Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1904-11-28

~ 'Hoh AAAtN NhAlA vi NOUES is COlnc
to have a wonderful history. When ht
gets to he eighteen years Of age he is
going to the far east and will settle in
n Of the Pacific islands. Then he is
going TO 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 "a
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 TO have a child born in the ont
skirts Of London. in the suburb of
Chelsea. Then that child is to STAY in
England and grow up and become q
leader Of the people untn at last the
king Of England will become Jealous of
him, and he Will be hanged in the Tow
er of London"
FuIfIIment of
Suppose l should ramble on in a long
rigmarole ike that in reference to vour
baby, what would you say? WHY.
you would look at me askance ana
then say: You are crazyI No unin-
spired man can look into the future
and tell what is going to happen TO
my descendants thousands of wears
from now. A crank or a fool might
happen for once to declare Alright. that
1t will snow in Canada in July-as one
weather prophet did a few wears ago.
But to declare what is to hapnen n
thousand years from now, that is be
yond al range of human possibilities"
Yet the astounding statement that
made i few moments ago in reference
to a little child is not nearly as won
derful and seemingly absurd from a
human standpoint as those Messianic
prophecies which were made not by
one, but by many writers 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 vet to be king
of kings and Lord of lords,' what an
swer was given to the oriental stran-
gers by those learned in the Hebrew
law! They promptly answered, In
Bethlehem and gave for their author
ity the words of the prophet Micah.
lived and wrote 700 years before
Christ was born. Yet. when the wise
men went TO Bethlehem, they found
there the infant Christ, as Micah had
foretOld. Is not this fulfilled prophecy
a startling evidence that Jesus was
born a man, vet that he was the Be
whose divine attributes were fore
by the prophets?
If as a rational man I want to find
the proof that Christ is some day going
to return to earth to claim his disciples
as his OWn all that l have got to DO is
to turn to the prophecies of Isaiah and
read first the account of Christ'S birth
and early life. He was oppressed. he
was afflicted. vet he opened not his
mouth: He is brought as a lamb to
slaughter and as a sheep before
her shearers is dumb, so he openeth
his mouth" Did not the prophecy |
Isaiah. written 800 years before
Christ died. come true? Then will not
also Isaiah's prophecy come true
which declares that there shall come
forth a rod out of the stem of jesse
who shall make the Zion eat straw
ike an OK and the sucking child play
Oh the hole Of the asp For then
the glory Of the Lord shall cover the
earth. ever as the waters cover the
Oh, my brother, if you believe
hat Christ's birth was a divine fact,
hen by the "evidence of things not
SEEN you should also believe that
is coming again to claim his own.
But the divinity of Jesus Christ is
,0und in the testimony of Christ's con
.empOraries as well as in the prophe-
les of those inspired men who lived
hundreds of years before Christ was
)Orn. 1t is not only found in the Cos
eel biOgraphers of Jesus, who knew
1hrist personally. but also in the tes-
imony of such mighty personalities as
of Paul. who was martyred in
about 81 A. D., and Ignatius.
Who was martyred in 100 \. D.. and
'olycarp, who lived to be nearly nine
' years old and was martyred in 1J5
ID. These men did not live lrun-
lreds of years after Christ was born.
direct touch with events they were
-ple to prove with their own ewes and
'afs II christ was a fraud or whether
.esus truly placed the stamp of his
llVlhlty upon his life's work by the
miracles he wrought.
testimony of the Martvrs
Explain away the p~ronhecioss Oh
hat is impossible. And vet it would
be no less difficult to explain away tho
Of the contemporaries Of
Jesus Christ, who declare that Christ
divine. Why? Because. as I read
nose testimonies, | find, with but ono
exception or possibly two. they were
sealed with the lifeblood of mar
Here is the honor roll: Mat
new was slain with a sword in Eth
Mark was dragged through the
streets of Alexandria until his brains
we're dashed out and the matted hair
tuck to the walls and the rocks:
mixes mode of 6ao+b 10 not I-,o--