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whether it be necessary to swallow any thing. I will admit, that the Psalms, and all the poetry of the Old Testament, owing to a defective translation, are in many instances wholly unintelligible. Solomon's songs are acknowledged by your learned divines, to be a play, founded upon his marriage with the daughter of Pharoah. On this supposition they can be made intelligible.

Take, for instance, the 6th Chapter. It commences thus: "Whither is thy beloved gone, O thou fairest among women? Whither is he turned aside, that we may seek him with thee."

This is said by the bride maids to the bride. She then answers:

"My beloved is gone down into his garden, to the beds of spices, to feed in the gardens, to gather lilies."

Solomon is now discovered, or in the language of the stage, "enter Solomon," who thus addresses his spouse:

"Thou art beautiful, O my love, &c. &c."

The translators must have known all this.

What then can be said of

their integrity, who must knowingly have converted what was plain and intelligible, into a mass of unintelligible jargon, to confound and bewilder mankind.

The ninty-first Psalm, a part of which Matthew puts into the mouth of the devil, is evidently a dialogue, between David and one of his courtiers, and the Almighty. It is intelligible on this supposition, and wholly unintelligible on any other. It will be remarked, that God is made by all the Jewish writers, to hold conversations with his creatures.

I will now quote the whole Psalm as a dialogue.

David. He that dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High, shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the Lord, He is my refuge, and my fortress: my God; in him will I trust.

Courtier. Surely he shall deliver thee from the snare of the fowler, and from the noisome pestilence. He shall cover thee with his feathers, and under his wings shalt thou trust; his truth shall be thy shield and buckler. Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by night; nor the arrrow that flieth by day; nor for the pestilence that walketh in darkness; nor the destruction that wasteth at noon-day. A thousand shall fall at thy side, and ten thousand at thy right hand; but it shall not come nigh thee. Only with thine eyes shalt thou behold and see the reward of the wicked. Because thou hast made the Lord, which is my refuge, even the Most High, hy habitation, there shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling. For he shall give his angels charge over thee, in all thy ways. They shall bear thee up in their hands, lest thou dash thy foot,

against a stone. Thou shalt tread upon the lion and adder; the young lion and the dragon shalt thou trample under feet.

God Almighty.-Because he hath set his love upon me, therefore will I deliver him: I will set him on high, because he hath known my name. He shall call upon me, and I will answer him: I will deliver him in trouble; I will deliver him, and honor him. With long life will I satisfy him, and show him my salvation.

David in this dialogue, states a general proposition to the courtier. The courtier flatters David, by making it applicable to him personally. God then enters and confirms the proposition, and its application by the courtier.

I know, I say I know, that every ingenuous reader will sanction this construction, and agree with me, that this Psalm, like many others, is a piece of loathsome adulation, written by some one of David's courtiers, (a blsaphemous wretch he must have been) to tickle his vanity. Strange, that at this day, we should be gravely told, by men, who call themselves the salt of the earth, that this Psalm had reference to Jesus Christ, merely because one Matthew, in an age of perversions and panglossisms, said so.

I will now proceed to some quotations from the Old Testament, said to have been made by Christ himself, and shall shew, that he misapplied and perverted them. Before I enter upon this argument, it will be necessary again to remind the reader of the christian's universal solvent, viz: the taking for granted, that the evangelists were inspired, and that Christ was a legate from the skies, or the Son of God. I wish the reader to proceed upon the true principle, said by John, to have been laid down by Jesus himself, in his argument before a company of Jews.

Jesus says, that the 110th Psalm, beginning with, "The Lord said unto my Lord," was written by David. I say it was not. He says, that the Lord, who was to sit on the Almighty's right hand, was Christ, that is himself. I deny it. You christians settle this question off hand, thus: "Christ says it was written by David; Christ was the Son of God, therefore what he says must be true." Now the intelligent logician will reply: "The great question in debate, between the infidel and christian, is, was Christ the Son of God; and if the infidel can shew, that he falsely attributes the authorship of this, or any other Psalm, to David, and also puts a false construction upon it, it is permitted to him, by all the rules of fair argument, to do so. David was or was not the author of this Psalm; and it is not in the power of Jesus or the Almighty, now to make David the author if he was not; any more than it would be in their power to make General Henry Lee commander-in-chief of the American armies, during the revolutionary war. And if the infidel succeeds in his attempt, he can most assuredly say: "Therefore your Jesus was not this Son of God."

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In order that the reader may be able duly to appreciate my argument, he should be informed, that Saul, David's immediate predecessor, was aware, that David not only endeavored to succeed, but to supplant him, having brought over the unnatural Jonathan, the heir apparent, to his interests. Immediately after Saul's death, David usurped the throne. Several of the tribes at first refused to acknowledge him as their King. At this time he was in the dew of his youth, being about thirty years old. Like all the other deceivers and impostors of that day, he pretended that God frequently met with him, and revealed to him his will. These revelations

he would report to the people, and dub them the Statutes, the Law and the Word of God. His strong hold, or fort, was on the hill of Zion. He was the Napoleon of the Jewish nation.

Now to the question. The Psalm is in these words:

PSALM CX.

The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool.

2. The Lord shall send the rod of thy strength out of Zion: rule thou in the midst of thine enemies.

3. Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power, in the beauties of holiness from the womb of the morning: thou hast the dew of thy youth. 4. The Lord hath sworn, and will not repent, Thou art a priest forever after the order of Melchizedec.

5 The Lord at thy right hand shall strike through kings in the day of his wrath.

6. He shall judge among the heathen, he shall fill the places with the dead bodies; he shall wound the heads over many countries.

7. He shall drink of the brook in the way: therefore shall he lift up the head.

Let the reader carefully peruse this Psalm, on the supposition that David wrote it, and his first exclammation will be: "What horrid blasphemy!" On this hypothesis, David must have entered the court of heaven, and heard the God of the Universe, surrounded by his angels, addressing a being called his son, in the language of an earthly autocrat to his son, about to place him on the throne of some one of his remote provinces: "Sit thou my son on my right hand, and I will make thy enemies thy footstool:" that is, "Be loyal to me, and obey my statutes, and I will enable you to trample on your enemies, and 'stamp them as the mire of the street."" What effrontery this, to put such language into the mouth of Diety.

Again. "I will send the rod of thy strength out of Zion, you shall rule in the midst of your enemies."

Here some of the heavenly courtiers may be presumed to have asked:

"Zion! Zion! What is that?" Gabriel, who was frequently sent on business to this corner of his master's dominions, may be supposed to have answered: "Zion is a little fort at Jerusalem, the capitol of a petty kingdom called Juda, at the east end of one of the seas of that little dirty planet yonder."

The choir in reply. "Wonder what more he is a going to do for young

master."

Gabriel-Hark!

God Almighty.-Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power, in the beauties of holiness, from the womb of the morning: thou hast the dew of the youth."

Choir.--When he shall be firmly seated on his throne, the people will be obedient. That is a truism that might have been spared; but our young master is a fine blooming young fellow, that is true.

Think of this my christians readers; a being that you contend. was from the beginning, be said to be in the dew of his youth!

God Almighty.I have sworn it, and will not repent, Thou art a priest forever, after the order of Melchizedec.

Choir.-Who is Melchizedec?

Gabriel. He was a petty burgomaster of this Jerusalem, when it was a mere hamlet, and called himself a priest.

Choir.-Our young master is to be highly honored-wonder if he will want to take any of us along, to wear mitres and chapeaux.

my right hand, my son, and shalt

wrath. thou shalt judge among the

God Almighty.-Thou shalt be at strike through Kings in the day of thy heathen, and shalt fill the places with the dead bodies, thou shalt wound the heads over many countries--(O! shocking!!)-thou shalt drink of the brook in the way, therefore thou shalt lift up the head.* (Most horribly impious to put such language in the mouth of Diety!)

Let us now read this Psalm on the supposition that it was an adulatory address to David, written by one of his wives or courtiers. The blasphemy in part remains, but the absurdity vanishes. The parasites of kings and emperors in modern days tell them what course of measures their majesties have resolved on, after their majesties have told them. In the days of the kings of Judah, the courtiers told their Jewish majesties, that the Lord would do so and so for their majesties, knowing full well that their majesties intended to accomplish these things for themselves. This was the language of adulation in those days, viz: "The lord will do for my

*Do not let me be understood here as ridiculing any thing but the low and grovelling notions of a God, that those who believe that he held the language attributed to him in this Psalm must entertain.

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lord," that is, "The God of the universe will do for my lord the king."So, "The lord said unto my lord sit thou on my right hand till I make thy enemies thy footstool," meant nothing more nor less than this: "The God of the universe said unto my lord king David, be loyal, and obey my law and I will enable you to conquer the heathen nations, that are around about you. "The lord will send the rod of thy strength out of Zion, thou shalt rule in the midst of thine enemies," is in plain unsophisticated English. “You, my liege will march your army out of the fort on the hill of Zion, when about to invade and conquer the neighboring tribes, and when you shall have conquered them, you will rule over them."

"Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power, in the beauties of holiness from the womb of the morning-thou hast the dew of thy youth." That is, "You are still young, but thirty years old, (this having no doubt been written soon after Saul's death,) enterprising and talented. Your power will increase till those tribes who now refuse, will acknowledge you as their rightful sovereign.

“The lord hath sworn and will not repent: thou art a priest forever after the order of Molchisidec." David was anxious to concentrate in himself the powers of church and state and render them perpetual in his family; hence we find him on various occasions wearing the ephod, and calling upon God at the altar; and this Poet Laureat was in this Psalm furthering his views. The order of Melchisidec can mean nothing more than the kingly and priestly office united in one person. All men of this order are held as enemies to mankind. The Pope is the only priest after the order of Melchisidec now in Christendom.

"The lord at thy right hand," that is David at the right hand of God shall strike through kings-fill the places with dead bodies, drink of the brook and lift up the head.

That the reader may be convinced that this Psalm was written in the common adulatory language of that day, I will refer him to the interview between David and Abigail when she met him with the tribute. Hundreds of other pessages might be cited to the same effect. She addresses David in the following language:

"Now therefore, my lord, as the Lord liveth, and as thy soul liveth, seeing the Lord hath withholden thee from coming to shed blood, and from avenging thyself with thine own hand, now let thine enemies, and they that seek evil to my lord, be as Nabal.

"And now this blessing, which thy handmaid hath brought unto my lord, let it even be given to the young men that follow my lord.

"I pray thee, forgive the trespass of thy handmaid: for the Lord will certainly make my lord a sure house: because my lord fighteth the battles of

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