Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1889-10-03

among thsm, casting lots for his
coat, that it might BIO fulfilled which
was spoken by the prophet: eThey
parted my garments amopg them,
and upon my vesturo did they cast
lots and sitting down they watched
him there; and set up over his head
his accusation written, sThis is jesus,
the King of the Jews Then were
,Sthofe Two thieves craUifed with him
lone on the right and another on
the left. And they that passed by
/ repiled him, wagging their heads
and saying, 'Thou that destroyest
the temple and buildest it in three
days, save thyself. If thou be the
Son Of God come down from the
CROSS Likewise also tho chief
priests mocking him, with the soribes
4 and elders, said, 'He saved others,
himself he cannot save. If ho be
the King of Israel, let him now
como down from tho cross and we
will believe him. He trusted in
God; let him deliver him now, if he
will nave him; for he said I am tho
Son Of God.' The thieves also
which were crucified with him cast
the same in his teeth. Now from
the sixth hour tharc was darkness
/ over all the land unto the ninth
hour; and about the ninth hour Jc-
sus cried with loud voice, saying
"Eli, Eli, lama sabacthani; that is to
say, my God, my God, why hast thou
forsakcn me2 Some of them that
stood there, when they heard that,
said, this man calleth for Elias, and
straightway one of them ran and
took a sponge and filled it with vi
nogar and put it on reed and gave
him to drink. The rest said, Let it
be, let us see whether Elias will
come and save him. Jesus, when he
had cried again with loud voice,
yielded up the ghost. And behold
the vail of the temple was rent in
twain from the top to the bottom
and the earth did quake and the
rocks rent, and the graves were
opened, and many bodies of the
saints which slept arose and came
out of the graves after his rcsurrcc-
tion and went into the holy city and
appeared unto many" Matthew
xvii, 1858.
As forcshadowed in the sacrifice of
the Paschal Lamb, and as some
think foretold by the expression,
"I1e keepeth all his bones; not one
of them is broken"-Ps. xxxiv, 20.
His legs were not broken az were
those of the thieves crucificd ut the
same time.
His burial in the tomb of Joseph
of Arimathoa by that good and rich
man was notorious fact which was
never disputed, and taken in connec-
tion with his crucitixion between two
thieves rs recorded by Matthew
seven years afterwards, shows re-
markable fulfillmcnt of the para
doxical prophecy that Christ should
make his grave with the wicked and
with the rich in his death.
lie rose tho third day, and the
evangelist, seven years after the oc-
currencc, in detailing the transaction,
states what he would not have dared
to state if it had been untrue, to-wit:
The unfaithfulness of the Roman
guard, for the Romans were then
masters of the world and would not
have tolerated n slandcr upon their
soldiers.
Then we have Christ's prophecies
of two most notable events, viz: The
destruction of Jerusalem, which was
recorded by Matthew years before
its fulfillmcnt in the most literal man.
ner, as related by Josephus, and the
dispersion of tho Jews among all the
nations, until their conversion to
Christianity, which is now in the
course of fulfillment as We observe
daily.
TO rccapitulate and add one or
two statements which arc evident to
those who read the Bible:
1. 1t should 2orima ,facie be con-
sidered true because it has been writ
ten.
2. 1t was written by about thirty
five different persons, from time to
time, during about sixteen hundred
years, as is well authenticated, and is
consistent throughout.
3. It was written for cotcmporarcs
who knew the statements of fact it
contained.
4. 1t was received as true by such
contemporaries, friends and foes.
s. 1t was written by good men
bad men never would have written il