V. 20. ''''And while he thought on these things (that is,

whether he should put her away privily, or make a public example of her) behold, the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream (that is, Joseph dreamed that an angel appeared unto him), saying, Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife : for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost. And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shall call his name Jesus : for he shall save his people from their sins.'''
Now, without entering into any discussion upon the merits or demerits of the account here given, it is proper to observe, that it has no higher authority than that of a dream : for it is impossible for a man to behold any thing in a dream but that which he dreams of. I ask not, therefore, whether Joseph (if there was such a man) had such a dream or not ; because, admitting he had, it proves nothing. So wonderful and irrational is the faculty of the mind in dreams, that it acts the part of all the characters its imagination creates, and what it thinks it hears from any of them is no other than what the roving rapidity of its own imagination invents. It is therefore nothing to me what Joseph dreamed of — whether of the fidelity or infidelity of his wife. I pay no regard to my own dreams, and I should be weak indeed to put faith in the dreams of another.
The verses that follow those I have quoted are the words of the writer of the book of Matthew. ' ' Now
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(says he) all this (that is, all this dreaming and this pieg- nancy) was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet^ sayings
' ' Behold^ a virgin shall be with child^ and shall bring forth a son^ and they shall call his name Emmanuel^ which^ being interpreted^ is^ God with us. ^^
This passage is in Isaiah, chap. vii. ver. 14, and the writer of the book of Mathew endeavors to make his readers believe that this passage is a prophecy of the person called Jesns Christ. It is no such thing — and I go to show it is not. But it is first necessary that I ex- plain the occasion of these words being spoken by Isaiah : the reader will then easily perceive, that so far from their being a prophecy of Jesus Christ, they have not the least reference to such a person, or to any thing that could happen in the time that Christ is said to have lived — which was about seven hundred years after the time of Isaiah. The case is this :
On the death of Solomon the Jewish nation split into two monarchies ; one called the kingdom of Judah, the capital of which was Jerusalem ; the other the kingdom of Israel, the capital of which was Samaria. The king- dom of Judah followed the line of David, and the kingdom of Israel that of Saul ; and these two rival monarchies frequently carried on fierce wars against each other.
At the time Ahaz was king of Judah, which was in the time of Isaiah, Pekah was king of Israel; and Pekah joined himself to Resin, king of Syria, to make war against Ahaz, king of Judah ; and these two kings marched a confederated and powerful army against Jerusalem. Ahaz and his people became alarmed at the danger, and ^^ their hearts were moved as the trees of the wood are moved with the wind^ Isaiah, chapter vii. verse 2.
In this perilous situation of things, Isaiah addresses himself to Ahaz, and assures him, in the name of the
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Lord (the cant phrase of all the prophets) that these two kings should not succeed against him ; and to assure him that this should be the case (the case however was directly contrary*), tells Ahaz to ask a sign of the Lord. This Ahaz declined doing, giving as a reason, that he would not tempt the Lord ; upon which Isaiah, who pre- tends to be sent from God, says, ver. 14, "Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign ; Behold^ a virgifi shall conceive and bear a son. Butter and honey shall he eat, that he may know to refuse the evil and choose the good. For before the child shall know to refuse the evil and choose the good, the land that thou abhorrest shall be forsaken of both her kings," — meaning the king of Israel and the king of Syria, who were marching against him.
Here then is the sign, which was to be the birth of a child, and that child a son ; and here also is the time limited for the accomplishment of the sign, namely, before the child shall know to refuse the evil and choose the good.
The thing, therefore, to be a sign of success to Ahaz, must be something that would take place before the event of the battle then pending between him and the two kings could be known. A thing to be a sign must pre- cede the thing signified. The sign of rain must be before the rain.
It would have been mockery and insulting nonsense for Isaiah to have assured Ahaz, as a sign that these two kings should not prevail against him, that a child should be born seven hundred years after he was dead ; and that
* 2 Chronicles chap, xxviii. ver. i. Ahaz was twenty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem, but he did not that which was right in the sight of the Lord.— Ver. 5. Wherefore the Lord his God delivered him into the hand of the king of Syria, and they smote him, and carried away a great multitude 0/ them captives, and brought them to Damascus : and he was also delivered into the hand of the king of Israel, who smote him with a great slaughter.
Ver. 6 And Pekah (king of Israel) slew in Judah an hundred and twenty thousand in one day. Ver. 8. And the children of Israel carried away captive of their brethren, two hundred thousand women, sons, and daughters.
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before the child so born should know to refuse the evil and choose the good, he Ahaz, should be delivered from the danger he was then immediately threatened with.
But the case is, that the child of which Isaiah speaks was his own child^ with which his wife or his mistress was then pregnant : for he says in the next chapter, ver. 2, 3, ''^ And I took unto me faithful witnesses to re- cord^ Uriah the priest^ and Zechariah the son of feber- echiah. And I went unto the prophetess ; and she conceived and bare a son^ And he says at ver. 18 of the same chapter, ^'' Behold^ I and the children whom the Lord hath given me are for signs and for wonders in Israel. ' '
It may not be improper here to observe that the word translated a virgin in Isaiah, does not signify a virgin in Hebrew, but merely a you7ig woman. The tense also is falsified in the translation. Levi gives the Hebrew text of the 14th verse of the 7th chapter of Isaiah, and the translation in English with it — ''Behold^ a young woman is with child^ and beareth a son.^^ The expression, says he, is in the present tense. The translation agrees with the other circumstances related of the birth of this child, which was to be a sign to Ahaz. But as the true trans- lation could not have been imposed upon the world as a prophecy of a child to be born seven hundred years after- wards, the Christian translators have falsified the original ; and instead of making Isaiah to say, Behold, a young woman is with child, and beareth ason — they have made him to say, Behold, a virgin shall conceive and bear a son. It is, however, only necessary for a person to read the 7th and 8th chapters of Isaiah, and he will be con- vinced that the passage in question is no prophecy of the person called Jesus Christ. I pass on to the second passage quoted from the Old Testament by the New as a prophecy of Jesus Christ.
Matthew, chap. ii. ver. i. " Now when Jesus was born
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in Bethlehem of Judea, in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem, — saying. Where is he that is born king of the Jews? for we have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship him. When Herod the king had heard these things, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him. And when he had gathered all the chief priests and scribes of the people together, he demanded of them where Christ should be born. And they said unto him, In Bethlehem of Judea ; for thus it is written by the pro- phet,— And thou Bethlehem iii the land of Juda^ art not the least among the princes ofjiida: for out of thee shall come a Gov er^ior that shall rule my people Israel. This passage is in Micah, chapter v. verse 2.
I pass over the absurdity of seeing and following a star in the day-time, as a man would a Will-with-the-wisp^ or a candle and lanthorn, at night ; and also that of seeing it in the east when themselves came from the east ; for could such a thing be seen at all to serve them for a guide, it must be in the west to them. I confine myself to the passage called a prophecy of Jesus Christ.
The book of Micah, in the passage above quoted,