ‘‘ He was taken from 
 prison and from judgment, and who shall declare 
 his generation ? for he was cut off out of the 
 land of the living: for the transgression of my 
 people was he stricken,” (verse 8). Thus these 
 passages are rendered in the authorized version. 
 I do not admit that the translation is entirely 
 correct, but I will not enter into that matter now. 
 I will read to you a few lines from one of the 
 principal Christian commentaries on the Bible,* 
 so that we may know the sense in which Christ- 
 ian expositors take the foregoing verses: ‘‘Our 
 Redeemer was appointed and undertook to make 
 
 
 
 * By Henry and Scott. 
 
34 SERMON III. 
 
 
 
 satisfaction for our sins, and to save us from the 
 consequences. He was appointed to do it by 
 the will of his Father, for the Lord has laid on 
 him the iniquity of us all. God chose him to 
 be the Saviour of poor sinners, and would have 
 him save them by bearing their sins and the 
 punishment of them.” 
 
 How monstrous a doctrine, how repugnant to 
 all that the Bible tells us of the righteousness 
 of God, that an innocent and sinless man should 
 suffer the punishment which the guilty have entailed 
 upon themselves! But let us take a calm view of 
 the assertion. It is contended that God could 
 not forgive man for the original sin committed 
 by Adam until some one had suffered in the 
 place and for the sake of man; 7.e., till a 
 vicarious atonement had been made. Now, 
 without at present entering upon the question of 
 hereditary sin, let us consider the assumption 
 which this statement involves: that God by him- 
 self is unable to forgive sins! Can we accept this 
 assertion as true? Is the Lord not emphatically 
 termed in the Bible* nin ION “a God ready 
 to pardon ?” Has he not proclaimed himself as 
 
 Mp2! NP TP ANON pL py NbvI“pardoning 
 
 * Nehemiah ix. 17. 
 
SERMON III. 
 
 (He 
 qr 
 
 iniquity, transgression, and sin, yet not suffering 
 guilt to pass unpunished ?”** In these grand 
 words, He announces to us that though He 
 punishes the unrepenting sinner who obstinately 
 persists in doing evil, yet He isa merciful Father 
 who indulgently bears with the faults of His 
 erring children, when they return to Him with 
 the shame-stricken confession of their guilt.§ 
 These words of the Bible surely prove that the 
 Lord is able by Himself, without assistance or 
 intervention, to forgive whatever sin may have 
 been committed by man since man’s origin. He 
 is the All-sufficient, the Almighty God. 
 
 Yet it is said, truly God may be able, but was 
 He willing to save and pardon mankind without 
 the intercession and intervention of a mediator 
 who was ready to sacrifice himself as an atone- 
 ment? ‘To answer this question conclusively, 
 let us turn to a memorable incident recorded in 
 the Bible. 
 
 The wrath of the Almighty was excited against 
 His people Israel, for they had forgotten His 
 behests, and had made themselves an idol of 
 gold, and worshipped it. Moses, profoundly 
 grieved, said to the Israelites: ‘‘ Ye have sinned 
 
 * Exodus xxxiv. 7. f 
 § Joma p. 86 DW JKwW> AP Ndr ow NIN API 
 
36 SERMON III. 
 
 a great sin, and now I will go up to the Lord ; 
 peradventure I will make an atonement for your 
 sin.”* Deeply as he abhorred their conduct 
 towards God, keenly as he felt their ingratitude 
 towards himself, the great leader was ready to 
 sacrifice himself for his nation. With match- 
 less generosity and self-denial, with such love 
 as never before or since burnt in human heart 
 or burst from human lips, he exclaimed: “ Oh, 
 this people have sinned a great sin, and made © 
 them gods of gold. Yet now, if Thou wilt for- 
 give their sin—and if not, blot me, I pray Thee, 
 out of Thy book which Thou hast written.” 
 How did the Lord answer him? Did He 
 accept this vicarious atonement? Did He 
 accept this offering of the noble, self-sacrificing, 
 self-denying hero? Did He take the life of 
 Moses, the meek, the faithful, and permit his 
 blood to be an expiation of the people’s sin? 
 No. The Lord completely rejected his vicarious 
 atonement. He proclaimed vy) NOT WN ‘D 
 5D! (MN “ Whosoever has sinned against 
 me, him will I blot out of my book.Ӥ The 
 sacrifice of the innocent man could not save the 
 
 
 
 * Exodus xxxii, 30. § Ibid, xxxii, 33. 
 
SERMON III. 37 
 
 See eee ee ee es 
 
 sinner. The righteous Judge of mankind de- 
 clared, “In the day when I visit, I will visit 
 their sin upon them.”* These words forcibly 
 illustrate the Jewish doctrine that every man is 
 accountable for his own actions, and cannot 
 release himself from his individual responsibility 
 by the vicarious atonement of another, however 
 great he be. We have no mediator to save us 
 from the effects of our guilt, but our own sincere 
 repentance, by which we hope to obtain the for- 
 giveness of our God. 
 
 This doctrine of individual responsibility is 
 again and again insisted upon in the Bible. It 
 is clearly set forth in the 18th and 33rd 
 chapters of Ezekiel. I will quote but a few 
 verses from them. ‘‘ The soul that sinneth, it 
 shall die. The son shall not bear the iniquity 
 of the father, neither shall the father bear the 
 iniquity of the son.”§ And farther on;|| “I will 
 judge you, O house of Israel, every one according 
 to his ways, saith the Lord God.” Again; ‘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 
 
 
 
 * Exodus xxxil- 34. § Ezekiel xviii. 20. || ve 30. 
 
38 SERMON III. 
 
 
 
 will ye die, O house of Israel ?”** These verses 
 tell us, that we are all responsible beings; no 
 one can, no one need, make expiation for our 
 sins. We require nothing but our own repent- 
 ance and the love and mercy of our God to 
 obtain forgiveness and salvation. 
 
 It has, however, been urged that the Bible 
 has shadowed forth and typified the doctrine of 
 vicarious atonement in the laws of sacrifices. 
 It is argued, “‘ When the Israelite presented a 
 sacrifice, he, at the same time, and in the very 
 act, confessed that he was a sinner before God, 
 and deserved to die; but according to God’s 
 gracious will, the offering of an animal served 
 as an atonement, for the guilt of the offerer was 
 laid upon it and expiated in its blood. Of 
 course, the death of the victim could not ac- 
 tually atone for sin, and hence the question may 
 naturally be asked :—What did it mean? An- 
 swer.—The sacrifice was typical and symbolical, 
 and pointed to the one sacrifice for the sins of 
 the world, which was to be offered by the Mes- 
 siah, according to the prophecy already referred 
 to (Isaiah lii.).””. You will at once see that 
 
 
 
 * Ezekiel xxxiii. rz. 
 § Gottheil’s ‘ Messiah: the hope of Israel,’ p. 89. 
 
SERMON III. 39 
 
 
 
 these arguments rest on an entirely false idea of 
 the object and value of sacrifices. I have ona 
 former occasion pointed out to you, that the Bible 
 teaches us that offerings were entirely ineffica- 
 cious, unless accompanied by sincere repentance 
 and devout contrition. When aman had been 
 guilty of any trespass against his neighbour; when 
 he had withheld from him aught which had been 
 entrusted him, or taken aught away by violence, 
 he was enjoined first to redress the wrong he had 
 committed, and then to bring his trespass offer- 
 ing.* The only value and efficacy of the offering 
 consisted in this, that it proved the sacrificer to 
 be repentant : it was an outward test and sign of 
 his sincerity. ‘‘ And it shall be, when he shall 
 be guilty in one of these things, that he shall con- 
 fess that he has sinned in that thing.Ӥ Again, 
 it has been asserted that the atonement which 
 the high-priest made on the great D537 OY 
 teaches that man can mediate between God and 
 the sinner.|| But this assertion also rests on 
 an error. The atonement of the high-priest 
 was of no avail for the individual, unless that 
 
 
 
 * Vide Leviticus vi. I—7. § Ibid. v., 5. 
 || Dr. M‘Caul’s Doctrine and Interpretation of the 53rd 
 Chapter of Isaiah. 
 
40 SERMON III. 
 
 
 
 individual afflicted his soul, and passed the day 
 in solemn repentance and sincere contrition for 
 his iniquities. ‘‘Is not this the fast I have 
 chosen ? to loose the bands of wickedness,” &c.* 
 Our sages teach us,$ D557 OV SOAS ADINA 
 2125 ONIN DY PX IED “For him who 
 sins with the idea that the day of atonement 
 will expiate his guilt, for him that day is of no 
 avail.” || The whole object of that day on 
 which we repeat again and again the solemn 
 words AAS NPY Mein Smt qe 15 ps ry 
 ‘‘for we have none to forgive and pardon us but 
 Thee, O God,” is to impress upon us the truth 
 that we have no mediator to save us from the 
 effects of our sins, but our own repentance, our 
 own good deeds; that we have nothing to hope 
 for but the infinite mercy of our Creator. 
 
 
 
 * Tsaiah lviit. 6. § Mishna Joma, c. viii. sec. 9. 
 
 || The rite of the scape-geat, which was “to bear upon him 
 all their iniquities into a land not inhabited,” (Leviticus xvi. 
 22,) was to admonish the people, that they should cast off 
 their sins entirely. ‘The ceremony was also symbolical of the 
 fact, that the Lord would grant them complete forgiveness. 
 Cf. More Nebuchim III. c..46. ‘Sins are not burdens 
 which can be shifted from the back of one man to that of 
 another. All these sacrificial rites were intended to work an 
 impression upon man’s soul, for the purpose of stimulating it 
 to repentance.” 
 
SERMON III. 41 
 
 
 
 Let us now examine what would be the con- 
 sequences of the existence of a vicarious atone- 
 ment. ‘The good man and the sinner would 
 thereby be reduced to the same level. The 
 righteous man who sinned not, and the sinner 
 who sinned, both alike would receive the Divine 
 grace; the former by his own merit, the latter 
 by the merit of his mediator; and the whole 
 end and purpose of our earthly life would be 
 stultified. The probation of this life would be 
 of no avail. And if it were so, why should man 
 yield up his pleasures, his passions, his material 
 interests, his self, to good works that may be 
 dispensed with, to virtues that are not neces- 
 sary? Indeed, the theory of mediation, when — 
 carried to its extreme consequences, would be a 
 monstrous reversal of the Divine scheme of 
 man’s creation and destiny. No; such cannot 
 be the way of the perfect Judge. The Penta- 
 teuch and the prophets tell us most unequivo- 
 cally that it is not; and reason leads us to the 
 like conclusion.’’* 
 
 I have thus shewn you that this chapter 
 
 
 
 * Sabbath Readings, published by the Jewish Association 
 for the Diftusion of Religious Knowledge, vol. iv. p. 27, on 
 Responsibility. 
 
42 SERMON III. 
 
 cannot refer to the Nazarene acting as the me- 
 diator of mankind. Let me now submit to you 
 the true interpretation of the prophecy. 
 
 Our expositors agree in saying that the ser- 
 vant, here spoken of, is the nation, Israel. Just 
 one page before, the prophet, speaking in the 
 name of the Lord, says “WN oy ns ‘TY 
 “SAMS 2 “Thou art my servant, O Israel, in 
 whom I will be glorified.”* All the preceding 
 chapters have spoken of the glorious exaltation 
 that awaits Israel. The prophet now proceeds 
 to speak in more explicit terms of this future 
 greatness. ‘‘ Behold my servant shall prosper, 
 he shall be exalted and extolled, and be very 
 high.” He shall be exalted in the same degree 
 as he had been degraded during his exile. On 
 beholding this, all the nations and the kings of 
 the earth will be astonished ; they will call to 
 mind that state of abasement which had for- 
 merly been the lot of the Israelites. Then 
 follows that wondrous record of our nation’s 
 sufferings, depicted by a master hand, on which 
 each page in our history during the middle ages 
 is a life-breathing, vivid commentary. “Israel 
 
 * Isaiah xlix. 3. Cf. xlil. 1. 19. xliii. 10. xliv. i. 21. xlv. 4. 
 
SERMON III. 43 
 
 
 
 was despised and rejected, acquainted with 
 grief, and we (the nations of the earth) esteemed 
 him not.” Now, why was Israel dispersed to 
 all quarters of the globe? Why had he to suffer 
 all these afflictions? That he might fulfil his 
 mission and wean mankind from error and irre- 
 ligion. When at last the nations of the earth 
 shall reflect upon the martyrdom Israel endured 
 for so many centuries, how he was cut off from 
 the land of the living, how his grave was made 
 with the wicked, and his death compassed by the 
 mighty of the earth, and how he bore it all and 
 refused to become unfaithful to his God,—then 
 the nations of the earth will renounce their sin- 
 fulness, and acknowledge the God of Israel as 
 the One true God. They will say, ‘‘ Israel has 
 been wounded for our transgressions, bruised for 
 our iniquities: the chastisement for our peace 
 was upon him, and through his stripes we 
 are healed.” They will say in effect that 
 instead of Israel being the victims of God’s 
 wrath, abandoned by the Lord as we deemed 
 him, he was in truth wounded through our 
 cruelty, he was bruised by our iniquitous treat- 
 ment. We were permitted to afflict him thus, 
 that by his chastisement our redemption and 
 healing might be effected ; redemption from 
 
44 * SERMON III. 
 
 error and sin, healing from false belief,—for 
 Israel was to be the teacher of mankind, the 
 exemplar of unflinching obedience to the One 
 God.* The prophet continues (v. Io) ‘ yet it 
 pleased the Lord to bruise him; he has put 
 him to grief: when his soul shall make an offer- 
 ing for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall 
 prolong his days, and the pleasure of the 
 Lord shall prosper in his hand.” Israel shall 
 be gloriously rewarded for the sufferings he has 
 borne. ‘‘ Through his knowledge,’—through 
 practising and teaching the sacred lessons of 
 his faith,—‘‘ shall my righteous servant justify 
 many,” (7.¢., bring them to virtue), ‘‘for he 
 
 * Vide Kusari ii. §§ 34—44, where the idea of Israel’s 
 bearing the sins of the nations of the earth is fully elucidated. 
 The Rev. Professor Leathes (in his pretace to the Boyle 
 Lectures for 1868, p. xi.) says: ‘‘ In like manner assert, if you 
 will, that the 53rd chapter of Isaiah is spoken of the nation ; 
 the assertion carries with it its own refutation. ‘The Lord 
 hath laid on him the iniquity of us all On the nation the 
 iniquity of the nation? It is a truism. On the nation the 
 iniquity of the race? Impossible as a fact! Impossible as the 
 sentiment of one of the nation.” How strange, that the 
 learned Professor should not have mentioned the obvious 
 interpretation of the passage given by translators from the 
 Septuagint downwards, and by a long array of commentators, 
 from Ibn Ezra to Luzzatto. ‘On the nation Israel the sins 
 of the nations of the earth.’ 
 
SERMON III. 45 
 
 
 
 shall endure their iniquities. Therefore will I 
 divide him a portion with the great, and he 
 shall divide the spoil with the strong,” (in other 
 words, he will be the equal of the mightiest of 
 the earth in honour and glory), ‘‘because he has 
 poured out his soul unto death: and he was 
 numbered with the transgressors, and he en- 
 dured the sin of many, and made intercession 
 with the transgressors.”* How sublime is this 
 view of the prophet! He stands here, looking, 
 as it were, from the summit of his prophetic in- 
 telligence upon the history of the world, and 
 divines the future development and ultimate 
 perfection of man—the golden age that awaits 
 mankind when they will acknowledge the errors 
 of which they have been guilty, tender the hand 
 of brotherhood to redeemed Israel and acknow- 
 ledge Israel’s God. 
 
 And it is our duty, brethren, to labour for the 
 speedy realization of this great future. 
 
 I ask you, my young friend,§ who have this day 
 entered into the congregation of the Lord, to show 
 
 
 
 * Isaiah lili. 12. 
 
 § The following words were addressed to a youthtul con- 
 gregant, who became 7)$2 72 on the Sabbath, on which 
 this Sermon was delivered, 
 
46 SERMON III. 
 
 yourself worthy of the exalted mission to whick 
 you have been appointed in common with us. 
 
 Dat? “y PTy pry saya 
 ‘*‘ By his knowledge shall my righteous servant 
 lead many to righteousness.’”’* It is our mission 
 to spread the glorious truths of Judaism by 
 studying and practising the sacred law of God, 
 and exhibiting the purity of its lessons to the 
 whole world. Henceforth you are a member of 
 the kingdom of priests, and you have heard this 
 day the duty that is incumbent on the priests, 
 
 poo of dm xd) pada yn op 
 
 ‘‘they shall be holy unto their God, and not pro- 
 fane the name oftheir God.Ӥ You must be holy to 
 your God, pious and pure, holy in your thoughts, 
 holy in your words, holy in your actions. Never 
 be guilty of aught that can bring dishonour on 
 your religion—on your nation ; remain faithful to 
 those lessons which parents and teachers have 
 instilled into you. Henceforth you are yourself 
 responsible for all your actions. Glory in this 
 responsibility. Rejoice that you hold your eternal 
 destiny in your hand, and seek to win for your- 
 self God’s favour while you are on earth, im- 
 mortal bliss in heaven. In such effort you may 
 
 * [saiah liil. 11. § Lev. xxi. 6. 
 
SERMON III. 47 
 
 be sure of divine grace and help. ‘‘ The Lord 
 bless thee and keep thee. The Lord cause his 
 countenance to shine upon thee, and be gracious 
 unto thee. The Lord lift up His face upon 
 thee and give thee peace.” Amen. 
 
SERMON IV. 
 
 PREACHED ON SABBATH TPM) sma 5 
 (May 16TH). 
 
 
 
 You will readily understand, my dear Breth- 
 ren, that it cannot be my intention to consider 
 all the passages of Scripture which are brought 
 forward by Christian theologians in support of 
 their dogmas. Many of the proofs that are 
 adduced are so trivial, their refutation is so clear 
 and self-evident,* that I do not deem it right to 
 occupy with these the precious time that can 
 be devoted to so many topics of paramount im- 
 portance and lasting value. And it is the less 
 necessary for me to speak to you of each and 
 every passage, as I trust that the explanations 
 submitted to you will indicate the method by 
 which all the arguments of Christian theologians 
 can be easily refuted. 
 
 i re Le a SS 
 
 * psa ynawn (Sanhedrin 38.) 
 
SERMON IV. 49 
 
 There are two rules of interpretation which I 
 would recommend you to apply : 
 
 I. Do not trust the rendering of the dis- 
 puted text given by the Anglican version, for 
 however great may be its excellencies in point 
 of vigour and terseness, however venerable 
 it may be on account of its antiquity, it 
 cannot be denied that its authors were swayed 
 by dogmatic preconceptions. Refer, therefore, 
 to a translation, composed by a scholar, tho- 
 roughly versed in the Hebrew tongue. But, 
 if possible, turn to the original; examine it 
 carefully; and you will find, that all the su- 
 perstructure which had been erected upon 
 it, however massive it may appear, will shake 
 from its foundation, and crumble into dust. 
 This is, in fact, the advice given by our 
 teachers of old; whenever there arose any 
 doubt about a passage in the Bible, they said 
 mow) BD 3; ‘Let us bring a book of the 
 Law ; let us go to the fountain head.’* 
 
 II. Do not be satisfied with examining the 
 passage as it stands by itself, but refer carefully 
 
 to its context Sapa MEDD bay, ‘turn to the 
 
 conclusion of the verse.’$ 
 
 * Sabbath p. 49, Kiddushin, p. 30. § Berachoth p. to, 
 E 
 
50 SERMON IV. 
 
 
 
 In illustration of these rules, I call your 
 attention to a text in the Book of Deuteronomy, 
 chap. xvili., 15, running thus :— FAP! X23 
 spyayin ws pbs moa op db> FMD 
 “The Lord thy God will raise up unto thee a 
 prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, 
 like unto me; unto him shall ye hearken.” 
 
 Now, Christians of every shade of opinion 
 refer to this verse as a convincing argument 
 that the Nazarene was the Messiah, whose 
 revelation was to abrogate that of Moses. 
 ‘ Observe,” says one of their principal commen- 
 tators (Matthew Henry), ‘‘ what it is that is 
 here promised, concerning our Messiah. First, 
 that there should come a prophet, great among 
 all the prophets, by whom God would make 
 known Himself and His will to the children of 
 man more fully and clearly than He had ever 
 done before. Secondly, that God would raise 
 him up from the midst of them. In his birth 
 he should be one of that nation, in his resur- 
 rection he should be raised up at Jerusalem, 
 and from thence his doctrine should go forth to 
 all the world.” 
 
 We cannot admit this interpretation to be 
 correct or legitimate. The prediction in question 
 can by no possibility be construed to refer to the 
 
SERMON IV. st 
 
 coming of a Messiah. In accordance with our 
 second rule, let us look at the verse that 
 follows. ‘‘ According to all that thou desiredst 
 of the Lord thy God in Horeb in the day of the 
 assembly, saying: Let me not hear again the 
 voice of the Lord my God, neither let me see 
 this great fire any more, that I die not.” 
 These words clearly indicate the sense of the 
 passage. The Israelites, overwhelmed by the 
 Divine appearance in thunder and fire, amid 
 the sound of trumpets and the smoking mount, 
 conscious as they were of their own littleness 
 and sinfulness compared with God’s grandeur, 
 holiness and omnipotence, had asked in fear 
 and trembling that they might never again 
 behold the Divine Glory, and begged that 
 Moses might henceforth announce to them 
 the will of God. ‘‘Speak thou with us, and 
 we will hear; but let not God speak with us, 
 lest we die.”’* 
 
 What then was the subject of Israel’s re- 
 quest? They did not ask for a redeemer to 
 save their souls or to go forth to give light 
 unto the heathens; they did not ask for a 
 mediator to die for their sins, and to atone for 
 
 * Ex, xx. 19. 
 
82 SERMON IV. 
 
 the original sin of Adam, but simply for one or 
 more persons (human beings) to communicate 
 unto them the Divine Will. They asked for a 
 teacher, and a teacher was vouchsafed to 
 them. ‘I will raise them up a prophet from 
 among their brethren like unto thee; I will put 
 my words in his mouth, and he shall speak 
 unto them all that I shall command him.” 
 (verse 18). 
 
 Again, in the same chapter, Moses exhorts* 
 the people that they should themselves neither 
 practise, nor listen to those who practised, divi- 
 nation. ‘‘ For these nations, which thou shalt 
 possess, hearken unto observers of times and 
 unto diviners: but as for thee the Lord thy 
 God has not suffered thee so to do.” And 
 why were they commanded not to hearken to 
 diviners? Because God had given them, and 
 would continue to give them, true prophets.§ 
 ‘“The Lord thy God will raise up unto thee a 
 prophetiirom themuist. of thee? oo). 2? Can 
 this prediction, then, refer to the Nazarene? 
 
 * Deut. xviii. 9-14. 
 § Vide“ ad locum bs yrowd qabs in qb oyna 1p xd 
 oan by myow men nw omop dx) ony 
 SD DIN) OMNI 
 
SERMON IV. 53 
 
 Could his appearance, two thousand years later, 
 be a sufficient reason that they should not 
 hearken to diviners in Canaan? Moses evi- 
 dently alludes to a line of prophets who, after 
 him, should exhort, teach and admonish in the 
 name of the Lord. He speaks of Joshua, the 
 Godfearing warrior; of Samuel, the high-minded, 
 unselfish judge; of Elijah, inspired with fiery 
 zeal in the service of his Master; of Elisha, the 
 mild and placid; of Isaiah, eminent for his 
 burning eloquence and fervid piety; of the 
 ardent Jeremiah, ‘the man of sorrows,’ who 
 witnessed that desolation of the holy city which 
 Moses had foretold ; and of Malachi, the last of 
 the prophets, who in his concluding message 
 exhorted the people to remain steadfast to the 
 Law of Moses. 
 
 It is true that the word N*3) ‘prophet’ is 
 in the singular. But we very often find the 
 singular used for the plural in Hebrew.* 
 
 It has been asked, how could Moses say ‘‘a 
 prophet like unto me,” when in another part of 
 the Bible we read ‘there arose not a prophet 
 since in Israel like unto Moses.’§ Butthe word 
 
 * Compare Genesis xiii. 7-—Eccles. iil. 17., vii. 26. 
 § Deut. xxxiv. Io, 
 
54 SERMON IV. 
 
 
 
 362 signifies similarity in some, though 
 not in all, qualities. Every prophet who speaks 
 by God’s direction is a prophet ‘like unto 
 Moses,’ though the Lord may not speak with 
 him ‘face to face’; though He may not make 
 him the instrument to perform such marvellous 
 signs and wonders. These words clearly tell 
 us, that none of the future prophets were to be 
 divinities who from their very nature would be 
 exempt from sin and falsehood. They were all 
 to be raised up from among Moses’ brethren ; 
 they were all to be human beings like unto 
 him. ‘‘ But the prophet who shall presume 
 to speak a word in my name which I have not 
 commanded him to speak, or that shall speak 
 in the name of other gods, that prophet shall 
 die.”* Now I boldly challenge every pro- 
 fessor of the Christian faith to tell me where it 
 is stated that the prophet, like unto Moses, was 
 to declare a new revelation. On the contrary, 
 the Law given on Sinai is here distinctly de- 
 clared to be the standard of the truth or false- 
 hood of every future prophet.$ 
 My second illustration is a verse which you 
 
 * Deut. xviii, 20. § For the further discussion of this 
 argument vide Sermon xii. 
 
SERMON IV. 55 
 
 will often see quoted in Christian tracts, which 
 is often referred to in the so-called New Testa- 
 ment, and used by missionary clergymen in ser- 
 mons intended to open the eyes of Jewish ‘‘unbe- 
 lievers.” This verse, which at first sight seems 
 startling to the unwary, is as follows :—‘‘ They 
 shall look upon Me whom they have pierced.” 
 (Zech. xii. 10). Christian theologians assert 
 that the prophet here announces the advent 
 of a time when the children of Israel shall 
 acknowledge their Saviour, and feel sorrow and 
 compunction for having caused his death. Now 
 this is a striking example of the fact I before 
 mentioned, how a verse is quoted without the 
 slightest reference either to its context or to its 
 grammatical construction. 
 
 The prophet is here speaking of the future 
 time (predicted also by Ezekiel) when many 
 nations of the world would undertake a cam- 
 paign against Jerusalem, and strike terror and 
 fear into its inhabitants. ‘‘ Behold, I will make 
 Jerusalem a cup of trembling unto all the people 
 round about” (v. 2). But when this end has 
 been attained, the Lord will mercifully shield. 
 and protect his people. ‘‘In that day shall the 
 Lord defend the inhabitants of Jerusalem... 
 
 . and I will seek to destroy all the nations 
 
56 SERMON IV. 
 
 
 
 that come against Jerusalem” (verses 8, Q). 
 Israel shall go forth from the campaign un- 
 scathed. The prophet continues (v. 10)— 
 
 mn oben: sei Sy a ma by. nee 
 WED) PT Wwe my OS wa OAM, 
 by en2 yoy vem) onin Sy seope dy 
 
 2335 
 
 ‘And I will pour upon the house of David, and 
 upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of 
 grace and of supplications: and they shall look 
 up to me for him whom they have pierced, 
 and they shall mourn for him as one mourneth 
 for his only son, and shall weep bitterly for him 
 as one that weepeth bitterly for his first born.” 
 
 The prophet, having spoken of the protection 
 and immunity that the children of Israel would 
 enjoy, says, that so great would this immunity 
 be, that if it should happen that but one of 
 them be pierced in this war, they would be sur- 
 prised and dismayed, they would look upon it 
 as a humiliation, as a sign that they had for- 
 feited the favour of heaven. 
 
 We may compare with this an incident re- 
 corded in the Book of Joshua. That pious 
 general had become accustomed to such signal 
 
SERMON IV. 57 
 
 
 
 victories, victories which had been achieved with- 
 out the loss of a single man—that, when on one 
 occasion the inhabitants of Ai had slain thirty- 
 six of his men, he exclaimed, ‘‘ Alas! O Lord 
 God, wherefore hast thou at all brought this 
 people over Jordan to deliver us into the hands 
 of the Amorites to destroy us? .......- O 
 Lord, what shall I say when Israel turneth their 
 backs before their enemies.”* And thus, also, 
 when the inhabitants of Jerusalem shall see 
 that but one of their fellow citizens has been 
 slain, they will pray to the Lord—in the words 
 of the text, ‘they shall look up to Me” 
 PT WMS “for him§ whom they” (the 
 invading nations mentioned in the preced- 
 ing verse) “have pierced.” The text continues, 
 ‘they shall mourn for him as one mourneth for 
 his only son, and shall weep bitterly for him as 
 one that weepeth bitterly for his first born.” If 
 the meaning of this passage were, as Christian 
 theologians contend, that the one who has been 
 
 
 
 * Joshua vii., 7, 8. 
 
 § The words WN MS denote the cause ; compare Lev, 
 xxvi., 35, ‘as long as the land lieth desolate it shall rest 
 Do'nnaws anaw Xd WR NS Lecause it did not rest in your 
 Sabbaths when ye dwelt upon it.” 
 
58 ' SERMON IV. 
 
 
 
 pierced is identical with him whom the Israelites 
 will look up to, the words of the original would 
 be by Von by VSD) ‘they shall mourn 
 for me, they shall weep bitterly for me,” just as 
 it is said "DX 10°37) “they shall look up to 
 me,” but the words used are oy 1720) 
 by Ve “they shall mourn for him, and 
 shall weep bitterly for him,” shewing that the 
 person mourned and wept for is not identical 
 with him to whom prayer will be addressed. 
 Apart, however, from these arguments based 
 on verbal criticism, the fact that must weigh 
 with us most strongly is,—that the dogma which 
 is alleged to be contained in the text is utterly 
 at variance with the plain teachings of Scripture. 
 It is asserted that Israel shall pray to that god 
 whom they had slain, to that god who assumed. 
 the form of man and offered himself as an atone- 
 ment for the sins of mankind, to that other por- 
 tion of the Deity which was not invested with 
 humanity. I ask, can a plurality be attributed 
 to Him who has declared Himself SN “One 
 and indivisible,” whose essence is complete in 
 itself? Is not the doctrine of incarnation in- 
 compatible with the nature of Him who has 
 pronounced Himselt to be a pure invisible spirit ? 
 
SERMON IV. 59 
 
 
 
 “Thou canst not see my face, for no man can 
 see me and live’”* ‘Take ye, therefore, good 
 heed unto yourselves, for ye saw no manner of 
 similitude on the day that the Lord spake unto 
 you in Horeb out of the midst of the fire.’’§ 
 The doctrine that an appeasing offering was 
 requisite to enable the Lord to save mankind is 
 contradicted, as I showed you last week, by the 
 lessons of Scripture. God always announces 
 himself as our only Redeemer and Saviour, from 
 whom all salvation and redemption proceed. 
 And thus we have read in this day’s Haphtorah 
 
 ‘PEND IND ON PON My OD DAY yy 
 Da pas) Sam saniay sn) apy Fas IN AS 
 somtdy ND mon) ody oy tb-nbyn :dyin 
 ‘* The Lord is my strength, and my fortress, and 
 my refuge in the day of affliction; the Gentiles 
 shall come unto thee from the ends of the earth, 
 and shall say, Surely our fathers have inherited 
 lies, vanity and things wherein there is no pro- 
 
 fit. Shall a man make gods unto himself, and 
 they are no gods?”’|| 
 
 * EX, XXxii,, 20. § Deut. iv. 15. 
 || Jer. xvi. 19. 
 
60 SERMON IV. 
 
 O Lord! may the time soon come when all 
 mankind shall look unto Thee and Thee alone, 
 when to Thee every knee shall bow, and every 
 tongue swear fealty. Amen. 
 
SERMON V. 
 
 PREACHED ON SABBATH NW) ‘5 
 (MAY 30TH), “ 
 
 ne 
 
 I RESUME my course of lectures on the re- 
 puted Christological passages of the Bible, and 
 shall commence this morning by considering 
 some of those passages which occur in the Psalms. 
 
 Of these, the first that I shall expound is the 
 second Psalm, which is stated to contain a 
 clear prediction of the opposition that the 
 Nazarene would encounter, and the announce- 
 ment of his final triumph. Great stress is 
 particularly laid upon the fact that this Psalm 
 declares, in unmistakable terms, that he is 
 the “‘Son of God.” We read in the sixth 
 
 verse, MAN ‘33 by DS ‘7 pn by MIBDSN 
 TNT o! DPT 
 ‘‘T will declare the decree; the Lord hath 
 
62 SERMON VY. 
 
 said unto me, Thou art my son, this day have 
 I begotten thee.” The last verse is also 
 adduced as a powerful argument, {9 12 pu 
 
 IES DOYS Wa? 9 TT TANT) IN! 
 
 “Kiss the son lest he be angry, and ye 
 perish from the way, when his wrath is kind- 
 led but a little.” 
 
 Now the first question that should be asked 
 by+an intelligent enquirer is—How do you 
 know that these verses and these expressions 
 refer to your Messiah? We receive no satis- 
 factory answer—dogmatic assertions only are 
 offered. 
 
 My dear brethren, of all the Christian doc- 
 trines which I have brought before you, and 
 which, in the name of God’s truth, I have felt 
 myself compelled to denounce, this dogma— 
 that the Nazarene was literally the Son of God 
 —is surely the most monstrous, the most re- 
 pugnant to reason. The All-holy God, the 
 essence of infinite moral perfection, whom the 
 Seraphim tremble to approach, the God so 
 pure that ‘‘even the moon and it shineth not, 
 yea, the stars are not pure in His sight,”* the 
 
 
 
 * Job xxv. 5. 
 
SERMON V. 63 
 
 
 
 God whom Holy Writ brings before us as 
 exalted so infinitely high above all the imper- 
 fections inherent in man’s nature, the Holy 
 One who has said ‘‘ To whom then will ye hken 
 Me, or shall I be equal to,”* that same God is 
 dragged down from heaven and likened unto 
 man! ‘That Supreme Being (I shudder while 
 I say it), is lowered to the level of one of those 
 deities with which the mythology of Greece 
 peopled their Olympus—beings with the same 
 passions and feelings as those of mankind. 
 
 I refer to a verse in the first page of the New 
 Testament, the verse relative to the birth of 
 the Nazarene. I will not read it in this sacred 
 place. I cannot dwell upon the subject, I 
 must hasten over it, as over glowing coals. 
 
 But to show you at once from this Psalm 
 how untenable is the assumption that the son, 
 here spoken of, is, like the Father, a portion of 
 the Godhead, I need but refer you to the eighth 
 verse. ‘‘ Ask of Me and I shall give thee the 
 heathen for thine inheritance, and the utter- 
 most parts of the earth for thy possession.” 
 Now if the son be a Divinity like the Father, 
 and equal to Him, why need he ask that any 
 
 * Teal sh! a9: 
 
64 SERMON V. 
 
 favours should be granted him? Is he not omni- 
 potent; is not the whole earth with the fulness 
 thereof his possession ?* 
 
 There is, however, nothing at all either mys- 
 terious or difficult in the expression ‘the son of 
 God.’ It recurs again and again in the Bible, 
 though in a sense differing much from that in 
 which Christian theologians take it. In the 
 fourth chapter of Exodus, 22nd verse, the Lord 
 calls his people by that endearing name 52 pr 
 ‘*Tsrael is my son, even my first-born.” That is, 
 Israel is the nation which was the first among all 
 generations of men to adore the Lord, and which 
 He has, therefore, most especially taken under 
 the wings of His protection, loving it as a father 
 loves his first born in whom he places his entire 
 hope and pride. Again, in Deuteronomy,$ 
 Moses, addressing the nation, says, OFAN O33 
 pbs mb “Ye are the children of the Lord 
 your God.” We read in Hosea iby “Wi °3 
 305 ‘ANP BVI WAAN) “When Israel was 
 young I ka him, and out of Egypt I called 
 my son,”—a prophecy that clearly refers to the 
 
 omit nsp by omyid pen awyy mewpr mown py * 
 
 § xiv. 1 || xi. I. 
 
SERMON V. 65 
 
 
 
 exodus from Egypt, and to the honourable, 
 endearing name the Lord then gave our nation. 
 And how often does the Lord call Himself our 
 Father, QS) FWY NI BP Fay NTN 
 “Ts he not thy father that hath acquired 
 thee? Hath he not made thee and established 
 thee ?”* This is one of the most gracious 
 appellations by which He has made Himself 
 known to us, telling us, that as a father He 
 thinks of us, loves us, protects us, cares and 
 provides for us. In Isaiah$ we read, ‘‘ Doubt- 
 less Thou art our father, though Abraham be 
 ignorant of us, and Israel acknowledge us not: 
 Thou, O Lord! art our Father: our Redeemer 
 from everlasting is Thy name.” And we pray 
 to Him every morning wy. mnway VAN 
 sardy sqpay Sean yey napa apn lay 
 “Our Father who art in heaven, deal with us 
 according to Thy loving kindness, for the sake 
 of Thy great and mighty name.” On our most 
 sacred days we implore Him whois 1970 WAN 
 ‘Our Father, our King,” for pardon and for- 
 giveness. With what possible right, then, can 
 a whole theological system of subtilty and 
 
 
 
 * Deut. xxxil, 7. § xii. 16, 
 F 
 
66 SERMON V. 
 
 mystery be upraised on the use of that simple 
 expression MAN 32 “Thou art my son?” 
 
 Nor is there the slightest difficulty in arriv- 
 ing at the true meaning of the entire psalm. 
 It brings before us a king but just appointed to 
 his exalted office, whose mind is penetrated 
 ' with the. belief, that God has raised him to his 
 high estate. On hearing, therefore, that nations 
 rebel against him, he is confident that they will 
 be put to shame, and forced to acknowledge 
 him. <A few verses from the Second Book of 
 Samuel present a clear commentary on this 
 psalm. 
 
 We there read, how all the tribes of Israel 
 had come to David and anointed him king; he 
 had taken the stronghold of Zion and dwelt in 
 it: he ‘‘ went on and grew great, and the Lord 
 God of Hosts was with him.* . . . And 
 David perceived that the Lord had established 
 him king over Israel, and that He had exalted 
 his kingdom for His people Israel’s sake.” 
 
 Further on we read, ‘‘ But when the Philis- 
 tines heard that they had anointed David king 
 over Israel, all the Philistines came up to seek 
 (make war upon) David . . . And David 
 
 * Chap. v. 10, 12, 
 
SERMON VY. 67 
 
 enquired of the Lord, saying, Shall I go up to 
 the Philistines? . . And the Lord said unto 
 David, Go up: for I will doubtless deliver the 
 Philistines into thine hand.”* It was at this 
 juncture that David most probably composed the 
 psalm. Trusting as he did in the gracious help 
 of Almighty God, he felt how all the machi- 
 nations of. his enemies would prove futile. 
 ‘‘Why do the heathen rage, and the people 
 imagine a vain thing? The kings of the -earth 
 set themselves, and the rulers take counsel 
 together, against the Lord, and against His 
 anointed.Ӥ And the Lord laughs their vain, 
 impotent attempt to scorn. ‘‘ The Lord has 
 , said unto me, Thou art my son, this ay have I 
 begotten thee.” 
 
 As I have already shewn you that Israel is 
 called the Son of the Lord, you will easily 
 understand why by the employment of the 
 same metaphor the King af Israel as represen- 
 
 * Ibid: 17, 19. 
 
 § Kings are throughout the Bible termed the ‘ anointed of 
 the Lord.’ Chl Sammuet’e. x. 1, Xit:, 3. Xaiv., 7, e.. bee 
 not necessary to defend the use of the word 718 for Palestine 
 merely on the score of its being a poetic license. In many 
 passages IN denotes ‘the land’ par excellence. Cf. Joel I, 2. 
 Ps, xxxvil., 9. Prov. II, 21, vide Gesenius’ Lexicon, s.v. 8 
 
68 SERMON V. 
 
 
 
 tative of the people is pre-eminently termed the 
 ‘Son of the Lord.’ In another passage* a similar 
 expression is clearly used in reference to David, 
 the object being to denote that he had derived 
 the royal dignity immediately from God. ‘“‘I 
 have found David my servant; with my holy 
 oil have I anointed him. . . . He shall cry 
 unto me, Thou art my father, my God and the 
 rock of my salvation. Also I will make him 
 my first born, higher than the kings of the 
 earth.” | 
 
 Let us now consider the last verse of the 
 psalm, )S Kiss “the :son*lest ‘the. be/-amery.”* 
 How often has this passage been quoted by 
 Christian theologians as a call to mankind to 
 welcome the author of their faith, to submit, 
 and to do honour to him. ‘‘ If the son be angry,” 
 they say, ‘‘ who shall intercede for us? There 
 remains no more sacrifice, no other name by 
 which we can be saved.’’§ 
 
 Now, it is very doubtful whether 3 spur is 
 correctly “rendered, ‘Kiss the son;’ for-43)is 
 
 
 
 * Psalm Ixxix. 27, 28. Cf. 2 Samuel vii. 14, where the 
 Lord says of Solomon ‘I will be his tather, and he shall be 
 my son,’ 
 
 § Commentary by Henry and Scott. 
 
SERMON VY. 69 
 
 
 
 the Chaldaic not the Hebrew for the word 
 ‘son.’ Many Jewish commentators* therefore 
 render this clause, ‘‘Arm yourselves with 
 purity.” Assuming, however, that the word 
 is to be rendered ‘son’ (in which sense, indeed, 
 it is found in Proverbs),§ what possible diffi- 
 culty is there in the expression ‘ Kiss the son ?’ 
 The giving of a kiss was, in ancient times, one 
 of the forms of doing homage. Thus Samuel, 
 when he had poured the vial of oil upon the 
 head of Saul, ‘“‘ kissed him, and said, is it not 
 because the Lord hath anointed thee to be 
 captain over His inheritance ?”|| What more 
 natural than that this psalm should conclude 
 with an exhortation to all the rebels to come 
 forward without further delay to acknowledge 
 the sovereignty of David, lest the Lord should 
 destroy them in anger? ‘The event predicted 
 
 
 
 * Cf. Rashia.l, 225 93 DDDSy Wt 
 
 § xxx 2 NID ADI HAW AINA ND What my 
 son, &c.’ It has been ingeniously conjectured that the 
 Chaldaic word 13 has been used in lieu of the Hebrew }1. in 
 the passage from the 2nd Psalm, because the sequence of the 
 words ]© j2 would not sound euphoniously, 
 
 || 1 Samuel x., 1, A similar custom obtained in the middle 
 ages ; the act of homage by the vassal consisted in kissing his 
 lord. 
 
70 SERMON V. 
 
 in David’s divinely inspired words came to 
 pass. The Philistines who went forth to battle 
 against him were utterly discomfited, and his 
 throne was firmly established. 
 
 Must we not deplore, my brethren, that a 
 psalm so simple, so readily intelligible, should 
 be distorted from its obvious meaning, for the 
 purpose of founding upon it a dogma not only 
 incomprehensible, but, (and this is infinitely more 
 important) a dogma irrefragably condemned as 
 false by every word that the Bible tells us of 
 the exalted attributes of God ! 
 
 I now ask you to turn to the twenty-second 
 psalm, commencing, ‘“‘My God, my God, why 
 hast thou forsaken me? why art thou so far 
 from helping me, and from the words of my 
 lamentation?” This psalm is frequently re- 
 ferred to as containing a very distinct and minute 
 account of the sufferings which the Nazarene 
 was to endure (an account similar to that found 
 in the 53rd chapter of Isaiah.) ‘‘ But [ama 
 worm, and no man; a reproach of men and 
 despised of the people” (v.6.) Then the taunts 
 of his enemies are mentioned ; “‘ He trusted on 
 the Lord that He would deliver him: let Him 
 deliver him, seeing that He delighted in him.” 
 
SERMON V. 7X 
 
 enna ee te ee 
 
 (v. 8.) The 17th verse* is alleged to fore-shadow 
 expressly the so-called ‘passion,’ the suffer- 
 ings he was to endure, and to predict clearly 
 his crucifixion ‘‘For dogs have compassed 
 me: the assembly of the wicked have en- 
 closed me; they pierced my hands and my 
 feet.” And the conclusion of the psalm is 
 supposed to predict his exaltation, and the 
 general recognition of his teachings. ‘All 
 the ends of the world shall remember, and 
 turn unto the Lord; and all the kindreds of the 
 nations shall worship before thee,” (verse 28). 
 Rabbi David Kimchi, in the work before 
 quoted, adduces a number of powerful 
 arguments against this interpretation, and 
 shows how nearly every verse of the psalm 
 would, according to the Christian exposition, 
 involve some incongruity. I will only dwell 
 upon this one point. The very corner-stone of © 
 Christianity is that its founder voluntarily of- 
 fered himself as an expiation for the sins 
 of mankind, that he voluntarily elected to 
 perish. How is it, then, that in this psalm 
 he expresses his great anxiety to be deliv- 
 ered? With what object does he lament 
 ‘Why art thou so far from helping me, and 
 
 ieee a ae ee er ee. saa 
 * In the Hebrew editions, the 16th in the Anglican version. 
 
72 SERMON V. 
 
 
 
 from the words of my lamentation?” If he had 
 been delivered, the whole scheme of the salvation 
 of mankind, according to the Christian doc- 
 trine, would have been frustrated. 
 
 Besides this, however, there is a remark- 
 able fact connected with the 17th verse 
 above quoted DY My. na53 pple lays. 
 
 29) TINA REPT 
 ‘For dogs have compassed me: the assembly 
 of the wicked have enclosed me: they pierced 
 my hands and my feet.” In the marginal notes 
 of the authorized version, no less than six 
 references are given to the ‘ New Testament.’ 
 But if we turn to the Hebrew original, we look 
 in vain for a word corresponding to ‘they 
 pierced.’ . The text. has; "IN2)¢( like a dion,’ 
 This is the reading given in all editions, but 
 for this word the verb N23, which is trans- 
 lated ‘they pierced,’ is substituted. Now, I 
 will not accuse the Christian translators of a wil- 
 ful falsification of the text, but I willread to you 
 as a curiosity one sentence of Henry’s commen- 
 tary: ‘‘ By the change of a letter, most Hebrew 
 copies of the psalms read, ‘ like a lion,’ instead 
 of that which no doubt is the true reading, 
 ‘they pierced.” I have only to observe on 
 
SERMON V. 73 
 
 this that there does not exist a Hebrew copy 
 which has the reading 19NJ instead of IN3* 
 
 These verbal disquisitions, however, must 
 appear almost puerile and unnecessary, seeing 
 that the true sense of the psalm is apparent 
 and simple. It contains no prophecy, no pre- 
 figuration, nothing that is typical. It 1s obvious 
 that the writer must have suffered and experi- 
 enced that which he here describes. The 
 psalm, indeed, was composed by David, when 
 hunted by Saul ‘like a partridge upon the 
 mountains ;’ when the king and his soldiery 
 had ‘compassed David and his men round 
 
 * I subjoin the opinions of two eminent Christian com- 
 mentators on the Psalms. Hengstenberg, the author of ‘The 
 Christology of the O. T.,’ says in his ‘Commentary on the 
 Psalms’ on this passage “ If we pay regard to external evi- 
 dence there can be no_doubt that “IS3 is the true reading ; 
 and it would be to abandon all sound principles of criti- 
 cism, were we to reject it, and to substitute instead of it 
 with Ewald, the reading 983. The external evidence for 
 the other readings is as good as nought. Rev. Mr. Perowne 
 says in his comn.entary, ‘ The MSS almost without exception, 
 have the present masoretic reading, either 78D or “ND ‘like 
 a lion.” Some of the MSS of the Targum in Antwerg Polyp- 
 have "IND In only two genuine Jewish MSS do we find 
 INS , but i in one of these (Ken. 39) it would seem that the , 
 has been altered into) and the other (De Rossi 337) has 83 
 a union of both readings, The principal reason why Mr. 
 Perowne gives up the reading IN} is, because ‘like a lion’ 
 would not suit the context so well as ‘ they pierced,’ 
 
 i 
 
74 SERMON V. 
 
 
 
 about to take them ;* when David had scarcely 
 any hope of escape; when there was but one 
 step betwixt him and death. 
 
 I refer you to the narrative contained in the 
 First Book of Samuel (chaps. xxiii.—xxvi.), which 
 forms the best and most explicit commentary 
 on this psalm. By a striking oriental figure, 
 David represents himself as a carcass attacked 
 by a lion, by bulls and by dogs (verses 12 and 
 17), who are busied in tearing the flesh from his 
 bones, their teeth being fixed in his hands and 
 feet. The lion is Saul; the bulls and dogs are 
 his cruel soldiers, fulfilling the behests of their 
 heartless master. With this explanation, the 
 reading of the seventeenth verse becomes very 
 simple. ‘‘ For dogs have compassed me; the 
 assembly of the wicked have enclosed me; like 
 a lion (they tear) my hands and my feet.”” We 
 may compare with the word ‘N23 “like a lion” 
 used here, similar expressions, IS) Ab mMaAN 
 “as a ravening and a roaring lion,” and 
 mos *BD IWIN “Save me from the lion’s 
 mouth,” used in the 14th and 22nd verses.§ 
 
 
 
 * I Samuel xxiii., 26. 
 § Rashi points out a parallel passage in the prayer of Heze- 
 kiah (Isaiah xxxviii, 13.) onvosy 52 7aw 7 AND 
 
SERMON V. 75 
 
 ee ee 
 
 This psalm, like many others, contains two 
 leading ideas: first, the depth of misery into 
 which the minstrel has fallen, and the imminence 
 of the danger that threatens him; secondly, the 
 hope in his deliverance, the confidence in a 
 better future, the certainty that righteousness 
 and justice must ultimately prevail over hatred 
 and wickedness. ‘The psalmist, with that genius 
 of universality inherent in all great minds, utters 
 words for the consolation and edification of. all 
 men, whilst pouring out his own grief and 
 sorrow. This is so clear and apparent that the 
 more enlightened of Christian expositors no 
 longer claim this psalm as a prediction of the 
 sufferings their master was to endure. Even 
 Hengstenberg, who wrote a work of many — 
 volumes on the Christology of the Old Testa- 
 ment, has abandoned this interpretation. And 
 ‘t is also a noteworthy fact that the authorized 
 version contains the following headings to this 
 psalm, which are perfectly correct: “ David 
 complaineth in great discouragement. He pray- 
 eth in great distress. He praiseth God.” 
 
 eee eee ee ee cae Te 
 «¢ That, as a lion, so will he break all my bones.” Cf. Psalm 
 vii. 3. (WD? AND FID’ JB “ Lest he tear my soul like 
 a lion.” 
 
76 SERMON VY. 
 
 
 
 Next Sabbath I propose to treat of the rroth 
 psalm ; and I have no doubt but that, after hear- 
 ing my explanation of it, you and every un- 
 biassed critic will agree with me, that the ‘ dry 
 bones” of dogmatic theology which Christian 
 expositors would fain discover, are not en- 
 shrined in the Book of Psalms. No, brethren, 
 far nobler are its contents; there we find the 
 thrilling language of religious emotion, now 
 tender, as soft breathing music, now sublime 
 and soul-stirring as the roar of the mighty 
 torrent, but ever purifying and elevating the 
 human heart—language which has rendered 
 this book the everlasting Psalmody of man- 
 kind ! 
 
SERMON VI. 
 
 PREACHED ON SABBATH qnivyna ‘ (June 6th). 
 
 
 
 “ay sy ae yayb 7 ox? who 
 mmbyh py map sygatp oT PRS meh 
 aon pia nay) Pay. + Pats 3Ip2 77 hse 
 yard santos be ap ane DI Mp 
 “3 may. pbiy) SARS ON), \y)) mm 
 sovsb iach poe yey TN: PTs 
 sman pasby wid yg ning Nom Da [TY 
 Swan omy prby. mine 77a Oman 
 Psalm CX. 
 
 ‘‘A psaLM unto David. The Eternal saith 
 unto my lord, Sit thou at my right hand, until I 
 make thine enemies thy footstool. The Lord 
 shall send the rod of thy strength out of Zion: 
 rule thou in the midst of thine enemies. Thy 
 
78 SERMON YI. 
 
 people shall be willing in the day of thy power 
 in holy beauty: out of the bosom of the morn- 
 ing dawn (floweth)* unto thee the dew of thy 
 youth. The Lord hath sworn and will not 
 repent, thou art a priest for ever after the order 
 of Melchizedek. The Lord at thy right hand 
 shall strike through kings in the day of His 
 wrath. He shall judge among the heathen; He 
 shall fill the places with the dead bodies; He 
 shall crush the heads in the land of Rabbah. 
 He shall drink of the brook in the way: there- 
 fore shall he lift up the head.” | 
 
 There is scarcely another passage in the Bible 
 which, as I gather from the marginal references of 
 the Anglican version, is more frequently quoted, 
 or rather echoed in the New Testament, than 
 this.§ It is asserted by the Christians that it 
 contains three distinct predictions concerning 
 the Nazarene. The first verse is translated, 
 ‘“‘“The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou at 
 my right hand.” Hence it is inferred, that David, 
 
 * T have rendered this difficult verse according to Dr. Sach’s 
 translation. 
 
 § Compare Hengstenberg’s ‘‘ Commentary on the Book 
 of Psalms.” 
 
SERMON VI. 79 
 
 in predicting the appearance of the Nazarene, 
 already acknowledged his divinity, and called 
 him “‘ Lord.” He isto “sit at the right hand of 
 God;” this expression is alleged to signify that he 
 shall have dominion in heaven and on earth. 
 Then his priestly vocation as mediator is be- 
 lieved to be declared in the words ‘‘ thou art a 
 priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek.” 
 The expression ‘“‘ until I make thine enemies 
 thy footstool’? is supposed by Christians to 
 imply that eventually Israel, and all the na- 
 tions of the world that now withhold their 
 allegiance, shall submit themselves to him. 
 That this psalm at first sight seems difficult 
 and enigmatic, I admit, but not that it favours, 
 in the slightest degree, the construction placed 
 upon it by Christian theologians—a construc- 
 tion which, as I shall immediately show you, is 
 quite untenable. The reason for this obscurity 
 lies in the fact that, unlike other psalms, it is 
 of the nature of an oracular or prophetic 
 communication. The expression ‘7 DIN] “the 
 Lord says,” (which is peculiar to, and occurs 
 continually in, the prophetical books of the 
 Bible), is to be found in no other psalm. It is 
 no wonder, then, that this hymn, written a& it is, 
 with great poetical power, and couched in lyrical 
 
80 SERMON VI. 
 
 brevity and succinctness, should contain many 
 obscure phrases, which almost seem to defy 
 explanation. 
 
 Before attempting to solve these difficulties, 
 let me show you the impossibility of ac- 
 cepting the Christian interpretation of the 
 psalm. The assertion that the first verse de- 
 clares the divinity of the Nazarene, rests on a 
 mistranslation. The words of the text are not 
 ‘The Eternal speaks,’ ‘4b unto the Lord 
 ess being the word that is often used in the 
 Bible to express the Deity,) but syd ‘unto my 
 lord, ‘my master,’ 8 being a word that 
 simply denotes superiority. 
 
 “Sit thou at my right hand until I make 
 thine enemies my footstool.” If this expression 
 be taken in its literal sense, we should be as- 
 cribing corporeality to that Being who is incor- 
 poreal and wholly spiritual. But, throughout 
 the Bible,the metaphor, ‘the right hand of God,’ 
 signifies the omnipotence of the Deity. Thus, we 
 read, “‘ Thy right hand, O Lord, is become glori- 
 ous in power.”* ‘The right hand of the Lord is 
 exalted.Ӥ This expression would be perfectly 
 
 i 
 
 * Ex. xv. 6, § Psalm cxviii. 16. 
 
SERMON VI. 8I 
 
 applicable to one who needs Divine aid, but it 
 is totally inappropriate when used in reference 
 to one who is worshipped as a Divinity. 
 
 ‘““Thou shalt be a priest for ever;’’—the word 
 ‘priest ’ is taken literally, and the verse is ad- 
 duced to show that the priesthood of this Mes- 
 siah was to take the place of Aaron’s priesthood. 
 Now ‘priest’ signifies one who performs divine 
 service and offers sacrifices. But sacrifices are 
 offered to a God. To whom, then, shall the 
 Deity bring sacrifices? To Himself? Nay 
 more ; numerous passages in the so-called New 
 Testament distinctly declare the Nazarene to 
 be the sin-offering, by whose blood the sins of 
 the world are to be atoned. Hence, one and the 
 same person is the victim that is offered, the 
 high priest who offers it, and the Deity to whom 
 it is offered ! 
 
 The concluding verses speak of battles that 
 will be fought by the personage to whom this 
 psalm is addressed, and of kings whom he will 
 crush. No record, however, exists of battles 
 which the Nazarene fought. 
 
 The last verse says, ‘‘ he shall drink of the 
 brook in the way.” What possible application 
 can this expression have to him? The com- 
 
 G 
 
82 SERMON VI. 
 
 mentary of Henry and Scott on this passage is 
 as follows :— 
 
 ‘We have here the Redeemer saving his friends 
 and comforting them for their benefit. He shall 
 be humbled, he shall drink of the brook in the 
 way, of that bitter cup the Father put into his 
 hand. ‘The wrath of God, running in the curse 
 of the law, may be considered as the brook in 
 the way of his undertaking.” These are words, 
 my dear brethren, but do they convey any 
 sense?” 
 
 It is not sufficient, however, to point out ab- 
 surdities and errors. ‘To answer the arguments 
 of the opponents of Judaism conclusively, it 
 becomes my duty to give a satisfactory expla- 
 nation of the Psalm. 
 
 * While I was preparing these sermons for the press, 
 the Boyle lectures for 1868, by the Rev. Stanley Leathes, 
 A.M., came under my notice. He explains the verse thus: 
 ‘“* He was to ‘ drink of the brook in the way’ that other men 
 drink of, being made in all things like unto his brethren ; 
 standing in need, like them, of the common wants of life, and 
 receiving, like them, refreshment from the common supply— 
 the ever-open fountain of the grace of God.” This expla- 
 nation conveys more sense than that quoted above; but it 
 surely is not in tenour with the description given in the pre- 
 ceding verses of a victorious general, ‘whose hands have 
 struck through kings, and filled the places with dead bodies,’ 
 
SERMON VI. 83 
 
 
 
 It must first be noted that most probably the 
 heading “Nor aw does not signify a Psalm 
 of David but for (concerning) David.* A 
 similar usage is to be met with in the 72nd 
 Psalm, which is headed nb>w and commences 
 ‘Give the king thy judgments, O Lord.’ This 
 heading is not translated in the authorized 
 version, ‘A Psalm of,’ but correctly ‘ for Solo- 
 mon.’ ‘There are many other Psalms in which 
 David does not speak of himself in the first ° 
 person, but is either addressed in the second, 
 or spoken of in the third person. Thus, the 
 20th Psalm commences, ‘‘ The Lord hear thee 
 in the day of trouble;” the 21st, ‘‘ The king 
 shall joy in Thy strength, O Lord§.”’ 
 
 The purport of the Psalm under discussion is 
 to declare that the Lord had appointed and con- 
 secrated David king, and that He would render 
 him victorious over his enemies. There is 
 
 _ * For this use of the particle compare Gen, xx, 13, 
 %) NON «Say of me.’ 
 
 § In the celebrated disputation, which was held by 
 Nachmanides (at Barcelona), with Fra Paolo, in the presence 
 of the King of Arragon, the learned Rabbi accounts for 
 the use of the second person by the fact, that the psalm was 
 composed by David, to be sung by the Levites. 
 
84 SERMON YI. 
 
 
 
 every internal evidence to show that it was 
 composed on the eve of a war, and the mention 
 of the land of Rabbah (v. 6) clearly indicates 
 against whom this war was to be waged, viz., 
 the Ammonites, who had offered indignities to 
 David’s messenger. The history of this war is 
 related in the second Book of Samuel (chs. x-xii), 
 from which I will quote a few verses:—‘‘ And 
 it came to pass at the return of the year, at the 
 time when kings go forth to battle, that David 
 sent Joab and his servants with him, and all 
 Israel; and they destroyed the children of 
 Ammon, and besieged Rabbah (their capital). 
 But David tarried still at Jerusalem (xi. 1).” 
 We read further on (xii. 26-28), ‘“‘ And Joab 
 fought against Rabbah of the children of Am- 
 mon, and took the royal city (the castle, or 
 citadel). And Joab sent messengers to David 
 and said, I have fought against Rabbah, and 
 have taken the city of waters (the conduit 
 of water, that supplied the city). Now, 
 therefore, gather the rest of the people together, 
 and encamp against the city, and take it: 
 lest I take the city and it be called after my 
 name.” 
 
 With these facts before us, all difficulties 
 vanish. As the king goes forth to battle, the 
 
SERMON VI. 85 
 
 AUN debe ie ee EE 
 
 spirit of God rests upon one of the inspired 
 minstrels at the royal court, and he proclaims, 
 ‘The Eternal saith unto my lord, Sit thou at 
 my right hand until I make thine enemies my 
 footstool.’ This is but a slightly varied form 
 of the expression in the 5th verse ‘¢The Lord 
 at thy right hand, &c.,” and which occurs also 
 in other portions of the Book of Psalms, ¢.g., “1 
 have set the Lord always before me; because he 
 is at my right hand I shall not be moved.”* The 
 phrase denotes that the Lord would send David 
 His gracious help until his enemies should have 
 been finally subdued. The Psalmist thn fore- 
 tells that in the expedition which David .3 about 
 to undertake, his arms will be crowned with 
 complete success. * The Lord shall send the 
 rod of thy strength out of Zion; rule thou in 
 the midst of thine enemies.” The poet pictures 
 the king going forth to battle surrounded by his 
 youthful warriors, as bright and as numerous 
 as the dewdrops on a summer’s morn, and willing 
 to shed their heart’s blood in his service. ‘‘ Thy 
 people shall be willing in the day of thy power, 
 in holy beauty; out of the bosom of the morning 
 dawn, the dew of thy youth floweth unto thee.” — 
 
 we ie a a leet leet 
 
 * Psalm xvi, 8. 
 
86 SERMON VI. 
 
 
 
 And then the Psalmist proclaims, in solemn 
 tones, how firmly David’s sovereignty will be 
 established. ‘‘ The Lord hath sworn and will not 
 repent PIY“3P5 M97 by obi mo—-nne 
 Thou art a priest for ever after the order of 
 Melchizedek.” Although the word pe) gene- 
 rally signifies “ priest,” we also find it applied to 
 a ruler and prince. Thus 9 0°393 AJ 9223 
 is translated in the Anglican version, “ David’s 
 sons were chief rulers.”* The first part of the 
 verse should be rendered then ‘Thou art a 
 ruler for ever.” This expression signifies that, 
 unlike Saul whose brief authority was taken 
 away from him, by reason of his unfitness and 
 disobedience, David’s own reign should be of 
 long duration and his dynasty lasting; for his 
 children were to sit on their father’s throne, and 
 a scion of his royal house was to be Israel’s 
 redeemer in future time. 
 
 The next part of the verse, ‘“ After the order 
 of Melchizedek,” may be thus explained. In 
 all probability, Melchizedek is here named be- 
 cause he was the first king mentioned by Scrip- 
 ture as having reigned in Jerusalem, where 
 
 eee 
 
 * IT Samuel viii. 18. Cf. I. Chron., xviii. 17. 
 
SERMON VI. 87 
 
 
 
 David had fixed his throne. There is undoubt- 
 edly also a deeper meaning in these solemn 
 words; they proclaim David to have been the 
 worthy head of a people whose mission it was 
 to become a kingdom of priests. They tell us 
 that his life was devoted to the adoration and 
 praise of God, even as was the life of Melchi- 
 zedek, who, living amidst an idolatrous .people, 
 worshipped the Most High. And David proved 
 himself worthy of this appellation by the deep 
 and absorbing interest he evinced in promoting 
 public Divine worship.* 
 
 The poet, then, in more accurate terms, pre- 
 dicts the success with which the king’s expedi- 
 tion will be crowned. ‘“‘ The Lord at thy right 
 hand shall strike through kings in the day of His. 
 wrath) 0... 20 » »#, he crushes heads over 
 the land of Rabbah” (i.e. the territory sur- 
 rounding Rabbah, the capital of the Am- 
 monites). This rendering of 737 POS is in 
 accordance with the original; the Anglican ver- 
 sion, ‘‘over many countries,” would only be 
 correct if the text stood A321 AIS 
 
 “He shall drink of the brook in the way, 
 
 
 
 * Vide | Chron., xxi., XXvi., XXViii., XXIX, 
 
88 SERMON JI. 
 
 therefore shall he lift up the head.” It almost 
 seems as if this verse were purposely placed 
 here to show how absurd it is to refer this Psalm 
 to a Messiah of whom it is to be understood 
 literally that he would sit at the right hand of 
 God. Why should he need to drink of the 
 brook in the way? With our acceptation of the 
 psalm, however, it will be seen that this verse is 
 quite appropriate. One of the greatest dangers 
 which threatened warriors in the East was 
 lack of water; one of the greatest hardships 
 they had to endure was the fearful thirst they 
 suffered after the fatigues of battle. Thus we 
 read of Samson, after he had slain the Philis- 
 tines: ‘‘and he was sore athirst, and called on 
 the Lord, and said, Thou hast given this great 
 deliverance into the hand of Thy servant: and 
 now shall I die of thirst, and fall into the hands 
 of the uncircumcised ?”* And, by a miracle, 
 water suddenly appeared, ‘‘and when he had 
 drunk, his spirit came again, and he revived.” 
 We also read of David, how, when he was en- 
 camped against the Philistines, he longed and 
 said, ‘‘Oh that one would give me drink of the 
 water of the well of Bethlehem.Ӥ Now, in 
 
 
 
 * Judges xv. 18. § II Samuel xxiii. 15. 
 
SERMON VI. 89 
 
 enn eee se 
 
 this psalm, the poet adds, as a not unworthy 
 pendant to the success that would attend David, 
 that, during the fatigue he would have to un- 
 dergo while pursuing the enemy, God would 
 provide him a brook by the way, to quench the 
 thirst of himself and his army, so that they 
 might achieve a complete victory. And we 
 shall be the less surprised at this conclusion of 
 the psalm, if we call to mind how much of the 
 brilliant success that attended our recent cam- 
 paign in Abyssinia was due to the admirable 
 manner in which our troops were supplied with 
 water. 
 
 The prophecy was fulfilled. Holy Writ re- 
 lates,* “and David gathered all the people to- 
 gether, and went to Rabbah, and fought against 
 it, and took it.” 
 
 My exposition of the psalm is ended. And 
 now I ask you to judge whether the explanation 
 I have given does not at once sweep away 
 the dogmatic cobwebs with which this psalm 
 has been covered in the process of ages?§ Oh, 
 
 
 
 * IT Samuel xii. 29. 
 
 § [t is unintelligible to me how the Rev. Mr. Leathes 
 can say (in the work which I have previously quoted) that 
 “there is no one event of David’s life to which, with the 
 smallest amount of probability, we can assign this psalm.” 
 
go SERMON VI. 
 
 that the time may soon come *J2 37 Wa yon 
 by mown nopym pays be by niba wba 
 pan bs “‘when the Lord will destroy the face 
 of the covering cast over all people, and the 
 veil that is spread over all nations ”’*—the veil 
 of error and false belief! The time will come! 
 Magna est veritas et prevalebit. ‘TRUTH Is 
 MIGHTY: IT WILL, IT MUST PREVAIL! — 
 
 * Isaiah xxve 75 
 
SERMON VII. 
 
 PREACHED ON SABBATH > nby ‘5 
 
 (JUNE TyiH). 
 
 
 
 I PROPOSE in my discourse of to-day to explain 
 a passage in the book of Daniel. But be- 
 fore commencing my exposition, I wish to call 
 your attention to a curious instance of the ex- 
 treme lengths to which Christian theologians go, 
 in founding their dogmas upon the Bible. Could 
 there be a simpler verse than that of Ecclesi- 
 astes, (iv. 12), pny Maga N? wpwEN BANA 
 and a threefold cord is not quickly broken’’? 
 Some days ago, our revered Chief Rabbi received 
 a letter from a brother in faith, dwelling ina 
 small town in West Canada, the only Jew in 
 the town, stating that this verse had been 
 
92 SERMON VII. 
 
 brought under his notice by a clergyman, as 
 containing an unanswerable confirmation of 
 the truth of the doctrine of the Trinity. And 
 the poor man, astounded and bewildered, ear- 
 nestly implored that the true signification of 
 the verse might be explained to him. 
 
 Surely of all the distortions and perversions 
 to which the Sacred Text has been subjected, 
 this is one of the most glaring. Who would 
 imagine a subtle theological dogma to lie hidden 
 in these simple words? Nothing can be clearer 
 than their plain sense. 
 
 It must be borne in mind that, in the imme- 
 diately preceding passages, Solomon has been 
 speaking of the folly and wretchedness of the 
 solitary miser. ‘‘ There is one alone, and there 
 is not a second; yea, he has neither child nor 
 brother: yet there is no end of all his labour; 
 neither is his eye satisfied with riches; neither 
 saith he, For whom do I labour, and bereave 
 my soul of good?” (v. 8). He then proceeds 
 to show the advantages of friendship and mutual 
 assistance. *“’Two are better than ome’.). - 
 .. . for if they fall, the one will lift up his 
 fellow, but woe to him that is alone when he 
 falleth, for he hath not another to help him up.” 
 (verses Q, IO). 
 
SERMON VII. 93 
 
 He gives another instance: suppose a robber 
 comes to attack them, the two together will 
 easily overcome him, “ and if one prevail against 
 him, two shall withstand him.” <A _ union of 
 three, the Preacher continues, is still more 
 advantageous, ‘‘and a threefold cord is not 
 quickly broken.” More simple or intelligible 
 language could scarcely be found, to incul- 
 cate a practical moral lesson. And yet it is 
 pretended that this passage contains an enunci- 
 ation of the doctrine of the Trinity !-< 
 
 As I am on this topic, I will mention incident- 
 ally two other passages of the Bible that are 
 adduced in support of the same doctrine. The 
 prophet Isaiah says, (xlviii. 16), py TT Ay 
 JF) 7°35 wy : this is translated in the version, 
 ‘* And now the Lord God, and His spirit hath 
 sent me.” ‘The three expressions, ‘Lord, God, 
 and His Spirit,’ are believed by our opponents 
 to refer to the three persons of whom, ac- 
 cording to Christian teaching, the Godhead 
 consists. 
 
 Matthew Henry comments on this verse as 
 follows: ‘‘ The Spirit of God is here spoken of 
 as a person distinct from the Father and Son, 
 having Divine authority to send prophets.” 
 
94 SERMON VII. 
 
 This proof, if proof it can be called, rests on a 
 mistranslation. For the text has not oN 7 
 
 syne m7 of which the above would be a 
 correct translation, but im) sabe Dry mm 
 
 which should be rendered, ‘‘ and now the Lord 
 God ~has.:sentyme and his spint “(> ezeiias 
 Kimchi explains): ‘‘ When the Lord God ap- 
 pointed me to my exalted mission, He inspired 
 me with a prophetic spirit.’’* 
 
 A similar use is made of a passage in the 
 thirtieth chapter of Proverbs, 4th verse. ‘*‘ Who 
 hath ascended into heaven, or descended? Who 
 hath gathered the wind in his fists? Who 
 hath bound the waters in a garment? Who 
 hath established all the ends of the earth? 
 What is his name, and what is his son’s name, 
 af thou canst tell?” Listen tothe remarks of 
 the Christian commentator on this verse. ‘‘ The 
 Messiah is here spoken of as a person distinct 
 from the Father.;. There is a prophetic, inti- 
 mation of him who came down from heaven 
 to be our instructor and our saviour, and then 
 ascended to heaven to be our advocate. The 
 verse contains a clear intimation of the first and 
 
 * nypny xoonnd apa aw inn Cf Isaiah Ixi.r. 
 
SERMON VII. 95 
 
 second persons in the Trinity ; it is a natural and 
 unforced interpretation suitable to the context.” 
 
 I ask you to judge, my dear brethren, whether 
 #be’so.? Let) us: refer to, the* context... Agu, 
 of whom nothing further is mentioned in Scrip- 
 ture, is speaking of the ignorance, the fallibility 
 of man’s intellect, as contrasted with Divine 
 Omniscience. ‘I neither learned wisdom nor 
 have the knowledge of the holy (v. 3).” Is 
 there one, he asks, who has ever rivalled the 
 works of the Most High? ‘‘ Who has as- 
 cended to heaven or descended ? Who has 
 gathered the winds in his fists? Who hath 
 bound the waters in a garment? Who hath 
 established all the ends of the earth? What 
 is his name and what is his son’s name, if thou 
 canst tell?’’ No human being has assisted in 
 the formation of the several elements; God’s 
 omnipotence is unapproachable. ‘‘ Thus, says 
 the Lord thy Redeemer, and He that formed 
 thee from the womb, I am the Lord who make 
 all things, who stretch forth the heavens alone, 
 who spread abroad the earth by myself.”* The 
 words, “‘ what is his son’s name,” are specially 
 introduced to contrast the human with the 
 Divine Being. 
 
 * Isaiah xliv. 24. 
 
96 SERMON VII. 
 
 These are mere verbal disquisitions. But in 
 
 condemnation of all sophistical arguments ex- 
 tracted from a few, and I am almost tempted 
 to add, garbled passages,—arguments by which 
 attempts are made to prop up the doctrine of 
 the Trinity, there towers in might superior to 
 them all, that one firm rock, against which 
 the billows of cavil and controversy dash in 
 vain, the grand verse :— 
 Sos Tacos 1 ye pow “Hear, O Is- 
 _rael, the Lord our God is one Eternal Being.* 
 And this truth is echoed throughout the Bible, 
 *“T am the Lord: that is My name, and My 
 glory I will not give to another.Ӥ Aye, no 
 more appropriate words could be addressed to 
 our brethren of another faith than those which 
 follow the verse quoted above from the Book 
 of Proverbs, (xxx. 5, 6): “‘ Every word of God 
 is pure; He is a shield unto those who put 
 their trust in Him. Add thou not unto His 
 words, lest He reprove thee, and thou be found 
 an utterer of falsehood.” 
 
 I now proceed to consider the predictions that 
 are contained in the Book of Daniel. We shall 
 
 * Deut. vi. 4. § Isaiah xlii, 8. 
 
SERMON VII. 97 
 
 meet with some difficulty in endeavouring to 
 arrive at their meaning. This difficulty how- 
 ever, does not arise from the passages favouring 
 in the remotest degree the explanation given of 
 them by Christian expositors, but is owing to 
 the circumstance that all the portions of the 
 Book of Daniel not purely historical, are very 
 obscure, and contain enigmas which require 
 another Daniel for their solution. This ob- 
 scurity is due to the fact that the predictions 
 are not direct prophecies like those of Isaiah 
 or Jeremiah, but visions. Daniel, though in- 
 spired by wpa my" the holy spirit, was not 
 gifted with MNI237 M1 the spirit of prophecy ; 
 and his book is therefore classed among the 
 Dans (the holy writings) and not among the 
 D'N'2) (the prophets)*. 
 
 Two passages in this book will be brough 
 under your notice. I propose considering this: 
 morning two verses (13th. and 14th) of the 
 seventh chapter, which run thus :— 
 
 53> NYO ‘yoy ND 8D NIT NNT TIN 
 THOT) Mg Ni PAY. TY), MT ANN wy 
 
 * Megilla p. 3 Vide Maimonides 0°5133 11D 
 MD PID ‘a WON 
 H 
 
98 SERMON VII. 
 
 
 
 srapy. bay adi apy phy am aay smNITPT 
 phy, oy mapoey piney m2 NNW) NYP 
 sbannn xd sp mmabp my xb 
 
 ‘‘T saw in the night visions, and behold one 
 like a son of man came with the clouds of 
 heaven, and came to the Ancient of days, and 
 they brought him near before him. And there 
 was given him dominion and glory, and a king- 
 dom, that all people, and nations and languages 
 should serve him: his dominion is an ever- 
 lasting dominion, which shall not pass away, 
 and his kingdom that which shall not be de- 
 stroyed.”’ 
 
 Many Christian expositors contend that 
 Daniel here alludes to the coming of the Naza-. 
 rene and asserts his Divine origin. They sup- 
 port this allegation by arguing that if he had 
 been merely a human being, it would not be 
 stated here that he would come with the clouds 
 of heaven. 
 
 It is not difficult to show that this argu- 
 ment is futile. We must bear in mind that a 
 prophetic dream is here recorded by Daniel, who 
 is ‘seeing in a night vision.’ Just as in the 
 same chapter, four beasts are represented as 
 coming up from the sea, so the son of man 
 
SERMON VII. 99 
 
 
 
 appears to Daniel as coming with the clouds 
 of heaven. Now, who is this ‘son of man ”? 
 For an answer to this question, I will not appeal 
 to any commentator; I need not ask you to 
 thread your way through the mazy intricacies 
 which the interpretations present, but I refer 
 you to Daniel himself. Just as he explains 
 that by the four beasts, four great kingdoms are 
 to be understood, so he tells us what the ap- 
 pearance of the son of man denotes. He says, in 
 the 27th verse, which contains expressions very 
 similar to the passage in dispute : 
 
 minh mba “SNM NPA Nm 
 mmaoe prvoy wp oy nam spy 53 
 
 : pyhyy pinder md seppy 5) ody m2 
 ‘‘And the kingdom and 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 dominions shall serve and obey 
 it.” It is clear from these words, that by the term 
 ‘son of man,’ a people—and not an individual— 
 is to be understood, precisely as the four beasts 
 signify, not four creatures, but, four kingdoms. 
 Now, to what people is reference made? Its 
 title gives usthe clue. It is called in the text 
 
I0o SERMON VII. 
 
 
 
 pany. wimp DY ‘the people of the saints of the 
 Most High.’ This is the appellation which is 
 given throughout the Bible to the people Israel. 
 It was declared on Sinai that it should be part of 
 Israel’s mission to become LAP ‘)1a holy people.* 
 Mosessaid untothem PIN ay ral winp DY 3 
 ‘“‘ For thou art a holy people unto the Lord thy 
 God.Ӥ In Isaiah we read wp DY oad WP) 
 ‘And they shall call them the holy people|].” 
 In the same manner as the sovereignty of the 
 Gentile nations is symbolized by the several 
 beasts—the lion, bear, leopard, and the terrible 
 iron-toothed beast, sothe people of the Most High 
 is appropriately typified by the form of a son of 
 man. Israel is not represented as a brute 
 animal; such a description would have placed 
 him on an equality with heathen nations; he 
 does not appear in the guise of an angel, be- 
 cause he has not divested himself of his earthly 
 nature, but he is represented in the dignified form 
 of a human being, to indicate that by his know- 
 ledge and adoration of the one true God, he is 
 highly exalted above the nations of the world, 
 who are only intent on conquest and self-ag- 
 
 . * Ex, xtxjs67) 1 Deutoxive 2.4) yl) Beata ech: 
 
SERMON VII. Iol 
 
 See SS eee 
 
 erandizement. ‘The beasts come up from the 
 great sea, upon which the four winds of 
 heaven are striving—a figure which denotes the 
 earth and its inhabitants disturbed by the 
 schemes of ambitious princes and mighty con- 
 querors. ‘The son of man comes with the 
 clouds of heaven’; that is to say, not by human 
 power, and human might, but by the decree 
 and will of heaven. kd 
 
 I will not enter into the vexed question, 
 as to which are the four kingdoms typified by the 
 four beasts. Very probably, they are the Ba- 
 bylonian, Medo-Persian, Macedonian, and Ro- 
 man empires. But whether this be the true 
 solution or not, the fact at all events is here 
 clearly foretold, that the time will come whenthe 
 dominion of error and false belief and the 
 
 rule of physical brute force, the mibn NAY 
 will cease ;* when the religion of Israel, the 
 recognition and worship of the Most High, will 
 be the religion of the world: when Israel shall 
 become worthy of maintaining its spiritual 
 supremacy over mankind. ‘Truly a noble and 
 sublime future destiny, to which we may all 
 
 EEE EEEEEEEDEREEET EEE 
 
 * Berachoth p. 34, Sabbath p. 63. 
 
102 SERMON VII. 
 
 confidently look forward, for which we must 
 one and all prepare ourselves. 
 
 I beseech you, my young friend,* who have this 
 day entered the congregation of Israel, to strive 
 to become worthy of the great future that still 
 awaits our race. ‘There is a well-known adage, 
 ‘Noblesse oblige.’ ‘Rank imposes obligations.’ 
 And surely great obligations are imposed upon 
 you by your exalted rank, as one of the people 
 of the saints of the Most High, P39 wp OY 
 as one of the nation which has been appointed 
 to proclaim to the world the belief in the Unity 
 of God—as a member of that race which has 
 been ordained to be the custodian of the Divine 
 Law. You know those sacred obligations—to 
 study in the original that Torah which was first 
 revealed to us, and ta show forth to the world the 
 purifying and humanizing influences which its 
 lessons exercise upon us. Do not neglect the 
 golden opportunities, of which you can now avail 
 yourself, to gain precious knowledge ; or, when it 
 is too late, you will bitterly deplore the fair oc- 
 casions gone for ever by. 
 
 Now is the time when the first fruits should 
 ripen, when you should make noble and pious 
 
 * Addressed to a MVS 13 
 
SERMON VII. 103 
 
 Co ee 
 
 resolves to lead a God-fearing and virtuous life! 
 vost "ep DANA onpnnn 
 “Be of good courage, and take of the fruit of 
 the land.” Hearken to the lessons of your 
 teachers, and impress them upon your memory, 
 so that you may become a source of true joy to 
 your parents, and worthy of the blessings of 
 the Most High. ‘‘ The Lord bless thee and 
 keep thee: the Lord make His face shine upon 
 thee, and be gracious unto thee: the Lord lift 
 up His countenance upon thee, and give thee 
 peace.” Amen, 
 
SERMON VIII. 
 PREACHED ON SABBATH mp ‘5 
 
 (JUNE 20TH). 
 
 
 
 I pousT whether there are any other passages 
 of Scripture on which so much has been written 
 as on the last four verses of the ninth chapter of 
 Daniel. ‘‘ Some of the most profound intellects 
 which ever existed—scholars, theologians, phi- 
 lologists, mathematicians. and historians—have 
 tested their powers in endeavours to interpret 
 Daniel’s prophecy of the Seventy Weeks.”* 
 Not merely Jewish commentators,} but a host 
 of Christian authors have expended their inge- 
 nuity on this passage. Even the great Newton 
 
 * Bosanquet’s ‘ Messiah the Prince.’ 
 § Rashi, R. Saadiah, Abravanel, Joseph ibn Jachja, 
 Asariah de Rossi, &c. 
 
SERMON VIII. 105 
 
 See ee eee 
 
 wrote a treatise, at the commencement of the 
 last century, on the ‘‘ Weeks of Daniel ;” and, in 
 modern times, Bible critics have devoted an 
 immense amount of zeal and ability to the ex- 
 position of this prophecy*. For myself, it has 
 not been an easy task to go through the mass 
 of interpretation which these few verses have 
 called forth. But you need not fear that I am 
 about to bewilder you with the various calcula- 
 tions that have been proposed by way of exposi- 
 tion. I shall treat the subject in as simple a 
 manner as possible, and, after first proving to 
 you that the Christian interpretation of this 
 passage is untenable, I will submit to you its 
 probable signification. 
 
 We read, atthe commencement of the chapter, 
 that Daniel is endeavouring to understand ‘the 
 number of the years whereof the word of the 
 Lord came to Jeremiah the prophet, that he 
 
 ee eS ee Se SS SS SS 
 
 * The following are some of the principal : — Lengerke, 
 Hitzig, Ewald, Auberlen, Doctor Pusey (* Lectures on Daniel 
 the Prophet,’) Mr. Desprez (‘Treatise on Daniel,’ or ‘the 
 Apocalypse of the Old Testament,’ with an introduction by 
 Dr. Williams), the Duke of Manchester (‘The Times of 
 Daniel,’) and Mr. Bosanquet (‘ Messiah the Prince.’) Bas- 
 nage has also written a long dissertation on the subject in his 
 ‘Histoire des Juifs’ tome V., chap. v. 
 
106 SERMON VIII. 
 
 would accomplish seventy years in the desola- 
 tions of Jerusalem.” Daniel is sorely perplexed, 
 for these seventy years had nearly elapsed, and 
 yet there were no signs to indicate that the 
 period of exile had expired. Concluding, there- 
 fore, that the captivity was prolonged on ac- 
 count of the sins of the nation, he pours forth 
 fervent supplication. And while he is praying, 
 an angel appears to him, commanded by the 
 Lord to make him understand the truth of 
 the matter. The angel tells him that by these 
 seventy years, mentioned in Jeremiah’s pro- 
 phecy,* ordinary years were not to be under- 
 stood, but years of release, or weeks of years, 
 t. €., periods of seven years each. Seventy 
 such years would represent seventy weeks 
 of years, 2. ¢., 490 years. The angel continues :— 
 
 qq. vy-byy sey--by gana oyaw ops 
 samy py tend) risen ons yuan xbab 
 va nvr) 37) qin anh, ody ots 
 nizay vind aq ey yp Sam yim, sop 
 yaw mya oy 12 Mv, Doe 
 
 * Jeremiah xxix. I0. " 
 
SERMON VIII. 107 
 
 
 
 DIS PIT TA ANIA Bw ow DwY 
 mvp nos ow Dey DYIwT IIN) SD RY 
 ND) NBT WD DY. TMA wT) TT) 5 poset 
 Sam): nibeiy myth nan? YP. WL Awa 
 may mays yoavin ym Thy yyaw ovat ma 
 mean) nop yy pia Desay aap Oy TID 
 
 s opiw-by qrn 
 
 ‘‘ Seventy weeks are determined upon thy 
 people, and upon thy -holy city, to finish the 
 transgression and to make an end of sins, and 
 to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring 
 in the righteousness of old,* and to seal up the 
 vision and prophecy, and to anoint the holy of 
 holies.§ Know, therefore, and understand that 
 from the going forth of the word to restore and 
 to build Jerusalem unto the anointed prince, 
 shall be seven weeks,|| and during threescore 
 and two weeks the market place and the ditch 
 
 
 
 * A.V. Everlasting righteousness. 
 
 § A.V. ‘The most Holy.’ 
 
 || A. V. Unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven 
 weeks, and three score and two weeks: the street shall be 
 built again, &c. 
 
108 SERMON VIII. 
 
 
 
 shall again be built even in troublous times. And 
 after the threescore and two weeks an anointed 
 shall be cut off, and be no more:* and the 
 people of the prince that shall come, shall 
 destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the 
 end thereof shall be with the flood, and unto 
 the end of the war desolations are determined. 
 And he shall make a strong covenant with 
 many for one week: and in the midst of the 
 week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation 
 to cease, and upon the battlements shall be the 
 idols of the desolator, even until the destruction 
 that has been determined shall be poured upon 
 the waster.’’§ , 
 
 Now Christian theologians assert that this 
 passage is a clear prediction of the appearance 
 and crucifixion of their Messiah, and of the fact 
 that, after he had been cut off, the city of Jeru- 
 salem and the Sanctuary were destroyed by the 
 Romans, 
 
 
 
 * A.V. ‘Shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself.’ 
 
 § My translation differs in some important points, which 
 I have indicated, from the authorized version. The latter, 
 through the neglect of the grammatical construction, and the 
 mistranslation of certain words, has given a wrong sense to 
 several of the clauses, 
 
SERMON VIII. 16g 
 
 But this interpretation, as I will show you, is 
 fraught with insurmountable difficulties. ‘‘ Se- 
 venty weeks are determined upon thy people, 
 and upomithy holy city?) ass « to anoint the 
 Most Holy. The words Dw Tp wp are ren- 
 dered ‘the Most Holy,’ and applied to the 
 Nazarene, although this expression is never 
 applied to a person, throughout the Bible, 
 but invariably denotes part of the Temple 
 —the holy of holies. This verse, then, is 
 alleged to contain a prediction that the Mes- 
 siah would appear after the lapse of seventy 
 weeks (7. ¢., 490 years). 
 
 Now, what is the event from which these 
 seventy weeks are to be counted? Obviously, 
 the same event as that from which the seventy 
 years of Jeremiah’s prophecy are reckoned,— 
 the destruction of Jerusalem ; for the angel had 
 been commissioned to explain to Daniel the 
 signification of the Divine prophecy, that the 
 Lord would accomplish seventy years in the. 
 desolation of Jerusalem. The Nazarene ought, 
 then, according to the Christian explanation, to 
 have appeared 490 years after the destruction 
 of the first Temple, but almost all chronologists 
 agree that his birth did not take place until 
 588 years after that event. 
 
110 SERMON VSIII. 
 
 Learned Christian commentators, well aware 
 of this difficulty, have framed various hypotheses 
 to make chronology tally with their explanation 
 ofthe prophecy. They say that the starting point 
 —the tevminus a quo—is more accurately deter- 
 mined in the following verse :—‘‘ Know, there- 
 fore, and understand, that from the going forth 
 of the word to restore and build Jerusalem unto 
 the anointed prince, shall be seven weeks. 
 And during three score andtwo weeks the market- 
 place and the ditch shall again be built, even in 
 troublous times.” According to the Chris- 
 tian rendering, the two periods are taken to- 
 gether. ‘“‘ From the going forth of the command- 
 MONE 2)5 344/25 unto the Messiah the Prince shall 
 be seven weeks and threescore and two weeks.” 
 But this translation is altogether opposed to 
 the grammatical construction of the sentence,* 
 as well as to the Masoretic punctuation, the ~ 
 words mya yay being divided from DYYAw) 
 Dw) oye by an NMMINN —a sign which 
 has the force ofacolon. Again, it seems almost 
 inexplicable, that the text should separate the 
 
 * For, according to the authorized version, a new sen- 
 tence commences at 23WN But to warrant this translation, 
 a 13MM 4°) (vau conjunctive) ought to be prefixed to JIWN 
 
SERMON VIII. Lid 
 
 
 
 seven from the sixty-two weeks, instead of 
 simply stating sixty-nine weeks. And, indeed, 
 the next (the 26th) verse shows that the seven and 
 sixty-two weeks are not to be taken together as 
 forming one period, the sixty-two weeks being 
 there mentioned as adistinct period. But even 
 if the Christian rendering were correct, it would 
 not overcome the chronological difficulties.* 
 For the going forth of the word to restore 
 Jerusalem is referred to the permission which 
 
 Artaxerxes gave, in the twentieth year of his 
 reign, to Nehemiah$, to have the walls of 
 the holy city rebuilt, From this date, then, 
 until the birth of the Nazarene, sixty-nine 
 weeks or 483 years should have elapsed. 
 According to common chronology, however, 
 only 445 years intervene between the two 
 events. 
 
 ‘‘ And after threescore and two weeks shall 
 
 
 
 * Sir Isaac Newton, in his work on the prophecies 
 of Daniel, is candid enough to admit the difficulty 
 which attends the common explanations of this verse. He 
 says, ‘“‘We avoid also doing violence to the language of 
 Daniel, by taking the seven weeks and sixty-two weeks for one 
 number. Had that been Daniel’s meaning, he would have 
 said sixty and nine weeks, and not seven weeks and sixty-two 
 weeks, a way of reckoning used by no nation.” 
 
 § Nehemiah c. i. 
 
rI2 SERMON VIII. 
 
 
 
 Messiah be cut off; but not for himself.” The ex- 
 pression ‘not for himself’ is believed by Christians 
 to denote that the Nazarene did not die for his 
 own sins, but in expiation of the sins of mankind. 
 I have already shown you, how opposed this 
 doctrine of vicarious atonement is to Scripture. 
 Apart from this fact, however, the words 
 4 8) have not the signification here given 
 to them. ‘They simply mean ‘And shall be 
 no more,’ this being a phrase similar to 
 by, 37743 which is correctly rendered in 
 another part of the version ‘ We ourselves are 
 git ol. 
 
 But there are other and even still greater diffi- 
 culties connected with the Christian exposi- 
 tion of this passage. ‘‘And the people of 
 the prince that shall come, shall destroy 
 the city and the sanctuary” (v. 26). This has 
 been explained.as referring to the invasion of 
 Judea by Vespasian and Titus, and to the de- 
 struction of Jerusalem and its holy temple. 
 “And he shall confirm the covenant with many 
 for one week ”’ (v. 27) is said to signify that the 
 Nazarene would cause many of the Jews to 
 
 
 
 * Ezekiel xxxviii. 12. And thus Rashi explains » ps) 
 MN Was 
 
SERMON VIII. II3 
 
 
 
 become members of the sect to be founded by him. 
 
 In what a strange, absurd confusion should 
 we be involved if we were to adopt this 
 interpretation! The beginning of the 2oth 
 verse is supposed to predict the death of the 
 Messiah, which is to happen in the 7oth week, 
 and its conclusion to announce the destruction 
 of Jerusalem, which took place many years later. 
 The commencement ofthe 27th verse, however, is 
 believed again to refer tothe Messiah. That verse 
 - continues, ‘‘ And in the midst of the week he shall 
 cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, 
 and for the overspreading of abominations he 
 shall make it desolate.” This clause is stated 
 to refer to the entire destruction of Jerusalem 
 by the Romans, and to their having caused the 
 sacrifices to cease for ever. But surely these 
 events did not take place in the midst of that 
 week (the seventieth) when the Nazarene is said 
 to have died, but upwards of thirty years later. 
 These objections will prove to you that the Chris- 
 tian interpretation of the passage cannot be 
 maintained. 
 
 Andnow youwill ask, what then are the events 
 which are predicted in this prophecy ? Who is 
 the anointed prince here mentioned? who the 
 anointed that is to be cut off? 
 
II4 . SERMON VIII. 
 
 
 
 Most probably the prophecy refers to the per- 
 secutions and oppressions which Israel was 
 destined to endure at the hands of the cruel and 
 fanatic Antiochus Epiphanes. The purpose of 
 this, as of some of the other visions that were 
 vouchsafed to Daniel seems to have been to 
 strengthen and encourage the Jews to remain 
 faithful to their God in those times of trial 
 that awaited them. This vision announces 
 to them that at the expiration of seventy 
 weeks (7.c. 490 years) after the destruction of 
 the temple, their sufferings would be at an end, 
 their iniquity pardoned, the piety and righteous- 
 ness of old re-established, and the holy of holies 
 again anointed, 7.c. consecrated.* The prophet 
 here foretells events, which were fulfilled 
 in the renewed dedication of the Temple 
 by Judas Maccabeus, and the re-establish- 
 ment shortly afterwards of the independence 
 of Israel, when kings of their own race and 
 faith again sat on the throne of David, and 
 a new era commenced, which was designated 
 
 bs mind the era of the freedom of Israel.¥ 
 
 
 
 * Comp. Exod. xl. 9. 
 
 § Vide Herzfeld’s History of the people Israel, vol. I., 
 p- 331. ‘The translation of onby pS ‘the righteousness of 
 
SERMON VIII. II5 
 
 The period of seventy weeks is subdivided 
 into three different periods of seven weeks (v. 25), 
 sixty-two weeks (verses 25 and 26) and one week 
 (v. 27). ‘*‘ Know, therefore, and understand that 
 from the going forth of the word to restore and to 
 build Jerusalem unto the anointed prince shall 
 be seven weeks.” The starting point from 
 which the seven weeks are reckoned must be 
 the same as that from which the seventy years 
 of Jeremiah’s prophecy, and the seventy weeks, 
 mentioned in the preceding verse, are reckoned, 
 viz., the destruction of Jerusalem. “7 N¥ID 
 ‘The going forth of the word,’ refers to the word 
 of God proclaimed by Jeremiah.* ‘‘For thus 
 saith the Lord, that after seventy years be ac- 
 complished at Babylon, I will visit you and per- 
 form my good word 3\an 2°1 toward you, in 
 causing you to return to this place.” From this 
 date, then, unto the anointed prince would be 
 seven weeks (7.c. 49 years). Let us reckon 
 forty-nine years from the destruction of Jerusa- 
 
 old’ is in strict conformity with the signification which ody 
 bears in many passages. Cf. OY Ni2IN ‘the old waste 
 places’ (Isaiah Iviii, 12) D> 9° ‘the ancient paths’ (Jer. 
 Xvill. 15.) 
 
 * Jeremiah xxix. Io. 
 
116 SERMON VIII. 
 
 lem, and we shall arrive exactly at the year in 
 which Cyrus, king of Persia, issued his cele- 
 brated edict—‘‘ Thus saith Cyrus, king of Persia, 
 All the kingdoms of the earth hath the Lord 
 God of Heaven given me; and he hath charged 
 me to build Him a House in Jerusalem, which 
 is in Judah. Who is there among you of all his 
 people ? The Lord his God be with him, and let 
 him go up.”* All Jewish commentators there- 
 fore agree in saying that Cyrus is the anointed 
 prince here spoken of. There can be no pos- 
 sible difficulty about the title mw ‘ anointed,’ 
 applied to him, a heathen king. We read in 
 Isaiah WNOD IwND ‘MN nd“ Thus, 
 says the Lord to his anointed, to Cyrus.Ӥ He 
 is called ‘T° ‘the prince,’ to denote his sove- 
 reignty. Both these titles are appropriately 
 applied to Cyrus, a mighty ruler, who over- 
 threw the Median, Lydian, and Babylonian 
 empires, and who was chosen by the Lord to 
 effect the return of His people from captivity. || 
 Now the term ‘T’3) always denotes a prince 
 
 * Ezra i. 2. and II Chron. xxxvi. 23. § xlv. 1. 
 || The terms MD and 7'3) are found together in severa. 
 passages of the Bible. Cf. I. Sam. ix. 16, I. Chron. xxix. 22. 
 
SERMON VIII. 117 
 
 
 
 or ruler, one invested with temporal authority 
 and supreme command ; consequently this title 
 cannot apply to the Nazarene, who never had 
 any temporal power as a prince or ruler. 
 
 ‘‘ During threescore and two weeks the city 
 shall, be, built) again 4 sal» wala a, J even in 
 troublous times.” These words refer to the 
 fact that during 430 years the Jewish people 
 were continually either disquieted and oppressed 
 by, or dependent upon, the Persian, Macedonian, 
 Egyptian and Syrian monarchies. 
 
 ‘* And after the threescore and two weeks, shall 
 an anointed be cut off, and be no more.” ‘The 
 personage here referred to is most probably 
 Onias, the pious high priest, who was put to 
 death through the stratagem of the godless 
 Menelaus. This murder excited most pro- 
 found indignation. The book of the Maccabees, 
 refers to the event in the following terms: 
 ‘‘ For the which cause not only the Jews, but 
 many also of other nations, took great indigna- 
 tion, and were much grieved for the unjust 
 murder of the man.”’* 
 
 
 
 * II Maccabees iv. 35. The event here predicted, is nar- 
 rated ibid, chaps. iii. and iv, How powerful the impression 
 which the death of Onias made upon his contemporaries 
 
118 SERMON VIII. 
 
 It is scarcely necessary for me to repeat that 
 the term MY) ‘anointed’ was by no means re- 
 stricted to the expected delivererofIsrael. Itisan 
 appellation given to kings, prophets and priests ; 
 indeed to all who were solemnly called and ap- 
 pointed to exalted offices. Here it is applied to a 
 high priest in the same way as we find in Le- 
 viticus* NOM MYO SON “If the 
 anointed priest do sin.” 
 
 Shortly after the assassination of Onias, the 
 invasion of Judea by Antiochus Epiphanes com- 
 menced. ‘‘ The people of the prince that shall 
 come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary ; 
 and the end thereof shall be with the flood, and 
 unto the end of the war, desolations are deter- 
 mined.” Antiochus stormed the city of Jeru- 
 salem, massacred 40,000 Jews, and dragged an 
 equal number into captivity. The houses were 
 pillaged, all buildings near mount Zion demo- 
 lished, and the city walls thrown down, so that 
 Jerusalem was entirely deserted. ‘And he 
 shall confirm the covenant with many for one — 
 
 must have been may be gathered from the remarkable account 
 of the dream of Judas Maccabzus before his great victory 
 (IL. Macc. xv. 12—16.) 
 
 * Chap. iv. 3. 
 
SERMON VIII. 11g 
 
 week.” The persecution lasted exactly seven 
 years; and we know well that during that period, 
 the Hellenizing party basely and traitorously cur- 
 ried favour with the Syrian king. ‘‘ And in the 
 midst of the week (z.e. in the middle of the 
 period of seven years) he shall cause the sacri- 
 fice and the oblation to cease, and upon the 
 battlements shall be the idols of the desolator.” 
 Three years and a half* before the final victory 
 was achieved by Judas the Maccabee, the prac- 
 tice of Jewish public worship was prohibited under 
 the greatest penalties. A Grecian idol waserected 
 in the Temple and forbidden animals were sacri- 
 ficed on the altar. Indeed, the accomplishment of 
 each of these predictions can be satisfactorily 
 verified by a reference to the book of the Mac- 
 cabees. ‘“‘ Even until the destruction that has 
 been determined shall be poured upon the 
 waster ;”’ z.¢c. until Antiochus and his force shall 
 be crushed, and Israel shall be victorious under 
 the leadership of Judas. 
 
 The above I conceive to be a correct explana- 
 
 
 
 * Vide Josephus ‘The Wars of the Jews,’ book I, 
 chap. 1. ** He (Antiochus) put a stop to the constant practice 
 ot offering a daily sacrifice of expiation tor three years and 
 six months.” 
 
120 SERMON VIII. 
 
 tion ofthis obscure prophecy. I cannot assert that 
 the dates of these events, as usually accepted, 
 coincide exactly with the years here indicated, for 
 owing to ouruncertain comprehension of Biblical 
 Chronology, absolute numerical precision seems 
 almost unattainable.* But the one important 
 point whichI trust I have demonstrated to you 
 conclusively, is, that the Christian interpretation 
 of the passage is quite incorrect. Chronological 
 dates, about which there is no doubt whatever, 
 and in the fixing of which Christian com- 
 mentators themselves agree, prove it to be 
 untenable. And while for us it would be 
 perfectly permissible to say, that this prophecy 
 is an enigma which defies solution, those who 
 consider it a corner-stone of their faith, those 
 who erect upon it a grand theological edifice, 
 should be able clearly and unhesitatingly to un- 
 ravelthe meaning of every phrase comprised in it. 
 In truth, the remarks that Mendelssohn makes 
 in one of his letters! are most appropriate to 
 these verses. He writes as follows :— 
 
 * I refer those who would wish to enter minutely into 
 the question of dates to ‘ Hitzig’s Commentary on Daniel.’ 
 
 § Addressed to the hereditary prince of Brunswick 
 ‘W olfenbuttel. 
 
SERMON VIII. 121 
 
 
 
 “‘T have read all the passages in the ‘ Old 
 Testament,’ on which the truth of your belief 
 is supposed to rest. I have read them all 
 with attention, and more than once in con- 
 nexion with their context. How inexpressibly 
 wretched would be the fate of man, if the 
 eternal happiness of the whole human race were 
 to depend upon the interpretation of some ob- 
 scure passages, which in times immemorial were 
 written fora people in Asia in a strange lan- 
 guage which is now dead. I believe that I under- 
 stand the language of the original text as well 
 as any modern student; it is, as it were, my 
 second mother tongue. Not one of these pas- 
 sages appearsto me to contain the slightest trace 
 ofa proof of the Christian hypothesis. Has preju- 
 dice warped my judgment, oris itso intruth? The 
 explanations which theologians have given of 
 these verses, seem to me palpably false in many 
 cases, and, in others, most forced and arbitrary. 
 I find to my comfort that modern commentators 
 who proceed to the interpretation of the Bible 
 intelligently and philosophically, abandon many 
 passages which in former times were considered 
 most powerfularguments. I, formy own part, take 
 the liberty of considering some of these dispu- 
 tations as learned toys, and I sometimes 
 
122 SERMON VIII. 
 
 amuse myself with them. But, the Lord have 
 mercy upon my soul! I cannot possibly de- 
 cipher the grounds for my eternal salvation 
 from the enigmatic visions of Daniel or educe 
 them from the sublime poesy of a prophet.” 
 
 Yes, brethren, if we would learn how to 
 gain eternal bliss for ourselves, we must turn 
 tothe Torah, the law of God. ‘There, in no ob- 
 scure and enigmatic words, but in language 
 intelligible to the meanest capacity thou art 
 taught, Israel, what the Lord thy God re- 
 quireth of thee. ‘‘ To fear the Lord thy God, 
 to walk in His ways, and to love Him, and to 
 serve the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and 
 with all thy soul.”’* 
 
 Out of this holy book you have this day read 
 to us, my young friend.§ You have declared it 
 to be NSN Mm7N “the Law of truth,” by means 
 of which God has planted eternal life in our midst. 
 Determine this day to be henceforth faithful to 
 its holy teachings, to make its lessons the rule 
 of your life. Ah! you stand in need of that 
 blessed staff, Religion, to guide and support 
 you. It has pleased the Lord to take your 
 
 * Deut. x, 12. 
 § Addressed to a 718 12 
 
SERMON VIII. 123 
 
 
 
 father from you in your early childhood—truly 
 a hard and bitter lot! But you have not been 
 forsaken. The Lord has spoken to you the 
 blessed words which you have read to the 
 assembled congregation JIN qnom qn IN 
 : ON" 92 “I am thy portion and thine 
 inheritance among the children of Israel.”* He 
 has guarded and shielded your childhood. He 
 has left you a fond mother, loving relatives, to 
 care and provide for you, teachers who implant 
 the fear of God in your heart, who imbue your 
 mind with knowledge. Show yourself grateful 
 to them; strive to be a worthy pupil of the school 
 that educates you; strive to become a worthy son 
 of your departed father. Though his body sleep 
 in the dust, his soul watches over you with undy- 
 ing affection. And, even, as during his life-time 
 he placed his hands upon your head, on Sabbaths 
 and onfestivals, praying tothe Lordthat He might 
 make thee as our pious forefathers, as Ephraim 
 and as Manasseh, that He might redeem thee 
 from all evil, so he still implores for you the 
 blessing of Him who is Dain YAN “the Father 
 of the fatherless.” The Lord bless thee and 
 
 * Numb. xxiii. 20. 
 
124 SERMON VIII. 
 
 keep thee. The Lord make his face shine upon 
 thee and be gracious unto thee. The Lord lift 
 up his countenance upon thee and give thee 
 peace, MAanen: 
 
SERMON IX. 
 
 PREACHED ON SABBATH npn ‘5 
 
 (JUNE 27TH). 
 
 My DEAR BRETHREN, 
 
 IN expounding to you the principal of the 
 so-called Christological passages in the Bible, 
 I have, I trust, succeeded in proving to you, 
 that not only they do not apply to him whom 
 Christians believe to be their redemeer, but that 
 they do not at all refer to a Messiah. Far be it 
 from me, however, to allow you to imagine that 
 the Bible does not contain predictions, couched 
 in plain and distinct language, concerning the 
 advent of the true Redeemer. ‘The doctrine of 
 the coming of a personal Messiah is the purple 
 thread that runs throughout the writings of our 
 prophets and historians. This belief in the 
 
126 SERMON IX. 
 
 coming of a Redeemer, at whose appearance 
 Israel will be gathered together from ‘the four 
 corners of the earth,’ and again be united, so asto 
 form a happy and flourishing nation—this belief 
 has been a precious heir-loom handed down from 
 generation to generation. It was this hope that 
 upheld our forefathers amid all their sufferings ; 
 this hope was the silver lining of the darkest and 
 gloomiest cloud that ever lowered upon them. 
 When, under the sway of the Roman emperors, 
 and later, during the dark middle ages, their lives 
 were sacrificed, their blood was ruthlessly shed 
 and their substance plundered; when they were 
 surrounded on all sides by cruelty, ignominy and 
 contempt; this was the balm that healed their. 
 wounds, the solace that lightened the burthen 
 which rested on their weary shoulders. 
 
 It remains, then, for me to show you in this, 
 the second portion of my Course, that all those 
 various prophecies which shine like orient pearls 
 in the inspired pages of Holy Writ,-speak of a 
 Redeemer who wll come; but who has not yet 
 appeared on earth. I deem this consideration 
 the more necessary, because a few of the pas- 
 sages on which I have already discoursed, are 
 explained by the Targumim and by some of our 
 commentators, to refer to our Messiah. If, 
 
SERMON IX. 127 
 = os WN eR NG In he ae 
 
 therefore, you should discover any Jewish com- 
 mentator, who, differing from the explanation 
 I have submitted to you, applies any of the 
 before-mentioned prophecies to the coming of 
 the Messiah, you will be furnished with argu- 
 ments to prove that those prophecies were not 
 fulfilled by the appearance of the Nazarene. 
 
 I commence with the glorious prediction 
 vouchsafed to the prophet whose mouth had 
 been touched by the burning coal from off the 
 altar,—to Isaiah: this prediction is contained in 
 the eleventh chapter of his book; (verses. I-Q). 
 
 ‘And there shall come forth a rod out of the 
 stem of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his 
 roots ; and the spirit of the Lord shall rest upon 
 him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, 
 the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of 
 knowledge and the fear of the Lord; and shall 
 make him of quick understanding in the fear 
 of the Lord; and he shall not judge after the 
 sight of his eyes, neither reprove after the 
 hearing of his ears: but with righteousness 
 shall he judge the poor, and reprove with equity 
 the meek of the earth; and he shall smite 
 the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with 
 the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked, 
 And righteousness shall be the girdle of his 
 
128 SERMON IX. 
 
 loins, and faithfulness the girdle of his reins. 
 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. 
 And the cow and the bear shall feed—their 
 young ones shall lie down together; and the 
 lion shall eat straw like the ox. And the suck- 
 ing child shall play on the hole of the asp, and 
 the weaned child shall put his hand on the 
 adder’s den. ‘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.” 
 
 What a wondrous, inimitable description is 
 this! It sets forth those grand ideas of Judaism, 
 the belief in the ultimate release of mankind from 
 violence, injustice, tyranny and idolatry, when 
 the IY mia ‘the kingdom of Almighty 
 God’ will be established upon the earth, when 
 the sublime belief in the one and only God will 
 be the universal creed, and will dispel all those 
 dark clouds of error, which have so long ob- 
 scured the pure notions of the Deity. This 
 prediction tells us that the golden age is not to 
 be looked for, in the past, as the pagan poets 
 taught, but inthe future. It teaches us the ele- 
 
SERMON 1X. 129 
 
 vating lesson that the human race is destined 
 ultimately to attain perfection. 
 
 Now this and many other prophecies speak 
 not only of a Messianic time, but of a Messianic 
 personage. Heis to be a scion of the royal 
 house of David. He is not to be a man of ordinary 
 qualification—not merely wise inthe same degree 
 as others, but peculiarly fitted for the require- 
 ments of his glorious mission. He will possess 
 profound knowledge of what is right and what is 
 wrong. Whatever man can know or acquire 
 will be familiar to him. He will be gifted with 
 Mg5n ‘wisdom ’—wealth of knowledge and mo- 
 ral excellence, r13°3, ‘ understanding ’"—capacity 
 for judgment, M¥Y ‘counsel’—the ability to 
 advise and govern, M134 ‘ might ’—courage and 
 energy in maintaining the right, supporting the 
 innocent, and repressing the wicked. All 
 these gifts are to be crowned with the utmost 
 reliance upon heavenly aid. God will grant 
 him the gift of prophecy, the knowledge of hid- 
 den things. In his exercise of justice, he will not 
 be obliged to rely upon the outward appearance 
 that a cause may present to owr imperfect facul- 
 ties, his decisions will not be governed merely 
 by the pleadings of the parties interested, but 
 
 he will divine their secret thoughts and give 
 K 
 
130 SERMON IX. 
 
 
 
 judgment in accordance with the absolute truth 
 of the matter in dispute. He will do justice to 
 the weak and helpless by adopting an incorrup- 
 tibly righteous course towards their oppressors. 
 The passage concludes with a description of 
 the peace, happiness and harmony to be en- 
 joyed under the rule of the Messiah—a descrip- 
 tion which, for exquisite choice of imagery, sur- 
 passes the sublimest sentences penned by pro- 
 fane authors of antiquity. 
 
 Let me now show you how impossible it is 
 that the personage here referred to can be 
 the Nazarene. The prophet predicts that the 
 Messiah will be a scion of the house of David. 
 Christianity declares its redeemer to be of 
 Divine origin. Its professors are therefore 
 placed in this dilemma:—If he were Divine, 
 how is it that he is here termed a descendant 
 of Jesse? If he were not Divine, the foundation 
 of their faith crumbles into dust. Now, peruse 
 carefully the whole of the prophecy, and you 
 will not discover a word which can imply that 
 the Redeemer will be of Divine origin. 
 
 Another very important argument, may, how- 
 ever, be adduced :—Although various prophets 
 may differ in their description of the details of the 
 future redemption, they all agree in predicting 
 
SERMON IX. 131 
 
 that the restoration of Israel to the Holy Land 
 will be one of the principal events by which 
 it will be distinguished. Moses, the father of 
 the prophets, writes, ‘‘ And it shall come t» pass, 
 when all these things are come upon thee, the 
 blessing and the curse, which I have set before 
 thee, and thou shalt call them to mind among all 
 the nations whither the Lord thy God hath 
 driven thee, and thou shalt return unto the 
 Lord thy God, and shalt obey His voice accord- 
 ing to all that I command thee this day, thou 
 and thy children, with all thine heart, and with 
 all thy soul; that thenthe Lord thy God will turn 
 thy captivity, and kave compassion upon 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 
 outmost 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.”’* 
 
 We are told in this prophecy, that Israel, 
 after having been scattered among the nations 
 of the earth, in consequence of his disobedi- 
 
 * Deut. xxx. r—5. 
 
132 SERMON IX. 
 
 ence, will hereafter be gathered in and restored 
 te the land sof shis tathers,.) Isatah;) an the 
 words that follow our text, confirms this pro- 
 phecy. He says, ‘‘ And in that day there shall 
 be a root of Jesse, which shall stand for an en- 
 sign of the people; to it shall the Gentiles seek, 
 and his rest shall be glorious. And it shall 
 come to pass in that day that the Lord shall 
 set his hand again the second time to recover 
 the remnant of his people, which shall be left 
 from Assyria, and from Egypt, and from 
 Pathos, andiinomiGusix ,andsarom., Plamewand 
 from Shinar, and from Hamath, and from the 
 islands of the sea. And he shall set up an en- 
 sign for the nations, and shall assemble the 
 outcasts of Israel, and gather together the dis- 
 persed of Judah, from the four corners of the 
 earth’ (verses 10-12). Observe, that the coun- 
 tries of Asia and Africa are mentioned, nay, 
 even the islands of the sea—those distant re- 
 gions, where, in the time of Isaiah, no Israelite 
 dwelt. 
 
 Do not imagine that this prophecy was ac- 
 complished in the return of the Jews from Ba- 
 bylonia under the leadership of Zerubbabel and 
 Ezra after a captivity of seventy years. The 
 exiles who were restored at that period did not 
 
SERMON IX. 133 
 
 
 
 amount in number to a sixth part of the 
 entire nation. They consisted only of a_por- 
 tion of the tribe of Judah, which had been 
 carried away by Nebuchadnezzar. Isaiah, how- 
 ever, speaks, in the verse above quoted, not of 
 Judah only, but of the ten tribes, who had been 
 led into captivity from Samaria, by Shalmaneser, 
 king of Assyria. It is also here promised that a 
 king ofthe house of David, should rule overthe re- 
 stored nation. During the existence of the second 
 temple, however, our forefathers were governed 
 by the Maccabees, a priestly family descended 
 from Levi, and by the house of Herod, wio was a 
 foreigner.* Now, surely, “the Lord is not a 
 man that He should lie, a son of Adam that He 
 should repent.” Certain it is that the prophecy 
 of the restoration of Israel must one day be ful- 
 filled, and it is equally certain that it was not ac- 
 complished during the life of the Nazarene. He 
 lived at the time when the second temple was 
 still standing, and the tribe of Judah still 
 dwelling in theirown land. They needed no re- 
 storation then, for they were not dispersed until 
 
 
 
 * For further proofs that these prophecies were not ful- 
 filled at the rebuilding of the second temple, see ‘ Emunoth 
 Vedeoth,’ by R. Saadiah, c. viii. 
 
134 SERMON IX. 
 
 some time after his death. The ten tribes, 
 however, who had not returned from their exile, 
 to join in re-building the second temple, were 
 not gathered in through his instrumentality, 
 but still await their restoration. 
 
 It is further predicted, that at the coming 
 of the Redeemer, Jerusalem and the whole of 
 Palestine will be cultivated and inhabited by 
 the Israelites : 
 bony mynta syeg tobi? 72 DN yen iy 
 ‘* Thou shalt yet plant vines upon the moun- 
 tains of Samaria; the planters shall plant and 
 redeem the fruit.*” Has this prophecy yet 
 been fulfilled ? Traverse the hills of Palestine, 
 which formerly flowed with milk and honey ; you 
 will stand aghast at the desolation there spread 
 before you. All is desert and sterile; the 
 olive groves are cut down, the springs are 
 dried up. And as regards the small number of 
 our brethren who inhabit that land—how abject 
 and forlorn is their state! Instead of dwelling 
 in safety and in happiness, each under his 
 vine and his fig-tree, they are subject to the 
 arbitrary rule of a foreign satrap; they are 
 
 * Jeremiah xxxi. 5. 
 
SERMON IX. 135 
 
 
 
 exposed to the lawless depredations of covet- 
 ous Bedouins. 
 
 ~ © Reft of thy sons, amid thy foes forlorn 
 Mourn widowed Queen, forgotten Zion mourn ! 
 Is this thy place, sad city, this thy throne, 
 Where the wild desert rears its craggy stone? 
 No martial myriads muster in thy gate ; 
 No suppliant nations in thy Temple wait ; 
 No prophet bards the glittering courts among 
 Wake the full lyre and swell the tide of song; 
 But lawless Force and meagre Want are there, 
 And the quick darting eye of restless Fear, 
 While cold oblivion, ’mid the ruins laid, 
 Folds his dank wing beneath the ivy shade.” * 
 
 Such is the Palestine of the present day. 
 
 Can it be asserted, then, that the prophecies in 
 question relate to the Nazarene? Indeed some 
 of the most eminent of Christian divines ac- 
 knowledge the fact that they have not yet been 
 fulfilled. Thus, Lowth in his notes to the 
 translation of Isaiah (on c. xi. v. 16) says: 
 “This part of the chapter contains a prophecy, 
 which certainly yet. remains to be accomp- 
 lished.” 
 
 Some Christian commentators have endea- 
 voured to explain away the difficulty by assert- 
 ing that these predictions refer to the spiritual 
 
 
 
 * Heber’s ‘ Palestine.’ 
 
136 SERMON IX. 
 
 deliverance of God’s people. But, is it not 
 contrary to all rules of sound interpretation 
 to explain prophecies, which foretell a nation’s 
 calamity, in accordance with their literal mean- 
 ing, and yet to place a metaphorical construc- 
 tion upon those which announce its future 
 felicity? Yes. Truth, divine truth, steps in 
 and condemns such explanations as sophist- 
 mies. .Truth bids us say, that,even. as. our 
 nation suffered physical dispersion, physical 
 ignominy for the sins of which it had been 
 guilty, so also when its iniquity shall be par- 
 doned, when its appointed time shall be ac- 
 complished, the blessings that have been pro- 
 mised will be fulfilled literally. ‘‘ Thus saith 
 the Lord God: behold I will take the children 
 of Israel from among the nations, whither they 
 be gone, and will gather them on every side, 
 and will bring them into their own land: and I 
 will make them one nation in the land upon the 
 mountains*or Visracls'k tf ok St and David my 
 servant shall be king over them; and they all 
 shalt have one shepherd: they shall also walk 
 in my judgments, and observe my statutes and 
 do them (610.05 s.47 3 Moreover I will make a 
 covenant of peace with them; it shall be an 
 everlasting covenant with them: and I will 
 
SERMON IX. 137 
 
 
 
 place them, and multiply them, and will set my 
 sanctuary in the midst of them for evermore. 
 My tabernacle also shall be with them: yea, I 
 will be their God, and they shall be my people. 
 And the nations shall know that I the Lord do 
 sanctify Israel, when my sanctuary shall be in 
 the midst of them for evermore.’”* Amen. 
 
 
 
 * Ezekiel xxxvii, 21—28, 
 
SERMON X. 
 
 PREACHED ON SABBATH pos ‘5 
 
 (JULY 4TH). 
 
 “But in the last days it shall come to pass, 
 that the mountain of the house of the Lord 
 shall be established in the top of the mountains, 
 and it shall be exalted among the hills; and 
 people shall flow unto it. And the multitude of 
 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; and he will teach 
 us of 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. And he 
 shall judge among many people, and rebuke 
 strong nations afar off; and they shall beat 
 
SERMON X. 139 
 
 their swords into ploughshares, and their spears 
 into pruning-hooks: nation shall not lift upa 
 sword against nation, neither shall they learn 
 war any more. But they shall sit every man 
 under his vine and under his fig-tree; and none 
 shall make them afraid: for the mouth of the 
 Lord of Hosts hath spoken it.” (Micah iv. 
 I—4). 
 
 In these sublime words the prophet predicts 
 the advent of the Messianic days, when the truth 
 and binding force of God’s Law, the belief in 
 His Unity, and in the excellence of His moral 
 precepts shall be acknowledged by all men, 
 when peace and tranquillity shall prevail 
 throughout the world. But as these glorious 
 predictions pass before the mind’s eye, the 
 question naturally suggests itself to us, Have 
 any of them yet been fulfilled? Do not, on the 
 contrary, the events of each recurring day prove 
 to us that as yet they have not been realized ? 
 Turn where we may, do we not see that the 
 reign of violence and lawlessness still prevails, 
 that Might still triumphs over Right, that misery 
 and oppression are the lot of a large portion of 
 the human race ? 
 
 This very day we have offered up our prayer- 
 ful thanks unto the Lord, for having in His 
 
140 SERMON X. 
 
 mercy preserved the illustrious son of our gra- 
 cious Queen from the weapon of the assassin. 
 We have also brought the humble tribute of our 
 thanksgiving to the Almighty Disposer of events, 
 for the brilliant triumph which He has accorded 
 to our forces in Abyssinia. And in truth we 
 have reason to rejoice. The entire army and 
 its able leader have nobly upheld the proud 
 traditions of British valour and British disci- 
 pline. Our armies may in former days have 
 gained victories over warriors of greater gal- 
 lantry than the Abyssinian hosts; they may 
 have captured fortresses as frowning as Mag- 
 dala; but the success has often been tardy, 
 and the slaughter, alas! has but too frequently 
 counterbalanced the glory. In this expedition, 
 however, the success has been complete, deci- 
 sive; our victory has been a tearless one— 
 sufficient cause to arouse feelings of deep and 
 fervent gratitude in every loyal and patriotic 
 heart. 
 
 But the question must present itself to 
 our minds: Can the Messianic days have 
 come, when we see an assassin lift his hand 
 against an amiable and beloved prince; when 
 tyrants exist, whose lawless acts must be pun- 
 ished by the valour of our armies? MHas the 
 
SERMON X. 141 
 
 prediction been fulfilled, ‘‘ They shall sit every 
 man under his vine and under his fig-tree ; and 
 none shall make them afraid ?”’ Has the pro- 
 phecy come to pass that “nation shall not lift 
 up a sword against nation, neither shall they 
 learn war any more?” Have ‘‘the swords 
 been beaten into ploughshares and the spears 
 into pruning-hooks?”’ Alas! no. We see 
 the most powerful and civilized nations vie- 
 ing with one another in the maintenance 
 of enormous armies, in the production of 
 the deadliest weapons of destruction. How 
 much wealth and skill are wasted day after 
 day in order that the deep-mouthed cannon 
 may with greater accuracy hurl forth death 
 and destruction upon its doomed victims ! 
 Aye, whoever throws but a glance at the 
 history of the world must acknowledge that 
 the eighteen centuries which have elapsed 
 since the supposed appearance of the Mes- 
 siah, present a sad and discouraging aspect. 
 We meet with little else but intolerance 
 and persecution and the evils that spring 
 therefrom. At what period since the founda- 
 tion of Christianity has the sword been 
 sheathed? Does not the earth still drink 
 the blood of her children? How, then, can 
 
142 SERMON X. 
 
 it be asserted that theMessiah has already 
 come? 
 
 It is further ‘promised that at the advent of 
 the Messiah, the truth of God’s Law, and, 
 above all, His Unity, will be acknowledged by 
 all nations,—that there will be, then, a perfect 
 unanimity of belief. Has this prediction been 
 yet accomplished ? Let us cast a glance upon 
 the globe: Here the ignorant negro, bowing 
 down before his fetish, says to a stock, ‘‘ thou 
 art my father,” and, ‘to. a stone, “thou. hast 
 brought me forth ;” there the savage South Sea 
 _islander offers human sacrifices to his horrid 
 idol. Millions of in-dwellers of China still 
 practise their absurdly superstitious rites, and, 
 with all their boasted knowledge, do not possess 
 a word in their language to denote the Supreme 
 Being. And the Hindoos, conceiving annihila- 
 tion to be the greatest good, roll in mire to be 
 crushed by the car of the Juggernaut, or wallow 
 in the swamps of the Ganges to be devoured by 
 the crocodile.* The Fire-worshipper still sa- 
 lutes the rising orb of the sun; and the fierce 
 
 * According to Protessor Max Miiller (‘ Chips from a 
 German workshop,’) Braiminism and Buddhism, together, 
 still claim a decided majority ot followers among the in- 
 habitants of the globe, 
 
SERMON X. 143 
 a nee bane ie REE es OS 
 Arab, “his hand against every man, and every 
 man’s hand against him,” though proclaiming 
 “‘there is but one God,” adds the false words, 
 “and Mahomet is His prophet.” And in addi- 
 tion to these religious systems, there are the 
 multitudinous sects of Christianity, each main- 
 taining the truth of its special dogmas. Can 
 it be then asserted, with truth, that the Mes- 
 Sianic days have already endured nearly two 
 thousand years? 
 This inherent difficulty has not escaped the 
 attention of Christian theologians. Some of 
 them therefore contend, that all these glorious 
 promises are to be fulfilled at a Second advent 
 of the Nazarene, when he, with his saints, will 
 rule a thousand years upon earth. This is the 
 doctrine of the so-called Millennium. But not 
 a single clear and unequivocal prophecy can be 
 produced from the Bible which foretells a two- 
 _ fold coming of one and the same person as the 
 
 Messiah. The whole scheme of the Millen- 
 /nium must be declared a chimera, an ignis 
 _fatuus to delude the unwary.* It is not war- 
 
 a a 
 
 | * Basnage in his ‘ Histoire des Juifs,’ chap. 34, says 
 ; that the theory of a Millennium was propounded with the 
 
 purpose of inducing Jews to embrace Christianity. 
 
144 SERMON X. 
 
 ranted by the word of God, and cannot there- 
 fore be maintained. 
 
 Let me now proceed to explain two passages 
 that demand our attention; one of them occurs 
 in the Sedra, and the other is connected with 
 the Haphtora of the day. 
 
 In the twenty-fourth chapter of Numbers 
 (verses 17-19) the heathen prophet, Balaam, 
 informs the King of Moab, how the nation of 
 Israel would act towards his people in future 
 fime-le sayse— 
 
 S513 F777 ap Ny arne’g ny Nd) ayy 
 ayip tnyp yop Osim paw op) apy» 
 mye men) AWAY By MD) snes a O32 WPI 
 spy Ty son nby Syne rates opty 
 sD THY PayT 
 
 ‘*T shall see him but not now; I shall be- 
 hold him but not nigh. There shall come a 
 star out of Jacob, and a sceptre shall rise out 
 of Israel, and shall smite the corners of Moab, 
 and destroy all their fastnesses.* And Edom 
 
 shall be a possession, Seir also shall be a pos- 
 session for his‘enemies, and Israel shall do 
 
 * The translation here followed is that of Mendelssohn. 
 
SERMON X. r45 
 
 
 
 valiantly. Out of Jacob shall come he that 
 shall have dominion, and shall destroy him that 
 remaineth of the city.” 
 
 That this passage is obscure cannot be denied, 
 for Balaam was not like one of those chosen pro- 
 phets of the Lord, who could clearly announce 
 the events of the future; he spoke as in a 
 trance, ‘‘ falling but having his eyes open.” It 
 is indeed noteworthy with what avidity Chris- 
 tian theologians seize upon passages, the true 
 signification of which seems purposely veiled. 
 This prophecy is asserted to have been fulfilled 
 in the Nazarene, whose appearance, it is said, 
 was heralded by a star shining inthe East. As 
 is the case with so many other predictions 
 YI¥3 INDwWN the argument contains its own 
 refutation. 
 
 It is stated in the above passage, that this star 
 of Jacob would wage war with the adjacent na- 
 tions, with Moab and with Edom. . There is no 
 record, however, of the Nazarene ever having 
 been engaged in warfare. Itis added ‘that 
 Israel should do valiantly,’””—should prevail over 
 all his adversaries. But, since the appearance 
 of the Nazarene has not Israel remained in 
 captivity or in exile? Is he not still afflicted 
 and oppressed in many parts of the globe ? 
 
 li 
 
146 SERMON X. 
 
 
 
 There can be little doubt that the prediction 
 refers to, and was verified in, the person of 
 David—the bright star of Jacob, the mighty 
 sceptre of Israel—whom Scripture mentions as 
 having battled with, and vanquished, the na- 
 tions here spoken of. We read in the second 
 Book of Samuel, ‘‘ And he smote the Moabites. 
 They became David’s servants and brought 
 gifts.”* And further on weread, “‘he put garrisons 
 in Edom ; throughout all Edom put he garrisons, 
 and all they of Edom became David’s ser- 
 vants.”$§ But though the prediction was lite- 
 rally fulfilled in David, there is also perhaps a 
 hidden reference to the Messiah, the latest 
 descendant of Jacob, who shall have dominion, 
 to that “‘ branch of righteousness that shall grow 
 up to David who shall execute judgment and 
 righteousness in the land, in whose days shall Ju- 
 dah be saved, and Jerusalem shall dwell safely,’’|| 
 when Israel in very truth “ shall do valiantly.” 
 
 Let me now call your attention to the follow- 
 ing verse, occurring in the Book of Micah: (v. 1.) 
 ayy Bos2 no yy nas ond-ms AR 
 yninyion Siva Seip nnd ey oS app 
 
 : DDiy DY DID 
 
 * Chap. viil. 2. § Ibid 14. || Jer. xxxiil. 15 —16. 
 
SERMON X. 147 
 
 “But thou Bethlehem Ephrata, though thou 
 be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out 
 of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to 
 be the ruler in Israel; whose goings forth, 
 (origin) have been from of old, from most 
 ancient days.’’* 
 
 Christians tell us that this prediction has been 
 clearly fulfilled in the person of their Messiah, 
 who was born at Bethlehem, and they further 
 assert that we cannot apply the passage to the 
 Redeemer whom we expect, because the city of 
 Bethlehem has long ago been destroyed, and it 
 is impossible, therefore, that a future Redeemer 
 could be born there. To this I reply: that inas- 
 much as Bethlehem has been the birth-place of 
 many hundreds and thousands of persons, the 
 mere accident of having been born there is not 
 sufficient to justify any one in claiming the rank 
 ofthe Messiah. And, granted that the Nazarene 
 was the teacher of a new religion, can it be main- 
 tained that he ever exercised any sovereignty in 
 the Holy Land—or that he was, as is here de- 
 
 * The A. V. renders DSI ‘DD «from everlasting.’ I 
 have shewn above (p. 115) by quotations trom Scripture, that 
 obw bears very often a much more restricted signification. 
 See Gesenius’ Lexicon, s. v. O51 
 
148 SERMON X. 
 
 clared bya byiin ‘a ruler in Israel’? Be- 
 sides, it is not asserted that the Messiah should 
 be born at Bethlehem, but that his ‘ goings forth 
 from of old,’—his origin, his ancestry—should be 
 from thence. The prophet, here speaking of 
 the Redeemer, whose advent we await, apo- 
 strophises the little village of Bethlehem, the 
 birth-place of David,* from whom the Messiah 
 was to spring. 
 
 And the events, which it is announced will 
 take place at his coming, are those which, as 
 you know full well, were not realized at the ap- 
 pearance of the Nazarene. ‘The prophet Micah 
 continues Oxia Sy aw yrs ant) “Then 
 the remnant of his brethren shall return unto the 
 children of Israel” (v. 2). But the scattered Israel 
 has not yet been gathered in. 
 
 piv rq mm) ‘ There shall be peace’ (v.5)— 
 fixed, eternal, peace. But alas! universal peace 
 does not yet prevail. Idolatry shall be uprooted. 
 ‘Thy graven images also will I cut off, and thou 
 shalt no more worship the work of thine hands” 
 (v. 12). But alas! upwards of half of the subjects 
 
 * T Samuel xvii 12. ‘Now David was the son ot that 
 Ephrathite of Bethlehem Judah.’ Isaiah (xi. 1) refers the 
 origin of the Messiah to Jesse, the father of David. ‘ And 
 there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse.’ 
 
SERMON X. 149 
 eh 
 
 of our Queen are heathens—indeed, it has been 
 observed that there is no building large enough to 
 contain all the idols that are still worshipped. 
 These prophecies have certainly not been ful- 
 filled. Let us trustfully await their accomplish- 
 ment. 
 TS NTT oman oS pa Se wie NS 
 TaD ND) |T) mips NO) 
 “God is not a man that He should lie; neither 
 the son of man that He should repent; hath He 
 said, and shall He not do it? hath He spoken 
 and shall He not make it good ?”* 
 
 * Numb. xxiii. 19, 
 
SERMON XI. 
 
 PREACHED ON SABBATH DM3'S ‘5 
 (JULY IITH). 
 
 
 
 qzee nan poynena yon py na chp oy 
 byy sign Sy aan) voy ain yin pray gb sia 
 
 : NUIAN [3 Vy 
 ‘““Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion, shout 
 O daughter of Jerusalem. Behold thy king 
 cometh unto thee, he is just and victorious: 
 lowly, and riding upon an ass, upon a colt the 
 toal of an ass.” . (Zechariah ix. 9). 
 
 Most of you, my dear brethren, are aware of 
 the urgency with which Christian theologians 
 assert, that this verse can refer to no one but 
 the author of their faith, because it is recorded 
 
SERMON XI. I51 
 
 
 
 of him in the so-called New Testament that he 
 entered Jerusalem riding upon an ass. 
 
 Now I will grant the historical truthfulness 
 of this record, and yet I assert that the fact of 
 the Nazarene having entered Jerusalem, riding 
 upon an ass, is no proof whatever of his being 
 the Messiah whoishere promised. Knowing well, 
 as he did, this prophecy of Zechariah, he acted 
 in such a way as to fulfil it. This is clearly 
 proved by the very words in which the ‘ New 
 Testament’ speaks of the circumstance. ‘“‘ All 
 this was done that it might be fulfilled which 
 was spoken by the prophet, saying, Tell ye the 
 daughter of Sion, behold thy king cometh unto 
 thee, meek, and sitting upon an ass, and a colt, 
 the foal of an ass.” 
 
 The Nazarene, founding his authority on 
 the prophecies of the Bible, had them con- 
 stantly in view, and accomplished them so 
 far as lay in his power. But, if his mis- 
 sion were truly divine, the other events by 
 which, as it had been predicted, the advent of 
 the Messiah would be signalised, and which 
 could only be brought about by Divine agency, 
 ought also to have come to pass at his ap- 
 pearance. Now, did they come to pass? 
 
 No, they did not ; for the prophet, Zechariah, 
 
152 SERMON XI. 
 
 continues: ‘‘ And I will cut off the chariot from 
 Ephraim, and the horse from Jerusalem, and the 
 battle bow shall be cut off; and he shall speak 
 peace unto the nations; and his dominion 
 shall be from sea to sea, and from the river 
 even to the ends of the earth.” (Verse Io). 
 Zechariah here enunciates the prediction in 
 which all the Messianic prophets agree; namely, 
 that at the advent of the Redeemer warfare 
 shall cease and peace be established throughout 
 the earth, that Israel shall be gathered into 
 the Promised Land, and the Messiah rule 
 over them. Need I ask whether any of these 
 predictions have as yet been fulfilled? None but 
 that comparatively insignificant fact—the entry 
 into Jerusalem, riding upon an ass. But 
 how many thousands have, both before and 
 since, entered the Holy City in this man- 
 ner? The unimportant fact of his entry 
 upon an ass cannot have been mentioned here 
 as an event by which the mission of the Mes- 
 siah was to be authenticated, but simply as an 
 illustration of his meekness, humility, and 
 peacefulness. Though victorious* he will not 
 
 
 
 * This is the correct rendering of )¥1), literally ‘ helped ’ 
 (by God), zot * having salvation,’ 
 
SERMON XI. 153 
 
 
 
 exult in his power; he will not enter Jerusalem 
 in a triumphant procession, mounted on a 
 prancing war-steed, but like the lowliest of his 
 subjects—riding on a humble ass. 
 
 Turn to the fourteenth chapter of the same 
 prophet, and you will find the events which are to 
 occur at the coming of the Messiah, more cir- 
 cumstantially detailed. We are there told that 
 many hostile nations shall war against Judea. 
 These campaigns will entail great misery and 
 suffering upon the nation; they are Mwb “an* 
 the throes and struggles which will herald the 
 appearance of the Messiah. But, in the end, 
 the nations will be compelled to lay down their 
 arms, and ‘“‘all the families of the earth shall come 
 unto Jerusalem to worship the King, the Lord of 
 Hosts.” Then shall the dominion of the Al- 
 mighty God be established upon earth, the 
 dominion of Wisdom, Goodness, Justice, and 
 Truth. Then shall iniquity be dumb, and all 
 wickedness pass away as smoke; then shall 
 the dominion of sin be removed from the earth. 
 There shall be no more heathenism, pantheism, 
 or atheism; no more slavery, intolerance, or 
 despotism. 
 
 
 
 * Sanhedrin p. 98, 
 
154 SERMON XI. 
 
 “The Eternal shall be King over all the earth; 
 in that day the Eternal shall be One and His 
 name One.*” The belief inthe Unity of God shall 
 be the governing principles of all hearts; all 
 conflicting creeds shall cease, and the animosity 
 and hatred that spring therefrom shall be at 
 anend. All men shall feel and consider them- 
 selves as brethren, and think and act as 
 such. One language shall be spoken, the lan- 
 guage of truth, mercy, and love. All nations 
 shall come, as our poet sings), ‘“‘to serve 
 Thee, to praise Thy glorious name. ‘Their 
 idols they shall throw away, and blush for the 
 gods they had made. All shall worship Thee 
 with one accord, and acknowledge the power of 
 Thy kingdom.” 
 
 You see, then, brethren, how entirely ouridea 
 ofa Messiah differs from that entertained by Chris- 
 tians. The latter believe the mission of a Messiah 
 to consist in delivering mankind from the conse- 
 quences of their hereditary guilt, and in obtain- 
 ing atonement for the sins that had been com- 
 mitted by them. Judaism teaches us that in 
 
 * Zech, Sav. 9. 
 
 § In the hymn sung in the Mussat services on New Year 
 and the Day of Atonement, J72y2 52 pnt" 
 
SERMON XI. 155 
 
 the days of the Messiah, mankind shall be re- 
 deemed from ignorance, error, and injustice, 
 and the one God universally acknowledged 
 and adored. 
 
 Christian theologians have often attempted 
 to prove the superiority of their conception of the 
 Messiah, by asserting that according to Jewish 
 teachings, the blessings with whichthe Messianic 
 days will be fraught, are intended for Israel alone. 
 Such statements, however, are utterly errone- 
 ous, and, to prove this, I need only quote one 
 authority—our great teacher Moses Maimo- 
 nides* :— 
 
 ‘The sages and the prophets of old did not 
 pray and long for the Messianic days in order 
 that they might enjoy temporal power and 
 earthly delights, that they might be exalted by 
 tue, Gentiles, and. rule, over \thent..). They 
 yearned for the advent of that time on account 
 of the spiritual joys which they knew would 
 then be vouchsafed to them, and the universal 
 intelligence which would then be spread over 
 the earth. Inthose days, there will be no 
 famine, no war, no envy, no hatred. The all- 
 
 * Maim Hilchoth Melachim, c. xii, 4, 5. 
 
156 SERMON XI. 
 
 
 
 engrossing aim of mankind will be to know the 
 Lord.” 
 
 Even as we see the vivifying influence 
 of spring making itself felt throughout crea- 
 tion, as well in the lofty mountains, as in 
 the lowly dells, invading the most hidden spots, 
 penetrating the roughest rocks, repeating the 
 miracle of the blossoming of Aaron’s rod on 
 myriads and myriads of branches, and spread- 
 ing beauty and fragrance amidst the dwellings 
 of man, thus will the influence of this spring- 
 tide of humanity be felt throughout the world. 
 
 Two sayings of our sages enunciateé this grand 
 and sublime truth in apt words. We read{: 
 29 ADIN WaPNy oowvy Any mp yw 
 
 nis2pen 73) DNA 
 
 “The time will come when Jerusalem will 
 contain within herself all nations and king- 
 doms.” You ask, how is it possible that so 
 small a city shall contain all those multitudes ? 
 Another passage from the Midrash answers 
 this question: 
 
 Dap Moy nam nym Sew? pas any 
 [Y DY MYAD osTAy Dow yw) my 
 ‘DUD 
 
 
 
 * Abot de R. Nathan, c. 35. 
 
SERMON XI. 157 
 
 The time will come when Jerusalem will com- 
 prise the whole of Palestine, and when the 
 boundaries of Palestine will be extended farther 
 on the east and the west, the north and the 
 south.”* Yes, brethren, inthe days of the 
 Messiah, when the worship of One God shall 
 have become the religion of the world, the 
 whole of Palestine shall be a Temple, the 
 whole earth a Holy Land. 
 
 My dear brethren! With the exposition of 
 the verse 1n Zechariah, my course of lectures 
 comes to an end. I cannot conclude without 
 saying, how highly I prize the absorbed interest 
 you have evinced in the subject of my addresses, 
 and how heartily I appreciate the attention with 
 which you have followed expositions, which I 
 feared were almost too abstruse for pulpit in- 
 struction. 
 
 Let me express the fervent hope that I have suc- 
 ceeded in furnishing you with strong weapons to 
 defend the citadel of our faith against all assaults 
 from without. I say to defend—for nothing could 
 
 
 
 * Sifri on Deut. i. 1. The two passages quoted above 
 are no doubt those to which the late M. Munk so happily 
 alludes in his famous Introductory Lecture, delivered at the 
 University of Paris, 
 
158 SERMON X1. 
 
 be further from my thoughts than to attack the re- 
 ligious convictions of those who conscientiously 
 differ from us in creed. 
 
 And I shall also truly rejoice if I have in 
 some measure guided you to admire the won- 
 drous consistency which pervades all the pre- 
 dictions relative to the advent of our Messiah. 
 Let us trustfully look forward to his speedy 
 coming; let us fervently pray that the blessings 
 of the Messianic days may be soon realized. 
 
 os aya Nb) ye ney yin? tim iy 9 
 soo NO-N2) Na '9 > nan mpm 
 
 ‘- For the vision is for an appointed time, but at 
 the end it shall speak and not le: though it 
 tarry, wait for it; because it will surely come 
 and not delay.’’* 
 
 Be assured, it is to this glorious consum- 
 mation that all the events in the history of 
 the world are tending; though we may not 
 always readily perceive that such is their 
 end. Wherein else did the mission of both 
 Christianity and Mahomedanism consist (not- 
 withstanding their admixture of error) than 
 
 * Habbakuk ii. 3. 
 
SERMON XI. 159 
 
 to teach the worship of one God to a heathen 
 world, and to promulgate the pure and lofty 
 doctrines of the Bible? . Two of the greatest 
 and most philosophical minds of our nation, 
 R. Judah Hallevi* and Maimonides have declared 
 this truth. The remarks of the latter are espe- 
 cially worthy of note. Hesays that ‘‘the histo- 
 rical mission of these two religions consists in 
 paving the way for the coming of the King 
 Messiah, when all will worship the Lord with 
 one accord. For, by means of those two reli- 
 gions, the predictions relative to the Messiah, and 
 the Law and its precepts, have been diffused 
 throughout the world, and have penetrated to 
 distant isles.’’§ 
 
 But, upon us, the children of Israel, 
 devolves the supreme duty, and to us belongs 
 the great privilege to hasten the approach 
 of the Messianic days, by cleaving heart 
 and soul to the dictates of our religion; by 
 
 * Kusari iv. 23 . 
 moinon mwnd mown vyyn on now nbs 
 § Hilcloth Melachim ix 4.ed. Amsterdam. 
 929 TD WV. A nN ays MBN T9B9 FT wd 
 sat) mins nw maa Mw oan Sy xbpns 
 POTD OMNA YX ODT OW! Nyon 
 
160 SERMON XI. 
 
 showing forth to the whole world its gran- 
 deur, its truth, its ennobling influence! It is 
 related in the Talmud,* that a sage once 
 asked ‘‘ When, when, will the Messiah come ?”’ 
 “This day!” ‘was the reply he received. 
 “This day ?”’ he asked in surprise. ‘‘ There 
 is nought to indicate his coming.” Yes 
 won dips Dx oYn “This day, if ye will 
 hearken to God’s voice.”§ Our redemption 
 will come on the day, at the hour, when we 
 shall have rendered ourselves worthy of it, 
 by our obedience NOM 27M PN) pypA 7D 
 OD OwWys) Mawr xox The time when the 
 Divine promise will be fulfilled, depends upon 
 our sincere penitence and good works ; upon our 
 steadfast adherence to, and faithful observance 
 of the precepts of the Lord.|| 
 
 Grant, O Lord, that we may speedily become 
 worthy of thy salvation! Grant, oh grant that 
 the spring-time of the world may soon ap- 
 proach.** Then will the winter have passed away 
 
 * Sanhedrin, p. 98 cf. ibid MNYD it NO MW IDt 
 § Psalm xcv. 7. || Sanhedrin, p. 97. 
 %** Shir Hashirim Rabba and Pesikta 11 8. 
 
 > abn aon own myyan mao or ay wnDN AI 5 
 many ow mobo sw moot pan yun worn ny aywn 
 
SERMON XI. 161 
 Es SE ED, Ee 
 
 —the winter of false belief; the rain will be 
 over and gone—the chilling blasts of intolerance 
 and persecution. The flowers will appear on the 
 earth—the flowers of universal peace—love and 
 justice. The time of song will have arrived, the 
 song of regenerated mankind, when the kingdom 
 of Heaven shall be revealed. The voice of the 
 turtle-dove will be heard in the land—the voice 
 of the King Messiah, “the voice of him who 
 bringeth good tidings, who publisheth peace, 
 who publisheth salvation, who saith unto Zion, 
 Thy God reigneth.”” Amen. 
 
 Ne MM eA SO ey 
 maaan mwnn yo vray sen Sip wsya83 yows ann Sip 
 37 oan Sy 2 TD WIN) 
 
 M 
 
SE hk MON) 2001 
 THE ETERNITY OF THE HOLY LAW. 
 
 (PREACHED ON THE FIRST DAY OF PENTECOST, 
 5628). 
 T¥T WW3T 52 NPY TP NI NIP rnin dip 
 ‘2 py Sar oyn way: nin prys isp bs) 
 533 Wh v3) sD yn JON i maw) TN 
 : Dod opr mds won yy 
 ‘““A voice said, Preach. And I said, What shall I 
 preach? All flesh is grass, and all the goodli- 
 ness thereof is as the flower of the field. The 
 grass withereth, the flower fadeth, because the 
 spirit of the Lord bloweth upon it: surely the 
 people is grass. The grass withereth, the 
 flower fadeth, but the word of our God shall stand 
 for ever.” (Isaiah xl. 6—8). 
 My dear brethren, In these words of match- 
 less sublimity, Isaiah announces that great and 
 
SERMON XII. 163 
 =, EES SS Ne Oe 
 
 important principle of our faith, the immu- 
 tability and eternity of our Law. “The grass 
 withereth, the flower fadeth, but the word of 
 our God shall stand for ever.” These lovely 
 flowers—smiles, as they are, of God’s goodness— 
 these jewels of nature, with whose wealth she 
 decks her vernal beauty, and with which we 
 adorn our houses of worship on this festival, to 
 waken in us feelings of gratitude to the bene- 
 ficent Creator—these flowers that now delight 
 us with their fair tints, their varied hues, their 
 delicious fragrance—how soon will they wither 
 and fade! But that infinite world of moral 
 beauty and Divine harmony, which Revelation 
 discloses, possesses the same freshness, the 
 Same vigour now, as on the day when the 
 Lord first vouchsafed us that Revelation three 
 thousand five hundred years ago. And it will 
 retain that freshness and vigour even until the 
 end of time. 
 
 inane avsbiyd try ony aby by any gb 
 “God will never alter His Law, nor change it for 
 
 another.” No new dispensation has ever, can 
 ever, come to supersede or abrogate the law 
 
 given on Sinai, “pbiyd Dip" wT oN aM for 
 
 “the word of our God shall stand for ever.” 
 
164 SERMON XII. 
 
 
 
 Be it my task on this festival morning to 
 prove to you the truth of this great principle of 
 our faith. I shall do so in two ways:—First, by 
 the comparison of the concurrent testimony of 
 many writers in Holy Scripture; and, secondly, 
 by the consideration of the nature of Revelation 
 itself. 
 
 There are some who assert that the precepts 
 of the law were intended to be binding only so 
 long as Israel dwelt in the Holy Land. To 
 show you how untenable this proposition is, I 
 need but mention that many of the behests of 
 
 the Pentateuch are enjoined to be poy npn 
 each “‘a statute for ever.” They are to be kept 
 pam “throughout your generations ”’ boa 
 DI MAW “in all your dwellings.” The only 
 laws that are not obligatory upon us at the pre- 
 sent day are those, the fulfilment of which is 
 intimately connected with the existence of the 
 Temple, and with our residence in the Holy 
 Land,* such as the offering of sacrifices, the 
 giving of tithes, the bringing of the first fruits. 
 All the other commandments are eternally bind- 
 
 
 
 PII) PID KON many pasa adn xmw my $9 + 
 (OD mown Xd 
 
SERMON XII. 165 
 
 
 
 ing upon us, at all times and in all our habi- 
 tations. And thus Maimonides teaches: * “It 
 is clearly set forth in the Torah, that the law is 
 to endure for ever, until the end of time,—that 
 it never will be changed, that nothing will ever 
 be added to, or taken from it, as it is saidy: 
 ‘What is revealed belongs unto us and to our 
 children for ever, that we may do all the words 
 of this law.’”’ 
 
 In strict conformity with this doctrine, all the 
 prophets, who predict the future redemption of 
 Israel, announce that the law of Sinai is to be 
 carried out in its integrity at the time of that 
 redemption. Ezekiel foretells, in the last eight 
 chapters of his book, the building of the third 
 Temple; and his description of the Divine 
 service that will be performed there, is in minute 
 accordance with the Mosaic precepts. He 
 speaks of Sabbaths, days of new moon and fes- 
 tivals, the years of release and of jubilee. So 
 Malachi, the last of the prophets, exhorts the 
 nation in his parting words: ‘‘ Remember ye 
 the law of Moses my servant, which I have 
 commanded him in Horeb for all Israel, the 
 statutes and the ordinances.”’’ || 
 
 * Hilchoth Jesode Ha-torah ix. r. 
 § Deut. xxix. 29 || Malachi iv. 4, 
 
166 SERMON XII. 
 
 There is a verse, however, in the Book of 
 Jeremiah, which seems inconsistent with this 
 doctrine. It is as follows:* D832 BY AIM 
 aT 2 my) Pty) na me 1 7 Dt 
 men Megat Behold the days come, saith the 
 Lord, that I will make a new covenant with 
 the house of Israel, and the house of Judah.” 
 Theologians of another faith contend that what 
 the prophet here predicts is the revelation of a 
 new law by the author of their religion. But 
 their mistake will at once become apparent if 
 you examine the words that follow, in which 
 Jeremiah clearly explains the meaning of his 
 prophecy—“‘ Not according to the covenant that 
 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 my covenant they brake . 
 
 soos Syniy nya my mda wg nan mNT 9 
 by DIPS MA My AN) TN] OT Op! 
 : MIAMI nab 
 
 But this shall be the covenant, that I will make 
 with the house of Israel: After those days, saith 
 the Lord, I will put my law in their inward 
 parts, and write it in their hearts.” 
 
 ‘ME Bo 
 
SERMON XII. 167 
 
 Precious lessons, brethren, are often commu- 
 nicated to us—lessons, in the truth and value 
 of which we believe; yet they fail to exercise 
 any beneficial influence upon our lives. This is 
 caused by our listening to them merely with 
 the outer ear; they are allowed to flit across the 
 brain, without making any distinct and vivid 
 impression upon our thoughts. If these truths 
 are indeed to influence our lives, and shape our 
 conduct henceforth, they must be thought out 
 by us. We must listen to them with the 
 inner ear of our intelligence, we must make 
 them our own, and endeavour to extirpate 
 all the long cherished feelings, the lingering 
 prejudices within us, which are opposed to their 
 reception. 
 
 Our forefathers had heard the greatest truths, 
 the most precious lessons, that were ever com- 
 municated to man. God was their teacher. 
 And yet alas! soon after the Divine Revelation 
 had been vouchsafed to them, they forgot the 
 Lord and violated his commands. ‘‘ They 
 made a calf in Horeb, and worshipped the 
 golden image.” The heavenly lessons had not 
 penetrated and transfused their being; the evil 
 imagination of their hearts had not yet been obli- 
 terated; the ancient vices and failings had not yet 
 
168 SERMON XII. 
 
 been destroyed. And this continued throughout 
 the nation’s history. Here, however, the prophet 
 announces the time when God’s law will become 
 a truth and a reality in the lives of men: “I 
 will put my law in their inward parts, and write 
 it in their hearts.” God will not give His people 
 a new law, but He will awaken within them 
 a new love for, a new devotion to His ancient 
 law—TVM ‘my Torah,’—so that they shall 
 never more transgress it. Its behests_ will 
 be firmly impressed upon the nation’s mind. 
 The commandments will not be written upon 
 tablets of stone, which are liable to break, and 
 which were broken, but upon the tablets of the 
 human heart, so that He will be our God and 
 Israel His people.* 
 
 Thus, also, Isaiah announces,$ “‘’The ' Re- 
 deemer shall come to Zion”; but the Redeemer 
 is not to abrogate the law of Sinai. No, the 
 
 * The verse (Hosea ti. 11) “ And I will cause all her 
 mirth to cease, her feast days, her new moons and her Sab- 
 baths, and all her solemn festivals,”’ alludes only to the desola- 
 tion consequent upen the destruction of the Temple; that 
 their solemnization was never to be abolished is clear from 
 the frequent mention of them in connection with the advent of 
 the Messiah, Cf. Isaiah Ixvi. 23, Zechariah xiv. 16. 
 
 § lix. 20, 23. 
 
SERMON XII. 169 
 
 words are at once added, “‘ As for me, this is my 
 covenant with them. My spirit that is upon 
 thee, and my words which I have put into thy 
 mouth shall not depart out of thy mouth, nor 
 out of the mouth of thy offspring ... . saith 
 the Lord from henceforth and for ever.”’ 
 
 The conviction of the immutability and 
 eternity of the law comes home with greater 
 force to our hearts when we consider who was its 
 author. All the greatest and wisest legislators 
 of every time and country were possessed of 
 human weaknesses, errors and prejudices ; they 
 were affected by the foibles and shortcomings 
 of the ages in which they lived, and these they 
 consciously or unconsciously communicated to 
 the laws of which they were the framers. 
 For this reason their systems of legisla- 
 tion had to be continually altered and mo- 
 dified, repealed and annulled, according to the 
 shifting conditions and the varying exigencies 
 and necessities of the people for whose use they 
 were framed. The famous Athenian legislator, 
 Solon, who by his wise measures restored a 
 state that was rent by civil commotions to 
 peace and prosperity, could not venture to exact 
 a promise from his people, that they would ob- 
 serve his enactments for a longer period than 
 
170 SERMON XII. 
 
 ten years. But the law of the Bible is the 
 ‘word of our God,’ the most perfect Being, in 
 whom Wisdom, Power, and Will are combined 
 in the highest perfection, who has _ been 
 from everlasting, ‘ before the mountains were 
 brought forth, before the earth and the world 
 had been formed ’—the God to whom all times 
 and events are open and revealed, the Eye of 
 the Universe who knows what will be as certainly 
 as he knows what was and 7s; and therefore the 
 word He has spoken must be perfect, adapted 
 to all ages, eternal, immutable. Everything 
 changes upon earth; empires and states rise 
 and fall; arts and sciences, inventions and 
 discoveries, spring up, attain a certain degree 
 of importance, and fall again into desuetude and 
 oblivion ; children destroy what their fathers 
 had thought worthy of eternal duration; 
 there is nothing fixed in things here below, 
 but that very inconstancy which incessantly 
 agitates them; yet amid all the changes of 
 times and ages, the law of God remains, for 
 ever, the immutable rule of all times and ages 
 Dviy> map ay I “The word of. our 
 God shall stand for ever.” 
 
 How then dare Christianity assert, . that 
 a purer and more elevated morality than 
 
SERMON XII. 13x 
 
 that contained in the Bible was _ preached 
 by its founder? The word of God could not 
 have been imperfect or incomplete so as 
 to require either correction or development. 
 Where the so-called ‘ new dispensation’ agrees 
 with the Bible, it must be needless repeti- 
 tion; where it differs from it, it must be un- 
 trustworthy and fallacious.* I hope to prove 
 to you the truth of this proposition in greater 
 detail on a future occasion. 
 
 But this day let me beseech you, brethren, to 
 devote yourselves with renewed love, and re- 
 newed zeal to the observance of our ancient 
 law. 
 by pin sve sis aw nbyn oa wy 
 
 : 7332 
 ‘“‘And these words which I command thee this 
 day shall be upon thine heart.” , 
 DIN PRY Ie" NII. ‘TPIya Vn NOW 
 mmsep> ov Sony mytna xbsx nai 
 ‘They shall not be in your eyes like an ancient 
 enactment, which has fallen into abeyance, and 
 which no one regards; they shall be like a new 
 
 * Vide Rabbi E. Benamozegh’s ¢ Morale Juive et morale 
 Chretienne,’ where this argument is discussed in all its bear- 
 ings, 
 
172 SERMON XII. 
 
 
 
 proclamation, just issued, which every one 
 hastens to read and to obey.’’* 
 
 Ah, brethren, amid the fair bowers and the 
 unshaded glory .of Paradise, Adam needed to 
 hear his Father’s voice to keep him from sin; 
 how much more do we, who are so apt to go 
 astray in this world whichis fraught with temp- 
 tations to evil—how much more do we need to 
 listen to His voice, to obey His teachings! Oh, 
 that His lessons of piety and virtue may become 
 a second nature within us, embodied in our 
 whole system of thought ! 
 
 Am I demanding too much from you? My 
 friends, the ancient Greeks had one sentence 
 which they believed to have descended from 
 heaven—that excellent maxim, ‘ know thyself’ ; 
 and, to evince their gratitude and veneration 
 for this gift, they caused it to be engraved 
 in letters of gold on the temple they held 
 most sacred. We, more favoured than they, 
 have not one sentence, but one book,—the 
 Book of books—which in very truth has de- 
 scended from heaven to us. How deeply then 
 should its words be impressed upon the heart and 
 
 
 
 * Deut. vi. 6, and Sifri ad locum. 
 
SERMON XII. 173 
 
 mind ofevery man! Howheartily should we strive 
 to do according to all that is written therein! 
 How prayerfully should we lift up our eyes to 
 God and resolve with heart and soul, 
 
 Thy commandment all alone shall live 
 Within the book and volume of my brain.* 
 
 But, alas! if we look from what should 
 be to what 1s, how sad and disheartening a 
 spectacle meets our view. Unto many, many 
 of us, this—the handbook of the civilized world 
 —remains “‘a garden enclosed, a spring shut up, 
 a fountain sealed.” We see our sons and 
 daughters enjoying the advantages of a so- 
 called liberal education NNW APA HAI ANN 
 but the Torah alone lies neglected, forsaken.§ 
 Parents provide their children with instruc- 
 tion in numerous languages, but they except 
 the sacred one—the language in which God 
 speaks to us, and in which we speak to God. 
 We see our children well versed in the know- 
 ledge of art and science, skilled in every worldly 
 accomplishment, but they lack that which is 
 better, nobler than any art or science, that 
 which is a greater ornament than any accomp- 
 lishment—the knowledge of God’s word. 
 
 * Shakespeare. § Kiddushin p. 66. 
 
174 SERMON XII. 
 
 I beseech you on this great festival to renew 
 the Covenant with God. Exclaim as your fore- 
 fathers did* Yow) nya ‘maT ws 5 «Al 
 that the Lord has said we will do and hear.” 
 Theory and practice, study and action, know- 
 ledge and performance, must go hand in hand. 
 myn We7 py AY « Be diligent in study- 
 ing the Law.” Study it in the same holy lan- 
 guage in which the Lord revealed it unto us. I 
 cannot too strongly impress upon youthe fact that 
 a thorough knowledge of the sacred text is the 
 trustiest weapon to disarm the attacks of the se- 
 ducer, who would shake your belief. Study our 
 Law by the help of the light shed upon it by our 
 sages and commentators, those great and wise 
 men who devoted their lives to the exposition 
 ofthe Torah. Try to gain some knowledge of 
 our wondrous literature, which, varied as it is, 
 springs from, and revolves in wider or narrower 
 circles around, one immutable centre — the 
 Bible. 
 
 Fathers, listen to the exhortation of our 
 sages: ‘‘ He who withholds instruction from his 
 child, robs him, as it were, of the inheritance 
 
 * Exodus xxiv. 7. 
 
SERMON XII. 175 
 ae ey NAMI Hi el NN Be tee 
 of his ancestors ”—the inheritance consecrated 
 by the tears and hearts’ blood of his ancestors. 
 
 Mothers, we hear much spoken nowadays 
 of the rights and privileges of women. Let me 
 beg you to consider it your noblest privilege, 
 your most precious right, to train your children 
 ‘in the fear of God. PNA YT ONDA ws 
 NSAY*I5 aly W1"J2 ‘Wherein does the merit 
 of the women of Israel consist? In causing 
 their children to learn the word of God early 
 in life.’* And in truth, the piety of all future 
 generations depends upon the early instruction 
 which the child receives. Mothers, you love 
 your children; you pray for their happiness 
 daily, hourly. Remember, that surround them 
 as you may with all the luxuries that wealth can 
 purchase, with all the pleasures your loving 
 care may provide, yet they will not be truly 
 happy unless their minds have been imbued 
 with the sacred lessons of religion, and unless 
 they practise them in their lives. 
 
 Let us, then, all give to the world the ex- 
 ample of unqualified obedience, unwavering 
 attachment, to God’s Law. Let us go forth 
 
 
 
 Se ee ee 
 
 * Berachoth 17. 
 
176 SERMON XII. 
 
 full of trust and confidence to await the time 
 when the Law of Sinai shall burst upon the 
 world in all its divine, enlightening, irradiating 
 glory; when the whole of mankind shall acknow- 
 ledge its excellence ; when the glory of the Lord 
 shall again be revealed, and when all the people 
 of the earth, whom He loveth, shall le down 
 at His feet, and every one shall obey His 
 eternal, immutable Law. Amen! 
 
 P. Vallentine, Printer, 34, Alfred Street, Bedford Square. 
 
INDEX 
 
 Book 
 Genesis 
 »» 
 » 
 Numbers 
 Deuteronomy 
 
 P] 
 
 Isaiah 
 
 Jeremiah 
 3.9 
 Hosea 
 99 
 
 Micah 
 
 o>» 
 
 Zechariah 
 ” 
 Psalms 
 
 ] » 
 
 ? 
 Proverbs 
 Ecclesiastes 
 Daniel 
 
 2 
 
 OF BIBLE-TEXTS EXPLAINED IN 
 
 THE SERMONS. 
 
 Chapter Verse 
 
 I z 
 
 syle 26 
 
 x 49 
 XXIV 17-19 
 VI 4 
 XVIII 15 
 II 2-4 
 
 VI © 
 VII 14 
 
 | B.¢ 6-7 
 
 ».4 Gee, I-9 
 XL 6-8 
 
 5 SVD. . 16 
 
 vIn S, 
 LIE +. ie! 
 
 p.&.S 4) ae P 6 
 De GG as ;, ch 
 Ts ; EI 
 XI I 
 IV I=4 
 V I 
 IX 9 
 XII Io 
 I} 
 XXII 
 cx 
 be. @ 4 
 V 12 
 VII I%-14 
 1X 24-27 
 
 Page 
 4-7 
 7-8 
 10-13 
 144-146 
 9 
 50-54 
 138-144 
 8-9 
 16-19 
 19-25 
 127-137 
 162-176 
 93-94 
 
 ‘ 25-45 
 
 17 
 166-168 
 168 
 64-65 
 138-144 
 146-149 
 I50 
 55-59 
 61-70 
 70-76 
 77-90 
 94-96 
 91-93 
 97-102 
 
 TO4-122 
 
Preparing for publication, 
 
 BY THE SAME AUTHOR, 
 
 THE PRINCIPLES OF THE JEWISH RELIGION, 
 
 A TEXT«BOOK FOR HOMES AND SCHOOLS. 
 

 

 
 
 

 

 
Set Be Wee Ge 
 
 oe. « 
 
 
 

 
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