SHORT REASONS FOR BELIEF IN THE DIVINITY OF CHRIST.
BY A LADY OF TITLE.
LONDON:
W. J. CLEAVER, BAKER STREET,
PORTMAN SQUARE
1843
INTRODUCTION.
CHAPTER 1
CHRIST'S TESTIMONY OF HIMSELF.
CHAPTER 2.
CHRIST PERMITS WORSHIP TO HIMSELF.
CHAPTER 3.
CHRIST'S MIRACLES.
CHAPTER 4.
ON THE RESURRECTION.
CHAPTER 5.
CONCLUSION.
OUR object in penning the following pages is not alone with the hope of rousing the Infidel to a better way of thinking, but also to implore our fair countrywomen, warmly and earnestly, to discourage the subject of Infidelity becoming a topic of drawing-room conversation.
Formerly, men of this unhappy way of thinking had the good sense, and the good taste, to confine conversations of this nature to those of their own sex, and of their own age, who were of their own way of thinking; and it was only before such, that their opinion on this matter was uttered: but lately, we have more than once been present when they promulgated their pernicious sentiments before young persons of both sexes.
Suppose, to take a very low ground indeed, we were to admit their creed to be orthodox,—would that belief add to the sum of human happiness? Would it give them more faithful wives, or their children more careful mothers? We imagine not: why then are they so insensate as to injure themselves by seeking to make their mothers, their wives, and their daughters worthless, by robbing them of their chief source of strength, of happiness, and of consolation? for what supports the mind of woman under the pressure of affliction but a confident reliance upon the mercy of a crucified Redeemer? He who took man's nature upon him, can feel for man.
Woman, in all her afflictions, pours her sorrows into the bosom of her heavenly Father, and is comforted: knowing that he who was dead, and is alive again, will intercede for her with his heavenly Father, and bring her out of all her troubles.
The most devoted followers of Christ upon earth were females; by females he was ministered unto from his first to his last hour; and by females he never was denied or reviled. From this circumstance, we assume that women have a right to raise the cry of rallying round the cross, and of boldly standing forward to repel Infidelity from the fireside of the Christian.
Should the humble efforts of our pen be blessed, by causing but one human and accountable being to think, we shall glory in the toil and praise God for the momentous result.
SINCE the Infidel seeks to deprive us of our ground of hope, will he have the goodness to tell us what we are to substitute in the place of the atonement? It is a hard case to deprive a man of his living without making him some remuneration for his loss. We have read the works of several Infidel authors, and not one of . them has even hinted at a substitute for the atonement.
We are at a loss to know the views of the Infidel—if he reject the mediation of the Lord Jesus, to whom, or to what, does he look for salvation? If the Infidel 2 INTRODUCTION.
believe in the fall, what is to redeem him? He surely cannot imagine that his own merits will. And if he do not believe in the Fall, what does this amount to?—This, that man must have been made imperfect. See what a string of inconsistencies the Infidel's creed would bring upon the world, whereas the Fall clearly and satisfactorily accounts for all the crimes committed by mankind. Whatsoever view the infidel may take of the world, whether he believe in the Fall or otherwise, his position is not tenable. For if, in the Fall, he must acknowledge that he has offended God, and by what means is God to be reconciled? If he do not believe in the Fall, yet, if he believe God to be of purer eyes than to behold iniquity, how does he reconcile this with man's apostacy? Thus we find, that when man is left to himself, he falls into a thousand absurdities. A proof of this is very visible, if we take a retrospective view of the French nation during their first revolution. They believed in one Supreme Being, ascribed to him all his attributes, and made visible representations of them. The goddess of Reason had honor paid to her, as one of God's attributes and they paraded her through the streets every tenth day. Why the tenth day was kept unholy, we never could learn; but we suppose it was done with the view of abolishing the seventh.
Could any thing more ridiculous be found among the Hindus of India, or savage tribes of Africa? When Napoleon opened the churches (to his credit let it be remembered), the goddess of Reason was no longer honored. And if we examine the conduct of the French at this present time, we shall find it most injudicious; for instruction is just now cultivated to a degree of precision beyond all former precedent, while education, that is, the culture of the heart and religious principles, are totally neglected. Theology, we believe to be the only neglected science at this moment in France.
Nearer home, the present system of education seems to be—Instruct the lower classes, make them moral, but keep religion in the background, in order that it may not be a cause of contention between those of different creeds. As well might we seek to stem the river Thames with a handful of mud, as to make a moral people without religion. Religion is the bulwark of a nation, its glory, and its strength.
Geology is now the favorite study among the French, for the purpose, perhaps, of giving the lie to Moses's account of the Creation: they pretend to have discovered a greater number of strata in the earth than could have been formed in the space of six thousand years.
But are these wiseacres aware that the earth might have existed before the world was called into its present form? Let us examine Moses's account of it, which will be found in the first chapter of Genesis. " In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth, and the earth was without form, and void," etc.
The term "created" has more significations than one; although the commonly received opinion of the word means "formed out of nothing," yet it also means, " to invest with a new character or form." And if the reader will look into the ninth and tenth verses of the same chapter, he will find that we are borne out in this opinion. " And God said, let the waters under the heaven be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear. And God called the dry land earth, and the gathering together of the waters called He seas."
Now, if the reader will give himself the trouble to look into the third verse of the same chapter, he will find it written as follows: « And God said, let there be light, and there was light."
God did not say, let light appear, as he did of the land; but let there be light.
From this, we think it not unreasonable to suppose, that land existed prior to the creation of the world into its present form.
We are told, that when God created the world, all was chaos. Now chaos means a mass of confused matter. It is a fact well known, that no human bone has been found in any of the strata prior to Moses's account of the Creation. There is something curious in children of dust looking into mother-earth for a solution of their being! We would humbly take it upon us to assure them, that they will in the Bible gain a vast deal more information concerning their own being, and what is required of them by their Maker, than they can possibly acquire by looking into the strata of the earth.
Sceptic, or doubter, is not a respectable term; for a doubt implies that a proposition may be right as well as wrong. Why, then, do they not clear up the doubt? Remaining in a state of doubt most plainly shows, that either the capacities of the sceptics are not strong enough to balance the contending points of the proposition, or that they are quite indifferent about it. If, the former; let them ask for a spirit of understanding from God, and he will give it to them: if the latter; the system might answer very well, if the sceptic could, like God, say " Be," and he is; or, to his soul, " Return to nothing, be thou annihilated forever." But as this is not in his power, it behooves him, as a reasonable and as an accountable being, to make some provision for that immortal part of him which will survive the wreck of ages.
Let us suppose that we are in a foreign country, say Persia, and that we set out to visit Ispahan. We proceed for some time very well, till all at once we come to a place where four roads meet, we are at a loss which road to take, and we ask several people whom we meet there, which is the road to Ispahan? they all tell us that not one of the roads we see will take us to the place we seek; that they, like us, had started in quest of it, but missing the road, they were now content to remain and amuse themselves where they were, and they advise us to do the same.
While in this state of uncertainty, a sage accosts us, and points out to us the true road to Ispahan. Now, as our only chance of reaching the place was by following the advice of the sage, would it not have been madness to have neglected doing so? Just so does the sceptic act, who neglects to take the only road pointed out to him which can lead him to the city of refuge.
Were our knowledge of the conduct of sceptics, acquired only from reading novels and romances, we should at once pronounce such conduct to be a fiction. Our knowledge of the world driving us from such a supposition, our next opinion is, that there are people in the world who are possessed. For human nature, notwithstanding its fallen state, could not, if left to itself, be so entirely careless of its best interests. And what convinces us of this opinion is, that we perceive a degree of rancor in sceptics whenever the blessed name of Jesus is mentioned, which is not usual to feel against an opponent. The constant term by which Voltaire, in his " Letters to the King of Prussia," calls our Lord, is, the " wretch "! And throughout the whole of his correspondence with that monarch, he gives our blessed Lord no other name.
The Scriptures inform us, that the devil did actually take possession of the bodies of men, and we have never been told that this power in the devil has ceased. Seeing, then, that the enemy of mankind may still be permitted to become an inmate in the bosom of man, how solicitous we should all be to have no weak nor vacant part for the arch-fiend to take possession of.
Materialists, or atheists, say that everything is composed of matter. But if chance, or a fortuitous jumble of matter, formed the world, how comes it that such a connected system is visible in the universe? The regular succession of the seasons, of day and of night, show plainly that design was employed, and design 12 INTRODUCTION.
shows a thinking power; now matter cannot think. The atheist's own mind might teach him this. He can think, he can plan, he can reflect. What enables him to do so? It cannot be the lump of organized matter of which he imagines himself composed? We are forced, therefore, to come to the conclusion, that it is the spirit or soul which gives to man the faculty of thinking and reflecting, etc.
The order, symmetry, and fitness of the works of the creation, most abundantly prove that the world could not have been formed without a plan.
Were the universe a confused and irregular mass, day and night, summer and winter, seed-time and harvest, coming and going at no fixed period, then indeed we might imagine the world formed by the blind action of matter; but the universe is such a connected and regular mass, that it proclaims its Maker to be Almighty. It is the fool who says there is no God; for none but a fool could possibly survey the various orders of animal life, in such a variety of different species, yet all preserved distinct, and each fitted to its own element, provided with its appropriate food, and with organs, and instinct suited to its destined place on the varied scene, but must admit the world to have been made by a power divine.
The sun and moon have their allotted path, and they perform their allotted task. Could this happen by chance?
Our reason, even in Contradiction to the testimony of our senses, convinces us that our day and night are produced by a swift rotary motion of the earth round its own axis. Besides which, it moves annually with still greater velocity round the same common center, about which we see all the planets and comets revolve in periods and orbits proportioned to their several distances.
But we know of no power inherent in matter, of which the earth and all the other globes of the solar system are composed, which could cause them to move in any direction, except the force of gravitation, which could only make every orb of the system move for a short time in a right line towards the common center, where the whole would forever remain one inert motionless mass.
To such a revolutionary motion as we see they have, it was absolutely necessary that, whenever and by whatever means a small part of the matter contained in the solar system was formed into such different sized globes, and separated from the center, and from each other, at such various distances as we now see the comets, and primary and secondary planets to be placed, they should, at the instant, be impelled by a projectile force in a direction forming an exact right angle with the direction in which the attraction of gravitation acts, and with a velocity duly proportioned to the degree of eccentricity of the orb in which each of these globes revolves. Yet our experience assures us, that matter is absolutely incapable of giving itself such a projectile force. It must therefore have been actuated and skillfully impelled by some power superior and foreign from itself.
To understand what kind of being must have communicated their several kinds and degrees of motion to these material globes, let us attend to the information given us through the channels of our knowledge, the experience of our senses, and the impartial deduction of our reason.
Within the limits of the globe which we inhabit, if we except those instances of motion originating in the universal force of gravitation and attraction, all the locomotion we experience is confined to the bodies of intelligent animals, or to those parts of inanimate matter to which they communicate it.
Animals, we see, and are conscious in our own case, have power by a mere act of their will to move their whole bodies, or each particular limb in every direction, as best suits their convenience or their wants. They can also communicate locomotion to the inert particles of matter that surround them, in proportion to the sagacity and intellectual powers with which they are endowed: so that man, who in sagacity and intelligence is far superior to all the other animated inhabitants of this globe, by calling in the aid of others of his own species, and of the brute animals around him, and by a judicious application of portions even of inanimate matter itself, enjoys the power of exciting motion of almost every kind, and in every direction.
With this experimental proof before us, that all the motion of material substances originates in the will of an intelligent mind (for the bodies of animals when dead, that is, when deprived of their intelligence, are as incapable of moving or communicating motion as the clods under our feet), our reason must conclude, that all those motions, which we observe in the heavenly spheres, and know to be participated by our own earth, even the impulse of attraction or gravitation itself, which is one of the secondary causes of their revolution, originated in, and exist only by the will of some supremely powerful, wise intelligence, the great eternally existing cause of all other things.
This supreme first Cause of all the effects we perceive in the universe, we call God. And till our reason shall induce us to deny the existence of our own intelligent mind or soul, because we cannot comprehend its nature, the mode of its existence, nor the manner in which a mere act of its volition puts the sinews and limbs of our bodies into motion, we must regard the man, as acting irrationally, who denies the existence of that great first Cause, because he cannot comprehend his nature, his eternal self-existence, nor the manner in which immaterial intelligence is capable of actuating matter.
Mr. Evenson, from whose writings, we shall here borrow, observes, " that the first of every creature must have had its existence differently from the usual state of nature; for every animal on its first production into life, is entirely helpless, and is dependent upon others for nourishment and preservation; so that had the first of each species been originally produced in a state of helplessness, such as we now see the young of every species of animal, they must all have perished almost as soon as produced; and never could have arrived at a state of maturity. We come to the conclusion then, that the first pair of every creature must have been adults when they were produced, consequently were produced out of the natural way. Now what but an Almighty power could do this?"
The same author observes, that, " If the energy of material nature was ever capable of producing animals in a state of mature puberty, it must still be, and have always been, capable of the same production; and, at certain intervals at least, more animals of every species must have been brought into existence in the same original way. But the experience of all ages assures us, that no such production of man nor any other animal hath ever occurred since our species hath existed upon the earth; and therefore we are certain that the first great efficient cause of the existence of ourselves, and of all that astonishing variety of animals and vegetables with which the earth is so abundantly stored, must be something distinct from, and independent of the globe which we inhabit. And since nothing can communicate to another powers and faculties superior, or even equal to what itself possesses, that supreme first cause must far excel, in wisdom and intellectual powers, the wisest and most sagacious animal it has produced. Many more natural arguments might be adduced to prove the certainty of the being of a God: But until the Atheist shall fairly refute these two, by demonstrating their fallacy or error, and deduce from reason supported by actual experience, a different, satisfactory origin of our own existence, and of the complicated revolutions of the heavenly bodies, and the motion of matter in general, they appear to be amply sufficient to convince all those whose minds are capable of conviction from just and candid reasoning; and to those who are not, all further argumentation would be useless."
Thus have we availed ourselves of Mr. Evenson's remarks,—good may sometimes be extracted from evil. He was a man of powerful mind, but prejudiced judgment on some points. Like the bee, we have culled from his work all that was sweet; what remains, should be thrown into the fire.
We have shown the atheist's views of the natural world, that it was formed by the blind action of matter. Let us now see his opinion of the moral world.
Man, he considers to be subject to no moral government, under no moral obligation, born merely to eat, drink, sleep, decay, and die. Consequently the pleasure which attends a sense of rectitude can never be enjoyed by the atheist, neither can the sting, which an evil action leaves upon the mind of an accountable being, ever be felt by him; for virtue and vice are to him synonymous terms.
A late atheistically writer declares, " that 5 there is no right, but that of power; and that rectitude, instead of being founded in the nature of things, is the result of human institutions."
And Hobbes, another atheistically writer, " declares it to be lawful to do, and get whatever we can with safety: that pollution in almost every form is lawful; and that animal enjoyment is the only real good."
Were the world to be governed by the doctrines of atheism, what crimes would not mankind perpetrate; what misery would they not suffer! The universe would become a vast desert, every man would be guided by his passions and his appetites, his evil propensities would be let loose without restraint. The ruler, having no moral rectitude, would feel no obligation to act justly, and the subject of such rulers would be the counterpart of themselves. To deceive, to defraud, and to murder, would be the common employment of life. Man, like the tiger, and other beasts of prey, would hide himself during the day in dens, and at night prowl abroad to commit depredation upon all he met, weaker than himself.
Without confidence, no society could exist; without moral rectitude, the world would be transformed into a perfect hell. See then what we owe to Him who came to save that which was lost! Were our views to be confined to this world only, still mankind would have to bless Him for their preservation here, and for every comfort they enjoy. But when they add: and for the hope of glory," how the heart of the Christian bounds and throbs with love and gratitude to his great and merciful Deliverer! He who came to establish peace on earth, and good-will towards man!
It is very strange, that in this enlightened age, such a being as an atheist should exist. We imagined that the march of intellect had opened men's eyes to the absurdity of such an opinion. Our surprise may be imagined on hearing that a person had actually arrived in London, in order to set up a school, with the view of converting his scholars to atheism! We most sincerely trust that " England will do her duty," by not extending her liberty for so pernicious and wicked a purpose. England at this moment seems to be the favored land; God has entered into a treaty with us, saying: keep my laws and I will never forsake you. 0 ye my fellow country folks, old and young; rich and poor; high and low; let us implore of you all to keep sacred the treaty. Be assured that God will on his part keep it, so that England will be great and happy so long as her children are true to her.
But to return to the atheist: the person before alluded to, who came to teach atheism in the land, freely promulgated his absurd opinions in a party where we were to have been present, but were prevented attending. The account we had of his lecture was as follows:—He began his harangue by observing that Solomon's remark, " Vanity of vanities, all is vanity,"
is a wrong translation, that the v ought to be u, which would make, " unity of unities, all is unity."
We would here ask the sapient atheist how he disposes of the a, for suppose he were to turn v into u, still the word would not be unity, but vanity. Besides, we do not see the object of the remark, it tends to nothing: for the atheist believes in neither the Unity nor the Trinity. What then is unity to him, unless he means the unity of matter. Such absurdity only shows how foolish man becomes when he forsakes his Maker, and turns from keeping His laws.
" The fool hath said in his heart there is no God." Truly, he must be a fool indeed who can entertain such an opinion. Many, both gentlemen and ladies, were present at his lecture, and to the honor of the fair sex, be it spoken, the only person that combated his opinions, was a lady.
Every one present laughed at the Lecturer. To sport with sin is to sport with death; for it was sin that brought death into the world.
It has been well observed by a learned author, " that the atheist denies his own principles, and avails himself of the principles which he opposes." If he understands his own scheme, he cannot but know that the necessity of existence, which he professes to believe, is irreconcileable with all freedom of mind, with voluntariness, with all contrivance.
He knows that connections cannot spring from chance, that order cannot arise out of accident; that whatever exists fortuitously, exists independently of all things and can never be connected with any other thing. If therefore, the Atheist would act rationally, that is, consistently with his ideas, he would neither contrive, expect, hope, nor fear; neither build, nor plant, nor reap, nor gather; but would yield himself up to the control of irresistible destiny.
Hope, which comes to all, can never come to the atheist; for where all is casualty, nothing can be expected. He is possessed only of a doubtful and fluctuating existence, he flutters in a state of suspense, · over the gloomy abyss of annihilation. His views of the future world are still more gloomy. He perishes without hope; for death he looks upon to be an eternal sleep! Such a being can neither fear punishment, nor hope for reward. He can have no object to prevent him from doing evil, nor motive to induce him to do good. Poor wretch can he be so insensate as to suppose that the thinking principle of his own mind was given him with no design, and to serve no purpose 1 and that this beautiful world exists for no end, and accomplishes none! In order to show what a miserable world this would become, were the creed of the atheist to become prevalent, we will just mention here the conduct of Herod. When he found his end approaching, he determined on an expedient for throwing the country into a general mourning after his death. He sent circular letters over the kingdom, commanding all the Jews, of every quality and rank, under pain of death, to surrender themselves immediately at Jericho. And having, on their arrival, made them all prisoners within the circus, he said to his sister Salome, and Alexas her husband:
"I well know that my death is fast approaching, and the Jews hate me so heartily, that they will rejoice at my departure. But I have thought of an infallible method that will oblige them to pay me funeral honors, as well as remember me with as sincere marks of sorrow as was ever expressed for any man: for there shall not be a corner, nor a family of any note in the kingdom, but will have reason to shed tears at my death. For which cause, leave a positive order with you, empowering and adjuring you as soon as the breath is gone out of my body, to make my soldiers enter the circus, and slay all that are there shut up."
Had Herod believed in a future state, he would not have so acted conscience, makes cowards of us all. But let us turn from the gloomy and cruel creed of the atheist, to the cheering and merciful doctrine of the Christian. He knows, and is certain, that a blessed life beyond the grave awaits him; that his body, sown in corruption, shall be raised in incorruption, and glory: ever young and un-decaying, it shall be reunited to the immortal mind, purified from every stain and every error. Thus motives, endless in their number, and infinite in their power, excite the Christian unceasingly to promote the happiness of his fellow-creatures, and secure the approbation of his God.
Let us look into the history of the ancient Jews, and there we shall find that whenever the nations kept the commandments of God, they were prosperous and happy. See Kings, chapter 18.—" Hezekiah trusted in the Lord God of Israel so that after him was none like him among all the kings of Israel. For he clave to the Lord, and departed not from following him, but kept his commandments. And the Lord was with him: and he prospered whithersoever he went forth," etc.
Let us now look into u Kings, chapter 13. verses 2 and 3,—" Jehoahaz did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord, and followed the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, which made Israel to sin, he departed not therefrom, And the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel, and he delivered them into the hand of Hazael, king of Syria, and into the hand of Ben-hadad, the son of Hazael, all their days."
The same system of rewards and punishments is dealt out to the nations of the earth now, quite as much as when David, the shepherd-boy, slew the formidable Goliath.
When a nation puts its trust in the Lord, it is at peace, and a religious and moral government will always make a religious and moral people. It is the duty, it is the interest of a government to seek to make moral and happy subjects: the better the subject, the better will the sovereign be served and obeyed. Were there a law prohibiting the gin-shops and ale-houses being open on a Sunday, the people would be better acquainted with their religious duties. But at present, their Sundays are spent in the public-house, instead of the house of God. Were there fewer gin-shops, there would be fewer paupers in the land. What shall we say of the higher classes? Why, that presumptuous man will not accept of God's pardon, unless he be admitted into his councils', and made equally wise with Him, whose wisdom is infinite.
But let such unhappy men peruse the Scriptures, and there they will see the record which God hath given of his Son " He that hath the Son hath life, and he that hath not the Son hath not life."
From Genesis to Malachi, this is the language of Scripture; all teem with the types and prophecies concerning the promised Redeemer. The Cross of Christ is the fulfilment of all those types and prophecies, the accomplishment of the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God.
Though Jesus was really and truly man, that he might be capable of suffering and dying; yet all the fulness of the Godhead dwelt in him; for. to make full and ample atonement for the sins of the world, it was requisite for the sufferer to be God. God was manifested in the flesh, and suffered for us, to reconcile us to himself. The divinity of the blessed Jesus, and his atonement for sin, must stand or fall together. Those who deny the one, must of necessity deny the other; for man, could not redeem himself. The entire subject of the Gospel is, God the Son died for man, and rose again for his justification. We cannot mention one individual branch of the sacred Gospel which stands unconnected with the cross of Christ.
We would beg leave to ask the infidel, whether there is any doctrine except that of the Christian, which can teach man how to obtain happiness in a future state? No such creed exists, nor ever did exist.
Revelation alone teaches man how to please God in this life, and secures the certainty of eternal happiness in the world to come. Yes, but says the Infidel: " I cannot think that God will punish man for not embracing a doctrine which he cannot bring his mind to believe." But does this infidel ever seek for a spirit of belief? Is it fair to expect that belief will seek him? As well might the lover of mammon hold his purse open, and expect the sovereigns to drop into it,—as that anyone can have faith without seeking after it. The Christian life is active, we are to work out our own salvation: the atonement will not benefit us without our own cooperation—for otherwise we reject it, and throw away the graces bestowed upon us in our baptism—our will must be concerned, we must will our salvation, and take an interest in the well-being and peace of our souls.
It has never been denied that there was such a person as Jesus, and it is also acknowledged that the Jews did expect the Messiah at the very precise time that Jesus came into the world: and though not acknowledged by them as their Messiah, did himself denounce a prophecy against them on account of their unbelief, and referred them to the prophecies which were predicted of him, and pointed out to them the mistaken interpretation they had put upon them. It is a very remarkable circumstance, that these very prophecies are still preserved with the utmost care and reverence by the Jews, who reject Christ Jesus, although these very predictions appear to Christians most remarkable, and incontestable proofs of our blessed Lord's birth and passion.
The opposers of the Gospel (as a learned author observes) are not the opposers of its morality. Are these caviler’s aware that those very moral precepts are a part of Christ's doctrine, and were unknown until his time? No such code of ethics as the following was ever given to man before the Christian era: " Love your enemies; Bless them that curse you; Do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you." Thus, the moral duties were carried to an extent beyond all former law-givers. Christ required of his followers a higher state of human perfection, greater sacrifices of human passions, and a loftier stretch of human virtue than had ever before entered into the mind of man to conceive.
Take a view of heathen countries at this very time, and you will see crimes practiced there which are not tolerated in any nation professing Christianity. In China, for instance, which is considered one of the most civilized of heathen nations, it is a common practice for parents, who do not wish to bring up a numerous family, to smother their children when they are infants. So common is this practice that in the city of Pekin, carts are sent round every morning to gather up the bodies of infants that may have been smothered, and thrown out into the streets during the night, that they may be taken away and buried.
In all the islands of the Pacific Ocean, it is a common thing to murder female children in their infancy, because the people think it more difficult to provide for them than for boys. And in India, when a man of rank dies, his widow is burned to death with his corpse. Indeed, throughout the whole heathen world, women are oppressed and degraded, merely because men being stronger, have it in their power to do so. See then the great blessing which Christianity has conferred upon the nations of the earth that have embraced the precious boon.
Let us look into some of the prophecies which the Jews even of the present time preserve with so much care and reverence. In Isaiah, chapter 9. it is written: " For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given, and the government shall be upon his shoulder; and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, the mighty God, the everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace." And in chapter liii. of the same book it is written: " Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed. The Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. 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 opened not his mouth."
If the reader will look into the four books of the Evangelists, he will find that the above predictions were so minutely fulfilled in the person of the blessed Jesus, that did we not know to a certainty, that these very predictions were exclusively in the hands of the Jews, the enemies of the cross, we should be inclined to imagine them to be written after their fulfilment.
In Micah, chapter 5 we read: "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."
The historians of the New Testament, declare that the above prophecy concerning Bethlehem, the place of our Lord's birth, was in their time accomplished: the holy Jesus having actually been born in that very place. And this is confirmed by heathen and Jewish -writers.
Let us now see how far the denunciation against Babylon has been fulfilled, the reader will find it in Isaiah, chapter 13. verse 19 and 20: " And Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, the beauty of the Chaldees' excellency, shall be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah: it shall never be inhabited, neither shall it be dwelt in from generation to generation: neither shall the Arabian pitch his tent there: neither shall the shepherds make their fold there."
To show how completely this prophecy has been fulfilled, we must here digress for a moment. The Bedouin Arabs tend their flocks in the most gloomy and retired parts of the desert (from choice), and live in tents: they frequently have to go three or four miles before they can find water for their cattle. A most intelligent Syrian, who sometime back was secretary to the Persian Ambassador, told us, that he had passed some time with the Bedouin Arabs, and that one day when he and they were in the vicinity of the Babylonian ruins, he said to them: " You are partial to lonely situations, here then is a place admirably suited to your taste, and by pitching your tents here, you will have water in abundance without trouble."
They replied, " they would not for all the wealth in the world, pitch their tents near the place, because it was full of evil spirits."
Thus, has the prophecy, that the Arabian should never pitch his tent there, been fulfilled to the very letter.
Isaiah further prophesied that: " The wild beasts of the desert should lie there, and their houses should be full of doleful creatures; and that owls should dwell there, and satyrs should dance there."
The above prediction is now verified, for the same Syrian told us, that though he had no fear of the evil spirits which were said to inhabit the ruins, yet, the dismal and gloomy appearance of the place, and the howling of the beasts of prey, quite horrified him. He assured us also, that he had visited Tyre, and saw it in exact conformity to the prophecy concerning it: the whole rock was covered with fishermen's nets. Now the Scriptures of the Old Testament foretold that Tyre should become desolate, and a place for fishermen to dry their nets on.
Thus have we shown some of the more striking of the Old Testament prophecies and their fulfilment; for, upon the proof, that Jesus was the Christ, the promised of prophecy, must in a great measure depend the value of the evidence, that he was God as well as man. We will now proceed to undeniable proofs of our blessed Lord's Divinity.
CHRIST'S OWN TESTIMONY TO HIS OWN DIVINE CHARACTER.
IN order to show how very fallacious are all the arguments of the infidel, we will here relate what lately passed at a party where we were present.
The conversation happened to take a serious turn, and the character of our blessed Lord became the subject. The deistical part of the company admitted there was such a being as Jesus on the earth,—that he made his appearance in the world when Rome was in the highest state of refinement,—in the Augustan age; that the Jews, who had the prophecies of the Old Testament concerning him, actually did expect the Christ at the very precise moment he made his appearance. They admitted, also, that he was the most powerful, most benevolent, and most perfect being that ever had appeared in the world.
" There," said a person present, " I beg leave to differ from you; for, unless he was what he pretended to be, the Son of God; or, in other words, God the Son, he must have been an impostor, consequently could not have been a good man."
" Jesus never said he was the Son of God," rejoined the champion of infidelity, " and I defy anyone to show a single passage in the New Testament declaratory to that effect."
Let us examine the sacred book, and see how far the infidel is borne out in his assertion.
In St. Matthew 16. 15, 16, and 17, we read, that Jesus asked his disciples, saying: —" Whom say ye that I am?"
Simon answered and said, " Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God."
Now, had Jesus not been the Son of God, he would (if a good and honest man, as the infidel allowed he was), here have set Simon right, by removing the opinion he had formed of him; but, instead of doing so, we find that Jesus confirmed Simon's opinion; for he said unto him,—" Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-Jona, for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is heaven."
The other three evangelists give us to understand, that Jesus acknowledged himself to be the Son of God. St. Luke, whom the infidels themselves admit to be genuine, calls Jesus the Son of God. The same evangelist tells us, that when Jesus was questioned by the chief priests and by Pilate, as to who he was, he confessed that he was the Son of God, and the king of the Jews, saying, " Ye say that I am," and " Thou sayest it," a manner of expressing an affirmative still used by the inhabitants of the East.
St. John in the eighteenth chapter of his book, corroborates the above passage of St. Luke; for we there read that Pilate asked Jesus, saying,—" Art thou the king of the Jews?"
Jesus answered:—" My kingdom is not of this world."
" Art thou a king, then?"
" Jesus said:—Thou sayest that I am a king. To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world."
St. John relates also Christ's conversation with the woman of Samaria.
" I know," said the woman, "that Messiah cometh, which is called Christ: when he is come, he will tell us all things."
Jesus saith unto her: " I that speak unto thee am he."
In the fourteenth chapter of St. Mark, sixty-first verse, we read,—" Again the high-priest asked him, and said unto him: Art thou the Christ, the Son of the Blessed?"
" And Jesus said: I am."
Can any assertion be 'More direct than the above?
In the fifth chapter of St. John it is again written:—" Verily, verily, I say unto you, the hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God: and they that hear shall live. For, as the Father hath life in himself, so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself. And hath given him authority to execute judgment also, because he is the son of man." And in the seventeenth chapter of the same book, we read as follows:—" Jesus lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, Father, the hour is come: glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee." And in the fourteenth chapter we find that Philip saith, " Lord, show us the Father, and it suffices us."
" Jesus saith unto him,—Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? He that hath seen me, hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, show us the Father? Believes thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? the words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself: but the Father, that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works.
Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father in me: or else believe me for the very work's sake. Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father. And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son."
And in the fifth chapter of the same book (St. John), we read, " that the Jews sought to kill Jesus, because he said " that God was his father, making himself equal with God."
Here at once is a confutation of the infidel's assertion, that Jesus never said he was the Son of God.
Again, " As the Father," said Jesus, " raises up the dead, and quickened. them; even so the Son quickened whom he will. For the Father judges no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son. That all men should honor the Son, even as they honor the Father."
In the ninth chapter of St. John it is written,—" Jesus said," unto the man whose sight he had restored:—" Dost thou believe on the Son of God?"
The man answered, and said, " Who is he, Lord, that I might believe on him?"
Jesus said unto him,—" Thou hast both seen him, and it is he that talks with thee."
Again, in the tenth chapter of the same book, we read that the Jews came round about Jesus, saying: " How long dost thou make us to doubt? If thou be the Christ, tell us plainly."
Jesus answered them: " I told you and ye believed not: the works that I do in my Father's name, they bear witness of me. I and my Father are one."
Then the Jews took up stones again to stone him.
Jesus answered them: " Many good works have I showed you from my Father; for which of those works do ye stone me?"
" The Jews answered him, saying: for a good work we stone thee not; but for blasphemy; and because that thou, being a man, makes thyself God."
" Jesus answered them: Is it not written in your law, I said, ye are gods? If he called them gods, unto whom the word of God came, and the Scriptures cannot be broken; say ye of him, whom the Father hath sanctified, and sent into the world, thou blasphemes; because I said, I am the Son of God?"
Again at verse 17, of the same chapter, we read: " Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again. No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received from my Father."
We have now to look into the same-book (St. John) chapter xiv. verse 2: " In my Father's house are many mansions: #.it were not so, I would have told you, I go to prepare a place for you." And at verse 6, it is written: " Jesus saith, I am the way, and the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me."
Again we are to see chapter 16. verse 15: " All things that the Father hath are mine: therefore said I, that he shall take of mine, and shall shew it unto you.
At chapter 17. verses 4 and 5, we read:
" I have glorified thee on earth: I have finished the work which thou gayest me to do. And now, 0 Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was." And at verse 24, 25, and 26, we further read: " Father, I will that they also, whom thou halt given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me: for thou loved me Wore the foundation of the world. 0 righteous Father, the world hath not known thee: but I have known thee, and these have known that thou hast sent me. And I have declared unto them thy name, and will declare it: that the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them, and I in them."
We read in the nineteenth chapter, seventh verse, that the Jews said:— " We have a law, and by our law he ought to die, because he made himself the Son of God."
In the eighth chapter and the fifty-third verse it is written that the Jews put the following questions to our blessed Lord:—" Whom makes thou thyself?"
Jesus answered:—" If I honor myself, my honor is nothing: it is my Father that honored me; of whom ye say, that he is your God."
Here, then, are a multitude of distinct declarations from our Lord's own lips, that he was the Son of God, and many conveying the same fact by implication.
What now becomes of the infidel's assertion, that Christ never said he was the Son of God?
We have said that Infidelity is the offspring of a careless mind. Can anything more clearly prove this than the above assertion of the infidel?
Imagine a man, skilled in all polite learning, and understanding several, both dead and living, languages, yet being so ignorant of the Holy Scriptures as to commit himself by making an assertion which every schoolboy of ten years old could refute. Is such a man worthy to be employed in an official situation? Yet he holds a lucrative one in the government of his country! We could mention his name and surname, but the laws of Him whom he denies, forbid our doing so; we will, therefore, take leave of him, with this advice,—that he will not, in future, expose his ignorance, by giving an opinion on matters of which he knows nothing.
There are innumerable other declarations and acts of our blessed Lord in testimony of his divinity, beside those we have mentioned.
It may not be at all out of place to state here the answer which our Lord gave to the messengers of John the Baptist, when he sent them to Jesus, saying:—" Art thou he that should come? or look we for another?"
" In the same hour our blessed Lord cured many of their infirmities, and plagues, and of evil spirits; and unto many that were blind he gave sight." Having performed these things in the presence of John's messengers, Jesus then said unto them: "Go your way, and tell John what things ye have seen and heard; how that the blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised."
There was a direct appeal to their senses, which as clearly proved the divinity of Christ, as if the messengers had seen him seated on the right hand of the Father; for who but God, that is in his own name, and by his own power, could raise the dead, or perform the other miracles they had seen?
After desiring the messengers to tell John the things they had seen and heard, Jesus added:—" And blessed is he whosoever shall not be offended in me."
The Infidel would do well to consider, that, no man can come to the Father but by the Son; that those are not blessed to whom the name of Christ is a stumbling block, or cause of offence; that there is, in fact, only one road to heaven, and to happiness, which is by Christ Jesus.
CHRIST PERMITS WORSHIP TO HIMSELF.
A SECOND PROOF OF CHRIST'S DIVINITY.
THE next proof of our Lord's divinity, is, that he received worship; he allowed himself to be worshipped.
Now had he been a mere man, and a good man—as the Infidels allow he was—he would not have suffered himself to be worshipped.
If the reader will be pleased to look into the Acts of the Apostles, chapter xiv., he will see that both Paul and Barnabas refused to be worshipped; at the 13, 14, and 15 verses, it is written: " Then the priest of Jupiter, which was before their city, brought oxen and garlands unto the gates, and would have done sacrifice with the people. Which when the apostles, Barnabas and Paul, heard of, they rent their clothes, and ran in among the people, crying out, and saying: " Sirs, why do ye these things? We also are men of like passions with you, and preach unto you that ye should turn from these vanities unto the living God."
And in the last chapter of the Revelation, eighth and ninth verses, we read: " And I John, saw these things and heard them. And when I had heard and seen, I fell down to worship before the feet of the angel which showed me these things. Then saith he unto me, see thou do it not: for I am thy fellow-servant; and of thy brethren the prophets, and of them which keep the sayings of this book: worship God." Thus we find that not only the apostles, but also the angels refuse worship—whereas Jesus at all times received worship as his due, as a thing he had a right to.
In St. Matthew 2. 11, it is written: "And when they were come into the house, they saw the young child with Mary his mother, and they fell down and worshipped him." And in chapter 8. of the same book we read, that a leper came and worshipped Jesus. Also in chapter xiv., we find that those who were in the ship with Jesus, and had seen him walking on the sea, came and worshipped him, saying: " Of a truth thou art the Son of God." Again at chapter 15. verse 25, we find that the woman of Canaan worshipped Jesus. And at chapter 20. verse 20, of the same book it is written: " Then came to him the mother of Zebedee's children with her sons, worshipping him."
Now in all these different instances, we do not find that Jesus ever prevented any of them from worshipping him, which he certainly would have done had he not been entitled to receive worship. And this circumstance in our opinion as fully establishes the divinity of the holy Jesus, as anything short of seeing heaven laid open to our view, and our blessed Lord seated on the right hand of his heavenly Father.
The holy Scripture further assures us, that God is a jealous God, and that his worship he will not give to another.
God has even made it a command not to worship " the likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or in the earth beneath, or in the water under the earth."
We read in St. Luke, chapter iv., that the devil shewed our Lord all the kingdoms of the world, and said: " All this power will I give thee, and the glory of them: for that is delivered unto me; and to whomsoever I will I give it. If thou therefore will worship me, all shall be thine."
" And Jesus answered and said unto him: get thee behind me, Satan, for it is written, thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve."
Thus we find that worship is alone due to the Godhead: and our blessed Lord asserting this immutable fact; and yet receiving worship in his own person, upon many occasions, and without reproof! Nothing in holy writ is a surer or more convincing proof of our Lord's divinity than that of his permitting himself to be worshipped. This at once proves Jesus to be God; the fact of his being a good man, and one miraculously endowed being first conceded; as it must be, if history, or the deductions of common sense, from the instantaneous spread of Christianity, are to have the least weight. On this last point it must ever be remembered, that Christianity was not spread like Mohamedanism, by power and the sword, but against both, by twelve poor, humble, and in an earthly point of view, uninfluential men.
Porphyry, Pliny the younger, and other Pagan authors, mention that Christ was worshipped as a God. Porphyry objects to Christianity, because that since Jesus had been worshipped, Aesculapius and the other gods did no more converse with men.
Plutarch endeavors to account for the silence of the ancient oracles, by supposing that those diabolical spirits might have died, or been driven away from their old place of residence, by some spirit of a superior rank.
Poor Plutarch, with all his acquirements, was ignorant, that the time was come when the strong man's house was to be entered, his goods spoiled, and himself bound; the devil, who before was the prince of this world, came now to be dethroned, and tumbled into hell, upon the approach of that true light which illumines every believer that cometh into the world.
The account which Pliny the younger gives of our blessed Lord is as follows: " That Christ was worshipped as a God among the Christians; that they would rather suffer death than blaspheme him; that they received a sacrament, and by it entered into a vow of abstaining from sin and wickedness."
Pontius Pilate, the very man who condemned Jesus to suffer death, mentions also that he was worshipped.
It was customary for the governors of provinces under the Roman states, to keep an exact register of all the memorable events that occurred during the time of their administration. Shortly after the crucifixion of Jesus, Pontius Pilate wrote to Tiberius, and transmitted to him an account of Christ's resurrection, together with a relation of the many miracles that had been done by him, and by his disciples in his name; adding, that the multitude of converts to his faith was daily increasing, and that he was worshipped as a God.
Now the testimony of those men is most important, for having no interest in the matter, standing as it were upon neutral ground, they faithfully stated facts, without any regard as to whether they made for or against the Christian cause.
Can those who never bowed the knee in worship to Christ expect that a favorable sentence will be passed upon them? But let them not despair, co-operating grace, even at the eleventh hour will save them. Seek then, seek, poor infidel, knowledge of God, and grace to believe in God the Son; since there is no other name given under heaven, by which man can be saved but the name of Christ Jesus, and therefore all men are to honor the Son, even as they honor the Father.
CHRIST'S MIRACLES, A FURTHER PROOF OF DIVINITY.
WE know we shall be told that the disciples of Christ performed miracles as well as their Lord: but mark the wide difference: the disciples worked them in the name of Jesus, but our Savior did miracles in his own name. " I will, be thou whole," and immediately the diseased person was cured.
If the reader will look into Matthew, chapter x. verse 1, he will find it written: " And when he had called unto him his twelve disciples, he gave them power against unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal all manner of sickness, and all manner of disease."
In the Acts of the Apostles, chapter iii., it is written: " A certain man, lame from his mother's womb, was carried, whom they laid daily at the gate of the temple, which is called Beautiful, to ask alms of them that entered into the temple; who seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple, asked them alms. And Peter, fastening his eyes upon him with John, said, Look on us. And he gave heed unto them, expecting to receive something of them. Then Peter said, Silver and gold have I none, but such as I have give I thee. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk: and he took him by the right hand and lifted him up:
and immediately his feet and bones received strength. And he, leaping up, stood, and walked, and. entered with them into the temple, -walking and leaping and praising God." " And as the lame man which was healed held Peter and John, all the people ran together unto them in the porch which is called Solomon's, greatly wondering. And when Peter saw it, he answered unto the people: " Ye men of Israel, why marvel ye at this? or why look ye so earnestly on us, as though by our own power or holiness we had made this man to walk? The God of Abraham, and of Isaac, and of Jacob, the God of our fathers, hath glorified his Son Jesus;" and his name, through faith in his name, hath made this man strong, whom ye see and know: yea, the faith which is by him hath given him this perfect soundness in the presence of you all."
Again we read in the Acts of the Apostles, chapter 16: " And it came to pass, as we went to prayer, a certain damsel possessed with a spirit of divination met us, which brought her masters much gain by soothsaying. The same followed Paul and us, and cried, saying, these men are the servants of the most high God, which shew unto us the way of salvation. And this did she many days. But Paul, being grieved, turned and said to the spirit, I command thee in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her. And he came out the same hour."
All the miracles performed by the Apostles were done in the name of Jesus Christ, and in no other name.
Now let us turn to the miracles which were performed by the Lord Jesus himself. In St. Matthew, chapter 8. it is written: " When he was come down from the mountain, great multitudes followed him. And, behold, there came a leper and worshipped him, saying, Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean." And Jesus put forth his hand, and touched him, saying, I will; be thou clean."
Again, in chapter 17. of the same book it is written: " There came to Jesus a certain man, kneeling down to him, and saying, Lord, have mercy on my son: for he is lunatic, and sore vexed: for oft-times he falls into the fire, and oft into the water: and I brought him to thy disciples and they could not cure him."
And Jesus said: " Bring him hither to me. And Jesus rebuked the devil, and he departed out of him, and the child was cured from that very hour."
And in the fourth chapter of St. Luke it is written:—" And in the synagogue there was a man which had a spirit of an unclean devil, and cried out with a loud voice, saying: Let us alone; what have we to do with thee, thou Jesus of Nazareth: art thou come to destroy us? I know thee, who thou art; the Holy One of God."
" And Jesus rebuked him, saying:—" Hold thy peace, and come out of him and they were all amazed, and spoke among themselves, saying, What a ward is this, for with authority and power he commanded the unclean spirits, and they come out."
In the seventh chapter of St. Luke we read, " When he came nigh to the gates of the city, behold there was a dead man carried out, the only son of his mother, and she was a widow: and much people of the city was with her. And when the Lord saw her, he had compassion on her, and said unto her, Weep not. And he came and touched the bier, and they that bare him stood still. And he said: Young man, / say unto thee, arise; and he that was dead sat up, and began to speak, and he delivered him to his mother."
Every miracle performed by our Lord and Savior was done by his own power, he applied but on one occasion to his Father, and that was at the raising of Lazarus. In St. John, chapter 11., the passage is as follows:—" Then they took away the stone from the place where the dead was laid. And Jesus lifted up his eyes, and said: Father, I thank thee that thou hast heard me; and I knew that thou hears me always: but because of the people which stand by I said it, that they may believe that thou hast sent me. And when he thus had spoken, he cried with a loud voice, Lazarus come forth."
Jesus not only healed the lame, and blind, and sick that were brought to him, but also those who were at a distance, as may be seen by looking into the fourth chapter of St. John.
Jesus also fed a multitude with a few loaves; he changed water into wine, and stilled the waves and winds,—the boisterous elements were hushed at his bidding. These miracles were performed in the presence of thousands of the Jewish people, and, if they had not believed them to be miracles, would they have accused him of supernatural agency,—of having done those miracles by the aid of Beelzebub?
The ancient Pagans bear witness, that the apostles performed miracles by the use a certain magical name, that of Jesus. Origen makes the declaration, " that he himself had seen the miraculous power exerted by using the name of Jesus.
Celsus was so hard set with the report of Christ's miracles, and the confident attestations concerning him, that he knew it was impossible to refute them, and was therefore forced to resort to this solution, —that they were done by magic.
The unbelieving Jews, who had actually seen the miracles done by Jesus, were driven to account for them after the same manner. For, to work by magic, in the heathen way of speaking (as Mr. Addison observes), was, in the language of the Jews, to cast out devils by Beelzebub.
Porphyry, the most learned and able of the Heathen writers against Christianity, resorted to the same solution.
It is manifestly absurd to suppose, that miracles were done by magic. Would God have given the power to him who falsely asserted that. he was one with God Himself? The thing is impossible.
Besides, would evil spirits seek to make men sober, chaste, and temperate? Nor is it possible to imagine, that evil spirits would enter into a combination with Christ to cut off all their intercourse with mankind. As our blessed Lord himself told the Jews, " If Satan cast out Satan, he is divided against himself, how shall then his kingdom stand?"
Evil spirits cannot be supposed to have concurred in the establishment of a religion which triumphed over them, drove them out of the places they possessed, and divested them of their influence on mankind.
We have an eminent instance of the in consistency of such opinions in the history of Aquila. He was a kinsman of the emperor Trajan, and a man of vast learning, and, although he had embraced Christianity, could not be brought off from the studies of magic, by the repeated admonitions of his fellow-Christians: so that at length they expelled him their society,—choosing to lose the reputation of so considerable a proselyte, rather than communicate with one who dealt in such dark aid infernal practices.
In the time of our Lord on earth the belief in magic was very general, both among the Jews and the heathen. The Jews maintained, that Jesus was a magician, who did mighty works through the prince of demons, and this is a common tradition among the Jews at this very day. The modern Jews have among them an ancient book giving this account of the origin of Christianity; and this, no doubt, prevents that blinded and stubborn people embracing the true faith.
Christ gave his disciples the power of working miracles in his name, but there was one which he seems not to have endowed them with,—that of waltzing on the sea. None of the disciples ever attempted to do so, except St. Peter, and he, upon finding himself sinking, cried unto his Lord for help, saying:—" Lord, save me. And immediately Jesus stretched out his hand, and caught him."
But every miracle that tended to benefit man, the disciples were endowed with.
It is certain, that when Christ appeared upon earth, the Jews were expecting the Messiah, who should be a mighty prince, and free them from subjection to the Romans. And this is what is still expected by the Jews of this day.
As a modern author well observes:—" If Jesus and his apostles had been impostors, they would have been likely to give out that the " kingdom of heaven," which was " at hand," was a glorious worldly empire, such as the Jews had fixed their hopes on, instead of a " kingdom not of this world," which was what they did preach. And we know that the several pretended Christs, who appeared a little before the destruction of Jerusalem, and even after it, did profess each to come as a temporal deliverer, and conqueror, agreeably to the prevailing notions and wishes of the Jews. Jesus and his disciples, on the contrary, not only proclaimed no temporal kingdom, but did not even promise any worldly success and prosperity to their followers, but told them, that, " in the world they should have tribulation." The Jews had been always brought up in the notion, that worldly prosperity was a sign of God's favor such being the rewards promised in the Mosaic law. The hardships and afflictions, therefore, in this life, which men were told they must endure if they became Christians, were not only disheartening, but also likely to raise a prejudice in their minds against Jesus and his disciples.
When people's inclinations are engaged in behalf of anything, they are more disposed to believe whatever is favorable to it; but when the belief of anything would Lead to results which are contrary to their inclinations, they are proportionably slow to believe. Now, Christianity required that men should reform their morals, that every man should give up his sins, all his habits of indulgence,—even if they were dear to him as a right foot, or a right eye, and declared that no man could be received as a Christian who continued to live in the habitual practice of any sin.
The vices of the ruling men among the Jews being exposed, they therefore considered Jesus and his followers as their enemies, and they persecuted all who acknowledged the Lord Jesus. No man in Judea could become a Christian without exposing himself to persecution, the loss of property, and the imminent danger of life.
We may easily conceive their rage and intolerance, when we consider that Herod put John the Baptist to death for merely saying, " that it was not lawful for him to have his brother's wife." Yet, notwithstanding the opposition that the religion of Christ met with from the Jews, as well as from the heathen, it overcame all opposition, and spread rapidly over a great part of the world, even in the time of the apostles.
Now, this, in the eye of reason, is as great a miracle as any our blessed Lord and his apostles evet performed; for wonderful as the whole Gospel history is, the most wonderful thing of all is, that a Jewish carpenter, of humble rank, should have succeeded in changing, without conquest, the religion of the world. So that those who are unwilling to believe anything that is strange, cannot escape doing so by disbelieving the Gospel. The doctrine of Christ overthrew the religion of all the most powerful and enlightened nations, and effected the most wonderful change that ever was produced in the opinions of men.
Fancy a few poor ignorant fishermen going into the splendid Grecian and Roman temples, and telling the philosophers, wise men, and nobles, to cast away their beautiful images, to reject the instruction of their philosophers, to renounce the religion of their ancestors, and to receive the doctrine of a Jew of humble station, who had been put to a shameful death by the people of his own nation. Again, fancy these poor fishermen and tent-makers succeeding in converting those wise men and philosophers, and you will have a just idea of the miraculous spread of our holy religion, and that it never could have succeeded had it not been from God.
Were we to consider the holy Jesus even in a political point of view, every man of learning would acknowledge, that he was the most extraordinary and most important being that ever appeared in the world.
Christ's birth was a miracle, his death was a miracle (for he that could have commanded twenty legions of angels to his rescue, quietly submitted to a painful death), and his resurrection was a miracle.
CHRIST'S RESURRECTION, A FOURTH PROOF OF HIS DIVINITY.
A fourth proof of our Lord's divinity is, his rising again. Death could not hold the Lord of glory; and because God has life in himself, so Christ also has life in himself He laid down his life for fallen man, and he took it again for man's justification. The resurrection of Christ proves that the atonement is complete; it proves, also, that as he rose again, we shall rise also.
Nothing was ever more clearly or more satisfactorily proved than the resurrection of Christ.
We read in St. Matthew, that immediately after the crucifixion of the Lord, the Jews, with their chief priests, went to Pilate, and said:—" Sir, we remember that that deceiver said, while he was yet alive, After three days I will rise again. Command, therefore, that the sepulcher be made sure until the third day, lest his disciples come by night, and steal him away, and say unto the people, He is risen from the dead."
Pilate said unto them: " Ye have a watch: go your way, make it as sure as ye can."
" So they went and made the sepulcher sure, sealing the stone, and setting a watch."
In the following chapter we find, that Mary Magdalene, and the other Mary, came; to see the sepulcher on the morning of the third day, and they there saw an angel, in white raiment, whose appearance so -frighted the keepers, or watch that had been set over the body, that they became as dead men. And the angel said unto the women:—" Fear not ye; for I know that ye seek Jesus, which was crucified. He is not here, for he is risen, as he said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay: and go quickly, and tell his disciples that he is risen from the dead."
" And as they went to tell his disciples, behold Jesus met them, saying, All hail; and they came and held him by the feet, and worshipped him."
St. Mark tells us, in the sixteenth chapter of his book, that when the disciples heard that the Lord was alive, and had been seen of Mary Magdalene, they believed not.
This plainly shows that they had given up all hope that their Lord would rise again, and this was natural enough; for how could they imagine that he who thought it no robbery to be equal to God, would have submitted to the death of the cross? No doubt they knew not what to think, when they found that Jesus had actually been put to death, and as they supposed, had not risen again: and what puts this beyond a doubt, is the following passage from St. Luke, chapter 24: " And it came to pass, that while they communed together and reasoned, Jesus himself drew near, and went with them. But their eyes were holden that they should not know him. And he said unto them, what manner of communications are these that ye have one to another, as ye walk and are sad?"
" And one of them, whose name was Cleopas, answering said unto him: Art' thou only a stranger in Jerusalem, and hast not known the things which are come to pass there in these days?"
" And he said unto them, What things? And they say unto him: Concerning Jesus of Nazareth, which was a prophet mighty indeed and ward before God sad all the people. And how the chief priests and our rulers delivered him to be condemned to death, and have crucified him. But we trusted that it had been he which should have redeemed Israel, and beside all this, today is the third day since these things were done."
Here is proof positive, that after the crucifixion of Jesus, his disciples were in doubt, as to whether he was the Messiah indeed. How did it happen then that after having been deceived by him, and having forsaken him, that they rallied, agreed every man of them to preach his doctrine, and to suffer hunger, and thirst, and imprisonment, and stripes, and persecution, and death? and is not this unbelief of the Apostles, a confirmation of our faith? For the more difficulty they showed in believing Christ's resurrection until after positive conviction, the greater reason have we to believe.
What else but the certainty of the resurrection of their Lord and Master could give his disciples courage boldly to preach Christ crucified to his enemies, and to tell them in their synagogues that there was no name given under heaven whereby man could be saved but the name of Christ whom they had crucified.
Our Lord after his resurrection remained forty days upon the earth, during which time he was frequently in the company of his disciples, and conversed familiarly with them: giving them instructions, and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God, or the planting of the Church, saying: " But ye shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth. And when he had spoken these things, while they beheld, he was taken up; and a cloud received him out of their sight. And while they looked steadfastly towards heaven as he went up, behold two men stood by them in white apparel; which also said: " Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven."
The resurrection of the Lord Jesus is a subject in which all mankind are interested; from the king to the beggar, and from the old man with furrowed brow and hoary locks, to the infant just born; for all must die, and their bodies be put into the grave; but Christ's resurrection proves that all mankind shall rise also,—the evil doer as well as the well-doer. Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. He died for all mankind, and rose again for their justification. All men therefore may go to heaven if they have the will to go. The merciful God wishes all men to be happy, but their own co-operation must be exerted. God never gives his favors without being asked for them, but he never denies to those who ask in sincerity and in faith. God is always more ready to give than ungrateful man is to ask. His language is: " Ask, and ye shall receive."
Were an earthly monarch to make such a promise, there would be no hesitation, but when the King of kings offers his favors, He before whom all the sovereigns of the earth will kneel in the dust, shall any turn to Him a deaf ear? O Monstrous insensibility! Ingratitude unparalleled! Justin Martyr, who lived in the second century, told the Pagans, that they had only to consult the public acts under Pontius Pilate, to know and be satisfied that Christ really wrought the miracles of which he told them. And Josephus gives the following account of our Lord's resurrection. " At this time was Jesus, a wise man, if it be lawful to call him a man, for he was the performer of divers admirable works, and the instructor of those who willingly entertained the truth; and he drew unto him divers Jews and Greeks to be his followers. This was Christ, who being accused by the princes of our nation before Pilate, and after-wards condemned by the people, and punished with crucifixion; yet they ceased not to love him, who had once set their love upon him; for he appeared alive again the third day, the holy prophets having spoken these and a thousand more things about him. And a nation from Mini hath taken the denomination of Christians, who remain to this very day." The above is the account which Josephus gives of our Lord's resurrection. He lived in the same century with the Lord Jesus, was present at the taking of Jerusalem, being then a captive in the Roman camp.
We believe it is no part of the infidel's creed to deny the resurrection of the body.
How then are they so insensate as to believe in a final resurrection, and at the same time deny the resurrection of the blessed Jesus! Such doctrine is absurd. There will be no resurrection if Christ be not risen. Our rising from the dead is in consequence of Christ having risen.
Our Lord's resurrection is not only attested by eye witnesses of it, but also by the very man who condemned him to suffer death, namely, Pontius Pilate.
Now our Lord's resurrection being the great fundamental article of the Christian religion, Jesus Christ therefore during his ministry on earth, foretold to his apostles that he should suffer death, and within three days rise again, and he made it a demonstration whereby they should be convinced that he was God the Son, and the great prophet and Savior that had before been promised.
It might be asked: why did not the Jews, after the Resurrection of our Lord, believe in him?
It was, because they were guilty of the sin against the Holy Ghost: for they could never believe the story which their chief priests and great men among them told the people, namely, that the disciples had stolen the body of Jesus by night, and had carried it away. A tale to which the most simple would not have given credit, had they not been determined to withstand the evidence of truth; for would any one endowed with common sense believe it possible that eleven simple unarmed men could deceive or overcome a Roman guard, the Roman soldiers being at that time the most highly disciplined in the world.
We are informed by St. Matthew and the other evangelists, that there was not only a watch set over the body, but also, that the sepulcher was made sure, and the stone placed over it sealed.
We have heard some people say, had Jesus appeared to the whole city after his resurrection, then no one would have been in doubt with regard to his rising.
We, for our part, very much question if it would have had any such effect; for the Scriptures assure us, that if we believe not Moses and the prophets, neither would we believe though one rose from the dead.
As a proof of this, the Jews had seen Lazarus restored to life after he had lain several days in the earth. Now who but God could have done this, and how insensate it was in the Jewish people to suppose, that He who could give life to a dead body, had not the power to reanimate his own whenever he pleased. But suppose the whole body of the Jewish people had seen Jesus after he rose from the dead—what then? In that case they no longer would have lived by faith, but by sight: now it is the will of God that man shall live by faith. " Believe in the Lord Jesus," says Scripture, " and thou shalt be saved."
Behold the reward of belief! But were man to live by sight, we should no longer have any exercise for our faith, this world would cease to be a state of probation, and all things would be resolved into objects of time and sense.
Again, it might be asked: why do not the present race of Jews believe? The march of intellect might convince them that it was impossible for the poor crestfallen disciples to steal the body of Jesus from a Roman guard. We imagine the same reason prevents the Jews believing which prevents the Infidels, they neither of them seek after a spirit of belief. Were they to study diligently the books of the Old and New Testaments, their careful perusal would dispel the mist of doubt, and satisfy even the most incredulous.
Nearly two thousand years have glided away since the Jewish people expected their Messiah. And they still expect a Heavenly Deliverer, who shall carry them back in triumph to the land of promise. Hope on, ancient people of God, and ye shall not be disappointed; for your Messiah will come, and will bring His reward with him; he will come to take vengeance on his enemies, and to reward those who believe on his name. He will come as ye at first expected, a great and a powerful Prince, to whom all the kings of the earth will yield willing obedience. And ye shall then look upon Him whom ye pierced, and whom your chief men set at naught. But let us advise you to search the Scriptures, that you may be able to receive your Lord at his coming with gladness. Does it never strike you to enquire into the cause of your dispersion? You must see plainly that the God of your forefathers has forsaken you, that you are no longer the favored people. There must be a cause for this; for God is not given to change. His friendship is immutable. So long as man believes God's holy word, and keeps his laws, he may be sure of his protection. We strongly advise the Israelites to seek out the cause of their desertion and dispersion.
The word Jew, is a term of contempt in all nations of the world. Why is this? Why are the ancient, the chosen people of God thus treated? It is because they deny the Lord of glory, the blessed Jesus.
We read in the holy Scriptures that during the time when they were God's favored people, He often hid his face from them on account of their backslidings and want of faith. For murmuring and following after false gods, they were kept wandering in the wilderness forty years. For their disobedience and wickedness they were, led captives to Babylon, and kept in captivity during the space of seventy years. Those punishments were of very short duration compared with the period of their present dispersion. A banishment of eighteen hundred and forty-two years duration would not be inflicted but for some very atrocious and enormously wicked deed— a deed, which caused the angels to weep, the rocks to be rent, and. shook earth to its very foundation.
In the book of Deuteronomy, chapter 11. it is written: " Because I set before you this day a blessing; and a curse—a blessing, if ye obey the commandments of the Lord your God, a curse, if ye will not obey the commandments of God."
Hear then, ye Jews, ye children of the holy land, ye sons of Abraham, hear and be wise; turn ye unto God the Son, and ye will secure the promised blessing.
The Talmud says, that the world was to continue six thousand years; two thousand to precede the law, two thousand under the law, and two thousand under the Messiah. The Jews lay great stress upon the Talmud, they reckon it one of the most authentic of all their traditions. This is an evidence against them which makes their infidelity inexcusable.
Eighteen hundred and forty-two years have elapsed since they expected their Messiah. How weak is that opinion of theirs which throws the delay of his coming on their iniquities. This requires no other answer than to remind them of an avowed principle among them, which is, when God denounces threats against wicked doers, he often, on their repentance, restrains the evil threatened, and receives them into favor; but when he foretells good things, or promises blessings, he always brings them to pass.
And yet this greatest of all blessings, the Savior of the world, so long promised, so long expected, and at last so graciously given, the Jews, contrary to their own doctrine, reject! The Talmud also, in commenting upon Zechariah, chapter 12: " They shall look upon me whom they have pierced, subjoins these most remarkable words, viz. " Peace be to him who hath said that these things are to be understood of Messiah the son of Joseph, who is slain."
The Jew, as well as the Christian, believes in a general resurrection: why then do men object to, or doubt the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, unless they think it a greater miracle to resuscitate one dead body than myriads.
Everything around us proclaims a resurrection: the spring of the year, like a young child awaking from sleep, with all its sweet and smiling beauties which winter had buried. The seed thrown into the earth dies, but in harvest it again rises from the earth, and gives bread to sustain the life of man. Sleep is a temporary death; for while it lasts the sleeper is not conscious of anything that passes around him; he is the same as dead; yet when he awakes all his thoughts and faculties return with renewed strength. Sleep may be called a living death. We go to bed, sleep seals our eyelids, and we become as insensible as a stone wall, or the dust of which we are formed. Were we unaccustomed to the phenomenon of sleep, what a wonder we should think it, and should hail the return of consciousness as a boon direct from heaven, as it really is; but because it is common, we think nothing of it. Yet our waking from sleep to life and animation, is just as great a miracle as that of resuscitating a dead body, and endowing it with returning life.
Christ referred the Jews to his resurrection, as an infallible evidence of his being the Christ; and made it a demonstration whereby they should be convinced. that he was God the Son, and the great prophet and Savior that had before been promised.
Now Christ's resurrection clearly proves three things:—It proves our own resurrection, it proves Christ's divinity, and it proves the great atonement to be complete.
CONCLUSION.
WE have seen in the Introduction the fulfilment of some of the more striking of the Old Testament prophecies: let us now see how far Christ's own predictions have been fulfilled. We read in St. Matthew chapter xxiv: " And Jesus went out, and departed from the temple: and his disciples came to him for to show him the building of the temple. And Jesus said unto them: See ye not all these things? Verily I say unto you, there shall not be left here one stone upon another that shall not be thrown down."
It is at this day known to all the world, that this prediction has been most minutely fulfilled.
Christ foretold also the dispersion of the Jews, as well as the destruction of their temple, and the present state of that degraded people is a convincing proof to all the nations of the earth, that Christ's prophecy concerning them has been fulfilled to the very utmost tittle. Now surely fulfilled prophecies, prophecies known and admitted to have been in existence before the occurrence of the events to which they allude, ought to carry conviction with them as to the divine character of the prophet, that prophet having plainly asserted, " I and my Father are one."
We might here, perhaps, in conclusion, add another proof of Christ's divinity. He knew the thoughts, and needed not to be told what was passing in the mind of man, as will appear by looking into St. Matthew, chapter 9: " And behold, certain of the Scribes said within themselves.: This man blasphemes."
" And Jesus knowing their thoughts, said: Wherefore think ye evil in your hearts?" etc.
We read also in St. John, chapter 16 Jesus said to his disciples, " a little while and ye shall not see me; and again a little while and ye shall see me, because I go to the Father.
" Then said some of his disciples among themselves, what is this that he saith unto us, A little while? we cannot tell what he saith.
" Now Jesus knew that they were desirous to ask him, and said unto them: Do ye enquire among yourselves of that 1 said," etc.
Again we read in St. John, chapter 6 verse 64: " But there are some of you that believe not. For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were that believed not, and who should betray him."
And in St. Luke, chapter vii, it is written: " And one of the Pharisees desired Jesus that he would eat with him. And he went into the Pharisee's house, and sat down to meat.
"And behold, a woman in the city which was a sinner, when she knew that Jesus sat at meat in the Pharisee's house, brought an alabaster box of ointment, and stood at his feet behind him weeping, and began to wash his feet with tears, and did wipe them with the hairs of her head, and kissed his feet, and anointed them with ointment.
" Now when the Pharisee which had bidden Jesus saw it, he spoke within himself, saying: This man, if he were a prophet, would have known who and what manner of woman this is that touches him: for she is a sinner.
" And Jesus answering, said unto him: Simon, there was a certain creditor which had two debtors, the one owed him five hundred pence, and the other fifty, and when they had nothing to pay, he frankly forgave them both. Tell me therefore which of them will love him most," etc.
Now, who but God can know the hidden thoughts of man? Christ is God, and therefore no secret is hidden from him. The gift of knowing the thoughts has never been bestowed upon created man. Christ having known the inmost thoughts and meditations of the heart, clearly proclaims his omniscience, and is an evidence, one would think, sufficient to convince the most determined sceptic.
But we do believe in our heart that there is no such being as an unbeliever in any Christian country. The Gospel is against evil doers, and therefore evil doers set themselves against the Gospel: and they seek to make others like themselves; as if the greater number of those who share their opinions were to lighten the weight of their guilt. They encourage one another in evil, and seek to persuade themselves that they are not accountable creatures. But in the stilly hour of midnight, alone in their chamber, a voice from within cries unto them—There is a God who knows the thoughts of man, and marks his actions.
If a reward be promised to those who turn a sinner from the evil of his ways; what have they not to expect who draw the young, the innocent, and the unwary, from their allegiance to their lawful Lord?
The Scriptures assure us that faith cometh by hearing the word of God. There is so strong a body of evidence in the Old and New Testaments, that we defy any person endowed with common sense, and gifted with the faculty of thinking and reflecting, after their careful perusal, to remain in doubt.
The redemption of the world is no doubt a mystery, but in no other way could the Almighty's detestation of sin be so forcibly shown, nor his mercy so clearly proved.
Let us for an instant suppose that man had been endowed with the power of redeeming himself. How many thousand human victims would then have bled upon the altars! Whereas, Christ being equal to God, once offering of himself was a full, sufficient, and complete atonement and equivalent to the offended justice of God the Father.
The atonement was prefigured from the very beginning of time. See Leviticus, chapter 1: " And the Lord called unto Moses, and spoke unto him out of the tabernacle of the congregation, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, If any man of you bring an offering unto the Lord, ye shall bring your offering of the cattle, even of the herd, and of the flock. If his offering be a burnt sacrifice of the herd, let him offer a male without blemish (is not this a type of our blessed Lord); he shall offer it of his own voluntary will, at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation before the Lord, and he shall put his hand upon the head of the burnt offering; and it shall be accepted for him to make atonement for him."
Why were sacrifices commanded if they were not prefiguration’s and emblems of the all-perfect sacrifice which was to be offered for our redemption. If sacrifices had had no end in view, they never would have been established: for surely no person can be so simple as to imagine that He who is all wise, would take pleasure in useless exhibitions: for sacrifices would have been nothing else, if they had not typified the offering of the Son of God. We must therefore come to the conclusion that sacrifices were intended to represent the sacrifice of Christ for man's atonement: for we are lost in an ocean of absurdities, if driven from our strong hold—our faith in the atonement.
It is a well known fact, that before the birth and sufferings of Christ, offerings and sacrifices for sin were offered upon every altar in the Pagan world, as well as amongst the Jews: the universality of the practice bad extended over the whole habitable world. The Carthaginians sacrificed human victims to their gods; and when Agathocles threatened to besiege the city of Carthage, its inhabitants, to appease the anger of Saturn, sacrificed two hundred children of the first rank. And the ancient Druids sacrificed human victims to their gods.
Now what could this conduct proceed from in the Heathen world, but an inborn feeling which pointed out to them that an atonement was required. Like conscience, the feeling was innate. Man everywhere felt that something more than his own works were wanted to atone for his sins, while the nature of the sacrifice, and that the atonement must be by blood, showed the tradition of that first revelation which, there is every reason to believe, was vouchsafed to man, by God, at the fall, and the first trace of which we find in the superior acceptableness of Abel's offering.
- The benighted Indians at this very day are in the belief that the shedding of blood is required for the remission of sin.
When we were in India some years ago, a soldier belonging to the division of the army commanded by the late Sir David Baird, entered too far into the interior of one of their places of worship; upon which one of their priests told the people that nothing could purify their temple, or wash out the stain of an Infidel's having entered it, but the blood of a righteous man, saying which, he walked up to the top of the steeple, threw himself down, and was killed on the spot. But to return.
The circumstance of our Lord's having chosen his disciples from the humblest ranks of society, unlearned and unknown, and in the hands of those simple men leaving the task of propagating his doctrine over the world, and warning them to expect persecutions, contempt, and even death, in its propagation, is what no mere human being would have attempted. A religion circulated by such agents, and upon such discouraging principles, is a miracle indeed.
Did Mahomet use such weak instruments to propagate his creed? No such thing; he enforced it by the point of the sword: believe or die; there was no alternative.
How different was it with our blessed, Lord. He was conscious that he was able to perform the work he had undertaken with no other help than the word of truth.
Unfortunately for themselves, men of skeptical principles do not examine the holy Scriptures, they neither read nor think at all about them. Their opinions concerning the Gospel truths are merely those they have picked up from their bottle companions. Infidelity is not the result of sober enquiry, but the production of a careless and an irreligious life. Reason and enquiry have nothing to do with it. If the Christian doctrine were assailed by reason only (as the late Mr. Wilberforce well observed), it would have nothing to fear. The Infidels are aware of this; the weapons therefore they bring against it are those of sarcasm and ridicule, which upon men of weak understanding, have their effect. And, as the same author again remarked: " In all cases it behooves man, not on a partial view to reject any proposition, because it is attended with difficulties, but to compare the difficulties which it involves, with those that attend the alternative proposition which must be embraced on its rejection. Man should put to the proof the alternative proposition in its turn, and see whether it be not still less tenable than that which he rejects. In short, if we reject Christianity, on account of its difficulties, we shall be still more loudly called upon to reject every other system which has been offered to the acceptance of mankind."
As a proof that men of unfixed principles do not disbelieve the doctrine they oppose, we some time ago blamed a gentleman for allowing his daughters to frequent a meeting of Unitarians. His answer to us was: " However favorably I may think of these Sectarians, believe me I should be very sorry to bring up my family in their persuasion; I was not aware that my daughters attended their meetings." The gentleman here alluded to was a professed Deist.
The next proof that the Deist does not believe his own creed, is as follows: A gentleman of fortune who has written several works in favor of Deism, had a favorite daughter 'in a very bad state of health, and when she felt death approaching, she asked him in what faith he would wish her to die'?
" In the faith of Christ by all means," responded the Infidel father.
It is worthy of remark, that when a. man is reclaimed from Infidelity, and brought to embrace the truths of the Gospel, it is done by careful examination of the Old and New Testaments, by reflection, and by close and deliberate weighing of every argument for and against the Scriptural doctrine. The Christian does not take up his opinions lightly: it is not amongst his bottle companions at a convivial meeting that he forms his sentiments. No; it is not until his conviction is satisfied, that he yields to what he con-3iders to be sufficient evidence.
Seeing then that our everlasting happiness is in our own power, by embracing the offered terms, what madness it is in nan to sacrifice life everlasting, rather than give himself the trouble to enquire low he is to find it.
Joseph of Arimathea, Dionysius, the Athenian, and Flavius Clemens of Rome, all three men of wisdom and learning, were thoroughly satisfied of the truth of the Christian religion, and the first of them died a martyr to it.
Tertullian told the Roman governors, that their corporations, councils, armies, companies, the palace, senate, and courts ..of judicature, were filled with Christians; and Arnobius asserts, that men of the -finest parts and learning,—orators, grammarians, rhetoricians, lawyers, physicians, philosophers,—despising the sentiments they had been once fond of, took up their Test in the Christian religion.
Who can imagine (as Mr. Addison observes), that men of this character did not thoroughly inform themselves of the history of that person whose doctrine they embraced? For however consonant to reason his precepts, how good soever were the effects which they produced in the world, nothing could have tempted such men to acknowledge Jesus as their God and Savior, but their being firmly persuaded of the miracles he wrought, and the many attestations of his divine mission, which were to be met with in the history of his life.
Quadratus, Athenagoras, Ammonius, Arnobius, and Anatolius, were also converted to Christianity, and bore valuable testimony to its truth by their writings. Irenaeus remarks, that those barbarous nations, who in his time were not possessed of the written Gospels, and had only learned the history of Christ from those who had converted them to Christianity before the Gospels were. written, had among them the same accounts of our Savior, which are to be met with in the four Evangelists: which is an incontestable proof of the harmony and concurrence between the holy Scriptures and the tradition of the Churches in those early times of Christianity.
Justin Martyr, Tertullian, Lactantius, Arnobius, and others, tell us, that the deaths and sufferings of the primitive Christians, first of all awakened their curiosity, and made them inquisitive about the nature of that religion which could endue the mind with so much strength, and overcome the fear of death, though it appeared in all its terrors. This they found had not been effected by all the doctrines of those philosophers, whom they had thoroughly studied: the sight of the dying and tormented martyrs engaged them to search into the history and doctrines of him for whom they suffered. The more they searched, the more they were convinced; till their conviction grew so strong, that they themselves embraced the same truths, and either actually laid down their lives, or were always in readiness to do so, rather than depart from the faith of Christ Jesus.
Mr. Addison tells us, that the great means which confirmed the Pagans in the belief of our Lord's history, were the predictions relating to him in the old prophetic writings which were deposited in the hands of the enemies to Christianity, and owned by them to have been extant many ages before his appearance upon earth. The learned Pagan philosophers could not disbelieve our Savior’s history, which so exactly agreed with everything that had been written of him many ages before his birth, nor doubt of those circumstances being fulfilled in him, which could not be true of any person that ever lived in the world besides himself. The heathen converts, having travelled through all human learning, and fortified their minds with the knowledge of arts and sciences, were well qualified to examine those prophecies without prejudice or prepossession.
Justin the martyr, who was educated a heathen philosopher; and lived about the middle of the second century, in his celebrated apology, to the emperor Antonius, says: " We, who formerly delighted in adultery, now Observe the strictest chastity we, who used the charms of magic, have devoted ourselves to the true God; and we, who valued money and gain above all things, now cast what we have in common, and distribute to every man according to his necessities."
Tertullian, an African, born at Carthage, who lived about sixty years after Justin, says: " Revenge was one of the virtues of Heathenism; but we now render to no man evil for evil."
In those times, the Christian religion showed its full force and efficacy on the minds of men, and by many examples demonstrated what great and generous souls it was capable of producing. It exalted and refined its proselytes to a very high degree of perfection, and set them far above the pleasures, and even the Patna of this life. It lifted up the minds of the ignorant to the knowledge and love of God, and inspired the vicious a rational devotion, a strict purity of and an unbounded love of their fellow creatures: It seemed to change mankind into another species of beings. Origen represents this power in the Christian religion as no less wonderful than that of curing the lame, and giving sight to the blind, or cleansing the leper. For where hatred, variance, wrath, emulation, envying and strife prevailed, the Christian precepts have produced love, joy, peace, long suffering, gentleness, goodness, meekness, temperance, etc.
If a tree be known by its fruit, these are not the sort of fruit which a tree planted by magic, or the devil, would bear.
We might also quote St. Paul, for he, before his conversion, was a bitter enemy to the Christians, " punishing them in every synagogue, and compelling them to blaspheme: and being exceedingly mad against them, persecuted them even unto strange cities." St. Paul, as he himself tells us, was a Pharisee, the most learned sect amongst the Jews: so learned, that Festus told him much learning had made him mad." But he saw and believed. The Lord Jesus himself appeared unto him, and he could not resist the evidence of his senses.
Dr. Samuel Johnson is said to have been skeptical during the early part of his life. But he said to himself, " If Christianity be true, I am in a most desperate state; it is my interest to examine it thoroughly:"—he did so, was convinced, and became one of its warmest and most powerful advocates.
It cannot be supposed that a man like Dr. Johnson would take up an opinion lightly, or that he became a Christian until he had the most convincing evidence of Christ's divinity. We could mention several other learned men who followed the example of Dr. Johnson, and like him became eminent and zealous supporters of Christ's Gospel.
We are fully convinced that Infidelity can be entertained by two classes of men only, the careless man, and the man of weak intellect. The former is too idle to read and study the Scriptures, and the latter has not capacity to comprehend what he reads. With regard to the first, we can vouch for the truth of the following circumstance. A friend of ours, of that careless turn of mind, had a well chosen library: we particularly remarked that Paley's Evidences of Christianity, and Dr. Lardner's Jewish and Heathen Testimony, were placed in the center of the bookcase. Imagining that our friend was in the habit of perusing those books, we asked him his opinion of them? His answer was, " that he was unacquainted with their contents, having never opened them." Such carelessness concerning our best interests is scarcely credible! How little did our unthinking friend imagine that had he studied the two mentioned books in the center of his library, they might have led him from darkness unto light, and from the power of Satan unto God: for we are fully convinced that none but a madman or a fool could resist the force of these evidences.
Sir Thomas Brown says in his Religion Medici: " I dare, without usurpation, assume the honorable style of a Christian.
Not that I merely owe this title to the font, as most do, taking up their religion according to the way of their ancestors, my education, or clime wherein I was born; but having, in my riper years and confirmed judgment seen and examined all, I find myself obliged by the principles of grace, and the law of mine own reason, to embrace no other name but this. I am of the same belief our Savior taught, the apostles disseminated, the fathers authorized, and the martyrs confirmed."
We once heard some Infidels say, that, " were they to see an angel walk through a stone wall, they would believe him to be a heavenly messenger, and would. faithfully perform whatever he might desire them."
For our part, we should be very sorry to guide our conduct upon so very slender and weak evidence. We Christians have far surer proofs to go by. The whole of the sacred Scriptures from Genesis to Malachi, teem with the promised Christ; and again, from St. Matthew to the Revelation of St. John, we have the clearest, most authentic, and positive proofs of our Lord's birth, life, death, and resurrection.
" The evidence of prophecy," as Bishop Horsley remarks, " lies in these two particulars; that events have been predicted which are not within human foresight; and the accomplishment of predictions has been brought about which must surpass human power and contrivance: the prediction therefore, was not from man's sagacity, nor the event from man's will and design. And then, the goodness of the design, and the intricacy of the contrivance, complete the proof that the whole is of God." In short, we need only take a review of the prophecies and their fulfilment, to rise into such a faith in Jesus our Messiah, as neither the devil, nor his subjects the modern Infidels, will ever be able to shake.
We have lately gone through every part of the Old Testament, and studied it long and closely, to try if we could possibly find a solution for very many passages in it, supposing there were no such person as Jesus in his twofold character. But although we have twisted and turned them in our mind a thousand different ways, the whole we must confess appear to us to be without meaning if Jesus be not the Christ, the Savior of the world, and God the Son. And after weeks, months, and years, spent in studying and reflecting on the Scriptures, we have at last come to this conclusion, that it requires far more faith to be an Infidel, than it does to be a Christian.
FINISH.