robbed him of human life, but his Godhead. I fhudder and find dark defpair cloud my rea-1 fon, offering the baneful cup, which, fhould I take, it would be a fresh infult to that God at whofe dread tribunal I now ftand arraigned. The cup I mean is death. O my God, my Lord, that from my remembrance I have been infulting with one continued infult, by a rooted hatred, impreffed and imbibed from my parents, and which was handed from the perpretrators of the bloody act, in perpetual fucceffion, through our generations, to us now living; grant the fcourge may not fpare the wretch, who, tho' not the immediate perpetrator of the horrid deed, yet gave place and nourished, not only in his own, but in thousands of hearts, the gall of hatred and blafphemy against our God and Father. But do not permit me to offer any any farther infult, more particularly the heinous crime of the Traitor Judas, in deftroying the life you created, after the crime he ftands charged long before by the prophecy of Jeremiah, as we took notice, and then farther forewarned and set forth by Zachariah in the 11th chapter, which takes in the treafon of Judas and reprobation of the Jews (518 years before Chrift), Open the doors, O Lebanon, that the fire may devour thy cedars. Howl, fir-tree, for the cedar is fallen; because the mighty is fpoiled howl, O ye oaks of Bafhan, for the foreft of the vintage is come down. There is a voice of the howling of the fhepherds; for their glory is fpoiled: a voice of the roaring of young lions; for the pride of Jordan is spoiled." Thus faith the Lord thy God, "Feed the flock of the flaughter, whofe poffeffors flay them and hold themselves not guilty; and they that fell them fay, Bleffed be the Lord, for I am rich, and their own fhepherds pity them not. For I will no more pity the inhabitants of the land, faith the Lord, but I will deliver the men every one into his neighbour's hand, and into the hand of his king; and they fhall fmite the land, and out of their hand I will not deliver them. And I will feed the flock of flaughter, ven you, O poor of the flock. And I took unto me two ftaves; the one I called Beauty, and the other I called Bands, and I fed the flock. Three fhepherds also I cut off in one month, and my foul loathed them, and their foul also abhorred me. Then, faid I, I will not feed you; that that dieth, let it die and that that is to be cut off, let it be cut off, and let the reft eat, every one the flesh of another. And I took my ftaff, even Beauty, and cut it asunder, that I might break my covenant, which I had made with all the people. And it was broken in that day; and fo the poor of the flock that waited upon me knew that it was the word of the Lord. And I faid unto them, if you think good, give me my price, and if not forbear; fo they weighed for my price thirty pieces of filver. And the Lord faid unto me, Caft it unto the potter; a goodly price that I was prized at of them. And I took the thirty pieces of filer, and caft them to the potter in the house of the Lord. Then I cut afunder my other staff, even Bands, that I might I might break the brotherhood between Judah and Ifrael. And the Lord faid unto me, Take unto thee yet the inftruments of a foolish thepherd. For, lo, I will raife up a fhepherd in the land, which fhall not vifit thofe that is cut off, neither fhall feek the young one, nor heal that that is broken, nor feed that that ftandeth ftill; but he shall eat the flesh of the fat, and tear their laws in pieces. Woe to the idol fhepherd that leaveth the flock! the fword fhall be upon his arm, and upon his right eye; his arm fhall be clean dried up, and his right eye fhall be utterly darkened. ་ O my God, from the day Ifrael rejected you, the has drank the waters of affliction, from the day of her captivity, under Titus, her arm remains dried up. She is no more a nation, but a vagabond obnoxious, an alien, (as Cain after imbruing his hands in his brother's blood) whoever fees her may kill her; fhe has no remedy in herself, having neither civil or military force, nor power, either to compel others, or defend herself. Her arm is truly withered and dried up. Ifrael's eye is alfo darkened, the veil is over her eyes, until now, the knows not, that he is guilty of a crime fo far more heinous than Cain's, as you, my Lord, in dignity, are more worthy than Abel. Cain confeffed his guilt with the juftice and equity of the law of "retaliation. Genefis 4th chpater, I fhall be a fugitive and a vagabond in the earth; and it shall come to pass, that every one that findeth me fhall flay me. But Ifrael has not only dipped her hand in the blood of her brother, which would Z 2 would have been upon an equality with Cain's murder, fhe has put to death, after ufing every degradation, infults, the moft atrocious calumnies, buffets, fpitting in his face, fcourgings, mockings, and whatever her malice could invent, the Lord of life, the Chrift of God, her Lord and her God. But as if her Lord was not fufficiently degraded, they contrived the most ignominious and painful death, and placed him naked betwixt two thieves. Their difcourse of him was, attributing his miracles and the wonders that he daily laid before them to Satan, who, fay they, affifts this feducer, to raise seditions and draw the multitude from their duty to the law of our fathers, and allegiance to Cæfar; by which means, if we let him go on, we fhall be of no refpect, and the Romans will deftroy our nation. This vindictive fpirit, revengeful in the extreme, blafpheming that very God that was fo long, and through all the prophecies pointed out circumftantially to them, accepting the robber Barabbas in preference, demanding not his death alone, but that his blood should be on herself and children, as the prophet Ifaias forewarned her, faying, Go to this people, and fay to them, with the ear you fhall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing you fhall fee, and fhall not perceive. For the heart of this people is grown grofs, and with their ears have they heard heavily, and their eyes they have fhut, left, perhaps, they fhould fee with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and fhould be converted, and I fhould heal them. O my God, God, to the confufion of our nation this prophefy of blindness, deafnefs, ignorance and obduracy, remain unabated until this day, according to the teftimony of your fervant Mofes, our law-giver, in the following words; "And the Lord thy God fhall raife you up a prophet of your own brethren like unto me, him fhall you hear, and it fhall come to pafs, that every foul that will not hear that prophet to do whatfoever he commandeth them, fhall be cut off from his people." The completion of these prophecies is evidenced and have been verified from the deftruction of our temple and city. And, according to our prophet Daniel 9th chapter, (before Chrift 534 years) for rejecting and putting to death the Meffiah. This heavy malediction fhould remain in our nation, and points out the time of this bloody catastrophe difclofed by the angel Gabriel. 490 years before Chrift. Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people, and upon thy holy city, to finish the tranfgreffion, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlafting righteoufnefs, and to feal up the vifion and prophecy, and to anoint the moft holy. Know, therefore, and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerufalem unto the Meffiah the Prince fhall be feven weeks, and threefcore and two weeks; the ftreet fhall be built again, and the wall even in troublous times; and after threefcore and two weeks fhall Meffiah be cut off, but not for himself; and the people of the prince (the Romans under Titus) that fhall Z3 come |