BEING A DEFENCE OF JUDAISM AGAINST ALL ADVERSARIES, AND PARTICULARLY AGAINST THE

INSIDIOUS ATTACKS OF

ISRAEL'S ADVOCATE.

הנה עיני אדני ה' בממלכה החטאה והשמדתי אתה מעל פני האדמה:

"Behold, the eyes of the Lord GOD are upon the kingdom of sin, and I will destroy it from off the face of the earth."-Amos ix. 8.

Vol. I.

1st day of the 10th month, TYVATH, Dec. 5584. No. 10.

THE above is from Amos. The prophet speaks of the same kingdom as Daniel repeatedly treats of the fifth empire the clay and iron kingdom-the kingdom of the horns of the beast, or the kingdom sprung out of the Roman empire;-in one word, of the reign ecclesiastical called ......endom. This reign or order of things, is, by the Spirit, called the reign or kingdom of Sin, or, as the bible has translated it, "The sinful kingdom," this is to be destroyed; and the prophet immediately assigns the only reason-" Only because I will not permit the utter destruction of the house of Jacob, saith the Lord." This kingdom, were it permitted to exist, would, by what they call evangelizing and converting the Jews, cause an amalgamation, and utter destruction of the house of Jacob; therefore retributive justice demands that itself should be destroyed. Immediately after the destruction of this wicked kingdom, the restoration of Israel and Judea is to take place, as the prophet continues, verse 9th.

"For lo, I will command, and I will sift the house of Israel among all nations, as corn is sifted in a sieve, yet shall not the least grain fall upon the earth."

When all the Jews who have apostatized from the Jewish faith, will be slain by the sword, as it is written, verse 10.

"All the sinners of my people shall die by the sword, which say,

The evil shall not overtake nor prevent us."

Then will the Messiah come, as it is written, verses 11, 12.

"In that day will I raise up the tabernacle of David that is fallen, and close up the breaches thereof; and I will raise up his ruins, and I will build it as in days of old: that they may possess the remnant of Edom, and of all the heathen because they are called by my name, saith the Lord that doeth this."

Then will be the time of general blessedness throughout the world, as is written, verses 13, 14, 15.

"Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that the ploughman shall overtake the reaper, and the treader of grapes him that soweth seed: and the mountains shall drop sweet wine, and all the hills shall melt. And I will bring again the captivity of my people of Israel, and they shall build the waste cities, and inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards, and drink the wine thereof; they shall also make gardens, and eat the fruit of them. And I will plant them upon their land, and they shall no more be pulled up out of their land which I have given them, saith the Lord thy God."

Thus much we thought necessary to explain, to justify our application of the motto chosen for this Number; for we would not have it for a moment thought that we accommodate a motto, or in other words, at any time apply scripture otherwise than intended by the Holy Spirit.

We now proceed to the proper lucubrations of our present Number.

In that tract or part of the New Testament said to have been written by a Jew, whom ......ians call St. Matthew, we find certain information, said by the writer, to have been given to Herod by "all the Chief Priests, and Scribes of the people."-Matt. ii. 1—6.

"Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, in the days of Herod the king, behold there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem, saying, Where is he that is born king of the Jews? for we have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship him. When Herod the king had heard these things, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him. And when he had gathered all the chief priests and scribes of the people together, he demanded of them where Christ should be born. And they said unto him, In Bethlehem of Judea for thus it is written by the prophet, And thou Bethlehem, in the land of Juda, art not the least among the princes

of Juda: for out of thee shall come a Governor, that shall rule my people Israel."

Remember, it is Matthew makes use of the language, All the Chief Priests; it is Matthew, makes use of the language, Scribes of the People. The Chief Priest, means the High Priest; he was the only Chief Priest: it is true, there were chiefs among the Priests, as there were among the Levites, or amongst the Israelites; that is heads of families; these were called Chiefs of the Fathers, Chiefs of the Priests, Chiefs of the Levites; but, there was but one Chief Priest, anchoen hagadul, or, choen hagadul myhachuv, one priest higher than his brethren; that is, as to the office, and as regarded the office of priest; he was the High Priest, the Chief Priest, and there never was really more than one at a time; the service requiring but one, and in regard to the authority, but one could be known or acknowledged at any time. There was certainly, among the priests, head-men under whom the rest served in their proper courses, every course, having its peculiar head; but this head, as regarded the priesthood, had no more right, privilege, or immunity, than the rest of his course, who were under him; they were all Priests alike; and those heads of courses were called chiefs, and their authority among the priests, was no more than the Chiefs of the fathers among the Israelites. Politically, they were the same; generally, they were chiefs by descent; and that being the case, we need not particularly look for more knowledge among the chiefs, than among those priests who were not chiefs, or heads; for it is well known, knowledge is not gained by descent: at all events, these were not Chief Priests; these were the chiefs of the priests, there was but one Chief Priest, and the writer of the book of Matthew, if a Jew, would, and must have known this.

Scribes of the people-What kind of scribes were these? I am acquainted with D sophrem, scribes; and we read of their being as they are at this day, scribes of the words of the commandments of the Lord, and his statutes to Israel, that is writers, transcribers of the laws, &c. They are also called scribes of the law, but those spoken of by the writer of the book of St. Matthew, were scribes of the people; who they were, and what they were, Jews cannot say; for there never was any scribes among us, so called, any more than au order of priests, called Chief Priests: there might have been such scribes, and such priests, among the Grecians, but never

among the Jews; however, it appears that this king Herod gathered all these Chief Priests and Scribes of the people together. Who was this Herod? was this he who murdered all the house of the Chasmanai, the descendants of the Machabi? was this the Herod who filled Jerusalem with blood and rapine? Was this that Idumean slave? Was this the cruel bloody son of Antipater? The writer of St. Matthew says, that he was troubled," and all Jerusalem with him." If this was he, he must have been an old man by this time; he must have been nearly or about 70 years of age, according to their own chronology! And was this old man troubled at the birth of a child, lest (I suppose) this baby should take his kingdom from him? What a man not less than 60, but probably more than 70 years of age, troubled at the birth of a baby! This is a strange conceit, to say no more of it. "And all Jerusalem with him!" so that not only was King Herod, this haughty, wicked, cruel bloody, tyrannic slave, troubled, but all Jerusalem was troubled also. At what? at the birth of a child! whom, we are told, they wished for, looked for, longed for, prayed for; who, they expected, would deliver them from the trouble, oppression and misery they then suffered, from the cruel bondage they then endured, from the political slavery, dependence, and ignominy of being subject to strangers, from being tributary to the heathens; who was expected to be the restorer of the kingdom of David, who is emphatically called, the Lord whom ye seek; who was to raise them to a pinnacle of glory exceeding any thing, ever conceived by the heart of man; who was to conquer all their enemies, and subdue all the world; and finally, establish the kingdom of peace in all the earth, of which they were to be the rulers; and at the news of the birth of this child, who was to bring all this about, they were troubled! and troubled with Herod! lest all this should happen! Now is not this vastly strange, and unaccountable? Just as unaccountable, as to suppose, a besieged garrison, starving with hunger, would be troubled with, or on hearing the news, that relief was at hand. What next?

These wise men came to Jerusalem inquiring for the child, asking, "Where is he that is born king of the Jews?" as if saying, he that is now king, is not so born; we do not inqnire for him, but

we want to know where he is that is born king of the Jews, a king by birth, by descent, king by birthright, legitimate; the present king is not legetimate.

If they had been wise, they might have known Herod had murdered all the family of the former dynasty; and that, consequently, he was the most improper person to inquire of concerning the legitimate king; they ought to have been, by the writer of the book,sent privately to the enemies of Herod, to make the inquiry as to the birth-place of the Messiah; but, he sends them into Jerusalem, apparently running about like fools, inquiring for the child; and as a matter of course, gets them brought before Herod. I have no great objection to the story; it is good enough, ay, and natural enough; but he misnames them, wise men, he ought merely to have called them astrónomers-astronomers from the East, for wise they were not; they were, indeed, according to the run of the story, as astronomers usually are, and that is natural enough.

J

In consequence of all this, Herod collects ("gathered together") "all the chief priests and scribes of the people," and inquires of them, where the Messiah should be born. In what place must the messiah be born? this is Herod's question; what place must be honoured as the birth place of the Messiah? and these chief priests and scribes of the people, either not at all mistrusting the good intentions of the blood-thirsty Herod, or, as before said, being "troubled with Herod," that is, partaking of his trouble, and consequently wishing to rid themselves of this Messiah, give him the necessary information. "And they said unto him, in Bethlehem of Judea." Now this is very strange language to be used in Jerusalem; because Jerusalem is, or was, situated in Judea ; and supposing there was, another Bethlehem, in Gallilee, still being in Jerusalem, that is in Judea, it would have been sufficient to have said in Bethlehem. Bear in mind that the distance from Jerusalem to Bethlehem, is only about 6 or 7 miles, and the distinction of the tribes, as to Geography, was at this time done away. All was either Judea, or Gallilee; and that when Herod sent the wise men, verse 8th, "He sent them to Bethlehem, and said, Go, and search diligently for the young child; and when ye have found him, bring me word again, that I may come and worship him also.”

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