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They were to find "no ease" among these nations; and
the almost constant and long-continued persecutions,
robberies, and murder of Jews, not only in ancient na-
tions, but especially among Christian nations of the
middle ages, and in the Mahometan states to this day,
are in wonderful accomplishment of this. They were
to be "a proverb and a by-word among all nations ;"
which has been in every place fulfilled, but was surely
above human intelligence to foresee: and "the stranger
that is within thee shall get above thee very high, and
thou shalt come very low." For a comment on this,
let the conduct of the" stranger" Turks and others
who inhabit Palestine, towards the Jews who remained
there, be recollected, the one party is indeed "very
high," and the other" very low." Other parts of this
singular chapter present equally striking predictions,
uttered more than three thousand years ago, as remark-
ably accomplished; but there are some passages in it
which refer in terms so particular to a then distant
event, the utter subversion of their polity and nation by
the Romans, as to demonstrate in the most unequivo-
cal manner the prescience of him to whom all events,
the most contingent, minute, and distant, are known
with absolute certainty. That the Romans are in-
tended, in verse 49, by the nation brought from" the
end of the earth," distinguished by their well-known
ensign "the eagle," and by their fierce and cruel dis-
position, is exceedingly probable; and it is remarkable
that the account which Moses gives of the horrors of
the "siege" of which he speaks, is exactly paralleled
by those well-known passages in Josephus, in which
he describes the siege of Jerusalem by the Roman army.
The last verse of the chapter seems indeed to fix the
reference of the foregoing passages to the final destruc-
tion of the nation by the Romans, and at the same time
contains a prediction, the accomplishment of which
cannot possibly be ascribed to accident. "And the
Lord shall bring thee into Egypt again with ships, by
the way whereof I spake unto thee, Thou shalt see it no
more again: and there ye shall be sold unto your ene-
mies for bondmen and bondwomen, and no man shall
buy you." On this Dr. Hale's remarks, on the author-
ity of their own national historian, Josephus, "Of the
captives taken at the siege of Jerusalem, above seven-
teen years of age, some were sent to Egypt in chains,
the greater part were distributed through the provinces
to be destroyed in the theatres, by the sword, and by
wild beasts; the rest under seventeen were sold for
slaves, and that for a trifling sum, on account of the
numbers to be sold, and the scarcity of buyers: so
that at length the prophecy of Moses was fulfilled-proofs of the wonderfully exact accomplishment of
and no man shall buy. The part that were reserved
to grace the triumph of Vespasian, were probably
transported to Italy in ships,' or by sea, to avoid a
prodigious land journey thither through Asia and
Greece, a circumstance which distinguished this in-
vasion and captivity from the preceding by the Assy-
rians and Babylonians. In the ensuing rebellion, a
part of the captives were sent by sea to Egypt, and seve-
ral of the ships were wrecked on the coast."

was nothing in the circumstances of the Babylonian
empire when the prediction was uttered, to warrant
the hope, much less to support a confident conjecture.
Could the subversion of that powerful empire by a then
obscure people, the circumstance which broke the
bondage of the Jews, have been foreseen by man? or
when we consider the event as fulfilling so distinct a
prophecy, can it be resolved into imaginative interpre-
tation? A future restoration, however, awaits this
people, and will be to the world a glorious demonstra-
tion of the truth of prophecy. This being future, we
cannot argue upon it. Three things are however cer-
tain:-the Jews themselves expect it; they are pre-
served by the providence of God a distinct people for
their country; and their country, which in fact is pos-
sessed by no one, is preserved for them.
Without noticing numerous prophecies respecting
ancient nations and cities, (2) the wonderful and exact ac-
complishment of which has been pointed out by various
writers, and which afford numerous eminent instances of
the prescience of contingent and improbable events, whose
evidence is so overwhelming, that, as in the case of the
illustrious prophecies of Daniel, unbelievers have been
obliged to resort to the subterfuge of asserting, in op-
position to the most direct proofs, that the prophecies
were written after the events, we shall close our in-
stances by adverting to the prophecies respecting the
Messiah,-the great end and object of the prophetic
dispensation. Of these not a solitary instance or two,
of an equivocal kind, and expressed only in figurative
or symbolic language, are to be adduced; but upwards
of one hundred predictions, generally of very clear and
explicit meaning, and each referring to some different
circumstance connected with the appearing of Christ,
his person, history, and his ministry, have been selected
by divines, exclusive of typical and allusive predic-
tions, (3) and those which in an ultimate and remote
sense are believed to terminate in him. How are all
these to be disposed of, if the inspiration of the Scrip-
tures which contain them be denied? That these pre-
dictions are in books written many ages before the birth

Thus, at a distance of fifteen centuries, were these contingent circumstances accurately recorded by the prophetic spirit of Moses-the taking of innumerable Jews captive-their transport to Egypt-their being sold till the markets for slaves were glutted, and no more buyers were found, and embarked on board vessels, either to grace the triumph of their conqueror, or to find a market in different maritime ports. Is it possible that these numerous and minute circumstances can be referred to either happy conjectures or human foresight?

But Moses and other prophets agree, that, after all their captivities and dispersions, the Jews shall be again restored to their own land. This was, as we have said, in one instance accomplished in their restoration by Cyrus and his successors; after which they again became a considerable state. But who could foretel that, but HE who determines the events of the world by his power and wisdom? Jeremiah fixes the duration of the captivity to 70 years; he did that so unequivocally, that the Jews in Babylon, when the time approached, began to prepare for the event. But there identity, which has remained in undiminished force for nearly two thousand years, and still pervades every shred and fragment of their widely scattered population."-CHALMER'S Evidences

(2) No work has exhibited in so pleasing and comprehensive a manner the fulfilment of the leading prophecies of Scripture, and especially of the Old Testatament, as Bishop Newton's Dissertations on the Prophecies, and the perusal of it may be earnestly recommended, especially to the young. His illustrations of the prophecies respecting ancient Babylon are exceedingly interesting and satisfactory; and still farther

He

those prophecies may be seen in a highly interesting
Memoir on the Ruins of Babylon, by Claudius J. Rich,
published in 1815. Immense ruins were visited by him
near the supposed site of ancient Babylon, which pro-
bably are, though the matter cannot be certainly as-
certained, the remains of that astonishing city, now
indeed "swept with the besom of destruction."
tells us, too, that the neighbourhood is to the present
a habitation only for birds and beasts of prey; that the
dens of lions, with their slaughtered victims, are to
be seen in many places; and that most of the cavities
are occupied with bats and owls. It is therefore in-
possible to reflect without awe upon the passage of
Isaiah, written during the prosperity of Babylon,
wherein he says, "The wild beasts of the desert shall
lie there, and their houses shall be full of doleful
creatures, and owls shall dwell there, and satyrs shall
dance there." The present ruins of that city also
demonstrate, that the course of the Euphrates has
been changed, probably in consequence of the channel
formed by Cyrus; and the yielding nature of the soil
demonstrates that such an operation could have been
performed by a large army with great facility and des-
patch.

The ruins examined by Mr. Rich bear testimony to the immense extent of the city as described by ancient authors. Vast masses of masonry, of both burnt and unburnt brick and bitumen, were observed in various excavations in these huge mountains of ruins, which are separated from each other by several miles. One is called by the Arabs Birs Nimrond; another the Kasr, or Palace; and a third, which some have thought

be the ruins of the Tower of Belus, is called by the natives Mugelibè, OVERTURNED, which expressive term is also sometimes applied to the mounds of the Kasr. (3) See note (9), p. 70.

point, and show that the truth cannot be denied but by
doing the utmost violence to the understanding.
That wonderful series of particular prophecies re-
specting our Lord, contained in Isaiah liii., will illus-
trate the foregoing observations, and may properly
close this chapter.

To this prophecy, it cannot be objected that its language is symbolic, or that in more than a few beautiful metaphors, easily understood, it is even figurative: its unmixed with any other subject; and it evidently refers to one single person. So the ancient Jews understood it, and applied it to Messiah; and though the modern Jews, in order to evade its force in the argument with Christians, allege that it describes the sufferings of their nation, and not of an individual, the objection is refuted by the terms of the prophecy itself. The Jewish people cannot be the sufferer, because he was to bear their griefs, to carry their sorrows, and to be wounded for their transgressions. "He hath borne OUR griefs, and carried our sorrows," &c.; so that the person of the sufferer is clearly distinguished from the Jewish nation. Besides which, his death and burial are spoken of, and his sufferings are represented (verse 12) as voluntary; which in no sense can apply to the Jews. "Of himself, or of some other man," therefore, as the Ethiopian eunuch rightly conceived, the prophet must have spoken. To some individual it must be applied; to none but our Lord can it be applied; and, applied to him, the prophecy is converted into history itself. The prophet declares, that his advent and works would be a revealing of" the arm of the Lord,”—a singular display of Divine power and goodness; and yet, that a blind and incredulous people would not believe "the report." Appearing in a low and humble condition, and not as they expected their Messiah, in the pomp of eastern monarchy, his want of "comeliness" and "desirableness" in the eyes of his countrymen, and his rejection by them, are explicitly stated— "He was despised, and we esteemed him not." He is farther described as " a man of sorrows and acquainted with griefs;" yet his sufferings were considered by the Jews as judicial, a legal punishment, as they contend to this day, for his endeavouring to seduce men from the law, and for which they had the warrant of God himself in his commands by Moses, that such seducers should be put to death. With what exactness are these sentiments of the Jews marked in the prophecy? We quote from the translation of Bishop Lowth.

of our Saviour, is certain-the testimony of the Jews, who reject Christ, amply proves this. That no interpolations have taken place to accommodate them to him is proved, by the same predictions being found in the copies which are in the hands of the Jews, and which have descended to them from before the Christian era. On the other hand, the history of Jesus answers to these predictions, and exhibits their exact accomplishment. The Messiah was to be of the seed of David-born in Bethlehem-born of a virgin-style is that of narrative; it is also entire in itself, and an incarnation of Deity, God with us,-an eminent but unsuccessful teacher;-he was to open the eyes of the blind, heal the lame and sick, and raise the dead-he was to be despised and rejected by his own countrymen; to be arraigned on false charges, denied justice, and condemned to a violent death-he was to rise from the dead, ascend to the right hand of God, and there being invested with power and authority, he was to punish his enemies, and establish his own spiritual kingdom, which shall never end. We do not enter into more minute predictions, for the argument is irresistible when founded on these alone: and we may assert that no man, or number of men, could possibly have made such conjectures. Considered in themselves this is impossible. What rational man, or number of rational men, could now be found to hazard a conjecture that an incarnation of Deity would occur in any given place and time-that this Divine Person should teach wisdom, work miracles, be unjustly put to death, rise again, and establish his religion? These are thoughts which never enter into the minds of men, because they are suggested by no experience, and by no probability arising out of the usual course of human affairs; and yet if the prophets were not inspired, it would have been as impossible for them to have conceived such expectations as for us; and indeed much more so, seeing we are now familiar with a religion which asserts that such events have once occurred. If then such events lay beyond not only human foresight, but even human thought, they can only be referred to inspiration. But the case does not close here. How shall we account, in the next place, for these circumstances all having met, strange as they are, in one person, and in one only among all the millions of men who have been born of woman,-and that person Jesus of Nazareth? He was of the house and lineage of David-he was born, and that by a singular event, in Bethlehem-he professed to be "God with us," and wrought miracles to substantiate his claim. At his word or touch, the "eyes of the blind were opened," "the lame leaped as a hart," the dumb spake, the sick were healed, and the dead lived, as the prophets had foretold. Of the wisdom of his teaching, his recorded discourses bear witness. His rejection and unjust death by his countrymen, are matters of historic fact; his resurrection and ascension stand upon the lofty evidences which have been already adduced the destruction of the Jewish nation, according to his own predictions, followed as the proof of the terror of his offended majesty; and his "kingdom" among men continues to this day. There is no possible means of evading the evidence of the fulfilment of these predictions in the person of our Lord, unless it could be shown that Jesus and his disciples, by some kind of concert, made the events of his life and death to correspond with the prophecies, in order to substantiate his claim to the Messiahship. No infidel has ever been so absurd as to hazard this opinion, except Lord Bolingbroke; and his observations may be taken as a most triumphant proof of the force of this evidence from prophecy, when an hypothesis so extravagant was resorted to by an acute mind, in order to evade it. This noble writer asserts, that Jesus Christ brought on his own death by a series of wilful and preconcerted measures, merely to give his disciples the triumph of an appeal to the old prophecies! But this hypothesis does not reach the case; and to have succeeded, he ought to have shown, that our Lord preconcerted his descent from David-his being born of a virgin-his birth at Bethlehem--and his wonderful endowments of eloquence and wisdom; that by some means or other he wilfully made the Jews ungrateful to him who healed their sick and cleansed their lepers; and that he not only contrived his own death, but his resurrection, and his ascension also, and the spread of his religion in opposition to human opinion and human power, in orde give his disciples the triumph of an appeal to the phecies! These subterfuges of infidels concede the

"Yet we thought him JUDICIALLY stricken,
SMITTEN OF GOD, and afflicted."

Christ himself and his Apostles uniformly represented his death as vicarious and propitiatory; and this is predicted and confirmed, so to speak, by the evidence of this prophecy.

"But he was wounded for our transgressions,
Was smitten for our iniquities;

The chastisement by which our peace is effected
was laid upon him;

And by his bruises we are healed.

We all of us like sheep have strayed;

We have turned aside, every one to his own way; And Jehovah hath made to light upon him the iniquity of us all.

It was exacted, and he was made answerable." Who can read the next passage without thinking of Jesus before the council of the Jews, and the judgmentseat of Pilate?

"As a lamb that is led to the slaughter, And as a sheep before her shearers Is dumb, so he opened not his mouth. By an oppressive judgment he was taken off." The very circumstances of his burial are given : "And his grave was appointed with the wicked, But with the rich man was his tomb." Yet, though thus laid in the grave, the eye of the prophet beholds his resurrection, "the joy set before him," and into which he entered; the distribution of spiritual blessings to his people, and his spiritual conquest of the nations of the earth, notwithstanding the opposition of "the mighty;" and he enumerates these particulars with a plainness so wonderful, that, by merely an alteration of the tenses of the verbs, the whole might be converted into an abridged view of what has occurred, and is now occurring, under the Christian Dispensation, in the furtherance of human salvation;

"If his soul shall make a propitiatory sacrifice,
He shall see a seed which shall prolong their days;
And the gracious purpose of Jehovah shall prosper
in his hands.

Of the travail of his soul he shall see (the fruit)
and be satisfied;

By the knowledge of him shall my servant justify

many:

For the punishment of their iniquities he shall bear.
Therefore will I distribute to him the many for his
portion;

And the mighty people shall he share for his spoil;
Because he poured his soul out unto death;
And was numbered with the transgressors:
And he bore the sin of many,

And made intercession for the transgressors."
To all these predictions the words of a modern writer
are applicable: "Let now the infidel or the skeptical
reader meditate thoroughly and soberly upon these pre-
dictions. The priority of the records to the events ad-
mits of no question. The completion is obvious to
every competent inquirer. Here then are facts. We
are called upon to account for these facts on rational
and adequate principles. Is human foresight equal to
the task? Enthusiasm? Conjecture? Chance? Politi-
eal contrivance! If none of these, neither can any other
principle that may be devised by man's sagacity ac-
count for the facts; then true philosophy, as well as
true religion, will ascribe them to the inspiration of the
Almighty. Every effect must have a cause."(4)

CHAPTER XVIII.

OBJECTIONS TO THE EVIDENCE FROM PROPHECY
CONSIDERED.

BESIDES the objections which have been anticipated and answered in the last chapter, others have been made to the argument from prophecy, which, though exceedingly futile, ought to receive a cursory notice, lest any should think them of greater importance.

can make it, that Isaiah wrote more than a hundred years before the birth of Cyrus.(5)

The time when Daniel lived and wrote is bound up in like manner with public history, and that not only of the Jews, but of the Babylonians and Persians; and could not be antedated so as to impose upon the Jews, who received the book which bears his name into their canon, as the production of the same Daniel who had filled exalted stations in the courts of Nebuchadnezzar and his successors. In favour of a later date being assigned to the book of Daniel, it has been said that it has many Greek terms, and that it was not translated by the LXX.; the translation now inserted-in the Septuagint being by THEODOTIAN. With respect to the Greek terms, they are chiefly found in the names of the musical instruments; and the Greeks acknowledge that they derived their music from the eastern nations. With respect to the second objection, it is unfounded. The authors of the Septuagint did translate the Book of Daniel, and their version is cited by CLEMENS ROMANUS, JUSTIN MARTYR, and many of the ancient Fathers; it occupied a column of the Hexapla of Origen, and is quoted by JEROME. The present Greek version by Theodotian, inserted in the Septuagint, was made in the second century, and preferred as being more conformable to the original. The repudiated version was published some years ago from an ancient MS. discovered at Rome.(6)

The opponents of Scripture are fond of the attempt to lower the dignity and authority of the sacred prophecies by comparing them to the Heathen Oracles. The absolute contrast between them has already been pointed out;(7) but a few additional observations may not be useless.

Of the innumerable Oracles which were established and consulted by the ancient heathen, the most celebrated was the Delphic; and we may, therefore, for the purpose of exhibiting the contrast more perfectly between the Pythian Oracle and the prophecies of Scripture, confine our remarks to that.

The first great distinction lies in th, that none of the predictions ever uttered by the Delphic Oracle went deep into futurity. They relate to events on the eve of taking place, and whose preparatory circumstances were known. There was not even the pretence of foresight to the distance of a few years; though had it been a hundred years, even that were a very limited period to the eye of inspired prophets, who looked through the course of succeeding ages, and gave proof by the very sweep and compass of their predictions, that they were under the inspirations of Him to whom "a day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one

A second contrast lies in the ambiguity of the responses. The prophecies of Scripture are sometimes obscure, though this does not apply to the most eminent

It has been objected, as to some of the prophecies, that they were written after the event; as, for instance, the prophecy of Isaiah, in which the name of Cyrus is found, and the prophecies of Daniel. This allegation, standing as it does upon no evidence whatever, and being indeed in opposition to contrary proof, shows the hopelessness of the cause of infidelity, and affords a lofty triumph to the evidence of prophecy. For the objector does in fact acknowledge that these predictions are not obscure; that the event exactly corresponded with them; and that they were beyond human conjec-day." ture. Without entering into those questions respecting the date of the books of Isaiah and Daniel, which properly belong to works on the canon of Scripture, we may observe, that the authors of this objection assert, but without giving the least proof, that Isaiah wrote his prophecies in order to flatter Cyrus, and that the book of Daniel was composed about the reign of ANTIOCHUS EPIPHANES. It is therefore admitted that both were extant, and in their present form, before the time of the Christian era; but if so, what end, we ask, is answered by the objection? The Scriptures, as received by the Jews, were verified by the sentence of our Lord and his Apostles; and unless their inspiration can be disproved, the objection in question is a mere cavil. Before it can have any weight, the whole mass of evidence which supports the mission and Divine authority of our Saviour and the Apostles must be overthrown; and not till then can it in strictness of reasoning be maintained. But not to insist on this, the assertion respecting Isaiah is opposed to positive testimony. The testimony of the prophet helf, who states that he lived in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah;" and the testimony of an independent witness, the author of the Second Book of Kings; in the 20th chapter of which book, Isaiah is brought forward in connexion with a public event of the Jewish history-the dangerous sickness and recovery of the king Hezekiah. The proof is then as decisive as the public records of a kingdom

(4) SIMPSON'S Key to the Prophecies. See also a large Collection of Prophecies with their fulfilment in the Appendix to vol. i. of HORNE'S Introduction to the Scriptures.

(5) "But if you will persevere in believing that the prophecy concerning Cyrus was written after the event, peruse the burden of Babylon; was that also written after the event? Were the Medes then stirred up against Babylon ? Was Babylon, the glory of the kingdoms, the beauty of the Chaldees, then overthrown, and become as Sodom and Gomorrah? Was it then uninhabited? Was it then neither fit for the Arabian's tent nor the shepherd's fold? Did the wild beasts of the desert then lie there? Did the wild beasts of the islands then cry in their desolate houses, and dragons in their pleasant places? Were Nebuchadnezzar and Belshazzar, the son and the grandson, then cut off? Was Babylon then become a possession of the bittern and pools of water? Was it then swept with the besom of destruction, so swept that the world knows not now where to find it?"-Bishop WATSON'S Apology.

(6) PORPHYRY, in his books against the Christian religion, was the first to attack the prophecies of Daniel; and in modern times, COLLINS, in his "Scheme of Literal Prophecy," bent all his force against a book so pregnant with proofs of the truth of Christianity and the inspiration of ancient prophecy. By two learned opponents, his eleven objections were most satisfactorily refuted, and shown to be mere cavils--by Bishop CHANDLER, in his "Vindication" of his "Defence of Christianity;" and by Dr. SAM. CHANDLER, in his "Vindication of Daniel's Prophecies." (7) Vide Chapter xvi.

of those which have been most signally fulfilled, as we have already seen; but they never equivocate. For this the Pythian Oracle was notorious. Historians relate, that CROESUS, who had expended large sums upon the agents of this delusion, was tricked by an equivocation; through which, interpreting the response most favourably for himself, he was induced to make an unsuccessful war on Cyrus. In his subsequent captivity he repeatedly reproached the Oracle, and charged it with falsehood. The response delivered to PYRRHUS was of the same kind; and was so expressed as to be true, whether Pyrrhus conquered the Romans or the Romans Pyrrhus. Many other instances of the same kind are given; not to mention the trifling, and even bantering and jocose oracles, which were sometimes pronounced.(8)

The venality, wealth, and servility of the Delphic Oracle present another contrast to the poverty and disinterestedness of the Jewish prophets, whom no gifts could bribe, and no power awe in the discharge of their duty. Demosthenes, in one of his speeches to the Athenians, publicly charges this oracle with being "gained over to the interests of King Philip;" and the Greek historians give other instances in which it had been corrupted by money, and the prophetess sometimes deposed for bribery, sometimes for lewdness.

Neither threats nor persecutions had any influence with the Jewish prophets; but it would seem that this celebrated Oracle of Apollo was not even proof against raillery. At first it gave its answers in verse; but the Epicureans, Cynics, and others, laughing so much at the poorness of the versification, it fell at length into prose. "It was surprising," said these philosophic wits, "that Apollo, the god of poetry, should be a much worse poet than Homer, whom he himself had inspired." Plutarch considers this as a principal cause of the declension of the Oracle of Delphos. Doubtless it had declined much in credit in his day; and the farther spread of Christianity completed its ruin.

Can then the prophecies of Scripture be paralleled with these dark and venal, and delusive oracles, without impiety? and could any higher honour be wished for the Jewish prophets, than the comparison into which they are thus brought with the agents of paganism at Delphos and other places? They had recourse to no smooth speeches, no compliances with the tempers and prejudices of men. They concealed no truth which they were commissioned to declare, however displeasing to their nation, and hazardous to themselves. They required no caves, or secret places of temples, from which to utter their messages; and those who consulted them were not practised upon by the bewildering ceremonies imposed upon inquirers at Delphos. They prophesied in streets, and courts, and palaces, and in the midst of large assemblies. Their predictions had a clear, determinate, and consistent sense; and they described future events with so many particularities of time and place, as made it scarcely possible that they should be misunderstood or misapplied.

Pure and elevated as was the character of the Jewish prophets, the hardihood of infidelity has attempted to asperse their character; because it appears from Scripture story, that there were false prophets and bad men who bore that name.

Balaam is instanced, though not a Jewish prophet; but that he was always a bad man, wants proof. The probability is, that his virtue was overcome by the of fers of Balak; and the prophetic spirit was not taken away from him, because there was an evident design

(8) Eusebius has preserved some fragments of a philosopher, called Enomaus; who, out of resentment for his having been so often fooled by the oracles, wrote an ample confutation of all their impertinences: "When we come to consult thee," says he to Apollo, "if thou seest what is in futurity, why dost thou use expressions that will not be understood? If thou dost, thou takest pleasure in abusing us; if thou dost not, be informed of us, and learn to speak more clearly. I tell thee, that if thou intendedst an equivoque, the Greek word whereby thou affirmedst that Croesus should overthrow a great empire, was ill chosen; and that it could signify nothing but Croesus's conquering Cyrus. If things must necessarily come to pass, why dost thou amuse us with thy ambiguities? What dost thou, wretch as thou art, at Delphi; employed in muttering idle prophecies?"

on the part of God to make his favour to Israel more conspicuous, by obliging a reluctant prophet to bless, when he would have cursed, and that in the very presence of a hostile king. When that work was done, Balaam was consigned to his proper punishment. With respect to the Jewish false prophets, it is a sillgular proceeding to condemn the true ones for their sake, and to argue that because bad men assumed their functions, and imitated their manner, for corrupt purposes, the universally received prophets of the nation, men who, from the proofs they gave of their inspiration, had their commission acknowledged even by those who hated them, and their writings received into the Jewish canon,--were bad men also. Let the characters of Moses, Samuel, Elijah, Elisha, Nathan, Isaiah, Jeremiah,(9) Daniel, and the authors of the other prophetical books, be considered; and how true are the words of the Apostle, that they were "HOLY men of old," as well as that they were "moved by the Holy Ghost "" That the prophets who prophesied "smooth things" were never considered as true prophets, except for a time by a few who wished to have their hopes flattered, is plain from this-none of their writings were preserved by the Jews. Their predictions would not abound in reproofs and threatenings, like those of Isaiah and Jeremiah; and yet the words of those prophets who were personally most displeasing to the Jews of the age in which they lived, have been preserved, while every flattering prophecy was suffered to fall into oblivion almost as soon as it was uttered. Can we have a more decisive proof than this, that the false prophets were a perfectly distinct class of men,-the venal imitators of these "holy men of old," but who never gave, even to those most disposed to listen to their delusive prophecies, a satisfactory proof of their prophetic commission?

Attempts have been made to show, that a few of the prophecies of Scripture have failed. The following are the principal instances:

It has been said, that a false promise was made to Abraham, when it was promised to him, that his descendants should possess the territory which lies between the Euphrates and the river of Egypt. But this objection is clearly made in ignorance of the Scriptures; for the fact is, that David conquered that territory, and that the dominions of Solomon were thus extended.(1) Voltaire objects, that the prophets made promises to the Jews of the most unbounded riches, dominion, and influence; insomuch that they could only have been accomplished by their conquering or proselyting the entire of the habitable globe. On the contrary, he says, they have lost their possessions instead of obtaining either property or power, and therefore the prophecies are false.

The case is here unfairly stated. The prophets never made such exaggerated promises. They predict many spiritual blessings to be bestowed in the times of Messiah, under figures drawn from worldly opulence and power, the figurative language of which no attentive reader can mistake. They also promise many civil advantages, but only conditionally on the obedience of the nation; and they speak in high terms of the state of the Jewish nation, upon its final restoration, for which objectors must wait before they can determine the predictions to be falsc. But did not Voltaire know, that the loss of their own country by the Jews, of which he speaks, was predicted in the clearest manner? and would he not have seen, had he not been blinded by his prejudices, that his very objection acknowledges the truth of prophecy? The promises of the prophets have not been falsified in the instance given, but their threats have been signally fulfilled.

Paine, following preceding writers of the same sentiments, erts the prophecy of Isaiah to Ahaz not to have been verified by the event, and is thus answered by Bishop Watson:(2) "The prophecy is quoted by you to prove, and it is the only instance you produce, that Isaiah was a 'lying prophet and impostor.' Now I maintain, that this very instance proves that he was

(9) A weak attempt has been made by some infidel writers to fasten a charge of falsehood on Jeremiah, in the case of his confidential interview with King Zedekiah. A satisfactory refutation is given by Bishop WATSON in his answer to Paine, Letter vi. (1) Vide 2 Sam. viii.; 1 Chron. xviii. (2) Apology, Letter v.

a true prophet and no impostor. The history of the prophecy, as delivered in the seventh chapter, is thisRezin king of Syria, and Pekah king of Israel, made war upon Ahaz king of Judah; not merely, or, perhaps, not at all, for the sake of plunder, or the conquest of territory, but with a declared purpose of making an entire revolution in the government of Judah, of destroying the royal house of David, and of placing another family on the throne. Their purpose is thus expressed -Let us go up against Judah, and vex it, and let us make a breach therein for us, and set a king in the midst of it, even the son of Tabeal.' Now what did the Lord commission Isaiah to say to Ahaz? Did he commission him to say, The kings shall not vex thee? No.-The kings shall not conquer thee? No.-The kings shall not succeed against thee? No:-he commissioned him to say-It (the purpose of the two kings) shall not stand, neither shall it come to pass.' I demand-Did it stand, did it come to pass? Was any revolution effected? Was the royal house of David dethroned and destroyed? Was Tabeal ever made king of Judah? No. The prophecy was perfectly accomplished. You say, 'Instead of these two kings failing in their attempt against Ahaz, they succeeded: A haz was defeated and destroyed.' I deny the fact: Ahaz was defeated, but not destroyed; and even the 'two hundred thousand women, and sons and daughters,' whom you represent as carried into captivity, were not carried into captivity: they were made captives, but they were not carried into captivity; for the chief men of Samaria, being admonished by a prophet, would not suffer Pekah to bring the captives into the landThey rose up, and took the captives, and with the spoil clothed all that were naked among them, and arrayed them and shod them, and gave them to eat and to drink, and anointed them, and carried all the feeble of them upon asses (some humanity, you see, among those Israelites, whom you every where represent as barbarous brutes), and brought them to Jericho, the city of palm-trees, to their brethren.' 2 Chron."xxviii. 15. The kings did fail in their attempt: their attempt was to destroy the house of David, and to make a revolution : but they made no revolution; they did not destroy the house of David, for Ahaz slept with his fathers; and Hezekiah, his son, of the house of David, reigned in his stead." A similar attempt is made by the same writer to fix a charge of false vaticination upon Jeremiah, and is thus answered by the Bishop of Llandaff: "In the 34th chapter is a prophecy of Jeremiah to Zedekiah, in these words, verse 2.-Thus saith the Lord, Behold, I will give this city into the hands of the king of Babylon, and will burn it with fire; and thou shalt not escape out of his hand, but thou shalt surely be taken, and delivered into his hand! and thine eyes shall behold the eyes of the king of Babylon, and he shall speak with thee mouth to mouth, and thou shalt go to Babylon. Yet hear the word of the Lord, O Zedekiah king of Judah: thus saith the Lord, Thou shalt not die by the sword, but thou shalt die in peace; and with the burnings of thy fathers, the former kings that were before thee, so shall they burn odours for thee, and will lament thee, saying, Ah, lord! for I have pronounced the word, saith the Lord. Now, instead of Zedekiah beholding the eyes of the king of Babylon, and speaking with him mouth to mouth, and dying in peace, and with the burnings of odours at the funeral of his fathers (as Jeremiah hath declared the Lord himself had pronounced), the reverse, according to the 52d chapter, was the case. It is there stated (verse 10), That the king of Babylon slew the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes; then he put out the eyes of Zedekiah, and bound him in chains, and carried him to Babylon, and put him in prison till the day of his death. What can we say of these prophets but that they are impostors and liars? I can say this--that the prophecy you have produced was fulfilled in all its parts; and what then shall be said of those who call Jeremiah a liar and an impostor? Here then we are fairly at issue-you affirm that the prophecy was not fulfilled, and I affirm that it was fulfilled in all its parts. 'I will give this city into the hands of the king of Babylon, and he shall burn it with fire! so says the prophet. What says the history? They (the forces of the king of Babylon) burnt the house of God, and brake down the walls of Jerusalem, and burnt all the palaces thereof with fire.' 2 Chron. xxxvi. 19.-Thou shalt not escape out of his hand, but thou shalt surely be taken

and delivered into his hand:' so says the prophet. What says the history? "The men of war fled by night and the king went the way towards the plain, and the army of the Chaldees pursued after the king, and overtook him in the plains of Jericho; and all his army were scattered from him: so they took the king, and brought him up to the king of Babylon, to Riblah.' 2 Kings xxv. 5.-The prophet goes on, 'Thine eyes shall behold the eyes of the king of Babylon, and he shall speak with thee mouth to mouth. No pleasant circumstance this to Zedekiah, who had provoked the king of Babylon by revolting from him. The history says, "The king of Babylon gave judgment upon Zedekiah,' or, as it is more literally rendered from the Hebrew, spake judgments with him at Riblah.' The prophet concludes this part with, And thou shalt go to Babylon: the history says, 'The king of Babylon bound him in chains, and carried him to Babylon, and put him in prison till the day of his death.' Jer. lii. 11.- Thou shalt not die by the sword.' He did not die by the sword, he did not fall in battle-But thou shalt die in peace.' He did die in peace, he neither expired on the rack, nor on the scaffold; was neither strangled nor poisoned, no unusual fate of captive kings; he died peaceably in his bed, though that bed was in a prison. And with the burnings of thy fathers shall they burn odours before thee.' I cannot prove from the history, that this part of the prophecy was accomplished, nor can you prove that it was not. The probability is, that it was accomplished; and I have two reasons on which I ground this probability. Daniel, Shadrach, Meschach, and Abednego, to say nothing of other Jews, were men of great authority in the court of the king of Babylon, before and after the commencement of the imprisonment of Zedekiah: and Daniel continued in power till the subversion of the kingdom of Babylon by Cyrus. Now it seems to me to be very probable, that Daniel and the other great men of the Jews would both have inclination to request, and influence enough with the king of Babylon to obtain, permission to bury their deceased prince, Zedekiah, after the manner of his fathers. But if there had been no Jews at Babylon of consequence enough to make such a request, still it is probable that the king of Babylon would have ordered the Jews to bury and lament their departed prince, after the manner of their country. Monarchs, like other men, are conscious of the instability of human condition; and when the pomp of war has ceased, when the insolence of conquest is abated, and the fury of resentment is subsided, they seldom fail to revere royalty even in its ruins, and grant without reluctance proper obsequies to the remains of captive kings." "You

Ezekiel is assaulted in the same manner. quote," says the same writer, "a passage from Ezekiel, in the 29th chapter, where, speaking of Egypt, it is said 'No foot of man shall pass through it, nor foot of beast shall pass through it, neither shall it be inhabited forty years: this, you say, 'never came to pass, and consequently it is false, as all the books I have already reviewed are.' Now that the invasion predicted did come to pass, we have, as Bishop Newton observes, 'the testimonies of Megasthenes and Berosus, two heathen historians, who lived about 300 years before Christ; one of whom affirms, expressly, that Nebuchadnezzar conquered the greater part of Africa; and the other affirms it, in effect, in saying, that when Nebuchadnezzar heard of the death of his father, having settled his affairs in Egypt, and committed the captives whom he took in Egypt to the care of some of his friends to bring them after him, he hasted directly to Babylon.' And if we had been possessed of no testimony in support of the prophecy, it would have been a hasty conclusion, that the prophecy never came to pass; the history of Egypt, at so remote a period, being nowhere accurately and circumstantially related. I admit that no period can be pointed out from the age of Ezekiel to the present, in which there was no foot of man or beast to be seen for forty years in all Egypt; but some think that only a part of Egypt is here spoken of;(3) and surely you do not expect a literal accomplish

(3) The opinion of the Bishop, that not the whole of what is now called Egypt was intended in the prophecy, seems to derive confirmation from the following passages in Richardson's Travels in Egypt in 1817:"The Delta, according to the tradition of the Jonians, is the only part that is, strictly speaking, entitled to be

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