might poffibly be taken as Divine Judgments upon that Generation of Men, were Punishments inflicted upon all the Individuals of It, and have found them, either not Univerfal, or not Univerfally Penal. The Difperfion appeared to be no Punishment to many of the Difperfed.-The Vagabond Condition affign'd by the ingenious Dedicator, as a Sentence of irremifable Infamy, If taken ftrictly, was the Portion of Few in Comparison, and feemed no more infamous to Jews, than to Chriftians; And to neither of Them, by any neceffary Confequence. If taken in a larger Signification, It then fell under the fame Predicament with the Difperfion The Brand or Mark of Diftinction vulgarly fuppofed to be impreffed by Providence, as a Means of expofing Thofe, who bore it, to publick Hatred, and Contempt, vanifhed upon a clofer Infpection. Or, if admitted to be real, was far from bringing that Difgrace upon All. I was therefore driven to this Conclufion, that the Punishment of the Jews for rejecting the Meffiah, was not, in truth, the Punishment of Particulars, as oppofed to the Community, because all Particulars did not appear to be punifhed; But General, and National only. That, which I have myself ventured to affign, as their Condemnation, H 2 is is indeed Univerfal, for All, without Exception, are excluded from the Holy Land, in the Senfe, wherein I understand Exclu fion; but All do not feel it as a real Suffering. For how is it poffible to conceive, that the Thousands of Ifrael, born in thefe diftant Countrys, and Ages, fhould fo bitterly lament, and fo painfully regret what they never experienced. Exclufion from Paradife was a true Pus nishment, and very dreadful Suffering to Adam. Amongst his Defcendents, after feveral Generations, a General Memory of it would be preserved: The Lofs might be ftill bewailed with Tears by Some, but by the Multitude would be felt only in it's Confequences; and That too, by Such of Them only, whom the Preffure of those Confequences immediately affected. I speak of Temporal Penalties. Eatings of their Bread in the Sweat of their Brow to the Men, and Pain in Childbearing to the Wo men, were general Sentences of Condemna tion, but were not however perfonally felt by Every Man, nor by Every Woman of Adam's Race; but by Such only, whom, for Reasons known to God alone, He was pleafed to fubject to thofe Sufferings. Still the Condemnation of Adam and Eve, to thefe Things, is called the Punishment of Mankind. One One may, I think, confider the prefent Cafe, not exactly, but in feveral Refpects, in the fame Light. And accordingly, with regard to the Separation of Jews from Jerufalem, Whatever Natural Calamities, Whatever Odium, and Contempt, and Perfecu tion, you will produce, as having fallen upon Thousands, and Ten Thousands of the Children of Ifrael, under that Separation: nay tho' you fhould fhew them to be Confequents of it, and to answer fpecifically to the Predictions of the Prophets; I may understand those feveral Evils to be Parcels of the General Vengeance, proportion'd by Him, who alone can adjuft fuch Propor tions, to the refpective Perfonal Guilt of Particulars, in regard to the Rejection of Chrift; and fo, fhould be under no Difficulty, upon Account of the Argument, in admitting them to be Part of the Sentence, and Condemnation abovemention'd, which will still remain the Same, that I have fuppofed it, viz. a Sentence and Condemnation, implying, and inflicting a General, and National only, not an Universal Punishment. Thefe Things however are but Excref cences of the Question in Debate, and, Whichever way understood, will decide Nothing as to That. I defire it may be remember'd that the only Point in which I am I am concerned with the Dedication, is This, Whether the Sentence of God upon the Jews, be, or be not, the Debarring the Particulars of their Nation an Entrance into the feveral Communities where they refide. I will conclude the whole with a short Addrefs to the Reader of thefe Remarks, if they should chance to have Any. It is to befpeak fo much of his Equity and Juftice, as that Nothing, which I have written upon this Subject, may be interpreted as bearing any relation to the Queftion in debate, confider'd in a Political Light. The Reafons for, or against Naturalization of Jews, which are purely Civil, fuch as the Expediency of the Measure with respect to Trade; the Danger, or Indifference of it, in other Temporal Views, to the Nation; I meddle not with. The Religious Part is the only One, in which I undertook to defend it. I did, and do wish to know the true Interpretation of the Prophecies, and in what the Execution of the Divine Sentence upon the Jews does confift, fince their Expulfion from the Land of Promise. I have confidered, as impartially as I am able, the Notions advanced by the very learned Dean, and do not, as yet, fee any Thing to oblige me to quit my own. |