Prophecy Speaks (E.A.Rowell).pdf

“But that is a fantastic idea, and an absurd and unreasonable thing to ask of sceptics,”
protested Mr. Emerson.
“I agree with Mr. Dare, Dad,” whispered Lucile, as he sat down. “if doubters set such
store by their scepticism, let them venture something on it, or keep still. Certainly the
believers venture everything — their property and even their lives; the sceptics, not even a
few dollars. Yes, the speaker is right.”
“The thought of actually trying to disprove a prophecy,” replied Mr. Dare, “is not so
fantastic. It is just what ought to occur to the logical mind. It did occur to one determined
doubter.
“There lived a learned man about A. D. 300 who read the words of Jesus in Luke 21:24:
‘Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled.’
He had once been a Christian, so he knew the predictions. He made up his mind that
Jerusalem should be trodden underfoot by the Israelites instead of by the Gentiles.
“This man also knew that the Bible foretold the utter destruction of the Jewish Temple
and its services, that the Jews were to be scattered to all nations of the earth, and that
Christianity was to go to ‘every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people.’
“He was determined to overthrow Christianity, not by killing its adherents, which had
been tried by his predecessors for 250 years and had served only to increase its followers, but
by the more effective method of shattering the prophecies. Thus he would prove Jesus a liar.
And he had the power, if anyone ever had, for he was Julian, emperor of Rome, with an
immense army and the wealth and power of the civilized world at his command.”
“Aren’t you assuming a great deal when you assert that Julian had no other purpose in
mind than to disprove the Bible?” asked Mr. Emerson.
“That he intended to stage a contest between himself and God, that he consciously
planned to disprove prophecy, is stated by a writer as infidelic as Julian himself — Edward
Gibbon, the world’s accepted authority on that period, in chapter 23 of his famous history.
Rather than paraphrase, I will read Gibbon’s account:
“Julian ‘embraced the extraordinary design of rebuilding the temple at Jerusalem. In
a public epistle to the nation or community of the Jews, dispersed through the provinces, he
pities their misfortunes, condemns their oppressors, praises their constancy, declares himself
their gracious protector. . . . They deserved the friendship of Julian by their implacable hatred
of the Christian name. . . .
“ ‘After the final destruction of the temple by the arms of Titus and Hadrian, a
ploughshare was drawn over the consecrated ground, as a sign of perpetual interdiction. . . .
“ ‘The vain and ambitious mind of Julian might aspire to restore the ancient glory of
the temple of Jerusalem. As the Christians were firmly persuaded that a sentence of
everlasting destruction had been pronounced against the whole fabric of the Mosaic law, the
imperial sophist would have converted the success of his undertaking into a specious
argument against the faith of prophecy and the truth of revelation. . . .
“ ‘He resolved to erect, without delay, on the commanding eminence of Moriah, a
stately temple, . . . and to invite a numerous colony of Jews, whose stern fanaticism would be
always prepared to second, and even to anticipate, the hostile measures of the pagan
government.
“ ‘Among the friends of the emperor . . .the first place was assigned, by Julian
himself, to the virtuous and learned Alypius. . . .This minister . . .received an extraordinary
commission to restore, in its pristine beauty, the temple of Jerusalem. The desire for
rebuilding the temple has in every age been the ruling passion of the children of Israel. . . .
Every purse was opened in liberal contributions, every hand claimed a share in the pious
labour, and the commands of a great monarch were executed by the enthusiasm of a whole
people.
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