be the Son of God, or ever admitted that he was the Christ, in any miraculous sense.

SECTION III.

Jesus accepted the doctrine and fulfilled the character and mission of A Messiah, only in a natural and rational sense.

The word Christ, in different times, has represented several vague notions, having each a separate origin, but drawn at length by religious speculation into a seeming oneness. It is necessary to dissect this fact, and to discriminate between the primitive uses and derivative abuses of the word, in order to a just interpretation of certain scriptures wherein it occurs. It seems to me that we are not indebted to Jesus for any thought which either this term or its Hebrew synonym is fitted to express. It is certain that he rarely employed that in his mother tongue, and never in a way to sanction any ecclesiastical

theory to which it stands related in the minds of

men.

It is apparent, from many passages in the New Testament, that the Jews were thoroughly indoctrinated concerning Christ and the time of his advent, long before the birth of Jesus. "The people were in expectation," declares Luke," and all men mused in their hearts of John, whether he were the Christ or not." From this text and others of like suggestiveness, many have imbibed the sentiment that the character and coming of Christ had been clearly defined and predicted by the old prophets, and that whatever the Jews seem to have anticipated of the mystical personage, was derived from the Scriptures of our Old Testament. I am persuaded that this impression is erroneous. A critical reading even of the Gospel histories would correct it. The Jews had their dogmas touching the lineage, temporal and local appearing, and mission of their Messiah; but these were not in all respects harmonious, which indicates that their source was not very authentic. "Some said, Shall Christ come out of Galilee? Hath not the Scripture said that Christ cometh of the seed of

David, and out of the town of Bethlehem, where

David was?"

Others said, "When Christ cometh.

Others said,

no man knoweth whence he is." The woman of Samaria, whom Jesus is said to have met at Jacob's Well, professed to "know that Messias cometh, which is called Christ; " and that "when he is come he will tell us all things." Where did she get this information? Surely not from our canonical books. It is probable that the people of those times were largely inoculated with what was called "the tradition of the elders," as well as by various scriptures which our Christian censors have not thought worth preserving. Be this as it may, it must be acknowledged that the Old Testament predictions concerning Christ, if indeed there be any that merit the designation, are far less numerous and pointed than the evangelists are thought to signify.

The word Messiah is not to be found in our English version of the Pentateuch, the Psalms of David, nor in all the Prophets except Daniel, and in him only twice. The word Christ does not occur once in the Old Testament. The former of these words occurs in the Hebrew and the latter in the

Greek version indeed many times; but as those scriptures are rendered into our language, the terms are translated invariably, according to their literal signification, the anointed: an epithet of general application to kings, priests, popular chieftains, and all great functionaries of society. By historical usage the expression properly denotes the subject of official consecration to any important work, by pouring oil ceremoniously on the head: as in the case of Saul, the first king of Israel, of whom it is related that "Samuel took a vial of oil and poured it upon his head, and kissed him, and said, Is it not because the Lord hath anointed thee to be captain over his inheritance?" This ceremony was performed with greater pomp in other times, and was equivalent to a coronation in modern Europe. The custom was not confined to the Jewish nation, nor was it Hebrew in origin. The rite itself grew out of the practice of ancient pugilists who prepared themselves for combat by denuding and greasing their bodies; making the flesh slippery, that one might the more adroitly elude the grasp of his antagonist. This object was of course

not thought of in the later and more reputable appli

cations of the ceremony, when a fanciful utility was substituted for the obsolete incentive.

Among the Jews this anointing became a religious ceremony. Saul having been anointed by "a prophet of the Lord," the king was called The Lord's Anointed. "And Samuel said to all the people, See ye him whom the Lord hath chosen, that there is none like him among all the people? And all the people shouted, and said, God save the king Then Samuel told the people the manner of the kingdom, and wrote it in a book, and laid it up before the Lord."

We are afterwards told that "the Lord repented that he had made Saul king over Israel;" which, by the way, is somewhat singular, considering that the king had not diminished in stature; for when Samuel brought him to the throne from his hidingplace among the stuff," and moved shouts of ad

miration to his majesty, he specified no other trait of excellence but that the king-elect was "higher than any among the people, from his shoulders and upward." Yet this change of mind imputed to Jehovah is not a whit more remarkable than the reason