Third Pillar - The Resurrection* of Jesus

* There are three different places assigned and declared to be the place of his Resurrection and Ascension. 1st . From the Holy Sepulcher so called. See. Matt. 28:1, and Luke 24:1 and 2.

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.

* 2dly. From the Mount of Olives, in the Church of the Ascension, where it is said is the mark of Jesus' foot, which I have seen; and Eusebius, A. D. 315, says, that Christians OFFERED ADORATION upon the summit of that mountain; Eusebius Demonstra Evang. 6, 18, page 288, colon 1688; and he also says "That Heathen Temples were erected upon Golgotha A. D. 135; the Statue of Venus upon Calvary, and Jupiter upon the Holy Sepulcher." Hieron. Ep. 49, ad Pauline, Tom. 4, page 564, Ed. Martiary--also see Euseb. Vol. I. page 375, Note 1, and Dr. Robinson's Researches, Vol. II. page 77.

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.

* And the only way this can be done is by PRACTICING the only True Theory of the UNITY of God, that God is ONE, only ONE and not THREE.

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.