if they can be fulfilled or understood in any sense, the prophets and writers keep their characters at the expence of God's, who by this means is represented prevaricating with mankind, by saying one thing, and meaning a different; or giving out his oracles in such dark enigma's, that neither Speakers nor hearers know what is meant, nor have any certain rule to direct them what is their proper meaning. To all rational minds it is apparent, that they who go beyond things natural and moral, go beyond their senses. This spiritual sense, which is above the capacity of the natural man, is the all confounding sense of The reasonable relish of things, spoils an enthusiasti

nature.

cal appetite.

If we consider the nature of such prophecy, as requires a spiritual or mystical interpretation, we shall find, that were the prophets honest men, they did not understand what they themselves meant; for they that are honest, will not speak so as to mislead and deceive their hearers. If they were not honest, they spoke one thing and meant another, whereby they that believed in them were deceived, and punished for being deceived; that is, for their faith and sincerity. So the Jews were deceived by their own Prophets? None could be more than they. They thought that believing their Prophets was faith in God; and this faith deceived them, and they are cast off for being deceived! Unhappy people! to be so made by their faith, by which they hope to be saved, as well as we! We plainly read, that the Prophets promised these people to send them a prince, who should deliver them out of the power of all their enemies, and make them everlastingly happy; no prophecy is more plain. The Jews believed that these Prophets were directed by God thus to speak; and they are deceived by thus believing in God: They could understand these prophecies no otherwise, than according to the obvious and natural sense of the words delivered. If they had put a different sense upon them, it would have been easily proved they had been to blame; but because they understood and believed as they thought in God by his Prophets, in the most apparent sense, he, as we may say, has forsaken them! This is a miserable reflection! If they are wrong in so believing, their Prophets were wrong in so deceiving them. If we ascribe it to God, it is fathering the deception and the design on him. Words that cannot be understood, are spoken to no purpose; they contain no revelation or prophecy: Or if there is any design or purpose by such utterance, it is a very deceitful one.

A.

BIBLE PROPHETS, &c.

WHAT confidence or trust ought to be reposed in the pro

phecies, will the more plainly appear, as the enquiry is the more soberly, or diligently made. By the understanding and conduct of the Prophets, the foundation of men's faith in them may be known.

The writer of the pentateuch tells us, that God bade Jacob go down into Egypt, and promised that he would certainly bring him up again; but he never returned again alive.

Elisha sent Hazael to Benhadad, with a lie in his mouth. Say unto him, (said the Prophet) thou may'st certainly recover, but he died; and to make the Prophet more knowing than honest, he is said to foreknow his death, and that Hazael would' take that opportunity to make himself King: And it is suspicious, that he as well had, as followed, the Prophet's advice, for his own advantage in deceiving Benhadad.

Huldah promised king Josiah in the word of the Lord, that he should die in peace; yet he died in war. Perhaps his faith in the Prophetess made him fool-hardy, which shews us the folly of confiding in prophecies.

When Hezekiah was sick, Isaiah told him, that he should surely die, and not live; but Hezekiah telling the Lord how good he had been, he so wrought upon the Lord, that he promised him, by Isaiah, fifteen years longer life; therefore it was not Hezekiah, but the Lord that repented and how can future events be foretold, when it may chance the Lord himself may change his mind.

A.

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PROSPECT,

OR

View of the Moral World,

BY ELIHU PALMER.

VOL. I.

SATURDAY, May 5th, 1804.

No. 22.

Comments upon the sacred writings of the Jews and Christians: Genesis, from chapter 37th. to the end of the Book.

THE thirty-eighth chapter contains nothing but a long story

about the prostituted Tamar, and her connection, with her father-in-law, together with some other indelicate remarks relative to the business of parturiation; whoever will take the trouble to read the chapter, will find out what sort of holy writ it is. Almost all the remaining part of the book of Genesis, is taken up with a minute account concerning Joseph's being sold into Egypt.-The interview which he afterwards had with his brethren and his father-the wonderful dreams of Pharaoh, with their interpretation-the famine which is said to have succeeded the speculations of Joseph, &c. &c. It is matter of extreme regret that internal evidence or that which flows from the very nature of a thing, does not make a deeper and more powerful impression upon the human mind; dreams, incoherent stories, and extravagancies, of every kind, are listened to with a zeal and avidity; destructive of all clear correct operations of intellect, and subversive of the just foundation of moral certainty. Historic details even when wild and extravagant, have something in them enchanting; men unaccustomed to Philosophic reflection are easily induced to yield a ready attention as marvellous and wonderful accounts. And in proportion to the times and places, when and where such things are said to have happened, are removed at a distance, they seem to assume a sacredness of character, and are covered all over with the incontrovertible glory of antiquity. Such is the fact in regard to this story of Joseph; it is a compound of the marvellous, the simple, the sympathetic and the deceptive. It has

been read in the christian world with universal applause; but it has never been analysed, or its true character exposed to hu man contemplation. Joseph it seems, who was an excellent Dreamer, and a still more excellent Interpreter of them, had offended his brethren, for which they conspired against his life, but afterward recinded their bloody resolution, and sold him to a travelling company of Ismealites, who again disposed of him for a servant in the land of Egypt. This Jewish slave, merely by the conjuring art of interpreting dreams, raised himself to a state of affluence, power and splendor under Pharaoh, then king of that country. The lascivious desires and intriguing conduct of Potipher's wife, had prepared for the hitherto ill-fated Joseph, scenes of fresh difficulty: his non-compliance with her amorous solicitations, had created in her bosom the rancorous sentiment of revenge. Joseph was thrown into Prison, from which however, his dream interpreting skill, procured an extrication. From this moment he became the rallying point of credulous fools, and the magicians of the country, were shorn in a great measure of their magical glories. Dreaming seems to have been the custom of those days, and the interpretation of dreams, a matter of vast importance. Pharaoh, like other foolish dreamers, wished that an explanation might be given to his dreams; Joseph was called upon for this purpose, and the royal dream was stated in this manner. And it came to pass at the end of two full years, that Pharaoh dreamed; and behold, he stood by the river. And, behold, there came up out of the ri ver seven well favored kine, and fat fleshed; and they fed in a

mead And, behold, seven other kine came up after them,

out of the river, ill favored and lean fleshed; and stood by the other kine, upon the brink of the river. And the ill favored, and the lean fleshed kine did eat up the seven well favored and fat fleshed kine; so Pharaoh awoke. (Genesis, chapter 41, verse 1st, &c.) This is one dream, and after this he took a nap and dreamed again in a similar manner, concerning seven full ears of Corn, &c. These dreams were interpreted by Joseph, to mean seven years of plenty, and seven years of famine. Ac cording to this explanation and as the story goes, Joseph set about the business of monopolising the produce of the country, and of preparing a scene of speculation and of despotic influence which terminated in extorting from the Egyptians all their money, all their cattle, and then followed the loss of their personal liberty. All this may be said was wise and benevo fent in Joseph; because without this arrangement the people must all have perished. If however, he was inspired by his

God with a foreknowledge of this wonderful long famine, would it not have been more honorable to him and the Deity whom he adored to have abstained from cruelty and extortion? but this Jewish God, had ways of working peculiar to himself, the propriety and justice of which, reason will never be able to discover; but faith can swallow down every thing, and some people imagine that the more absurd the thing believed is, the more merit there is in believing. Both the manner and the matter of this strange story of Joseph, stanip the whole business with fiction or with falshood. How can the dreams of an Egyptian monarch even if interpreted by a Jewish slave, be considered as divine revelation ? dreams are but an imperfect operation of the mind, wild, disordered, and full of absurdity; yet they are made means of communication between heaven and earth, and one half of the revelations of the world rest upon this baseless and miserable foundation. If God intended to reveal himself at all to man, he would employ some better method than that of a half sleeping and half waking imagination. As to the business of interpreting dreams, it is a mere conjuring trade; nothing but the most stupid credulity could inspire any confidence in the interpreter's skill. The book of Genesis, is a compound of fiction, fraud, murder, lies, theft, prostitution, and filthy stories; we look back upon it with disgust and detestation, and wonder at the religious prejudice and superstition that can receive such incoherent stuff as the word of God. We close our Comments upon this book with a remark upon what is called a famous prophecy concerning Christ. The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come: (Genesis, chapter 49, v. 10.) Christian expositors have applied this prophecy to the coming of Jesus Christ; but how can they with any propriety do this? Christ is not mentioned, and if Shiloh means Christ, it would have been better to have said so at once, and saved all further disputes upon the subject. No body knows who Shiloh is, and the word is as much like Bonaparte as it is like Jesus, and would apply as well to the one as to the other. Such vague prophecies should never be cited in proof of the divine origin of any system whatever.

TH

HE Editor of the Propect, calls the attention of his readers to a celebrated work written by Rosseau; entitled a profession of faith of a Savoyard Curate. This work has had very little