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lamentation, and bitter weeping: Rachel weeping for her children, refused to be comforted for her children, because they were not. Thus saith the Lord, refrain thy voice from weeping and thine eyes from tears; for thy work shall be rewarded saith the Lord; and they shall come again from the land of the enemy. And there is hope in thine end, saith the Lord, that thy children shall come again to their own border.94" These are the words of Jeremiah, which Matthew has selected to make of them a prophecy, for Herod's slaughter! But this prophecy, like the last, needs only comparing with the transaction, to discover the imposition. How could those children, whom Herod is said to have slain, come back again to their own border, from the land of the enemy? It is evident that Jeremiah thought nothing of Herod, or Jesus either, having enough to do to think of his own captivity. He therefore endeavoured to comfort the people by assuring them that the Lord would redeem them from captivity, and bring them again into their own land. Surely this prophecy would have applied much better to England in the last war, than to any massacre in Judea; when many Rachels were weeping for their children, who were then taken prisoners, but have since returned to their own border, from the land of the enemy.

Verse 22. "But when he heard that Archelaus did reign in Judea, in the room of his father Herod, he was afraid to go thither; notwithstanding being warned of God in a dream, he turned aside into the parts of Galilee."

By this verse, it appears that Joseph had some

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doubts of the providential care of his nocturnal visitor ; else he had not sufficient faith in his own dreams. the christian religion is entirely founded upon this dreamer of dreams!

Verse 23. "And he came and dwelt in a city called Nazareth; that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophets, he shall be called a Nazarene."

Was there ever such a bare-faced imposition as this? Matthew would persuade us now, that the announcement

of Samson by the bible-angel, applied to Jesus; there being no other passage which bears the least resemblance throughout the writings of all the prophets, but this one in the book of Judges, (xiii. 5,) wherein the angel is said to have appeared to the wife of Manoah; who, after giving her instructions, as to the manner in which the child should be brought up; says for "the child shall be a Nazarite unto God, from the womb." Oh! Doctor, come out from among them; shake off the dust from your feet at them, and enter the land of liberty. Do. strive to enter the straight gate of wisdom and truth, for few there be that find it! Now if thou put the brethren in mind of these things, and study to shew thyself a workman, by rightly dividing the words of truth, thou need not be ashamed.95 For some there be, who profess that they know God, but in works they deny him; by giving heed to Jewish fables, and commandments of men, that turn from the truth.96 But verily I say unto you, they have their reward; like the prophets of old, they make a pretty penny by it. As Micah says, (iii. 11.) the priests teach for hire, and the prophets divine for money; which was exemplified by Elisha receiving, as one present only, forty camels' burden of every good thing in Damascus !97 it being customary for Kings and princes to hire these prophets to lead the people captive at their will. 98 Even a poor man who had lost his way, dare not ask a man of God, (Samuel) to set him right, without giving him a present.99 But be you not like unto them, and I shall remain, as usual,

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18 Isaiah xliv. 28

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63 Mark xvi. 15.

64 Luke xxi. 34.

65 1 Corinthians x. 11.
66 1 Thessaloniams iv. 15.
67 Hebrews x. 37.
68 Collossians i. 23.
69 Romans xvi. 26.
70 1 Peter iv. 7.
71 1 John ii. 18.

72 1 Corinthians ii. 14.
73 1 Timothy iii. 16.
74 Gallatians ii. 11.
75 Genesis iii. 19.

76 2 Thessalonians iii. 10.
77 Jeremiah xxix. 26.
78 2 Chronicles ix. 24.
79 Ecclesiastes vii. 7.
80 Proverbs xxix. 4.
81 Luke i. 3.

82 Leviticus xii. 2-4.
83 Luke ii. 22-41.
84 Hosea xii. 12-13.
85
xi. 1.
86 Jeremiah xxxi. 9.
87 Exodus iv. 22.

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LETTER V.

TO DR.
DR. ADAM
ADAM CLARKE.

THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST. MATTHEW.

CHAP. III.

Verse 1. "In those days came John the Baptist, preaching in the wilderness of Judea."

I cannot proceed further, without observing that this appears to me to be a strange sort of a place for a man to preach in; where we are told there were wild beasts, and nothing to feed upon but locusts and wild honey.' Few of our modern preachers, I believe, would submit to such fare!

Verse 2. "And saying, repent ye, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand."

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This we are informed was foretold one thousand eight hundred years back; yet we have since heard nothing of its accomplishment. If, as you say, this kingdom of heaven signifies the kingdom of God, which Paul described as righteousness, peace, and joy, in the Holy Ghost, you destroy its existence, as a substance, by reducing it to a figure as Jesus did, who compared it to a grain of mustard seed, a merchantman, a net, and various other things; which gives me reason to suspect, that he himself did not believe in the bible account of heavenmaking; especially as he never once alluded to that job!

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From the Bible we learn that this Heaven is not a

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figure, but a part and parcel" of the universe; as it is stated therein, that after the Bible God had divided the

light from the darkness, three days before either sui, moon, or stars, were made, he commanded a firmament to appear in the midst of the waters, and it was so! This firmament that was between the waters, he called Heaven; and the waters which were under, or below the heaven, so called, he named Seas.5

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The great Atlantic and Pacific Oceans being, I suppose, unknown to the Bible-God and his secretary; which is not to be wondered at, they being located in so small a portion of ground, at the extremity of the Meditteranian Sea; which, together with the Red Sea, were the only two principal seas that were known to them. But the waters which were above the firmament, or heaven, they have some how or other forgotten to name. However, we can learn from various passages in this book, that those unnamed waters above the firmament or heaven, were what were afterwards called clouds. For God tells Jeremiah, (xxiii. 24.) that he fills both heaven and earth; which Jeremiah laments by saying, thou hast covered thyself with a cloud; and this appears to have been his uniform livery; for when acting as outrider or guide to the Israelites, a cloud was his only covering. And further, to convince us that this heaven is placed beneath the clouds, we read that when God opened the windows of heaven, the waters, of which clouds are formed, came through, and covered the high hills that were under the whole heaven. Fifteen cubits upwards did the waters prevail, and the mountains were covered. That is, the mountains in their neighbourhood; it being evident that fifteen cubits of water could never cover such mountains as the Andes, in South America, and many others, which are in some places above ten thousand cubits in height. Neither would fifteen cubits of water cover the walls of Newgate: but I suppose that they had no Newgates in those days, else all flesh need not to have died!

So it appears that John was correct, when he said that this kingdom of heaven was at hand; for if this book is to be believed, the heaven spoken of, alluded to

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