Five Pebbles from the BrookEnglish, George Bethune
Religion
Five Pebbles from the Brook
English, George Bethune
Everett, Edward, 1794-1865. Defence of Christianity; Rationalism
[fn51 Mr. Everett in his zeal to catch me at a fault with regard to
this prophecy of Isaiah, has himself stumbled and fallen. I had
maintained in my first work, in reference to this passage, that of
the subject of this prophecy it is; said, "He shall see his seed and
shall prolong his days," and that therefore it could not relate to
Jesus who had no posterity. Mr. Everett in his remarks upon this
p. 147 of his work, spiritualises the word "seed," and says it
relates to the church, and he exclaims against me as follows, p.
147. "What indolent carelessness it is to say that the word seed
shall not be spiritualized here, when the very next verse says, he
shall see the travail of his soul." "What poor mortals we are," says
Sir Hugh! If Mr. Everett will look at the Hebrew, he will find that
the "indolent carelessness" he speaks of, was not mine but his; for
the Hebrew word translated travail, has no reference whatever to
childbearing, but signifies fearful toil, or painful distress. The
English word travail, in the time of the translators of the Bible had
this signification. They have employed it in this signification in the
passages following: "And Moses told his father-in-law all that the
Lord had done unto Pharoah and to the Egyptians for Israel's
sake, and all the travail that had come upon them by the way." Ex.
ch. xviii. 8. Again, "this sore travail hath God given to the sons of
men to be exercised therewith." Eccles. i. 13. As Mr. Everett says,
p.114 of his work, "It is good to be positive but better to be correct;
and the reader I doubt not will agree with me, that such
dogmatical blundering as this is prevent-. ed from being offensive
only as it is ludicrous."]
[fn52 The prophet represents here, that Israel should be to the
nations what Aaron was to the Jews. Aaron was considered as
bearing away the sins of the Jews on the day of atonement. "Ye
shall be named the priests of Jehovah, and in men shall call you
the ministers of our God." Is. ch. lxi. 6.]
[fn53 Have their complaints been "fiercer" than the flames of the
piles of Madrid, Lisbon, Paris, Italy, Germany, and England, in
which thousands of them have been burnt to ashes? For shame!
Mr. Everett. The recording angel may drop a tear upon what you
have written, not to blot it out, but in compassion for the miseries
for which you seem to think words of "complaint" are an
equivalent.]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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