S H I L O H. 233 among thém for Chrijt *), too filly for their Appro.. bation. Witnefs their Barjuchnea a Bird of fuch imtnenfe Bulk as to cover the Sun with its Wings, and which, it feems, is to be to them the Bird of their Paradife : Witnefs their Behemoth, a great Ox which fhould daily conform the Pafture of a thoufand Moun- tains, which Pafture, like the Promethean Liver, fhould grow again to the fame Purpofe and Quantity every Night : And witnefs .their Sabbatical River (fomewhere in Utopia), which ceafed to flow on the Sabbath -day ; and a thoufand other rabbinical Abfurdities, which defcend beneath common Senfe, and would difgrace the Underftanding of a Child. All thefe things may whew us ; that, whenMen are thus left of GOD to the Folly and Blindnefs of their own Minds, there is nothing fo repugnant to the commoneft Ideas of Truth, Reafon and Propriety, which shall not be tenacioufly embraced and ftubbornly maintained ; and that no created Power, no human Arguments, however convincing or demon- ftrative in themfelves, can remove this Veil ofObfcurity or convert the Mind unto GOD. This fhould teach us Gentiles, not to be high-minded, but to fear ; for, if GOD (pared not the natural Branches of his own Olive -tree ; * It is almoft too !hocking to mention the opprobrious Names, the Rabbins conftantly apply to our bleffed Lord in their Writings. They call him a Magician, an Evil-doer, a Robber, the turfed Nazarene, a Ballard born of a Whore, &c. They have given him, as though thefe Titles were too good for him, a Nick -name [1w+1 formed by the Initials of three Hebrew Words, which fignify, Let bis Name be blotted out. So likewife they call his Crows an llbomination; the Gofpel, a Revelation of Iniquity ; Cbriflians, Na- zarenes-and Children of Edam the Kingdom of Chrifl, the Kingdom of Iniquity; Chriflian Wor/hip; profane idolatry. Many other fuch Appellations are ufed in their Synagogues and Schools, in order to induce a thorough Hatred of , fetus Chrfl and his Difciples. Some of them have had the abominable Folly, as well as Wickednefs, to alhrm that the Soul ofEfau or Edom tranfmigrated into theNaza- rene ; and that, for this Reafon, he ought to be termed Efau or Edon:, and his Followers, Edomites. SpANnE a. Elench. Cont. db. cum y-ud. § xxvñi. Bux-r. inrad. Litt. Hucstt Theo!. yid. lib. i. de .ldv. Mep. See alfo Ant. Univ. Hift. Vol. t. p. 300. what
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