Not one solitary Witness is there in the whole New Testament that could
testify to the Fact that he or she either saw or knew of this most important Pillar
of the Christian Faith. Not one single eye-witness could testify of
the occurrence, or knew such circumstances as would establish it upon undeniable
evidence. "Mary Magdalene, out of whom went seven Devils," as Luke testifies, 8:2,
could not be a very trustworthy or respectable evidence, and as for the other Mary who was
in company with Mary Magdalene at the sepulcher* , as is declared in
Matt. 28:1, and Luke 24:1, we have no right to judge her only from the company she kept.
However, their testimony does not amount to even circumstantial evidence, and
scarcely to inferential evidence, for they only saw, with Peter,
"the napkin," "with the linen clothes." See John 20:6 and 7.
And 3dly, upon Bethany,
as is declared in Luke xxiv. 50 and 51, Where it is said that Jesus "was
parted from them and carried up into heaven." And how is it possible that he ASCENDED
from ALL the ABOVE THREE PLACES? Besides all the above three places, Joseph of Arimathea's
Grave, where it is said Jesus was laid, is 50 feet from the Holy Sepulcher, in the nave of
that Church.
As to the Watch, or Guards of Soldiers, saying that "His disciples
came by night, and stole him away while we slept," (Matt. 27:13,)
carries evident falsehood upon the very face of it--for how could they know anything of
what was done, or bear any true Testimony of his disciples having "stole him
away," if they were asleep?
Matthew 12:40 says, "For as Jonah was three days and three nights
in the whale's belly; so shall the Son of Man be three days and three nights
in the heart of the earth." This is impossible to be true, because Jesus,
the New Testament declares, was buried on Friday evening, and rose upon Sunday
morning, and consequently was in the Tomb but one day and two nights.
And it is certain that Matthew was not a Jew, for no Jew could ever have
written the account given in the 28th chapter of his book, 1st verse, of the Resurrection,
because he did not know when the Jewish Sabbath commenced, for he there says,
"In the end of the Sabbath, as it began to dawn
toward the first day of the week." Now every Jewish child knows that the
Sabbath always begins at or just before sunset on Friday evening, and ends at the same
time on Saturday evening. Now here is a plain and evident Forgery.
I will now yield up the Resurrection into the hands of those who love assumptions,
desiring them to class this last assumption of Mary with the first assumption
of Mary, and desire such to reconcile the different account given in the last chapter of
Mark, with the other statements given by the other writers upon the Resurrection, if
they can. One thing is certain to my own mind, that this last Pillar of the House
must fall, and share the same fate with the other two, as is so fully and plainly declared
shall be the case in the 17th and 18th chapters of Revelations, in strict correspondence
with the 47th of Isaiah, from whence, it clearly appears, the two former chapters were
taken--for Samson (i.e. Strength) must and will pull down and destroy
Babylon's House, (i.e. Confusion,*) and the earth will then obtain her promised Rest,
her delightful Sabbath.
N. B. As the Lord "Delights not in the strength of a
Horse, and takes not pleasure in the legs of a man," Ps. 147:10, it
certainly was not Samson's physical strength that God intended to represent, but the moral
and intellectual strength, under the character of a Strong Man.
|
