objection, they must confess that the religion of the rabbies is
false. If the distance of time that elapsed between Moses and
Jesus of Nazareth constitute a fair ground of objection, it is as
valid against the rabbies as against the Lord Jesus. Nay, if
supposed novelty be the reason why they reject Christianity,
they must now reject the religion of the rabbies, and embrace
that of Christ. We have proved that the religion of the
rabbies is a novelty, and every one knows that one peculiar
feature in the teaching of Jesus of Nazareth was, that he
opposed the rabbinic doctrines, that is, he opposed novelty:
this opposition, therefore, is presumptive evidence that the
Lord Jesus retained the ancient religion, and has on that very
account a claim upon all those who profess to venerate antiquity.
At all events the charge of novelty can be as fairly
urged against Rabbinism as against Christianity, and every
Jew who urges it, is, if he be in earnest about truth, bound to
compare Christianity with the law and the prophets, in order
to ascertain whether it be a new religion or not. One thing is
certain, that the ordinances of no religion can be farther from
the Mosaic appointment than those of Rabbinism. The Rabbinists
have rejected the religious teachers appointed by Moses,
and have chosen others, who cannot pretend even to any degree
of antiquity; and not only so, but even when the possibility
of having regularly appointed rabbies ceased, they preferred
those, who in fact have no authority at all, to those teachers
appointed in the law. The oral law makes promotion necessary
to the exercise of the rabbinical office, and limits the
ceremony of promotion by two conditions, first, that it be
conferred with the consent of the (
Hebrew characters), as we have seen
above, and, secondly, that it be performed in the land of
Israel:—
(Hebrew characters)
"Elders are not promoted anywhere, except in the land of
Israel; even although the promoters should have been promoted
there themselves. Yea, though the persons conferring
the promotion be in the land, if the person to be promoted be
outside the land, the promotion is not to take place." Now it
is plain that these conditions cannot be fulfilled. The great
majority of the present rabbies have never been in the land
of Israel; and even if they had been, there has not been a
(Hebrew characters) prince for many a century. For centuries, therefore,
there has not been a rabbi promoted to the office as the oral
law requires; and yet the Jews, rather than have the priests,
the sons of Levi, still keep up the shadow of the rabbinical
