Milford chronicle., 1904-12-02
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TuIaIIment of Propheey.

Fulhilment of Prophecy.
Suppose l should ramble on in a lOnf
rigmarole like that in reference to you
baby, what would you say? Why
you would look at me askance and
then say: You are crazy! No unin
spired man can look into the future
and tell what is going to happen tC
my descendants thousands of years
from now crank or a fool might
happen for once to declare Alright, that
it will snow in Canada in July-as one
weather prophet did few years ago.
But to declare what is to happen a
thousand years from now, that is be-
yOnd all range of human possibilities" "
Yet the astounding statement that /
made a few moments ago in reference
to a little child is not nearly as Won
derful and seemingly absurd from a
| human standpoint as those Messianlc
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 yet 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 Mical
who 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 man, yet that he was the Be
ing whose divine attributes were fore
seen 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 Christs birth
and early life He was oppressed, 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 Openeth
not his mouth" Did not the prophecy
of Isaiah, written 500 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 "liOn eat straw
like an OK and the sucking child play
on the hole of the asp?" For then
"the glory of the Lord shall cover the
earth, even as the waters cover the
seas" Oh, my brother, if you believe
that Christ's birth was a divine fact, /.
then by the evidence of things not /
seen" you should also believe that 1
Christ is coming again to claim his own.
But the divinity of Jesus Christ Is
found in the testimony of Christ's con- /
as well as in the prophe .
cies Of those inspired men who lived {
hundreds of years before Christ was .
born. It is not only found in the gos-
pei biographers of Jesus. who knew
Christ personally, but also in the tes-
timony of such mighty personalities as 4
that of Paul. who was martyred in
Rome about 81 A D., and Ignatius,
who was martyred in 100 A. D.. and
Polycarp, who lived to be nearly nine
ty years old and was martyred in 155
A. ID. These men did not live hun
dreds of years after Christ was born.
By direct touch with events they We're
able to prove with their own eyes and
ears If Christ was a fraud or whether
truly placed the stamp Of his
divinity upon his life's work by the
he wrought.
Testimony of the Martyrs.
Explain away the prophecies2 Oh,
that is impossible! And yet it would
be no less difficult to explain away the
testimonies of the contemporaries of
Jesus Christ. who declare that Christ
was divine. Why? Because, as read
those testimonies, find, with but one
exception or possibly two, they were
all sealed with the llfeblool Of mar
tyrdOm. Here is the honor roll: Mat
thew was slain with a sword in ETH
1pia; Mark was dragged through the
streets of Alexandria until his brains
we're dashed out and the matted hair I
stuck to the walls and the rocks;
Luke's mode of death is not known
positively. but tradition says he was /
slain for Christ; John, the only apos- ,
lie who died a natural death, was not
,nly exiled, but also cast into a caldrOn I
If boiling OIL James the Great was be- ,
headed in Jerusalem; James the Less
was hurled from the top of the temple ,
% the ground and there beaten to I
ieath with club; Stephen was stoned /
o death; Philip was hanged; st. Bar >
holomew was fayed alive-that means /
lis skin was peeled off from his quiv
,ring flesh while he was yet conscious, /
he bystanders standing about the suf /
'erer at the time and mocking him. !
Andrew preached from the cross while :
he people scoffed at his dying agonies; I
Thomas was pierced by a lance; Simon /
Ielotes was killed in Persia; Malta I
HAS was murdered; Paul. Polycarp {
gnatius and scores of others were all 3
q cofd bofora mo ,.fv-rod