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INTRODUCTION.

As a great deal is said in the New Testament about dreams, it is first necessary to explain the nature of a dream, and to show by what operation of the mind a dream is produced during sleep. When this is understood we shall be better enabled to judge whether any reliance can be placed upon them: and consequently, whether the several matters in the New Testament related of dreams deserve the credit which the writers of that book and priests and commentators ascribe to them.

AN EXAMINATION

OF THE

PASSAGES IN THE NEW TESTAMENT

Quoted from the Old and called Prophecies of the coming of Jesus Christ.

THE passages called prophecies of or concerning Jesus Christ in the Old Testament, may be classed under the two following heads:

First, Those referred to in the four books of the New Testament called the four Evangelists, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.

Secondly, Those which translators and commentators have, of their own imagination, erected into prophecies, and dubbed with that title at the head of the several chapters of the Old Testament. Of these it is scarcely worth while to waste time, ink, and paper upon; I shall therefore confine myself chiefly to those referred to in the aforesaid four books of the New Testament. If I show that these are not prophecies of the person called Jesus Christ, nor have reference to any such person, it will be perfectly needless to combat those which translators or the Church have invented, and for which they had no other authority than their own imagination. I begin with the book called the Gospel according to St. Matthew.

In the first chapter, ver. 18, it is said, “Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise: When as his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph, before they came together SHE WAS FOUND WITH CHILD BY THE HOLY GHOST."-This is going a little too fast; because to make this verse agree with the next, it should have said no more than that she was found with child; for the next verse says, "Then Joseph her husband, being a just man, and not willing to make her a public example, was minded to put her away privily."-Consequently Joseph had found out no more than that she was with child, and he knew it was not by himself.

V. 20. "And while he thought on these things (that is, whether he should put her away privily, or make a public example of her) behold, the angel of the Lord appeared unto him IN A DREAM (that is, Joseph dreamed that an angel appeared unto him), saying, Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife: for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost. And she shall bring Jorth a son, and thou shalt call his name Jesus: for he shall save his people from their sins."

Now, without entering into any discussion upon the merits or demerits of the account here given, it is proper to observe, that it has no higher authority than that of a dream: for it is impossible

for a man to behold any thing in a dream but that which he dreams of. I ask not, therefore, whether Joseph (if there was such a man) had such a dream or not; because, admitting he had, it proves nothing. So wonderful and irrational is the faculty of the inind in dreams, that it acts the part of all the characters its imagination creates, and what it thinks it hears from any of them is no other than what the roving rapidity of its own imagination invents. It is therefore nothing to me what Joseph dreamed of —whether of the fidelity or infidelity of his wife; I pay no regard to my own dreams, and I should be weak indeed to put faith in the dreams of another.

The verses that follow those I have quoted are the words of the writer of the book of Matthew. "Now (says he) all this (that is, all this dreaming and this pregnancy) was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying,

"Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us."

This passage is in Isaiah, chap. vii. ver. 14, and the writer of the book of Matthew endeavours to make his readers believe that this passage is a prophecy of the person called Jesus Christ. It is no such thing-and I go to show it is not. But it is first necessary that I explain the occasion of these words being spoken by Isaiah: the reader will then easily perceive, that so far from their being a prophecy of Jesus Christ, they have not the least reference to such a person, or to any thing that could happen in the time that Christ is said to have lived-which was about seven hundred years after the time of Isaiah. The case is this:

On the death of Solomon the Jewish nation split into twe monarchies; one called the kingdom of Judah, the capital of which was Jerusalem; the other the kingdom of Israel, the capital of which was Samaria. The kingdom of Judah followed the line of David, and the kingdom of Israel that of Saul; and these two rival monarchies frequently carried on fierce wars against each other.

At the time Ahaz was king of Judah, which was in the time of Isaiah, Pekah was king of Israel; and Pekah joined himself to Resin, king of Syria, to make war against Ahaz, king of Judah; and these two kings marched a confederated and powerful army against Jerusalem. Ahaz and his people became alarmed at the danger, and "their hearts were moved as the trees of the wood are moved with the wind." Isaiah, chap. vii. ver. 2.

In this perilous situation of things, Isaiah addresses himself to Ahaz, and assures him, in the name of the Lord (the cant phrase of all the prophets) that these two kings should not succeed against him; and to assure him that this should be the case (the case however was directly contrary*), tells Ahaz to ask a sign of the

2 Chronicles chap. xxviii. ver. 1. Ahaz was twenty years old when he

Lord. This Ahaz declined doing, giving as a reason, that he would not tempt the Lord; upon which Isaiah, who pretends to be sent from God, says, ver. 14, "Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive and bear a son. Butter and honey shall he eat, that he may know to refuse the evil and choose the good. For before the child shall know to refuse the evil and choose the good, the land that thou abhorrest shall be forsaken of both her kings,"-meaning the king of Israel and the king of Syria, who were marching against him.

Here then is the sign, which was to be the birth of a child, and that child a son; and here also is the time limited for the accomplishment of the sign, namely, before the child shall know to refuse the evil and choose the good.

The thing, therefore, to be a sign of success to Ahaz, must be something that would take place before the event of the battle then pending between him and the two kings could be known. A thing to be a sign must precede the thing signified. The sign of rain must be before the rain.

It would have been mockery and insulting nonsense for Isaiah to have assured Ahaz, as a sign that these two kings should not prevail against him, that a child should be born seven hundred years after he was dead; and that before the child so born should know to refuse the evil and choose the good, he Ahaz, should be delivered from the danger he was then immediately threatened with

But the case is, that the child of which Isaiah speaks was his own child, with which his wife or his mistress was then pregnant: for he says in the next chapter, ver, 2, 3, "And I took unto me faithful witnesses to record, Uriah the priest, and Zechariah the son of Jeberechiah. And I went unto the prophetess; and she conceived, and bare u son." And he says at ver. 18 of the same chapter," Behold, I and the children whom the Lord hath given me are for signs and for wonders

in Israel."

It may not be improper here to observe, that the word translated a virgin in Isaiah, does not signify a virgin in Hebrew, but merely a young woman. The tense also is falsified in the translation. Levi gives the Hebrew text of the 14th ver. of the 7th chap. of Isaiah, and the translation in English with it-" Behoid, a young woman is with child, and beareth a son." The expression, says he,

began to reign, and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem, but he did not that which was right in the sight of the Lord.-Ver. 5. Wherefore the Lord his God delivered him into the hand of the king of Syria, and they smote him, and carried away a great multitude of them captives, and brought them to Damascus: and he was also delivered into the hand of the king of Israel, who smote him with a great slaughter.

Ver. 6. And Pekah (king of Israel) slew in Judah an hundred and twenty thousand in one day.-Ver. 8. And the children of Israel carried away cap Live of their brethren, two hundred thousand women, sons, and daughters.

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