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THE PENTATEUCH DEFENDED.

\

J. H, Mar..

THE PENTATEUCH

AND

WRITINGS OF MOSES DEFENDED

AGAINST

)

1 THE ATTACKS OF DE. COLENSO.

I

I

By a LAYMAK

"Contend for the faith."— St. Jude. 'Taking the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God."— St. Paul.

LONDON: JAMES NISBET & CO., BERNERS STREET.

MDCCCLXIII.

The following Letters in defence of the Pentateuch were written for the purpose of being inserted in a public journal, " Pcjblic OriNioN," in which the first appeared Dec. 13th, 1862; the second, after some delay, was returned, with a polite note from the Editor, stating their intention to have published it, but that the controversy had extended to such a length, as to have occasioned discontent with a number of their subscribers, and that they had therefore determined to close it. In publishing them, I determined to make the last a personal letter to Dr. Colenso, and then felt it to be my duty to avow myself as the writer. A general statement in a public journal may with propriety be anonymous; a direct attack upon an individual should never be so.

J. H. MAN]N\

Albert Road,

Regent^s Park.

THE PENTATEUCH DEFENDED.

LETTER I.

to the editor of " public

Sib,

The veracity and inspiration of the Pentateuch must be a subject of the highest importance to every true Christian. Among other evidences of its truth, to my mind, there is none of higher or more unimpeach- able character than that which is derived from predic- tion and its fulfilment. This test I now purpose to apply to the claim for which I shall now contend — the truth and inspiration of " the writings of Moses."

The evidence of prophecy to the truth has ever been considered as of the utmost value and importance. To this test the Most High did not consider it beneath His infinite wisdom to refer, when He would confound the idolatry of His ancient people, and presents it to them as a ground of confidence and encouragement for their trust in Him. (Isaiah xli, 22.) "Let them bring forth

B

6 LETTER I.

and show us what will happen. Show the things that are to come hereafter. Declare us things that are to come, that we may know that ye are God's:" (xlii, ix.) "Behold, the former things arc come to pass, and new things do I declare : before they spring forth I tell you of them:" (xlv, 21.) ''Who hath declared this from ancient time ? AVho hath told it from that time ? Have not I, the Lord ! and there is no God else besides me ? "

I now turn to the Pentateuch, and find there, among numerous predictions fulfilled, and others being fulfilled — two, and these so diverse to each other, so apparently contradictory and opposed in their results, that none but He who sees the end from the beginning, and with whom a thousand years is as one day, could have inspired the minds of the ancient seers to have de- livered them. I turn to the xxiii and xxiv chapters of the Book of Numbers, and read the Prophet Balaam : — ''He hath said which heard the words of God, and knew the knowledge of the Most High, and saw the vision of the Almighty, ' God brought them out oi Egypt : according to this time it shall be said of Jacob and Israel, what God hath wrought.' ' Lo, the people shall dwell alone, and shall not be reckoned among the nations.'" I now turn to Deut. xxviii, and there I find Moses predicting of the same people : — " The Lord shall cause thee to be smitten before thine enemies, ' and shall be removed to all the kingdoms of the earth.' Thou shalt become an astonishment, a proverb, and a bye-word among all nations. And the Lord shall scatter

LETTER I. 7

thee among all people, from the one end of the earth even unto the other." How utterly irreconcilable to human probability must these predictions have ap- peared, so hostile, and yet coming from the same source — Jehovali ; speaking, by the voice of His prophets, of the same people ; aye, and, beyond that, to be fulfilled pari passu at the same time, surely, to human reason, their fulfilment must have been thought impossible. But the same voice had declared — '* God is not a man, that He should lie, nor the Son of man, that He should repent. He hath said, and shall He not do*^.^" I examine, I inquire ; I take up the pages of the history of the past; I look around at the present, I find them both accomplished. History and present facts confirm the truth of each and both predictions, as equally, actually, and literally fulfilled and fulfilling. I have the testimony now, the living testimony to their truth, daily before me. There is the Jew, the identical im- personation of his ancestors from the days of Moses, of whom and to whom the predictions were both originally uttered.

If I go to every part of the civilized world, even to the ends of the earth, the evidence is the same, there is the Jew — the Jew still — the living witness to both predictions, ^' scattered among all people, jci dwell- ing alone, and is not reckoned among the nations;" living separately, and not amalgamated with them, as is and has been tlio case with every other people. Upwards of three thousand years have transpired since the predictions were given, and the Jew remains in

B 2

8 LETTER I.

every land, in every clime, the present, the living, the miraculous evidence to the truth of the Mosaic writings, in the fulfilment of these ^yondrous and seemingly- contradictory prophecies. Here, then, I take my stand as on a rock, and assert, the men who uttered these predictions were inspired, and that the Book in which they are written, and which, like the Jew, has been miraculously preserved, is an inspired volume — is, was, and ever will be, " The Word of God."

Again, I ask the Jew for the history of his origin. He holds up the Pentateuch, and says, "It is here." I inquire as to the foundation of the laws which he receives and obeys. He presents the Pentateuch, and says, *' They are here." I ask him what inspires them with the authority they possess. He turns to the Pentateuch, and declares them to have been of Divine origin. I question him as to their identity, their purity, their security from interpolation. He assures me that they have been so kept, and guarded with such scrupulous care and jealousy lest they should be cor- rupted or mutilated, that the number of the very words have been recorded by his forefathers ; that they are so interwoven with their nationality and history as a people, that if they could be invalidated, the whole superstructure of their history, laws, and policy as a people would be destroyed. Not only so, the records of the Books of Moses are so identified with their other sacred books, their history, the Psalms, and with all the prophecies of their Bible, that they must all stand ana tall together ; and that this is now, and ever has

LETTER I. 9

been, the ahidiiifij, constant faith of their people as a nation. On these hooks all their hopes for the future depend. And wondrous fact, that this whole nation, in obedience to the command of Moses, whom they esteem as their lawgiver, to this day, in all their synagogues. Sabbath after Sabbath, that very law is read which a sceptic, miscalled Christian Bishop, daringly impugns and denies as having ever been given by Moses at all, notwithstanding the thousands and ten thousands of Jews in every part of the world still record it as the Word of God.

What a spectacle is here ! A nation who can trace their genealogies for upwards of three thousand years — preserved amidst efforts of Potentates, Inquisitors, tyranny, and sufferings unparalleled. Yet they exist, and are now, in numbers and wealth, perhaps greater than at any former period of their history ; and to them we, as Christians, can appeal for a testimony to the truth of our Holy Writ, a testimony which all the wit and sophistry of infidelity can neither gainsay or de- stroy, much less that combination of misrepresentations, misconceptions, and assumptions with which these sacred records are now attempted to be assailed.

I am, &c.,

llegent's Park. J. H. M.

The above predictions have been presented to the reader because of their peculiarity and diversity : the Pentateuch is essentially prophetic, as well as historic.

10 LETTER I.

It contains other jjrophecies fulfilled, and now fulfilling — the bare enumeration of them is all that is needful here — and which I present as follows : — Noah's predictions concerning his sons. The promise to Shem. The enlargement of Japhet. The curse on Ham and his descendants the Ca-

naanites. The peopling of the earth by them in three great

divisions. The predictions concerning Ishmael being fulfilled

to this very day. The predictions concerning Jacob and Esau, and their

posterity. Jacob's prediction of the coming of Shiloh. Balaam's prediction respecting David and the

Messiah. Moses' prediction of a prophet like unto himself; and

that of the restoration and blessing of Jehovah

on the Jews at their latter end.

11

LETTER II.

to the editor of Sib,

In my last letter, I attempted to defend the Pen- tateuch from the attacks of Dr. Colenso, by a reference to its prophetic character, and the falfilmeiit of their purpose. I now proceed to meet the Doctor on his own ground, and to refute his attack upon the Pentateuch as is condensed in page xvii. I quote the Doctor's words, '* I became so convinced of the unhistorical character of a very considerable portion of the Mosaic narrative," &c. "I had no longer any doubts." "I use the expression unhistorical or not historically true throughout rather than fictitious," &c. &c.

It would appear that the Doctor had some misgivings when he regarded the evidence to the truth of the Pentateuch, to be derived from the testimony of the blessed Saviour and his apostles ; and in page xxxi, in order to evade or get rid of this difficulty, he advances an opinion concerning the blessed liedeemer, which, I

12 LETTER II.

believe has no parallel, as an awful, wilful, blindness to, and perversion of, the express testimony of Scripture concerning Him. To the statement of our Lord's Di- vinity by him, as contrasted with His essential Deity, I shall have occasion to refer hereafter. Here I apply myself to the Bishop's definition of His humanity, which would place Him on a level with the lowest, even of the Jewish people at that time — witness his own words, " It is not supposed that in His human nature, He was acquainted more than any educated Jew of the age, with the mysteries of all modern science." ** At what period of His life upon earth, is it to be supposed that He had granted to Him as the Son of Man; super- naturally full and accurate information on these points, or that He should be expected to speak about the Pentateuch in other terms, than any other devout Jew of that day would have employed?" ''The Doctor has wilfully misstated the facts. The Saviour's declara- tions concerning the Pentateuch and the Old Testament, were all made during the three years of His mission and ministry, as the Teacher sent from God; and during which period He asserted, (not as Dr. Colenso in- sidiously admits His Divinity, but) His essential, His eternal Deity. What are His own sayings, "I and my Pathcr are one." '' Father glorify me with the glory I had with thee before the world began." " Before Abraham was, I am."

This testimony was confirmed and ratified at the baptism and on the mount of Transfiguration; and constantly manifesting itself throughout the whole

LETTER II.

13

period of His tabernacling upon earth. The essential Deity wfls ever present — witness His omniscience in reading the thoughts of the hearts of his hearers : — "He needed not that any should testify unto him, for he knew what w^as in man." He saw the death of Lazarus, and informed His disciples of it^ two days before it was announced from the sorrowing sisters. He saw *' Nathaniel under the fig-tree " — witness His omnipresence. He could cure diseases at a distance, without the sight or the presence of the sufferer, witness His omnipotence. By His creative power He could make a few barley loaves and small fishes feed 5000 ; and on another occasion, supply the wants of the 4000. Was it the language of a mere Jew, that hushed the storm, and quieted the waters, and made them as adamant for him to walk upon, as on dry land ? Did ever mere mortal man arrest disease with a word, give sight to the blind, speech to the dumb, hearing to the deaf, health to the leper, and soundness to the paralyzed ? Yet such was the constant, the daily occupation of Him, whom this modern sceptic holds up to our view as a mere Jew, unacquainted with science. I take a higher view, all science is but the emanation of His wisdom, imparted to man. Again, He had power over the unseen world. He could com- mand the departed spirits to return to earth, and reinhabit and reanimate the cold tenement of its former habitation, whether that spirit had only recently de- parted, as in the case of the daughter of Jairus, and the widow's son, or that of Lazarus after three days,

1 4 LETTER II.

and when decomposition liad commenced. At his command health was restored, and the departed spirit returned, and Lazarus stood forth a living man. Again, what is the declaration of Holy Writ, concerning Him on this doctrine? ''He was the brightness of his Father's glory, and the express image of his person." "He thought it not robbery to be equal with God." '' In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God, the same was in the beginning w ith God, all things were made by him, and without him, was not anything made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men." '' That was the true light, which lighteth every man that Cometh into the world." Such is the testimony of Holy Writ, to Him who is set forth in this book as a *' Jew unacquainted with science." That this union of Deity with humanity is mysterious, I admit. Reason feels it to be so ; revelation declares it so. ** Without controversy, great is the mystery of god- liness. God was manifest in the flesh."

I now proceed to examine the evidence to the truth of the Pentateuch, and also of the whole Old Testa- ment, for the one is bound up and identified with the other. The Bible is one book composed of many parts, yet one and entire whole, there is such an unity in it. It is so interwoven that you cannot impugn or impair any one portion of it without impugning or impairing the whole.

And in adducing the evidence of the blessed Re- deemer and His apostles to the truth of the Pentateuch,

LETTBK II. 15

I present Him in His essential Deity, tabernacling in humanity, and His apostles as divinely inspired teachers.

And be it remembered, that it is not an occasion ul, an incidental testimony that is thus borne by them. From the commencement of His mission on earth, when He said to the Pharisees, '' Think not that I am come to destroy the Law or the prophets, I am not come to destroy but to fulfil it ; for verily I say unto you, till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law till all be fulfilled." How continuous, direct, and unvarying this testimony was, the following analysis will prove. Death itself could not impair or relax it, for after the blessed lledeemer's resurrection, at Emmaus, He renews His testimony to those Sacred "Writings, and said *' 0 fools and slow of heart,' to believe all that the prophets have spoken. And be- ginning at Moses, he expounded unto them in all the Scriptures, the things concerning himself;" which testimony is taken up, and confirmed in all the apostolic writings.

The proposition that I am contending for in oppo- sition to Dr. Colenso's charge of the '* want of historic truth in the events related by Moses in the Pentateuch," is this : —

There are no historic events of importance related in that book which are not referred to, illustrated, and reasoned upon as facts in the New Testament, both by the blessed Redeemer and His apostles, to the proof of which I now invite the reader's attention.

16

LF.TTKR II.

Creation. — New Testament. John i, 1, "In the be- ginning was the Word : all things were made by him."

Rom. i, 20. ''The invisible things from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made,, even his eternal power and Godhead."

Mark x, 6. '' From the beginning of the creation God made them male and female."

Heh. i, 1, 2. ''God, who at sundry times and in divers manners, spake in times past unto the fathers by the prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, by whom also he made the worlds."

Heh. xi, 3. "Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear." Marriage. — Matt, xix, 4. " Have ye not read, that N. T. he which made them at the beginning made them male and female. And said, for this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife : and they twain shall be one flesh."

Luke XX, 34. " The children of this world marry, and are given in marriage."

Heh. xiii, 4. "Marriage is honourable in all, and the bed undefiled." The Sabbath. — Matt, xii, 5, 8. "Have ye not read N. T. in the law, that on the sabbath days the

XETTER II. 17

priests in the temple," &c. ''The Son of man is Lord even of the sabbath day."

Luhe iv, 16, "And he came to Nazareth, and, as his custom was, he entered into the syn- agogue on the sabbath day, and stood up for to read."

Luke \i, Q. ''And it came to pass also on another sabbath, he entered into the syn- agogue and taught." TuE Fall. — Luke x, 18. "And Jesus said unto them, ^^ T. I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven."

Matt, xiii, 39. " The field is the world ; the tares are the children of the wicked one. The enemy that sowed them is the devil."

Matt, xviii, 11. " The Son of man is come to save that which is lost."

Horn. V, 8. " God commendeth his love to us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." 12. "Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin ; so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned."

2 Peter, ii, 4. " For God spared not the angels

that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and

delivered them into chains of darkness, to be

reserved unto judgment." So Jude 6.

Caix.— Lleh. xi, 4. "Ey faith, Abel offered unto God

X. T. a more excellent sacrifice than Cain."

Jude 11. "Woe unto them, they have gone in the wav of Cain."

18 LETTER ir.

Abkl. — Mait. xxiii, 35. "That upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel," &c. So ZuJce xii, 51. Enoch. — Heh. xi, 5. " Enoch, was translated that he N. T. should not see death" before his translation he had this testimony, that he pleased God."

Jude 14. ''And Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied," &c. ^N'oAH AND THE Flood. — LuIcB xvii, 26. ''As it was in the days of Noe, they did eat, they drank, they married wives, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all."

Heb. xi, 7. "By faith ^oah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house ; by the which he condemned the world."

2 Feter iii, 5. "Eor this they are willingly ignorant of, that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water : whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished."

2 Peter ii, 5. "God spared not the old world, but saved !N'oah the eighth person, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly."

1 Feter iii, 20. "The iong-suffcring of God

LETTEli II. 19

waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing-, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved." Abraham. — JohnViii, 39. ''Jesus saith unto them, if N. T. ye were Abraham's children, ya would do the works of Abraham." 56. " Your father Abraham, rejoiced to see my day, and ho saw it, and was glad." 58. " Yerily, verily, I say unto you, before Abraham was, I

AM."

Acts vii, 2. " And he said, men, brethren, and

fathers, hearken, the God of glory appeared

unto our father Abraham." Gal. iii, 6. " Even as Abraham believed God.

They which are of faith, the same are the

children of Abraham. God preached before

the gospel to Abraham, saying. In thee shall

all nations be blessed." Rom. IV, 19. "And being not weak in faith,

he considered not his own body, when he was

about an hundred years old, neither yet the

deadness of Sarah's womb." Gal. iv, 22. "Abraham had two sons, the one

by a bondmaid, the other by a freewoman." ITeb. xi, 17. "By faith Abraham, when he

was tried, offered up Isaac." Lor.— Luke xvii, 29. "As it was in the days of Lot; N. T. even so shall it be in the day wlien the Son

of man is revealed." 32. "Eemember Lot's

wife."

20 LETTER ir.

Sodom. — 2latt. xi, 2-1. "I say unto you, that it shall N. T. be more tolerable for the land of Sodoin in the day of judgment, than for thee." Liihe xvii, 29. ** The same day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all." 2 Peter ii, 6. "And turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrha into ashes, condemned them with an overthrow; and delivered just Lot, vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked." Jude 7. "Even as Sodom and Gomorrha, and the cities about them, are set forth for an example." Melchisedec — Heh. vii, 1 — 4. "This Melchisedec, N. T. king of Salem, priest of the most high God, who met Abraham returning from the slaugh- ter of the kings, and blessed him ; to whom Abraham gave a tenth part of all ; first being by interpretation king of righteousness, and after that, also king of Salem, which is, king of peace. Now consider how great this man was unto whom even the patriarch Abraham gave the tenth of the spoils." Isaac and Jacob. — Matt, i, 2. — "Abraham begat Isaac,' N. T. and Isaac begat Jacob, and "Jacob begat Judas and his brethren." Mark xii, 26. " Have ye not read in the book of Moses, how in the bush God spake unto him, saying, I am the God of Abraham,

LETTEE II. 21

and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob."

Luke XX, 37. ''Moses at the bush called the Lord the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob."

Acts in, 13. ''The God of Abraham, and of Isaac, and of Jacob, hath glorified his Son Jesus."

Acts vii, 9. "And the patriarchs, moved with

envy, sold Joseph into Egypt."

Sojourn in Egypt. — Acts vii, 15. "And Jacob went

N. T. down into Egypt, and died, he, and our

fathers." 18. "Another king arose, which

knew not Joseph, the same dealt subtilly with

our kindred, and evil entreated our fathers,

in which time Moses was born." 33. "And

the Lord said unto him, I have seen, I have

seen the affliction of my people, which are in

Egypt, and I have heard their groaning, and

am come down to deliver them."

The Passover. — Matt, xxvi, 2. " And Jesus said unto

N. T. his disciples, ye know, that after two days is

the feast of the passover."

John ii, 23. " Now, when he was in Jerusalem, at the passover in the feast day."

Matt, xxvi, 17. "Now, the first day of the feast of unleavened bread, the disciples came to Jesus, saying unto him, where wilt thou that we prepare for thee to eat the passover." 18. " And he said, my time is at hand, I will

0

22 LETTER 11.

eat the passover at thy house ; and the disci- ples did as Jesus had appointed them; and they made ready the passover."

LiiJce xxii, 15. "And he said unto them, With

^ desire have I desired to eat this passover

before I suffer."

The Exodus. — Acts vii, 36. " He brought them out,

N. T. after that he had shewed wonders and signs

in the land of Egypt, and in the Ked Sea,

and in the wilderness forty years."

Hel, xi, 28. *' Through faith he kept the pass- over, and the sprinkling of blood, lest he which destroyed the first-born should touch them. By faith they passed through the Eed Sea, which the Egyptians assaying to do were drowned."

1 Cor. X, 1. ** Moreover, brethren, I would not that ye should be ignorant how that all our fathers were under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, and were all baptised unto Moses in the cloud, and in the sea."

Jiide 5. "I will therefore put you in remem- brance, how the Lord, having saved the people out of Egypt, afterward destroyed them that believed not." The Brazen Seepent. — John iii, 14. ''And Jesus N. T. said, As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up."

John xii, 32. " And I, if I be lifted up from

LETTER II. 23

the earth, will draw all men unto me." 33. "This he said, signifying what death he should die." The Manna and Quails. — Jolm yi, 32. ''Our fathers N. T. did eat manna in the desert ; as it is written. He gave them bread from heaven to eat. Then Jesus said unto them, verily, verily, I say unto you, Moses gave you not that bread from heaven, but my Father." The Wildeeness. — Ileb. iii, 7. ** Wherefore as the N. T. Holy Ghost saith, To-day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provo- cation, in the day of temptation in the wilderness; when your fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my works forty years." 1 Cor. X, 5. ''With many of them God was not well pleased, for they were overthrown in the wilderness." Jude 5. "I will therefore put you in remem- brance, how that the Lord, having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed them that believed not." Balaam. — 2 Peter xi, 15. "Which have forsaken the N. T. right way, and are gone astray, following the way of Balaam, who loved the ways of un- righteousness." Jude 11. "Woe unto them, for they have gone in the way of Cain, and ran greedily after the error of Balaam for reward." Having thus, I trust, demonstrably proved from

c 2

24 LETTEE II.

evidence the most conclusive, that the events recorded in the Pentateuch have the continued and concurrent testimony of the Saviour, the evangelists, and apostles ; and are so interwoven with the sacred volume, that they must stand and fall together. I now proceed to the proof of the Mosaic writings generally, (and especi- ally to the laws and commandments propounded therein) from the same inspired authorities.

MosES. — Acts vii, 20. "In which time Moses was N. T. born." 22. ''And Moses was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and was mighty in words and in deeds." 30. ''And when forty years were expired, there appeared to him in the wilderness of mount Sina an angel of the Lord in a flame of fire in a bush." 31. "And the voice of the Lord came unto him, saying, I have seen the affliction of my people which is in Egypt, I have heard their groaning, and am come down to deliver them." 35. " This Moses — did God send to be a ruler and deliverer by the hand of the angel which appeared to him in the bush. He brought them out, after that he had shown wonders and signs in the land of Egypt, and in the Red Sea, and in the wilderness forty years." Heh. xi, 28. " By faith he kept the passover, th e the sprinkling of blood, lest he which destroyed the first-born should touch them, by faith thcp passed through the Red Sea as by land."

LETTEE II. 25

His Weitings. — Lule xvi, 31. "If they hear not N. T. Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded though one rose from the dead."

Luhe xxiv, 27. ''And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he (Jesus) expounded unto them in all the Scriptures the things concern- ing himself."

Matt, xix, 8. "He saith unto thera, Moses because of the hardness of your hearts suf- fered you to put away your wives."

John V, 47. "Do not think that I will accuse you to the Father ; there is one that accuseth you, even Moses in whom ye trust. For had ye believed Moses, ye would have believed me, for he wrote of me. But if ye believe not his writings, how shall ye believe my words."

Acts xxvi, 22. " Having obtained help of God, I continue unto this day, witnessing both to small and great, saying none other things than those which the prophets and Moses did say should come."

One testimony more on this head, and that of the most conclusive authority, is added.

Every answer given hy the Blessed Redeemer to the great enemy of God and man, when tempted hy him in the wilderness, is taken from the Pentateuch.

The La.w. — John vii, 19. "Did not Moses give you the law?"

26 LETTEE n.

John i, 17. '' The law was given by Moses."

Jolin ix, 29. *' We know that God spake unto Moses."

John viii, 5. ''Now Moses in the law com- mandeth us that such should be stoned."

John vii, 22. "Moses therefore gave unto you circumcision ; ye on the Sabbath day circum- cise a man, that the law of Moses should not be broken."

LuheY, 14. "And he charged him, go show thyself unto the priest, and offer for thy cleansing, according as Moses commanded."

Acts xxviii, 23. "And when they had ap- pointed him a day, there came many to him to his lodging, to whom he expounded and testified the kingdom of God, persuading them concerning Jesus, both out of the law of Moses and out of the prophets."

Gal. ii, 4. ""When the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law." The Commandments. — Matt, xv, 6. "Why do ye N. T. transgress the commandment of God by your tradition?"

Matt, xxiii, 2. "The scribes and pharisees sit in Moses' seat ; all therefore whatsoever they bid you observe, that observe and do, but do not after their works."

Mark vii, 9. "Full well ye reject the com-

LETTER II. 27

mandraent of God, that ye may keep your own tradition. For Moses said, Honour thy father and thy mother. Ye suffer him no more to do ought for his father or mother. Making the word of God of none effect." The Saviour here expressly declared the writings of Moses to he the Word of God.

Mark x, 17- "There came one kneeling and asking him, Good Master, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life ? And Jesus said unto him, thou knowest the command- ments." Marh xii, 29. ''And Jesus said, "The first of all the commandments is, (and then quotes Moses,) Hear, 0 Israel, the Lord our God is our Lord. And the second is like." I have thus, as proposed, presented the reader with the evidence of the New Testament to the facts of the Pentateuch, the evidence of the Old Testament is equally clear ; these facts are there recorded, and inter- woven equally in the historic, poetic, and prophetic records, the whole forming one complete, and the only revelation of the will of God to man, and to which whole the Saviour has affixed the seal of his authority. " Search the Scriptures — they testify of me." "Ye do err, not knowing the Scriptures." "Beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them the things concerning himself." "David himself said hy the Holy Ghost."

28 LETTER n.

And on that solemn occasion when he addressed his Almighty Father, in audible prayer, and said,

" And now, 0 Pather, glorify me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was;" he added, "Sanctify them through Tut truth, Thy WORD IS truth." So also his constant reference to them as " The Scriptures; " this is also a proof of their being known and appealed to by the nation of the Jews as a recog- nised revelation from God. So he always accorded to them the authority of a Divine law. He was ever anxious that they, as they related to Him and His mission, should be fulfilled. He also asserted the very object of this letter, *' their entirety, their oneness." John X, S5. "The Scripture cannot be broken;" and all this accumulative evidence is applied to those Old Testament Scriptures, which Dr. Colenso has thus (vainly) attempted to impair, impugn, and invalidate.

I am, &c.,

J. H. M.

LETTER III.

TO THE EDITOE OF SlE,

Among the objections made to the veracity of the writings of Moses in the Pentateuch, there are none of higher importance than those doubts which have been created as to the truth of the Mosaic account of the Creation, the Eall, and the Deluge, indeed, to my mind, all objections beside these are puerile and comparatively of little real importance.

To the consideration of these events I now address myself : the objection taken by Dr. Colenso and others to the Mosaic account of the creation, and which, in page 24, he has stated to be one of those by which the church is deprived of the services of many of her sons, and ventures to predicate that from this cause "the Church of England must fall to the ground," the premises here assigned being the result of an im- pression that ''revelation and geology " are at variance, as it respects the account of creation as presented in the Mosaic narrative.

In contemplating the Mosaic account of the creation, as handed down to us in the Pentateuch in the begin-

30 LETTER III.

ning of Genesis, it is of the highest importance to the right apprehension of its accuracy, meaning, and truth, that we carefully study and endeavour clearly to com- prehend and ascertain What that kevelation really IS, and what is designed to be taught and made known to man thereby ?

This I believe to be — That it is just a revelation

OF so MUCH OF CREATION AS RELATES TO MAN AND HIS CONDITION IJS THIS LOWER WORLD, WHICH HE INHABITS,

AND IS INTERESTED IN. At the samo time, to guard against that idolatry to which the ancients, and the Jews in particular, were so awfully prone, it commences with the annunciation of the important truth, that not only the earth which man inhabits was the creation of Jehovah, but also, that all that vast expanse above and around us, with those worlds on worlds, systems on systems, in all the illimitable extent of space, was the work of the same infinite and almighty Being. The whole is comprised and concentrated in one sublime sentence :

'' In the BEGINNING GoD CREATED THE HEAVEN AND* THE EARTH."

Of that beginning we are also taught in the New Testament, (John, i) ''In the beginning was the "Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God ; the same was in the beginning with God : all things were made by him, and without him was not anything made that was made."

This truth is enforced and somewhat enlarged upon * Maimonides would read '* with the earth."

LETTER III. 31

in Col. i, 16. "For by him were all things created that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones or dominions, or principalities or powers, all things were created by him, and for him." In this same period the blessed Redeemer, personified as Wisdom,^' (in Prov. viii,) directs our enquiring attention, (ver. 23.) "I was set up from everlasting, from the beginning, or ever the earth was. When there were no depths; when there were no fountains abounding with water. Before the mountains were settled, before the hills : while as yet he had not made the earth, nor the fields, nor the highest parts of the earth." {In this and fol- lowing verses we have the truth set forth, for which I am contending. The original foundation of the earth from the heginning, and that subsequent arrangement of it, at the period described by Moses,) and of which in ver. 27 he gives the narrative : " When he prepared the heavens, I was there : when he fetched a compass on the face of the depth : when he established the clouds above : when he gave to the sea his decree, that the waters should not pass his commandments."

This hypothesis of these tivo distinct periods in the original creation of the starry system in the beginning, with the earth and its adaptations to the uses of man, we believe, is further proved by the book of Job, chap, xxxviii ; " Then the Lord answered Job and said, where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth ?

* Wisdom— Psa. civ, 24, 30 ; Prov. iii, 19 ; viii, 27 ; Job viii, 12 ; Matt, xi, 19 ; 1 Cor. i, 24 ; Col. i, 16 ; Gal. iii, 9 ; Heb. i, 2, 8—10.

32 LETTER III.

Who hath laid the measure thereof? Or who hath stretched the line upon it ? Whereupon are the founda- tions thereof fastened ? Or who laid the corner stone thereof; when the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy ?"

In these passages we are taught that the creation of the heavenly bodies and the earth were coeval, and were so created before the fall of angels.

" And the eaeth was without form and void," of those energies or laws which give both form and beauty, and which the Creator was now about to impress on the material world.

"And darkness was upon the pace of the deep."

This state of the earth was apprehended by the ancients, and by them called ^^ chaos,'' ^ an idea which has prevailed in all parts of the globe.

We believe the change of terms, from the earth to the deep, is used to imply that the earth and water were one, if not so, we have no account of the creation of the water at all; this view is confirmed by ver. 9.

Here we believe we have the purport of the impor- tant truth enunciated in the first and second verses, comprising as it does —

The creation of angels The starry heaven

The earth and waters in their primeval and cosmogonic state.

How long the earth remained in this primeval state is nowhere revealed in Scripture, or how many ages

LETTKE ITI. 33

was suffered to intervene between this original creation by Him with whom *'a thousand years is as one day, and one day is as a thousand years;" and the period ordained in the account given by Moses of the pro- gressive development of this mundane system under which we now live, and to which our attention is more especially directed in the Mosaic account as recorded in the first chapter of Genesis. Having stated this great and important fact as to the original creation, the Holy Spirit, by the mouth of Moses, proceeds to instruct us, by the relation of the Divine procedure, in what most especially relates to the earth and its inhabitant man, and directs our attention to it in the following order : —

"And the Spikit of God moved upon the face OF the wateks."

By the Spirit of God, we believe, is set forth the infinite wisdom and power of God.

The Jews had three ideas upon this subject : — *' Rabbi Monach The spirit of wisdom,"

** Jerusalem Targum The spirit of mercies from

before the Lord," " The author of Zoar The spirit of Messiah." It is important to notice that, that which Moses before called the deep, he now calls tlie waters, which plainly teaches, that some parts of the whole mass was fluid and light, as the other parts were solid and ponderous.

*' And God said, Let theee be light ; and theee

34

LETTER III.

Here commences what we may designate the second portion of the account of creation. The means taken to prepare this lower world for the purposes for which it had been designed in the infinite mind of the great First Cause of all things. In the former part, Moses had spoken of creation, now follows its adaptation to the various uses and ultimate ends which had been designed in their primeval creation.

We have here a new creation, ''light;'' by this I would understand those particles of matter which we designate as fire, (whose two properties we know as light and heat) ; and if I were to hazard a conjecture upon the properties of this light, I believe it to have been what we now know as '' electric light," created as the great instrument to be used for the prepa- ration and digestion of the rest of matter then created, to prepare it for its final purpose. In all probability this fire and light existed and was used by the great First Cause in disposing the various parts of the chaotic mass; that by volcanic eruptions, the earth was solidi- fied; the mountains and caverns were formed, and the preparation made for the separation of the water from the earth, as is recorded by Moses on the third day, and also by the Psalmist, civ, 6 ; and by making such caverns in it as were sufficient to receive the waters into them, notwithstanding the great sepa- ration which was efi'ected on the third day.

The importance of this part of God's creation, and the effects produced thereby, we believe, is indicated by the peculiar phraseology used.

LETTER nr. 35

"And God saw the ligut that it was good."

**And God divided the light from the dark- ness."

''And God called the light day; and the darkness he called night."

We have here a manifestation of the infinite wisdom of God, and of His regard to the comforts and blessings of His favored creation, man. How needful the day is for all the operations and business of life, all feel and admit; so also the night is needed for the repose of man and beast, by the refreshment of exhausted nature. 13ut beyond this, what a revelation does the darkness of the night exhibit in those worlds on worlds, those systems on systems, revealed to the wandering gaze of man on a winter's night; and of all of which man could have known nothing, could have formed no con- ception, but for this separation of the darkness from the light. Well might the royal Psalmist in adoring rapture exclaim in the contemplation of this, " 0 Lord, how manifold are thy works, in wisdom hast thou made them all :" Ps. civ, 24.

'•And the evening and the morning were the First Day." (period of time.)

I believe the evening, the darkness, is named the first, on account of the long period in which it had existed prior to the creation of light.

I use the term ^^ period of time^^ as an exact defini- tion of time, without prescribing the term of its duration.

"And God said, let there be a firmament."

36 letter iii.

''And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament, from the waters which were above the firmament."

Here, the existence of water is recognised, and the creation of which we believe to have been in union with, and an essential part of, that first created and cosmogonic matter called earth, (ver. 1,) and the deep, (ver. 2.)

In this verse we have the creation of the air, the atmosphere with which this earth is surrounded, and upon which the life of man and beast depend, so also vegetable matter; the air in which the birds fly, (as ver. 20.)

Another important purpose of this atmosphere was to prepare for that separation of the waters from those on earth, and those in this heaven. So Jehovah interro- gates Job, (xxxviii, 8,) "who shut up the sea with doors, when I made the cloud the garment thereof and brake up for it my decreed place ? Canst thou lift up thy voice to the clouds that abundance of waters may cover thee?"

"And God called the firmament heaven;" made it so difi'erent from the rest of the mass called earth, that it had the name of heaven ascribed to it, a term as stated by the Jewish writers to signify height or altUtide, and thus equally and alike applicable to the heaven, the creation of which is stated in ver. 1 ; and this heaven, in which all the planets connected with our mundane system, revolve; but which formed no part of that heaven whose creation is announced in ver. 1.

LETTEE III. 37

I believe the anuoun cement in ver, 2, that where the earth then was void, applies especially to this part of God's creation, and where the darkness rested ere the light was created.

In confirmation of this hypothesis, we turn to chap, ii, where Moses, in recapitulating the works of creation, uses a different language to that in chap. 1, ver. 1. **In the beginning, God created the heaven, and the earth.*' He now says, (chap, ii, 1,) "Thus the heavens (using the plural) and the earth were finished, and all the host of them." ver. 4, "These are the generations of the heavens and of the earth when they were created, in the day (the period) that the Lord made the earth and the heavens."

In connection with this, we anticipate the creation of the sun and moon, in ver. 14 to 18.

"And God said, let there be lights in the firmament of heaven, (here they are entirely separated from the original starry system, and confined in their orbits to this lower world,) to divide the day from the night, and let them be for signs and for seasons, and for days and years." This division of day and night can only apply to our earth. In what way can our planetary system operate upon those myriads of worlds created in the beginning ? countless ages before our visible heaven was called into existence. Thus it is added (ver. 15) "And let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven, (not heavens) to give light upon the earth. And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night."

D

38 LETTER III.

To rule, to have influence on all creation on the earth, all of which are influenced by, and are dependent upon, these great luminaries. As in the seasons of the year, the day and night, the tides, the heat, the cold.

"We have, then, an important fact announced in this description of creation, as above, it will be seen all relates to earth; but Moses having already, in ver. 1, stated the creation of the heaven, and which, as I believe, included all the starry system of the upper heaven, in a kind of parenthesis, adds, as a known fact, in few words, " He made the stars also." I would direct the attention of the reader to the replication of the word firmament. Yer. 6. ''And God said let there be a firmament." Yer. 7, this word is introduced three times. Yer. 9. "And God called the firmament heaven." Yer. 14. ''And God said, let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven." 17. "And God set them in the firmament of the heaven;" and so of the term heaven, (not heavens.) Yer. 8. "God called the firma- ment heaven." Yer. 14. Instead of heaven, it is spoken of as " the firmament of the heaven ; " this is so repeated in ver. 15, and again in ver. 17, "the heaven;" that heaven, and that alone, in which this sun and moon are placed, is here intended.

It should be borne in mind that if the whole of the fixed stars and planetary system were not included in ver. 1 ; we have no account of the creation of these stars at all.

The careful student of these divine records will not have failed to notice the change of language in chap, ii.

LETTEB III. 39

of the book of Genesis, used by tlie sacred historian, who, having given the account of creation in chap, i, resumes the subject in chap, ii, with this remarkable change of language, which, I think, is quite confirma- tory of the hypothesis above taken, with respect to the order of the creation; ''Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and the host of them;" announcing that, however long the period between that ''beginning," spoken of in chap, i, ver. 1, and the period of time of which Moses was then writing, however diversified and immense that creation was — all, all was now complete, and then uses the plural term, heavens, to describe the mighty fact.

I now direct the reader's attention to some other portions of Scripture which I believe supports this hypothesis — Job xxxviii, 7. " When I laid the foun- dations of the earth," (in the beginning) as the whole passage (ver. 4 — 11) proves, "the morning stars sung together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy." So when challenging the patriarch as to the planetary system, (ver. 31 — 33,) it is added, knowest thou the ordinances of heaven? (not the heavens.) The Psalm- ist, when contemplating the glory of God, Psa. viii, 1, bursts out in rapture, " 0 Lord our Lord, thou hast set thy glory above the heavens." So again Psa. xix. " The heavens declare the glory of God, and the firma- ment showeth his handy work." But when he would speak of the sun in particular, he uses the singular — "His going forth is from the end of the heaven; and His circuit to the ends of it." The same peculiarity

D 2

40 LETTEE ITT.

of terms is used by Jehovah himself. (Isa. It.) When He proclaims the majesty of His thoughts and ways, He adopts the plural and says, " As the ' heavens' are higher than the earth," «&c. When He speaks of rain and snow coming down to water the earth. He uses the singular, "heaven." So also the royal Psalmist, in that sublimer chorus of praise, where all in the heavens and in the earth, animate and inanimate, universal nature is called to a loud hallelujah to Jehovah, he says, "Praise ye the Lord, praise ye the Lord from the heavens." And then makes the call particular, " praise ye him all his angels, praise ye him all his hosts, praise ye him sun and moon, praise him all ye stars of light," and then combines all, "praise him ye heavens of heavens," (here will be noticed the distinc- tion of the stars from the sun and moon.) And so when he had called in all the lower creation to praise "the Lord," he leaves the plural, the heavens, the heavens of heavens, and adopts the phraseology of Moses, "His glory is above the earth and heaven." This same distinction is observable in New Testament Scripture. At the Ascension into the visible heaven, the singular is used, (Acts i, 10,) "And while they looked steadfastly toward heaven as he went up," the angels said, " this same Jesus which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye had seen him go into heaven." We contrast this with Eph. iv, 10, where, speaking of the Savior's glory, He is spoken of as having "ascended up far above all heavens, that he might fill all things." So also Heb.

LETTEfi III. 41

ii, 14. "All things are naked and open unto the eyes of him, who has passed into the heavens." Other passages to the same import might be quoted, but we trust enough has been produced to evidence two impor- tant conclusions, the great and unvarying distinction made when the writers speak of the heaven connected with our mundane system, "^^ and the language used by them when combining with that, the starry heaven originally created, " In the beginning." The other fact is, the identity, the oneness of the sacred volume, and that the writers at all periods of time, wrote under the influence and inspiration of the same Holy Spirit, as is declared, (2 Tim. iii, 16,) *'A11 Scripture is given by- inspiration of God." And reiterated by another apostle, (2 Pet. i, 11,) ''For prophecy came not by the will of man ; but holy men of God, spoke as they were moved by the Holy Ghost."

Ver. 9. "And God said let the det land appeak,

AND IT WAS 80."

Here is an immediate recognition of the creation of the earth, "In the beginning," to which we have referred above. "God created the heaven and the earth." Between that beginning and to this develop- ment, we believe causes had been in operation by means of the light, (the electric fire,) under the control of the Spirit, to cause those changes, to separate, con- solidate, and by compacting together all those various

* In accordance with this we read (Gen. xxvii, 28) "of the dews of heaven," (Dan. vii, 18) "of the clouds of heaven," (ii, 4) " of the winds of heaven," (Zech. ii, G) "the four winds of heaven."

42 LETTER III.

matters which constitute the earth which we now in- habit; raising it above the waters, and causing such caverns in it as were sufficient to receive those vast stores of water still existent in it, while on its surface mountains were formed, which remain to this day- intact, and probably the result of what we call earth- quakes, which lifted up the earth, and made those receptacles for the waters to run into. See Job xxxviii, 10; Psa. civ, 6, 7. This mighty work accomplished the earth thus prepared as an habitation for men and beast — the fiat is given.

''Let the watees under the heaven, (our planetary system,] be gathered together into one place, and

LET THE DRY LAND APPEAR."

Thus the atmosphere was prepared for the winged inhabitants, the sea for the fishes and the amphibious tribes, the dry land for the animal creation ; and all for the favoured creature, man. And here I invite the reader's especial attention to the important truth, that in the account now being given by Moses of the process he is describing, not one word is said as to the creation either of the earth, (though we have of its being made fertile,) the waters, or the vast expanse of the starry heaven ! But we have the account given of the crea- tion of the sun and moon, and of all that is connected with the world as then inhabited by man and beast.

It may assist the reader, if I present at one view the order of creation, as I read and believe it is pre- sented to us in the writings of Moses ; and as confirmed by other Scripture authority.

LETTER III. 43

*' In the beginning " — The angelic hosts. The upper heaven, and all the starry system there- in. The earth and waters in a chaotic state.

In the intervening period. — Fire and light, operating under the Spirit's control, to prepare the earth for its new inhabitants.

The period detailed by Moses. — The separation of the light and darkness. The firmament and lower heaven: the formation of the clouds.

The gathering of the waters in the seas.

The dry land appears.

The earth is made prolific.

The creation of the sun and moon.

The darkness develops the wonders of the starry heavens. Moses declares they were made by God, (but does not say at that time) his phraseology has evidently a reference to something which was then in existence.

The piscatory and feathered tribes, and the animals and creeping things.

And then Man is created, and as lord of all on earth has a dominion given him, over animate and inanimate creation.*'

* In confirmation of the correctness of this principle, I direct atten- tion to the important fact, that the ever-hlessed Eedeemer, when tabernacling on earth, never disclosed any of the wondrous facts connected with the vast expanse of the starry system. His in- struction, teachings, and whole intercourse with man, was connected entirely and continuously, with that world which man inhabits ; and with man as an inhabitant of that world, in a state of probation for that upper and better world, in which his spiiitual being is fitting and preparing him.

44 LETTER III.

The above I believe to be a correct analysis of the works of creation, as revealed by Moses ; and to which the revelation of geological research form a strong body of evidence. And in which, revelation and ge- ology appear in perfect harmony.

And thus this portion of Doctor Colenso's charge against the Pentateuch, as it respects the creation falls to the ground.

The Tall.

Having in my preceding letter, set forth the New Testament testimony to the truth of this statement, I feel little more is needful; but as I deem it of the highest importance to support the proposition I have advanced, " that the Bible is one and entire,'^ I proceed to direct the attention of the reader to the testimony of the Old Testament to that important fact.

In Dr. Colenso's attempt to impugn this important doctrine of revelation, he adduces the fact that " geology had proved that death had terminated animal life, before the so-stated fall of man." A fact which I at once admit, and which Scripture no where contravenes. In my preceding letter, I state my belief in the pre- vious existence of our earth, and hence the probability of its being inhabited. But apart from this, I believe that had man never fallen, death, as it respects the animal and piscatory creation, would have been allowed. The support of animals and of fishes who live upon each other, would have required it; and without it, had there been no death in them, the earth and sea

LETTER III. 45

would have been so fully occupied by them, that no other purposes of creation could have been carried out. The Scripture doctrine of the fall is, that -by it, man became liable to, and the subject of death. '' By one man sin entered into the world, and so death passed upon all men because all men are sinners."

In the additional testimony to this important fact, I first propose to adduce the witness of the Old Testa- ment writers ; and then the evidence of its universality. There can be no doubt, that man was created per- fectly holy. In the image of his maker, in knowledge, righteousness, and true holiness, in a natural and therefore mutable state. He was invested with power to prevent his falling, yet under a possibility of it. He was complete in his own order, but capable of the reception of sinful impressions; and being exposed to the assaults and temptations of the most subtle of those rebellious spirits which had fallen themselves, he was corrupted and seduced by them from his obedience to his Creator and benefactor, and thereby involved both himself and his posterity in sin and misery. By his fall all the powers of man's nature became depraved, polluted, corrupted. The understanding was darkened. (Eph. iv, 18.) The conscience defiled. (Heb. x, 22.) The will became obstinate and rebellious. (Rom. viii, 7.) The aff'ections earthly and sensual. (Eph. ii, 3.) All the thoughts uninterruptedly evil. (Gen. vi, 5.) And the whole mind and heart the seat of all manner of abominations. (Jer. xvii, 9 ; Matt, xv, 19.) Nor is there any sin which man can or does commit, which

46 LETTER III.

may not be traced up as in relation to this sin of his primogenitor. An inspired apostle has in few but comprehensive words comprised all sin, in '' the lust of the eye, the lust of the flesh, and the pride of life;" all which were embodied in the sin of our first parent, as they were also presented by the same malignant foe of God and man, to the ever blessed Eedeemer, in the temptation in the wilderness, but there in vain! A few brief passages, I trust, will suffice to prove that this is a Scripture doctrine of the Old Testament, having already proved it from the New Testament. (Gen. vi, 5,) "And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually." The Hebrew ivord sig^iifies not only the imagination, hut the purposes and desires. (Job. xv, 16,) ''How much more abominable and filthy is man which drinketh iniquity like water." *'If I covered my transgres- sions as Adam :" xxxi, 33. (Psa. xiv, 2, 3,) " The Lord looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there were any that did understand, and seek God. They are all gone aside, they are altogether become filthy, there is none that doeth good, no not one." (Psa. li, 5,) '' Behold I was shapen in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me." (Psa. Iviii, 3,) " The wicked are estranged from the womb: they go astray as soon as they be born, speaking lies." (Eccl. vii, 20,) "For there is not a just man upon earth that doeth good and sinneth not." (ix, 3,) " The heart of the sons of man is full of evil, and mad-

LETTER III. 47

ness is in their heart while they live, and after that they go to the dead." (Isa. Ixiv, G,) " But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away." (Jer. xvii, 9,) ''The heart is deceitful above all things, who can know it?" Lest it should be attempted to assert that the above is the description of only a part, and those the wicked, the notoriously corrupt of mankind, let the objector listen to the language of the great apostle. (Rom. v, 12,) ''Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin ; and so death passed upon all men, so that all have sinned." (Yer. 18,) ''By the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation." (Hom. vii, 18 — 21,) "I know that in me, that is, in my flesh, dwelleth no good thing. For the good that I would I do not : but the evil which I would not, that I do. I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me." (2 Cor. xi, 3,) The apostle writes, "I fear lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his sub- tilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ."

Dr. Boothroyd has the following judicious remarks upon this subject : — " The Holy Scriptures are their own best interpreter. What is obscure in one part is frequently explained in another, so that by comparing different passages, the attentive reader will find suffi- cient light to direct him in his inquiries, and to solve his difficulties. On The Fall I will state my opinion.

48 LETTER III.

ho or what are we to understand by the tempter ? Our Lord I conceive has answered this question by a direct reference to this history. (John viii, 44,) 'You are of your father the devil.' He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him, when he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own, for he is a liar, and the father of it. The tempter in his discourse with Eve, ' abode not in the truth,' but boldly contradicted what Jehovah had said. ' Assuredly thou shalt not die,' thus he was * a liar and the father of it.' And by the success of the temptation he became a murderer. * He was a murderer from the beginning.' The beginning here must naturally refer to the transaction recorded in the third of Genesis. Admitting the authority of our Lord, the principal agent in the temptation of our first parents, was the devil. So also the apostle, (1 John iii, 8,) He that committeth sin is of the devil: for the devil sinneth from the beginning."

From the evidence of Scripture I now turn to the evidence of fact, and the experience of everyday life. The efi'ects of the Fall is universal, from it none are exempt, all, all alike are the sons of a fallen primo- genitor; and that in all periods of history, whether sacred or profane, past or present, wherever I find a brother man, I find a fallen man, inheriting the same corrupt propensities to evil as in myself, alike in the civilized and the savage. It is demonstrated in the lives of all mankind, in every period of time ; equally in the learned philosopher, and the ignorant heathen ; in

LETTEE III. 49

the polished courtier, the savage barbarian ; the inha- bitant of the palace, and of the shepherd's hut; the man whose genius seems to ally him to a higher order of beings, and the wretched imbecile; the aged even to dotage, and the lisping infant. And here we have a strong proof of its inherent nature, for no sooner do the faculties begin to develope themselves in early in- fancy yea, almost before speech is developed, anger, passion, waywardness, cruelty, and revenge, are exhi- bited and exercised. It may be said, it would be severe in God, you think, to degrade to such a sad state as this, for the sin of our first parents. But you must admit it has been done, and that without inducement ; is the calamity lessened at all, by not being ascribed to our first parents ?

But it is on the Cross ! the Cross ! the awful penalty paid for the removal of the curse, in the indescribable agonies of the garden, and the sufferings of Calvary, that we learn the exceeding sinfulness of sin, and see the full penalty of the Fall in the declared will of h(>aven. '' In the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die."

The Deluge.

In addition to the testimony of the Saviour and His apostles in the New Testament, to this fact, I propose to present that of the Old Testament ; the records of national history in almost all parts of our world; and the evidence derived from antediluvian remains still existent on the earth.

50 LETTER in.

But first, I meet Doctor Colenso on his own grounds. In page 10, he states *'I could believe and receive the miracles of Scripture heartily, if only they were authenticated by a veracious history." Here is one of those assumptions in which he seems to delight and indulge, to serve the purpose of invalidating the sacred book. If the historic statements of the Bible are not true, the whole must fall to the ground ; it is the peculiar feature of our Revelation that it is all based upon facts. The Prophecies, the Psalms, the Evan- gelists, the Epistles have all originated in connection with facts, with which they are so interwoven that they must stand and fall together. Hence I adduce the testimony of the Old Testament writers, to the Deluge as that of veracious history to the miracle it presents. That it was miraculous is proved from the account, (Gen. vi, 17,) "And God said — Behold I, even I, do bring a flood of waters upon the earth, to destroy all flesh, wherein is the breath of life." The double repetition of this shows that the deluge did not proceed from natural causes. See also verse 7, " And the Lord said I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth, both man and beast." (Chap, vii, 4,) "For yet seven days, and I will cause it to rain upon the earth forty days and forty nights." (ver. 11,) "All the fountains of the great deep were broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened, and the rain was upon the earth forty days and forty nights." (Gen. ix, 29,) "And Noah lived after the flood three hundred and fifty years." I believe, Job

LETTER III. 51

xxii, 15, refers to this event : " Hast thou marked the old way -which wicked men have trodden ? which were cut down out of time, whose foundation was over- flown with a flood."

In answer to those who object to the universality of the flood, (Lord Clarendon writes) and support their opinion from a presumptuous computation. What quan- tity of water and rain would serve to overflow the whole circumference of the earth ? There is no more to be said, than, that God cannot want instruments to inflict any punishment He thinks fit to manifest his anger or displeasure by — or how any can answer such express texts of Scripture as those above, or such as these : " And the waters prevailed exceedingly upon the earth, and all the high hills that were under the whole heaven were covered." That the dimensions of the Ark were commensurate with the requirements of those it had to contain, has been proved by Bishop "Wilson — hence I assert that the account given of the ark confirms the truth of the Scripture account of the flood.

I now present the following Scripture proofs of the personality of Noah ; and of the Deluge, in addition to those already adduced from the New Testament, in my former letter. (Ezek. xiv, 12,) ''The word of the Lord came again to me, saying, son of man — though these three men, Noah, Daniel, and Job, were in it," &c. So verse 18—20. (Isa. liv, 9,) ''Thus saith the Lord thy Redeemer, for this is as the waters of Noah unto me : for as I have sworn that the waters of Noah

52 LETTER III.

should no more go over the earth ; so have I sworn," &c.

Psalm civ, 6, '' Thou coveredst it (the earth] with the deep as with a garment : the waters stood above the mountains."

In presenting the proofs from historic evidence, I refer to Dr. Boothroyd, (Gren. vii, 17,) "The whole face of the globe, and the most accurate investigation of its strata, continue to substantiate the Mosaic account of the deluge. In proof of what is stated, it may be observed, that the mouse- deer, a native of America, has been found in Ireland; elephants, natives of Asia and Africa, have been found in England; Crocodiles, natives of the Nile, and other African rivers, in the heart of Germany ; and shell fish, and the skeletons of whales, in the inland counties of England. The former only known to live in the American seas, and the latter in the cold regions of the north."

The learned and indefatigable editor of the Calmet, in his fragments, (No. xx,) gives a very long and inter- esting account of the deluge, as believed in the sacred writings of the Hindoos, extracted from Sir William Jones' Asiatic E,esearches, vol. 1 ; and shews in many parallel passages, their entire oneness with the Mosaic history of this event. So, also, of the history of Noah, (No. xix.)

The history of the deluge is not confined to the Bible, or Hindoos, nor to the popular story of Deuca- lion's flood, mentioned by Ovid, Lycopheon, ApoUodorus, and others; but is an historical fact, admitted as true

LETTER ni. 53

by every cation to whose literature we have access," says Sir William Jones. Mr. Bryant affirms that the whole heathen mythology sprang from traditions of the deluge, and that Prometheus, Deucalion, Atlas, Theuth, Zuth, Xuthus, Inactius, Dagon, and others, were all different names by which Noah was intended. The difference in the names may be accounted for, from the fact of the writers, when copying from the original, did not give the name therein, but changed it to what had the same meaning in their own language. For instancfe, Alexander the historian, writing concerning Isaac, in Greek, does not adhere to the original name ; but calls him Telota, or Laughter, the name given him by his mother.

Eusebius preserves a passage from Abydenus' History of Assyria, in words almost identical with the Mosaic account.

Joscphus writes, ''This Birosus' History of Chaldea, treading in the steps of the most ancient writers, has recorded the same facts as Moses in relation to the deluge; the destruction of mankind by it; the ark in which I^oah, the father of our race was preserved, and its resting upon the tops of the Armenian mountains." Dr. Willoughby writes, *' The highest eminences of the earth ; the Alps, the Appenines, the Pyrenees, Libanus, Atlas, and Ararat, mountains of every region under heaven where search has been made, all conspire in one uniform universal proof, that they all had had sea spread over them." Additional evidence of this may

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54 LETTEE III.

be found in "Parkinson's Organic Remains of a Former World/' and "Kirwan's Geology."

To these, the writer would add the testimony of fact in our own country. At Banwell, in Somersetshire, a part of the Mendip Hills, he visited a large cave, below the surface of the earth, filled with the bones of animals of various kinds and countries, many of which were never known alive in our own island. Dr. Geddes, an author, I have no doubt of great value in Dr. Colenso's estimation, in his critical remarks, (Gen. vii, 20,) gives a very long and elaborate calculation, made by Sir Henry Engiefield, in proof of the univer- sality of the deluge.

In conclusion, when we contemplate that awful and incalculable force which was necessary to project the planets in their respective orbits, a very small portion of it would be requisite to produce all the visible and recorded effects of the deluge; all other accounts are erroneous, or unsatisfactory, in proportion as they vary from the page of Holy Scripture. I believe that Holy Scripture, history, and geological facts, all conspire in one truth. That the whole of this stupendous catastro- phe must be ascribed to the will and power of God, exerted in a signal manner, for the purpose of accom- plishing his judgments on an apostate world.

Having, I trust, before proved the identity of the Pentateuch with the other parts of Holy Writ, and its truth demonstrated by its prophecies ; the evidence of the Saviour, His apostles, and the concurrent testi-

LETTEB III. 55

mony of historic records. It is not my purpose to occupy the reader's time, by an examination of all those captious objections made by Dr. Colenso, to some pas- sages and events ; and where I do they will be brief.

p. 17. ''The family of Judah."

All the objections made to the account in Gen. xlvi, are to my mind satisfactorily answered, by St. Austin, **who judged that Jacob's descent into Egypt, com- prehends all the seventeen years which he lived after it." This opinion is adopted by Bishop Patrick, Dr. Adam Clarke, and other Biblical critics.

Besides there are other circumstances that existed in that day, which are not patent to us. The early marriages, especially of females — their great fecundity on this Ainsworth remarks, "they breed like fishes." The multiplication of wives, and concubines, all these; must be taken into the account when examining the question of numbers among the Jews. Again, their rapid and miraculous increase, had been such as to excite the attention and alarm of the king of Egypt ; (Exod. i, 8.) "And he said unto his people, behold the people of the children of Israel are more and mightier than we." " But the more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied and grew " — and hence the decree of Pharaoh for the destruction of the males.

And here I would ask why has Dr. Colenso applied himself to German speculation, for elucidation on these facts, rather than to English writers ?

p. 21. "The size of the Couetof the Tabernacle." I am willing to give him the advantage of all he

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56 LETTER Iir.

state upon this unimportant and trivial subject. My reply is, that at this period of time it is utterly im- possible to know all the circumstances or appliances connected therewith. Allow me to direct the reader's attention to a case of somewhat similar results, as to num- bers and capability. In "Alison's History of Europe," he states that at the Battle of Dresden, JN'apoleon had 200,000 men, and the Allies a larger number, thus nearly half a million of men are stated to have been in the field of battle. jS'ow in four or five centuries a sceptic of the Colenso school, might say the account is untrue, just because it is impossible that any field could hold half a million of men. And again, the statement carries its own conviction of its untruthfulness; for while in one part it states that these men were in a field of battle, in another page it admits that the armies then there were fighting at various points and places, and not in a field at all ; but some in cities and villages, by rivers, and in the city of Dresden itself.

Moses and Joshua addressing all Iseael : Deut. i, 1.

Here we have another instance of Dr. Colenso's want of integrity to the word of God. He well knew that the book of Deuteronomy is a resume, a condensed recapitulation of the preceding books — an honest en- (^uirer after the truth would have turned to Exod. iv, 29, and there he would have learned the way in which these communications were to be made to all the people. " Moses and Aaron went and gathered to- gether all the elders of the children of Israel, and

LETTEK in. 57

spake unto them." And the people believed, and when they heard that the Lord had visited them, they bowed their heads and worshipped.

So as to the passover (Exod. xii, 21,) "Then Moses called for all the elders of Israel." (xix, 7,) ''And Moses came and called for the elders of Israel, and laid before their faces all the words which the Lord commanded him."

xxxiv, 31, "Moses called unto them, and Aaron and all the elders of the congregation." In Deut. xxvii, 14, "The Levites are expressly commanded, thus to speak to all the people."

The same want of integrity in quoting applies to the former objection : an honest enquirer would have quoted from Exodus, and not from Leviticus.

And here we may take another illustration, from the history above quoted. It is said " Napoleon com- manded in person." Here the Colcnso sceptic would assert the falshood of the whole, from the fact that no human voice could be heard by 200,000 at one time. The cases are parallel. Moses instructed the Priests and Levites, and they the elders, they the heads of families, and so the congregation — as Napoleon, his Aidecamps, they the Commanders of Brigades, they the Generals of Divisions, they the Colonels of regi- ments, the subalterns ; and so till the whole army had the order of battle.

These seeming difficulties to the Doctor, to my mind tend to prove the truth of the narrative; an interpolater, a dishonest historian would^guard against the possibility

58 LETTER III.

of stating as true, what was physically impossible. So in Joshua viii, there is not a word to imply that all this was read at one and the same time to all the people ; indeed the length would preclude the pos- sibility of it. It is indeed rather an address to all, as hinding on all, than to all at one and the same time. He was fulfilling the command presented by Moses : Deut. xxvii, 11.

p. 38. '' The extent op the Camp compared with THE Peiest's Duties, &c.

Here, as in other cases, we have the fact concealed, and an amount of assumption advanced. "With respect to the especi-il case of the offering here made, it must be remembered, that it applies to an especial and ex- ceptional case, which might never have occurred ; the wilful and presumptuous sin of the high priest (verse 3) or to some special sin of the whole congregation, (as verse 18.) I believe that what in this case is said the high priest should do, (as in verse 11, 12,) is just that he should cause it to be done, as may be illustrated by every day life in our own land. A gentleman rides through his lands with his steward ; they come to fields of ripe corn or seeds; the owner addresses his bailiff, "Thomas, you will cut this wheat to-morrow, and then you will cut that clover." He knowing at the same time that he would do neither, but that he would cause it to be done by the proper persons em- ployed for that purpose.

So again in the other matter here alluded to, it must be remembered that the people and their tents were not

LETTER III. 59

placed together. Large spaces for their flocks would require that the tents should be at very considerable distances from each other, so as entirely to prevent the possibility of the imaginary^ uncalled for, and un- seemly allusion here so needlessly brought forward to public view.

p. 45. "The Israelites dwelling in tents." The whole of their history, from its commencement with Abraham, proves that they dwelt in tents, and that they were of a migratory character: this is ex- emplified in the case of Abraham himself, of whom it is recorded, (Gen. xii, 16,) ''He had sheep and oxen, and he asses, and she asses, and camels." What were the numbers of these, or of his men servants and maid servants, spoken, of here, we have no account; but if we turn to chap, xiii, 5, we find that Lot also had flocks and herds, and tents, and these in such numbers, that their substance was so great that they could not dwell together ; we may form some conception of it by turning to chap, xiv, 4, where we find that Abraham, to rescue Lot, armed his trained servants, born in his own house, three hundred and eighteen, and recovered Lot and his goods, women and people. This narrative answers many of these trifling and unworthy Colenso objections. The number of trained men, servants born in his own house, (or household.) If to these are added the other men, (not trained,) the women, children, and strangers of this one nomade chief, I think it overthrows every objection as to the family of Judah. It also demonstrates the practice of dwelling

60 LETTER III.

in tents, and obviates all the objections of the preced- ing quotation. It also shows the ease and facility with which tlie tents could be transferred with the flocks from one place to another. In fact the whole of the Exodus of the children of Israel from Egypt was pre- cisel}^ the same as the various migrations of Abraham, Jacob, and Esau, only on a larger scale.

p. 4-'. ''The Children of Israel armed."

Here we have another instance of the extreme avidity which Dr. Colenso manifests to find or make objections to the sacred Book.

My reply to this objection is, that it is futile and erroneous, that the term harnessed, is so correct, that no better term could have been used. What is the meaning of the word ? just this, " prepared," neither more nor less. You want to use your carriage at a given time, you tell your coachman to have his horses harnessed, (prepared for that purpose,) equally correct and confirmatory is the use of the word, Josh, i, 1, and all other places where it is translated ''armed." In all these cases, they were going to battle ; to be pre- pared was to be armed, as in this case they were to migrate, they ^nqtq prepared for it ; so in ancient poems, the knight and his horse when prepared for the tourna- ment, were said to be harnessed.

p. 56. "The Institution of the Passover."

Passage quoted. Exodus xii, 21, 28.

This I at once denounce as a wilful, deliberate attempt to build up his objections by mis-statement, misquotation, if not deliberate falsehood.

LETTER III. 61

What does the objection state ? " That is to say, in one single day, &c."

Now what are the facts ? The objector treats it as a single event, unconnected with its real character. The passover and deliverance of the Israelites stands con- nected immediately with the will and purpose of Jehovah, in connexion with His revealed will, and the covenant relation in which He stood to their forefathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

Turn we to Gen. xv, 13. "And Jehovah said unto Abraham, know of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them, and they shall afflict them four hundred years. And also that nation, whom they shall serve, will [ judge: and afterward they shall come out with great substance."

From this passage we learn that in the Exodus, it was the settled purpose of Jehovah, not only as to time, but to the manner of its accomplishment, and its results. The four hundred years had nearly elapsed. The iniquities of the Amorites were now full. The cove- nant with Abram was to be fulfilled. The chosen tribes were to be placed in the land of Canaan. Moses the selected leader had been called from keeping th e flocks of Jethro, and Jehovah revealed himself and his purposes to him, and for his encouragement had re- vealed himself as the great I AM ; and declares his purposes. (Ex. iii, 7,) "And the Lord said I have surely seen the affliction of my people which are in Egypt, and have heard their cry, by reason of their

62 LETTER III.

taskmasters, for I know their sorrows. And I am come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land, unto a land flowing with milk and honey. Come now, therefore, and I will send thee unto Pharaoh, that thou mayest bring forth my people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt."

Here the whole question is resolved. Jehovah de- clares them to be His people, that He had heard their cry, and that His promise to Abram should now be fulfilled, by judgments on their oppressors, and that Moses was His chosen servant for its accomplishment : and this was to be effected by a gradual series of miracles, by which the people were to be instructed and confirmed in their faith ; and no doubt, there can be none that the very day and hour of their deliverance was made known to them as it had been pre-ordained, and as it was accomplished. (Yer. 16.) Moses is com- manded to gather the elders of Israel together. The objector, to suit his purposes, presents the whole people as an heterogenous mass without order, governors, or authorities among them. Was it so ? In chap, vi, we learn that they were still distinguished as the twelve tribes; and we have given us in ver. 14, &c., the names of the heads of their fathers' houses. Again, Aaron is spoken of and recognised by Jehovah as the Levite, a proof of their religious character. Here then we have their then situation pourtrayed. What is it? The twelve tribes, these governed by their princes, divided into families and houses, with elders and a priesthood.

LETTER Iir. 63

And we are further informed in chap, iv, 27, that Aaron by express command of Jehovah, went to meet Moses; and (ver. 29,) that Moses and Aaron went and gathered together all the elders of the children of Israel, that Aaron recounted the purposes of Jehovah, which were confirmed to the people by the miracles then per- formed, and the result was that ''the people believed."

We have here a complete answer to the objection as to the position of the people; the capability of their being instructed, their belief in the assurance of their deliverance, the time when it would be effected, the agents by whom, and the power, even the mighty power of Jehovah, I Am.

The only point remaining is to show that the period elapsing between the revelation and its accomplishment was sufficient to enable the people to make all the needful preparations for their exodus. The ten plagues are supposed, by Archbishop Usher, to have taken about a month — each successive plague was an additional pledge to the Israelites of their deliverance at the set time, and a stimulus to them to accelerate their prepa- rations for the departure at that time, and immediately before the last, the final command was given to the people to spoil the Egyptians. On the first day of the month in which it was to be accomplished, they received the instructions to prepare the passover, (chap, xii, 1,) " This month shall be unto you the beginning of months. In the tenth day of this month they shall take a lamb : and ye shall keep it until the fourteenth day of the month." In the face of these facts, Dr. Colenso has

64 LETTEE III.

the hardihood to declare, p. 56, that the people wore called upon to obey the rite, " and that too without their having had any previous notice whatever on the subject."

There is only one subject more on this head to which I would direct the reader's attention, and that is to the dishonesty of the objector when striving to impair the truth of the narrative, from the number of lambs that would bo required, he ignores the fact, that all lambs were not at all required; it was to be "a lamb or a kid of the goats." That goats and kids were in much estimation, we have only to look to the story of Jacob's obtaining his father's blessing, (Gen. xxvii, 9,) that goats were kept in great numbers may be fairly pre- sumed from their usefulness in yielding milk, and the scanty fare and capability they possess of obtaining their food on rocks, mountains, &c.; but it is further shown, from the fact that the covering of the tents of the Israelites were made of black goats' hair.

The Exodus.

The above remarks prepare for thr exodus, a fact referred to in sacred writ repeatedly, but more than this, upon this, the exodus, depends the veracity of the Great Eternal in the fulfilment of " His promise. His oath, His covenant to A.bram;" as also all the promises made to the Patriarchs as to the land of Canaan, as the inheritance of their successors.

History proves that the Israelites were slaves in Egypt — history also proves that they possessed the

LETTEE III. 65

promised land — tlien the question comes : How did they escape the bondage and obtain the hind? The Sacred Book and the national history of the Jews alike declare the means, the book of Joshua describes the result, the historic books of the Old Testament, the Psalms, the Prophets, all conjS.rm their statement. And there is the holy city, now with its ruins still preserved; the land, by universal consent, retains the name, "The Holy Land." The Jew looks to it as the home to be again enjoyed and possessed by his people ; the Christian reveres it, and delights to dwell on its history, and especially as that scene where the wonders of Redemption were accomplished. The Arab, the Turk, venerate it ; and it remained for a man, assuming the office and character of a Christian Bishop, to come forward and try to cast a doubt upon all this, by attempting, by every means within the compass of his power, to ignore, invalidate, and destroy the evi- dence of Scripture as to the original possession ; the laws, the services, the ritual of the Jews, and their e^vodus from the land of their captivity.

I am, Sir, &c.,

J, H. M,

66

LETTER IV.

TO DOCTOR COLENSO. SlE,

Were I asked why I, a layman, (and one whose time has been engaged in extensive mercantile and manufacturing pursuits, without the aid of learning or literary capabilities, and relying only on a tolerable acquaintance with the Sacred Volume,) have ventured to reply to some of those startling and astounding statements made by you in your volume on The Pentateuch? I adopt as my reply your own words, (p. xviii,) "To this strong practical love of truth in my fellow-countrymen, whether clergy or laity, I appeal in the present volume:" and in p. xii, ''It is plainly our duty before God and man, to see that the foundation of our faith is sound and deeply laid in the very truth itself." My former letters were addressed to a public journal, this. Sir, I address to you, on the tenor and object proposed in your book. And wpuld ask every unprejudiced reader, whether the whole tenor of your observation, indeed the whole object of the book, is not to undermine, sap, and destroy the very foundation of that revelation on the truth of

LETTER IV. 67

which our common Protestantism and the established church is based and built. You appear to gloat over your attacks upon the truth of the Bible as you proceed in your book, p. xiv, you state, ''The unhistorical character of the story of the Exodus." In p. xvii, you advance a step further, " I became so convinced of the unhistorical character of a very considerable portion of the Mosaic narrative;" and in a note you apologize for not having applied the term "fictitious" to them. In p. viii, you state that the Pentateuch, as a whole, cannot have been written by Moses ; " that the so-called Mosaic narrative cannot be regarded as historically true." And add, "I am not here speaking of a number of petty variations and contradictions such as are found to exist throughout the books;" p. xii, you venture to assert, " Our belief in the living God remains as sure as ever, though not the Pentateuch only, but the whole Bible were removed." In other words, in your estimation and to your religion, it is of no use or importance whatever. So again, p. x, "I cannot consent any longer to shut my eyes to the absolute, palpable, self-contradictions of the narrative." And in p. xiii you speak of it, " Whatever inter- mixtures it may show of human elements, of error, infirmity, passion, and ignorance;" p. clii, ''The Bible can no longer be regarded as infallibly true in matters of common history, the writers wrote as men with the same liability to error from any cause as other men."

Then Sir, you, assuming the character and holding

68 LETTEK IV.

the office of a Christian Bishop, gravely argue, assert and demand that we shall, at your bidding, relinquish and give up our faith in the testimony of the ever- blessed Redeemer, to these historical facts, denounce David, Nehemiah, Solomon, Isaiah, Ezekiel, and other writers in the Old Testament who have asserted these facts as great truths ; number the Apostles and Evan- gelists among the ignorant and deceived; treat Paul's Epistle to the Hebrews as a kind of adjunct to a legend which had no real historic existence ; and arraign the long catalogue of Biblical critics and profound scholars, who have made the Scriptures the study of their lives, and brought to the examination profound reasoning, the most extensive knowledge of languages and history ; mental resources of the highest character, sobered by gigantic learning; metaphysical and mathematical powers, combined with patient examination, the most indefatigable industry, and the most enduring zeal; and all this devoted to the one object — the examina- tion, the elucidation, the truth of the Holy Books.

Surely, Sir, such authorities as the Arabic, Persian, Syrian, Chaldae, Samaritan, Ethiopic, Septuagint, and Vulgate versions, are not lightly to be impugned; such men as Rabbi Sol Jarchi, Aben Ezra, Kimchi, Yitringa, Maimonides, Houbigant, Kennicot, Rosen- muller, De Rossi, Calvin, Luther, Beza, Calmet, Diodati, and others, foreign writers of eminence on holy writ could not all have embraced error ; or such men as "Wycliffe, Ainsworth, Patrick, Dathe, Poole, Henry, Dodd, Isaac Newton, Locke, Boyle, Warburton,

LETTER IV. 69

Boothroyd, Horsley, Parkhurst, Adam Clarke, and a hundred others that might be named, these men of ancient or modern times, men of various countries as well as our own. I say, surely the writings, the labors of such men, and the conclusions they have come to as to the inspiration and truthfulness of the Bible in general, and of the Pentateuch in particular, are not to be obliterated and destroyed by the misquotations, the garbled extracts, the unfounded assumptions, the inveterate prejudices, the bitter hostility to the Bible as a whole, which pervades every part of your awful volume. And this brings me in contact with you, as a Bishop of our established church; and hence, while holding this office, bound to uphold her authority, regard her laws, obey her commands, and extend her influence and usefulness among the laity, whether at home or abroad. Have you done this? Did you propose this, when you contemplated the book, and wrote such passages as in p. xvii, '' I became so con- vinced of the unhistorical character of very considerable portions of the Mosaic narrative ?" I use the word unhistorical rather than fictitious, (evidently implying that such ivas your estimate of them, J as you plainly state in p. viii, " I did myself believe which I knew to be untrue. In fact, T had no longer any doubt, former misgivings had been changed to certainties."

Having arrived at this conclusion, I ask what was your duty, duty to God as the God of truth, duty to the Church, and to the society whose representative you professed to be; yea more, your duty as an

70 LETTEE IV.

Englishman to exhibit that fearless love of truth to which you refer as above quoted ? What could justify your remaining in a Church whose very foundation you felt to be based upon what you proscribe as fiction or falsehood. Yet it appears that week after week (with these certainties, as you aver) you stood before the con- gregation in the house of God, you read these records, you presented them as truth to their understandings, and for their adoption as the "Word of God, and en- forced it with your high authority as a Christian bishop. Your only position in the Church there being to teach, inculcate, enforce, and present the Bible to them for their implicit belief, example, and guide to G^Dd.

It would appear that this plain and evident rule of duty to resign your charge presented itself to your own mind ; but in p. xi you seek an apology for a directly opposite line of conduct ; the consequences were taken into the account, and you say, ** How dreadful would be the wrench, to be torn from all that one has loved and revered, by going out of the Church." Permit me to ask, What have you in common with the Church now ? You have tried to undermine her very foundation, by attempting to deny the truth of God's Word, on which she is based. You are aware that her motto is, " The Bible, and the Bible alone, is the religion of Protes- tants," as declared by one of her bishops. How dif- ferent, at what antipodes, from the Bishop of Natal. She professes to be built upon " the foundation of the prophets and apostles, (as revealed in the Bible) Jesus Christ Himself being the chief corner stone,"

LETTER IV. 71

(Ephes. ii, 20.) All of which is, I believe, repudiated in your book.

Again, what have you now in common with the Church? You repudiate her authority, and set at nought her laws, as set forth in her Articles; and in your book you call upon and invite others to do the same. She recognises none as her ministers who do not believe fully and conscientiously ''unfeignedly believe all the canonical Scriptures of the Old and Kew Testa- ment," (What is your declaration on this fundamental article of her faith? ** which, with the evidence now before me, it is impossible wholly to believe in," (p. xii.) Then, Sir, your duty is plain — go out of her; by remaining in, and assuming her titles and authority, you are not acting fairly to her or yourself. Be honest ! and let us at least respect your integrity, if we cannot esteem your judgment or consistency. What have you now in common with the Church or her Liturgy ? all of which is based upon the incarnation, atonement, and intercession of the Saviour, which you plainly repudiate. How could you use her collects, and especially that for the Second Sunday in Advent? ''Blessed Lord, who has caused all holy Scriptures to be written for our learning, grant that we may in such wise hear them, read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest them, that by patience and comfort of thy holy word, we may em- brace and ever hold fast the blessed hope of everlasting life, which thou hast given us in our Saviour Jesus Christ." Amen. Witli what feelings could you repeat this collect with your worse than Arian sentiments, as

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72 LETTER lY.

exhibited by you in p. xxxi. And with these senti- ments, how could you join in that sublime, holy, and rapturous burst of Christian faith in, and worship offered to, the Blessed Redeemer in the Te Deum and the Gloria Patri? Again, as to the Creeds of the Church. You are equally opposed to them, in which He is wor- shipped "as God of God, light of light, very God of very God, begotten not made, being of one substance with the Father; by whom all things were made; who for us men and our salvation came down from heaven, and was incarnate by the Holy Ghost, of the Virgin Mary, and was crucified also for us," &c. So also in her Communion Service, the atonement, the one obla- tion, is ever kept in prominent pre-eminence.

And now permit me to ask, what have you now to do with those great fundamental truths of Scripture and our church? You hold up in your book, and present as the object of our trust and worship, A God. But not, I boldly state, the God of the New Testa- ment. You say God is, and is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him. This is a truth, a glorious truth, but not the whole truth. The Infinite and Eternal has prescribed the way in which He is ac- cessible to His creatures, and the terms and conditions upon which He will accept their services, hear their supplications, and bestow His answers. Whatever God commands must be right, whatever He requires must be best for man. He has revealed His will, and prescribed the medium for man's return to him. He is only re- vealed to us as a prayer-hearing and answering Father,

LETTER IV. 73

in and through an intercessor ; that intercessor He has provided, His Son, His only Son, and is only accessible to man as a sinner through Him. The Elessed Re- deemer has declared, " I am the way, the truth, and the life." The God of the New Testament is God reconciled to man in Christ. (2 Cor. v, 19.)

Again, Sir, I press the question, what have you in common with our Church on these all important truths ? How can you offer up the prayers of the Church for a blessing on the labours of her bishops and curates ? all of whom are wrong, if you are right ; or how can you read the appointed lessons ? all of which are taken from that Bible whose veracity you impugn, whose inspira- tion you deny, whose authority in articles of faith you ignore. You, Sir, claiming to be a Christian bishop, have published a book on theology, of nearly two hun- dred pages, and in it, I believe, the Saviour is only twice incidentally mentioned, and that in a way and manner which has made almost every real Christian reader shudder and recoil. How must the lofty, the ecstatic language of St. Paul, when speaking of redemp- tion through the blood of atonement, and the rapturous bursts of impassioned feeling with which he always introduced the name of the ever-blessed Redeemer in his epistles; how must they have frozen on the lips, and faltered on the tongue of him who could gravely, calmly pen such statements as you have done, in pages XXX, xxxi !

I now proceed to the consideration of what, in my mind, is the most awful, to yon, the most important,

74 LETTER IV.

part of 3'our book. In all the other parts it is opinion, it is speculation; but here, as you state, "the sacred ark is brought into the battle field;" (yea more, Sir, Christianity itself is brought by you into the battle field;) and state that, not only the truth of the Pentateuch, but that the Old Testament and the 'New are to be the subjects of your animadversions, and that on them you are preparing to pass a judgment.

You anticipate an objection to your hypothesis. '* On one point, however, it may be well to make here a few observations. There may be £ome who will say that such words as those in John vi, 46, 47 Luke xx, 27; Luke xvi, 29, are at once decisive upon the point of Moses' authorship of the Pentateuch, since they imply that our Lord himself believed in it ; and consequently to assert that Moses did not write these books, would be to contradict the words of Christ, and to impugn his veracity." Unquestionably they will ! But, Sir, in limine, T take objection to this statement. It is false ! You imply, "there may he some;" there are thousands and tens of thousands who are prepared to assert this truth. Again, Sir, we, the Protestant Church, do not " imply," we do assert it as a truth, which I trust I have demonstrated in my second letter. You, yourself feel the force of the argument against you, which is derived therefrom, and endeavour, but vainly, (and that at an expense of integrity and character, at which you may and ought to tremble,) to vitiate it.

In this investigation, I ask you, Sir, why were those three passages of the Saviour's testimony to Moses and

LETTER lY. 75

his writings only brought out? "Why wore such passages as the following, all bearing the same testi- mony, suppressed? Matt, viii, 4, "And Jesus said unto him, go thy way, shew thyself to the priest, and offer the gift that Moses commanded;" (here is the express testimony of the Saviour to the authority of Moses.) xix, 7, 8, "They say unto him, Why did Moses then command to give a writing of divorcement ? He (Jesus) saith unto them, Moses because of the hardness of your hearts suffered you." xxiii, 2, "Then spake Jesus, The scribes and Pharisees sit in Moses' seat: all therefore whatsoever they bid you observe-, that observe and do." Luke xxiv, 27, "And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself;" (an important passage, proving from the testimony of the blessed Redeemer, the truth which I am contending for, that the Bible is one and entire.) John iii, 14, "And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up;" V, 45, ** There is one that accuseth you, even Moses. Por had ye believed Moses, ye would have believed me." vii, 19, "Did not Moses give you the law?" 22, "Moses therefore gave you circumcision. 23, Man on the sabbath receive circumcision, that the law of Moses should not be broken." viii, 5, "Now Moses in the law commanded that such should be stoned." Here are four times as many direct appeals to Moses by name, and to his authority as the law- giver; than you have quoted. Out of fifteen direct

76 LETTER IV.

appeals by the Saviour to the Jews, in proof of the law and authority of Moses ; you have, when professing to give that authority, suppressed twelve. I ask you, Sir, is this honest in a matter of such infinite importance, thus to conceal evidence by a garbling of the truth?

Again, Sir, why were all those numerous instances in which the Saviour confirms the authority of the laws of Moses in the Pentateuch, by his immediate allusions to them, as known by the Jews to have been the writings of Moses, but does not mention his name, knowing that his hearers were at one with him as to their author ? and this not an occasional or inci- dental matter. I have now before me more than thirty such instances taken from the gospels. I shall not quote them. Take one or two as a specimen of the rest. Matt, v, 17. He addresses the multitude. ** Think not that I am come to destroy the law and the prophets, I am not come to destroy but to fulfil. For verily I say unto you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled." See also verses 21, 27, 33, and 39, in the same sermon ; indeed the instances are so con- stant and numerous, the applications so direct, as to prove them to have been the enunciation of a settled principle in the mind of the speakers. See chap. X, 15; xi, 24; xv, 4; xix, 4, 17; xxii, 24, 37; xxiii, 20 ; xxvi, 2 ; John v, 39, 47 ; vii, 8 ; viii, 6, 39 ; x, 34. Thus, Sir, it will be seen that instead of three instances as you have quoted, of the Saviour's testi-

LETTER IV. 77

mony to tlie writings of Moses, there are upwards of forty which might be quoted.

Again, why was the personal testimony which the Saviour evinced to the ceremonial laws, and other insti- tutions of Moses as set forth in the Pentateuch, oblit- erated and passed over ? Such as his obedience to the sabbath, his attendance on the services of the temple, his presence at the feast of tabernacles, his keeping the passover, his recognition of the authority of the priests, and inculcation of obedience thereto from the people. He by His obedience to them gave the strongest, even living testimony to their truth. Taking the aggregate of the testimony thus borne by these three sources of evidence, we have upwards of sixty positive, direct, and indisputable testimonies to the writings of Moses, derived from the authority, the declarations, and con- duct of the blessed Redeemer in relation thereto.

Again, I ask you, Sir, is such conduct fair ? is it honest r A witness to be believed, must state not only the truth, but the whole truth, the suppressio veri is as disgraceful as the assertio falsi, the object you proposed to yourself in this suppression leaks out in your first objection. '' Such words as the above, if understood in their most literal sense, can only be supposed, at all events, to apply to certain parts of the Pentateuch," — certainly so, but apply this same principle to all the passages and conduct above referred to, and then what a mass, a consecutive mass of evidence we have for the truths of the whole.

But, Sir, appalling as to every honest mind is the

78

LETTER IV.

above attempt to delude those who have not the incli- nation, or the opportunity to examine for themselves, the next attempt you make is, to my mind, infinitely more so ; in the quotations you have made from the Saviour's words, as connected with the purpose for which you there introduce them, *'to invalidate His testimony to the truth of the Pentateuch." How important that testimony, even to your own mind, is evident from your conduct, both in the suppression, on the one hand, and the awful attempt to invalidate it on the other, as in p. xxxi. " Our Lord did but accom- modate His words to the current popular language of the day, as when He speaks of God's making His sun to rise, &c." Matt, v, 45. "Was not this truth? Is it not so now? Does not the sun rise upon us each morning, and set behind our western hills each return- ing evening? And then, Sir, you write what every devout mind must blush to read, speaking of Him " in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and know- ledge." You say, ''It is not supposed, that in His human nature He was acquainted more than any educated Jew of the age with the mysteries of all modern sciences." I presume, Sir, that you have heard in our country of the Astronomer Royal, and his assist- ants, by whom our nautical ephemerises and almanacs are calculated three years in advance, and with such accuracy that a difference of a second of time in the occur- rence of an eclipse is never known. I presume that they, at least even you will admit, are adepts tolerably well acquainted with the science of astronomy. What is

LETTER TV. 79

their testimony to this fact? In 10,000 instances every year they print and publish the time when the "sun rise, and the time when the sun sets to us."

Again, Sir, you quote as another instance of that want of knowledge which you unblushingly charge the blessed Saviour with, (Matt, xxiv, 29,) ''Of the stars falling from heaven," as a fact. This Sir, proves one of two things on your part, either wilful perversion, or a gross ignorance of Biblical knowledge. I would ask you, Sir, where the stars could fall from, or where could they fall to ? The smallest would crush our earth to atoms : and in what portion of space could they find a resting-place ? You know, or ought to know, that the sun, moon, and stars, when applied to prophetic events, are used as symbols of the ruling powers of states and kingdoms. I presume you have heard of such men as Sir Isaac !N'ewton, Joseph Mede, Yitringa, Gill, Bishop I^ewton, Parkhurst, Frere, Boothroyd, Lowman, and other Biblical scholars, who all adopt the views above. (Whitby on the passage thus comments : " All the governments, both in church and state shall be overthrown.") All of whom adopt this principle, and it is the only true mode of Scripture interpretation. Besides the whole context proves the fallacy of your attempt. The blessed Eedeemer is portraying the dissolution of the Jewish polity, and the events to transpire on this earth at His second advent ; and He closes the verse with these words ; "And the powers of the heavens shall be shaken.'' How could any event on earth shake the powers of

80 LETTER IV.

heaven ? Literally the whole context proves the folly and fallacy of your object. So, Sir, "Lazarus being carried into Abraham's bosom." Every Sunday School scholar knows that this was ''a parable," the mode adopted by the great Teacher in His boundless wisdom to convey to the minds and hearts of His hearers, great and important truths in such a manner as was calcu- lated to inform their judgments, and influence their lives and conduct. To take this, as an evidence of want of enlarged comprehension, or of limited powers of mind in the Saviour, (the purpose for which you have introduced it,) is only another proof of the low and totally false estimate which you have suffered your hostility to the Bible to engender in your feelings towards the Saviour himself.

Nor is your fourth quotation as to " the woman with a spirit of infirmity," one atom more to your advantage, either as to your candour, or to the enforcement of your argument against the Saviour's testimony. You must have known, that while there have been some few objectors to the doctrine of Demoniacal possessions of the human bodies in those days, there is an array of Biblical scholars and critics of the highest orders, who hold to the truth of Scripture on that subject. Among them stand most of the Christian fathers — Archbishop Newcome, Bp. Newton, Macnight, Whitby, Doddridge, (who refers to the authority of Howe and Wolfius,) Archdeacon Pott, Jortin, Campbell, and most of that long catalogue of Biblical writers before enumerated.

For the satisfaction of the reader I would add, there

LETTEE IV. 81

are two arguments to ray mind conclusive on this subject. The one derived from the Saviour's address- ing them, as in Mark i, 22 ; ix, 25 ; v, 8 ; Luke iv, 35, «S:c. The other, that they are represented as having addressed the Saviour, and performed actions in His presence, as in Matt, viii, 29 : Mark i, 24 ; v, 7 ; Luke iv, 34—41 ; viii, 28.

Having thus disposed of these eviilences adduced by you to establish your proposition, " That it is not to be supposed that, in His human nature, He was acquainted more than any other educated Jew of the age, with the mysteries of all modern science," I now proceed to the examination of another of your statements, equally unscriptural ; at entire variance with the truth ; and manifesting to my mind a degree of hostility to the ever-blessed Redeemer, surpassing any, with which I have ever come in contact.

You write "Lastly, it is perfectly consistent with the most entire and sincere belief in Our Lord's divinity, to hold as many do, that when He vouchsafed to become * A Son of man,' He took our nature fully, and voluntarily entered into all the conditions of humanity."

And here. Sir, we have another instance of your mis- quotation of the Scripture. "A Son of man," you give this as a quotation. I am not aware that such a passage is to be found in the Bible, respecting the Saviour; it was predicted of Him, that He should become " The Son of man," by pre-eminence and dis- tinction, above, and apart from all others. This

02 LETTER IV.

designation He assumed, and constantly used, and that in immediate connection with His essential Deity. In His conversation with Kicodemus He says, *'He that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven." This appellation, " The Son of man," is used by Him, and ascribed to Him, about forty times in the Gospels.

I now. Sir, turn to your belief, that, *' He took our nature fully, and voluntarily entered into all the con- conditions of humanity." Of course you mean by this, that He took our fallen sinful nature — which I at once deny, not only as being contrary to the whole tenor of Scripture ; but also as a fact. If He took fallen nature, what need of the miraculous conception ? The angelic message to the Virgin mother is in direct contradiction of your assumption.

''The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee ; therefore that Holy thing which shall be born of thee, shall be called the Son of God." And mark, " It is the Holy thing," that was to be born of her which was to be called " The Son of God." Here then is " The fact." What is the Scripture testimony, He was to be the '' woman's seed?" I am aware it is said, ''God sent his son in the likeness of sinful flesh, but likeness does not imply identity." God said (Gen. i, 26,) " let us make man alter our likeness," where there could be no identity. I now proceed to examine the Scripture testimony on this important subject: Heb. iv, 15, "Tor we have not an High priest which cannot be

LETTEE IT. 83

touched with the feeling of our infirmities ; but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin." 2 Cor. V, 21, *'He made Him to be sin, (a sin offering) who knew no sin ; that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him." Heb. vii, 26, ** For such an high priest became us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, and separate from sinners." Acts iv, 27, 'Tor of a truth against thy holy child Jesus, whom thou hast anointed, both Herod, and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles, and the people of Israel, were gathered together." So the beloved desciple, 1 John ii, 1, '*If any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous." So John iii, 5, "In him was no sin," To the same purport, 1 Peter i, 19, **Ye were redeemed with the precious blood of Christ, as of a Lamb without blemish and without spot." So also 1 Tim. iii, 16, "And without controversy, great is the mystery of godliness, God was manifest in the flesh." The blessed Redeemer could say, "The prince of this world cometh and hath nothing in me," and in all the dignity and consciousness of inherent holiness, could challenge his bitterest enemies, "Which of you convinceth me of sin?" And if men calling themselves Christians will yet dare to deny this important truth of our holy re- ligion, let them blush and learn the truth from the testimony of fallen angels. Mark i, 24, " The unclean spirit cried out saying, let us alone ; what have we to do with thee, thou Jesus of Nazareth ? art thou come to destroy us ? I know thee who thou art, the Holy one of God."

84 LETTEE IV.

Neither, Sir, will your quotation from Luke xi, 52, help you one atom, it is only another proof of your inveterate hostility and of unwise assumption on your part : that passage alone relates to the body which was hereafter to become the tabernacle of the indwelling Deity. What had that to do with the passages which you had quoted and was now trying to impair ? It is not connected in any way with the question at issue, which is the Saviour's inherent knowledge of all things which was exhibited, manifested, and demonstrated by Him during the period of His ministry on earth. Every passage I have quoted, including the three quoted by you, refer to Him, as His declarations made between the time of His baptism by John, and entrance on His mission, and the period of it on earth at the ascension. And in reply to your infidel question, " Why should it be thought that He would speak with certain divine knowledge on this matter ?" (the Penta- teuch,) my answer is, because an inspired apostle has declared. Col. ii, 3, " That in him are hid all the .treasures of wisdom and knowledge," and that He needed not that any should testify to Him, for He knew what was in man.

In conclusion, on this, and in answer to every cavil or objection, I solicit your attention to one more passage of Holy "Writ of the very highest importance, and taken from that portion of God's word which is identi- fied with the Pentateuch more than any other, and whicli must stand or fall with it, and of which it is the witness, the commmentator, and infallible testi-

LETTER IV. 85

rnony. Hob. i, 1, "God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in times past unto the fathers by the prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son."

And lest it should be thought that by this act of humiliation, and assuming our nature, the Essential Deity, the Eternal Power and Godhead, should be impaired, it is added, **And when he bringeth in the First Begotten into the world, he saith. And let all the angels of God worship him." To whom, I ask, could the worship and service of angelic hosts, all the angelic hosts be due, but unto God alone? Here, then, the highest acts of obedience, worship, and adoration of angelic hosts are confirmed to Him while on earth. Then comes the important inquiry, was this service given Him on earth ? What are the facts recorded on this subject? An angel announced His miraculous conception to the doubtful and agitated Virgin mother that was to be — an angel calmed the perturbed mind of the betrothed Joseph — an angel announced the birth to the watching shepherds in the fields of Bethlehem, and as if the honor of making such an announcement was too great for an individual member of their hie- rarchy, '' A multitude of the heavenly host come down and echo the glorious advent, and re-echo it from earth to heaven," — an angel warns Joseph to go to Egypt, and also when to return ; immediately after the tempta- tion in the wilderness, the angels attendant were there to minister to Him ; that they constantly attended Him while on earth may not be doubted. The great enemy

86 LETTER IV.

was aware of this decree of heaven, and reminded Him, *' that it was written. He shall give his angels charge concerning thee, to keep thee in all thy ways, lest at anj^ time thou dash thy foot against a stone." This is further proved from the Saviour's reply to His disciples, (Matt, xxvi, 53.) ^'Thinkest thou that I cannot now pray to my Father, and he shall presently give me more than twelve legions of angels." So the angel at the sepulchre reminded the disciples of what Jesus had before said unto them, (Mark xvi, 7.) After the agony in the garden, the angels were there to succour the exhausted human nature; and when the third, the appointed morn was come, ere the day had dawned, the angel was there to strike terror into the Eoman guard, and roll away the stone, that the sleeping conqueror might arise and leave the tomb, which two angels then take possession of, and wait the arrival of the women to proclaim the wondrous news, "He is not here, he is risen." So they attended on the morning of the ascension, testified the fact to the astonished disciples, and announced His second advent. And does your scepticism still doubt? and ask, why was all this? Turn again to the declaration in the same Scripture, and then the mystery is revealed ; it is because, " He was the brightness of the Father's

GLORY, AND THE EXPRESS IMAGE OF HIS PERSON, and

upholding all things by the word of His power."

Such is the dignity of that glorious being whom we, with angels, worship and adore, " as our Lord and our God;" but whom you, professing to be a Christian

LETTER IV. 87

bishop, have most studiously endeavoured (p. xxxi,) to exhibit in such a light, as to ignore the testimony borne by Him to the Pentateuch ; and of which testi- mony you have only presented a m agre and shallow portion. Of twelve direct references to Moses and his writings by name, you have selected three; and lest these should carry the conviction they ought as from the Saviour, you unblushingly, unhesitatingly, represent Him as unworthy of credit, either from the falsehood of passages you quote for that purpose, or from that ignorance of science which you impute to Rim; and place Him, as to intellectual knowledge, on a par with the benighted Jews of that day; accusing Him of want of scientific knowledge, of whom it is declared by the evangelist, ''That all things were made by him; that in him was life ; and that life was the light of men." While an apostle, speaking of the same glorious being, declares, " That all things that are in heaven and earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers : all things were created by him, and for him ; and by him all things consist." (Col. i, 15, 16.) I have quoted these passages in addition to that important passage above, from the epistle to the Hebrews, to shew that the essential deity of the Saviour, is one of those truths in which we have continued and reiterated evidence in the Isew Testament, as well as in the Old.

There yet remains another subject to which I claim the right to challenge your attention ; and that is, the totally anti- Christian theology you attempt to substitute

G 2

88 LETTEE IV.

for the doctrines of Christianity, in page 12. You say, " our belief in the living God remains as sure as ever, though not the Pentateuch only, but the whole Bible, was removed." Where, Sir, did you derive your know- ledge of the living God from, if not from the Bible ? Are you inherently wiser, more enlightened, or deeply versed in knowledge, than were Socrates, Plato, Aris- totle, and those Grecian sages, whose works and researches stand in competition with those of modern times (apart from the teachings of the Bible;) and what were the result of all their philosophy and researches, but a living comment upon, and practical demonstration of the apostle's declaration ? '* The world by wisdom knew not God." You speak, too, of belief and faith. AVhat is faith in God ? The belief in and of God's Word, and obedience thereto. And what is the sum and substance of the Bible ? It is the revelation of Jesus Christ. It is declared, " the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy." "To him gave all the prophets witness." The cross of Christ is the culminating centre of the whole.

Now, Sir, I draw these remarks to a close. There is only one more subject to which I now direct your attention ; and that is one of those flippant assumptions which you seem to claim a right to make on these sacred subjects; but which is perfectly in order, and consistent with your views. ISTot with standing your denunciations against the Pentateuch and the Bib^e, it is quite evident you feel that even your views cannot stand with the truth of God's Word, page 12. The

LETTER IV. 89

light of God's love did not shine less truly on pious minds, when ' Enoch wrdked with God,' of old, though there was then no Bible in existence, than it docs now." Strange infatuation. You adopt a fact only revealed in the Bible; and at the same time assert there was then no Bible in existence. Here, Sir, is another of those assumptions in which you base your cavils and objections to the Word of God. How do you know that there was no Bible? ISTo revelation from God in that day. It is evident, from the apostle Jude, that in his day there was existent in the Church a prediction of Enoch's as to the Lord's second coming. I deny your assumption ! It is the result of inveterate preju- dice against the Bible.

I believe that the all- wise Author of our being did give a revelation of His will to His creatures for their faith, guidance, and obedience in every dispensation, whether antediluvian, patriarchal, levitical, prophetic, or Christian; intimations of which are still on record in the Sacred Books. It is presuming too much to suppose that the antediluvian had no revelation from God, because we are not acquainted with it. God in His word has given to us all that is necessary for us to believe; such in His infinite wisdom was His usual mode to His creatures. In creation we learn that He made the stars, which we see, but as to what they are, or what purposes they fulfil in the universe, we are kept in the dark. The birth of the Blessed Saviour is revealed to us ; but of the thirty years of his life prior to his manifestation to the Jews, with two exceptions,

90 LETTER IV.

and those relating to his youth, revelation is silent. "We have in the Scriptures all that is necessary for our faith and salvation ; but it is no where said or implied that this is and has been God's only revelation to man; indeed the reverse appears to be the fact ; in addition to the quotation above, as to the prediction of Enoch, I invite attention to the following instances as confirma- tory of my hypothesis on this subject.

Job vi, 10. ''Then should I yet have comfort, for

1 have not concealed the words of the Holy One." Matt, ii, 23. " That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophets, he shall be called a Nazarine ; ' ' this prediction is no where handed down to us. So Acts XX, 35, " Eemember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he said, it is more blessed to give than to receive;" these words are no where recorded in the gospels. John vii, 38, "He that believeth on me, as the Scrip- ture has said, &c;" an inference from the whole of the gospels, rather than an application of any specific text. 1 Tim. i, 18, " This charge I commit unto thee, son Timothy, according to the prophecies which went before on thee;" these are no where given to us.

2 Tim. iii, 8, " Kow as Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses, &c. ;" here is a demonstrative proof that in the apostles' times they had records connected with the Pentateuch which are not handed down to us. ( What a signal though iiicidental proof of the veracity of their testimony to the truth of it. J Again, James iv, 8, "Do you think the Scripture saith in vain. The Spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy; " the origin of this has

LETTEE IV. 91

not been handed do^yn to us : so also we have no other record of Heb. xi, 24, "By faith Moses, when he came to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter." In the historic books of the Old Testa- ment we have many references to books of historic events connected with those there recorded, but to which we have no means of referring now : as the book of Jasher, Josh, x, 13 ; 1 Sam. x, 25; the book of the Acts of Solomon, 1 Kings xi, 45 ; the book of the Kings of Israel and Judab, 1 Chron. ix, 1 ; the books of Nathan the Prophet, and in the book of Gad the Seer, 1 Chron. xxix, 29, where they are associated with the book of Samuel, the only one of the whole which has come down to us. We also read of the prophecy of Ahijah the Shilonite, and the visions of Iddo the Seer, so of the book of Jehu the son of Hanani. JN'one of these now exist ; all that is of importance and essential to the dispensation under which we live, have been miraculously preserved to us ; and it is quite possible, and more than probable, that had we access to all that was written respecting the events in the Pentateuch, every doubt and difficulty would be removed. Let it ever be remembered, that over all God's dealings and dispensations with man is written — ** Secret things be- long to God; things that are revealed, to us and our children."

In conclusion, allow me to ask you a practical question. Have you ever read in the historic annals of nations, or in the biographical records of individuals, of one single instance in which an individual on his

92 LETTEE IT.

death bed (where all is real, where all is solemn) ex- pressed his regret in his having believed the Bible as it is, and received it as the AVord of God, as God's revelation, and His only revelation of His mercy to man as a fallen creature, a sinner? Could such an instance be found, which I believe could not, contrast it with the thousands of thousands, including apostles, martyrs, reformers, confessors, clergy, and laity, who in their dying moments bore rich and ample testimony to its sacred contents, and in faith of the Blessed Redeemer therein held forth as its Alpha and Omega, and in anticipation of the realization of His promises, could rejoice in hope of the glory to be revealed, and exultingly with the apostle say, '' I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course ; I have kept the faith, henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteous- ness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give to me at that day."

I am, Sir, &c.,

J. H. M.

FLETCHER, PRINTER, NORWICH.

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