am not on the present occasion concerned to explain it. It is quoted by you to prove, and it is the only instance you produce-that Isaiah was "a lying prophet and an impostor."-Now, I maintain, that this very instance proves that he was a true prophet, and no impostor. The history of the prophecy, as delivered in the seventh chapter, is this-Rezin king of Syria, and Pekah king of Israel, made war upon Ahaz king of Judah; not merely, or perhaps not at all, for the sake of plunder, or the conquest of territory, but with a declared purpose of making an entire revolution in the government of Judah; of destroying the royal house of David, and of placing another family on the throne. Their purpose is thus expressed- Let us go up against Judah, and vex it; and let us make a breach therein for us, and set a king in the midst of it, even the son of Tabeal."-Now, what did the Lord commission Isaiah to say to Ahaz? Did he commission him to say, the kings shall not vex thee? No.

The kings shall not conquer thee? No.-The kings shall not succeed against thee? No:-he commissioned him to say, "It (the purpose of the two kings) shall not stand, neither shall it come to pass. I demand-Did it stand? did it come to pass? Was any revolution effected? Was the royal house of David dethroned and destroyed? Was Tabeal ever made king of Judah? No: The prophecy was perfectly accomplished. You say-Instead of these two kings failing in their attempt against Ahaz, they succeeded: Ahaz was defeated and destroyed."-I deny the fact: Ahaz was defeated, but not destroyed; and even the two hundred thousand women, and sons and daughters," whom you represent as carried into captivity, were not carried into captivity: they were made captives, but they were not carried into captivity; for the chief men of Samaria, being admonished by a prophet, would not suffer Pekah to bring the captives into the land." They rose up, and took the captives, and with the spoil clothed all that were na

ked among them, and arrayed them, and shod them, and gave them to eat and to drink, and anointed them, and carried all the feeble among them upon asses (some humanity, you see, amongst those Israelites, whom you every where represent as barbarous brutes), and brought them to Jericho, the city of palm trees, to their brethren:" 2 Chron. xxviii. 15.-The kings did fail in their attempt: their attempt was to destroy the house of David, and to make a revolution; but they made no revolution: they did not destroy the house of David; for Ahaz slept with his fathers; and Hezekiah his son, of the house of David, reigned in his stead.

LETTER VI.

AFTER what I conceive to be a great misrepresentation of the character and conduct of Jeremiah, you bring forward an objection which Spinoza and others before you had much insisted upon, though it is an objection which neither affects the genuineness nor the authenticity of the book of Jeremiah, any more than the blunder of a bookbinder, in misplacing the sheets of your performance, would lessen its authority. The objection is, that the book of Jeremiah has been put together in a disordered state. It is acknowledged, that the order of time is not every where observed; but the cause of the confusion is not known. Some attribute it to Baruch collecting into one volume all the several prophecies which Jeremiah had written, and neglecting to put them in their proper places. Others think that the several parts of the work were at first properly arranged, but that, through accident, or the carelessness of transcribers, they were deranged. Others contend, that there is no confusion; that prophecy differs from history, in not being subject to an accurate observance of time and order. But, leaving

this matter to be settled by critical discussion, let us come to a matter of greater importance-to your charge against Jeremiah for his duplicity, and for his false prediction. First, as to his duplicity:

Jeremiah, on account of his having boldly predicted the destruction of Jerusalem, had been thrust into a miry dungeon by the princes of Judah, who sought his life: there he would have perished, had not one of the eunuchs taken compassion on him, and petitioned king Zedekiah in his favour, saying, "These men (the princes) have done evil in all that they have done to Jeremiah the prophet (no small testimony this of the probity of the prophet's character), whom they have cast into the dungeon, and he is like to die for hunger."-On this representation, Jeremiah was taken out of the dungeon by an order from the king, who soon afterwards sent privately for him, and desired him to conceal nothing from him, binding himself by an oath, that whatever might be the nature of his prophecy, he would not put him to death, or deliver him into the hands of the princes who sought his life. Jeremiah delivered to him the purpose of God respecting the fate of Jerusalem. The conference being ended, the king, anxious to perform his oath, to preserve the life of the prophet, dismissed him, say. ing, "Let no man know of these words, and thou shalt not die. But if the princes hear that I have talked with thee, and they come unto thee, and say unto thee, Declare unto us now what thou hast said unto the king, hide it not from us, and we will not put thee to death; also what the king said unto theethen thou shalt say unto them, I presented my supplication before the king, that he would not cause me to return to Jonathan's house to die there. Then came all the princes unto Jeremiah, and asked him, and he told them according to all these words that the king had commanded."-Thus, you remark, "this man of God, as he is called, could tell a lie, or very strongly prevaricate; for certainly he did not go to Zedekiah to

make his supplication, neither did he make it."-It is not said that he told the princes he went to make his supplication, but that he presented it. Now, it is said, in the preceding chapter, that he did make the supplication; and, it is probable, that in this conference he renewed it. But be that as it may, I contend that Jeremiah was not guilty of duplicity, or, in more intelligible terms, that he did not violate any law of nature, or of civil society, in what he did on this occasion. He told the truth, in part, to save his life; and he was under no obligation to tell the whole to men who were certainly his enemies, and no good subjects to his king." In a matter," says Puffendorff, which I am not obliged to declare to another, if I cannot with safety conceal the whole, I may fairly discover no more than a part.' Was Jeremiah under any obligation to declare to the princes what had passed in his conference with the king? You may as well say, that the House of Lords has a right to compel privy counsellors to reveal the king's secrets. The king cannot justly require a privy counsellor to tell a lie for him; but he may require him not to divulge his counsels to those who have no right to know them.-Now for the false prediction-I will give the description of it in your own words.

"In the 34th chapter is a prophecy of Jeremiah to Zedekiah, in these words, ver. 2.Thus saith the Lord, Behold, I will give this city into the hands of the king of Babylon, and he shall burn it with fire; and thou shalt not escape out of his hand, but thou shalt surely be taken, and delivered into his hand; and thine eyes shall behold the eyes of the king of Babylon, and he shall speak with thee mouth to mouth, and thou shalt go to Babylon.-Yet hear the word of the Lord, O Zedekiah, king of Judah; thus saith the Lord, Thou shalt not die by the sword, but thou shalt die in peace; and with the burnings of thy fathers, the former kings that were before thee, so shall they burn odours for thee, and will lament thee, saying, ah,

lord for I have pronounced the word, saith the Lord.'

"Now, instead of Zedekiah beholding the eyes of the king of Babylon, and speaking with him mouth to mouth, and dying in peace, and with the burnings of odours, as at the funeral of his fathers (as Jeremiah had declared the Lord himself had pronounced), the reverse, according to the 52d chapter, was the case; it is there stated, verse 10, That the king of Babylon slew the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes; then he put out the eyes of Zedekiah, and bound him in chains, and carried him to Babylon, and put him in prison till the day of his death.' What can we say of these prophets, but that they are impostors and liars?" I can say this-that the prophecy you have produced, was fulfilled in all its parts: and what then shall be said of those who call Jeremiah a liar and an impostor? Here then we are fairly at issue-you affirm that the prophecy was not fulfilled, and I affirm that it was fulfilled in all its parts. "I will give this city into the hands of the king of Babylon, and he shall burn it with fire," so says the prophet; what says the history? They (the forces of the king of Babylon) burnt the house of God, and brake down the walls of Jerusalem, and burnt all the palaces thereof with fire :" (2 Chron. xxxvi. 19.)- Thou shalt not escape out of his hand, but shalt surely be taken, and delivered into his hand;" so says the prophet; what says the history? "The men of war fled by night, and the king went the way towards the plain, and the army of the Chaldees pursued after the king, and overtook him in the plains of Jericho: and all his army were scattered from him; so they took the king, and brought him up to the king of Babylon, to Riblah" (2 Kings, xxv. 5.)-The prophet goes on, "Thine eyes shall behold the eyes of the king of Babylon, and he shall speak with thee mouth to mouth.” No pleasant circumstance this to Zedekiah, who had provoked the king of Babylon by revolting from him.!

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