Evidences of Christianity.
By Moses Hull
Rabbah.—The prophecies concerning the chief city of the Ammonites are not numerous; but some of them are very definite. One prophet says: "Therefore behold the days come, saith the Lord, that I will cause an alarm of war to be heard in Rabbah of the Ammonites; and it shall be a desolate heap, and her daughters shall be burned with fire: then shall Israel be heir unto them that were his heirs, saith the Lord." Jer. xlix, 2. Another says: "And I will make Rabbah a stable for camels, and the Ammonites a couching place for flocks; and ye shall know that I am the Lord." Eze. xxv, 5. In Babylon the Arabian was not to pitch his tent, nor the shepherd to make his fold—it was to be a menagerie of wild beasts, but not so with Rabbah. The same God that ordered the lion and bittern to Babylon, ordered camels and sheep to Rabbah. Lord Lindsey says that he could not sleep in the ruins of Rabbah for the bleating of sheep; that the dung of camels covers the ruins of its palaces, and that the only building left entire in its acropolis is used for a sheepfold.”—Lindsey's Travels, vol. ii, pp. 78, 117. Tyre.—An entirely different doom awaited the city of Tyrus. The Lord ordered Ezekiel to go and say to it, "Behold I am against thee, O Tyrus, and I will cause many nations to come up against thee, as the sea causeth his waves to come up. And they shall destroy the walls of Tyrus, and break down her towers: I will also scrape her dust from her, and make her like the top of a rock. It shall be a place for the spreading of nets in the midst of the sea; for I have spoken it, saith the Lord God; and it shall become a spoil to the nations. And her daughters which are in the field shall be slain by the sword; and they shall know that I am the Lord." Eze. xxvi, 3-6. Again in verses 11 and 12 he says, "With the hoofs of his horses shall he tread down all thy streets; he shall slay thy people by the sword, and thy strong garrisons shall go down to the ground. And they shall make a spoil of thy riches, and make a prey of thy merchandise; and they shall break down thy walls, and destroy thy pleasant houses; and they shall lay thy stones, and thy timber, and thy dust, in the midst of the water." Tyre was the London of Asia, and at the time Ezekiel uttered these predictions, it was the commercial metropolis of the world. Its glory and splendor are described in Eze. xxvi, xxviii. It was not to become as Babylon—"desolate, without inhabitant;" nor as Rabbah, "a couching place for flocks;" nor yet as Damascus, "a ruinous heap." But its dust was to be "scraped off," its "timbers and stones thrown into the sea." It was to become a scraped rock whereon "fishers" were to dry their nets. The prophecy of Ezekiel has been so literally fulfilled that even the infidel Volney quotes it as a "venerable fragment of antiquity," and applies it to Tyre. He says the vicissitudes of time, or rather, the barbarism of the Greeks of the lower empire, and the Mahometans, have accomplished the prediction.—Travels, vol. ii. pp. 210-212. Passing over the destruction of Tyre by Nebuchadnezzar, prophesied of in Isa. xxiii, and also its destruction by Alexander, when its stones, timbers, and dust were thrown into the sea, to make a bridge to New Tyre, let us notice its present situation. The whole village of Tyre, says Volney, "contained only fifty or sixty poor families who live obscurely, on a trifling fishery." "The port of Tyre," says Dr. Shaw, "small as it is, is choked up to that degree with sand and rubbish, that the boats of those fishermen who now and then visit this once renowned emporium, and dry their nets upon its rocks and ruins, can with great difficulty only be admitted." Bruce describes Tyre as a "rock whereon fishers dry their nets." For further testimony, see M'Ilvaine's Evidences, p. 258. Were it at all necessary, we might now enter into the prophetic description of Nineveh, Damascus, Jerusalem, and other cities, but if the cases already presented do not convince the infidel that something more than human wisdom characterized the prophets, we despair of reaching his case. We will bring the argument under this head to a conclusion by giving a synopsis of the Prophecies concerning Christ.—We present them as arranged by Dr. Berg, in his Debate with Joseph Barker, pp. 185-192.
"Messiah was to come among men before the destruction of the first temple. Jesus Christ preached in that temple; and it was totally destroyed within forty years afterward. Compare Haggai ii, 7: "And I will shake all nations, and the desire of all nations shall come; and I will fill this house with glory, saith the Lord of hosts;" with Matt. xxi, 23: "And when he was come into the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people came unto him as he was teaching, and said, By what authority doest thou these things? and who gave thee this authority?" See Josephus! "Messiah was to come into the world before the dominion of the Jews was taken away. Christ was born that very year when Augustus Cæsar imposed a tax upon the Jewish nation, as a token of their subjection to the Roman government. Compare Gen. xlix, 10, with Luke ii, 1-7. "When Messiah should make his appearance among men, it was to be a time of general peace, after dreadful wars and convulsions. When Jesus Christ came into the world, the Roman wars were just terminated, the temple of Janus was shut, and universal peace reigned throughout the empire. Compare Haggai ii, 6, 7, 9, with the Roman history of this period. "Messiah was to make his appearance among men at a time when there should be a general expectation of him. When Jesus Christ came into the world, all nations were looking for the advent of some extraordinary person. Compare Haggai ii, 7-9, with Matt. ii, 1-10, and John i, 19-45. "Messiah was to be the son of Abraham, the father of the faithful, and the friend of God. Jesus Christ was sprung from that illustrious Patriarch. Compare Gen. xxi, 1-12, with Matt. i, 1-16. "Messiah was to be the Son of Isaac, and not of Ishmael. Jesus Christ was sprung from Isaac, and not from Ishmael. Compare Gen. xvii, 16-21, with Matt. i, 1-16. "Jacob had twelve sons. Messiah was not to spring from any other of the twelve, but from Judah. Jesus Christ claimed Judah as his ancestor in a direct line. Compare Gen. xlix, 8-12, with Matt. i, 1-16. "Messiah was to be sprung from Jesse, the father of David, king of Israel. Jesus Christ was his descendant. Compare Isa. xi, 1, with Matt. i, 1-16. "Messiah was to be born in a poor and mean condition, when the family should be reduced to a very low estate. Jesus Christ, both on his father's and his mother's side, was of very low and mean appearance, though descended from such illustrious ancestors. Compare Isa. liii, 2; Luke i, 48, 52; ii, 7, 24. "Messiah was to have a messenger going before him, to make ready a people prepared for the Lord. Christ had a messenger going before him, who fully bore witness to his pretensions. Compare Mal. iii, 1, with John i, 19-34, and iii, 26-36. "The forerunner of Messiah was either to be Elijah himself, or one in the spirit of Elijah. John the Baptist, the forerunner of Christ, was altogether in the spirit194of that great prophet. Compare Mal. iv, with Mark i, 1-8. "The forerunner of Messiah was to preach in the wilderness, and to prepare the minds of the people for his coming. John the Baptist did preach in the wilderness of Judea, and professed himself to be sent to prepare the Jews for the advent of Christ. Compare Isa. xl, 3-5, with Matt. iii, 1-16. "The forerunner of Messiah was to be considerably successful in his office. John the Baptist was treated with great respect by his countrymen, and made large numbers of disciples. Compare Isa. xl, 3-5, with Luke iii, 21. "Messiah was not to be born at Jerusalem, the capital of his kingdom, but at Bethlehem, an obscure country village. Jesus Christ was born at Bethlehem, by a very peculiar providence. Compare Micah v, 2: 'But thou Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be Ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting,' with Matt. ii, 2: 'Saying, Where is he that is born king of the Jews? for we have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship him.' "Messiah was to go down into Egypt, and to be called out from thence. Jesus Christ went down into Egypt soon after his birth, and was called out from thence by an angel of the Lord. Compare Hosea xi, 1, with Matt. ii, 13-23. "Messiah was to converse and preach the gospel in the region of Galilee. Jesus Christ lived and conversed so long in that obscure and despicable part of the land of Israel, that he was, by way of contempt, denominated the Galilean. Compare Isa. ix, 1, 2: 'Nevertheless, the dimness shall not be such as was in her vexation, when at the first he lightly afflicted the land of Zebulun, and the land of Naphtali, and afterward did more grievously afflict her by the way of the sea, beyond Jordan, in Galilee of the nations. The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light; they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined;' with Matt. iv, 22, 23: 'But when he heard that Archelaus did reign in Judea, in the room of his father Herod, he was afraid to go thither; notwithstanding, being warned of God in a dream, he turned aside into the parts of Galilee; and he came and dwelt in a city called Nazareth, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophets, He shall be called a Nazarene;' and Matt. iv, 23, 25: 'And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all manner of sickness, and all manner of disease, among the people. And there followed him great multitudes of people from Galilee and from Decapolis, and from Jerusalem, and from Judea, and from beyond Jordan.' "Messiah, though a Priest, was not to be of the tribe of Levi, and after the order of Aaron, but after the order of Melchizedec. Jesus Christ was of the tribe of Judah, and had an everlasting priesthood, after the order of Melchizedec. Compare Gen. xiv, 18, Ps. cx, 4; Heb. vi, 20; vii, 1-28. "Messiah was to be a righteous King and emphatically the Prince of peace. Jesus Christ was eminently distinguished as a righteous person, and the great peace-maker, both on earth and in heaven. Compare Isa. xxxii, 1; Ps. xlv, 1-17; lxxii, 1-19; Jer. xxiii, 5; Zech. ix, 9; Isa. ix, 6; Luke ii, 14; Eph. ii, 4-22. "Messiah, to whom belonged the land of Judea, was to be denominated Emanuel. Jesus Christ was the proprietor of that holy land, and was expressly called by the name of Emanuel. Compare Isa. vii, 14; viii, 8; Matt. i, 23; and John i, 11. "Messiah was to be endowed with a peculiar degree of wisdom and understanding. Jesus Christ, his enemies being judges, spake as never man spake, and taught a more pure and excellent doctrine than ever had been received by mankind before. Compare Isa. xi, 1-5; John vii, 46; Matt. xiii, 54-58; Matt. v, vi, vii, chaps. "The doctrine of Messiah was to be of the most healing, and encouraging, and consolatory kind. The doctrine of Jesus Christ was singularly adapted to the healing of wounded minds. Compare Isa. lxi, 1-3; Matt. xi, 28-30; John xiv, 1-3. "In confirmation of his divine mission, Messiah was to display many wonderful works among the people. Jesus Christ wrought abundance of miracles in confirmation of his pretensions, and the doctrines he taught. Compare Isa. xxxv, 5, 6, with Matt. viii, ix; John xxi, 25. "Messiah was to have but little success in preaching the gospel among his own countrymen, the Jews. Jesus Christ was almost universally rejected by them. Compare Isa. liii, 1; xlix, 4; Rom. x, 1, 8, 21. "The minds of the Jews were to be so veiled that they should not know their Messiah when he came among them. The minds of the Jews were so sealed up, and enveloped in prejudice against Jesus Christ when he appeared, that he was treated by them as an impostor and deceiver. Compare Isa. vi, 9-13. xxix, 9-14; 2 Cor. iii, 5-18. "Messiah was to be despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. Jesus Christ was despised and rejected of men; and a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. Compare Isa. liii, with Matt. xxvi, xxvii; Phil. ii, 6, 9. "Messiah was to be seen riding into Jerusalem upon a young ass, as a token of the humility of his mind. Jesus Christ answered this prediction, as well as every other that went before concerning him, in the most minute circumstance. Compare Zech. ix, 9, with Matt. xxi, 1-11. "When Messiah should enter Jerusalem in this meek and humble manner, great crowds of the common people should welcome him with shouts and rejoicing. When Jesus Christ rode into that proud metropolis in low disguise, the general cry of the mob was, Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest! Compare Zech. ix, 9, with Matt. xxi, 1-11. "Messiah was to be actuated with such a burning zeal for the house of God, as even to be endangered by it. Jesus Christ displayed that zeal upon various occasions. Compare Ps. lxix, 9, with John ii, 17. "Messiah was to be betrayed into the hands of his enemies by the treachery of an intimate friend. Christ was betrayed by one of the disciples whom he had chosen. Compare Ps. xli, 9; lv, 12, 13; Matt. xxvi, 47-50. "Messiah's price, the thirty pieces of silver, was to be cast to the potter in the house of the Lord. All this was done when Judas betrayed his Master. Compare Zech. xi, 13; Matt. xxvii, 3-10. "Messiah was to be condemned in judgment, and suffer death under the color of public justice. Jesus Christ underwent a mock trial, was declared innocent by his very judge, and yet delivered over to be crucified. Compare Isaiah liii. 8, 9; Matthew xxvii. chapter. "The followers of Messiah were all to forsake him in the time of his greatest need. When Jesus Christ was apprehended, and put upon his trial, all his disciples forsook him and fled. Compare Zechariah xiii. 7; Isaiah lxiii. 5; Matthew xxvi. 56. "Messiah was to finish his public employment, in confirming the covenant, in about three years and a half. Jesus Christ began his public office at thirty years of age, and was put to death at thirty-three and a half. Compare Daniel ix, 27, with the period of our Lord's ministry in the four gospels. "Messiah was to be ignominiously scourged by his persecutors. Jesus Christ was treated in this manner. Compare Isaiah l, 6; with Matthew xxvii, 26. "Messiah was to be oppressed and afflicted, and yet not open his mouth in complaint. He was to be brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before his shearers is dumb, so he opened not his mouth. Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God that taketh away the sins of the world, before Pilate held his peace. 'And when he was accused of the chief priests and elders, he answered nothing.' Compare Isaiah liii, 7; with Matthew xxvi, 63, xxvii, 12-14. "Messiah was to be manifested at the end of the 483 years, from a time when a commandment should go forth to restore and to build Jerusalem. Now it is remarkable, that from the seventh year of Artaxerxes Longimanus, king of Persia, from whom Ezra received his commission, ch. vii, 8; to the baptism of Jesus Christ, there are just 483 years. Daniel ix, 24. "Messiah was to be presented by his enemies with vinegar and gall during his sufferings. In this manner was Jesus Christ treated, as he hung upon the cross. Compare Ps. lxix, 21; with Matt. xxvii, 34; and John xix, 28-30. "The persecutors of Messiah were to pierce his hands and his feet. So did the bloody Jews and Romans treat the Redeemer of mankind. Compare Ps. xxii, 16; with Matt. xxvii, 35. "When Messiah was put to death, his enemies were to part his garments among them, and for his vesture they were to cast lots. When Christ was crucified, these actions took place. Compare Ps. xxii, 18; with Matt. xxvii, 32. "When the Messiah should suffer death, not a bone of his body was to be broken. When Christ was crucified, not a bone of him was injured. Ex. xii, 45; and Num. ix, 12; with John xix, 28-30. "When Messiah should be put to death, his side was, by some means not declared, to be pierced. When Jesus Christ was crucified, his side was pierced with a spear. Compare Zech. xii, 10; with John xix, 34-37. "When Messiah should come, there was to be a fountain opened to the house of David, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, for sin and for uncleanness. When Christ came, he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself, and by the shedding of his blood once for all. Compare Zech. xiii, 1; and Heb. chap. ix, and x. "Messiah was to make atonement for the iniquities, transgressions, and sins of the world. Jesus Christ was a propitiation for the sins of the whole world. Isa. liii, 5; Dan. ix, 24; 1 John ii, 1, 2. "Messiah was to make this sacrifice in the last of Daniel's seventy weeks. Jesus Christ was crucified that very week. Dan. ix, 27. "Messiah was to abolish the old and establish a new dispensation. Jesus Christ abolished the ceremonies of the Law of Moses, and brought in a more perfect economy. Compare Jer. xxxi, 31-34; with Heb. viii, 6-13. "Messiah was not to lie in the grave and be turned to corruption like other men. Jesus Christ did not continue in the grave, nor did he see corruption like the rest of mankind. Compare Ps. xvi, 10; with Matt. xxviii, 6. "Messiah was to ascend up into heaven, and reign there at his Father's right hand, invested with universal dominion. Jesus Christ did ascend up into heaven in the sight of many witnesses, and took his place at the right hand of power, invested with universal dominion. Compare Ps. xvi, 11; lxviii, 18; Isa. ix, 6, 7; Luke xxiv, 50, 51; Acts i, 9; and Matt. xxviii, 19. "Messiah was to send down from heaven the gift of the Holy Ghost, as a token and pledge that he was exalted, and that his Father was pleased with what195he had done upon earth for the redemption of his people. Jesus Christ sent down the gift of the Holy Ghost, in the most conspicuous and miraculous manner. Compare Ps. lxviii, 18; Joel ii, 28-32; with Acts ii, 1-4; and Eph. iv, 8-12. "Though Messiah was generally to be rejected and despised in his life-time; after his death the pleasure of the Lord, in the conversion and salvation of mankind, was to prosper in his hand. How exactly these circumstances agree with the history of Jesus Christ, is well known to every Christian. Isa. liii, 10-12. "The followers of Messiah should meet with great and severe trials and persecutions for their adherence to his cause. The followers of Jesus Christ had the whole world in arms against them for several ages. Compare Isa. lxv, 5; and Mal. iii, 1-3; with Matt. x, 16-18; and 1 Cor. iv, 9. "The rejecters of Messiah should be rejected of God, and his followers called by another name. The Jews, who would not have Christ to rule over them were rejected by him, and his followers were called by another name, through divine appointment, as it should seem, to accomplish this prophecy. Compare Isa. lxii, 2; lxv, 15; with Acts xi, 26. "This is a concise view of some of the predictions contained in the Old Testament, concerning the nature, birth, life, doctrine, sufferings, death, resurrection, ascension, and kingdom of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. There can be no doubt respecting the priority of the predictions to the birth of Christ, because it is well known by every person, who is at all conversant in these matters, that the Old Testament was translated out of Hebrew into the Greek language, and dispersed over the world, many years before Christ came; and that the latest of the predictions was upwards of three centuries before the birth of the Redeemer of mankind. Such a variety of circumstances, therefore, predicted concerning one man, so many years before he was born, of so extraordinary a nature, and under such convulsions, and revolutions of civil governments, all accomplished in Christ, and in no other person that ever appeared in the world, point him out with irresistible evidence, as the Saviour of mankind. I call upon, and challenge, the most hardened infidel in Christendom to refute the conclusion." Now reader, my task is done. Not that I have presented all the evidence of Christianity, or all the outlines of the great chains which have been examined. But I trust that at least enough has been said to convince you that there is evidence that the book which we call the Bible, "Is divine and unalterably sure." If I have succeeded in awakening a spirit of investigation so that you will examine other and more able writings upon this subject I shall be satisfied. Before taking my leave of you I would remind you that it is not enough for you to assent to the truth of the Bible. Thousands who sincerely believe the Bible to be given by inspiration of God will land in destruction. "O taste and see that the Lord is good." "Ho every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money, come ye, buy, and eat. Yea come, buy, wine and milk without money and without price." "If any man thirst let him come unto me and drink." "And the Spirit and the bride say come; and let him that heareth say come; and let him that is athirst come; and whosoever will let him take the water of life freely."