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Page 15
The first characteristic of the Messiah, the reader will recollect,
was, according to the prophets, that he was to be �the Prince of
Peace,� in whose times righteousness was to flourish, and
mankind be made happy. That he was to sit upon the throne of
David judging right; and that to him, and their own land, was Israel
to be gathered, and all nations serve and obey him; and worship
one God, even Jehovah.
But of Jesus we read, that he asserted, that his kingdom was �not
of this world.� Instead of effecting peace among the nations, he
said, �Think not that I am come to send peace on earth, I have
come to send a sword, I have come to put division between a son,
and his father; the mother, and the daughter; the daughter-in-law,
and her mother-in-law.� �Think ye, (said he to his disciples) that I
have come to put peace on earth, I tell you nay, but rather
division.� Again, �I have come to put fire on the earth.� These are
not the characteristics of the Messiah of the prophets of the Old
Testament. For of him Zechariah (ch. ix.) says, that �He shall
speak peace to the nations;� and of him Isaiah says, �Nation shall
not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war
anymore.� And so far from being the author of division, sword, and
fire; according to Malachi, in the times of the Messiah, �the heart
of the parents was to be converted to the children, and the heart of
the children to their parents.�
In the times of the Messiah, wars were to cease, righteousness was
to flourish, and mankind be happy. Whether this has yet taken
place, the experience of almost nineteen centuries, and the present
state of the world, can enable every one to determine for himself.
In the times of the Messiah, Israel was to be gathered, and planted
in their own land, in honour, and prosperity. But not many years
after the death of Jesus of Nazareth, the Jewish nation underwent
the most dreadful calamities; and to this day, so far are they from
being gathered, they are scattered to the four quarters of the globe.
Instead of being in honour and prosperity, their history, since his
time, is one dreadful record of unparalleled sufferings, written in
letters of blood by the hands of murder, rapine, and cruelty.
Again; the true Messiah was, it seems, to be called DAVID, and
was to reign at Jerusalem, on the throne of David; but the name
�Jesus� is not the same as �David,� and Christians have assigned
him a spiritual kingdom, and a throne in heaven! But was the
throne of David in heaven? No! it was in Jerusalem, and no more
in Heaven, than that of the Caesars.
Lastly, it appears from the prophecies of Hosea, Micah, and
Jeremiah, Isaiah, and Ezekiel, quoted in the last chapter, that the
manifestation of their Messiah was to be contemporaneous with
the restoration of Israel, and from the quotations adduced from the
three first mentioned prophets, it should seem that his birth was not
to take place many years before that glorious event. But Jesus of
Nazareth was born almost two thousand years ago; and the
children of Israel yet expect a deliverer. And to conclude, it was
foretold by Malachi, and believed by the Jews then, and ever since,
that Elias the prophet, who did not die, but was removed from the
earth, should precede the coming of the Messiah, and prepare them
for his reception. But the prophet Elias certainly has not yet
appeared!
Indeed, nothing appears to be more dissimilar than the character of
the Messiah, as given by the Hebrew prophets, and that of Jesus of
Nazareth. It seems scarcely credible, that a man who, though
amiable and virtuous, yet lived in a low state, was poor, living
upon alms, without wealth, and without power; and who (though
by misfortune) died the death of a malefactor, crucified between
two robbers, (a death exactly parallel with being hanged at the
public gallows in the present day) should ever be taken for that
mighty prince, that universal potentate, and benefactor of the
human race, foretold in the splendid language of the prophets of
the Old Testament.
CHAPTER V.
EXAMINATION OF THE ARGUMENTS FROM THE OLD
TESTAMENT ADDUCED IN THE NEW, TO PROVE THAT
JESUS OF NAZARETH WAS THE MESSIAH.
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