Virginia citizen. (Irvington, Va.) 1891-1921, 1904-12-02

thS h"thiVhicS OF the Onrlsl NE with
the geographical facts and the Hebrew
customs OF the Palestine hills.
Studying today the evidence of the
things not seen" i'm reference to Jesus
Christ. is there nothing rational, moth.
ing overwhelming. to YOU i'm the har-
mony between the opened leaves of
eastern rocks and the Biographies of
the four gospelSg Is there nothing
marvellous to you in the fact that there
is not Il detail IN all Christs earthly
life which cannot be verified by the
rocks OF the Palestine hills and val
leys. which are absolutely in accord
with one another? The men who
wrote the Bible were not historical nov
elists like the author of the Tower Of
London or of "KenilworSl" or of "Ro-
mola'' or of The Crisis" They did not
accept historical facts when they want
ell to use them for the benefit of their
plots and reject those facts when il did
not suit their convenience to use them.
They did not put Christ i'm imaginary
places ut impossible times and put fic-
utious and impossible statements in
his mouth. Almost every detail OF
Christ's earthly life can be verified by
geographical position and eastern GUS
tom. That classic book of travels
written by Richard Henry Dana, called
1.-TWO Years Before the Mast" is sup
posed to contain a perfect geographical
account of the early coast of southern
California and its people But the
Bible is more wonderful guidebook
to the Holy Land than Dana's master
piece could ever be to California. The
best guidebook through the Holy Land
ever written is the Bible. In its every
detail the Christ life is found to have
perfect geographical setting. Is there
nothing wonderful to you that the land
and the book In reference to Christ's
life are one?
Jesus was not a NEUROLOGICAL char
acter Before you can obliterate the
story of Jesus Christ from this earth,
on which he so sublimely lived, you
will have to grind out OF sight and for
ever erase the sacred hills of Pales-
tine" once wrote David Gregg In
book for which authorship he was
elected an honorary member OF the
Royal Geographical society OF London
"You will forever have to grind out Of
sight the sacred hills OF Palestine.
where Christ was tempted, and where
he preached his wonderful sermon, and
where he was TRANSPORTED, and where
he died, and where he ascended God
be praised for the gospel according to
geography God be praised for the
Holy Land, with it's Jordan and Beth
Iehem and Hepmon and Zion and Cal
vary and Olivet, These are all indie
structible pages of the divine and in
destructible book. These are all wit
nesses that Christ has spoken to men
and lived among men and wrought out
salvation for man" Christ was n God
Yes, Christ was n man! By the evil
dence Of the pages of rock 1 know 1t,
other Evidences OF Divinity.
But we find Christ as the evidence
OF things not seen" In another way.
BY the fulfillment or Scripture prophe-
cies in reference to his birth. his life,
his death and his resurrection we
know that the prophecies OF his second
coming will be fulfilled as well as was
his first coming. We know there will
come a time whom, upon the white
horse of victory, Christ shall ride down
the blue hilisides OF heaven. He shall
come TO put all his enemies under his
feet. He shall come to claim his own.
For then his name shall be written,
king OF kings and Lord Of Lords" We
know by the words OF his own lips that
as he has gone TO heaven for n little
while TO prepare n place for his chill
dren. so he will come again and re-
ceive them unto himself, that where
he is there they may be also.
The prophetic studies of the Bible
are among the most instructive and
fascinating OF all the Scriptures. But
in order TO limit our studies let us con-
fine our thoughts for but n brief mo-
ment to the wonderful birth and life
and death OF Jesus Christ No ration
nj man can read the fulfilled prophe-
cies In reference TO the birth OF Jesus
and not declare that his nativity was
divine Surprising l should come to
you some day and say: Mrs. So-and-
SO, that little child OF yours is going
to have a wonderful history. When lie
gets to be eighteen years OF age he Is
going TO the far east and will settle I'm
Il
going 10 be elected ruler over that is
land, and the people are going to obey
him as their ruler and their king. Then
he Is going to marry and have chill
dren, and his children will have chill
dren. His descendants are going to
reign in that island for hundreds of
years. Then one OF his descendants
hundreds OF years from now is going
TO visit London, and while there he is
going 10 have child born in the out
okirts OF London, in tho suburb OF
Chelsea. Then that child is to stay In
England and grow up and become n
leader OF the people until at last the
king OF England VIII become Jealous of
him. and he will be hanged in the Tow
er OF London"
FulnlIment OF Prophecy,
Suppose / should ramble on In long
rigmarole like that in reference to your
baby, what would you say? why,
you would look at me askance and
then say: You are crazyl No unin-
spired man can look into the future
and tell what is going to happen to
my descendants thousands OF years
from now. 4 crank or n fool might
happen for once to declare Alright, that
1t will snow In Canada I'm July-as one
weather prophet did a few years ago.
But to declare what Is to happen a
thousand years from now, that Us be-
yond all range OF human possibilities"
Yet the astounding statement that /
made few moments ago In reference
to little child is not nearly as won
derful and seemingly absurd from a
human standpoint as those Messisnlc
prophecies which were made not by
one, but by many writer's OF the Old
Testament in reference TO the birth,
the life, the death and the resurrec-
ton of Jesus Christ. When the wise
men came TO Jerusalem to find the new
born King, who was yet to be king