The evidence of prophecy

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Introduction

The object of th^jpllowing pages is to present the reader with a short Wd plain view of some of the numerous instances in which the manifest fulfillment of prophecy proves that the Scriptures are given by in^ spiration of God. And whoever you are, into whose hands this little book may come, should not the very announcement of such a subject excite your attention, and induce you to give it a careful perusal?

Are you a Christian? Then you know that it is good to give heed to the "sure word of prophecy;" and you will not hastily turn aside from hearing a reason of the hope that is in you, nor refrain from seeking how you may not only render an answer to every one that asketh of you such a reason, but how you may be also able to withstand gainsayers, and to strengthen your brethren.

Are you weak in the faith ? then the same " sure word" is well fitted also for you ; and you would "do well to take heed unto it as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn and the day-star arise in your heart." It leads to no doubtful disputations.

G INTRODUCTION. [ Chap. 1

And if heretofore thescofFs of the scorner have trou bled you — if the deceitfulness of sin has been in dange? of hardening you in unbelief— or if the insidious argu ments of a vain philosophy have ever shaken youi faith, it should be no unwelcome or unprofitable task to you to use diligently those means which God has provided, in order that you may be well assured of the truth of his word, and to which you have only to look, that you may learn that " the spirit of prophecy" is indeed "the testimony of Jesus," and that it is verily confirmed as such, to a jot and tittle, our enemies themselves being judges. And if, hearing, you would hear, or, seeing, you would see, you could be no longer doubtful that " prophecy earnest in old time by the will of man, but" that "holy rmi of" old " spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost ;" so that instead -of having but a name to live, and yet being dead, seeking, you might find ; and be enabled by the self-same Spirit to call Jesus, Lord — to own him for your Savior and your Master, and, being rooted, and grounded, and established in the faith, truly to confess him before men, of whom all the prophets bear witness.

Or, reader, if you are an adversary, j^et this volume may prove a friend to you. It is not in unkindness that you are invited to the proof that salvation may be found. And wherefore should you refuse a patient hearing ? Would it be in candor, or for truth, or reason, or your safety ? " Come and let us reason together," is the language of the Christian, and of the God he worships, as thou also claimest that it is thine.

If you be fortified in a " strong delusion," the less should be your fear, and the greater is your need of , ooking to the " sure word of prophecy." Yet in your own hopeless way you cannot possibly reach further

Chap. i.J INTRODUCTION 7

than doubt, and is it wise to reject, without even a hearing, the proffer of certainty and of salvation in its stead ? And whether you will hear, or whether you will forbear, " thou art the man " to whom the full testimony of Jesus is borne, in the manifest fulfillment of many prophecies, that all the benefit of such a combination of miracles may, if you harden not your heart, be yours ; that what partially tends to confirm the belief of others, may lead to your conviction ; and that thus, through " the acknowledging of the truth," and the blessing of the Holy Spirit, you may be brought from darkness to light, and from death to life.

Or, reader, if your case be more desperate still, for " worse than an infidel" there may be; iHukewarmness mark your character, so that you scarcely care so much for the faith as it is in Jesus, as to trouble yourself at all to act on it as a truth, or to question whether it be true or false ; if the alienation of your heart from the living God be so great that no bias of judgment is needful to sustain a practical infidelity like yours ; if, wedded to the world and bigoted to sense, you mind only earthly things, and place all your love, and happiness, and confidence in them, and care for none of those things which pertain to life, to godliness, to your peace, and to immortality; if the tidings of salvation have no charm for you; and if the terrors of the Lord be as little understood or regarded as words spoken in an unknown tongue ; yet there is a language that you still may hear, there are truths which pertain not to this life alone that you still may discern ; and you may even learn that for you also, in this the time of merciful visitation, God has provided a way of escape. For since to earthly things only you will look, it is to them that the word of prophecy directs you. You may ask •

8 INTRODUCTION. [Chap. 1.

of those things that are at the present day to be seen, of which it told, and they will all answer in one voice that they have been, and now are, what in the ages of old it was declared by inspiration of God that they should be. And thus you may learn that the Bible is the word of God — that the world which you worship is his, from whose worship and service its vanities entice — that his power is over all — that the successive changes and convulsions among nations are credentials of the unerring certainty of the word of Him who changeth not — and that all his promises are true, and all his judgments sure.

Or, is the passing of an idle hour the purpose of your reading? And is it not worthy of a trial at least, to ascertain whether wonderful things may not be beheld out of the law and of the prophets, as capable as the delusions of any idle tale of producing not only a momentary excitement but deep feeling ? If your search be after novelties, it may possibly be new to you to read, in the writings of unbelievers, commentaries on the Scriptures and confirmations of their truth ; and it may not lessen your surprise to find that, in the construction of this part of the Christian evidence, (as also in others,) they have been more efficient, though not less regular and laborious co-operators, than are " the hewers of wood and the drawers of water." Or if you seek for wonders, and have not acquainted yourseh with God, nor considered the operation of his hands, you have only to hear what he has purposed, and how \\e has fulfilled it, and to behold the wondrous things he has done, that, if these be thought upon aright, your ears may tingle ; and that, instead of such excited feelings passing away in mere unprofitable amazement, • your lips may be ready to confess that it would be the

Chap. I.J INTRODUCTION. 'J

greatest of wonders that such demonstrations of the Spirit and of power could ever be resisted, and that if you yourself did not believe Moses and the prophets, neither would you "be persuaded, though one rose from the dead."

Or, reader, if happily a different spirit be within you, if your mind revolt at the thought of opposition to a doctrine according to godliness, and if you seek for truth in the love of truth, it will give you comfort to know that, high as the consolations of religion are, clear as are its precepts, gracious as are its tidings, and glorious as are the hopes which it sets before the Christian, even so abundant is the proof, and so sure the word of prophecy. And if such be the temper of your mind, you will not be slow to regard the strong confirmation which the fulfillment of each successive prediction gives, that, in the revelation of the will of God to man through Jesus Christ, who died for our sins and rose again for our justification, truth is united to mercy, righteousness, and peace, and that they all meet together. Nor will you ever be at a loss to bear home this application of such a subject : that, knowing the word to be divine, you have ever to "give earnest heed" to all that is written therein to you and to your children — so that, walking in the light which has come down from heaven, you may now believe, and hereafter feel, that the immortal glory which it reveals as the final portion of every fltithful servant of Jesus, shall as assuredly be realized as the fact may now be manifest, that many prophecies of old have already proved true.

Whenever a man, even for the first time, beholds a regular and magnificent edifice, he has at once undoubted evidence of the skill of the architect, and of the

10 . INTRODUCTION. [Chap. 1

power that was put forth in its construction. Of this he is convinced without any argument. He is not blind, and he has visible proof before him. He neither sees, nor ever saw, a plan of the building, nor a single man at work ; but he knows that all was planned and built; otherwise so goodly a structure, evidently the work of human hands, would never have been erected. In like manner God has not left himself without a witness to the sons of men, either in his works or in his word. Things that are not seen, are understood by the things that do appear. The humblest hut exists-not without a builder. And the heavens, and the earth, and all that is therein, bear witness to the great Architect of the universe, and show forth his eternal power and Godhead. But, however clearly these may be manifested, so that all are without excuse who glorify him not as God ; yet there was many a mystery concerning the nature and dispensations of the Most High, and the state and destiny of man, which- the light ot reason, struggling through the gloom of ages, tried in vain to penetrate. The world by wisdom knew not God, as it had need to know him. No mortal could unfold the mystery of godliness, nor ever devise, far less impart, the means of deliverance from spiritual darkness, from the conscious guiltiness of sin, or from the fear of death, through which man, by nature, is all his life-time subject unto bondage. Many wtee men did desire to see what we^ee, and to hear what we hear. In Athens, a city then the most renowned on earth for wisdom, an altar was erected "To the unknown God," but every Christian has only to take the Bible in his hands to show whom he worships. The question of the immortality of the soul — a truth impressed upon the mind, except when obliterated for a

Chap. I.J INTRODUCTION. 11

time by a devotedness to sense — called forth all the powers of reason to solve it, and yet the wisest of men could only elicit from the ruins of human nature some glimmerings of a better state. But now life and immortality are brought to light by the Gospel. And instead of doubting or disputing, as heathens were wont to do, what part, if any, the Almighty took in the control or administration of human affairs, we now not only know that "the Most High ruleth over all the kingdoms of the eartii," and that "a sparrow falleth not on the ground without the Father," but in looking back on the history of nations in the ages that are passed, we behold in them the very proofs that the record which revealed their destiny is the word of the living God. Tidings pertaining to eternity and salvation, such as it never entered into the heart of man to conceive, before Christ appeared among the children 01 men, are now clearly revealed, and may be heard and read by all. And as the works of the creation testify the power and Godhead of the Creator, so his word itself testifies of its divine Author ; and there is also many a witness that the Scriptures are in truth given by inspiration of God. Their divine origin is proved not merely by the doctrines they reveal and the precepts they enjoin, concerning which it may be asked of men why even of yourselves judge ye not what is right? but by external evidence infinitely surpassing all that the ingenuity of man could ever have devised, and all that the power of man could ever have exhibited or produced, either to confirm any revelation, or to palm any imposture on the world.

In regard to the evidence which the truth of pro phecy imparts, so strong is the proof and so clear may be the perception of it ; that c he who runneth may

12 introduction. Chap. 1

read.' The multiplicity and precision of the prophecies contained in Scripture is such, that no band of the most subtle deceivers could ever have pretended, or ever did pretend, to any such clear and close inspection of futurity; or if, to uphold any system, they had made the triaj, they would only have been forging the readiest means of detecting their own imposition, and would have, left it to every succeeding event which they had attempted to foretell, to mar their purpose, and to mark them out as lying prophets. The declaration of the end from the beginning is as sure an evidence that the word is of God, who knoweth all things as the creation of the world at the beginning testifies that the work is of God, who can do all things. What was foretold that men could never have revealed ? what predicted events have been fulfilled which men could never have foretold? and what certainty is there that the prophecies so long preceded the event? — are questions which all have a right to ask, and which every one may be enabled to answer. These are the plain, broad, and liberal principles upon which every reader is invited to look to " the testimony of Jesus," and every gainsayer challenged to examine and canvass it to the uttermost. It asks no easy credit, it fears no trying scrutiny. If, indeed, there be strong truth therein, well may it lead to rational conviction all who will be convinced ; and justly may it leave under righteous condemnation at last all who wilfully reject the counsel of God against themselves, whilst they will not hear and believe what none but the Lord could have spoken. And, reader, will you pray unto the Father of lights, that wherever there is light you may see it — wherever there is truth, that you may know it — that you may be saved from all the delusion of vain ima

Chap. I.J INTRODUCTION. 13

ginations, from all darkness of the understanding from all perverseness of the will, from all the deceitfulness of the heart — that you be not hardened in unbelief against the word of the living God — that you may know whether the doctrine be of God, and, if it certainly be such, that what is lacking in the degree, or nature, or work of your faith, may be perfected through all the means which infinite wisdom and love have provided for that end, and that you may learn truly to believe, even to the saving oi the soul?

The antiquity of Scripture is indisputable. In whatever manner the most ungodly man on earth might scoff at the Bible, and vent all his malice against it, he cannot, except he be the most ignorant too, doubt that it has existed for ages. It is assuredly no idle tale of yesterday, like some of the wild dogmas of an atheistic creed. There are proofs of its antiquity to which no other book can lay claim. It has never been wilbout its witnesses and its guardians, though these very witnesses and guardians have sometimes been the greatest perverters of the Christian doctrine, or even the bitterest enemies of the Christian faith. The Old Testament, in which the prophecies abound, has been preserved with the utmost care by the Jews in every age. It forms the code of their laws, both sacred and civil, and the record of their history during many centuries, as well as of the prophecies, which looked and still look prospectively into futurity. Tacitus, a celebrated Roman historian, who lived in the first century, in referring to prophecies contained in it, speaks of the books of the Jewish priests as at that time ancient. Two thousand and one hundred years have elapsed since they were translated into Greek. They "' r v .

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read in the synagogues every Sabbath-day, commentaries on them were written, and ever since the beginning of the Christian era, copies of the Old Testament, as well as of the New, have been spread into every region, and have been multiplied without number in various languages.

But to evade all attempt at caviling, and to set aside all possibility of doubt in the reader's mind as to the absolute certainty that the predictions preceded the events, many existing facts — that are as capable of proof as any fact whatever, of which men can see the evidence with their eyes — shall, in the course of the following summary inquiry, be adduced to prove the precise and positive truth, at the present hour, of the most ancient prophecies, of which also there are many that yet remain to be fulfilled.

The wonderful nature of the events which were foretold, which are the most singular and surprising that have ever occurred in the history of the world, renders unnecessary even a single remark to show Hi at they are such as mortal man could never have foreseen. Each speaks for itself. And all of them declare, with one united voice, that the word which revealed them is indeed divine.

The prophecies contained in the Scriptures, are so numerous, and the proofs of their fulfillment so abundant, that, instead of any deficiency of evidence, the only difficulty lies in selecting or condensing them. A general view of the prophecies that have a definite and distinct meaning, and that have received an express and literal accomplishment, may perhaps best convey, in a short compass, some representation, however inadequate to the subject, of the fullness and force of this sure evidence of inspiration. The subject cannot

Chap. II. J prophecies. i5

be exhausted after the fullest investigation, for it forms a growing evidence, and is continually gaining fresh strength as the progress of events throws fresh light on the accomplishment of the predictions. And the slightest and most superficial view that can be taken of the subject — if the corresponding prophecies and facts be but touched upon, and presented to any inquiring or candid mind, and be made a matter of reflection at all — cannot fail to show that there must be more in the word and in the work than man's knowledge and device. And if the reader shall close the perusal of this work lightened of a doubt or strengthened in the faith, would to God that he would suffer us to crave of him, in return, to leave the first principles of the knowledge of Christ, and to go on unto perfection ; to search the Scriptures as for hidden treasures; to hearken diligently to the oracles of the living God, knowing that he is "not a man that he should lie, neither the son of man that he should repent ;" and to give all the glory unto God, that the gain may be his own

CHAPTEH II.

Prophecies concerning Christ and the Christian Religion.

The coming of a Savior, which was the hope of Israel and the expectation of the Jews in every age, is frequently foretold throughout the Old Testament Scriptures. They represent it as announced by the voice of God to the first human pair, and as forming, from the first to the last, the theme of all the prophets. And, however imperfect a summary view of such nu-

16 PROPHECIES CONCERNING CUK'ST [Chap. 11

merous prophecies must necessarily be, a few remarks respecting them shall be prefixed to the more direct and immediate proofs of the inspiration of Scripture, derived from existing facts, in order that the reader may be rather induced to search the Scriptures to see how clearly they testify of Jesus, than contented to rest satisfied with the mere opening of the subject.

A few of the leading features of the prophecies concerning Christ, and their fulfillment, shall be traced as they mark the time of his appearance, the place of his birth, and the family out of which he was to arise, hi9 life and character, his sufferings and his death, the nature of his doctrine, and the extent of his kingdom.

The time of the Messiah's appearance in the world, as predicted in the Old Testament, is defined by a num.- ber of concurring circumstances that fix it to the very date of the advent of Christ. The sceptre was not to depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver to cease from among his descendants, till Shiloh should come. Gen. 49 : 10. The Desire of all nations, the Messenger of the covenant, the Lord whom they sought, was to come to the second temple, and to impart to it, from his presence, a greater glory than that of the former. Hag. 2 : 7, 9. Mai. 3:1. A messenger was to appear before him, the voice of one crying in the wilderness, to prepare his way. Isa. 40 : 3. Mai. 3 : 1 ; 4 : 5. A specified period, — marked, according to similar computations in the Jewish scriptures, by weeks of years, each day foi a year, — was set, from the going forth of the command to restore and to build Jerusalem, after the Babylonish captivity, unto Messiah the prince. Dan. 9 : 25. A period somewhat longer was determined upon the people and upon the holy city. Dan. 9:24. After the Messiah was to be cut off, the people of the prince that

Chap. II. J AND THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION. 17

should come weie to destroy the city and the sanctuary; desolations, even to the consummation, were determined, and the sacririce and oblation were to cease. Dan. 9 : 26, 27. A king did reign over the Jews in their own land, though the ten tribes had long ceased to be u kingdom; their national council, the members 01 which, as Jews, were lineally descended from Judah, exercised its authority and power — the temple was standing — the oblation and sacrifice, according to the law of Moses, were there duly and daily offered up — and the time prescribed for the coming of the Messiah had drawn to its close — at the commencement of the Christian era. Before the public ministry of Jesus, a messenger appeared to prepare his way ; and Josephus, in the history of that time, speaks of the blameless life and cruel death of "John that was called the baptist," and describes his preaching and baptism. Josephus's Antiquities, b. 18^ c. 5, § 2. But every mark that denoted the fullness of the time, and of its signs, when the Messiah was to appear, was erased soon after the death of Christ, and being fixed to that single period, those marks could no more be restored again than time past could return. The time determined on the people and on the holy city, seventy weeks or four hundred and ninety years, passed away. The tribe of Judah were no longer united under a king. Banished from their own land, and subjected to every oppression, there was no more a lawgiver of the tritye of Judah, though Judah was he whom his brethren were to serve. Of the temple one stone was not left upon another. The sacrifice and oblation, which none but priests could offer, altogether ceased when the genealogies of the tribe of Levi were lost, and when the Jews had no tern pie, nor country, nor priest, nor altar. Ere Jerusalem

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was destroyed, or desolation had passed over the land of Judea, the expectation was universal among the Jews that their Messiah was then to appear ; and heathen as well as Jewish historians testify of the belief then prevalent over the whole East that the ancient prophecies bore a direct and express reference to that period. And the question might now go to the heart of a Jew, however loth to abandon the long-cherished hope of his race, how can these prophecies be true, if the Messiah be not come? or where, from the first words of Moses to the last of Malachi, can there be found such marks of the time when Shiloh was to come, or Messiah the prince to be cut off, as pertained to the period when their forefathers crucified Jesus — a period which closed over the glory of Judah, and which, in the continued unbelief of the Jews, has not heretofore left, for nearly eighteen centuries, a bright page in their history beyond it?

Though the countrymen of Christ when he came would not receive him, yet it was of the Jews that Jesus was to come; and the human lineage of the Messiah is as clearly marked in the prophecies as the time of his appearance. The divinity of the person of the Messiah, and his taking upon himself the likeness of sinful flesh, is declared in the Old Testament as well as in the New. He whose name was to be called the Wonderful, the Counsellor, the Mighty God, was to become a cluld that was to be born, a son that was to be given. Isa. 9:6. It was the seed of the woman that was to bruise the serpent's head. Gen. 3:15. The line of his descent, according to the flesh, and the place of his birth, were expressly foretold. It was in the seed of Abraham that all the nations of the earth were to be blessed. Gen. 22 : 18. It was from the

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midst of the Israelites, of their brethren, that a prophet like unto Moses was to arise. Deut. 18 : 15. And he was to be not only of the tribe of Judah, Gen. 49 : 8, &c, but also of the house or family of David. From the root of Jesse a Branch was to grow up, on which the Spirit of the Lord was to rest, and to which the Gentiles would seek. Isa. 11 : 1-10. It was unto David that a righteous Branch was to arise, a King, whose name was to be called The Lord our Righteousness. Jer. 23 : 5, 6. And it was in Bethlehem Ephra- •tah, in the land of Judah, little as it was among the thousands of Israel, that He was to come, whose goings forth had been of old, from everlasting. Mican, 5 : 2. And Jesus is he alone of the seed of the woman, of the descendants of Abraham, oX the tribe of Judah, of the house of David, in whom all the families of the earth can be blessed; to whom the Gentiles seek, and who, ere the family genealogies of the Jews were lost, was shown by them to be born of the lineage of David, and in the town of Bethlehem.

The history of the life of Christ by the four Evan gelists is simply a record of what he said and did, and his character is illustrated by his words and actions alone. Christians have often tried to delineate it; and if in the attempt their thoughts have harmonized with the divine records, their hearts may w r ell have then felt as it were the impression of that divine image after which man was at first created. Even some who never sought to be the champions of the Christian faith, have been struck with irresistible admiration of the life of its Author. Rousseau acknowledges that it would have been nothing less than a miracle that such a character, if not real, could ever have been thought of by fishermen of Galilee. And Lord Byron not only called

20 PROfHECIES CONCERNING CHWSTC Chap. II

Christ diviner than Socrates, but he has no less truly than nobly said, that " if ever God was man, or man God, he was both." But the divine character is such that none but a divine hand could draw; and seeking in the prophecies what the Messiah was to be, we read what Jesus was while he dwelt among men.

" Thou art fairer than the children of men ; grace is poured into thy lips, therefore God hath blessed thee for ever. The sceptre of thy kingdom is a right sceptre — thou lovest righteousness and hatest iniquity. Psalm 45 : 2, 6, 7. The Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear oi the Lord. He shall not judge after .the sight of his eyes, neither reprove after the hearing of his ears. But with righteousness shall he judge the poor, and reprove with equity for the meek of the earth. And righteousness shall be the girdle of his loins, and faithfulness the girdle of his reins. Isa, 11 : 2-5. He shall feed his flock like a shepherd, he shall gather the lambs with his arm, and carry them in his bosom. Isa. 40 : 1 1. He shall not cry, nor lift up, nor cause his voice to be heard in the streets. A bruised reed shall he not break, and the smoking flax shall he not quench. Isa. 42 : 2, 3. Thy King cometh unto thee : he is just, and having salvation, lowly, and riding upon an ass. Zech. 9 : 9. He hath done no violence, neither was there any deceit in his lips. Isa. 53 : 9. He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; he was brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he opened not his mouth. Isaiah, 53 : 7. I gave my back to the smiters. and my cheek to them that plucked off the hair; I hid not my face from shame and spitting. Isa. 50 : 6. He shall not fail nor be discouraged, till he have set judgment in the