and every Man have them, fince the Scriptures of the Old and New Teftament, conF taining the Word of God, are open to

All.

AND I am perfuaded it must raise the higheft Indignation in your Mind, and in I the Minds of all ferious Men, to hear that holy Word fo irreverently prostituted, as it has been upon this Occafion; to fee Chriftianity itself preffed into the Service of Faction, and the moft profligate of Mortals become the most zealous Advocates of Religion.

BUT the Indecencies of drunken Mobs, and the Malice of feditious Scriblers, muft be left to the Animadverfion of the Magiftrate. The warm but uninformed Zeal of Those who mean Conviction, and not Confufion, deferves another Treatment; and where Argument appears, it fhould be anfwered by Argument.

Now, as amidst a Multitude of bold, but false Affertions, of fenfelefs and difingenuous Calumnies, of impious Abuses of the

Language,

Language, and Perversions of the Senfe of Scripture, fomething of the reasoning Kind too has been alledged, and fome Attempts made to condemn the late Act of the Legiflature upon Christian Principles, I thought it might be of fome Ufe, to those at least who want Leisure to do it for themselves, to examine how far the Admiffion of the Jews into our Community may be confiftent with, or repugnant to our Duty and Obligations, as Christians.

THE Arguments which I have met with to prove it inconfiftent, may, I think, be reduced to the four following.

I. THAT it is counteracting the Decrees of GOD, whofe Will appears, by the Prophecies, to be, that, for the Punishment of their Difobedience, they should remain in a State of Difperfion, without any fixed Settlement.

II. THAT it is giving Countenance to the Crucifiers of our Lord and Saviour, to the Accurfed of God; whom, instead of cherish

cherishing and inviting, we ought to reject

and abhor.

III. THAT it is receiving and nurfing up to our own Deftruction, the bitterest Enemies of our moft holy Religion.

IV. THAT it tends to the Corruption of our own People to incorporate with them, the most corrupt and abandoned Nation on Earth, in Point of Morality.

Now firft, as to Prophecy; I believe the Generality of those, who use this Argument, have a Notion, that the Scriptures of the New, as well as of the Old Testament, are full of clear Predictions concerning the Difperfion of the Jews into all Countries, fubfequent to the Deftruction of Jerufalem, and the long Continuance of it; whereas in Truth, I believe it will be hard to find * any one Text in the New Testa

ment,

* I know but one, (which is Luke xxi. 24.) where the Difperfion is indeed foretold, and the Continuance of it, till the Times of the Gentiles be fulfilled, implied.

ment, explicitly foretelling it, and perhaps not very easy to select and diftinguish fuch of thofe in the Old, as relate to this latter Difperfion, from fuch of them as fpeak of that only, which was confequential upon the feveral Captivities, antecedent to the coming of the Meffiah. For it is plain from the Gospels, Acts, and Epiftles, that though the Jewish Nation did then still fubfift, and the Sceptre was not absolutely departed from Judah, yet there were even at that Time, Multitudes of Jews dispersed and scattered over all the Earth.

BUT admit the Prophecies to be clear and explicit with refpect to the Dispersion now fubfifting, (and I do indeed think that feveral of them are to be fo understood) yet ftill what relation have they to the present Question? In order to be applicable to that, they must be supposed to relate to the separate Establishments of Individuals, and to declare that no fingle Jew fhall ever have one in any Foreign Country whatsoever. But he must furely be either a very inattentive, or a very much prejudiced Reader of the Bible, who can interpret it in this Sense;

and

and those, who are acquainted with Jewish History know, that fince their final Difperfion under Adrian, they have actually had, both in the Eaft and Weft, large and exten-five Settlements, with their Synagogues, Courts of Juftice, and even Princes and Patriarchs at their Head; not to mention the innumerable ones of wealthy Traders in almost every trading City in the World. If this then were the Meaning of the Prophecies, they would deserve no Attention, being already falfified in a thousand Instances by the Event. Confequently we could not counteract the Decrees of GOD in contributing to defeat their Completion, fince they would in Truth, by being liable to be fo defeated, be proved to be no Decrees of GOD at all.

AND upon this Occafion, I cannot but stop to take Notice of the Contradiction, into which these popular Declaimers fall; who, whilst they fo kindly take the Prophecies into their Protection, do themselves totally in Effect discard them. For they fuppofe on one Hand, that they contain the immutable Decrees of GOD, and on the other acquaint you with their Concern, lest

they