before God in earnest prayer, and have times set apart for the purpose. Many pious Christians will join you. 8. That your complete reformation will be effected, at least after your restoration, is expressly foretold in many prophecies, some of which I have incidentally quoted; but the most particular account of your repentance and contrition is contained in the prophecy of Zechariah, and it is there represented as taking place after your return, when your tribes and families shall be distinguished from each other, which now they are not. In that day will I make the leaders of Judah As an hearth of fire among wood, And as a lamp of fire in a sheaf: And they shall devour, on the right hand and on the left, And Jerusalem shall again be inhabited in her own place in peace. In that day Jehovah will defend The inhabitants of Jerusalem : And he that is feeble among them shall be, In that day, as David; And the house of David shall be as God, And I will pour upon the house of David, A spirit of favour and of supplications: And they shall look on him whom they pierced; And they shall mourn for him, as with the mourning for an only son; And the bitterness for him shall be as the bitterness for a first-born. As the mourning of Hadadrimmon in the valley of Megiddo. The family of the house of David apart, and their wives apart; Every family apart, and their wives apart.—* We Christians have no doubt but that this refers to your being convinced of the sin of your ancestors in the death of Jesus, the greatest prophet that God ever sent to your nation. The language of the prophet describes the very manner in which he was put to death, and it cannot without force be interpreted of any other person. person. The reading that I follow, * Ch. xii. 6, 8-14. Newcome. viz. him for me,* in ver. 10, is not only agreeable to the quotation of the passage in the New Testament, but to many manuscripts. So also it is quoted by many of your own writers. Besides, all the copies have him in the next and corresponding clause, viz. "they shall mourn for him," which cannot, in common construction, be any other than him whom they had pierced. This mourning your S. Jarchi says, the rabbins suppose will be for the Messiah the son of Joseph, who will be put to death. But the hypothesis of your rabbins concerning two Messiahs, one a suffering and the other a triumphant one, has no foundation in the Scriptures. From this remarkable prophecy I cannot help inferring, that your nation in general will not be convinced that Jesus was a true prophet, and consequently of the great sin of your ancestors in putting him to death, till after your return; and that this conviction will be produced by his personal appearance to you, as to your countryman Paul, who before that, was as incredulous on the subject as any of you can now be. I am willing, however, to hope that, though not your nation in general, yet that some candid individuals among you, may be satisfied on this head before that event. Permit me, who am a Christian, to write in that character; and as no offence is intended, I hope that none will be taken by any of you. You, as Jews, will think all our arguments in support of Christianity to have no weight; but the proposal of them by one who writes, as he thinks, from the pure love of truth, though you will think it mere prejudice, cannot do you any harm. 9. I formerly took the liberty to address you on this subject, and had the happiness to find you were satisfied that I wrote from the purest motives, and a sincere respect and good-will to your nation. Having, then, advanced all that I thought necessary for the purpose, I shall not repeat it here. But I cannot help observing that, though one of your nation, a person whom I well know and respect, replied to me, he did not undertake to refute my principal argument, viz. that from historical evidence. He did not pretend to point out any defect in the arguments that I advanced for Jesus having wrought real miracles, for his having died, and having risen from the dead. And if the Gospel history of those facts be true, whatever may be objected to Christianity on other accounts, the divine mission of Jesus will be unquestionable. God would never have suffered any person, pretending to • In the common Version. Mr. David Levi. See supra, p. 251. † See Newcome; Vol. XV. p. 295 come from him, to impose upon your nation and the whole world, in so egregious a manner, as Jesus must have done if he had been an impostor. Would God have raised an impostor to life, after a public execution? And yet, in my discourse on that subject,* I have shewn that this one fact has the most convincing evidence that any fact of the kind could possibly have. If you attentively consider the character of Jesus, his great simplicity, his piety, his benevolence, and every other virtue, you must be satisfied that he was incapable of imposture. Compare his character and conduct with that of Mahomet,† or any other known impostor, and this argument, of the internal kind, must strike you in a forcible manner. Besides, how was it possible for such a religion as the Christian, preached by persons in low stations, without the advantage of learned education, to have established itself in the world, opposed as it was by every obstacle that could be thrown in its way, if it had not been supported by truth, and the God of truth? The unbelief of your nation in general has answered an important purpose in the plan of Divine Providence; as nothing else could have given so much satisfaction that Christianity received no aid from civil government, and that the books of your Scriptures are genuine writings, not imposed upon the world by Christians. But this great end being now completely answered by the continuance of your incredulity for such a length of time, I hope the time is approaching when, as the apostle says, (Rom. xi. 26,) “ all Israel will be saved," an event which will be followed by the conversion of the Gentiles in general. Your restoration cannot fail to convince the world of the truth of your religion; and in those circumstances your conversion to Christianity cannot fail to draw after it that of the whole world. God will, no doubt, accomplish both these desirable events in the most proper time; and that this time, the commencement of the kingdom of God and of the Messiah, may soon come, is the earnest prayer of every Christian. With the greatest respect and affection, I subscribe myself Your brother in the sole worship of the God of your Fathers, J. PRIESTLEY. Northumberland, Oct. 1, 1799. See Vol. XV. pp. 325-348. + See Vol. XVI. pp. 374, 375. |