DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.9552#0475
TO THE CHRISTIAN PUBLIC.
I am charged with blasphemy against the authority
of the Gospel of Matthew. I must repeat the very
words I used in the Second Appeal, in comparing the
book of, Hosea with the Gospel of Matthew (p. 220),.
that the public may judge whether the language of the
Editor, as to my attempt to discredit the Gospel, is just
and liberal. "Thus Matt. ii. 15, 'Out of Egypt have
I called my son,' the evangelist refers to Hosea xi.
1, which, though really applied to Israel, • represented
there as the son of God, is used by the apostle in
reference to the Saviour, in consideration of a near
resemblance between their circumstances in this
instance :—both Israel and Jesus were carried into
Egypt and recalled from thence, and both were
denominated in the Scriptures the ' Son of God.' The
passage of Hosea thus runs from ch. xi. 1—3 : 'when
Israel was a child, then I loved him, and called my son
out of Egypt. As they called them, so they went from
them : they sacrificed unto Baalim, and burnt incense to
graven images. I taught Ephraim also to go, taking
them by their arms ; but they knew not that I healed
them ;'—in which Israel, who is represented as a child of
God, is declared to have sacrificed to Baalim, and to
have burnt incense to graven images—circumstances
which cannot justly be ascribed to the Saviour."
The Reverend Editor, likewise, in opposition to my
explanation, applies Isaiah ix. 6 to Jesus : " For unto us a
child is born ; unto us a son is given : and the govern-
ment shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall
be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The
everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace ;" and all that
he says [ page 534 ) in support of his referring this verse
I am charged with blasphemy against the authority
of the Gospel of Matthew. I must repeat the very
words I used in the Second Appeal, in comparing the
book of, Hosea with the Gospel of Matthew (p. 220),.
that the public may judge whether the language of the
Editor, as to my attempt to discredit the Gospel, is just
and liberal. "Thus Matt. ii. 15, 'Out of Egypt have
I called my son,' the evangelist refers to Hosea xi.
1, which, though really applied to Israel, • represented
there as the son of God, is used by the apostle in
reference to the Saviour, in consideration of a near
resemblance between their circumstances in this
instance :—both Israel and Jesus were carried into
Egypt and recalled from thence, and both were
denominated in the Scriptures the ' Son of God.' The
passage of Hosea thus runs from ch. xi. 1—3 : 'when
Israel was a child, then I loved him, and called my son
out of Egypt. As they called them, so they went from
them : they sacrificed unto Baalim, and burnt incense to
graven images. I taught Ephraim also to go, taking
them by their arms ; but they knew not that I healed
them ;'—in which Israel, who is represented as a child of
God, is declared to have sacrificed to Baalim, and to
have burnt incense to graven images—circumstances
which cannot justly be ascribed to the Saviour."
The Reverend Editor, likewise, in opposition to my
explanation, applies Isaiah ix. 6 to Jesus : " For unto us a
child is born ; unto us a son is given : and the govern-
ment shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall
be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The
everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace ;" and all that
he says [ page 534 ) in support of his referring this verse