110 ARCH OF TITUS COULD GOD RAISE JESUS FROM THE DEAD? Now I am not going to waste any time with the so-called scientific arguments against the possibility of this thing. Admit God and impossibility must throw up its hands..... DID GOD RAISE JESUS FROM THE DEAD? De Wette, one of the great leaders of Rationalism, labored on this thing with the most precise and scientific investigation and he said, "The Resurrection of Jesus Christ cannot be called into doubt any more than the historical certainty of the assassination of Caesar. This is the statement that made Neander, the great church historian, shed tears when he read it. . . . . Now if Jesus did not rise from the dead how are you going to account for the empty grave?.... The Empty Grave!.... Even old infidel Schenkel says, "It is an undisputable fact that in the early morning of the first day of the week following the crucifixion, the grave of Jesus was found empty." WILLIAM EDWARD BIEDERWOLF, Author of "How Can God Answer Prayer?" "A Help to the Study of the Holy Spirit,” etc. The Resurrection. The seal of the Sanhedrim, a regiment of soldiers from the town, a floor of rock, a roof of rock, a wall of rock, a niche of rock, cannot keep Christ in the crypt. 88. TALMAGE, in Holy-Days and Holidays. Compiled by Edward M. Deems, Did Jesus prophesy, 37 years before the event, the destruction of Jerusalem by the Roman general Titus in A. D. 70? BIBLE EVIDENCE. Luke xix:41-44 (A. D. 33)—And when he was come near, he beheld the city, and wept over it, Saying, If thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this thy day, the things which belong unto thy peace!.... For the days shall come upon thee, that thine enemies... shall lay thee even with the ground, and thy children within thee;. . . . . SECULAR EVIDENCE. ..... Arch of Titus. A triumphal arch erected at Rome, and still remaining there, to commemorate the conquest of Judea and the destruction of Jerusalem by the emperor Titus. It was erected after his death, A. D. 91, by the senate and people of Rome. It was a magnificent structure, decorated with bas-reliefs and inscriptions, and is of especial interest because its historic bas-reliefs represent the captors carrying in triumph to Rome the golden candlestick and sacred utensils from the Jewish temple at Jerusalem. From these we obtain the best idea of their shape.-Ed. WM. SMITH, Bible Dictionary, Teacher's Edition, p. 51. Music speaks a universal language, stirring the deep emotions of the untutored savage as well as of the cultivated artist. The effects of music are sometimes said to be merely sensual. It is addressed to the ear indeed, but all influences from without are necessarily conveyed through the medium of the senses, and the sweet tones of music by their harmonious blending convey to the soul a sublime imagery and an inspiration richer by far in meaning than the most eloquent and euphonious forms of speech.... We are able to obtain a true idea of Jewish instruments from the Arch of Titus, at Rome, where the spoils brought from Jerusalem by the Emperor have been exactly represented in sculpture, and it is of interest to learn that the mandolin is the modern representative of the ancient lute, that instrument whose melodious tones accompanied the voices of the sweet singers of Israel. Not for the hall of revelry, not for the dizzy dance, not to beguile an idle hour, is Music's highest calling, but let her voice be heard in the morning song and the evening vesper of praise to the Author of all that is good and beautiful below. FRANKLIN EDSON BELDEN, The Crown Jewels of Art, p. 124. 89. Did Jesus prophesy correctly that not one stone would be left upon another of the Temple in Jerusalem? BIBLE EVIDENCE. Matthew xxiv:1, 2-And Jesus went out, and departed from the temple: ..... And Jesus said unto them,. There shall not be left here one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down. SECULAR EVIDENCE. When Jerusalem was destroyed, a generation after Jesus' death, his prophecy concerning the temple was fulfilled with terrible accuracy,.... Indeed, there is but one stone in existence of which it is positively known that it belonged to that temple. That is a block of carved marble from the screen that separated the inner courts from the Court of the Gentiles. It was discovered in 1871 by Mr. Clermont Ganneau, and is now in the Royal Museum at Constantinople. It warns Gentiles to go no farther on penalty of death. The last word, "thanaton," the Greek word for death, will be recognized easily by English readers. At the beginning of his last week, our Lord said that, if the multitudes were to withhold their praises of him, the very stones would cry out. Surely, this one remaining stone which once stood, with others similarly inscribed, as barriers between people of opposing faiths, now witnesses to the power of Jesus Christ, "who hath broken down the middle wall of partition" between Jew and Gentile and made them one in himself. WILLIAM E. BARTON, D.D. Author of "Jesus of Nazareth," "The Psalms And TERRIFIC DARK DAY CHAPTER XII. THE DARK DAY AND THE FALLING OF THE STARS 90. Was the Dark Day-May 19-1780 foretold by John the Revelator? BIBLE EVIDENCE. Revelation 6:12 And I beheld when he had opened the sixth seal, and, lo, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood; SECULAR EVIDENCE. Josiah Litch, in his "Prophetic Expositor," describes it as follows: The "I refer to the dark day of A. D. 1780, May 19. That was a day of supernatural darkness. It was not an eclipse of the sun; for the moon was nearly at the full: it was not owing to a thickness of the atmosphere; for the stars were seen. darkness began about 9 A. M., and continued through the day. Such was the darkness that work was suspended in the field and shop; beasts and fowls retired to their rest; and the houses were illuminated at dinner time.... The sun was supernaturally darkened.".... A manuscript sermon by Rev. ELAM POTTER, M.A., on the dark day of May 19, delivered on the 28th of the same month, says: "But especially I mention that wonderful darkness on the 19th of May inst. Then, as in our text, the sun was darkened; such a darkness as probably was never known before since the crucifixion of our Lord..... Mrs. ABIGAIL BAILEY of Vermont, who was twenty-four years old at the time, has given a very interesting account of the dark day of 1780. She was a real mother in Israel, and her testimony was credited by all who knew her. She said: ".... All nature seemed hushed, as though Jehovah was about to make himself known by some mighty act. Every eye was turned upward, every one inquiring, What is going to take place? Some asked, 'Is the Judgment day approaching? The vessels at the wharves, with sails loosened and colors unfurled, appeared as in mourning on some great occasion. Not a color waved at mast-head, nor a sail showed the least appearance of any wind. The bells rung for meeting. The sailors poured into the house and filled it. Mr. Spring (Rev. Samuel Spring, pastor of the North church in Newburyport), standing at his place, cried, 'O earth, earth, earth, hear the word of the Lord!' In speaking, he excelled himself. The congregation was motionless, and heard with intense and solemn interest." The American Tract Society bears testimony:-"In the month of May, 1780, there was a very terrific dark day in New England, when ‘all faces seemed to gather blackness,' and the people were filled with fear. There was great distress in the village where Edward Lee lived; 'men's hearts failing them for fear' that the Judgment day was at hand, and the neighbors all flocked around the holy man; for his lamp was trimmed and shining brighter than ever amidst the unnatural darkness. Happy and joyful in God, he pointed them to their only refuge from the wrath to come, and spent the gloomy hours in earnest prayer for the distressed multitude.”—Tract No. 379-Life of Edward Lee.... Herschel, the great astronomer, gives the following testimony concerning the unaccountableness, scientifically, of the darkness: |