ons, he was bruised for our iniquities, the
chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are
healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to
his own way; and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. He
was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is
brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers
is dumb, so he opened not his mouth. He was taken from prison and from
judgment; and who shall declare his generation? for he was cut off out
of the land of the living: for the transgression of my people was he
stricken. And he made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in
his death; because he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in
his mouth. Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him; he hath put him to
grief. When thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see
his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall
prosper in his hand. He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall
be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many;
for he shall bear their iniquities. Therefore will I divide him a
portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong;
because he hath poured out his soul unto death; and he was numbered with
the transgressors, and he bare the sin of many, and made intercession
for the transgressors."

These words are extant in a book purporting to contain the predictions
of a writer who lived seven centuries before the Christian era.

That material part of every argument from prophecy, namely, that the
words alleged were actually spoken or written before the fact to which
they are applied took place, or could by any natural means be foreseen,
is, in the present instance, incontestable. The record comes out of the
custody of adversaries. The Jews, as an ancient father well observed,
are our librarians. The passage is in their copies as well as in ours.
With many attempts to explain it away, none has ever been made by them
to discredit its authenticity.

And what adds to the force of the quotation is, that it is taken from a
writing declaredly prophetic; a writing professing to describe such
future transactions and changes in the world as were connected with the
fate and interests of the Jewish nation. It is not a passage in an
historical or devotional composition, which, because it turns out to be
applicable to some future events, or