John Calvin.-Refutation of Jewish Doctrine. 15

hands, and feet? Why does Jeremiah, speaking of the Son of David, affirm the name of Jehovah to belong to Him? (Jer. xxiii. 5, 6). Why does Isaiah call the Messiah, ‘Immanuel, the mighty God, the Father of the future age'? (Isa. vii. 14, ch. ix. 6). Why, also, in the 45th Psalm (ver. 6), under the type of Solomon, is the Messiah honoured with the name of Elohim,' 'God'? But the solution of the query is by no means difficult. The law forbids God to be made like to man, meaning, to wit, that His majesty should not be pourtrayed under the image of man. Otherwise, He compares Himself at once to fire, and to the sun, and to a lion, and to a bear, and to a stone, which are either irrational creatures or dead elements. Moreover, in the Messiah, God was not made like to man; but, assuming human flesh, He so became man, that He remained perfect in His own eternal and immutable nature. For we do not, as the Jews dream, believe that God is changed, but made manifest in the flesh, and nevertheless like Himself. So, He was not like the common class of men, untruthful, or obnoxious to vanity; but, in respect of His deity, the truth abiding for ever nor in Him, as in a mortal man, do we place our confidence, but because His body is the temple of the Deity, in which dwelleth the perfect glory of God; and, as He is God, He transfuses into the human nature the life-giving power of His Spirit. For certainly, in many places, God holds out to His servants the confidence of salvation, not otherwise than in the Messiah, as in the prophecy of Jacob, as given by Moses, 'unto Him shall the gathering of the people (peoples) be (Gen. xlix. 10). Whence follows what I said, that He who is of the seed of David is at the same time the mighty God, the true Immanuel, and the Son of Man." *

Such is a specimen of this "Refutation of Jewish Doctrine;" there are, however, in the tractate, some expressions that, to a large extent, were peculiar to the age, the hot furnace blasts emanating from the retiring gloom of the middle ages, and the darkness of the papacy; expressions such as Martin Luther hurled against Henry the VIII., and which, as they were not confined to the school of Luther, or that of the Reform, so certainly were not unemployed by the defenders of his Holiness the Pope, much less by his Holiness himself. It is painful, nevertheless, to find in the able treatise before us, such terms of reproach as "abandoned men," "dogs," "rabid dogs," "beasts," "wild beasts," "cattle," "swine," applied to the Jews. The author of the "Christian Institutes," even in his great work replete with wondrous wisdom, subtlest analysis, and deepest insight into the sacred oracles, does not hesitate

*"Doctrinæ Judaicæ Refutatio," sect. 3.

at times to brand his opponents in terms as harsh as any of those here used against the Jews. But it is remarkable that at the period of the Reformation, whilst zeal for the Word of God sprung up, blazed, and burned, there was yet the strong utterance of a spirit of bitterness, arising, perhaps, from a larger knowledge, but assuredly a narrower charity, than our own, expressed toward God's ancient people. The battle against error was so intense, the domestic war so violent, that, fighting against the Roman Antichrist, the early Protestants enjoyed little leisure to make an attack upon heathenism, or commence missions to the Jews. Even in the "Synagoga Judaica," where the simple exposure of traditional superstition would have done its work, there are now and then cropping up sneers and sarcasms, and the ungracious display of a selfassumed superiority, that no man of Christian sensibility can peruse without a feeling of sorrow. And Luther, notwithstanding all his generous impulses, and true German manliness, speaks of the Jews in words which we are unwilling to translate-"Ein jüdisch Herz ist so stoch-stein-eisen-teufelhart, das mit Keiner Weise zu bewegen ist ;-es sind junge Teufel zur Hölle verdammt, diese Teufelskinder zu bekehren ist unmöglich, wie etliche solchen Wahn schöpfen aus der Epistel an die Römer." It is plain from these words that the big ink bottle must have missed its mark in the castle of the Wartenburg. But we give here the more guarded, and therefore the more weighty words of Buxtorf himself, at the beginning of the "Synagoga" :-"What God hath spoken concerning the hypocrisy, the obstinacy, and ignorance of the Jewish nation, saying, Forasmuch as this people draw near me with their mouth, and with their lips do honour me, but have removed their heart far from me, and their fear toward me is taught by the precept of men; therefore, behold I will proceed to do a marvellous work and a wonder: for the wisdom of their wise men shall perish, and the understanding of their prudent men shall be hid' (Isa. xxix. 13, 14). That, indeed, we have found so to be. For, in that religious service which they observe, there is nothing to be discovered but mere hypocrisy and falsehood; in their wisest and most sagacious doctors, whom they call Rabbanim, and in their scribes, there is nothing but ignorance and immense stupidity, especially as to the knowledge of God and exposition of the divine word; and, in fact, in the whole nation, there is nothing but a horrible and dreadful obstinacy and refractoriness as to all the practices and usages of life. Nevertheless, they yet wish to be regarded as the true and elect people of God; they declare and boast themselves to be so, and profess so ardent a zeal for the divine word and the knowledge of God, as if they believed in God

Obstinacy of the Jews.-Prayer for them. 17

most perfectly, and they only in preference to all other nations cleaved to Him with a sound and true faith, as the Apostle Paul has in very deed affirmed of them this testimony: For I bear them record, that they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge' (Rom. x. 2)." Such is the key-note of the "Synagoga Judaica." And, as coming from such a master of Hebrew learning, we cannot forbear to add the concluding words of that work, whose name stands at the head of the present article: "Now, from all these things," says Buxtorf," the Christian reader will sufficiently perceive and understand that the creed of the Jews, and all their religion, has its foundation, not in Moses, but in untruths and unsound and silly traditions, and the fables of the rabbis and seducers; wherefore Christians can no more say that the Jews cleave closely to the law of Moses, but with the prophet Jeremiah : 'They hold fast deceit, they refuse to return: I hearkened and heard, but they spake not aright; no man repented him of his wickedness' (Jer. viii. 5, 6); also, with Christ, 'Why do ve transgress the commandment of God by your tradition? This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me. But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men' (Matt. xv. 3, 8, 9). And as His holy Apostle Paul says, 'They profess that they know God; but in works they deny Him, being abominable and disobedient, and unto every good work reprobate' (Titus i. 16). It is therefore clearer than the light of noonday, that they have incurred the judgment which Moses had threatened, namely, 'The LORD shall smite thee with madness, and blindness, and astonishment of heart; and thou shalt grope at noonday as the blind gropeth in darkness' (Deut. xxviii. 28, 29). This we find to be too true in them, whilst they so wretchedly pervert and twist the sacred Word of God, and ridiculously explain and expound it, contrary to all sense and reason, without any shame or understanding. May God in His mercy grant that we Christians, moved by this terrible example of divine wrath, may love God and His word, may receive Him with the reverence that is meet, lest His fury be kindled against us also, and unmindful of so great a blessing, we should lose altogether the light of His truth; may God grant it, I say, that our hearts daily may receive more and more the Sun of Righteousness, and that by His Holy Spirit He may lead and conduct us into all truth, Amen.' Into the spirit of that prayer we desire most heartily to enter. Yet we must pray, not for ourselves only, but also for others, and among those others, for the children of Abraham, according to the flesh.

VOL. XIX-NO. LXXI.

B

We must not render railing for railing, but, contrariwise, blessing. A brighter day has now dawned for the evangelisation of the Gentiles, and the bringing in of the Jews; and we desire to drink in the words of Him, who is both the head of the Christian Church, and by human birth a Jew: "Other sheep I have, which are not of this fold (aus); them also I must bring, and there shall be one flock (roíun) and one shepherd" (John x. 16). Nor would we be unmindful of, or disobedient to, the voice of His apostles and prophets: "For Zion's sake will I not hold my peace, and for Jerusalem's sake I will not rest, until the righteousness thereof go forth as brightness, and the salvation thereof as a lamp that burneth. And the Gentiles shall see thy righteousness, and all kings thy glory and thou shall be called by a new name, which the mouth of the LORD shall name" (Isa. lxii. 1, 2). "For, lo, I will command, and I will sift the house of Israel among all nations, like as corn is sifted in a sieve, yet shall not the least grain fall upon the earth" (Amos ix. 9). For, if the casting away of them be the reconciling of the world, what shall the receiving of them be but life from the dead?-For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in. And so all Israel shall be saved; as it is written, There shall come out of Zion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob" (Rom. xi. 15, 25, 26).

ART. II.-The Distinctive Character of Old Testament

Scripture.

Prolegomena zur Theologie des Alten Testaments, von Gus. FR. EHLER, Dr Phil., ord. Professor der Evang. Theologie in Breslau. Stuttgart, Verlag von Samuel Gottlieb Liesching. 1845.

Prolegomena to the Theology of the Old Testament. By Gus. Fr. Ehler, Phd., Ordinary Professor of Evangelical Theology in Breslau. Stuttgart, published by Samuel Gottlieb Liesching. 1845.

THE

HE volume which we set at the head of this article is a tractate of less than one hundred pages. It has nothing of the imposing about it, and is far from being a bulky or a verbose production. The writer has not cared to beat out his ore very finely. But the scientific accuracy of the method, the solidity of the matter, and the admirable spirit pervading the whole, give to this little treatise a weight and a value which make its

Writings by Oehler of Tübingen.

19 brevity only the subject for regret. The theme which it handles is one of the deepest interest to all students of Scripture at all times, and one, too, which has been brought into more than ordinary prominence by the controversies and discussions agitating the world of religious thought during these most recent years. The author, also, is a teacher whose name deserves to be much more extensively known than it yet seems to be among British scholars. At the time when this essay was published, he occupied one of the theological chairs at Breslau, and he now holds a position of far greater importance, and far larger influence, as Professor in the University of Tübingen. He labours there as a true colleague and kindred spirit with J. T. Beck, and has long ranked as one of the soundest and most accomplished exegetes in the more orthodox schools of German theology. He is not much given to committing his thoughts to the printer where he can avoid it. So far as we are acquainted with his writings, they consist chiefly of the treatise before us, another of an equally concise and careful character, bearing the title, "Veteris Testamenti Sententia de rebus post mortem futuris," and sundry articles of eminent worth in Herzog's "Real-Encyclopædie," among which may be specified those on the Messias, the Opfercultus, the Priesterthum im Alten Testament, the Volk-Gottes, Weissagung, &c. He has written, therefore, less than we could well have received from his hand. But what he has written repays liberally the student's most thoughtful perusal. His special gift lies in the line of those studies with which these Prolegomena deal. Owing much himself to the lectures of Christian Friederich Schmid on the Biblical Theology of the New Testament, and having had his intellectual habits largely moulded by the teaching of that distinguished Württemberg professor, he commenced his own independent studies with the view of taking up the work so well begun by that master, and doing for the Old Testament what he had done for the New. It was as an introduction to that proposed undertaking that these Prolegomena were first published. But the projected Handbook of the Theology of the Old Testament has never been completed, and for whatever other contributions he has made to this branch of sacred learning we must be content to repair to these articles already referred to, in Herzog's "Real-Encyclopædie." And all who know how competent a judge on questions of Old Testament criticism Professor von Hofmann of Erlangen is, will understand that, when he pronounces Ehler to be the man best gifted for the task among all in the circle of his acquaintance, a loss of no common kind is sustained by students of Scripture through this failure to complete what has been so satisfactorily commenced.