^fN^v OF pWclr^ BS 480 .H3 1839 V.2 Haldane, Robert The evidence and authority of divine revelation >IDCCCXXXIX, TJiri'-aifHAlL A&L'IOl ©>' T3TX'3 AT as-OiIMnR. KA3T SH .UK . drsijrniil to roiiiiiiiiiioi .ile the taking- i>f .'rriisuli-m. V V THE V'V/ . ■ . 4.- <^ EVIDENCE AND AUTHORITY DIVINE REVELATION, BEING A VIEW OF THE TESTIMONY OP THE LAW AND THE PROPHETS TO THE MESSIAH WITH THE SUBSEQUENT TESTIMONIES. y By ROBERT HALDANE, Esq. IN TWO VOLUMES. VOL. IT. THIRD EDITION. LONDON: HAMILTON, ADAMS, AND CO. ; EDINBURGH, WILLIAM WHYTE AND CO., AND JOHN JOHNSTONE, HUNTER SQUARE ; DUBLIN, W. CARSON, AND ROBERTSON AND CO. MDCCCXXXIX. EDINBDRGH : PRINTED BY BALLANTYNE AND HDGHES, PAUL'S WORK. CONTENTS OF VOLUME II. CHAPTER XL REVIEW OF THE EVIDENCE ARISING FROM THE HISTORY, THE MIRACLES, THE TYPES, ANE THE PROPHECIES OF THE OLD TES- TAMENT. PAGE The evidence from these sources considered in its parts, 9 and in its combination. CHAPTER XII. GENERAL EXPECTATION OF THE MESSIAH. Expected by Jews and Heathens. Celsus — Sibylline Books 23 — Cicero— Sallust — Julius Marathus — Virgil— Testimo- nies of Tacitus and Suetonius — This expectation proves the clearness of the recorded predictions respecting the Messiah. CHAPTER XIII. APPEARANCE OF THE MESSIAH. The name of the IMessiah — Precise period of his appear- 33 ance recorded — John the Baptist — Message of Jesus Christ to John — Public ministry of Jesus Christ — His conduct when arraigned as a criminal — Reasons of ap- pearing only to his Disciples after his Resurrection — The Miracles of Jesus Christ — Character of Jesus Christ. CONTENTS. CHAPTER XIV. TESTIMONY OF THE APOSTLES TO THE MESSIAH. TAGK Consistency and candour of the Apostles — They have drawn oS a perfect character — The testimony they bore — They , were neither deceived nor deceivers — Peculiar nature of their Testimony — Judas. CHAPTER XV. TESTIMONY OF THE FIRST CHRISTIANS TO THE MESSIAH. The testimony of the first Christians of the same kind as TO that of the Apostles — They possessed miraculous gifts— The Scriptures of the New Testament received by them —The persecutions they suffered — Persecutions of the Church at Smyrna, and of the Churches at Lyons and Vienne — Value of the Testimony of the First Christians. CHAPTER XVI. THE TESTIMONY OF THE APOSTLES AND FIRST CHRISTIANS IS NOT OPPOSED BY ANY CONTRADICTORY TESTIMONY. The Four Gospels acknowledged to be authentic by Friends 92 and Foes — Mr Hume's reference to Alexander the Im- postor— Situation in which the Jewish Rulers were placed by the testimony of the Apostles — Credit of distinguished characters and of the Roman Government deeply impli- cated— The facts testified by the Apostles and first Christians were never contradicted. CHAPTER XVII. TESTIMONY TO THE FACTS OF THE GOSPEL HISTORY, FROM THE ADMISSIONS OF THOSE WHO PROFESSEDLY OPPOSED OR WROTE AGAINST CHRISTIANITY. Admissions of Trypho, a Jew — Testimony of Lucian — 106 Admissions of Celsus, Porphyry, Hierocles, and Julian — Difference between the opposition of the ancient and the modern infidels — The divinity of Jesus Christ a stumblingblock to the heathen opposers. CONTENTS. O CHAPTER XViri. PACK Ti:STIMONY TO FACTS RECORDED IN THE GOSPEL HISTORY, 124 AND TO THE PROGRESS OF THE GOSPEL, BY JEWISH AND HEATHEN HISTORIANS, AND BY THE PUBLIC EDICTS OF THE ROMAN GOVERNMENT. 'J'estimony of Josephus to John the Baptist — Facts noticed in the apologies of Justin Martyr and TertuUian — Tes« timony of Tacitus and Suetonius respecting the Chris- tians— Ample admission by Gibbon of the value of their testimony — Doraitian's enquiry after the posterity of David — Pliny's letter to Trajan, and the Emperor's re- script— Apologies presented to Adrian and rescript — Letter of Adrian to Servianus — Apology of Justin Mar- tyr presented to Titus Antoninus — Extract from the Meditations of Marcus Antoninus. CHAPTER XIX. FACTS RECORDED IN THE EARLIER PARTS OF THE SCRIPTURE HISTORY, CANNOT BE DISPROVED, AND ARE CORROBORATED BY TRADITION. The age of the world, the varieties of the human species, 141 and the original circumstances of mankind, are urged against the veracity of the Books of Moses— Cuvier's Theory of the Earth — Age of the world — Relative posi- tion of the sun to the earth at the creation — Unity of the human race — The savage state not the original con- dition of man ; Kaimes* Sketches and Doeg's Letters — No tradition contradictory to the Scriptures — Various confirmations of their truth — The truth of the Scriptures corroborated by histories and traditions from all parts of the world. CHAPTER XX. TESTIMONY TO THE MESSIAH FROM THE SUCCESS OF THE GOSPEL. The time of the appearance of Christianity — Polytheism 174 long established — Opposition by heathens — Opposition by 6 ^ CONTENTS. PAGB Jews—The instruments and means employed for the pro- pagation of the Gospel Extent of the triumph of Chris- tianity—Causes of this assigned by Gibbon— Reflections on the success of the Gospel. CHAPTER XXI. TESTIMONY TO THE TRUTH OF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION FROM THE OPPOSITION IT HAS ENCOUNTERED. Opposition which the Gospel has in every age encountered 198 — Character of that opposition in ancient and modern times, — Enmity of Tacitus and Suetonius, of Gibbon and Hume, and other infidel writers — Causes of this enmity — Testimony to the truth of the Gospel arising from this opposition. CHAPTER XXII. TESTIMONY TO THE MESSIAH FROM THE PROPHECIES THAT ARE AT PRESENT FULFILLING IN THE WORLD. Noah's prophecy — Ishmael — Nineveh — Babylon — Tyre — 218 Egypt — The Jews — Julian's attempt to rebuild the Tem- ple— Predicted restoration of the Jews — General state of the world till the consummation of all things. CHAPTER XXIII. EVIDENCE DERIVED FROM CHRONOLOGICAL HARMONIES, AND REMARKABLE COINCIDENCES FOUND IN SCRIPTURE. Various examples of these harmonies and coincidences 274 from both the Old Testament and the New. CHAPTER XXIV. THE GOSPEL. The perfections of God — Ruined condition of man — Per- 307 feet obedience required by the law — The justice and mercy of God — Righteousness provided by God — Coming of the Redeemer — The Holy Spirit — Renewal of the image of God — Covenants established by God CONTENTS. 7 PAGE — The Person of the Messiah — Election of the people of God ; Jacob and Esau — Union with Jesus Christ — Appointment of the Redeemer — Jesus Christ made to his people Wisdom — Righteousness — Sanctification — Redemption — Nature and duration of Heavenly glory — Jesus Christ a Prophet, a Priest, and a King — Suit- ableness of the Gospel to the ruined state of man — Ne- cessity and source of Holiness — All good works proceed from faith — No discrepancy in the doctrines of the apos- tles Paul and James — Justification and Sanctification inseparable — Judgment of the last day — Salvation alto- gether of grace — Power of Divine grace exemplified in the conversion of a French Pastor, CHAPTER XXV. THE VARIOUS EFFECTS PRODUCED BY THE GOSPEL. Some persons pervert — some abuse — some neglect — some 402 oppose — others receive the Gospel, CHAPTER XXVI. INTERNAL EVIDENCE OP THE SCRIPTURES. The self-evident authority of the Scriptures — The view the 458 Scriptures give of God — of his character as manifested in the work of redemption — Of the state of man — Of his final destination — The place assigned in the Scriptures to a holy life — Perfection of the system of morality in the Scriptures^Their estimate of the things of this world — Account they give of the joys of heaven, and the punish- ments of hell — View they contain of the decrees of God, and of free-will — The Scriptures do not gratify curio- sity— The style of the Scriptures — Their impartiality — The consistency of the writers with themselves and each other — Agreement of the Old Testament with the New — Adaptation of the Gospel to the state of man — The righteousness it provides — Salvation by faith — Sources of evidence peculiar to the Christian. 8 CONTENTS. CONCLUSION. PAGE The History of the Old Testament concentres in one point. 478 Rise and progress of the Christian religion — A nation separated from all others — Departure from Egypt, occu- pation of Canaan, and expulsion from it — Predictions concerning a Ruler to whom the government was to be- long— To be rejected by Israel — Appearance of Jesus Christ — All that was prefigured and foretold concerning the Messiah accomplished in him — Impossibility in this case of deception — Evidence to the truth of Christianity from the Jewish economy— All the lines of revelation unite in Jesus Christ — The importance of Christianity seen in the variety of evidences by which its truth is attested — Christians do not value it sufficiently — Incon- sistency of the great body of its professors — Warning to those who reject the Gospel — Authority of Christianity — Final destiny of all men. EVIDENCE, &c. CHAPTER XI. REVIEW OF THE EVIDENCE ARISING FROM THE HIS- TORY, THE MIRACLES, THE TYPES, AND THE PRO- PHECIES OF THE OLD TESTAMENT. In the foregoing Chapters, a view has been given of the evidence of Divine revelation, arising from the History, the Miracles, the Types, and the Prophecies of the Old Testament Scriptures, as they unitedly bear on the one great subject, the coming of the Messiah. And when we take a retrospect of what we have con- templated in detail, are we not forced to exclaim, *' This is the finger of God ?" Such a variety of subjects, with such an amazing diversity of particulars, all evidently concentrating in one point, could not have been con- ducted by human ingenuity. Must it not strike every candid mind, that this converging of the innumerable rays of revelation could have been effected only by the Author of light ? What can be more various than the subjects touched on in the Old Testament ? yet the most apparently detached and insulated fact never loses sight of Jesus Christ. While the history is a relation of facts regarding this world, it is utterly dissimilar to all human histories. It commences with the creation, and conveys informa- tion that all the writings of antiquity do not contain, 10 EVIDENCE ARISING FROM THE HISTORY, but instead of it, transmit only childish fables. The account given by iNIoses, of the original state of man and the present, is the only one that corresponds with what is before our eyes ; and yet that it is not the in- vention of man, is clearly seen from the fact, that men are naturally so averse to this view of themselves, that thev deny or pervert it as contained in the Bible. While this history overlooks those events that are most interesting to the men of the world, and which guide the pen of the human historian, it acquaints us with the government of God, marking the Divine dis- pleasure against sin, which the human historian over- looks or conceals. While the great empires, and mighty men of renown, are passed by in silence, or noticed only in so far as ihey are connected with the main sub- ject of the history, we have a minute detail of the distin- guished individuals to whom the Messiah was promised as a descendant. What human historian is it who acts on such principles ? The historians of all nations, both from partiality to their own countrymen, and the desire of popular admiration and applause, always magnify the courage and exploits which they record. Had the his- torical parts of Scripture been a forgery, or the work of •uninspired men, they would have extolled the bravery of the Israelites, and celebrated their victories as the re- sult of unparalleled courage and military skill. This would have flattered the vanity of the nation, and pro- cured for the people a universal reception for the history. Had the design been, not so much to deceive the nation of Israel, as to impose on strangers, the result must have been the. same. It is inconceivable that, in such a case, they should not have endeavoured to impress foreigners with the most favourable ideas of their mihtary virtues. MIRACLES, TYPES; AND PROPHECIES. 1 1 Both vanity and interest would have led to this result. Nothinof is better calculated to obtain for a nation secu- rity in peace, or victory in war, than the impression of their invincible courage and prowess. But in this Moses, and the other sacred writers, differ widely from ordinary historians. The courage of the Israelites is never ex- alted, nor is victory ascribed to their valour or might. Success is always attributed to the presence of the God of Israel, and they are often represented as shamefully flying before their enemies. Nor is success represented as the unvaried result of mere partiality in their God. In this there is a most remarkable difference between the representations given by the sacred historians of the victories and defeats of the Israelites, and the accounts by heathen writers, with respect to the interposition of their gods. The gods of the heathen are represented as influenced by a blind partiality for their friends, and if they do not give victory to their favourites, it is owing to fate, or the opposition of other gods, or some unlucky accident which they cannot surmount. The gods range them- selves on different sides in every quarrel among men, and throughout the dispute are as sincere in their efforts to serve the cause as any of the human allies. No crime detaches them from the party whose interest they have espoused, and if their friends are defeated, it is be- cause they have been unable to give them victory. On the contrary, both the victory and the defeat of the people of Israel are from their God. Their success is not owing to mere partiality in Jehovah, but is connected with their respect for his authority, and their. punctu- al observance of all his injunctions. If they sinned, they were beaten and put to shame, even though 12 EVIDENCE ARISING FROM THE HISTORY, their God was all powerful. Such a God is not the creation of the mind of man, such historians were not influenced by the common principles of our na- ture. Human historians are inclined to conceal, to palliate, or to excuse the faults of their favourites. A forged history would have clothed friends with every virtue, and would not have ventured to mar the effect design- ed to be produced, by representing- the defects or vices of its distinguished personages. To this the Scripture history presents a remarkable contrast. It paints its characters in the colours of truth and nature. It in- vests them with no romantic virtues, and hides not their imperfections. The Judges, the Kings, the Prophets, and Priests, as well as the People of Israel, are exhi- bited to our view with all their defects, their prejudices, their weakness, and their sins. Such a picture was never sketched by a human pencil. Moses and the other sacred historians must have written by divine in- spiration. What can be more powerfully convincing of the in- spiration of God than that the facts recorded in the Old Testament are generally designed to illustrate some- thing in the kingdom of the Messiah ? Let the facts of this nature, which have been brought together, be viewed in this light, and they will produce the most satisfactory evidence of the truth and inspiration of the Scriptures. Neither accident nor invention is sufficient to account for the innumerable coincidences of resem- blance. The nation of Israel itself, its election of God from idojatrous ancestors, and its whole history, is one continued figure of the Church of God. The features of resemblance, pointed out in the Word of God, are MIRACLES, TYPES, AND PROPHECIES. 13 inexhaustible. It is impossible to weigh this subject with candour and impartiality without being convinced that God is the Author of the Bible. The fact which has been noticed with respect to the preservation of Israel, through all their calamities, and through all the successive conquests of the world by the Babylonians, Persians, Macedonians, and Romans, is a miracle in providence. What but the hand of God could have kept them from being swallowed up by these great empires ? Does history afford any other example of a similar kind ? But this fact is still more astonish- ing when it is considered, that their very calamities were overruled to contribute to prepare the way for the Messiah. Their captivity in Babylon and subjection to the successive empires that ruled the world, dispersed a great number of them among the different nations of the earth, and thus contributed to prepare the way for the progress of the Gospel. The scattered Israelites diffused a general expectation of a great deliverer, and by their Scriptures, translated for their use into the Greek language, put on record in the heathen world documents that, after the publication of the Gospel, enabled the people in the different countries to judge of the truth of Christianity, from its being the fulfilment of those writings which had been in their own hands for some hundred years. How greatly was this calcu- lated to facilitate the introduction of the Gospel ! The civilized world was acquainted with the expectation of the Jews, and, as we are assured, partook of the expec- tation. When the Apostles carried the glad tidings to the nations, they found, in every country and in every city, Jews, to whom they had immediate access, and their converts remained a light to the surrounding 14 EVIDENCE ARISING FROM THE HISTORY, Gentiles. Such is the wisdom of the plans of the God of the Bible. The union of the nations under the Roman empire before the coming- of the Messiah, was another circum- stance, which, as we have seen, greatly contributed to open a door of access to the gospel. Had the world been split into various and hostile governments, a pas- sage from one country to another would in many cases have been impossible ; in all it would have been tedious and difficult. But to prepare a free course for the gospel, the God of providence had united the civilized world into one family. To complete the grand scheme for preparing the world for the reception of the Messiah, and the introduction of his reign, universal peace suc- ceeded the convulsions of many hundred years. Had the nations at the coming of Jesus Christ been engaged in wars as formerly, or the Roman empire, as recently, been torn with civil commotions, access to the different regions of the earth without a series of miracles, would have been denied to the Apostles.^ Why is it that at that moment the world, from its long agitations, be- came as calm and tranquil as the sea when the storm has ceased ? What but almighty Power, and infinite Wisdom, could combine so many circumstances to re- gulate the motions of so many independent wheels ? The history of the Bible, and the history of the world till the coming of Jesus Christ, exhibit all sublunary events as designed to effect one great plan, the mani- festation of the Messiah. The MIRACLES of the Old Testament, we have seen, are such as stamp the history with indubitable autho- rity. They are distinguished from all the pretensions of the heathens to miraculous interposition, whether MIRACLES, TYPES, AND PROPHECIES. 15 the latter are considered as the tricks of cunning- men, or the works of infernal spirits. The nature, the ob- ject, and every distinguishing feature of the miraculous interposition of the God of the Bible, are as character- istically different from those of the gods of paganism, as the works of creation are from the works of men. A simple reading of the miracles of the Old Testament, in comparison with those of the histories of Greece and Rome, will afford full means of conviction. The fact that heathen theology claims miraculous intervention, instead of discrediting the miracles of the Bible, abun- dantly confirms them. It proves that it is the convic- tion of mankind from the light of nature, that miracles are a proper source of evidence, and authenticates the original miracles of revelation. Granting that the early miracles recorded in the Bible are true, it is utterly incredible that they should not afford a ground- work for the pretensions of heathen theology. Had heathenism pretended to no miracles, it would be an argument against there ever having been any true ones. As far as tradition reports the works of God, they are imitated in the theology of the heathens. The com- mon allegation, then, of unbehevers, that all religions pretend to miracles, instead of discrediting the miracles of the Bible, strongly confirms them. Some of the miracles of the Old Testament, we have seen, have left their proof written in indelible charac- ters, for the conviction of all ages. The deluge has left traces of its existence in all countries, and is au- thenticated by the mythology of Greece and Rome. Nothing but the truth of the fact can explain the phenomena of the earth, and the fables of antiquity. The confusion of languages is proved by the different 16 EVIDENCE ARISING FROM THE HISTORY, lang-iiag-es of the family of Adam, and nothing but a miracle can account for it. Notwithstanding- the theories of some philosophers, language is as truly the gift of God as reason ; and the disuse of the original language, and the introduction of others, cannot be accounted for without divine intervention. The site of the cities of the plain still bears evidence to the fact of the judgment of the Almighty ruler of the world, and proclaims to every generation God's unalterable determination to take vengeance on the workers of iniquity. The whole history of Israel, from their leaving Egypt, is so interwoven with the miraculous intervention of God, that the facts recorded cannot be true, as has been observed, without the miracles, and yet many of these facts have never been doubted by unbelievers. That the Israelites came up out of Egypt against the will of the sovereign, has never been ques- tioned ; yet that they should have done so, could only be true upon the supposition of the power and inter- vention of God. That their route was through the wilderness is not doubted ; yet that they could have subsisted there without a constant display of miracles, is impossible. To have taken possession of the coun- try of nations so numerous and warlike, being them- selves unaccustomed to arms, was impossible, without divine assistance. In short, the most undoubted facts of their history could only have been true upon the supposition of the truth of the recorded miracles. The number, the variety, and the aptness of the TYPES of the Old Testament, to shadow forth the mysteries of the Messiah's kingdom, as they are ex- hibited in the New, form a body of evidence of the truth of the gospel convincing, and even surprising. MIRACI^ES, TYPES, AND PROPHECIES. l7 That almost every thing contained in all the hooks of the Jewish Scriptures, should be adapted to prefigure something in the person, character, or doctrines of the Lord Jesus Christ, cannot be accounted for upon any other supposition than that God is the author of these Scriptures. We have seen this point illustrated in detail with respect to Persons, Offices, Objects, and Appearances, Places, Institutions of Worship, and Events, from the beginning of the world to the com- pletion of the Old Testament. The very creation of the heavens and the earth, and the seventh-day Sabbath, instituted immediately after, as well as the entrance of Israel into the rest of Canaan, prefigured the spiritual creation, with the rest of Jesus Christ and his people. Sacrifice must have had a divine origin, yet no one worthy of God has ever been ascribed to this ordinance by the invention of unbelievers. The only point of view in which it has meaning and dignity, is its reference to the sacrifice of the Lamb of God. It is obvious that there is no natural connexion between the sacrifice of an animal, and the forgiveness of sin. The light of nature could never have suggested it. In- stead of being calculated to take away sin, the light of nature would declare that the slaughter of innocent beasts must bring additional guilt. Without the divine permission, we have no right to kill any of his crea- tures. Yet sacrifice, as we have seen, is found among all nations. It must, then, have been a divine appoint- ment. If sacrifice in general must have originated with Him, who, from eternity, designed to reconcile the world to himself by the blood of his Son, the amazing variety of sacrifices, and observances in sacrifice, place the typical reference in an irresistible light. The iunumer- VOL. II. B 18 EVIDENCE ARISING FROM THE HISTORY, able directions for the performance of the rite have all an appropriate reference ; and amidst the countless crowd of typical ordinances, no two of them are in all things perfectly ahke. In such apparent profusion, there is not the most trifling- useless expenditure. Is it not, then, self-evident, that this is the wisdom of Him who formed the earth ? Can any parallel to this be pointed out among the inventions of men ? We have seen that the resurrection of Jesus Christ was not only prefigured by many things in the ordinances and history of Israel, but that several circumstances conspire to fix the very day on which this great event was to happen, indicating- that it should take place on the eighth day — that is, the first day of the week. Of the many typical persons in the Old Testament who represent our Lord Jesus Christ, the appropriate, characteristic, and various lights, in which each of them exhibits him is truly surprising*. No two of them represent him in the same point of view. It takes all to exhaust the subject, and to delineate his full resem- blance. That a true history should afford a series of personages in different ages, whose character, offices, and lives, should correspond to those of an individual, cannot be accounted for, but upon the supposition of divine appointment. This evidence is immensely in- creased by the consideration of the utter dissimilarity of those typical persons to one another. While taken together they are all like Jesus Christ, they have no common resemblance to each other ; each of them represents some peculiar feature in the antitype, of which the rest are destitute. Let the reader, with this in his view, re-peruse what has been said in the illus- t MIRACLES, TYPES, AND PROPHECIES. 19 tration of typical personages, and it must excite his wonder. When we refer to Adam, Abel, Noah, Melchizedec, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, Joshua, Jonah, &c., we place greater weight on the characteristic and appropriate distinction of typical allusion, than on the number of persons in the list. They all differ — they are all deficient when viewed separately ; but when viewed in conjunction, they form an harmonious whole. Not only individuals, numerous and infinitely various, but whole classes, throughout every period of the history of the Old Testament, exhibit a resemblance to the Messiah. We have seea that the kings, priests, and prophets of Israel represent Jesus Christ, whose official name is the fulfilment of their official anointing. How wonderful is it to find a picture so exactly resembling, in such a variety of particulars ! Jesus Christ and his salvation were also represented by typical places, which have been shown to exhibit things belonging to the kingdom of the Messiah. Can. a resemblance in so many places, so dififerent in their nature, with so many points of correspondence, be the work of chance ? A wild imagination may fancy resem- blance where there is none, or a few resembling features may be accidental ; but to ascribe to such a cause the likeness of these objects to the kingdom of Jesus Christ, would be highly irrational. In each of the re- sembling objects, it is not in one point, or in a few, that the resemblance is to be found. Almost every feature in the picture has a corresponding feature in the original. Can it be doubted, then, that the king- dom of Jesus Christ was in the eye of Him who sketched these various similitudes ? 20 EVIDENCE ARISING FROM THE HISTORY, The events recorded in the Old Testament are also typical. The crime and punishment of the people of Bethshemesh, that have been noticed, show us how things the most trivial, and apparently accidental, may convey instruction of the greatest importance. How strikingly does this fact exhibit the guilt of self-right- eousness, and the danger of all who depend on their own obedience to the law of God ! A most important lesson is taught in what is recorded of the conduct of the Israelites, on hearing the report of those who had been sent to search the land of Canaan, and of God having sworn in his wrath that they should not enter into his rest ; together with the sequel, that on account of their unbelief, the carcasses of that generation fell in the wilderness. To the spiritual instruction couched in these facts, our attention is specially directed, both in the Book of Psalms and in the Epistle to the He- brews. What a mass of evidence in favour of Christi- anity results from finding an infinite number of events all illustrative of the kingdom of Jesus Christ I Intimately connected with the foregoing sources of the proof of Christianity, we have another, in the pro- phecies of the Old Testament. To foretell future events, as we have remarked, belongs to God only, and no instance of imposture, or Satanic sagacity, recorded in Pagan history, can at all invalidate this position. The prophecies of Scripture are of such a nature as to set them infinitely above a suspicion of this kind. The things foretold in them could have been known only to the Omniscient God. It is not a lucky guess at future events, where causes were already in visible operation, but a train of predictions from the beginning of the world to the end of the Jewish Scriptures, respecting MIRACLES, TYPES, AND PROPHECIES. 21 things not in the prospect of created intelligence, many of which are still future, while others were fulfilled at the distance of many hundred years. The fulfilment of prophecies affords the evidence of miracles to our- selves and every age. But what is still more astonishing, the predictions of the Old Testament, we have seen, are linked together as an inseparable chain, and terminate in one grand object, to which they conduct us through an almost endless variety of subordinate events. The first of them was delivered to our first parents immediately after the fall, and was the germ of all the after disco- veries of Divine mercy. To it all the promises and predictions of the Bible are referable, The whole contents of both the Old Testament and the New, are but the developement of what this prediction expresses in a single sentence. The gradual discovery of the Messiah in the subsequent predictions, is a wonderful instance of Divine wisdom, and a genuine mark of the hand of God. The progress of revelation has been like the light of the sun, which, from the first dawn, shines more and more clearly to the meridian day. The Old Testament prophecy, we have remarked, divides itself into three distinct branches, the adapta- tion of which to the end proposed proves it to be the work of God. The prophecies respecting events at hand, or events that took place during the Jewish dis- pensation, were necessary for the confirmation of the faith of the nation of Israel, and by being recorded in the most authentic manner, afford evidence to every age. Prophecies which have a double reference, besides their other advantages, afford to us an endless source of in- struction and confirmation, by comparing them with 22 EVIDENCE ARISING PROM THE HISTORY, the New Testament. The predictions respecting* the times of the Messiah, and all future ag-es, present in their gradual fulfilment, a constant succession of mira- cles. Could a system of prophecy on such a plan he the contrivance of men ? Can such wisdom be ascribed ti> imposture ? Is there any thing- like it in any of the reli- gions of the world? Do the responses of the heathen oracles manifest any thing- akin to this ? If not — if this be a feature peculiar to the prophecies of the word of God, there is self-evidence, that the religion, of which this is a proof, is true. Human wisdom was as inade- quate to form a system of this kind, as to plan the motions of the heavenly bodies. What is most astonishing, those very things which the Jews were so averse to recognise in their Messiah, and for the manifestation of which he gave the greatest offence to them, are all distinctly to be met in the pro- phecies constantly in their hands. We have seen, that the Person, the character, and the office of the Messiah, his sufferings, his death, and resurrection, are all min- utely described by the prophets. The Prophets describe him as God ; that God would be manifest in the flesh, is not a thing that would ever have entered into the mind of man. But how convincing are the predictiom; of this kind, when viewed in connexion with the his- tory of Jesus Christ ! His humble unresisting character, is not what human wisdom would have anticipated, either from his divine nature or his almighty power. All men would have expected him to trample on his enemies, instead of being apparently defeated by them. Prophecy makes the Messiah a Priest, and a King; but in the lowly circumstances in which they describe him, how can he be a King ? As descended frona MIRACLES, TYPES, AND PROPHECIES. 23 Jiidah, how can he be a Priest ? What but the wisdom of Jehovah could have dictated prophecies correspond- ing with such exactness to the events, but so unhkely in the prospective estimate of men ! When such satisfaction is derived from each of the innumerable parts of each of these sources of the evi- dence of the Christian religion, what shall we say when we view them in combination ? The man who rejects them does not understand them ; and the man who does not understand them, must be blinded by the god of this world, and his hatred of the truth. The evidence of Christianity, arising from the History, the Miracles, the Types, and the Prophecies, of the Old Testament, is a chain of which all the efforts of infidelity will never break a link. CHAPTER XII. GENERAIi EXPECTATION OF THE MESSIAH. After the view that has been taken of the History, Miracles, Types, and Prophecies of the Old Testament Scriptures, it is of importance to attend to the effect which, by their means, was produced. This effect, as might be anticipated, was very great. A general ex- pectation was excited throughout the world, that at the period determined by the Prophets, a great King would appear in Judea, whose dominion was to be universal. The whole nation of Israel was full of this expecta- tion. Luke, the sacred historian, speaking of John, the forerunner of the Messiah, says, " The people were 24 GENERAX EXPECTATION OF THE MESSIAH. in expectation, and all men mused in their hearts of John, whether he was the Messiah or not." On the appearance of John, " The Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem, to ask him, Who art thou ? but he confessed, I am not the Christ. — And they which were sent were of the Pharisees." On witnessing one of the miracles of Jesus Christ, the multitude exclaimed, " Of a truth, this is that Prophet that should come into the world." Celsus, the philosopher, who lived in the second cen- tury, in opposing- Christianity avails himself of this general expectation of the Messiah that prevailed among the Jews. Assuming the character of a Jew, he says, " How could we, ivJio had told all men that there would come one from God, who should punish the wicked, despise him when he came ?" " The prophets," he adds, " say that he who is to come is great, and a Prince, and Lord of all the earth, and of all the nations and armies." In another place he observes, " The conten- tions between the Jews and Christians are very silly, hoth sides believing that it had been foretold by the Spirit of God, that a Saviour of mankind is to come. But they do not agree whether he who has been pro- phesied of is come or not." A proof of this expectation is found in the preten- sions of false Messiahs. At the period when the true Messiah appeared, a great number of pretenders to that character started up. No false Messiahs are heard of before that age, nor have there been so many in any subsequent age. But when the prophetical weeks of Daniel drew to a close, these pretenders were very numerous, and deceived many, both of the Jews and Samaritans. GEKERAL EXPECTATION OF THE MESSIAH. 25 This expectation was not confined to the Jews. It was general throughout the world. By means of the seventy years of captivity in Babylon, from which many of the Jews never returned, together with the subsequent revolutions that befell their nation, they were dispersed all over the world. But wherever they went, they retained their religion, and carried with them the Scriptures, which were publicly read in their synagogues every Sabbath-day. The prophecies thus repeated by the Jews, became familar to their heathen neighbours, and were received as predictions of their own oracles. By this means also, the glimmering light of the ancient patriarchal traditions began to be re- vived. Poets and others, reminded of the " golden age," and adopting the magnificent conceptions of Jewish prophecy, foretold that it would be again re- stored to the world. It is not surprising that the early promises concern- ing the Messiah, and the important changes he was to produce, should have been handed down among the nations, especially throughout the East among the different descendants of Abraham. Various traditions, more or less distinct, such as that which perpetuated the original form of worship by sacrifice, still subsist- ed in all quarters of the world. Whether or not the first Sibylline oracles at Rome contained any of these original predictions, cannot now be ascertained, as they were always kept secret, and only brought for- ward to serve the purposes of the government. Al- though the Sibyls were probably imaginary persons, and the story of the manner in which Tarquin possess- ed himself of these books was entirely fabulous, they may have contained, along with much fiction, a mix- 26 GEIVERAL EXPECTATION OF THE MESSIAH. ture of traditional truth, derived from early ag-es. But however this may be, it is certain that there were such prophetical intimations in the second Sibylline books. About a century before the Christian era, the first Sibylline books were destroyed by a fire which broke out in the Capitol, and consumed the temple where these writing's were deposited. The Roman senate deemed it of so much importance to repair the loss, that they sent some of their number to make a new- collection in different parts of Asia, in the islands of the Archipelago, in Africa, and in Sicily. The deputies after some time returned, with about 1000 verses in the Greek languag-e, which they had collect- ed from different individuals. These verses, when brought to Rome, could not be so entirely concealed as the ancient Sib}lline books, but were in the hands of many private individuals. The use which the se- nate proposed to make of them, as a state engine, be- ing- thus in a g-ood measure defeated, a law was en- acted for the purpose of compelling the delivery of all copies of these prophecies to the praetor of the city, while the retention of any of them was prohibited un- der the penalty of death. Transcripts, however, con- tinued to be privately kept ; and, in consequence, their contents were well known. At length Augustus, on assuming the high-priesthood of Rome, revived the prohibitory law, when many volumes were delivered up. That this new collection of Sibylline verses con- tained a prediction of the appearance of a great king, •we have suiScient evidence from the following cir- cumstance. When Julius Caesar had attained the summit of his power, he was ambitious of adding to his honours the GENEKAI. EXPECTATION OF THE MESSIAH. 2T title of king. In order to gain the consent of the se- nate, one of his adherents produced a prophecy from the Sibylline books, of a king- who was to arise at that time, whose reign was to be universal, and in whose government the happiness of the world was necessarily involved. Cicero, and the party to which he belong- ed, employed every effort to withstand this innovation, and discredit the plea by which it was supported. But, in opposing it, he brought no charge of falsification against those who produced this prophecy. He grant- ed that it was fairly alleged from the Sibylline hooks, to which, in his official character, he had free access. But he affirmed that these oracles were no prophecies ; for they were destitute of that frenzy and disorder which heathens conceived to be the necessary state of every prophet's mind while he prophesied. " Let us then," says Cicero, " adhere to the prudent practice of our ancestors ; let us keep the Sibyl in religious pri- vacy ; these writings are, indeed, rather calculated to extinguish than to j^ropagate superstition" Besides those predictions, which had been brought from the East by the deputies of the senate, the con- tents of the Jewish Scriptures were no secret at Rome. An intimate alliance had long subsisted between the Romans and the Jews, and the number of the latter resident at Rome was considerable. From the accounts so long after preserved by Tacitus and Florus, of what Pompey beheld in the temple at Jerusalem, the nature of the Hebrew worship, which is referred to by Cicero in writing to Lselius, must have been well known.* * See Horsley's Dissertation, Henley's Observations, and Prideaux's Connexions. 28 GENERAL, EXPECTATION OF THE MESSIAH. Under the patronag-e of Julius Caesar, the free exercise of their religious rites, with all the privileg-es of their priesthood, was not only confirmed to the Jews by the decrees of the senate, but they were also exempted from taxes during their sabbatical year. In addition to all this, it is obvious, from the public recital every Sabbath day in their synag-og-ues of the law and the prophets, and the translation of them into a language universally Tead, that their sacred books must have been known both in the provinces and capital of the empire. The singularities of their ritual, customs, and history, with which their prophecies were inseparably blended, could not fail to attract attention ; while their origin, and €ven existence as a distinct people, all pointed to one grand consummation, — the advent of their predicted sovereign, under whom, notwithstanding their national misfortunes and present depression, they anticipated a g-lorious restoration, accompanied by the acquisition of unbounded and eternal empire. All this fully explains the cause of that prevalent expectation at Rome, of the appearance of a mighty king who should establish universal dominion, which had long been current ail over the East, and which, according to Tacitus, was believed to derive its origin from the Jewish Scriptures. By pretended prodigies, and in various ways, much use was made of this expec- tation, and different applications of it were attempted, according to the interest or wishes of designing and ambitious men. Sallust relates, that, owing to this expectation, Len- tulus was incited to engage in Catiline's conspiracy, and vaunted that the king thus foretold would arise in the Cornelian family. GENERAL EXPECTATIOX OF THE MESSIAH. 29 "Julius Marathus tells us," says Suetonius, "that a few months before his (Augustus's) birth, a prodigy happened at Rome, by which it was signified, that nature was about to bring forth a king for the Roman people ; and that the senate being alarmed by it, came to a resolution, that no child born that year should be brought up ; but that those among them whose wives were pregnant, in order to secure to themselves a prospect of that dignity, took care that the resolution of the senate should not be registered in the treasury." The manner in which Virgil has availed himself of this general expectation, first in his Pastorals, and then in his ^neid, is sufficiently notorious. He wrote his celebrated fourth eclogue in the consulship of Asinius PoUio, during the pregnancy of Scribonia, the wife of Pollio. To the expected child he attributes in that poem the character of the great king who was to appear, and ascribes to his reign the same happy effects which are celebrated by the Hebrew prophets. He begins with saying, that " the last age of the Cumean pro- phecy is come ; the great order of ages again com- mences ; the virgin is already returning, and the Sa- turnian reign." " The last great age, foretold by sacred rhymes, Renews its finish'd course ; Saturnian times Roll round again ; and mighty years, begun From their first orb, in radiant circles run. The base degenerate iron offspring ends ; A golden progeny from heaven descends ; O, chaste Lucina, speed the mother's pains, And haste the glorious birth !" "What Virgil means by the renewal of the Saturnian 30 GENERAL EXPECTATION OF THE MESSIAH. times, or reig-n, is explained by his account of it in the -^neid. Speaking of Saturn, he says — *' He by just laws embodied all the train Who roam'd the hills, and drew them to the plain ; There fixed ; and Latium call'd the new abode, "Whose friendly shores conceal'd the latent god. These realms in peace the monarch long controU'd, And bless'd the nations with an age of gold.** According to this eclogue, the son to be born was to be the offspring of the gods, the great seed of Jupiter. He was to command the world, and to introduce peace. He was to abolish violence and injustice, and to restore the life of man to its original innocence and happiness. He was to kill the serpent. The blessings of his reign were to extend to the animal and vegetable king- doms. The latter was to be purged of its noxious poisons, and the nature of the most savage beasts was to be changed, so that the lowing herds should feed se- cure from lions. Still there were to remain some traces of ancient fraud. Great cities should still be encom- passed v/ith walls, and war should be excited ; but at length, under this Sovereign, all was to be composed and happy, — when *' No plough shall hurt the glebe, no pruning4iook the vine. The Fates, when they this happy web have spun. Shall bless the sacred clew, and bid it smoothly run. Mature in years, to ready honours move, O, of celestial seed ! O foster son of Jove ! See, lab'ring Nature calls thee to sustain The nodding frame of heaven, and earth, and main : See, to their base restor'd, earth, seas, and air, And joyful ages from behind, in crowding ranks appear." GFJVERAI. EXPECTATION OF THE MESSIAH. 31 This poem proves, not only the expectation which at that time prevailed of the great king- who was to arise, but describes the precise features of the Messiah's reign, as delineated by the Hebrew prophets, and espe- cially the peculiar characteristics of its effects on the world, which were to be most remarkable, not at the commencement, but after the conclusion of a certain period. Virgil could not have been iirnorant of the existence of the Jewish Scriptures ; nor is it to be imagined that their poetic beauties could have failed to attract his at- tention, when it is considered that the whole poetry of Greece was ransacked by him for imitation. And no one who compares the Sd, 9th, II th, and 63th chap- ters of Isaiah with this fourth eclogue of Virgil, can entertain a doubt that the same images, united in com- binations opposite to the analogies of nature, applied to similar subjects, and by both writers in the way of pre- diction, must have ultimately originated in a common source. Instead of a son, the wife of Poliio was deli- vered of a daughter ; but what was ignorantly applied by the courtly flattery of the poet, was, in less than forty years after, verified in the true Messiah. Again, in his iEneid, Virgil refers to the expectation of this great king, when endeavouring to reconcile the Roman people to the late subversion of their republic, by insinuating, that the establishment of the house of Caesar in the person of Augustus, and the consequent extension of their empire, were undeniable proofs of his being the universal Sovereign so long promised, and the Divine offspring of Jupiter himself. " Turn, turn thine eyes ! see here thy race divine ; Behold thy own imperial Roman line ; 32 GENERAL EXPECTATION OF THE MESSIAH. Caesars with all the Julian name survey ; See where the glorious ranks ascend to day ! This — this is he ! the chief so long foretold^ To bless the land where Saturn rul'd of old, And give the Latian realms a second age of gold ! The promised prince, Augustus the divine, Of Caesar's race, and Joves immortal line ! This mighty chief his empire shall extend O'er Indian realms, to earth's remotest end," Besides the foreg-oing- indubitable testimonies to the existence of a general expectation of a king- whose empire was to be universal, the reality of the fact is also established by the most unexceptionable histori- cal evidence. The flatterers of Vespasian professed to find the fulfilment of the prophecy in that emperor. Josephus expressly assigns it as the principal cause of the revolt of the Jews against the Roman government, and of the provocation of that war which terminated in the destruction of Jerusalem. Tacitus, speaking of the time when Vespasian waged war with the Jews, asserts, that " a firm persuasion prevailed among a great many that it was contained in the ancient sacerdotal writings, that about this time it should come to pass that the East should prevail, and that those who should come out of Judea should obtain the empire of the world." Suetonius, in reference to the same period, declares, that " there had prevailed, all over the East, an ancient and constant opinion, that it was in the fates, that at that time there should come out of Judea those who should obtain the empire of the world." It is thus established as an undoubted fact, that at the period of the advent of Jesus Christ, there existed GENERAL EXPECTATION OF THE MESSIAH. 33 a general expectation of the coming* of a great king, that it was uniform, that it was ancient, that it was founded on what was believed to be the decree of heaven, and contained in the sacerdotal turitings, that he who should appear was to come out of Judea, and that he was to obtain the empire of the ivorld. This is a point of much importance among the testimonies to the Messiah. It explains the cause of Herod's alarm when he slew the children at Bethlehem, and places in a conspicuous aspect the strong motive which incited him to that violent and atrocious massacre. It furnishes, moreover, the reason of the Emperor Do- mitian's summoning before him the relations of Jesus Christ, as we shall afterwards see, to enquire if they laid claim to empire. It invincibly proves, that the recorded predictions concerning the Messiah were suf- ficiently clear and precise to attain their object. And it for ever confutes the opinion entertained by many, who^ entirely unacquainted with the subject, and hear- ing, it may be, of some hasty and ill-founded applica- tions of the prophecies, have rashly concluded, that the predictions in the Scriptures are so obscure and unintelligible as to be nothing better than a labyrinth of mysteries. CHAPTER XIII. ' APPEARANCE OF THE MESSIAH. The advent of the Messiah was in exact accordance with the predictions of the ancient prophets. At the "VOL. II. c 34 ArrEARANCE OF THE MESSIAH. precise time foretold, before the sceptre departed from Judah, Gen. xlix. 10, and at the expiry of the seventy weeks from the going- forth of the commandment to restore and build Jerusalem, Dan. ix. 25, Jesus Christ appeared in the world. He was born at Bethlehem, of the tribe of Judah, and of the family of David, which, though not extinct, was then reduced to very low circumstances. He was called J^esus, the Greek of the Hebrew name Joshua^ which last is compounded of two words, and signifies " Jehovah that saveth." The title Christ, that is Messiah, or "Anointed," being so often added in designation of his office, at length came into use as a part of his name. His birth was first announced to shepherds, keeping watch over their llocks by night, by the angel of the Lord, who, accom- panied by a multitude of the heavenly host, proclaim- ed, " Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace and good will toward men." The shepherds hastened to Bethlehem, where they found " the babe lying in a manger." Thus he who had been for ages so earnest- ly expected by patriarchs, kings, prophets, and right- eous men, whose actual advent was proclaimed by the inhabitants of heaven, experienced a far different re- ception than might have been expected. But although no earthly pomp attended his coming, other signs in the heavens also proclaimed the glorious event. Con- ducted by a star which they saw in the east, wise men arrived at Jerusalem, enquiring, " Where is he that is born King of the Jews?" Their enquiries alarmed the jealousy of Herod, who imm.ediately assembled the chief priests and scribes, and demanded of them where the Messiah should be born. The Jewish counsellors quoted the prophecy, Micah, y. 2, which distinctly de- APPEARANCE OF THE MESSIAH. 35 clared that Bethlehem was the place. The strangers were, therefore, directed by Herod to repair to Beth- lehem, to search diligently for the young child, and when they had found him, to return and let him know, pretending that he also wished to do him homage. The men, directed by God, found the young child. They fell down, and worshipping him, presented to him royal gifts ; but being warned of God in a dream, they returned by another way to their own country, and saw Herod no more. The mother of Jesus and her husband, admonished by the angel of the Lord, fled with the child to Egypt ; while Herod, disappointed that the strangers from the East did not return as he expected, sent and slew all the children at Bethlehem and its vicinity, who were under the age of two years. Excepting his appearance in the Temple at twelve years old, his residing with his parents, and being sub- ject to them, little more is recorded concerning the early history of Jesus Christ. At length his forerun- ner, as had been predicted, publicly announced him to the Jews when he was about thirty years of age. The canon of the Old Testament Scriptures had been completed about 420 years before the Christian era, which is dated four years after the birth of the Messiah.* During the intervening period, the spirit of prophecy was withdrawn from the Jews. At length a man, bearing the aspect of their ancient prophets, clothed with camel's hair, and girt about the loins with a leathern girdle, appeared in the wilderness of Judea. * The Chriatian era was intended to be reckoned from the birth of Christ ; but owing to a mistake when it was brought into use in the sixth century, it commences four years posterior to that event. 36 APPEARANCE OF THE MESSIAH. There he lifted up his " voice," and proclaimed that the kingdom of God was at hand. The time of the ap- pearance of John the Baptist is fixed by Luke in the most precise manner: Luke, iii. 1,2, " In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Csesar, Pontius Pilate being governor of Judea, and Herod being tetrarch of Galilee, and his brother Philip tetrarch of Iturea and of the region of Trachonitis, and Lysanias the tetrarch of Abilene, Annas and Caiaphas being the high priests, the word of God came unto John the son of Zacharias, in the wilderness." Partly owing to the general expectation of the Mes- siah which then prevailed, and partly, as it would ap- pear, in consequence of the miraculous circumstances connected with his birth, the Jews w^ere attracted in multitudes to the ministry of John. The rulers also sent priests and Levites to enquire who he was. He answered that he was not the Messiah, but " the voice of one crying in the wilderness, Make straight the way of the Lord, as said the prophet Isaiah." In the most solemn manner he warned all who came to him to re- pent, and bring forth fruits meet for repentance, and to trust no longer to their descent from Abraham. To enquirers, he gave particular directions for their con- duct, corresponding to the spirit of the new dispensa- tion which was about to be introduced. Multitudes were baptized by him, confessing their sins. He in- formed them that he baptized with water, but that one was to come after him whose shoes* latchet he was not worthy to unloose, who would baptize with the Holy Ghost and with fire. Jesus Christ himself at length came forward and desired to be baptized. " But John forbade him, say- APrEARAlVCE OF THE MESSIAH. Si in^, I have need to be baptized of thee, and comest thou to me ? Jesus answering said unto him Suffer us to be so now ; for thus it becometh us to fulfil all right- eousness. Then he suffered him. And Jesus, when he was baptized, w^ent up straightway out of the water ; and lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon him ; and lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased." John testified of him, " Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world !" — "I saw, and bare record that this is the Son of God." The end of the mission of John the Baptist was now accomplished. According to the predictions of the pro- phets concerning him, he had prepared the way for the Messiah, by proclaiming in the wilderness that the kingdom of heaven was at hand, and had pointed him out as "the Messenger of the covenant." Another part of those prophecies respecting John was now to be fulfilled. The transient nature of his service had been intimated, by representing it as " a voice," which is no sooner uttered than it is gone. His appearance was sudden and unexpected; his departure was equally abrupt. Having reproved Herod for taking Herodias, Herod's brother's wife, he was seized, bound, and im- prisoned ; and soon afterwards beheaded. Like the bright meteor which shoots athwart the gloom of night, he came when darkness brooded over Judea, but he did not disappear till he had summoned the inhabitants of the land to arise and behold their God. Upon hearing of the works of Christ before his death, and that he had sent out twelve of his disciples to proclaim the approach of his kingdom, John appears to have been dissatisfied. 38 APPEARANCE OF THE MESSIAH. that he who had so boldly and successfully testified of him should be set aside, while others were employed in his service. Although he had seen the Spirit of God descending- upon Jesus Christ, and had heard a voice from Heaven proclaiming-, " This is my beloved Son," he sent to him two of his disciples with the following message : " Art thou he that should come, or do we look for another?" — "Jesus answered and said unto them. Go and show John again these things which ye do hear and see : the blind receive their sight, and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have the Gospel preached to them." The facts to which Jesus Christ thus referred in his answer to John, were the literal fulfilment of the prophecies concerning the Messiah : they also demonstrated that the power of God resided in him who performed them, while they verified the prophetic descriptions of his reign, which was to be distinguished by condescension, sympathy, and gracious compassion. Messiah was " to bind up the broken- hearted, and to comfort all that mourn." He was also anointed to preach the Gospel to the poor. " The poor among men," said the prophet, " shall rejoice in the Holy one of Israel." These things were sufficient for the satisfaction of John ; and as the message he had sent conveyed an indirect imputation of blame for neglecting him, Jesus answered it in the same manner by an indirect reproof. " Blessed is he whosoever shall not be offended in me." Thus John was warned to be on his guard, to recollect his own inferiority to him concerning whom he had testified, and who had a right to dispose of his servants as he thought most fitting. APPEARANCE OF THE MESSIAH. 30 After the departure of John's messengers, Jesus pronounced a most honourable testimony concerning him, and declared, that, as fining- the office of that mes- senger who had prepared the way before him, John was more than a prophet : "Verily I say unto you, among- them that are born of women there hath not risen a greater than John the Baptist; notwithstanding-, he that is least in the kingdom of Heaven is greater than he." John was more highly honoured than any one who had gone before him, inasmuch as he w^as more imme- diately employed in preparing the way of Jesus Christ, and as he actually pointed him out personally as the Messiah. Still, like the ancient prophets, who searched what the Spirit which was in them did signify, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow, he could only darkly contem- plate what was yet unfulfilled.- But the least disciple of Jesus, after his resurrection, since his kingdom has been set up, has a clearer understanding-, and is able to give a fuller testimony concerning the character, the work, the life, the death, the resurrection, and the as- cension to glory of the Son of God, and the nature and progress of his kingdom, than even John himself: " Blessed are the eyes," said Jesus to his disciples, "which see the things that ye see; for I tell you, That many prophets and kings have desired to see those things that ye see, and have not seen them, and to hear those things which ye hear and have not heard them." The early removal of John from his public service, while it was a fulfilment of the prophecies concerning him, cut off every appearance of previous concert. His continued acknowledgment of Jesus as the Messiah, 40 APPEARANCE OF THE MESSIAH, even when thus treated with apparent neglect, still more strikingly confirmed his former testimony, than if, being appointed one of the apostles, he had been honoured by the notice and confidence of the Lord, in an active and official situation. It was besides a prac- tical lesson, at the very beginning of their service, of what Jesus Christ so often inculcated on his disciples concerning the treatment they were to expect as his followers. No human pen, in forming a fictitious narrative, would have drawn such a character as that of the Bap- tist by the Evangelists. He is represented as a very high personage, the greatest of the prophets, and the harbinger of the Messiah. In such a character, where would human wisdom have placed him among the attendants of Jesus ? Doubtless it would have seated him on the right hand of the Saviour, and made him the most distinguished among the disciples. But, in- stead of this, he has no familiar intercourse with his Master, is treated with apparent neglect, so as to be himself stumbled, and is removed from the scene of action at the very moment that human wisdom would have called him to the performance of the greatest services. While the simplicity of his history accords with the predictions respecting him, it is very far from corresponding with the natural anticipations of the mind that contemplates the purpose of his mission. Had his character been the invention of forgery, we should have heard nothing of the message sent by him to Jesus to enquire if he was the Christ. Indeed, this is so opposite to human wisdom, that many are so shocked with the idea of the doubts of John the Bap- tist, that they cannot admit the obvious meaning of the APPEARANCE OF THE MESSIAH. 41 language of the history. They labour to make it ap- pear that the message was sent by John, not for his own sake, but for that of others, although there is no such intimation in the narrative, and though the reply of our Lord makes it evident that the doubts were those of John himself. While the existence of such doubts is quite consistent with the existence of the most assured faith in former times, and with the testi- mony that John gave to Jesus as the Lamb of God, it is so far removed from man's wisdom, that it would not have been found, had the character been drawn by a human hand. Instead of making him send a message indicating doubt or dissatisfaction, human wisdom would have concealed the fact, had it existed, and have studied the strongest expression of testimony that ingenuity could invent. The conduct of our Lord with regard to John on the occasion, is striking and characteristic. His an- sv.-er is unceremonious, dignified and authoritative. Yet it is both strengthening and consolatory, in the prospect of the approaching death of his servant. He speaks like a sovereign — a sovereign who acknowledges himself under no obligation even where life is devoted to his service. Yet, while he sends no complimentary message in return, but dismisses the messengers of John without any expression of approbation of him who sent them, he bears ample testimony to John imme- diately after their departure, and recognises him in the high dignity of the harbinger of the incarnate Je- hovah. The characters of John and of Jesus Christ are here exhibited in a light extremely different, and the differ- ence is one which would not have appeared in a com- 42 APPEARANCE OF THE MESSIAH. position of human invention. John evidently was un- prepared to expect such neglect from his Master, and such persecution from Herod. Jesus takes it for grant- ed that this is a common thing in his kingdom. Had human wisdom conceived these two characters, the ser- vant would not have been so uninformed of the plans of his Master. John knew his Message, but he knew not the nature of that kingdom whose appearance he was commanded to announce. After the death of John the Baptist, Jesus Christ remained the only prophet on earth. At certain times there were several prophets in the world, but it was proper that the Prince of the Prophets should have a period in which there was no other prophet but him- self. Part of his ministry was already past, when John was still living. It was therefore fitting that this prophet, who was so great, should be taken out of the world, in order that Jesus Christ should remain in it the only prophet before ascending to heaven. Jesus Christ, when he entered on his public ministry, began to proclaim, as his forerunner had done, that the kingdom of heaven was at hand. Of those who at- tached themselves to him he chose twelve, whom he denominated apostles, and likewise seventy other dis- ciples, whom he sent through Judea, to make the same proclamation, and to excite general attention. His king- dom was not set up till after his resurrection from the dead, which was the grand confirmation of his title as God's Anointed. At the beginning of his ministry, Jesus Christ main- tained a considerable reserve in the declaration of his character. Unless he had done this, such was the inveteracv of his enemies, that his life could not have APPEARANCE OF THE MESSIAH* 43 been preserved without constant miraculous interven- tion. But owing to the course which he adopted, he was not apprehended by the rulers, till " his hour " (the appointed time of the consummation of his mis- sion) " was come." All along- he had given sufficient intimation of his character. He that had ears to hear might hear. But towards the close of his ministry, he laid aside all reserve. In the neighbourhood of Jeru- salem, he performed some of his most astonishing mira- cles ; he openly came forward as the Messiah ; reproved and confuted the rulers who opposed him ; rode pub- licly into Jerusalem, as had been foretold, and assumed royal and sacerdotal authority in the temple as his Father's house. Overawed for a while by the majesty of his character, and fearing the people, who atten- tively listened to him, the rulers durst not lay hands on him ; but after much deliberation, being reduced to the necessity of either acknowledging him as the Mes- siah, or apprehending him as an impostor, they at length resolved to seize on him by night. One of his own followers became the betrayer of his retirement ; in the dead of the night a band of armed men came upon him in the garden of Gethsemane ; even then they were made to feel they had no power of their own against him ; on approaching to seize him they fell backward on the ground. But having thus displayed his power and their weakness, he voluntarily submitted to be taken, his followers were dispersed, while he him- self was condemned by the Jewish rulers, and the Ro- man government, and finally put to a cruel and igno- minious death. When Jesus Christ was arraigned as a criminal be- fore the high priest and elders and scribes, and after- 44 APPEARANCE OF THE MESSIAH. wards at the judgment-seat of the Roman governor, to the accusations preferred against him " he answered nothing." These were indeed false ; but to under- stand the reason of his silence we must raise our eyes to a higher judgment-seat. We must behold him bow- ing before the tribunal of divine justice, appearing in the room of his guilty people, whose iniquities were laid upon him, and standing in their stead under the accusation of the broken law. This circumstance in the history of the Redeemer is so remarkable, that it was specially noted in ancient prophecy. " He was oppressed and he was afflicted ; yet he opened not his mouth : he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth," Isaiah, liii. 7. Another prediction concerning him was also fulfilled. " Innumerable evils have compassed me about ; mine iniquities have taken hold upon me, so that I am not able to look up : they are more than the hairs of mine head ; therefore my heart faileth me," Psal. xl. 12. The greatest crime that men ever committed was the crucifixion of the Son of God ; but from this crime has proceeded the greatest of all blessings. In this man- ner God overrules all things for his own glory. " Surely the wrath of man shall praise thee : the remainder of wrath shalt thou restrain." On the occasion of the death of Jesus Christ, his disciples, who had very imperfectly comprehended his design, and the work in which they themselves had engaged, were struck with astonishment. But shortly afterwards, they declared that, on the third day after his crucifixion, he had risen from the grave, had ap- peared to them, and to about five hndred more of AFPEARANCE OF THE MESSIAH. 45 bis disciples, and that during- forty days he had instruct- ed them respecting his kingdom, after which, in their presence, he had ascended up to heaven. They affirmed that, before he departed, he gave them a commission to proclaim in all the world the glad tidings of his re- surrection, with all those important considerations v/hich it involved, commanding all men to believe and obey the truth. Except the appearance of Jesus Christ after his re- surrection, there are none of the great facts concerning him declared by the apostles, the truth of which rests on their solitary testimony, and that of the other dis- ciples. All the rest were transacted publicly before the world. In the midst of Jerusalem^ and at the next Jewish feast after he suffered, the apostles openly re- ferred to this publicity. " Ye men of Israel, hear these words ; Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you, by miracles, and wonders, and signs, which God did by him in the midst of you, as ye yourselves also know." The public appearance of the Redeemer after his resurrection, did not comport with the design of his mission. During the whole of his ministry the Jews had treated him with every insult. They had at last desired the release of a robber rather than consent to his acquittal ; with murderous rancour they had de- manded his death, and, in the blindness of their rage, bad imprecated the guilt of his blood upon themselves and their children. God had spoken to them, and they had not heard, therefore they were left to walk in their own counsels ; the day of vengeance was at Land, and wrath was about to overtake them to the uttermost. 46 APPEARANCE OF THE MESSIAH. After the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the grave, the period of his humiliation was past. Before his deaths although the prince of this world had nothing in him, — nothing on which he could fix his temptations, and make them eifectual as in sinful men, — yet to give the world a proof of love to his Father, and, in obedi- ence to his command, Jesus had condescended to enter into a contest with Satan and his adherents. In this contest, his heel had been bruised. He had been de- spised, rejected, and persecuted even till he was brought down to the dust of death. But, " through death, he had destroyed him that had the power of death." He had now bruised the serpent's head, and obtained a final victory over him and all his progeny. It was not fit- ting then that the son of God should afterwards appear as formerly amidst his enemies. This would have ex- posed him again to the same humiliating insults which he had hitherto experienced. They who could resist the evidence of the miracles he had wrought in the temple, in their presence, before his death — the extraordinary appearances that took place at his crucifixion — the in- dubitable information they had received of his resurrec- tion— and afterwards the miracles which his Apostles performed, would not have been persuaded by seeing him after he rose from the grave. The scheme of redemption required, that before his death the form of a servant should be predominant in the Redeemer's appearance ; that after his resurrection the form of God should be conspicuous. His familiar conversation with the world before his death was a principal branch of his humiliation ; and his humilia- tion was an essential part of those suff'erings by which the guilt of man was expiated. But the atonement APPEARANCE Or THE MESSIAH. 47 being once made, the form of a servant was to be re- moved, and Christ was to re-assume his glory. That he would not again appear to them on earth, Jesus Christ had distinctly informed the Jevvs, before liis crucifixion : " Behold your house is left unto you desolate. For I say unto you, ye shall not see me henceforth, till ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord." " Ye shall seek me, and shall not find me." All that was " behind of the suf- ferings of Christ," was to be filled up by his disciples, and through them only he was henceforth to address the world. Had the public appearance of the Messiah, after his death, been otherwise admissible, nothing, even on the ground of evidence, would have been gained ; but rather the reverse. Many of the Jews had seen him but occasionally, others at a distance, or perhaps only when hanging upon the cross. This would have given rise to doubtful or contradictory testimony. Whereas now, we have the unanimous, unvarying evidence of a suf- ficient number of witnesses, who had long enjoyed familiar intercourse with him, and could not be mis- taken as to his appearance. These witnesses, too (who died for the truth which they asserted), publicly wrought miracles in his name, after his resurrection, in the midst of Jerusalem ; and this as fully stamped the truth of their testimony as if Jesus Christ himself had been visibly present. Before his resurrection, Jesus Christ more frequently designated himself the Son of Man than the Son of God. But after he had risen from the dead, he no more calls himself the Son of Man. This appellation indicated the weaknesses and sufferings to which he 48 APPEARANCE OF THE MESSIAH. had, as a man, rendered himself subject. But after he had emerij^ed from that state of abasement, and by his resurrection had been declared the Son of God with power, he changes the style. From that period he con- versed frequently with his disciples, and set before them the necessity of his death ; but he no longer calls him- self the Son of Man. Before his death he said it was necessary that the Son of Man should suffer ; but being- risen, he says, " Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into his glory ?" After his death he returned to the city of Jerusalem, but he entered no more into the temple. It was not fitting that the great and everlasting High Priest, having consummated that sacrifice which annulled all the sacrifices of the temple, — the veil of which he had rent on his being about to make his entry into the heavenly sanctuary, — should again enter an earthly temple which was only a figure of that which is celes- tial, and which, having now served all the purposes intended by it, was speedily to vanish away. It is proper, before closing this account of the APPEARANCE OF Jesus Christ, to advert more par- ticularly to those miracles which he performed in the course of his ministry, to which he appealed in attes- tation of his divine mission, and which hold a very conspicuous place in relation to his manifestation in the flesh. These miracles were credible in themselves, whether we consider the character of him who wrought them, or the purpose for which they were exhibited. Owing to their nature and their publicity, their reality was ascertained with certainty by every one who wit- nessed them ; while considered as palpable and tangible facts, they were as properly the subject of testimony APPEARANCE OF THE MESSIAH. 4