Again, in verse 16, is Bethlehem spoken of without any particular specification.

"Then Herod, when he saw that he was mocked of the wise men, was exceeding wroth, and sent forth, and slew all the children that were in Bethlehem, and in all the coasts thereof, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had diligently inquired of the wise men."

The question, therefore, lays with force, why here, are these chief priests and scribes of the people, made to be so very unnecessarily particular, as to describe the exact situation of the town of Bethlehem?

But the writer of the Book of St. Matthew, had a purpose to answer by making the priests and scribes say, in Bethlehem of Judea, and the purpose was this: he wanted again to pervert, and he makes use of these priests and scribes to introduce the perversion: for in making them give Herod the proof, the reason for the opinion, for the information they give him, he makes them say, "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." Consequently he must be born in Bethlehem.

Now what can I say to this? shall I tell these chief priests, these scribes of the people, this Saint Matthew, it is a ? it is too rude; shall I then call it, as I have done heretofore? I am even sick of that; still I must not mince the matter, as it will be well understood, let me call it au accommodation. Then, Gentlemen, priests, scribes, and saints, you accommodate, for it is not

ואתה בית לחם אפרתה צעיר להיות באלפי .so written by the prophet יהודה ממך לי יצא להיות מושל : .Original

But thou Bethlehem EPHRA- But thou Beth-lehem EPHRATAH, though thou be little TAH, WILT HAVE BEamong the thousands of Judah, COME small among the thouyet out of thee shall he come forth sands of Judah. From thee shall unto me that is to be ruler in Isra- he come forth unto ME to be el. Bible translation. the ruler in Israel, &c.

*

Literal translation.

As before, we have the Original, the literal translation of the Original, and the Bible translation; and, let me ask these priests.

* In No. 2.

scribes, and saints, where they, or either of them, find the words, in the land of Judah? the words which they so translate is Ephrata; and which the Bible translators have rendered Ephra tah, a family name of which king David was descended. How then, most worthy sirs, have you taken the liberty to put in the stead thereof, in the land of Juda; and which in that case, ought to have been thus written Byarats Yihuda? so that heregentlemen, excuse me for the liberty I take-you, some one of you, or some one else for you, has been guilty of accommodating; which you know, gentlemen, is the term as above agreed on between us, and I dare not, must not, and cannot use any harsher term. Again the words nnys sanger lehiyuth, which the Bible translators have rendered "Though thou be little," affirmative, and although I differ with them, because the original does, in the tense I put it, future, "wilt have become small;" still whence or how do you make it a negative? where is the negation? The translators of the bible could not find it, and they had the Latin version, the Greek septuagint, as it is called, and every other translation and version, that had been before them, to assist them. They certainly wished to bring it as near as possible to your accommodation; still they have been obliged to put it affirmative: "Though thou be little." The literal translation also is affirmative, but future," wilt have become small;" but ye, priests, scribes of the people, or saints, or you, sir, whoever you be, that wrote the book of Saint Matthew, how came you by "art not the least," a negative? is it not apparent therefore you are a violent accommodater? Again, myalfy among the thousands, you accommodatingly translate among the princes; but the only difference is, the letter, vauv, between the ↳ lamud, and » py, thus, in myalufy, but as it is 'x, myalfy; the bible translators have here rightly translated it among the thousands; had it been

myalfy, you would

have been correct; but it is so you are again wrong.

If the writer of this tract had been, as is pretended, a Jew fisherman, whose vernacular language was Hebrew, how could he possibly have made so many mistakes in his own mother tongue. A Greek might do this, but not a Jew.

The truth shines through this slimy veil. He is resolved to make the town of Bethlehem the birth-place of the Messiah at all events,

whatever may be the consequence, and therefore he throws away л Ephrata, and puts in the room thereof, "In the land of Juda," and renders Alfy, "Princes," against all rule, sound, and reason, for the purpose of confounding the real meaning of the prophet. But, if regard is paid to the context of the whole prophecy, and it is explained according thereto, it will appear that this "Thou Bethlehem, &c." is a part of a prophecy, and which prophecy is not yet entirely fulfilled. The prophecy, or sermon, for it is both, begins with the second chapter, the first verse, and ends with the last verse of the fifth chapter. I say it is a sermon of exhortation, as well as a prophecy, foretelling future events in a compendious manner, from his day to the restoration of Israel; and the coming of the Messiah consequently is but in part fulfilled, even to this very day. And, as the limits to which I am prescribed in this examination, will not allow the taking a full elucidation of the whole, I must content myself with considering that part in immediate connexion with the present subject of inquiry; at the same time preserving the context, and, if necessary, revert to what has been before said. I begin with the 10th verse of the 4th chapter of Micah.

"Be in pain, and labour to bring forth, O daughter of Zion, like a woman in travail; for now shalt thou go forth out of the city, and thou shalt dwell in the field, and thou shalt go even to Babylon. There shalt thou be delivered; there the Lord shall redeem thee from the hand of thy enemies."

The prophet addresses the Jewish nation, whom he calls the "Daughter of Zion." He tells her to be in pain, and labour to bring forth; for now thou shalt go out of the city. Now ye are to go forth into captivity, out of the city into the field, even unto Babylon; so that the prophet here prophecies of the Babylonish captivity, and for this reason he encourages them not to give up all hope, but to be in pain, and labour to bring forth; as a woman in her labour is encouraged by the matrons, who bid her help her pains, that is, try to increase and lengthen the pain, in order to bring forward the birth, the delivery; so here the prophet, likening the Jewish nation to a woman in child-birth, encourages her to be in pain, and labour to bring forth. "There shalt thou be delivered:" and the meaning of being delivered is, "There the Lord shall redeem thee from the hand of thine enemies." This I presume is

plain, and that the Jewish nation was redeemed from the hand of their enemies on their return to Jerusalem with Ezra, Nehemiah, Zerubabel, &c.; here the prophet then prophecied the return of the Jewish nation out of the captivity of Babylon. Futurity appears as present to the mind of the prophet, and he continues :

"Now also many nations are gathered against thee.”—“ Many nations."The Romans. Many nations indeed were with the Romans at the seige of Jerusalem! "Against thee." Against the Daughter of Zion-the Jewish nation-the real Daughter of Zion! "That say, Let her be defiled, and let our eye look upon Zion." The prophet, in a short compendious method, tells us what nations he has particularly in view; that say, Let her be defiled, let our eye look on Zion; let the Jewish nation be defiled, the Jews are rejected, and we Gentiles are chosen: she, the real daughter of Zion, is defiled, and we, the Gentiles, are the Church; we will look on Zion. "But they know not the thoughts of the Lord, neither understand they his counsel." The....ians of the present day say, the Jews are rejected, and they, the Gentiles, themselves chosen the real daughter of Zion, the Jews, are defiled, but they are cleansed; and that they, the Gentiles, know the thoughts of the Lord, which their New Testament has taught them. They understand his counsel, the eternal counsel of his holy will. This they pretend to understand, but the prophet Micah assures us "they know not the thoughts of the Lord, neither understand they his council." "For he shall gather them as sheaves into the floor;" that is, he shall gather the Gentiles, who say, the Daughter of Zion is defiled; who say, they will look upon Zion. These nations will be gathered as sheaves into the floor. And for what purpose will they be gathered? "Arise and thresh, O daughter of Zion, for I will make thine horn iron, and I will make thine hoofs brass, and thou shalt beat in pieces many people, and I will consecrate their gain unto the Lord, and their substance unto the God of the whole earth." Let them send missionaries; never mind their converting the heathen nations, as they call them; let the Bible and Tract Societies continue their labours; let them gain substance, (proselytes,) till the time that they will be gathered for the threshing; then I will consecrate their gain unto the Lord, and their substance unto the Lord of the whole earth. Not only their gain will be consecrated unto the Lord, the proselytes which they make by

their labour, by the means of their substance, but even their substance also, the real grain, the principal wheat, also will be consecrated to the Lord of the whole earth; so that here the prophet has brought us down beyond our own time, beyond the time we now live in, even to the time of the threshing, of which several of the other prophets have also spoken.

The prophet continues to deliver us his view of futurity, even stretched beyond our time, and as such we, not having any history to guide us, can only find the meaning by the understanding of vision, by the knowledge of the Holy: "for in the knowledge of the Holy Ones is understanding." He thus continues. "Gather thyself together in be hath laid seige against us. with a rod upon the cheek."

troops, O daughter of the troop!* They shall smite the judge of Israel

The prophet, or the spirit of prophecy, has hitherto addressed himself to the daughter of Zion. He now addresses himself to the daughter of the troop. The daughter of Zion is the Jewish nation or church (if they will so have it.) The daughter of the troop is the Gentile nations; the Gentile or ......ian church.

The spirit of prophecy speaks in the present tense," He hath laid siege," although the future was certainly intended, to show the certainty of the prediction. The siege here spoken of, is the siege of Jerusalem, under the direction of Gog, the leader of Rosh, Mashech, and Tubal, which is to take place previous to the coming of the Messiah, the son of David; at which time, and during which siege, "they shall smite the judge of Israel (not the Messiah) with a rod upon the cheek." This siege will be first, or the first part of it calamitous, for we are informed in another place, one half of the city will go into captivity, but the rest of the people will not be cut off from the city. The houses will be rifled, and the women ravished, and at this time will the judge of Israel be smit with a rod on the cheek. But after this, several of the prophets tell us, when Jerusalem is again taken as before said, and the army of the Jews will flee to the valley of the mountains, then the Lord will come, and all his saints or holy ones with him; then will the hea

* The original Hebrew is 17 Bath Gydud, Daughter of the Troop, alluding to their worshipping God as a troop; a plurality in unity. Note.-The plural form of the noun is p Gydudem, Troops.