t thou that repliest ag

the mouth of three witnesses, shall th

en for our learning, that we through patience and co

les; and they are written for our admonition, upon

ey shall know in that day that I am he that

e New Testament had the promise of our Lord that "The Comforter, who is the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my nam

the subjects of which they have written. What, therefore, is their testimony concerning the author o

xl. 3: "The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of t

ies, and labeled as his. Matthew informs us that it was a prophecy concerning John the Baptist, and was given by Isaiah himself, and

rness, Make ye ready the way of the L

aiah could not have written it. They base their affirmation on their own literary discoveries, their ability to detect the footprints of some other prophet, though they do not inform us who that prophet is. They are sure that it was not Isaiah, for they have already placed him under

ritics profess to have found. Hence, in giving the history of God's gracious and miraculous work of casting out demons and healing the sick, he declares (Matt. viii. 17), without a shadow of a mista

it necessary during his ministry to retire from the public excitement which his teaching and miracles had produced. He says that Christ pursued that course "that it might be fulfilled which was spoken through Isaiah the prophet, saying, Behold my servant whom I have chosen; my beloved in whom my soul is well pleas

remember that the critics deny this testimony of Matthew. This forty-second chapter which he (Matthe

st gospel, has affirmed without equivocation that the passages which he quotes were

the book of the prophet Isaiah, and when he had opened the book, he found the place where it was written, The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel; he hath sent m

ing our Bible for us (?) inform us that their same literary discovery holds good here-that this part of the book was not written by Isaiah. They assume to hand over this part of the book, knowingly, to the "Great Unknown" and unknowable prophets. The testimony of Lu

im reading Isaiah the prophet (Isaiah liii. 7), and said, Understandest thou what thou readest?" ... Now, the passage of the Scriptures which he was reading was this: "He was led as a sheep to the slaughter and

claims to have discovered, by some prophet who has successfully concealed himself, and

nned that touching description of the coming Messiah, an

there hath not risen a greater than John the Baptist." This witness comes before us, therefore, indorsed by Jesus Christ himself, "The faithful Witne

hat sent us. What sayest thou of thyself?" he replied, "I am the Voice of one crying in the wilde

him. And this was his testimony, secondly, concerning the a

he second statement as the first. And the Apostle John

ritics have decided was predicted by some stray prophet, unknown to the world, to the Jewish people

ew's corroboration of the testimony of John the Baptist con

saiah's name. Explaining the amazing unbelief of the Jews, he says (xii. 37, 38): "But though he (Jesus) did so many s

ort? and to whom hath the arm of

of the fourth gospel is quoting from Isaiah li

was forbidden ground to Isaiah, that, if we are to b

asked to believe that the name of the prophet who gave this dramatic picture of what was to take place on Calvary seven hundred years later, has been lost in the fog of the passing centuries! We are asked to bel

r of the Bible. It is an impeachment of the honesty of the authors of

one voice contradicts the critics. We also prefer, with these witnesses, to discredit the men who are picking out clauses, ver

satisfy our estimate of them as God's divinely appointed teachers, chosen to make record of the momentous truth on which the salvation of a lost world hangs

he period, that the prophecy must be located in that period. If the critic cannot find these particular local earmarks, he must push the prophecy to a point of time with which he can make it synchroni

. But presently the matter of the book passes into a realm beyond the time and circumstances that belong to that period, hence may not claim him as its author. An assumption

ermining the author, is arbitrary, and an absurd attempt to destroy all the testimony o