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PROOFS

THAT

JESUS OF NAZARETH IS THE SON OF DAVID.

THAT the Prophets of old have predicted the coming of a Messiah, is a fact which both Jews and Christians believe; but that this Messiah has already come, in the person of Jesus of Nazareth, who appeared in Judea 1800 years ago, before the destruction of the second temple, although believed by 250 millions of Gentile Christians, and also by many individual Jews, is still denied by a large portion of the Jewish nation. The cause

of this denial is partly from prejudice and want of serious inquiry into the subject; but partly, also, on account of various objections which some of the Rabbies have raised, and which they suppose cannot be answered satisfactorily. One of these objections has reference to the descent of the Christian Messiah. They say that according to 2 Sam. vii. 12, 13; Psalm cxxxii. 11–17;

Isa. ix. 6, 7; Jer. xxiii. 5, 6; and other passages, the true Messiah must be a son of David, but that Jesus of Nazareth cannot be proved, not even from the New Testament, to have sprung from David in a direct line, and that therefore he is not to be received as the Messiah predicted by the Prophets.

In reply to this, it may be said that, supposing the New Testament had really not clearly pointed out the lineal descent of Christ from David, but had been silent upon this subject, yet this silence alone could not be adduced as a proof that he had not descended from David; and supposing again, the New Testament contained other more weighty reasons by which the true Messiah can be clearly distinguished (and this it most certainly does), then the silence upon one fact, especially if that fact is not disproved or contradicted, cannot affect the more weighty reasons given; and guided by these more substantial proofs for the Messiahship of Jesus, we ought to receive him as the true Messiah. However, it is unnecessary to enter into this line of argument, since a careful examination of the New Testament will show that, instead of being silent on this subject, or opposed to such a view, it offers abundant evidence to meet the objection directly and fairly, and bears satisfactory

testimony that Jesus of Nazareth is really the Son of David.

THAT JESUS OF NAZARETH IS REALLY THE SON OF DAVID, can be proved

I. From the silence of the opponents at a time when it would have been so easy to contradict it effectually, had it not been true.

Had Jesus, at the time of his appearing, not been considered the Son of David, how easy would it have been for his opponents, many of whom were men in authority, to put a stop to his claims as the Messiah, had they only brought forward the modern objection respecting his descent. They knew as well as Jews in later times, of what lineage the Messiah was to be, and pointed out to Herod even at Bethlehem, the city of David, as the place where the Messiah was to be born. Matt. ii.5, 6. They opposed him by their authority, and tried to put him down by all manner of stratagems, but they are never known to have brought forward this objection, and to have charged him with not being the Son of David.

The only reason to account for such strange conduct in not using such a powerful weapon, had it been at their command,

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