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THE CHRIST

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THE

CHRIST
A
Critical

Review and Analysis

His

of the Evidences of

Existence

JOHN
*^

E.

REMSBURG
Emerson

Wc

mtjst get tid of that Christ/'

New York THE TRUTH SEEKER COMPANY

Forty-nine Vesey Street,

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Humbly he came. Veiling his horrible Godhead in the shape Of man, scorned by the world, his name unheard Save by the rabble of his native town. Even as a parish demagogue. He led
he taught them justice, truth, and peace. lit within their souls The quenchless flames of zeal, and blessed the sword He brought on earth to satiate with the blood Of truth and freedom his malignant soul. At length his mortal frame was led to death. I stood beside him; on the torturing cross No pain assailed his unterrestrial sense; And yet he groaned. Indignantly I summed The massacres and miseries which his name Had sanctioned in my country, and I cried
In semblance; but he

The crowd;

"Go! Go!"

in

mockery.

Shelle]^,

PREFACE.
"We
must get
rid of that Christ,

we must

get

!" So spake one of the wisest, one rid of that Christ lovable of men, Ralph Waldo Emerson. of the most Carlyle, "the "If I had my way," said Thomas hear a pretty stern commandworld would spoke a Exit Christ." Since Emerson and Carlyle taken place in the thoughts of men. revolution has of rid enlightened of them are now

The more
Christ.

From

their

minds he has made

Jesus,

his exit.

To

quote the words of Prof. Goldwin Smith,

"The

mighty and supreme all humanity by his

who was
wit

to transfigure

divine

and gracethis

Christ of the Jesus has flown." the god of orthodox Christianity, New Testament, But priestcraft lives and conjures up the is dead. and enslave the ghost of this dead god to frighten The name of Christ has masses of mankind. miseries than caused more persecutions, wars, and caused. The darkest wrongs any other name has wails of anguish that are still inspired by it. The Kishenev, Odessa, and Bialystok still from

The supernatural

went up

vibrate in our ears.

of notable works controverting the divinity the last century, the Lehen Jesu Christ appeared in of Renan. Strauss of Strauss, and the Vie de Jesus

Two

8
in his

Preface.

work, one of the masterpieces of Freethought endeavors to prove, and proves to the satisfaction of a majority of his readers, that Jesus This work possesses Christ is a historical myth.
Hterature,

permanent value, but it v^^as v^ritten for the scholar and not for the general reader. In the German and Latin versions, and in the admirable English translation of Marian Evans (George Eliot), the and they are many citations from the Gospels

are in Greek.

has had, especially in

circulation,

Renan's "Life of Jesus," written in Palestine, its abridged form, an immense

and has been a potent factor in the dethronement of Christ. It is a charming book and But it is a romance, not displays great learning. a biography. The Jesus of Renan, like the Satan
of Milton, while suggested by the Bible, is a modern The warp is to be found in the Four creation.

brilliant

woof was spun in the brain of the Frenchman. Of this book Renan's fellowcountryman, Dr. Jules Soury, thus writes:
Gospels, but the
"It is to be feared that the beautiful, the 'divine,' dream, as he would say, which the eminent scholar experienced in the very country of the Gospel, will have the fate of the 'J^conda' of Da Vinci, and

many

of

the

religious

Michael Angelo.

pictures of Raphael and Such dreams are admirable, but

. .
.

they are bound to fade.

The Jesus who

rises

up and comes out from those

old Judaizing writings

(Synoptics) is truly no idyllic personage, no meek dreamer, no mild and amiable moralist; on the contrary, he is very much more of a Jew fanatic, at-

Preface.

tacking without measure the society of his time,

narrow

and

obstinate
to

visionary,
fits

half -lucid

thaumaturge,
people.

subject

of

passion,

which

caused him to be looked upon as crazy by his

In the eyes
of his

own

contemporaries and

fellow-countrymen he was all that, and he is the same in ours." Renan himself repudiated to a considerable extent his earlier views regarding Jesus.

When

he

wrote

his

work he accepted

as authentic the Gospel

of John, and to this Gospel he was indebted largely

for the

more admirable

traits

of his hero.

John he
Alluding

subsequently rejected.
oldest
to

Mark he

accepted as the

and most authentic of the Gospels.

says
is

Mark he

"It cannot be denied that Jesus

this gospel not as a
afifection,

portrayed in

meek

moralist worthy of our

but as a dreadful magician." This volume on "The Christ" was written by one
recognizes in the Jesus of Strauss and

who

Renan
Free-

a transitional step, but not the ultimate step, be-

tween
the

orthodox

Christianity
is

and

radical

thought.

By

the Christ

New
is

Testament.

understood the Jesus of The Jesus of the New Tes-

tament
the
is,

the Christ of Christianity.

The

Jesus of

New

Testament

is

a supernatural being.

He

like the Christ, a

myth.

He

is

the Christ myth.

Originally the
ish

word

Christ, the

Greek for the Jew-

Messiah, "the anointed," meant the office or title of a person, while Jesus was the name of the
person on
title.

whom

his

followers had bestowed this

Gradually the

title

took the place of the name,

lO

Preface.

so that Jesus, Jesus Christ, and Christ became inter-

changeable terms

synonyms.

the Christian world, and such, by the law of

Such they are to com-

mon
It

usage, they are to the seculai world.

may

be conceded as possible, and even prob-

able, that a religious enthusiast of Galilee,

named

Jesus,

was the germ of

Certain

this

mythical Jesus Christ.

But

this is

ted fact.

an assumption rather than a demonstrait is, this person, if he existed,

realization of the Perfect

was not a

Man,

as his

There are passages in the Gospels which ascribe to him a lofty and noble character, but these, for the most part, betray too well their Pagan origin. The dedication of temples to him and the worship of him by those who deny his diadmirers claim.
vinity
is

as irrational as

it

will

prove ephemeral.

One

of the most philosophic and one of the most farseeing minds of Germany, Dr. Edward von Hartmann, says: ''When liberal Protestantism demands religious reverence for the man Jesus, it is disgusting and

shocking.

They cannot themselves

is

believe that the

respect in which Jesus

held by the people and

which they have made use of in such an unprotestant manner, can be maintained for any length of time after the nimbus of divinity has been destroyed, and they may reflect on the insufficiency
of the

momentary subterfuge. The Protestant

prin-

ciple in its last consequences, disposes of all kinds

of dogmatic authority in a remorseless manner, and

its

supporters must, whether they like

it

or not,

dispense with the authority of Christ."

CONTENTS.
CHAPTER
CHAPTER
I.

PAGE
13

Christ's Real Existence Impossible

H.
24
50
65

Silence of Contemporary Writers CHAPTER HI. Christian Evidence

CHAPTER
Infancy of Christ

IV.

CHAPTER
Ministry of Christ

V.
120 VI.

CHAPTER
Crucifixion of Christ

213
VII.

CHAPTER
Resurrection of Christ

296
VIII.

CHAPTER CHAPTER
The Christ
Sources of Religions
a

His Character and Teachings

IX.

340

Myth

433

CHAPTER
the
Christ

Myth Ancient
444

X.

CHAPTER XL
Sources of the Christ
vinities

Myth Pagan

Di-

499

CHAPTER XIL
Sources
sion

of

the Christ Myth

Conclu566

THE

CHRIST.
I.

CHAPTER

ebri$r$ Real existence Impossible*

The

reader

who

accepts as divine the

pre-

vailing religion of our land may consider this criticism on "The Christ" irreverent and unjust.

And
lift

yet for man's true saviors

reverence.

For him who

lives

have no lack of and labors to upI

his fellow

men

and respect, and at the altar of immortal truth has sacrificed his of a life I would gladly pay the sincere tribute
mourner's
Jesus that
of theology
tears.
It
is

have the deepest reverence the grave of him who upon

not against the

man

I write, but against the Christ Jesus

;

whose name an Atlantic been shed; a being in of innocent blood has whose name the whole black catalogue of crime has been exhausted a being in whose name five
a being in
;

hundred thousand keep

priests

are

now

enlisted

to

"Truth forever on the scaffold, Wrong forever on the throne."

Jesus of Nazareth, the Jesus of humanity, the

14

The

Christ.
life

pathetic story of

whose humble

and tragic

death has awakened the sympathies of millions, is a possible character and may have existed;

but the Jesus of Bethlehem, the Christ of Christianity, is an impossible character and does not
exist.

From

the beginning to the end of this Christ's

is

earthly career he

represented by his alleged

biographers

being endowed with superhuman powers. He is conceived without a natural father: "Now the birth of Jesus
as

supernatural

Christ

was on

this wise:

When,

as his mother

Mary was espoused

together, she

to Joseph, before they

child of the

was found with

i,

came Holy

Ghost" (Matt, His ministry

a

i8).

is

a succession of miracles.

With

few loaves and fishes he feeds a multitude: ''And when he had taken the five loaves and the two fishes, he looked up to heaven, and blessed and brake the loaves, and gave them to his disciples to set before them; and the two fishes divided he among them all. And they did all eat, and were filled. And they took up twelve
baskets

And
five

full of the fragments, and of the fishes. they that did eat of the loaves were about thousand men" (Mark vi, 41-44).

He
sea:

walks for miles upon the waters of the

"And straightway Jesus constrained

and
to

his

disciples to get into a ship,

go before him

unto the other side, while he sent the multitudes away. And when he had sent the multitudes

Christ's Real Existence Impossible.

15

away, he went up into a mountain apart to pray and when the evening was come, he was
;

there alone.

But the ship

sea, tossed

was
;

now
watch

in

the

midst of the

with waves for the wind

of the

was

contrary.

And

in the fourth

night Jesus went unto them, walking on the

sea" (Matt, xiv, 22-25).

He bids a raging tempest cease and it obeys him *'And there arose a great storm of wind, and the waves beat into the ship, so that it And he arose, and rebuked was now full the wind, and said unto the sea, Peace, be still. And the wind ceased, and there was a great
:

calm" (Mark,

He
came
only,

iv, 37 39). withers with a curse the barren

fig tree:

"And when he saw

to

a fig tree in the way, he

it, and found nothing thereon, but leaves and said unto it. Let no fruit grow on

thee, henceforth, forever.

And

presently the fig

tree withered

away" (Matt,

xxi, 19).

synagogue which had a spirit of an unthere was a man, And Jesus rebuked him, sayclean devil ing. Hold thy peace, and come out of him. And when the devil had thrown him in the midst, he came out of him and hurt him not" (Luke iv,
casts out devils: ''And in the
33, 35).

He

He

cures the incurable:

"And

as he entered

into a certain village, there

met him ten men

Jesus, Master,

that were lepers, which stood afar off; and they

lifted

up

their voices,

and

said,

The

Christ.

have mercy on us. And when he saw them, he said unto them, Go show yourselves unto the priests. And it came to pass, that, as they went,
they were cleansed" (Luke
xvii, 12-14).
:

He
hold,

restores to

life

a widow's only son

carried

"And
the

when he came nigh

there

to the gate of the city, beout,

was a dead man

only son of his mother, and she was a widow; and much people of the city were with her. And when the Lord saw her, he had compassion on
her,

and said unto

her,

Weep

not.

And he

came and touched the bier; and they that bore him stood still. And he said. Young man, I say unto thee, Arise. And he that was dead sat up, and began to speak. And he delivered him to his mother" (Luke vii, 12-15).
decaying corpse of Lazarus: them plainly, Lazarus is Then when Jesus came, he found dead -that he had lain in the grave four days already. .... And when he had thus spoken, he cried
revivifies the

He

"Then

said Jesus unto

with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth.

And

he that

was dead came

forth" (John
is

xi,

14-44).

At

his crucifixion nature

convulsed, and the

is

inanimate dust of the grave

living beings

transformed into

who walk

the streets of Jerusalem

cried

"Jesus,

when he had

again with a loud

voice, yielded
veil

up the ghost.

And, behold, the

of the temple
;

was

rent in twain from the

top to the bottom

and the earth did quake, and the rocks rent; and the graves were opened;

Christ's Real Existence Impossible.

17

and many bodies of the saints, which slept, arose and came out of the graves after his resurrection, and went into the holy city, and appeared unto

many"

"And when Joseph had taken the body, he wrapped it in a clean linen cloth, and laid it in his own new tomb, which he had hewn out in the rock and he rolled a great stone to the door of the sepulchre, and departed And, behold, there was a great earthquake; for the angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and came and rolled back the stone from the door And as they went to tell
rises
:

He

(Matt, xxvii, 50-53). from the dead

his disciples, behold, Jesus

met them, saying, All

hail" (Matt, xxvii, 59, 60; xxviii, 2, 9).

He

ascends bodily into heaven: ''And he led

them out as far as to Bethany, and he lifted up his hands and blessed them. And it came to pass, while he blessed them, he was parted from them, and carried up into heaven" (Luke
xxiv, 50, 51).

These and
Christ.

hundred other miracles make up

to a great extent this so-called Gospel History of

To

disprove the existence of these mirthis

acles

is

to disprove the existence of this Christ.

Canon Farrar makes

If

frank

admission:
is

"If miracles be incredible, Christianity

false.

Christ

wrought no miracles, then the Gospels

(Witness
of

are

untrustworthy"

History
the

to

Christ, p. 25).

Dean Mansel thus acknowledges

conse-

The

Christ.

quences of the successful denial of miracles: "The whole system of Christian belief with its
evidences,
as
it

....

all

Christianity in short, so far

has any

title

to that

name, so

far as

it

has

any
3).

special relation to the person or the teachis

ing of Christ,

overthrown" (Aids to Faith,

p.

Dr. Westcott says:

ity lies in a miracle
;

"The essence
and
if it

of Christian-

can be shown that

a miracle is either impossible or incredible, all further inquiry into the details of its history is superfluous" (Gospel of the Resurrection, p. 34).

A
is

miracle, in the orthodox sense of the term,

impossible and incredible.

is

To

accept a mirtruth.

acle

to reject

demonstrated

The

world is not by special providences, but by the laws of nature; and if there be one truth which the scientist and the philosopher have established,
it

governed, not by chance, not by caprice,

is

this:

THE LAWS OF NATURE ARE

If

IMMUTABLE.

the laws of Nature are im-

mutable, they cannot be suspended; for if they could be suspended, even by a god, they would
not be immutable.

single suspension of these

laws would prove their mutability. Now these alleged miracles of Christ required a suspension
of Nature's laws;

and the suspension of these laws being impossible the miracles were imposIf these miracles were sible, and not performed.
not performed, then the existence of this supernatural

and miracle-performing

Christ,

except

Christ's

Real Existence Impossible.

19
is

as a creature of the

human

imagination,

in-

credible and impossible.

Hume's masterly argument against miracles

has never been refuted
of the lav^s of Nature
; :

*'A miracle

is

a violation

and as a firm and unalter-

able experience has established these laws, the

proof against a miracle, from the very nature of

the fact,
is

as entire as

any argument from ex-

perience can possibly be imagined.

Why

is

it

more than probable

that fire

that

all

men must
is

die; that

lead cannot of itself remain suspended in the air;

consumes v^ood, and

unless
it

extinguished
these

by
are
ture,

v^ater;

be
to

that

events
of

found

agreeable
is

the

law^s

Na-

and there
Nothing
in

required a violation of these

law^s, or,

in other words, a miracle, to prevent

is

them?
happens

esteemed a miracle
in

if

it

ever
It is

the

common

course of Nature.

no miracle that a man, seemingly

should die suddenly; because
death, though

good

health,

such

a kind

of

more unusual than any

other, has

yet been frequently observed to happen.

is

But

it

should come to life; because that has never been observed in any age or country. There must, therefore, be a unia miracle that a dead

man

form experience against any miraculous event,

otherwise the event would not merit the appellation. And as a uniform experience amounts to a
proof, there
is

here a direct and

full proof,

from

the nature of the fact, against the existence of

any miracle" (Essay on Miracles).

20

The

Christ.

Alluding to Christ's miracles, M. Renan, a reverential admirer of Jesus of Nazareth, says:

''Observation, which has never been once falsified,

teaches

us that miracles never happen but in

to believe them.

times and countries in which they are believed,

and before persons disposed

capable of testing
its

No
men

miracle ever occurred in the presence of

miraculous character

It is not, then, in the

osophy, but in the that we banish miracles from history" (Life of

Jesus, p. 29).

name of this or that philname of universal experience,

Christianity arose in

miracle-working age.

what was preeminently Everything was atEvery and

;

tested

by

miracles, because nearly everybody be-

lieved in miracles and

demanded them.
might
be

religious teacher was a worker of miracles

however
wrought,
lity,,

trifling

the miracle

when
it

in this

atmosphere of unbounded credu-

the breath of exaggeration soon expanded

into marvelous proportions.

To show more clearly the character of the age which Christ illustrates, let us take another example, the Pythagorean teacher, Apollonius of Tyana, a contemporary of the Galilean. According to his biographers and they are as worthy

of credence as the Evangelists

his

career, parit,

ticularly in the miraculous events attending

bore a remarkable resemblance to that of Christ.

Like Christ, he was a divine incarnation

Christ his miraculous conception

like

was announced

Christ*s

Real Existence Impossible.

he
possessed

aI
in

before his birth; like Christ

childhood the wisdom of a sage; like Christ he is said to have led a blameless life; like Christ
his

moral teachings were declared to be the best the world had known; like Christ he remained a celibate; like Christ he was averse to riches; like Christ he purified the religious temples; like

Christ he predicted future events; like Christ he performed miracles, cast out devils, healed the sick, and restored the dead to hfe; like Christ he died, rose from the grave, ascended to heaven, and was worshiped as a god.

The

Christian rejects the miraculous in Apolit

lonius because

is

incredible; the

Rationalist

rejects the miraculous in Christ for the son.

same

rea-

In proof of the

human

character of the

of that of Christ

and the divine character be urged that the former has perished, while the latter has survived. But this, if it proves anything, proves too much. If
it

religion of Apollonius

may

the survival of Christianity proves its divinity, then the survival of the miracle-attested faiths
of

Buddhism and Mohammedanism, its powerful and flourishing rivals, must prove their divinity
also.

The

religion of Apollonius languished

its

died because the conditions for

;

and development

were unfavorable while the religions of Buddha, Christ, and Mohammed lived and thrived because of the propitious circumstances which favored their development.

With

the advancement of knowledge the be-

a2
lief in

The

Christ.
is

the supernatural

disappearing.

Those
In the

freed from Ignorance, and her dark sister, Superstition,

know

that miracles are myths.

words of Matthew Arnold, ''Miracles are doomed they will drop out like fairies and witchcraft,
;

from among the matter which serious people believe" (Literature and Dogma). What proved the strength of Christianity in an age of ignorance is proving its weakness in an age of intelligence. Christian scholars themselves, recognizing the indefensibility and absurdity of miracles, endeavor to explain away
the difficulties attending their acceptance

by

af-

firming that they are not

acles of Christ in the

real,
;

but only apparent,

violations of Nature's laws

thus putting the mirclass with those per-

same

formed by the jugglers

of

India

and Japan.

They

resolve the supernatural into the natural,

that the incredible

invincible
logic

may appear
pitiless

credible.

With
Colonel

and

sarcasm

Ingersoll exposes the lameness of this attempt

to retain the

shadow
is

of the supernatural

when

the substance

gone

"Believers in miracles should not try to explain

There is but one way to explain anything, and that is to account for it by natural agencies. The moment you explain a miracle it disappears. You should not depend upon explanation, but asYou should not be driven from the sertion.
them.
field

because the miracle

is

shown

to be unrea-

sonable.

Neither should you be in the least dis-

Christ's

Real Existence Impossible.

is

23

heartened
possible
is

if

it

shown

to be impossible.

The

not miraculous."

of fact

Miracles must be dismissed from the domain and relegated to the realm of fiction. A
I

miracle,

repeat,

is

impossible.
Christ,
is

Above

all

this

chief of miracles,

The

impossible,

and

does not, and never did,

exist.

CHAPTER

11.

Silence of ^ontemporarv Olriters*

Another proof that the Christ of Christianity is a fabulous and not a historical character is the silence of the writers who lived during and
immediately following the time he is said to have existed. That a man named Jesus, an obscure religious
teacher, the basis of this fabulous Christ, lived
in

Palestine

about

nineteen

hundred

years

be true. But of this man we know ago, His biography has not been written. nothing. A Renan and others have attempted to write it, but have failed have failed because no materials

may

Contemporary writers For generations afterward, outside of a few theological epistles, we find no mention of him.
for such

work

exist.

have

left

us not one w^ord concerning him.

The

following

is

a list of writers

who

lived

and wrote during the time, or within a century

after the time, that Christ
is

said to

have lived

and performed

his

wonderful works
Arrian, Petronius, Dion Pruseus, Paterculus,
24

Josephus, Philo-Jndaeus, Seneca, Pliny the Elder,

Silence of

Contemporary Writers.
Appian,

25

Suetonius, Juvenal, Martial, Persius, Plutarch, Justus of Tiberius,

Theon

of

Smyrna,

Phlegon,

Pompon

ApoUonius, Pliny the Younger,

Tacitus, Ouintilian,

Lucanus,
Epictetus,
Silius Italicus,

Mela, Quintius Curtius Lucian, Pausanias, Valerius Flaccus, Florus Lucius, Favorinus, Phaedrus,

Damis, Aulus Gellius,

Columella,

Statins,

Ptolemy,

Dio Chrysostom,
Lysias,

Hermogones, Valerius Maximus,

Appion

of Alexandria.

Enough
in the

of the writings of the authors

list

named

foregoing

remains to form a library.

Yet

mass of Jewish and Pagan literature, the works of aside from two forged passages in disputed passages in a Jewish author, and two
in this

works of Roman writers, there is to be found no mention of Jesus Christ. of the Philo was born before the beginning the reafter Christian era, and lived until long
the

account of puted death of Christ. He wrote an covering the entire time that Christ the Jews on earth. He was living is said to have existed when Christ's miraculous near Jerusalem
in or

birth and the

Herodian massacre occurred.

He

was there when

into Jerusalem.

Christ made his triumphal entry

He was

there

when

the crucifix-

26
ion with
its

The

Christ.

attendant earthquake, supernatural

darkness, and resurrection of the dead took place when Christ himself rose from the dead, and in
the presence of

many witnesses ascended into marvelous events which must have heaven. These filled the world with amazement, had they really
occurred, were

unknown

to him.

It

was Philo

developed the doctrine of the Logos, or Word, and although this Word incarnate dwelt in that very land and in the presence of multitudes revealed himself and demonstrated his di-

who

saw it not. renowned Jewish historian, was He was born in 37 A. D., a native of Judea. and was a contemporary of the Apostles. He was, for a time, Governor of Galilee, the province He traversed in which Christ lived and taught. every part of this province and visited the places where but a generation before Christ had
vine powers, Philo

Josephus, the

performed his prodigies. He resided in Cana, the very city in which Christ is said to have wrought his first miracle. He mentions every noted personage of Palestine and describes every important event which occurred there during the first seventy years of the Christian era. But Christ was of too little consequence and his deeds too trivial to merit a line from this historian's
pen.

Justus of Tiberius was a native of Christ's

own

wrote a history covering the time of Christ's reputed existence. This

country, Galilee.

He

Silence of

Contemporary Writers.
but
says:
of

27

work has

perished,

Photius,

Christian

scholar and critic of the ninth century,

who was
makes
of

acquainted with
not the least
Christ, of

it,

"He
the

[Justus]

mention

appearance

what things happened to him, or of the wonderful works that he did" (Photius' Bibliotheca, code 33).

Judea, where occurred the miraculous beginning and marvelous ending of Christ's earthly
career,
tine
tory.
is

was a Roman province, and

intimately associated with

all

of Paleshis-

Roman

But the Roman records of that age contain no mention of Christ and his works. The Greek writers of Greece and Alexandria who lived not far from Palestine and who were familiar with its
events, are silent also.

Josephus.

Late

in the first

century Josephus wrote his

celebrated work,

of the Jews," giving a history of his race from the earliest ages

"The Antiquities

down

Modern versions of this to his own time. work contain the following passage: "Now, there was about this time Jesus, a wise man, if it be lawful to call him a man, for he was a doer of wonderful works; a teacher of
such

men

as

receive

the truth with pleasure.

He drew

over to him both

many

of the Jews,

and many of the Gentiles. He was [the] Christ; and when Pilate, at the suggestion of the principal men amongst us, had condemned him to the

aS

The
him
for he

Christ.

cross, those that loved

him

at the first did

not

appeared to them alive again the third day, as the divine prophets had foretold these and ten thousand other wonderful
forsake
;

things concerning him; and the tribe of Christians, so named from him, are not extinct at this

day" (Book XVIII, Chap, iii, sec. 3). For nearly sixteen hundred years Christians have been citing this passage as a testimonial, not merely to the historical existence, but to the
divine character of Jesus Christ.
er forgery
Its

And

yet a rankline pro-

was never penned.

is

language
it

Christian.

Every

claims

the

work
call

of a Christian writer.

'If

it

be lawful to
Christ."

him

a to

man."

"He was

the

"He appeared

them

alive again the

third day, as the divine prophets had foretold these and ten thousand other wonderful things

concerning him."

These are the words

of

Christian, a believer in the divinity of

Christ.

Josephus was a Jew, a devout believer in the Jewthe last man in the world to acknowlish faith

edge the divinity of Christ. The inconsistency of this evidence was early recognized, and Ambrose, writing in the generation succeeding its
first

appearance (360 A. D.) offers the followexplanation, which only a theologian could ing frame: *Tf the Jews do not believe us, let them,
at
least,

believe

their

own

writers.

Josephus,

whom
this,

they esteem a very great man, hath said and yet hath he spoken truth after such a

Silence of

Contemporary Writers.

29

manner; and so far was his mind wandered from the right way, that even he was not a believer as to what he himself said; but thus he spake,
order to deliver historical truth, because he thought it not lawful for him to deceive, while yet he was no believer, because of the hardness
in

of his heart,
Its

and

his perfidious intention."

its

brevity

disproves

authenticity.

Jo-

sephus' work is voluminous and exhaustive. It comprises twenty books. Whole pages are de-

voted to petty robbers and obscure seditious Nearly forty chapters are devoted to leaders. Yet this remarkable the life of a single king.
being, the greatest product of his race, a being of whom the prophets foretold ten thousand

wonderful things, a being greater than any earthly king, is dismissed with a dozen lines.
It

interrupts the narrative.

it

Section 2 of the

chapter containing
ish sedition

gives an account of a Jew-

which was suppressed by Pilate with

great slaughter.

The account ends as follows: "There were a great number of them slain by woundthis means, and others of them ran away and thus an end was put to this sedition.'* ed;
begins with these 4, as now' numbered, "About the same time also another sad words: calamity put the Jews into disorder." The one section naturally and logically follows the other. Yet between these two closely connected paraSection

graphs the one relating to Christ is placed thus making the words, ^'another sad calamity," refer
;

30

The

Christ.

to the advent of this wise and wonderful being.

The

early Christian fathers were not acquaint-

ed with it. Justin Martyr, Tertulllan, Clement of Alexandria, and Origen all would have quoted this passage had it existed in their time. The
failure of

would be

sufficient to

even one of these fathers to notice it throw doubt upon its genuall

ineness; the failure of

of

them

to notice

it

proves conclusively that it is spurious, that it was not in existence during the second and third
centuries.

As

this passage first

appeared

in the writings

of the ecclesiastical historian, Eusebius, as this

author openly advocated the use of fraud and deception in furthering the interests of the church,
as he
is

known

to have mutilated

and perverted
calculated to

the text of Josephus in other instances, and as

the

manner

of its presentation

is

excite suspicion, the forgery has generally been

charged to him.

In his ''Evangelical Demonstra-

tion," written early in the fourth century, after

citing all the known evidences of Christianity, he thus introduces the Jewish historian ''Certainly the attestations I have already produced
:

concerning our Savior

ever,
it

may be
if,

sufficient.

How-

may

not be amiss,

over and above,

we make

use of Josephus

the

Jew

for a fur-

ther witness"

(Book III, p. 124). Chrysostom and Photius both

reject this pas-

sage.

Chrysostom, a reader of Josephus, who preached and wrote in the latter part of the

Silence of

Contemporary Writers.

31

needed

fourth century, in his defense of Christianity, this evidence, but was too honest or too
it.

wise to use

Photius,

who made

a revision of

Josephus, writing five hundred years after the time of Eusebius, ignores the passage, and admits that Josephus has
Christ.

made no mention

of

Modern

Christian scholars generally concede

is

that the passage

a forgery. Dr. Lardner, one

of the ablest defenders of Christianity, adduces

the following arguments against

"I

its genuineness do not perceive that we at all want the suspected testimony to Jesus, which was never quoted by any of our Christian ancestors before

Eusebius.

"Nor do I recollect that Josephus has anywhere mentioned the name or word Christ, in any of his works except the testimony above
;

mentioned, and the passage concerning James, the Lord's brother.

"It interrupts the narrative.

"The language
""It is

is

quite Christian.

not quoted by Chrysostom, though he

to

often

refers

Josephus, and could not have

it

omitted quoting
"It
is

had

it

been then

in the text.

not quoted by Photius, though he has

article Justus of Tiberias, this au-

three articles concerning Josephus.

"Under the
ian
r

thor (Photius) expressly states that the historJosephus], being a Jew, has not taken the
least notice of Christ.

32

The

Christ.

"Neither Justin in his dialogue with Trypho the Jew, nor Clemens Alexandrinus, who made so many extracts from ancient authors, nor Origen
against
Celsus,

has ever mentioned this

testi-

mony.
on the contrary, in chapter xxxv of the first book of that work, Origen openly affirms that Josephus, who had mentioned John the Baptist, did not acknowledge Christ" (Answer
''But,

to Dr. Chandler).

Again Dr. Lardner says ''This passage is not quoted nor referred to by any Christian writer before Eusebius, who flourished at the beginning
:

had been originally would have been in the works of Josephus highly proper to produce it in their disputes with Jews and Gentiles. But it is never quoted by Justin Martyr, or Clement of Alexandria, nor by Tertullian or Origen, men of great learning, and well acquainted with the works of Josephus. It
of the fourth century.
If it
it

was

certainly very proper to urge

It

it

against the

might also have been fitly urged against Jews. Gentiles. A testimony so favorable to Jesus the in the works of Josephus, who lived so soon after our Savior, who was so well acquainted with the transactions of his own country, who had received so many favors from Vespasian and Titus, would not be overlooked or neglected by any Christian apologist" (Lardner's Works, vol.
I,

chap. iv).

Bishop Warburton declares

it

to be a forgery:

Silence of
"If a

Contemporary Writers.

^2

Jew owned

the truth of Christianity, he

it.

must needs embrace

ly conclude that the

We,

therefore, certain-

paragraph where Josephus,

who was
could

as

much

a
is

make him,
is

Jew as the religion of Moses made to acknowledge Jesus

words could and a very stupid one, too" (Quoted by Lardner, Works, Vol. I, chap,
as the Christ, in terms as strong as

do

it,

a rank forgery,

iv).

The Rev. Dr.

Giles, of the Established

Church

of England, says

"Those who are best acquainted with the character of Josephus, and the style of his writings,

have no hesitation
third century

in

condemning

this

passage as

a forgery, interpolated in

the text during the

Christian,

by some pious

who was

scandalized that so famous a writer as Josephus

should have taken no notice of the gospels, or

of Christ, their subject.

But the

zeal of the in-

terpolator has outrun his discretion, for

we might

as well expect to gather grapes from thorns, or

figs

from

thistles, as to find this notice of Christ

among

the Judaizing writings of Josephus.

It

is well known that this author was a zealous Jew, devoted to the laws of Moses and the traditions of his countrymen. How, then, could he

have written that Jesus was the Christ? Such an admission would have proved him to be a Christian himself, in which case the passage
under consideration, too long for a Jew, would have been far too short for a believer in the new

34
religion,

The

Christ.

and thus the passage stands forth, Hke an ill-set jewel, contrasting most inharmoniously with everything around it. If it had been genuine, we might be sure that Justin Martyr, Tertullian, and Chrysostom would have quoted it in their controversies with the Jews, and that Origen or Photius would have mentioned it.

But Eusebius, the

is

ecclesiastical historian (I, ii),

it,

the

first

who

quotes

and our reliance on the

is

judgment or even honesty of this writer

not

so great as to allow our considering everything found in his works as undoubtedly genuine"
(Christian Records,
p. 30).

The Rev.

S.

Baring-Gould,

in

his ''Lost

and

Hostile Gospels," says:

"This passage is first quoted by Eusebius (fl. A. D. 315) in two places (Hist. Eccl., lib. i, c. xi; Demonst. Evang., lib. iii) but it was unknown to Justin Martyr (fl. A. D. 140), Clement of Alex;

andria

A. D. 192), Tertullian (fl. A. D. 193), and Origen (fl. A. D. 230). Such a testimony
(fl.

his

would certainly have been produced by Justin in apology or in his controversy with Trypho the
Jew, had
his time.
it

existed in the copies of Josephus at

silence of

nificant. Celsus, in his

Origen is still more sigbook against Christianity, introduces a Jew. Origen attacks the argument of Celsus and his Jew. He could not have failed to quote the words of Josephus, whose writings

The

he knew, had the passage existed

in the

genuine

Silence of
text.

Contemporary Writers.

35

He, indeed, distinctly affirms that Josephus

it,

did not believe in Christ (Contr. Cels. i)."

Dr. Chalmers ignores

and admits that Jo-

He says: "The upon the subject of Christianity, though he wrote after the destruction of Jerusalem, and gives us the history of that period in which Christ and his Apostles
sephus
is

silent regarding Christ.

entire silence of Josephus

lived, is certainly a

very striking circumstance"

p. 169).

(Kneeland's Review,
his ''Gibbon's

Referring to this passage. Dean Milman, in

Rome"

(Vol. H, p. 285, note) says

"It

is

interpolated with
Farrar,
life
:

many
has

additional clauses."

Canon
Christian
it.

who

written

the

ablest

of Christ yet penned, repudiates

He says "The single passage in which he [Josephus] alludes to him is interpolated, if not
v\'holly

spurious" (Life of Christ, Vol.

in the

I,

p. 46).
is
:

The
found

following, from Dr. Farrar's pen,

to be

''Encyclopedia Britannica"

''That
it

Josephus wrote the

stands no sane
critic

whole

passage as

now

can believe."

"There
is

are,

however, two reasons which are

it

alone sufficient to prove that the whole passage

spurious

one that
is

was unknown

to

Origen
its

and the earlier fathers, and the other that

place in the text

uncertain" (Ibid).

Theodor Keim, a German-Christian writer on Jesus, says "The passage cannot be maintained
:

it

has

first

appeared

in this

form

in the Catholic

church of the Jews and Gentiles, and under the

36

The

Christ.

dominion of the Fourth Gospel, and hardly before the third century, probably before Eusebius,

and after Origen, whose bitter criticisms of Josephus may have given cause for it" (Jesus of
Nazara,
p. 25).

Concerning

this

passage,
it

Hausrath,

another

German

writer, says

''must have been penned

at a peculiarly

shameless hour."
of

The Rev.

Dr. Hooykaas,

Holland, says:
historian of

"Flavins Josephus, the well

the Jewish people,

known
in

was born

A. D. 37, only

two years after the death of Jesus; but though his work is of inestimable value as our chief authority for the circumstances
of

the times in

which Jesus and his Apostles came forward, yet he does not seem to have mentioned Jesus himself. At any rate, the passage in his 'J^^^^h Antiquities' that refers to him is certainly spurious, and was inserted by a later and a Christian hand" (Bible for Learners, Vol. Ill, p. 27). This conclusion of Dr. Hooykaas is endorsed by the eminent Dutch critic. Dr. Kuenen. Dr. Alexander Campbell, one of America's
ablest Christian apologists, says
:

''Josephus, the

Jewish historian, was contemporary

his situation

with

the

Apostles, having been born in the year 37.

From

and habits, he had every access to

know

all

that took place at the rise of the Chris-

tian religion.

sephus has thought

"Respecting the founder of this religion, Jofit to be silent in history.

Silence of

Contemporary Writers.

37

The present copies of his work contain one passage which speaks very respectfully of Jesus Christ, and ascribes to him the character of the Messiah. But as Josephus did not embrace Christianity, and as this passage is not quoted
or referred to until the beginning of the fourth

century,
tianity,

it

is,

for these

and other reasons, gen-

erally accounted spurious" (Evidences of Chris-

from Campbell-Owen Debate, p. 312). Another passage in Josephus, relating to the younger Ananus, who was high priest of the Jews in 62 A. D., reads as follows "But this younger Ananus, who, as we have told you already, took the high priesthood, was a bold man in his temper and very insolent; he
also of the sect of Sadducees,

was

who
all

are very

rigid in

judging offenders, above

of the rest
;

of the Jews, as

we have

already observed
of
this

when,
he
Fes-

therefore,

Ananus was

disposition,

thought he had
tus

now

a proper opportunity.

was dead, and Albinus was but upon the

of Jesus,

road; so he assembled the Sanhedrim of judges

and brought before them the brother

who was

called Christ,
;

whose name was James,

and some others

and when he had formed an

(Antiquities,

accusation against them as breakers of the law,

he delivered them to be stoned"

Book 'XX,

chap,
is

ix, sec.

i).

This passage

probably genuine with the ex-

ception of the clause,

"who was

called Christ,"
is

which

is

undoubtedly an interpolation, and

38

The

Christ.

generally regarded as such.

thorities

Nearly

all

the au-

have quoted reject it. It was Some originally probably a marginal note. Christian reader of Josephus believing that the James mentioned v^as the brother of Jesus made a note of his belief in the manuscript before him,
that
I

and

this

a transcriber
text, a

aftervv^ard

incorporated

with the

very

common

practice in that

age when purity of text was a matter of secondary importance.

The

fact that the early fathers,

who were

ac-

quainted with Josephus, and who would have hailed with joy even this evidence of Christ's existence, do not cite it, while Origen expressly
declares that Josephus has not mentioned Christ,
is

conclusive proof that

it

did not exist until the

middle of the third century or later. Those who affirm the genuineness
clause argue that the

of

this

James mentioned by

Jo-

sephus was a person of less prominence than the Jesus mentioned by him, which would be true
of James, the

brother of Jesus

Christ.

Now
Dam-

some

of the

most prominent Jews

living at this

time were named Jesus.

neus, succeeded

Jesus, the son of

Ananus

as high priest that very

little later

year; and Jesus, the son of Gamaliel, a

succeeded to the same

office.

To

identify

the

James
of

of

Josephus
is

with

James the

Just, the brother of Jesus,

to reject

the accepted history

the

primitive church
in

which declares that James the Just died

69 A.

Silence of

Contemporary Writers.

39

D., seven years after the

condemned Whiston

to death

James of Josephus was by the Sanhedrim.

by the Jewish
his-

himself, the translator of Josephus,

referring to the event narrated

torian, admits that James, the brother of Jesus

Christ, "did not die

till

long afterward."

The

brief ''Discourse

Concerning Hades," ap-

"obviously of

pended to the writings of Josephus, is universally conceded to be the product of some other writer
Christian origin''

says the ''En-

cyclopedia Britannica."
Tacitus.

In July, 64 A. D., a great conflagration occurred in

Rome.

There

is

a tradition to the effect

was the work of an incendiary and that the Emperor Nero himself was believed to be the incendiary. Modern editions
that this conflagration
of the

"Annals" of Tacitus contain the following

passage in reference to this: "Nero, in order to stifle the rumor, ascribed it to those people who were abhorred for their
crimes and

commonly

called

Christians: These
that

he punished

exquisitely.

The founder of
by
the

name was was punished

Pontius

Christus, who, in the reign of Tiberius,

as

criminal

procurator,

Pilate.

This

pernicious

superstition,

thus checked for awhile, broke out again; and spread not only over Judea, the source of this evil, but reached the city also whither flow from
:

all

quarters

all

things vile and shameful, and

where they

find shelter

and encouragement.

At

40
first,

The

Christ.

only those were apprehended who confessed themselves of that sect; afterwards, a vast multitude were detected by them, all of whom were condemned, not so much for the crime of burning
the city, as their hatred of mankind.
derision

Their exe-

cutions were so contrived as to expose

them

to

and contempt.
;

Some were covered over

with the skins of wild beasts, and torn to pieces by do^s some were crucified. Others, having

been daubed over with combustible materials, were set up as lights in the night time, and thus burned to death. Nero made use of his own gardens as a theatre on this occasion, and also exhibited the diversions of the circus, sometimes
standing in the crowd as a spectator, in the habit
of a charioteer; at other times driving a chariot
himself,
criminal,
till

began
fare,

to

at length those men, though really and deserving exemplary punishment, be commiserated as people who were

destroyed, not out of regard to the public wel-

but only to gratify the cruelty of one

man"

(Annals, Book

XV,

sec. 44).

must be declared doubtful,

the following reasons
1.

This passage, accepted as authentic by many, if not spurious, for

It is

2.

Tertullian

not quoted by the Christian fathers. was familiar with the writings of

Tacitus, and his arguments

tion of this evidence
3.

demanded

the cita-

had it existed. Clement of Alexandria, at the beginning of

the third century,

made

a compilation of

all

the

Silence of

Contemporary Writers.

41

recognitions of Christ and Christianity that had been made by Pagan writers up to his time.

The
4.

writings of Tacitus furnished no recognition

of them.

Origen, in

his

controversy
it

with
it

Celsus,

would undoubtedly have used

5.

had

existed.

The

ecclesiastical historian Eusebius, in the

fourth century, cites all the evidences of Chrisobtainable from Jewish and Pagan tianity sources, but makes no mention of Tacitus.
6.

It

is

not quoted by any Christian writer

prior to the fifteenth century.

7.

At

this

time but one copy of the "Annals"

this copy,
it is

existed,

and

claimed,

was made

in

the eighth century600 years after the time of

Tacitus.
8.

As

this single

copy was

in the possession of

a Christian the insertion of a forgery was easy. Christianity do not 9. Its severe criticisms of No disprove its Christian origin. necessarily

ancient witness

was more

desirable than Tacitus,

but his introduction at so late a period would

make
10.

rejection certain unless Christian forgery

could be
It

made
is

to appear improbable.

admitted by Christian writers that the works of Tacitus have not been preserved with any considerable degree of fidelity. In the writings ascribed to him are believed to be some
of the writings of Quintilian.
11.

The

blood-curdling story about the fright-

42
ful orgies of

The

Christ.

Nero reads
this

mance
12.

of the dark ages,

In

fact,

like some Christian roand not like Tacitus. story, in nearly the same

words, omitting the reference to Christ, is to be found in the writings of Sulpicius Severus, a
Christian of the
13.

fifth

century.

Suetonius,

while

mercilessly

condemning

the reign of Nero, says that in his public enter-

tainments he took particular care that no human lives should be sacrificed, ''not even those

condemned criminals." At the time that the conflagration occurred, Tacitus himself declares that Nero was not in Rome, but at Antium.
of
14.

Many who

accept the authenticity of this sec-

tion of the ''Annals" believe that the sentence which declares that Christ was punished in the

reign of Pontius Pilate, and which

cized,
is

an interpolation.

have italiWhatever may be said

I

of the remainder of this passage, this sentence

bears the unmistakable stamp of Christian forgery. It interrupts the narrative; it disconnects

two closely related statements. sentence, and there is no break

In
all

Eliminate this
in the narrative.

the

Roman

records there

was

to be

found

no evidence that Christ was put to death by Pontius Pilate. This sentence, if genuine, is the

most important evidence in Pagan literature. That it existed in the works of the greatest and best known of Roman historians, and was ignored or overlooked by Christian apologists for

Silence of
1,360 years,

Contemporary Writers.

43

no

intelligent critic can believe. Taci-

tus did not write this sentence.

Pliny the Younger.

This

Roman

author, early in the second cen-

tury, while serving as a pro-consul

under Tralet-

jan in Bithynia,
ter to his

is

reputed to have written a

his

Emperor concerning
This

treatment of
dealing with

Christians.

letter contains the following:

'T have laid

down

this

rule

in

those

who were brought

I

before

me

for

being

asked whether they were Christians; if they confessed, I asked them a second and a third time, threatening them with punishChristians.

ment;

if

they persevered,

ordered them to be

executed

They assured me that their only crime or error was this, that they were wont to come together on a certain day before it was light, and to sing in turn, among themselves, a
to Christ, as to a god,

hymn

and to bind themdo anything that was wicked, that they would commit no theft, robbery, or adultery, nor break their word, nor deny that anything had been entrusted to them when it therefore I called upon to restore
selves

by an oath

not to

deemed

it

the

servant maids,

more necessary who were said

truth,
it

to enquire of

two

to be attendants,

what was the real ture. But I found

and to apply the torwas nothing but a bad and

excessive superstition."

ter

Notwithstanding an alleged reply to this letfrom Trajan, cited by Tertullian and Euse-

44
bius,
its

The
genuineness

Christ.

may

well be questioned,

and
1.

for the following reasons:

The Roman laws accorded

and the
every religious

religious liberty

to

all,

Roman government
belief.

tolerated

and

protected
tine, there

Renan says

''Among the Roman laws, anterior to Constanwas not a single ordinance directed

against freedom of thought; in the history of

the

Pagan emperors not a single persecution on account of mere doctrines or creeds" (The AposGalileans, or Christians,

tles).

ject of

Gibbon says: ''The religious tenets of the were never made a subpunishment, or even of inquiry" (Rome,

Vol.

II, p. 215).

2. Trajan was one of the most tolerant and benevolent of Roman emperors. 3. Pliny, the reputed author of the letter, is universally conceded to have been one of the most humane and philanthropic of men.
4.

It

represents the distant province of Bithy-

nia

as containing, at this time, a large Chris-

which is improbable. assumes that the Emperor Trajan was 5. little acquainted with Christian beliefs and customs, which cannot be harmonized with the supposed historical fact that the most powerful of
tian population,
It

primitive churches flourished in Trajan's capital

and had existed for

6.

fifty years.

Pliny represents the Christians as declaring

that they were in the habit of meeting and sing-

ing

hymns

"to Christ as to a god."

The

early

Silence of

Contemporary Writers.
Christ
as

45
god,

Christians did not recognize

was not until after the time of Pliny that he was worshiped as such. 7. "I asked whether they were Christians; if they confessed, I asked them a second and a third time, threatening them with punishment; if they persevered I ordered them to be executed." That this wise and good man rewarded lying
and
it

with liberty and truthfulness with death

cult to believe.
8.

is

diffi-

deemed it more necessary to two servant maids, who were said to be attendants, what was the real truth, and to apply the torture." Never have the person and character of woman been held more sacred than they were in Pagan Rome. That one of
"I

therefore

inquire of

the noblest of
ture
ible.
9.

Romans should have put

guiltless of crime
ib

to tor-

young women

incred-

The

declaration of the Christians that they

*'not

took a solemn obligation

that
theft,

to

do anything

was wicked;

that they

would commit no

robbery, or adultery, nor break their word," etc., looks like an ingenious attempt to parade the virtues of primitive Christians. 10. This letter, it is claimed, is to be found
in

but one ancient copy of Pliny.

11.

It was first quoted by Tertullian, and the age immediately preceding Tertullian was noto-

rious for Christian forgeries.

12.

Some

of the best

German

critics reject

it.

46

The

Christ.

Gibbon, while not denying its authenticity, pronounces it a "very curious epistle"; and Dr.
\\'histon,

who

considers
to
its

it

too valuable to disepithets

card,

applies

contents such

as

"amazing doctrine!" "amazing stupidity!"

Josephus, Tacitus, Pliny

these

are the disin-

terested witnesses adduced

church to by prove the historical existence of Jesus Christ; the one writing nearly one hundred years, the
the
al-

others one hundred and ten years after his

leged birth; the testimony of two of them

able forgery.

self-

evident forgeries, and that of the third a prob-

But even

if

the doubtful and hostile letter of

it was not written until the second century, so that there is not to be found in all the records of profane history prior to the

Pliny be genuine,

second century a single allusion to the reputed founder of Christianity. To these witnesses is sometimes, though rarely, added a fourth, Suetonius, a Roman historian who, like Tacitus and Pliny, wrote in the second

century.

In his "Life of Nero," Suetonius says:

"The
"Life

Christians, a race of

men

of a

new and
In his

villainous superstition,
of

were punished."
says:

Claudius,"

(Irene the Jews,

who

[Claudius] at the instigation of Chres-

he

"He

tus were constantly rioting, out of

Rome."
contend

Of
that

course
Christ

no candid Christian

will

was

inciting Jewish riots at

Rome

fifteen

years after he was crucified at Jerusalem.

Silence of
Significant
is

Contemporary Writers.

47

and Pagan writers named

this

the silence of the forty Jewish in this chapter. This

silence alone disproves Christ's existence.

Had

wonderful being really existed the earth v/ould have resounded with his fame. His

mighty deeds would have engrossed every hisThe pages of other writers would have abounded with references to him. Think of going through the literature of the nineteenth century and searching in vain for the name of Napoleon Bonaparte Yet Napoleon was a pigmy and his deeds trifles compared with this Christ and the deeds he is said to have pertorian's pen.
!

formed.

With withering irony Gibbon notes

nous silence
:

this

omi-

"But how

shall

we

excuse the su-

pine inattention of the Pagan and philosophic

world, to those evidences which were represent-

ed by the hand of Omnipotence, not to their

During the age of and of their first disciples, the doctrine which they preached was confirmed by innumerable prodigies. The lame walked, the blind saw, the sick were healed, the dead were raised, demons were expelled, and the laws of Nature were frequently suspended But the sages of for the benefit of the church. Greece and Rome turned aside from the awful spectacle, and, pursuing the ordinary occupations of life and study, appeared unconscious' of any alterations in the moral or physical
reason, but to their senses?
Christ,

of his

apostles,

48
government
Tiberius,

The
the

Christ.

of the world.

Under the reign

or at least a

of

whole

earth,

cele-

brated province of the Roman empire, was involved in a preternatural darkness of three

Even this miraculous event, which ought to have excited the wonder, the curiosity, and the devotion of mankind, passed without noIt happentice in an age of science and history. lifetime of Seneca and the elder ed during the Pliny, who must have experienced the immedihours.
ate effects, or received the earliest intelligence
of the prodigy.

Each

of these philosophers, in
all

a laborious work, has recorded

the

great

phenomena

of

Nature,

earthquakes,

meteors,

comets, and eclipses, which his indefatigable cuBoth the one and the jiosity could collect.
other have omitted to mention the greatest phe-

nomenon
ness
Vol.
-

to

since
I,

the

which the mortal eye has been witcreation of the globe" (Rome,

pp. 588-590).

for the sake of argument, both the authenticity and the credibility of these

Even conceding,

passages attributed

to

the

Roman

historians,

what do they prove? Do they prove that Christ was divine that he was a supernatural being, as No more than do the writings of claimed? Paine and Voltaire, which also contain his

name.

This evidence

is

favorable, not to the ad-

herents, but to the opponents, of Christianity.

If these passages be genuine, and their authors have penned historical truths, it simply confirms

Silence of

Contemporary Writers.

49

what most Rationalists admit, that

sect called Christians,

a rehgious

who

recognized Christ as

their founder, existed as early as the first cen-

tury; and confirms

what some have charged, but

loath to admit, that primitive

what the church

Christians,

is

who have been declared the highest exemplars of human virtue, were the most depraved of
villains.

An
named
tion,
sect.

unlettered

and

credulous

enthusiast,

Jones, imagines that he has had a revela-

and proceeds to found a new religious He gathers about him a band of "disciples" as ignorant and credulous as himself. He soon gets into trouble and is killed. But the Jonesists increase increase in numbers and in meanness until at length they become sufficiently notorious to receive a paragraph from an annalist who, after holding them up to ridicule and scorn, accounts for their origin by stating that they take their name from one Jones who, during the administration of President RooseThe world convelt, was hanged as a criminal. mostly fools, tains two billions of inhabitants as Carlyle would say and as the religion of this sect is a little more foolish than that of any

other sect,

it

continues to spread until at the

it

end of two thousand years

covers the globe.

of
this

Then
nalist

think of the

adherents

religion
this an-

citing the

uncomplimentary allusion of to prove that Jones was a god!

CHAPTER
The Four

III.

Cbrisffan Evidence.
Gospels.

Farrar, in his "Life of Christ,'' concedes and

deplores the dearth of evidence concerning the

subject of his work.
of

He

says:

''It is

Httle short

amazing that neither history nor tradition should have embalmed for us one certain or
life

precious saying or circumstance in the

of the

Savior of Mankind,

except
in

the

comparatively

few events recorded

raphies."

four

very brief biog-

With

these four brief biographies, the

fall.

Gospels, Christianity must stand or four documents,

it

Four These

is

admitted, contain practi-

which can be adduced in proof of the existence and divinity of Jesus Christ. Profane history, as we have seen, affords no proof of this. The so-called apocryphal litcally all the evidence

erature of the early church has been discarded by the church itself. Even the remaining canonical books of the New Testament are of little consequence if the testimony of the Four Evangelists

be successfully

impeached.
60

Disprove

the authenticity and credibility of these docu-

Christian Evidence.

51
to the

ments and

this Christian deity

is

removed

mythical realm of Apollo, Odin, and Osiris. In a previons work, "The Bible," I have shown
that the books of the

New

few exceptions, are not authentic.

dence cannot be reproduced here in

Testament, with a This evifull.

brief

Gospels, it is claimed, were written Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, two of them by apostles, and two companions of the apostles of
Christ.
If this

summary of The Four

it

must

suffice.

claim be true the other writings

of

of the apostles, the writings

the

Apostolic
of the

Fathers, and the writings of the early Christian

Fathers, ought to contain
fact.

some evidences

Twenty books^ nearly all of the remaining books of the New Testament are said to have been written by the three apostles, Peter, John, and Paul, a portion of them after the first three Gospels were written; but it is admitted that they contain no evidence whatever of the exist-

ence of these Gospels.

There are extant writings accredited to the

Apostolic Fathers, Clement of Rome, Barnabas,

Hermas, Ignatius, and Polycarp; written, for the most part, early in the second century. These writings contain no mention of the Four Gospels. This also is admitted by Christian scholars. Dr. Dodwell says: "We have at this day certain most authentic ecclesiastical writers of Romanus, Barnabas, the times, as Clemens

52
Hernias,
in

The
Ignatius,

Christ. Polycarp,
I

the

order

and wherein

have

who wrote named them,

all wTitcrs of the the New after and But in Hermas you will not Testament. find one passage or any mention of the New Testament, nor in all the rest is any one of the

Evangelists
naeus).

named"

(Dissertations

upon

Ire-

The Four Gospels were unknown

Christian Fathers.

to the early

Justin Martyr, the most em-

inent of the early Fathers, wrote about the middle of the second century.
of the divinity of Christ,

His writings in proof demanded the use of

these Gospels had they existed in his time.

He

makes more than three hundred quotations from the books of the Old Testament, and nearly one
hundred from the Apocryphal books of the New Testament; but none from the Four Gospels.

"The very names of the- Evangelists, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and do John, are never mentioned by him [Justin]
Dr. Giles says:

The Rev.

not occur once in

all

his

writings"

(Christian
a contem-

Records,

p.

71).

Papias, another noted Father,

was

porary of Justin. He refers to writings of Matthew and Mark, but his allusions to them clearly
indicate that they were not the Gospels of Matthew and Mark. Dr. Davidson, the highest English authority on the canon, says: "He [Papias] neither felt the want nor knew the existence of inspired Gospels" (Canon of the Bible, p. 123).

Christian Evidence.
Theophilus,

53

after the middle of the second century, mentions the Gospel of John, and Irenaeus, wlio wrote a little later, mentions all of the Gospels, and makes nulatter half of the

who wrote

merous quotations from them.

of the second century, then,

In the latter half

between the time

of Justin and Papias, and the time of Theophilus and Irenaeus. the Four Gospels were undoubtedly written or compiled.

These books are anonymous. They do not purport to have been written by M'atthew, Mark, Luke and John. Their titles do not affirm it. They simply imply that they are "according" to
the supposed teachings of these Evangelists.

As

Renan

says, ''They merely

signify

that

these

were the traditions proceeding from each of these Apostles, and claiming their authority." Concerning their authorship the Rev. Dr. Hooykaas
says
:

placed above them in our Bibles

"They appeared anonymously. owe

(Bible

The

titles

their origin

to a later ecclesiastical tradition

which deserves
for

no confidence whatever"
Vol. Ill,
It is
p. 24).

Learners,

claimed that the Gospel of Matthew origin

inally appeared

Hebrew.

Our

version

is

translation of a Greek work.

Regarding

this St.
it

Jerome says Greek is not

:

"Who

afterwards translated
certain."

into

sufficiently

The

conse-

quences of
lost,

this

admission are thus expressed by

Michaelis: "If the original text of

Matthew

is

and we have nothing but a Greek

transla-

54
kon
;

The
then, frankly,

Christ.
ascribe any divine

we cannot

inspiration to the words/'

The
They

contents of these books refute the claim

that they

were written by the Evangelists named.

narrate events and contain doctrinal teach-

ings which belong to a later age.

cribes to Christ the following language:

art

Matthew as"Thou

Peter,

and upon
i8).

this

rock

will build
is

my

church"

(xvi,

This Gospel

Roman

Catholic Gospel, and

was written

after the be-

ginning of the establishment of this hierarchy

to

of

uphold the supremacy of the Petrine Church Rome. Of this Gospel Dr. Davidson says
indeed,

"The author,

must ever remain unknown''

Testament,
is

(Introduction to

New
Luke

p. ^2).

The Gospel

of

addressed to Theophilus.

Theophilus, Bishop of Antioch,

ter half of the

who

is

believed

to be the person addressed, flourished in the lat-

second century.

Dr. Schleiermacher, one of Germany's greatest

theologians, after a critical analysis of Luke, con

merely a compilation, made up Bishop Thirlwall's Schleiermacher says: "He [Luke] is

eludes that
it is

of thirty-three preexisting manuscripts.

piler

from bec^inning to end no more than the comand arranger of documents which he found

in existence" (p. 313).

The
tion,

basis of this Gospel

is

generally believed

to be the Gospel of Marcion, a Pauline compila-

made about
Concerning

the middle of the second centhis Gospel, the Rev. S. Bar-

tury.

Christian Evidence.

55

ing-Gould, in his ''Lost and Hostile Gospels,"

says
:

''The arrangement

is

so similar that
it

we

are forced to the conclusion that

was

either

used by

St.
If

Luke or

that

it

was

his original

com-

he used it then his right to the title position. of author of the Third Gospel falls to the ground, as what he added was of small amount." Mark, according to Renan, is the oldest of the
Gospels
;

but Mark, according to Strauss, was

Matthew and Luke were written. He says: "It is evidently a compilation, whether made from memory or otherwise, from the first and third Gospels" (Leben Judge Waite, in his "History of Jesu, p. 51).
written after the Gospels of
Christianity," says that
all

but twenty-four verses

of this Gospel have their parallels in Matthew and Luke. Davidson declares it to be an anonymous work. "The author," he says, "is unknown." Omitting the last twelve verses of Mark, which all Christian critics pronounce spurious, the book contains no mention of the two great miracles

which mark the

limits of Christ's earthly career,

his miraculous birth

and

his ascension.

three Gospels, the "EncyBritannica" says "It is certain that the clopedia Synoptic Gospels took their present form only

Concerning the

first

by degrees."

Of these books Dr. Westcott says

"Their substance is evidently much older than Professor Robertson Smith protheir form." nounces them "unapostolic digests of the seconl
century."

^S

The
Fourth Gospel

Christ.

The
of the

internal evidence against the authenticity

is

conclusive.

John did not write it. Jews the author of the Fourth Gospel w^as not a Jew. John was born at Bethsaida; the author of the Fourth Gospel did not know where Bethsaida was located. John was an uneducated fisherman the author of this Gospel w^as an accomplished scholar. Some of the most important
;

John, the apostle,

The Apostle was a

events in the
clare,

life

of Jesus,

the
;

Synoptics de-

were witnessed by John

of these events.
;

the author of this

knows nothing
pel did not.

The Apostle John

witnessed the crucifixion

the author of this Gosthe

The

Apostles, including John, be

a

lieved Jesus to be

man;

author

of

the

Fourth Gospel believed him to be a god. Regarding the authorship of the Fourth Gospel, Dr. Davidson says: "The Johannine authorship has receded before the tide of
icism,
it

modern
the

crit-

and though
here

this tide is

arbitrary at times,
of Bible,

is

irresistible"

(Canon

p. 127).

That the authenticity of the Four Gospels

cannot be maintained is conceded by every imThe author of '^Supernatural Repartial critic. ligion," in one of the most profound and exhaustive works on this subject ever written, expresses the result of his labors in the following

words: "After having exhausted the literature and the testimony bearing on the point, we have not found a single distinct trace of any of those

Christian Evidence.

57

Gospels during the

11, p. 248).

first

century and a half after

the death of Jesus" (Supernatural Religion, Vol.

Fifteen hundred years ago, Bishop Faustus, a

heretical Christian theologian, referring to this socalled Gospel history, wrote: "It
is

allowed not to

have been written by the son himself nor by his

apostles, but long after

by some unknown men

of,

who,
the

lest

they should be suspected of writing

things they

knew nothing
is

gave to their books

the world's

names

of the Apostles."

The following
greatest Bible

the

verdict of

Baur: ''These Gospels are spurious, and were written in the second cencritic,

tury."

Acts, Catholic Epistles, and Revelation.

The Acts of the Apostles is supposed to have been written by the author of the Third Gospel. Like this book it is anonymous and of late origin.
It

contains historical

inaccuracies,

contradicts

the Gospel of Matthew, and conflicts with the

writings of Paul.

Concerning the

last,

the ''Bible

for Learners" (Vol. Ill, p. 25) says: "In the first

two chapters
life
;

of the Epistle to the Galatians, he

[Paul] gives us several details of his

own

past

by and no sooner do we clearly perceive side with that of the Acts than we that this book contains an incorrect account, and
place his story side
that
its

inaccuracy

is

not the result of accident

or ignorance, but of a deliberate design." This book purports to be the product chiefly

58
of three

The
minds
:

Christ.

that of the author

who

gives a

historical sketch of the early church,

and those

of Peter

and Paul whose discourses are reported.

And

yet the three compositions are clearly the

products of one mind

that
work

of the author.
is

The

evident purpose of the

to heal the bitter

dissensions which existed between the Petrine

and Pauline churches, and

as the date of
its

this

points

unmis-

takably to the latter part of the second century

appearance,

when

the

work

of

uniting the various Christian sects into the Catholic

church began. Renan considers this the most

faulty

book

of the

New

Testament.

The seven
Second Peter,

Catholic Epistles, James, First and

First,

Second and Third John, and

of the Christian Fathers

Jude, have never been held in very high esteem

by the church.

Many

rejected them, while modern Christian scholars have generally considered them of doubtful authenticity. The first and last of these were re-

jected

by Martin Luther.

"St.

James' Epistle,"
ed. 1524). Jude,
St.

says Luther, "is truly an epistle of straw" (Preface to Luther's

New

Testament,

he says, "is an abstract or copy of

Peter's

Second, and allegeth stories and sayings which

have no place

in

Scripture" (Standing Preface).

of

The

First

Epistle

Peter

and

the

First

Epistle of John have p'enerally been accorded a

higher degree of authority than the others; but even these were not written by apostles, nor in
the
first

century.

Dr.

Soury says that First

Christian Evidence.
Peter "dates,
pels, p. 32).
in
all

59

probability,

130 A. D., at the earliest"

from the year (Jesus and the Gos-

Irenaeus, the founder of the

New

Testament canon, rejected it. The Dutch critics, who deny the Johannine authorship of the Fourth Gospel, and assign its composition to the second

'The First Epistle of John soon issued from the same school in imitation of the Gospel" (Bible for Learners, Vol. Ill, p. 692).
century, say
:

there

Second Peter is a forgery. Westcott says is no proof of its existence prior to 170

A. D. Smith's ''Bible Dictionary" says

ject

"Many
John

re-

the

epistle

as

altogether

spurious."

The
are

brief epistles of

Second

and

Third

anonymous and

of very late origin.

purport to be the writings of

scriptions declare

They do not John. The superelder,

and from an apostle. The early Fathers ignored them. Revelation is the only book in the Bible which claims to be the word of God. At the same time it is the book of which Christians have always been the most suspicious. It is addressed to the seven churches of Asia, but the seven churches of Asia
to be
this precludes the claim that they are

them

from an

churchmen toward
:

Concerning the attitude of ancient it, Dionysius, Bishop of Alexandria, says "Divers of our predecessors have wholly refused and rejected this book, and by discussing the several parts thereof have found it obscure and void of reason and the title
rejected
it.

forged."

6o

The

Christ.
of Protes-

"The most learned and intelHgent

tant divines," says the Edinburgh Review, "almost all doubted or denied the canonicity of the book of Revelation." It is a book which, Dr.

South
so."

said, "either

found a

man mad
its

or left

him
Luis

Calvin and Beza both forbade their clergy

to attempt

an explanation of

contents.

ther says: "In the Revelation of John

much

wanting

to let

me deem

it

either prophetic or

apostolical" (Preface to N. T., 1524).

Considered as evidences of Christ's historical existence and divinity these nine books are of no
value.

They

are

all

anonymous writings or
origin.

for-

geries, and, with the possible exception of Revelation,

of very

late

While they

affirm

Christ's existence they are almost entirely silent

regarding his

life

and miracles.
Epistles of Paul.
epistles

The

Of the fourteen
seven
ians, First

ascribed

to

Paul,

Ephesians, Colossians, Second Thessalon-

brews

are

and Second Timothy, Titus, and Heconceded by nearly all critics to be

and

spurious, while three others

Thessalonians,

Philippians, First Philemon are generally

first

classed as doubtful.

The general
is

verdict concerning the

seven

thus expressed by the Rev. Dr.

Hooykaas:

"Fourteen epistles arc said to be Paul's; but we must at once strike oflF one, namely, that to the

Hebrews, which does not bear

his

name

at

all.

Christian Evidence.
.

6i

Timothy and the letter composed long after the death of Paul. ... It is more than possible that the letters to the Ephesians and Colossians are also unauthentic, and the same suspicion rests, perhaps, on the first, but certainly on the second
.
.

The two

letters to

to Titus were certainly

of the Epistles to the Thessalonians" (Bible for

Learners, Vol. Ill,

p. 23).

The author

of

Second Thessalonians, whose

declares
First

epistle is a self-evident forgery,

Thessalonians to be a forgery. Baur and the Tubingen school reject both Epistles. Baur also
rejects Philippians:

"The

Epistles to the
.

Col-

ossians and to the Philippians

are spurious,

and were written by the Catholic school near the end of the second century, to heal the vStrife

between
(Paulus).
ics

the

Dr.

Jew and the Gentile factions" Kuenen and the other Dutch crit-

admit that Philippians and Philemon, as well

forgeries
is

as First Thessalonians, are doubtful.

That the Pastoral Epistles are

conceded by
all

now

man

critics

According to the Gerthey belong to the second century.

critics.

Hebrews does not purport to be ment. Luther says 'The Epistle

:

a Pauline docuto the

Hebrews

is

not by

St.

Paul, nor, indeed, by any apostle"

(Standing Preface to Luther's N. T.). Four Epistles Romans, First and Second Cor-

inthians,
critics,

and Galatians

while rejected by a

few
it

are generally admitted to be the genuine

writings of Paul.

These books were written,

62
is

The

Christ.

claimed, about a quarter of a century after the

death of Christ.

New

They are the only books of the Testament whose authenticity can be mainauthenticity
of

tained.

Admitting the
however,
ity.
is

these

books,

not admitting the historical exist-

ence of Christ and the divine origin of Christian-

Paul was not a witness of the alleged events upon which Christianity rests. He did not become a convert to Christianity until many years
after the death of Christ.

He

did not see Christ

(save in a vision)

he did not listen to his teach-

ings; he did not learn from his disciples.

"The

Gospel which was preached of

me

is

not after

man,
I

for

neither received
(Gal.
i,

it

of

man, neither was

taught

it"

ii, 12).

Paul accepted only

to a very small extent the religion of Christ's disciples.

He

professed to derive his knowledge

from

supernatural

visions.

sources from trances and Regarding the value of such testimony

(p.

the author of "Supernatural Religion"

970)

says

"No one

can

deny,

and

medical

and

psychological annals prove, that

many men have

been subject to visions and hallucinations which have never been seriously attributed to supernatural causes.

There

is

not one single valid reason

removing the

ecstatic visions

and trances of the

Apostle Paul from this class."

The corporeal
writings of Paul.

existence of the Christ of the

in

Evangelists receives slight confirmation

the

His Christ was not the

incar-

Christian Evidence.
nate

63
Mat-

Word

of John, nor the demi-god of

Of the immaculate conception of Jesus he knew nothing. To him Christ was the son of God in a spiritual rather than in a
"His son Jesus Christ our Lord, which was made of the seed of David according to the flesh and declared to be the son of God
;

thew and Luke.

physical sense.

with power, according to the

spirit of holiness,

by the resurrection from the dead" (Rom. i, 3, 4). *'God sent forth his son, made of a woman [but
not of a virgin],
4).

made under

the law" (Gal.

iv,

With

the

Evangelists the proofs of Christ's

divinity are his miracles.

Their books teem with accounts of these. But Paul evidently knows nothing of these miracles. With him the evi-

dences of Christ's divine mission are his resurrection and the spiritual gifts conferred on those who accept him.

The Evangelists

teach a material resurrection.

visited his

When
in

the

women

tomb

''they entered

and found not the body of Jesus" (Luke xxiv, The divine messengers said to them, ''He 3). is not here, but is risen" (6). "He sat at meat" with his disciples; "he took bread, and blessed it, and brake, and gave to them" (30). "Then he said to Thomas, Reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands; and reach hither thy hand, and
thrust
it

into,

my

side" (John xx, 27).

This

is

entirely at variance with the teachings of Paul.

"But now

is

Christ risen from the dead, and be-

64
come
since

The
the
first

Christ.
of

them that slept. For by man came death, by man came also the
fruits
(i

resurrection of the dead"

Cor. xv, 20, 21).

"But some man will say, How are the dead raised up? and with what body do they come? Thou fool, that which thou sowest is not quickened, except it die; and that which thou sowest, thou sowest not that body that shall be" (35-37)"It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body" (44). "Now this I say brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the Jcingdom
of

God" (50). The Christ

that Paul

saw

in a vision
;

was

spiritual

being

an

apparition

and

this appear-

ance he considers of exactly the same character as the post mortem appearances of Christ to his
disciples.

"He was

seen of Cephas, then of the

twelve

after that he

was seen
; .
. .

of above five hun-

dred brethren at once seen of James; then of

last of all,

after that, he

was

all

the Apostles.

And

he was seen of

me

also" (i Cor. xv,

5-8),

CHAPTER
Cbe Infancy

IV.

of ebri$t*

We

authentic,

have seen that the Four Gospels are not that they are anonymous writings

If which appeared late in the second century. their contents seemed credible and their statements harmonized with each other this want of authenticity would invalidate their authority, because the testimony of an unknown witness can-

On the other not be accepted as authoritative. hand, if their authenticity could be established,
if

it

could be

shown

that they were written by

the authors claimed, the incredible and contradictory character of their contents
their authority.

would destroy

As
ly
is

historical

documents these books are hardcredit.

worthy

of

The

''Arabian

Nights"

almost as worthy of credit as the

Four Gos-

pels.

In both are to be found accounts of things

possible and of things impossible.

To

believe

the impossible

is

gross superstition; to believe

it

the possible,

simply because

is

possible,

is

blind credulity.

These books are adduced as

the credentials of Christ.

critical analysis of

these credentials reveals hundreds of errors.

65

presentation of these errors will occupy the five

66

The

Christ.
If
it

succeeding chapters of this work.

can be

shown that they contain errors, however trivial seme of them may appear, this refutes the
claim of inerrancy and divinity.
If
it

can be
this

shown

that they

abound with

errors,

de-

stroys their credibiHty as historical documents.

Destroy the credibility of the Four Gospels and

you destroy

all

proofs of Christ's divinity

all

proofs of his existence.

I

When was
:

Jesus born?

Matthew: "In the days of Herod" (ii, i). Luke "When Cyrenius was governor of
Syria"
(ii,

1-7).

Nearly every biographer gives the date of his subject's birth. Yet not one of the Evangelists

gives the date of Jesus' birth. Two, Matthew and Luke, attempt to give the time approximately. But between these two attempts
there
is

a discrepancy of at least ten years; for

Herod died 4 B. C, while Cyrcrdus did not become governor of Syria until 7 A. D.

reconciliation

of

these
clearly

statements
states
Hi at

is

im-

possible.

Matthew

Jesus

was born during the reign of Herod. Luke states that Augustus Caesar issued a decree that the world should be taxed, that "this taxing was first made when Cyrenius was governor of Syria," and that Jesus was born at the time of
this taxing.

The

following extracts

from

Josephus,

the

Tho

Infancy of Christ.

67

renowned historian of the race and country to which Jesus belonged, give the date of this taxing and the time that elapsed between the death of Herod and the taxing, and which reckoned backward from this gives the date of Herod's
death
the alteration of his

upon mind; for he appointed Antipas, to whom he had before left his kingdom, to be tetrarch of Galilee and Berea, and
altered his testament
.
. .

"And now Herod

granted the kingdom to Archelaus

B. xvii, ch.
8, sec. i).

When

he had done these things he died" (Antiquities, year of Archelaus's government, both his brethren, and the principal men
in the tenth

"But

of

his

Judea and Samaria, not being able to bear barbarous and tyrannical usage of them, accused him before Caesar And when he was
.

come
tain

Rome], Caesar, upon hearing what ceraccusers of his had to say, and what reply
[to

he could make, both banished him, and appointed Vienna, a city of Gaul, to be the place of his
habitation, and took his
(Ibid, ch. 13, sec. 2).

money away from him"

"Archelaus's country was laid to the ^province

of Syria; and Cyrenius, one that had been consul,

was sent by

Caesar

to

take
sell

account

of

people's effects in Syria, and to

of Archelaus" (lb. sec. 5).

the house

"When
laus's

Cyrenius had now disposed of Archemoney, and when the taxings were come

68
to a conchision,

The

Christ.
in the thirty-

which were made

victory

seventh

of
etc.

Caesar's

over

Antony

at

Actim,"

(lb., B. xviii, ch. 2, sec. i).

Actium was fought September thirty-seventh year from this 2, comprehended the time elapsing between battle September 2, A. D. 6, and September 2, A. D. 7, the mean of which was March 2, A. D. 7. The

The

battle of

B. C. 31.

The

mean
in

of the tenth year preceding this

which Tlerod died was September 2, B. C. 4. It has been suggested by some unacquainted with Roman history that Cyrenius [Quirinus] may have been twice governor of Syria, Cyrenius was but once governor of Syria, and this During the last years of not until 7 A. D. Herod's reign, and during all the years of Archelaus's reign, Sentius Saturninus and Quintilius Varus held this office. Even if Cyrenius had previojsly held the office the events rolaied by Luke could not have occurred then because
Judea prior to 7 A. D. was not a part of Syria. The second chapter of Luke which narrates the birth and infancy of Jesus, conflicts with the
first
is

the

year

chapter of this book.

stated

In this chapter
the

it

expressly

that

Zacharias,

priest,

lived in the time of

Herod and,

inferentially, that

the conceptions of John and Jesus occurred at

this time.

Christian chronology,

by which
from

events
birth

are
of

supposed

to

be

reckoned

the

Christ, agrees with neither

Matthew nor Luke,

The Infancy of Christ.

69

but dates from a point nearly intermediate between the two. According to Matthew, Christ

was born

at

least

five

years
;

before

the

be-

ginning of the Christian era

according to Luke he was born at least six years after the beginning of the Christian era. This is 1907:

but according to Matthew Christ was born not later than 1912 years ago; while according to Luke he was born not earlier than 1901 years ago.

At least ten different opinions regarding the year of Christ's birth have been advanced by
Christian scholars. Dodwell places it in 6 B. C, Chrysostom 5 3 C, Usher, whose opinion is most commonly received, 4 B. C, Irenaeus 3 B. C, Jerome 2 B. C, Tertullian i B. C. Some modern authorities place it in i A. D., others
in 2

A. D., and

still

others in 3 A.
as
infallible

D.

while

those

who

accept
it

Luke
2

authority

must place

as late as 7 A. D.

It is generally

assumed that Jesus was born

In the last

year of Herod's reign.

How

long

was he born? Matthew: At least two years (il, 1-16). Matthew says that when the wise men visited Herod he diligently inquired of them the time when the star which announced the birth of
before the close of Herod's reign

When he determined to Jesus first appeared. destroy Jesus and massacred the Infants of
and the surrounding country, he slew those "from two years old and under, ac-

Bethlehem

70

The

Christ.

cording to the time which he had diHgently inquired of the wise men," clearly indicating that Jesus was nearly or quite two years old at this
time.

In attempting to reconcile Matthew's visit of the wise men to Jesus at Bethlehem with the
narrative of Luke, which
less

makes

his stay there

than six weeks, it has been assumed that this visit occurred immediately after his birth, whereas, according to Matthew, it did not occur
until

about two years after his birth.

3

In what month and on what day of the month was he born? Not one of his biographers is prepared to tell primitive Christians did not know; the church A hunhas never been able to determine this. dred different opinions regarding it have been Wagenseil expressed by Christian scholars. places it in February, Paulius in March, Oreswell in April, Lichtenstein in June, Strong in August, Lightfoot in September, and Newcome Clinton says that he was born in October. in the Spring; Larchur says that he was born
in

the

Fall.

Some
;

early

Christians believed

that it occurred on the 5th of January; others others still on the 20th of the 19th of April May. The Eastern church believed that he was

The church of Rome, in the fourth century, selected the 25th. of December on which to celebrate the anniverborn on the 7th of January.

The

Infancy of Christ.
;

71

sary of his birth and this date has been accepted by the greater portion of the Christian
worUl.

4 determined the selection of this date? "There was a double reason for selecting this In the first place it had been observed day. from a hoary antiquity as a heathen festival,

What

following the longest night of the winter solstice, and was called 'the Birthday of the Unconquerable Sun."
It

was

a fine thought to celebrate

of

on that day the birth

called ''the light of the

him

whom
. .

the Gospel

world"

The second

reason was, that at Rome the days from the 17th to the 23d of December were devoted to These days were unbridled merrymaking.
called the Saturnalia
.
.

Now
the

the church

was

always anxious to

meet

heathen,

whom

she had converted or was beginning to convert, half-way, by allowing them to retain the feasts they were accustomed to, only giving them a
Christian dress, or attaching a new and Christian signification to them" (Bible for Learners,
vol.
iii,

pp. 66, 67).

Gibbon says: "The Roman Christians, ignorant of the real time of the birth of Jesus, fixed the solemn festival on the 25th of December,

the winter solstice

when
5

the

Pagans annually

celebrated the birth of the sun."

What

precludes the acceptance of this date?

y2

The

Christ.

Luke: At the time of his birth "there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flocks by night"
(ii,

8).
in

Shepherds did not abide

the

field

with

their flocks at night in mid-winter.

The Rev.
English

Cunningham

Gcikie, D. D.,

leading

orthodox authority on Christ, says: "One knows how wretched even Rome is in winter and Palestine is much worse during hard Nor is it likely that shepherds would weather. through the night, except during unsealie out sonably fine weather" (Christmas at Bethlehem,
in

Deems' Holydays and Holidays, p. 405). "The nativity of Jesus in December should

be given up."

Dr.

Adam

Clarke.

In regard to the date of Christ's birth Dr.

Farrar says: "It must be admitted that

we

can-

not demonstrate the exact year of the nativity. . .

As

to the

day and month of the nativity

it

is

certain that they can never be recovered;

were absolutely unknown to the early fathers, and there is scarcely one month of the year which has not been fixed upon as probable by modern critics."
they

The

inability of

Christians to determine
is

the

date of Christ's birth

one of the strongest

proofs of his non-existence as a historical character.

Were

the story of his miraculous birth

life

and marvelous

true

the date of his birth

The

Infancy of Christ.

73

would have been preserved and would be today,

the best authenticated fact in history.

6
Jesus born? Matthew and Luke: In Bethlehem of Judea (Matt, ii, i; Luke ii, 1-7).

Where was

Matthe^v and which are clearly of later origin than the remaining documents composing the books and which many Christian
stories
in

Aside from

these

Luke concerning the

nativity,

is not a word in the Four Gospels to confirm the claim that Jesus was born in Bethlehem. Every statement in Mat-

scholars reject, there

thew, Mark, Luke, and John, as well as Acts, concerning his nativity, is to the effect that he was born in Nazareth of Galilee. He is never
called "Jesus of Bethlehem," but

of

always ''Jesus According to modern usage "Jesus of Nazareth" might merely signify that Nazareth was the place of his residence and not
Nazareth."
place
of
his
birth.

necessarily the

But

this

usage was unknown to the Jews. Had he been born at Bethlehem, he would, according to the Jewish custom, have been called "Jesus of Bethlehem," because the place of birth always determined this distinguishing adjunct, and the
fact of his having removed to another place would not have changed it.

Peter (Acts
Philip (John

ii,

22;

iii,

6)

i,

45), Cleopas

Paul (Acts xxvi, 9), and his companion

(Luke xxiv,

19),

Pilate

(John xix, 19), Judas

74

The

Christ.

and the band sent to arrest Jesus (John xviii, 5, 7), the High Priest's maid (Mark xiv, 67), blind Bartimaeus (Mark x, 47), the unclean spirits

(Mark
xviii,

i,

24;
his

Luke

iv,

34), the multitudes that

attended Nazareth.

meetings

(Matt,

xxi,

11;

Luke

37), all

declared him to be a native of

To

the foregoing

may

be added the testimony

of Jesus himself.

he was he (Acts

When Paul asked him who answered: "I am Jesus of Nazareth"

the

xxii, 8).

Jews rejected Christ because Galilee and not in Bethlehem. But some ''Others said, This is the Christ. Hath said, Shall Christ come out of Galilee? the scriptures said, That Christ cometh out not of the seed of David, and out of the town of Bethlehem, where David was?" (John vii, 41,
of

Many

he was born

in

42).

Concerning
ers" says:

this subject the "Bible for

Learn-

"The

primitive tradition declared em-

phatically that Nazareth was the place from which Jesus came. We may still see this distinctly enough in our Gospels. Jesus is concalled the Nazarene, or Jesus of Nazastantly This was certainly the name by which reth. he was known in his own time; and of course such local names were given to men from the place of their birth, and not from the place in which they lived, which might constantly be changing. Nazareth is called in so many words

The
his

Infancy of Christ.
his native city,
iii,

75

own, that
it

is

and he himself

declares

so" (vol.

pp. 39, 40).

That Jesus the man, if such a being existed, was not born at Bethlehem is affirmed by all That he could not have been born at critics. Nazareth, it is Nazareth is urged by many.
asserted, did not exist at this time.

Christian
its

scholars admit that there

istence
at

is

no proof of

ex-

the beginning of the

Christian

era

outside of the

New
a

Testament.
perhaps

The Encycloauthority,
to

pedia

Biblica,

leading

Christian

says: *'We cannot

positively that there
in Jesus' time."

venture
city called

assert

was a
7

Nazareth

His reputed birth at Bethlehem was in fulfillment of what prophecy? ''And thou Bethlehem, in the land of Juda,
art not the least

for out of thee shall

among the princes come a governor

ii,

of

Juda;

that shall

rule

my

people Israel" (Matthew

is|

6).
v,
2.

This

a misquotation of
it

Micah

The

passage as

appears in our version of the Old

itself
it

Testament
ly

is

a mistranslation.

Correct-

rendered

does not

mean

that this ruler

come from Bethlehem, but simply that he shall be a descendant of David whose
shall

family belonged to Bethlehem.

Concerning this prophecy it may be said, I. That Jesus never became governor or ruler of 2. That the ruler referred to was to be Israel
:

76
a military leader

The
who

Christ.

should deliver Israel from

this

the

Assyrians.

''And

man

shall

be the
into the

peace,

when
. .

the Assyrian shall

come

land

thus shall he deliver us from the As5, 6).

svrian" CMicah v,

8 Son of David. Why? Matthew and Luke Because Joseph, who was not his father, but merely his guardian or foster father, was descended from David. The Jews expected a Messiah. This expectaJesus
is

called the

tion

was

realized,

it

is

claimed, in Jesus Christ.

His Messianic marks, however, were not discernible and the Jews, for the most part, reThis Messiah must be a son of jected him. David. Before Jesus' claims could even be considered his Davidic descent must be established. This Matthew and Luke attempt to do. Each gives what purports to be a genealogy of him.
If

these genealogies agree they

may
false.

be false;

if

they do not agree one must be

How many
to Jesus?

9 generations were there from David

Matthew: Twenty-eight (i, 6-16). Luke: Forty-three (iii, 23-31). Luke makes two more generations from David to Jesus in a period of one thousand years

than Matthew does from

Abraham

to Jesus in a

period of two thousand years.

The Infancy of
10

Christ.

77

How many
ham
to Jesus?

generations were there from Abra-

Matthew: "From Abraham to David are fourteen generations; and from David until the carrying away into Babylon are fourteen generations; and from the carrying away into Babylon
unto Christ
are

fourteen
(i,

generations"
17).

in

all,

forty-two generations

Here Matthew contradicts

en
in the

his

own

record givincluding
forty-

preceding sixteen verses;

Jesus, he

for,

both

Abraham and
i.

names but
2.
7.

one generations:
4.

Judas,
9.

5.

Abraham, Phares, 6. Ezrom,

10.

Isaac,

3.

Jacob,

Aram,

8.

Amin-

adab,

Naason,
14.
18.

Salmon,
15.
19.

13. Jesse,
17.

David,
Asa,

11. Booz, 12. Obed, Solomon, 16. Roboam,

Abia,

Josaphat, 20. Joram, 21.

Jechonias,
32. Elia-

Ozias, 22. Joatham, 2^. Achaz, 24. Ezekias, 25.

Manasses,

26.

Amon,

2^.

Josias,

28.

29. Salatliiel, 30. Zorobabel, 31.

Abiud,

kim, 33. Azor, 34. Sadoc, 35. Achim, 35. Eliud, 37. Eleazer, 38. Matthan, 39. Jacob, 40. Joseph,
41.

Jesus Christ.
II

Does Luke's genealogy agree with the Old Testament? It does not. Luke gives twenty generations from Adam to Abraham, while Genesis (v, 3-32;
xi,

10-26) and Chronicles each gives but nineteen.

(i

Ch.

i,

1-4; 24-27)

The

Christ.
12

How many
ham

generations were there from Abrato

to David? Matthew: "From Abraham

(i,

David are four-

teen generations"

17).

From Abraham

to

David are not fourteen,

but thirteen generations; for David does not belong to this period. The genealogical table of

Matthew
divisions

naturally and logically comprises three

which he recognizes. The first division comprises the generations preceding the establishment of the Kingdom of David, beginning
with Abraham; the second comprises the kings of Judah, beginning with David the first and

ending with Jechonias the

prises

last; the third

com-

the

generations

following the

kings of

Judah, from the Captivity to Christ.

13

How many

generations were there from Dathe

vid to the Captivity?

Matthew: 'Trom David until away into Babylon are fourteen

(i.

carrying

generations"

17)-

In order to obtain a uniformity of

three periods of

numbers double seven (seven was the saJews)

to

cred

number

of the

each

Matthew

pur-

posely

falsifies

the records of the Old Testathe

ment.
(i

A
of

reference
iii)

Davidic genealogy

Chronicles

erations

shows that he omits the genAhaziah, Joasli, y\niaziah, and Jc-

hoiakim, four Jewish kings, lineal descendants

The
of David,

Infancy of Christ.

79
to over

whose combined reigns amount

eighty years.

Matthew.

8o
c(

The

Christ.

ntinuous and without interval," while some whose names are not excluded were. Ahaziah

one year. Joash reigned forty years and both Kings and Chronicles affirm that *'He
re'o^ned but

which was right in the sight of the Lord" (2 Kings xii, 2; 2 Chron. xxiv, 2). Amaziah reigned twenty-nine years, and he, too, "did that which was right in the sight of the Lord" (2 Kings xiv, 3). On the other hand, Rehoboam, Joram and Jechonias, whose names are retained in ]\Iatthew's table, are represented as monsters
did
that
of wickedness.

14

Name
tivity.

the generations from David to the Cap-

Matthev7.

Luke.
David, Nathan, Mattatha,

David,

Solomon,

Roboam,
Abia, Asa, Josaphat, Joram,
Ozias,

Menan,
Melea, Eliakim, Jonan, Joseph, Juda,

Joatham, Achas,
Ezckias,

Simeon,
Levi, M'atthat, Jorim, Eliezer,
Jose, Er,

Manasses,

Amon,
Josias,

Jechonias.

Elmodam,
Cosam,

The Infancy of
(Luke continued.)

Christ.

Addi, Melchi,
Neri.
15

generations were there from the Captivity to Christ?

How many

Matthew: 'Trom the carrying away into Babylon unto Christ are fourteen generations"
(i,

17).

Matthew

is

again guilty of deception.

ref-

erence to his table shows that there were but

In order to carry out his numerical system of fourteen generations to each period he counts the generation of Jechonias in
thirteen generations.
this period

which he has already counted

in the

preceding period; thus performing the mathematical feat of dividing 27 by 2 and obtaining
14 for a quotient.

Had Matthew
close of the

given a true

summary

of this

genealogy, assuming the generations from the

Old Testament record

to Christ to

be correct, instead of these periods of double

seven each,
all

the generations from

we would have the following: "So Abraham to David are

into

thirteen generations; and from

carrying

David until the Babylon are nineteen generations; and from the carrying away into Baby-

away

lon unto Christ are thirteen generations."

16

Name
Christ.

the generations from the Captivity to

82

The
same

Infancy of Christ.

83

line for the

same period was but twenty19

six years.

What was
to Jesus?
:

the average age from the Captivity

Luke Twenty-eight years. Matthew Fifty years.

:

While the average age from David to the Captivity by way of Solomon was but twentysix years the average age from the Captivity to Jesus by the same line, according to Matthew, was fifty years. This proves the falsity of Matthew's genealogy from the Captivity to Jesus.
20

What was
ation from

the average length of each gener-

Abraham to David? Matthew and Luke: Seventy years.

Seventy years is said to constitute the natural of man. According to these Evangelists Christ's Pre-Davidic ancestors only reached maturity at seventy. How slow was man's development then a babe in his mother's arms at twenty; a playful child at forty; at sixty an ardent youth wooing a blushing maiden of half a hundred years at three score years and ten a
life

fond young father rejoicing at the birth of his

first-born
1

21

tion

What was the average length from Adam to Abraham?

Luke
:

of each genera-

One hundred

years.

84

The

Christ.

22

How many
to

generations were there from

Adam

Abraham? Luke: Twenty (iii, 34-38). Luke makes less than half as many generations from Adam to Abraham in a period of two
thousand years as he does from David to Jesus in a period of one thousand years.

How many

23 generations were

there between

Rachab, the mother of Booz, and David? Matthew: Three Booz, Obed, and

Jesse

(i,

5, 6).

Rachab lived at Jericho when it was taken by the Israelites. Jericho was taken 1451 B. C, the year that Moses died. David was born 1085
B. C.

nearly

four centuries later.

24

Assuming the generations following the Captivity in Matthew and Chronicles to run parallel,

how many
last

generations were there between

the

generation

named

in

Chronicles

and

Jesus?

Matthew

Four.
it is

Yet Chronicles was written,

claimed, from

458 to 604 years before Christ. "If the Chronicles were written by Ezra, the
date of their composition

was not

far

from B. C.

458, the year of the return from the Captivity. If by Daniel, the earlier period of from 604 to

534 must be adopted."

Rev.

Dr. Hitchcock.

The
Nam^

Infancy of Christ.
25 ten ancestors of Jesus.

85

the

first

Jared, Enoch, Mathusala,

38).

Luke: Adam, Seth, Enos, Cainan, Maleleel, Lamech, Noe (iii, 36-

Archeological researches have shown these to

be ten Babylonian kings.

26

was Sala? 'Luke: "Sala, which was the son of Cainan, which was the son of Arphaxad" (iii, 35, 36). "And Arphaxad lived five and thirty years and begat Salah" (Genesis xi, 12). According to Luke Sala was the grand-son of Arphaxad; according to Genesis he was the son
of Arphaxad.

Who

27

Who

begat Ozias?
(i,

Matthew: ''J^ram begat Ozias"

"Ahaziah
his

8).

[Joram's]

son, Joash

his

son,

Amaziah
(i

his

son,
iii,

Azariah
11,

[Ozias]

his

son"

Chronicles

12).

According to the New Testament Ozias was the son of Joram; according to the Old Testament he was the great great-grandson of Joram. 28

was Josiah's successor? Matthew: Jechonias (i, 11). "Then the people of the land took Jehoahaz, the son of Josiah, and made him king in his
father's stead" (2 Chronicles xxxvi, i).

Who

86
"For thus

The
saith the

Christ.

Lord touching Shallum,

the son of Josiah, king of Judah, which reigned

instead of Josiah, his father" (Jeremiah xxii, ii). "And Pharaoh-nechoh made Eliakim the son
of Josiah king in the

room

of Josiah, his father,

(2

and turned
xxiii, 34).

his

name

to Jehoiakim"

Kings

Jechonias

According to Matthew, Josiah's successor was according to Chronicles, Jehoahaz according to according to Jeremiah, Shallum
;
;

Kings, Jehoiakim.

29

was the father of Jechonias? Matthew: "Josias begat Jechonias" (i, 11). Josias was not the father but the grandfather
of Jechonias. ''And the sons of Josiah were,
. .

Who

the

second
16).

Jehoiakim.

And

the
(i

sons

of
iii,

Jehoiakim: Jechoniah, his son"

15.

Chron.

30

When

did Josias beget Jechonias?

Matthew: "And Josias begat Jechonias and were carried Babylon" (i, 11). away into Josiah became king 641 B. C. and died 610 B. C. Jechonias was carried to Babylon 588 B. C,
his brethren, about the time they

22 years after Josiah

died.

31

Did Jechonias have a son? Matthew "And after they were brought to Babylon, Jechonias begat Salathiel" (i, 12).
:

The Infancy of
*'As
I

Christ.

87
Coniah

live,

saitli

the

Lord,

though

[Jechonias], the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah,

were the signet upon

pluck thee
the
thence.
. .

my
.

right hand, yet

would

earth, earth, earth, hear

saith the Lord,

word

of the Lord.

Thus

Write

ye this

man

childless, a
:

per in his days

prosper, sitting

for

man that no man of

shall not pros-

his seed shall

upon the throne of David, and ruling no more in Judah" (Jeremiah xxii, 24-30). This curse was pronounced upon Jechonias before he was taken to Babylon. By this divine oath Jesus is precluded from becoming an heir
to the throne of David.

God swears

that Jecho-

nias shall be childless,

his shall ever sit

and that no descendant of upon the throne. Yet Matthew,

Jechonias

in the face of this oath, declares that

did not remain childless, that he begat a son,

Salathiel, the progenitor of Jesus.

In attempting

make Jesus an thew makes God a

to

heir to David's throne

liar

Mat-

and perjurer.

32
Jechonias.

was the son of does Luke declare him to be? "The son of Neri" (iii, 2^).
that Salathiel

Matthew says

Who

Who
(1,

was the father of Zorobabel? Matthew: "And Salathiel begat Zorobabel"

12).

Luke
lathiel"

"Zorobabel, which was the son of Sa(iii,

2^^.

Here both Evangelists agree

agree

to

dis-

88

The

Christ.

Zorobabel agree with Chronicles which says that was the son of Pedaiah, the brother of Salathiel.

"And

the sons of Pedaiah were Zerubbabel and

(i

Shimei"

Chron.

iii,

19).

34

Who
(i,

was the son of Zorobabel? Matthew: "And Zorobabel begat

13)-

Abiud"
of

Luke: "Rhesa, which was the son

babel"
(iii,

Zoro-

2-]).

Each contradicts the other, and both contradict the Old Testament (i Chron. iii, 19, 20).
35

Who

was the father of Joseph? Matthew: "And Jacob begat Joseph" Luke: "Joseph, w^hich was the son
23).

(i,

16).

of Heli"

(iii,

36 Jesus was descended from David, the descent was through one of David's sons. Which
If

one?

Matthew: Solomon (i, 6-16). Luke: Nathan (iii, 23-31). Luke reaches the same person by way of one brother that Matthew does by way of the other.
37

Many commentators

attempt to reconcile these

discordant genealogies by assuming that Matthew gives the genealogy of Joseph, while Luke
gives the genealogy of Mary.

What do

the

Evangelists themselves declare?

The

Infancy of Christ.

89

Matthew: "And Jacob begat Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus, who is
called

Christ," etc.

(i,

16).

Luke: "And Jesus himself began

thirty years of age, being (as

to be about

was supposed) the

etc.

son of Joseph, which was the son of Heli,"

(iii,

23).
otf

Dr. Geikie, in his "Life

Christ" (vol.

i,

p.

531, note), says: '"^The genealogies given

by both
to re-

Matthew and Luke seem unquestionably

fer to Joseph."

Regarding this the Rev. Dr. McNaught says: "Let the reader bear in mind how Matthew states that 'J^coh begat Joseph, the husband of Mary,* and how Luke's words are 'Joseph which was the son of Heli,' and then let him say whether
it is truthful to allege that these different genealogies belong to different individuals. Is it not plain that each of them professes to trace

the lineal descent of one and the same man, Jo-

seph?"

William Rathbone Greg says: "The circumman could suppose that Matthew when he said, 'J^cob begat Joseph/ or Luke, when he said, 'Joseph was the son of Heli,' could refer to the wife of the one, or the daughter-in-law of the other, shows to what desperate stratagems polemical orthodoxy will resort in order to defend an untenable position."
stance that any

Smith's "Bible Dictionary" offers the following explanation:

"They

are both the genealogies

90
oi Joseph,
i.

The
e.,

Christ.

of Jesus Christ, as the reputed

and

legal son of

og\^ of St.

Matthew

Joseph and Alary. The genealis Joseph's genealogy as leSt.

gal successor to the throne of David.

is

Luke's

Joseph's private genealogy, exhibiting his real

as

and thus showing Solomon's crown. simple principle that one Evangelist exhibits The that genealogy which contained the successive heirs to David's and Solomon's throne, while the other exhibits the paternal stem of him who
birth,

David's

son,

why

he

was

heir

to

was the heir, explains two pedigrees."

agreeable postulates,
than,
i.

all

the anomalies of the

This "simple principle" necessitates three

dis-

That the lineage of Na-

who is not the recorded possessor of even one wife, survived, while that of Solomon who 2. had seven hundred wives became extinct. legal successor to the throne That Joseph was
of David,

That the

was not. 3. Matthew contains more than a score of errors. That little word "begat" is fatal to the above theory. Matthew declares
Heli, his father,
first

when

chapter of

that Jacob begat

Joseph.

If

Jacob begat Jo-

seph, then Jacob, and not Heli,

of Joseph.
line

was the

father

According to Matthew, the royal descends from David to Joseph unbroken;

in-

each heir begetting the succeeding one, thus precluding the possibility of a collateral branch
heriting the throne.

Thehypothesisthat Jesus was merely the adopt-

The Infancy of

Christ.

91
fulfilled

ed son and legal heir of Joseph and yet

the Messianic requirements
is

untenable. Strauss
suffice

says: "Adoption
cure
to

the

might adopted

indeed

to

se-

son

the

reversion
inherit-

of certain external

family

rights

and

ances; but such a relationship could in no wise lend a claim to the Messianic dignity, which
to the true blood and lineage of David" (Leben Jesu, p. 122). The Messiah must be a natural and lineal descendant of David, which Peter expressly declares Jesus to be "God had sworn with an oath to him [David], that of the fruit of his loins, according to the flesh, he would raise up Christ to sit on his throne" (Acts ii, 30). It is assumed by some that a Levirate marriage had taken place between the parents of Joseph, and that the one genealogy belonged to the nat:

was attached

ural,

the others to the legal

if

father of Joseph.

By

a Levirate marriage

a m.an died without

heirs his remaining brother married his

widow

and raised up heirs to him. But in this case the brothers would have the same father, and the genealogies would differ only in the father of Joseph. It is only by a succession of Levirate marriages and a juggling of words, which no intelligent critic can seriously entertain, that such

a hypothesis can

be considered possible, even

waiving the Old Testament writers, and the Evangelists themselves, whose language forbids
\t.

92

The

Christ.

Eusebius advances an explanation characteristic of this ecclesiastical historian and of the earlychurch whose history he
professes
to

record.

The Jews,

it

is

said,

were divided

in their opin-

ions regarding the descent of the Messiah.

some contended

that his descent

While must be through

the royal line, others believed that because of the wickedness of the kings the deexcessive
scent would be through another line.

Eusebius

says: *']\Iatthew gives his opinion,

the

Luke repeats
.
.

common
last

opinion of many, not his own.

This

view Luke takes, though conscious that

gives the real truth of the genealogy."
is

Matthew

Matthew's genealogy

self-evidently

false;

while Luke's according to the admission of the historian of the primitive church, is merely a
fabrication of early Christians, designed to influence those

who

rejected Matthew's genealogy

of the Messiah.

If the

38 miraculous conception be true the Da-

vidic descent could only be

through Mary.

Was

Mary descended from David?

"We

are wholly ignorant of the

St.

cupation of
of

M'ary's parents.

name and ocShe was, like Rom.

i,

Joseph, of the tribe of Judah, and of the lineage

David (Ps.

cxxxii, ii

Luke

i,

32;

3)."

Smith's
claim
I.
:

Bible Dictionary.
cited
in

Three passages arc

support of this

"The Lord hath sworn

in truth

unto David;

The
body
will
will I sit

Infancy of Christ.
it.

93

he will not turn from

keep

Of

the fruit of thy

my

upon thy throne. If thy children covenant and my testimony that I

shall

shall

teach them, their children

also

sit

upon thy throne forevermore"

12).

(Ps.

cxxxii,

11,

2. "He shall be great, and shall be called the son of the Highest; and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David" (Luke

h 32).

"Concerning his son Jesus Christ our Lord, 3. which was made of the seed of David according to the flesh" (Rom. i, 3). The second and third passages do not refer
to

Mary;

the

first

passage refers neither to Je-

There is no evidence to prove that Mary was descended from David. On the contrary there is evidence to prove that she was not descended from him.
1.

sus nor Mary.

"The angel Gabriel was sent from God unto

a city in Galilee, called

Nazareth, to a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin's name was

Mary" (Luke
2.

i,

2y).

Joseph, and not

Mary

is

declared to be of the house of David.

It is

stated that Joseph

went

to

Bethlehem

"to be taxed with Mary," not because they, but

"because he was of the house and lineage of

David" (Luke ii, 4, 5). Mary was the cousin of Elizabeth (Luke 3. i, 3), and Elizabeth "was of the daughters of

94
Aaron"
(i,

The
5),
i.

Christ.

e.,

descended from Levi, while

es-

the house of David was descended from Judah.

This desperate, yet ineffectual, effort to

tablish the Davidic descent of

Mary

is

virtually

an abandonment of the genealogical tables of Matthew and Luke, and a falling back upon this
pitiable

argumentum

in

circulo:

Mary was

de-

scended from David because the Messiah

to be descended

was

from David, and Jesus was the Messiah because Mary was descended from Da-

vid.

These genealogies do not give the lineage of is said to have been his only earthly paient, but the lineage of Joseph who, it is claimBut if Joseph was not ed, was not his father. father of Jesus, what is the use of giving the

Mary who

Joseph was not the father Jesus how does proving that he was descended from David prove that Jesus was descended from David? If these genealogies run through Joseph to Jesus, as stated by Matthew and Luke, then Joseph must have been the father
his pedigree?
If
'

and if he was the father of Jesus the of Jesus story of the miraculous conception is false.
;

part,

The Synoptics, as we have seen, are for the most mere compilations, made up of preexisting
These documents belonged
to
diffirst

documents.

ferent ages of the primitive church.

In the

ages of the church Christians believed that Jesus

was simply

man

the son
of

of Joseph and

Mary.

The genealogies

Matthew and Luke, which

The Infancy of

Chrlsto

95

trace his descent from David through Joseph, belonged to this age. The story of the miraculous conception was the product of a later age. If the dogma of the miraculous conception be
true,
if

God, and not Joseph, was the father of

fail

Jesus as taught, these genealogies, being genealogies of Joseph,

to prove

what they

are in-

tended to prove, the royal descent of Jesus from David. The genealogies of Matthew and Luke and their accounts of the miraculous conception

mutually exclude each other.

39

Did Jesus believe himself David?

Synoptics:

to

be descended from
xxii,

He

did

not

(Matt,

41-46;

Mark

35-37; Luke principal objection to accepting Jesus as the

xii,

xx, 41-44).

Messiah by the Jews was the fact that he was not descended from David. He tacitly admitted that he was not, and the whole burden of his ar-

gument was

to convince

them that

it

was not

necessary that he should be.

40

The miraculous conception was

of

in fulfillment

what prophecy? Matthew: "Now all this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying. Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they
shall call his

name Emmanuel"

(i,

22, 23).

This

is

esteemed the

"Gem

of the Prophecies,"

96

The
in

Christ.
the

and may be found

Isaiah.

seventh chapter of

The

facts are these: Rczin,

king of Syria,

and Pekah, king of Israel, against Ahaz, king of Judah.

had declared war

God assured Ahaz

that they should not succeed, but that their

own

kingdoms should be destroyed by the Assyrians. To convince him of the truth of this he requested

Ahaz

to

demand

a sign.
will
I

*'But

Ahaz
the

said, I will

not ask, neither

tempt

Lord.

Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son,

and
the

shall call his

child

shall

name Emmanuel. know to refuse the

.

Before

evil,

and

choose the good, the land that thou abhorrest shall be forsaken of both her kings."
In the succeeding chapter the fulfillment of this

prophecy

is
;

recorded:

"And

went unto the

prophetess

and she conceived, and bare a son.

Then

said the

shalal-hash-baz.

knowledge

to

Lord to me. Call his name MaherFor before the child shall have cry. My father, and my mother,
[the capital of Rezin's

the riches of

Damascus

kingdom] and the spoils of Samaria [the capital of Pckah's kingdom] shall be taken away before the king of Assyria." Rezin and Pekah were overthrown by the Assyrians about 720 B. C. One of the most convincing proofs of Christ's divinity, with many, is the supposed fact that he was born of a virgin and that his miraculous birth was foretold by a prophet seven hundred
years before the event occurred.

Now,

there

is

The

Infancy of Christ.

97

not a passage in the Jewish Scriptures declaring

that a child should be born of a virgin.

The

word
in the

translated "virgin" does not

mean

a virgin

accepted sense of the term, but simply a

either
is

young woman,
whole passage
rendered
"a.

married or single.

a mistranslation.

The The words

virgin shall conceive and bear a son"

"a.

should read,

young woman

is

with child and

beareth a son." In this so-called prophecy there

is

not the remotest reference to a miraculous

conception and a virgin-born child.

The Jews

themselves did not regard this passage as a Messianic prophecy; neither did they believe that
the Messiah w^as to be born of a virgin.

Next

to the preceding the following

is

most

fre-

quently cited as a Messianic prophecy: ''The

sceptre shall not depart from Judah,
. . .

until

Shiloh come" (Genesis xlix, 10). If Shiloh refers to Christ the prophecy was

not

fulfilled, for

dah 600 years before Christ came.

the sceptre did depart from JuBut Shiloh

does not refer to a Messiah, nor to any man. Shiloh was the seat of the national sanctuary before it was removed to Jerusalem. This socalled prophecy, like the preceding,
lation.
is

a mistrans:

The

correct reading
shall not depart

is

as follows

"The

preeminence

from Judah so long

is

as the people resort to Shiloh."

"For unto us

a child

is

born, unto us a son

given; and the government shall be upon his

shoulder; and his

name

shall

be declared

Won-

98
derful, Counsellor,

The

Christ.
the everlast-

The Mighty God,

ing Father, the Prince of Peace" (Isaiah ix, 6). Prof. Cheyne, the highest authority on Isaiah,

pronounces
tian scholar

this a forgery.

Every honest ChrisIt is a self-evident

must admit

this.

Jewish writer could have written it. To have declared even the Messiah to be "The mighty God, the everlasting Father" would have been the rankest blasphemy, a crime the punishment of which was death. These alleged Messianic prophecies are, in
forgery.
their present form. Christian rather than Jewish.

No

Christian translators and exegetists have altered

their language

and perverted their meaning to

to refer to Christ.

make them appear

lowing
is

The

fol-

an example

'T will raise unto David a righteous Branch, and a King shall reign and prosper, and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth. In his days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely and this is his name whereby he
;

shall

be

called,

THE LORD OUR RIGHTxxiii, 5, 6).

is

EOUSNESS"
The
lows:

(Jeremiah

correct rendering of this passage

as fol-

"I will raise unto

and a king
cute

shall reign

David a righteous branch, and prosper, and shall exe-

judgment and justice in the land. In his days Judah shall be saved and Israel shall dwell safely; and this is the name whereby they shall

The
call

Infancy of Christ.

99

themselves

The Eternal

is

our righteous-

ness."

prophecy of this passage no less than eight pieces of deception were employed by the editors oi our Authorized Version 1. The word "branch" is made to begin with
a Messianic
effect

To make

and give

it

a capital
2.

letter.

3.
4.

The word ''king" also begins with a capital. ''The name" is rendered "his name." The pronoun "they," relating to the peoJudah and
Israel, is

ple of
5.

changed to "he."

6.

The word "Eternal" is translated "Lord." "The Lord our righteousness" is printed in
In the table of contents, at the head of the

capitals.
7.

chapter, are the

words "Christ

shall

rule

and

save them."
8.

At the top

of the page are the

words "Christ

promised."

Another example of this Messianic prophecy making is the following "Know therefore and understand that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem, unto Messiah the Prince, shall be seven weeks, and three score and two weeks" (Daniel ix, 25). The term "week," it is claimed, means a period of seven years, and assumed that by Messiah Seven wrecks and three score is meant Christ. and two weeks are sixty-nine weeks, or 483 years,

lOO
the time
,that

The
was

Christ.

to elapse

from the command

to rebuild Jerusalem
if

to the

coming

of

Christ,

of CyJerusalem and the temple According to the acwas made 536 B. C. chronology Christ was born 4 B. C. From cepted

the prophecy
to

was

fulfilled.

The decree

rus

rebuild

the decree of Cyrus, then, to the coming of Christ was 532 years instead of 483 years, a period of
that

seven weeks, or forty-nine years, longer than named by Daniel. Ezra, the priest, went to

Jerusalem 457 B. C. This event, however, had nothing whatever to do with the decree for rebuilding Jerusalem and the temple. It occurred
79 years after the decree was issued, and 58 years after the temple was finished. But a searcher for Messianic prophecies found that from the time of Ezra to the beginning of Christ's ministry

was about 483

years,

or

sixty-nine

prophetic

weeks; and notwithstanding there was a deficiency of 79 years at one end of the period, and
an excess of 30 years at the other,
to
fit

it

was declared

exactly.

Christian theologians pretend to recognize in

the

Old Testament two kinds

:

of Messianic proph-

ecies

I.

Specific

predictions concerning Christ

;

which were literally fulfilled 2. Passages in which the writer refers to other persons or events, but which God, without the writer's knowledge, designed as types of Christ. The fallaciousness of the former having been exposed it having been shown that there is not a text in the

The

Infancy of Christ.

loi

Jewish Scriptures predicting the coming of Christ

they

now

rely chiefly

upon the

latter to sup-

port their claims.

limitless;

These "prophecies" are almost

firm believer in prophecy can,

for a

with a vivid imagination, take almost any passage and point out a fancied resemblance between the thing it refers to and the thing he wants confirmed; apparently oblivious to the
fact that the passage is equally applicable to a thousand other things. Had the Mormons ac-

cepted Joe Smith as a Messiah instead of a prophet they would have no lack of prophecies to support their claims; and by translating and
revising the Scriptures to suit their views, as

Christians did, these prophecies would

fit

him as

well as they do the Christ.

41

What name was

"They shall thew i, 23).

to be given the child

men-

tioned in Isaiah's prophecy?

call his

name Emmanuel" (MatMary's son?

(Matt,
i,

What name was

"Thou
iah's

to be given

shalt call his

name Jesus"

21).

In the naming of the Christian Messiah Isacalled

prophecy was not fulfilled. Emmanuel, but Jesus.

42

He was

never

To whom

did the angel announcing the mir-

aculous conception appear?

Matthew: To Joseph (i, 20, Luke: To Mary (i, 26-38).

21).

I02

The

Christ.
first

"An

angel did not appear,

to

Mary, and

also afterwards to Joseph; he can only have appeared either to the one or to the other. Conit is only the one or the other relawhich can be regarded as historical. And here different considerations would conduct to Every criticism which opposite decisions might determine the adoption of the one, and the rejection of the other, disappears; and we find ourselves, in reference to both accounts, driven back by necessity to the mythical view."

sequently,

tion

Strauss.
43

For

what
:

purpose

was

the

Annunciation

made? Luke

Simply to acquaint Mary with the heavenly decree that she had been chosen to become the mother of the coming Messiah (i,
26-33)-

.Matthew: To allay the suspicions of Joseph Mary's chastity and prevent him from putting her away (i, 18-20).
respecting

44

Did the Annunciation

after

take

place

before

or

Mary's conception? Luke: Before (i, 26-31).

(i,

Matthew: After

18-20).

45

was declared to be the father of Jesus? Matthew: The Holy Ghost (i, 18, 20). With the Jews the Holy Ghost (Spirit) was

Who

The
line gender.

Infancy of Christ.

(03
mascuHoly Ghost

of feminine gender; with the Greeks, of

The

belief that the

was

the father of Jesus originated, not with the

Jewish Christians of Palestine, as claimed, but with the Greek Christians of Alexandria.

46

What
to

prediction did the angel Gabriel

make

Mary concerning
"The Lord

Jesus?

shall give

unto him the throne of

i,

his father

David" (Luke

32).

Respecting this prediction the Rev. Dr. Hooykaas, of Holland, says 'Tf a messenger from Heaven had really come to bring a divine reve:

lation to

his

prediction;

Mary, the result must have confirmed and since Jesus never fulfilled
it

these expectations
tion

is

obvious that the revela-

was never made."

47
visited

When Mary
do?

Elizabeth what did she

of praise

Luke: She uttered a hymn

(i,

46-55).

Had Mary
suppose that
spired

uttered

such

hymn we would

it would have been original and inby the Almighty Father of her unborn child. Yet the hymn which Luke puts into her mouth was borrowed from the song of Hannah.

Hannah.

Mary.

"My
in the
ii'

heart

rejoiceth
(i

"My
i,

spirit

hath

re-

Lord"

Sam.
indeed

joiced in
47).

God" (Luke

I).

"If thou wilt

"For he hath regard-

I04

The

Christ.

look on the affliction of handmaid" (i., thine

II).

ed the low estate of his

handmaiden"

(48).

"Talk no more so exceeding

3).

proudly"

(ii,

"He hath scattered the proud" (51).

"The

bows

of

the

"He hath

put

down

mighty men are broken, and they that stumbled are girded strength (4).

the mighty from their seats and exalted them

of

with

low degree"

(52).

"They
hath

that were full hired out them-

"He hath
hungry

filled

the

selves for they that

bread; and were hungr}?

good things; and the rich he hath sent empty away"

with
(53)-

ceased" (5).

48

What
Caesar

decree

is

said to have been issued

by
the

Augustus
"That
all

immediately

preceding

birth of Christ?

Luke
(ii,

the world should be taxed"

I).

No
The
pire

such decree was issued by Augustus, nor

even one that the

Roman world

should be taxed.

taxation of different provinces of the em-

was made

at various times,

no general de-

cree ever having been issued and no uniform as-

tus.

sessment ever having been attempted by AugusAn enrollment of Roman citizens for the

purpose of taxation was made

in Syria 7

A. D.

Of what king
Jesus was born?

49 was Joseph

a subject

when

The Infancy

of Christ.

105

Matthew: Of Herod. If Jesus was born during the reign of Herod, Joseph, whether a resident of Judea or of Galilee, could not have been taxed by Augustus, for neither province was then a part of Syria. Both provinces belonged to Herod's kingdom and Herod's subjects were not taxed by the Roman
government.
50

Of what province was Joseph Matthew Of Judea.

:

a resident?

Luke: Of Galilee. he was a resident of Galilee he could not have been taxed by Augustus, even in the time
If

of Cyrenius, for Galilee

was not a Roman proand had no po-

vince, but an independent state,

litical

connection with Syria.

to the

Again, this decree could not have applied to

Judea prior

banishment of Archelaus, ten

years after the time of Herod; for Judea did not become a Roman province until that time;

and while Archelaus had paid tribute to Rome the assessments of the people were made by him and not by Augustus.
51

Why

was Joseph with

his

wife

obliged

to

leave Galilee and go to Bethlehem of Judea to

be enrolled?

Luke ''Because he was

:

of the house

and

line-

age of David," and Bethlehem was the

''city

of

David"

(ii,

4).

io6

The

Christ.

Even if he had been subject to taxation there was no law or custom requiring him to leave his
country and go to that of his ancestors to The assessment, according to the be enrolled. Roman custom, was made at the residence of Nothing surpasses in abthe person taxed.
surdity this story of Luke, that a
the eve of confinement,

own

other ruler,

woman, on and the subject of anwas dragged across tw^o provinces

to be enrolled for taxation.

In regard to this taxation Dr. Hooykaas says: "But here again we are met by overwhelming
difficulties.

In

itself,

the Evangelist's account

which the census was carried Only fancy the inout is entirely incredible. describable confusion that would have arisen if every one, through the length and breadth of the land of the Jews, had left his abode to go and enroll himself in the city or village from which his family originally came, even supposThe census uning he knew where it was. der David was conducted after a very different But it is still more important to note fashion. that the Evangelist falls into the most extraorof the

manner

in

dinary mistakes throughout.

history
is

In the

first

place

silent as to a

census of the whole (Roat

all.

man) world ever having been made

the

In

next

place,

though

Quirinus
a register in

[Cyrenius]

certainly did

make such
did

Judea and

Samaria,

it

not extend to Galilee; so that

Joseph's householrl

was not

affected

by

it.

Be-

The
sides
it

Infancy of Christ.
till

107

did not take place

ten years after

Archelaus was deposed by the Emperor, and the districts of Judea and Samaria were thrown into a Roman Under the reign of Herod nothing province.
the death of Herod,
his son

when

of the kind took place, nor

was

there any oc-

casion for

it.

Finally, at the time of the birth

of Jesus the governor of Syria

was not Quirinus,

(Bible
for

but

Quintus

Sentius
iii,

Saturninus"
55,

Learners, vol.

pp.

56).

52

Was

Jesus born in a house or in a stable? Matthew ''And when they were come into
:

the house, they

his

saw the young

child with

Mary

mother" (ii, 11). Luke: "And she brought forth her first born son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger" (ii, 7). Nothing can be clearer than that the author of Matthew supposes that Jesus was born in a The author of Luke, on the other hand, house. expressly declares that he was born in a stable. Luke's story concerning the place of Mary's

accouchement has been received, while that of Matthew has been ignored. Christ's birth in a manger and death on the cross are the lodestones that have attracted the sympathies of the world, and kept him on the
throne

Christendom; for sentiment rather Referring to than reason dominates mankind.

of

lo8
Luke's story, the

The

Christ.
for

''Bible

Learners"

says:

"Such

is

the well-known story of the birth of

Jesus, one of the sweetest and a legend, without

nificant of all the legends of the Bible.

it

most deeply sigThat

is

even the smallest hismust, of course, admit"

torical
(vol.

foundation,
p.

we

iii,

54).

Justin Martyr states that Jesus

was born

in

a cave, and this statement Farrar is disposed to accept: "J^-^stin IMartyr, the Apologist, who, from
his birth at
tine,

Shechem, was familiar with Pales-

and who lived less than a century after the time of our Lord, places the scene of the This is, indeed, the ancient nativity in a cave. tradition both of the Eastern and and constant the Western churches, and it is one of the few to which, though unrecorded in the Gospel history,

we may

attach
p.

reasonable

probability"

(Life of Christ,

3).

53

Why

did Joseph and his wife take shelter in

a stable?

Luke: "Because there was no room

in

for

them

the inn"

(ii,

7).

was an inn at BethleDr. There was no inn in the place. Geikie says: ^*We must not moreover think of Joseph seeking an inn at Bethlehem, for inns were unknown among the Jews" (Christmas at Bethlehem).
states that there

Luke

hem.

The

Infancy of Christ.
54

109

What
birth
?

celestial

phenomenon attended
star appeared

Christ's

Matthew
Luke:

A new
angelic
(ii,

and stood

in

the heavens above

him
13,

(ii,

1-9).

An

choir
14).

appeared and sang

praises to

God

Matthew's story of the star and the Magi, even to the language itself, was borrowed from
the writings of the Persians
celestial visitants
;

Luke's story of the

was taken from Pagan myth55

ology.

Who

him after his birth? Matthew: Wise men from the East (ii, l-il). Luke: Shepherds from a neighboring field (ii,
visited

8-20).

visit;

Matthew makes no mention of Luke is evidently ignorant

S6

the shepherds'
of the visit ot

the wise men.

men come? Matthew: "Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the East
did the wise
to Jerusalem, saying:

From where

Where

is

he that

is

born

King
in
1.

Jews? for we have seen his star the East, and are come to worship him" (ii,
of the

2).

By

the ''East"

was meant Persia or

India,

and

lo

The

Christ.

larly

from one of these countries the Magi are popusupposed to have come.
Justin
]\Tart3'r

says

"When

a star

rose

in

is recorded 'Memoirs' of his Apostles, the Magi from Arabia, recognizing the sign by this, came and

heaven

at

the time of his birth, as

in the

worshiped him" (Dialogues, cvi). If they came from Arabia, as

father declares, they

this

Christian
East,

came not from the

57

but from the South.

What announcement
the shepherds?

did the angel

make

to

"For behold I bring you good tidings of great which shall be to all people" (Luke ii, lo). According to Luke the visit of the angels is to proclaim to the world the birth of the newHad the celestial phenomenon born Messiah. reported by this Evangelist really occurred the news of it would have quickly spread over Palestine. Yet the people of Jerusalem, only a few miles away, learn nothing of it; for, according to Matthew, the first intimation that Herod has of Christ's birth is from the wise men
joy,

who
of
it.

visit

him

at a

much

later period.

The

in-

habitants of Bethlehem themselves are ignorant

Could they have discovered to Herod this wonderful babe, or the place where his parents abode while there if they had departed, would have saved their own children from it

The
nothing of him.

Infancy of Christ.

iii
they

the wrath of this monarch.

But

knew

58 had the announcement of Christ's birth upon Herod and the people of Jerusalem? Matthew "When Herod the king had heard these things, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him" (ii, 3). According to Matthew the announcement filled with alarm the entire populace, and the most diligent efforts were made to discover and

What

effect

destroy the babe.

In strange contrast to this

is

statement of Matthew
27),
old,

Luke's narrative

(ii,

22-

which declares that Jesus, when forty days was brought to Jerusalem and publicly ex-

hibited in Herod's

own

temple, without exciting

hostility.

any alarm or provoking any

59

What
13.

did his parents do with

:

him?
(ii,

Matthew
15).
:

They

fled

with him into Egypt

in

Luke
(ii,

They remained with him

Palestine

22-52).

"All attempts to reconcile- these

two contra-

dictory statements, seem only elaborate efforts

of art."

Dr.

Schleiermacher.
60.

When unable to discover Jesus what did Herod do? Matthew: "Then Herod, when he saw that he was mocked of the wise men, was exceeding

112

The

Christ.
all
all

wroth, and sent forth, and slew

that were in
thereof,

the children

Bethlehem, and in

the

coasts

from two years old and under" (ii, i6). If this statement be true hundreds of innocent babes (the Greek Calendar says fourteen thousand) must have perished, a crime the enormity of which is almost without a parallel in the annals of history.
It is

strange that Mark, I.uke,

of
this

and John make

It is

no

mention
is

frightful

tragedy. Luke's silence

especially significant.

passing strange that the

Roman

historians

and Rabbinical writers of that age, who wrote of Herod, should be silent regarding it. Josephus
devotes nearly
forty

chapters

to

the

life

of

Herod. He narrates with much particularity every important event in his life. He detested this monarch and dwells upon his crimes and
errors.

Yet Josephus knew nothing of

this

this

massacre.
In
silence

of

Josephus

Dr.

Farrar

recognizes a difficulty too damaging to ignore.

He says: *'Why then, it has been asked, does Josephus make no mention of so infamous an atrocity? Perhaps because it was performed so secretly that he did not even know of it. Perhaps because, in those terrible days, the murder
of a score of children, in consequence of a transient suspicion,

would have been regarded as an

item utterly insignificant in the

murders.
in

list of Herod's Perhaps because it was passed over silence by Nikolaus of Damascus, who, writ-

The Infancy of
ing
in

Christ.

113
Hellenizing

the

true

spirit

of

those

Mesand blood-stained usurper, magnified all his patron's achievements, and concealed or palliated all his crimes. But the more
courtiers,
to

who wanted

make

a political

siah out of a corrupt

probable reason
of all the

is

that Josephus,
literary debt

whom,

in spite

which we owe to him, we can only regard as a renegade and a sycophant, did not choose to make any allusion to facts which were even remotely connected with the
pp. 22, 23).
life

immense

of Christ"

(Life of Christ,

A more absurd reason than the first advanced by Farrar it is difficult to conceive. The second, that it was a matter of too little consequence to record, an explanation which other Christian
apologists have assigned,
it

is

as unreasonable as

is

heartless.

The

silence of Nikolaus,

who

wrote of Herod after his death, is also significant, and the excuse ofifered by Farrar that he omitted it because he was the friend of Herod, even if admitted, cannot apply to Josephus, who The abhorred the memory of this monarch. contention that Josephus purposely ignored the existence of Christ because he saw in him a

menace

to his faith

is

childish.

Jesus Christ,

admitting his existence, had

to record.
igies,

His birth

made no history was attended by no prod-

and there was nothing in his advent to excite the fear or envy of a king. Josephus mentions no Herodian massacre at Bethlehem

14

The

Christ.

because none occurred.

single child in the

Had Herod

slain

manner

stated the fact

would

be attested by a score of authors whose writHerod did not slay one babe. ings are extant.

This story is false. Herod's massacre of the infants of Bethlehem and the escape of Jesus was probably suggested by Kansa's massacre of the infants of Matura Pharaoh's slaughter and the escape of Krishna. of the first born in Egypt may also have suggested
it.

6i

What was
sacre
?

the real

cause

of

Herod's mas-

Matthew: The
disclosures

visit of the

wise

men and

the

made by them (ii, 1-16). These wise men, it is claimed, were under divine guidance. In view of this terrible slaughter their visit must be regarded as a divine
blunder.

In the massacre of the innocents what proph-

ecy was fulfilled?

Matthew: "Then was fulfilled that which was spoken by Jeremy the prophet, saying, In Rama was there a voice heard, lamentation, and weeping, and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children, and would not be comforted, because they are not"
(ii,

17, 18).
is

This so-called prophecy

15.

in

It

was written

at the time of the

Jeremiah xxxi. Babylon-

The Infancy of
ian

Christ.
the

115
Jews.

captivity

and

refers

to

captive

In the next verse Jeremiah says: "They shall come again from the land of the enemy."
63

When Herod
Joseph to do:

died

what did the Lord command

"Arise, and take the young child and his mother and go into the land of Israel, for they are dead which sought the young child's life" (Matthew
ii,

20).

"And

the Lord said unto

Moses
iv,

in

Midian,
are dead

Go, return to Egypt: which sought thy life" (Exodus

64
in

for all the

men
19).

The sojourn of Joseph and Mary with Jesus Egypt was in fulfillment of what prophecy?
Matthew: That "spoken of the Lord by the Out of Egypt have I called my
(ii,

prophet, saying,

son"

15).

be found in Hosea xi, I, and clearly refers to the exodus of the Israelites from

This

may

Egypt.
65 Jesus was subsequently

taken

to

Nazareth.

Why?
Matthew: 'That it might be was spoken by the prophet, He
a
fulfilled

which

shall be called

Nazarene"

(ii,

23).

The Bible wood admits

in

contains no such prophecy.

that ''the

Fleet-

words are not to be found" prophetical writings," and Farrar says, "the

ii6
"It
in

The

Christ.

is well known that no such passage occurs any extant prophecy" (Life of Christ, p. 33). The only passage to which the above can refer Here the child referred to is Judges xiii, 5.

was not

to be called a Nazarene, but a Nazarite,

and Matthew knew that ''Nazarene" and "Nazarite" were no more synonymous than "Jew" and A Nazarene was a native of Naza"priest." reth; a Nazarite was one consecrated to the
service of the

Lord.

Matthew

likewise

that this Nazarite referred to in Judges

son.

knew was Sam-

66

Joseph and Mary lived vious to the birth of Jesus?

Had

in

Nazareth pre-

They had. Luke Matthew: They had not. "And Joseph also went up from
:

Galilee, out

of the city of Nazareth, unto the city of David,

which
with

is

called

Bethlehem,
all

...
. . .

to be taxed

Mary

his espoused wife.

And when

they had performed

their

things according to the

law of the Lord, they returned into Galilee, to own city Nazareth" (Luke ii, 4, 5, 39).
he [Joseph] arose, he took the young and his mother by night, and departed into Egypt and was there until the death of Herod.
:

"When

child

But when Herod was dead, ... he arose, and took the young child and his mother, and
. . .

came

into the land of Lsrael.

in

And when he heard

the

that Archelaus did reign

room

of

his

The
father Herod, he

Infancy of Christ.

117

was afraid to go thither; notwithstanding, being warned of God in a dream, he turned aside into the parts of Galilee: and he came and dwelt in a city called Nazareth"
(Matthew
ii,

14-23).
to
;

According

Luke

their

home was

in

Naza-

reth of Galilee

according to Matthew their

home

Bethlehem of Judea. Luke states that they merely visited Bethlehem to be enrolled for taxation and fulfill a certain Messianic prophecy.
in

was

states that after the flight into Egypt and the death of Herod they were returning to Judea when fearing Archelaus they turned aside

Matthew

into Galilee to avoid this ruler

and

fulfill

an-

other Messianic prophecy.

67
did the parents of Jesus receive the predictions of Simeon concerning him?

How

Luke
33).

''And Joseph and his mother marvelled

at those things

which were spoken of him"

(ii,

Why
of

should they marvel at the predictions

Simeon when long before they had been apprised of the same thing by the angel Gabriel?
68

Does the name "Joseph" belong

quoted above? It does not.
his father

in

the text

The

correct reading is:

"And

and his mother were marvelling at the things which were spoken concerning him.'* It declares Joseph to be the father of Jesus, and

Ii8
as this did not

The

Christ.

harmonize with the story of the miraculous conception the makers of our version substituted 'Joseph" for ''father."

What
"And

69 does Luke say regarding the infancy of

the child [John]
(i,

John and Jesus?

grew and waxed strong

grew and waxed strong

in spirit"

80).

"And
in

the child [Jesus]

(ii,

spirit"

40).

Between the growth of the man John and the growth of the God Jesus there is, according to the Evangelist, no difference, and the growth of each is identical with that of the demi-god Samson.
70

What custom

did Jesus's parents observe?

Luke: "His parents went to Jerusalem every

year at the feast of the passover"
(ii,

41).

The preceding

verse

(40)

shows that Luke

birth of Jesus.
clearly implied
It is
it is

means every year following the

In the succeeding verse (42)
possible to
reconcile this

that Jesus always accompanied them.

im-

statement

of

Luke,

who

evidently knows nothing of the enmity of Herod and Archelaus, with the statements of Matthew who declares them to have been his

mortal enemies.
71

On

one of these occasions where did they find

in the temple, sitting

him? Luke: "They found him

The
in the

Infancy of Christ.

119

midst of the doctors, both hearing them,

lived as

and asking them questions" (ii, 46). Not until the time of Gamahel, who
late as the

middle of the first century, was a child allowed to sit in the presence of the rabbis. He was always required to stand, and those acquainted with the Jewish history of that age
that the

know

rabbis were

the

most

rigid

sticklers

for ecclesiastical formalities, the slightest breach

of

which was never

is

tolerated.

The author

of

the third Gospel

familiar with the later, but

not with the earlier custom.

72

What was

the

through which the

medium of communication will of Heaven was revealed

to the participants in this

drama? Matthew: A dream (i, 20; ii, 12, 13, 19, 22). Luke: An angel (i, 11, 26; ii, 9). In Matthew every message respecting the child Jesus is communicated by means of a dream in Luke every announcement is made
;

through the agency of an angel. Yet, after all, these Evangelists differ only in terms for Luke's
;

angels are created out of the same stuff that Matthew's dreams are made of, and the world

coming to a realization of the fact that this whole theological structure, founded on sleepers' dreams and angels' tales, is but "The
is

fast

baseless fabric of a vision."

CHAPTER
Cbe ministry
When, and
ministry?
of

V.

ebrist

at

what

73 age, did Jesus begin his

Luke

*'In

the fifteenth year of the reign of

(iii,

Tiberius Caesar"

i).

''J^sus himself

began

to be about thirty years of age" (23).

In the fifteenth year of Tiberius,

who began

his reign in August, 14 A. D., Jesus, according to

Matthew, was
;

at

least

thirty-three years of

age

according to Luke, about twenty-two.

R'^garding this subject, Dr. Geikie writes as

"The age of Jesus at his entrance on his public work has been variously estimated. Ewald supposes that he was about thirty-four,
follows
:

fixing his birth three years before the death of

Herod.

him

Wieseler, on the contrary, believes have been in his thirty-first year, setting his birth a few months before Herod's death. Bunsen, Anger, Winer, Schurer, and Renan
to

agree

with

this.

Lichtenstein

makes

him

Hausrath and Keim, on the other hand, think that he began his ministry in the year A. D. 34, but they do not give any supposed date for his birth, though if that of Ewald
thirty-two.
120

The

Ministry of Christ.

lai

be taken as a medium he must have been forty years old, while, if Wieseler's date be preferred, he would only have been thirty-seven

....

Amidst such dificrence, exactness

(Life of Christ, vol.
i,

is

impossible"

pp. 455, 456).

74

John the Baptist is said to have been the person sent to announce the mission of Christ.

Who

was John the Baptist?

'This
is

Jesus:

Elias,
xi,

which

was
[John],

for

to

come" (Matthew

14).

John: "And they asked Art thou Elias? then?

not"
(i,

him

what
I

And

he saith,
Jesus

am
and

21).

A
John.

question of veracity

between

75

The advent
prophecy?

of

John was
is

in fulfillment of

what

Mark:
hold
I

''As

it

written in the prophets, Beface,

send

my

messenger before thy

which
i)
:

shall prepare the

way

before thee"

(i,

2).
(iii,

This passage

is

quoted from

]\Ialachi

God
iv,

threatens to destroy the -world, and says Elijah the proph5), "Behold I will send you

great and dreadJohn expressly declared ful day that he was not Elijah (Elias), and the destrucet before the

coming

of the

of the Lord."

tion of the w^orld did not follow his appearance.

What was

76 predicted concerning John?

122

The

Christ.

"He

shall be great in the sight of the

Lord,

and shall drink neither wine nor strong drink; and he shall be filled with the Holy Ghost, even from his mother's womb" (Luke i, 15). For the above Luke was indebted to the ''Both [Samson and biographer of Samson. John] were to be consecrated to God from the

womb, and
both."

the

same

diet

was prescribed

for

Strauss.
the conception of John

When
for his

wdiat punishment

was

inflicted

was announced upon Zacharias

doubt?
:

Luke
him,
of
I

"And
. . .

the angel

answering said unto

am

Gabriel, that stand in the presence

God; and not able

And

behold, thou shalt be dumb,

to speak, until the day that these

(i,

things be performed"

19, 20).

This was evidently suggested by a passage in Daniel: "And when he [Gabriel] had spoken such words unto me, I set my face toward the
ground, and
I

became dumb"

(x,

15).

Where

78 was John baptizing

when he announced

his mission to the

Jews? John (New Ver.) 'Tn Bethany beyond Jordan" (i, 28). Bethany was a suburb of Jerusalem and was not beyond Jordan.
:

The Authorized Version reads "Bethabara," conceded to be an interpolation, regarding which

The
Geikie says:

Ministry of Christ.

123

"The most ancient MSS. read Bethany instead of Bethabara, but no site of that name is now known on the Jordan. Bethabara was introduced into the text by Origen"
(Life of Christ, vol.
i,

p.

566).

79

How
Luke
23):

old

was Jesus when

John

began
(iii,

his

ministry?

"About

thirty years of age"

2,

3,

Matthew: "In those days [when Jesus' parents brought him out of Egypt and settled in Nazareth, he being then about two years of age] came John the Baptist, preaching in the
wilderness of Judea"
(ii,

19-23;

iii,

i).

Matthew, it is claimed, was written only ten or twenty years after Jesus' baptism. If so,
the phrase "in those days" clearly implies that

he was but a child

istry.

If

the phrase

when John began was intended

at least

his

min-

to

comit

prehend a period

of thirty years this gospel,

must be admitted, was written

80

one hun-

dred years after the event described.

Were
Luke
cousins
:

Jesus and John related?

They were,
(i,

their

mothers
of John,

being

36).

Mary had

visited the

mother

and each

was acquainted with the character of the other's child. John before his birth is cieclared to have
recognized and acknowledged the divinity of the

124

The

Christ.

to the

Yet, according unborn Jesus (Luke i, 41-44)Fourth Gospel, at the beginning of Jesus' ministry John said, ''I know him not" (i, 33).
81

When

Jesus desired John to baptize him, what

did the latter do?

^latthew: "J^^^^ forbade him saying, I have need to be baptized of thee" (iii, 14). According to Matthew, John was not only acquainted with Jesus, but cognizant of his divine
mission, which cannot be harmonized with his

statement

in

the Fourth Gospel.

Dr. Geikie admits that John and Jesus were

strangers to

each

other.

He

says

cousins, the Baptist and the Son of

"Though Mary had

vol.
i,

never seen each other" (Life of Christ,

p. 389)-

This

is

not only a rejection of Matthew's state-

ment, but a repudiation of the

first chapter of Luke, one of the most important chapters of the New Testament; for it is utterly impossible for

reason to

harmonize
the

these

alleged

revelations

concerning

miraculous

conceptions

and

divine missions of John and Jesus to their parents and the fact that John remained for thirty

years

in

absolute ignorance of Jesus' existence.

82

What did John say regarding Jesus? "He that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes' I am not worthy to bear"
(Matthew
iii,

11).

The Ministry

of Christ.
I

125
after

"There conieth one mightier than

the latchet of
i,

me,

whose shoes I am not worthy to 7). stoop down and unloose" (Mark

What
Jesus?

83 other testimony did he bear concerning

of his fulness

"And

have

all

we

received"

(John i, 16). This was uttered prior to the beginning of Jesus' ministry, and before he had been baptized At this time "his fulwith the Holy Ghost.
ness" had not been received, and the words are

an anachronism.

84 baptism there came a voice from To whom were its words addressed? heaven. "This is Matthew: To those who stood by.

At

Jesus'

my
(iii,

beloved Son, in
22).

whom

am

well pleased"

Luke: To Jesus himself. "Thou art my beloved Son; in thee I am well pleased" (iii, 22).
85

John heard
believe it?

this

voice

from heaven; did he

Matthew: He evidently did not; for he afterwards sent two of his disciples to ascertain if "Xow when John Jesus were the Christ. in prison the words of Christ, he had heard sent two of his disciples, and said unto him, Art thou he that should come or do we look for another?"
(xi, 2, 3).

126

The

Christ.

86

Do

all

the Evangelists record Jesus' baptism

by John?

They do
his

not.

According to the Synoptics,

initial

John's baptism of Jesus was the

ministry, and one of

act

in

the

most

important

But of this baptism the events in his career. author of the Fourth Gospel knows nothing. In
regard to this omission the author of "Supernatural Religion" says
optics, Jesus
is
:

"According to the Syn-

baptized by John, and as he goes

out of the water the Holy Ghost descends upon

him

like

a dove.

The Fourth Gospel knows

and

nothing of the baptism,

makes John the saw the Holy Ghost descend like a dove and rest upon Jesus, as a sign previously indicated to him by God by which to recognize the Lamb of God" (p.
Baptist narrate vaguely that he

68i).

With what
tize?

did John

87 say Jesus would bap-

the

Mark and John "He shall baptize you with Holy Ghost" (Mark 8; John 33). Matthew and Luke: "He shall baptize you
:

i,

i,

with the Holy Ghost, and with

II
;

fire"

(Matt,

iii,

Luke

iii,

16).

88

How many
dea" (Matt,

were baptized by John? Matthew and Mark "Jerusalem and

:

all

Ju-

iii,

5;

Mark

i,

5).

The
John,
credited,
if

Ministry of Christ.
Josephus
is

127
to

the account in

be
in-

made some converts; but

all

the

habitants of Judea were not baptized by him.

Is John the Baptist a historical character? Aside from the anonymous and apocryphal writings of the church, which appeared in the second century, the only evidence of his existence is a passage in Josephus (Antiquities, B. xviii, ch.

The language of this passage, while not avowedly Christian like the passage pertaining to Christ, is yet of such a character as to
V, sec. 2).

excite suspicion regarding

its

genuineness.

Its

position

strongly

suggests

an

interpolation.

Josephus gives an account ot the troubles that arose between Herod Antipas, tetrarch of Galilee, and Aretas, king of Arabia Petrea. Herod had
married the daughter of Aretas; but becoming infatuated with Herodias, his sister-in-law, he

away and marry Herodias. Discovering his intentions his wife obtained perresolved to put her

mission to visit her father, who when he had been informed of Herod's perfidy, made war upon him and defeated him in battle. Herod

appealed to the Emperor Tiberius,

friend,

who was

his

and who ordered Vitellius, governor of Syria, to invade the dominions of Aretas and
capture or slay him.
I

quote the concluding

portion of section

and the opening sentence of

section 3 of the chapter containing this history,

separating the two with an ellipsis

*'So

Herod wrote about

these affairs to Tiberi-

ia8
us,

1
who, being
ver3f

e Christ.

angry at the attempt made

by Aretas, wrote to Vitelllus to

make war upon

him, and either to lake him alive, and bring him in bonds, or to kill him, and send him his head.

This was the charge that Tiberius gave to the president of Syria .... So Vitellius prepared
to

legions of
It will

make war with Aretas, having with him two armed men."
be readily abserved that the two secthe one naturally

tions are closely connected,

and

logically following the other.

Yet between

these

two

closely

connected sections, the sec-

tion containing the account of

is

John the Baptist

inserted.

Who

89 held the office of high priest at the time

Jesus began his ministry?

Luke: "Annas and Caiaphas" (iii, 2). the writer were to declare that AVashington and Monroe were presidents of the United States at the same time it would be no more
If

declaration of Luke that Annas and Caiaphas were high priests at the Two priests never held this office same time. Caiaphas was high priest at this time, jointly.

erroneous than the

and three others had held the office previous Referring to him and subsequent to Annas.
to

Pontius

Pilate's

predecessor,

Gratus,

who

was procurator

of

Judea from

15 to 26 A. D.,

Joscphus says: "This man deprived Ananus [Annas] of the

The

Ministry of Christ.

129

high priesthood, and appointed Ishmael, the son of Phabi, to be high priest. He also deprived

him
fore,

in

a little time,

and ordained Eleazer, the

high priest be-

son of Ananus,
to be high

who had been

priest;

which office, when he had held for a year, Gratus deprived him of it, and gave the high priesthood to Simon, the son of Camithus, and, when he had possessed the dignity no longer than a year, Joseph Caiaphas

was made
ch.
ii,

his successor"

(Antiquities B. xviii,

sec. 2).

90

Who

was

tetrarch of Abilene at this time?

(iii,

Luke: Lysanias
Lysanias
ministry.
Vv^as

i).

put to death at the instigation

of Cleopatra sixty years before Jesus

*'She [Cleopatra] hurried

began

his

Antony on
went over
it

perpetually to deprive others of their dominions,

and give them

possession; so

to her;

and

as she

Syria with him, she contrived to get

into her

he

slew

Lysanias"
i).

(Josephus,

Antiq., B. xv, ch.

iv, sec.

At

the time mentioned by

of Abila, or Abilene,

Luke the territory was no longer a tetrarchy.

91

Where was
his ministry?

Jesus three days after he began

In the wilderness fasting (Matt,
feasting

Synoptics:
iv,

i;

Mark
:

John
ii).

i, 9-13; Luke iv, i). At a wedding in Cana,

(i,

130

The
he

Christ.

92

Was

led,

or driven by the spirit into the

led
iv,

wilderness?

Matthew and Luke: "Then was Jesus

of the spirit into the wilderness"

up
i

(Matt,

Luke
him

iv,

i).

]\Iark:

''And immediately the spirit

(i,

driveth

into the wilderness"

12).

93 When did the temptation take place? ''And he Mark: During the forty days' fast. was there in the wilderness forty days tempted of Satan"
fasted
(i,

13).
fast.

Matthew: After the

forty

"And when he had

. . .

days and forty nights

(iv, 2,

the

tempter came to him"

3).

94 During the temptation

the

devil

is

said

to

On what part of have set him on the temple. the temple did he set him? Matthew and Luke: "On a pi.inaclc" (Matt, iv,
*

5;

Luke iv, 9). The indefinite

After

article

"a" clearly implies that

it

the temple had several pinnacles, whereas

had
the

but one.

eighteen
his

hundred

years

Holy Ghost discovered

mistake and moved

the Oxford revisers to substitute "the" for "a."

What

95 did the devil next do?

devil takclh

Matthew: "The

him up

into an
all

exceeding high mountain, and shevveth him

The Ministry of
the kingdoms of the world"

Christ.
(iv,

13^
It

8).

must

to have been *'an kingdoms of the ophave enabled him to see the

exceedingly high mountain"

posite hemisphere.

96

What
*'A11

did the devil propose?

I

these things will

fall

give thee [Jesus],

if

thou wilt
iv, 9).

down and worship me" (Matthew

Jesus was the Christ, and Christ was God, as claimed, who owned "these things," he or the
If

devil?

Think

of a

tramp offering you a

quit-

claim deed to your

home
97

for a meal.

him first, mountain? temple, or to the Matthew: To the temple (iv, 5-8). Luke: To the mountain (iv, 5-9).

Where

did

the devil take

to

the

Concerning

this

discrepancy,

Farrar

says:

"The order of the temptation is given differently by St. Matthew and St Luke, St. Matthew
placing second the scene on the pinnacle of the temple, and St. Luke the vision of the kingdoms
of the world.

Both orders cannot be right"

(Life of Christ, p. 70).

Some

of the ablest Christian scholars have re-

fused to accept

the

Temptation
it

as
to

historical.

Farrar says:
legory

"From Origen down

Schleier-

macher some have regarded

as a vision or alin-

the

symbolic description of a purely

ward

struggle; and even so literal a

commen-

132

The

Christ.
this

tator as Calvin has

65).

embraced

view"

(Ibid, p.

Had John

98 been cast into prison when Jesus

began his ministry? Matthew: He had. John: He had not.

tation,

that immediately after his tempand before he began his ministry, "Jesus had heard that John \vas cast into prison" (iv, Then "he departed into Galilee; and leav12).

Matthew says

ing Nazareth, he came and dwelt in Capernaum"

(12,

13).

"From

preach" (17).
ministry.

that time Jesus began to This was the beginning of his

According to the Fourth Gospel, Jesus had had traveled over Galilee and Judea; had baptized (iii, 22); had performed miracles (ii, i-ii; 23; iii, 2); had held concalled his disciples;

with the Jews had attended the Passover

troversies

(ii,
(ii,

18-21

iii,,

1-21)

13-23)

had purged

the temple

(ii, 13-16) and after all these things "John was not yet cast into prison" (iii, 24).
;

99

Name
Andrew
James John
Philip

the

Twelve Apostles.
Mark.
!Simon Peter

Matthew.

Luke.

Simon Peter

Simon Peter

Andrew
James John
Philip

Andrew
James John
Philip

Bartholomew

Bartholomew

Bartholomew

The
Thomas
Matthew James Less

Ministry of Christ.

133

Thomas Matthew James Less

Thomas
MatthewJames Less

LEBBEUS
Simon
Judas Iscariot

THADDEUS
Simon
Judas Iscariot

JUDAS
Simon
Judas Iscariot

John does not namr; the Twelve Apostles and

this

important omission

is

admitted to be a grave

defect in the Fourth Gospel.

100 Relate the \:ircurQstances attending the calling

of Peter.

Matthew: ''And Jesus, walking by the sea of saw two brethren, Simon called Peter, And Andrew his brother, casting a net into the And he saith unto sea: for they were fishers. them. Follow me, and I will make you fishers
Galilee,

men. And they straightway left their nets, and followed him" (iv, 18-20). Luke: *'He [Jesus] stood by the lake of Gennesaret, and saw two ships standing by the lake but the fishermen were gone out of them and And he entered into were w?;.shing their nets. one of the ships, which was Simon's, and prayed him th'it he would thrust out a little from the And he sat down and taught the people land. Now when he had left speakout of the ship. ing, Sie said unto Simon, Launch out into the deep, s-nd let down your nets for a draught" (v,
of
1-4).

134

T^^

Christ.
this

"And when they had

done they inclosed

a great multitude of fishes" (6).

"And Jesus said unto Simon, Fear not And henceforth thou shalt catch men.
ships to land, they forsook
(id, ii).
all,

from

when

they [Peter, James and John] had brought their

and followed him"

John: "Again the next day after John stood, of his disciples; and looking upon Jesus as he walked, he saith, Behold the Lamb of God And the two disciples heard him speak, and they

and two

followed Jesus"

(i,

35-37).

"They came and saw where he [Jesus] dwelt, One of the and abode with him that day two which heard John speak, and followed him, He first was Andrew, Simon Peter's brother.
. .
.

findeth his

him,

We

own brother Simon, and saith unto have found the Messias And he
. .

brought him to Jesus" (40-42).

Here are three accounts

of the calling of Peter,

each entirely at variance with the others.

lOI

In what country were they

called?

when Peter was

Synoptics: In Galilee.

John (Old Ver.) In Perea (i, 28-42). Bethabara and the territory beyond Jordan were in Perea. In Judea. John (New Ver.) Bethany and all the country surrounding it were in Judea.
:

The

Ministry of Christ.
102

135

Who
42).

did Jesus declare Peter to be?

1.

**Thou art Simon the son of Jona" (John

"Simon, son of Jonas" (John xxi, 15). "Thou art Simon the son of John" (John,
Ver.,
i,

New

42; xxi, 15).

is

no relation whatever between ''^ma," Jona (Jonah), or and "John." Jonas, means a dove; John means the grace of God.

There

or "Jonas,"

103

Jesus gave Simon (Peter) the name of Cephas. What meaning did he attach to the word Ce-

phas ?

"Thou
"Thou

shalt

be called

Cephas, which
i,

is

by
in-

interpretation,

stone" (John

42).
is

shalt be called

Cephas (which

by

terpretation, Peter)" (Ibid,

New

Ver.).

Here Jesus is represented as interpreting the meaning of an Aramaic word, with which his hearers were familiar, by the use of a Greek word of whose meaning they were ignorant, the incongruity o^ which must be apparent to every
reader.

104

When were James

and John called?

called.

Matthew: After Peter was

:

After giving an account of the calling of Peter

and Andrew, Matthew says "And going on from thence, he saw other two brethren, James the

136

The

Christ.

son of Zebedee, and John his brother, in a ship with Zebedee their father, mending their nets; And they immediately and he called them. left the ship and their father, and followed him"
(iv, 21,

22).

Luke:

At

the time that Peter

was

called.

Luke

states that

James and John were

the

part-

ners of Peter, and with him on the lake, in an-

other boat,
fishes

when

miraculous

draught

of

was made,

that both boats

the fish, "And when they John] had brought their ships to land, they sook all, and followed him" (v, i-ii).
105

were filled with [Peter, James and

for-

Where was Jesus when he

and John?

called Peter,

James

Matthew: ''Walking by the sea

(iv,

of

Galilee"

18-21).

Luke:

On

the lake in a ship (v, i-ii).

In regard to Matthew's and Luke's accounts

of the calling of Peter,

James and John, Strauss "Neither will bear the other to precede, says: or to follow it in short, they exclude each

other" (Leben Jesu,

p. 337).

106

Was Andrew
i,

called

when Peter was

called?

Matthew and Mark: He was (Matt, iv, Mark 16-18). According to Luke, Andrew was not when Peter was called, but after he was

18-20;

called
called.

The Ministry of Christ.

According to John
first
(i,

137
the

35-42)
107.

Andrew was

to

follow Jesus.

was called from the receipt of custom? Matthew: ''A man named Matthew" (ix, 9). Luke: ''A publican named Levi" (v, 27). Orthodox scholars claim that Matthew and Dr. Hooykaas does Levi are the same person.
not believe that they are the same, and does not
believe that any one of the Apostles

Who

was

called

He says: "It is in from the receipt of custom. reality very unlikely that Levi and Matthew are the same man, or that one of the Twelve was a
tax-gatherer" (Bible for Learners, vol.
108
iii,

p.

201).

Who
Joses?

was the mother

of

James the Less and

In the earlier parts of their narratives, Mat(xiii, 55) and Mark (vi, 3) declare them to be sons of the Virgin Mary and brothers of Paul (Gal. i, 19) affirms that James Jesus.

thew

was the

brother

of

Jesus.

Later

Matthew

and Mark (xv, 40) state that James and Joses were sons of Mary, the sister of the
(xxvii, 56)

Virgin.

109

Who

was

their father?

If they were sons of the Virgin M'ary, Joseph must have been their father. But Matthew (x, 3) and Mark (iii, 18) state that James the Less was "the son of Alpheus." According to John (com-

138

The

CxHrist.

pare John xix, 25 with Matthew xxvii, 56) Cleo-

phas was their father. Referrino: to this and the preceding discrepancy, Smith's "Bible Dictionary" says: "This is one of the most difficult questions in the Gospel history."

no
Were Matthew and James
It is

the Less brothers?

Yei it is not admitted that they were. claimed that Matthew and Lev: were the same; i\Iark (ii, 14) declares that Levi was "the son of
Alpheus";
while

both
iii,

Matthew
18)

and

Mark
James

(Matt. X, 3;

Mark

declare that

was "the son

of Alpheus."

Ill

To what
it

city did

John belong, and where was

located?

John: "Bethsaida of Galilee" (xii, -^i). John states that Peter was a resident of Bethsaida (i, 44), and as John and Peter were partners (Luke V, 10), they must have belonged to But Bethsaida was not in Galithe same city. Llence if John wrote lee, but in Gaulonitis.
the Gospel ascribed to him, he did not

know

the location of his

It
is

own

city.

remarkable with what ease theologians

In harmonize the most discordant statements. this case the only thing required was, in drawing
the

map

of Palestine, to

of one and write the

make two dots instead word Bethsaida twice.

The

Minlst*y 3^'7hnst.
112

139

was the tenth apostle? Mark: Thaddeus (iii, 18). Matthew: "Lebbeus, whose Thaddeus" (x, 3).

Who

surname

was

In the earlier manuscripts of Matthew, the words, ''whose surname was Thaddeus," are not to be found. Subsequent transcribers added

them

to reconcile his Gospel with

Mark.

113

How many
Judas?

of the apostles bore the

name
x,

of

Matthew and Mark: But one (Matt,

1-4;

Mark

iii,

14-19).

Luke:

Two

(vi,

16).

114

One

of these

was Judas
:

Iscariot.

Who
of

was

the other?

Luke (Old
(vi,

Ver.)

"The brother
:

James"

16).

Luke (New Ver.)

"The son

of James."

Na'me the chief apostles. Synoptics: Peter, James and John. John: Peter and John. In the Synoptics, Peter, James and John constitute an inner circle or group who are with their master on every important occasion. In John this group is limited to Peter and John.
116

Who

was

Jesus' favorite apostle?

C40

The

Christ.

Synoptics: Peter.

John: John.

From
that
if

the Synoptics the conckision

is

inevitable

there

was one

disciple

whom

teemed higher than the others it whom he is declared to have chosen for the head of his church John, on the other hand, assuming that he wrote the Fourth Gospel, as

Jesus eswas Peter

claimed, takes frequent occasion to impress us with the idea that he was the bright particular Four times (xiii, star in the Apostolic galaxy. 23; xix, 26; XX, 2; xxi, 20) he declares himself
If

to be "the

disciple

whom

Jesus loved."

John wrote the Fourth Gospel this selfglorification proves him to have been a despicable egotist; if he did not write it the book is
a

forgery.
its

The

first
;

impairs

credibility

the

assumption, if correct, latter destroys its

authenticity.

117
Is the Aoostle

James mentioned
This omission
is

in

He

is

not.

the

John? more

re-

markable when we remember that Jaimes was not only one of the chief apostles, but the
brother of John. Respecting this omission, Strauss says:
it

'Ts

at all probable that the real

John would so

his brother

unbecomingly neglect the well-founded claims of James to special notice? and is not
indicative
of a
late

such an omission rather

Hellenistic author,

who

scarcely had heard the

The
name
Jesu,
oi'

Ministry of Chris'

41

the brother so early martyred?" (Leben

353.)

p,

118

What
:

other disciples besides the Twelve did

Jesus send out? Luke "After these things the Lord appointed other seventy also, and sent them two and two
before his face into every city and place, whither

he himself would come" (x, i). In not one of the other twenty-six books of the New Testament is this important feature of Christ's ministry mentioned. The seventy

Moses doubtless suggested it. "And came down in a cloud, and spoke unto him [Moses], and took of the spirit that was upon him, and gave it unto the seventy elders" (Num. xi, 25). Seventy was a sacred number with the Jews and is of frequent occurrence in their writings. "And all the souls that came out of the loins of Jacob were seventy souls" (Ex. i, 5). Abimelech had "seventy brethren" (Jud. ix, 56). "Ahab had seventy sons" (2 K. x. i). Isaiah prophesied that "Tyre shall be forgotten seventy
elders of

the Lord

years"

(xxiii,

15).

Jeremiah prophesied that

the Jews were to "serve the king of Babylon

seventy years" (xxv, 11). In Ezekiel's vision there stood before the idols of Israel "seventy men of the ancients of the house of Israel" (viii,
11).

In Daniel's vision "seventy weeks are de-

142
termined
city

The
upon
thy

Christ.

people

and

upon

the

holy

[Jerusalem]"

(ix, 24).

119

What
ciples?

charge did
into

Jesus

make
of

to

his

dis-

"Go not
into

the

way

the Gentiles,

and

any

city

of the Samaritans enter ye not"

(Matt. X, 5).

"Then cometh he [with

of Samaria" (John
iv,

his disciples] to a city

5).

''And he abode there

two days"

(40).

120

Did Jesus have a habitation of his own? Matthew "And leaving Nazareth he came and dwelt in Capernaum" (iv, 13). Mark: "J^sus sat at meat in his [Jesus']
:

house"

(ii,

15).

Luke: "And Jesus said unto him, Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head"
(ix,

58).

121

His residence in Capernaum was of what prophecy?

in fulfillment

Matthew:
Jordan,

"The land
of

of Zabulon,
of the
;

land of Nephthali, by
Galilee

way

sea,

and the beyond

people

the

Gentiles

the

which sat in darkness saw great light; and to them which sat in the region and shadow of death is light sprung up" fiv, 15, 16). The "prophecy" which Matthew pretends to

The Ministry
quote lows:
is

of Christ.
2), and

143
as
fol-

in Isaiah

(ix,

1,

reads
shall

''Nevertheless

the

dimness

not

be

such as
land
of

was

in her

vexation,

when

at

the first

land of Zebulon, and the and afterwards did more grievously afflict her by way of the sea, beyond Jordan, in GaHlee of the nations. The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light;
afflicted

he lightly

the

Naphtali,

death,

they that dwell in the land of the shadow of upon them hath the light shined."

Matthew both misquotes and misapplies

passage.

this

He

eliminates the facts and alters the

language to make a Messianic prophecy.

The

words were not intended as a prophecy. The events mentioned by Isaiah had occurred when he wrote. The "great light," which they had already seen, referred to his own work in destroying witchcraft and idolatry.
122

Were Zebulon and Nephthali

yond Jordan," They were
the
as stated?
not.

situated

"be-

"Beyond Jordan" means which formed the eastern boundary of Palestine. Zebulon and Nephthali were both situated west of the Jordan.
east of

Jordan,

123

Andrew, James and John with Jesus when he taught in the synagogue at CaperPeter,

Were

naum
Mark: They were
(i,

16-21).

144

The

Christ.
for they

Luke: They were not;

been called
(iv,

had not yet

31;

v,

i-ii).

124

Did Jesus perform many miracles

at the beo^innin^ of his ministry?

in

Galilee

Matthew
lee,

*'And Jesus went about

their synagogues,

all

Gali-

teachini^ in

and preachall

ing the gospel of the kingdom, and healing

manner of disease among the people. And his fame went throughout all Syria; and they brought unto him all manner
of sickness

and

all

sick

people that were taken

with

divers

dis-

eases and torments, and those which were possessed Avith devils, and those which were lunatic, and those that had the palsy; and he healed them" (iv, 23, 24). Mark "He healed many that were sick with divers diseases, and cast out many devils" (i,
:

34).

Luke

**A11

they that had any sick with divers

;

diseases brought

them unto him and he laid his hands on every one of them, and healed them.

And

devils also came out of many" (iv, 40, 41). John declares that his curing the nobleman's son (iv, 46-54), which was not until the second

mission

in

Galilee,

performed there, only one he performed during the first period According to this Evangelist of his ministry. (iv, 45) all the notoriety he had at this time in Galilee, had been achieved, not by any miracles

was the second miracle he his miracle at Cana being the

The
the reports of

Ministry of Christ.
in

145
through
his

he had performed

that

country,

but

some Gahleans who had seen

statements

works
In
the

Jerusalem in Judca. regard to these conihcting

at

of

Farrar says: "At this point we are again met by difficulties in the chronology, which are not only serious, but to the certain
solution of which there appears to be no clew" (Life of Christ, p. 124).
125.

Evangelists,

Did he perform any miracles before he

his disciples?

called

Luke: He did (iv, 40, 41; v, i-ii). John: ''And both Jesus was called, and his disciples, to the marriage [at Cana, where he turned the water into wine] This beginning of miracles did Jesus in Cana" (ii, i-ii)
.

Luke declares that he had performed many miracles before the first disciples were called; John declares that his disciples had been called
and were with him when he performed
miracle.
his first

126

When was
made?

the miraculous draught of fishes

Luke: At the beginning of his ministry (v, 6). John Not until after his death and resurrec:

tion (xxi, 11).

127

What

accident

was caused by

the

enormous

draught of fishes?

146

The

Christ.

Luke: "Their net brake" (v, 6). John: "For all there were so many, yet was not the net broken" (xxi, 11). In Luke and John we have two different verAfter comparsions of a P^^tha^^orlan legend. ing* and notinjTf the ac^reements and variations
of the three versions of the legend, Strauss says:
"If

there be a

mind
and

that,

not perceiving in
the
finger-

the narratives

we have compared
hence
the

marks
leans

of tradition, of

legendary
still

character
to

these

evangelical

anecdotes,

the historical
;

interpretation,

whether
alike

natural or supernatural

that

mind must be

ignorant of the true character both of legend and of history, of the natural and the supernatural" (Leben Jesu,
p.

339).

128

How

long did the Jews say

it

took to build
in

the temple?

building"
building.

and six years was this temple (John ii, 20). One year and six months was this temple
"Fort3^
ch. xi)
giv'es a full

in

Josephus (B. XV,

of

account
its

the building of the

:

temple.

Of

comin

mencement, he says

"And now Herod,

the

eighteenth year of his reign, and after the acts

already mentioned, undertook a very great

thr.t

is,

to build of himself the temple of

work God"
says:

(sec. i). Concerning its completion, he "But the temple itself was built by the

priests

The Ministry of
in a

Christ.

147
all

year and six months

full of

upon

which

the
r-e

people were
in the

joy; and presently they

first

turned thanks, in the

place, to

next place, for the alacrity

God; and the king had

this
re-

shown.

They

feasted and celebrated

building: of the temple" (sec. 6).

The

building- of the temple

it

was begun

in

19

.C.

was

finished

and dedicated
129

in 17 B. C.

Where

did Jesus deliver his so-called

Sermon
(v,

on the Mount?

Matthew: ''He went up

I).

into a

mountain"

Luke: "He came down with them, and stood

in the plain"
(vi,

17).

Both Matthew and Luke represent him as being on a mountain; but while Matthew has him go up into the mountain to deliver his sermon, Luke has him come down out of the mountain to deliver it. In regard to this discrepancy, the Dutch theo"The Evangelist logian, Dr. Hooykaas, says [Matthew] had a special motive for fixing upon He intended to a mountain for this purpose.
:

Jesus laying down the fundamental laws of the kingdom of heaven as the counterrepresent
part of
tion of the

Moses who promulgated the constituOld Covenant from Mount Sinai.

be regarded as a

Luke, on the other hand, not wishing Jesus to second Moses, or another

lawgiver, just as deliberately

makes the Master

148

The

Christ.

deliver this discourse

on

a plain"

(Bible

for

Learners, Vol III,

p. 141, 142).

130

Did he deliver
ing?

his

sermon

sitting or stand-

Matthew: "He was set" (v, Luke: He ''stood" (vi, 17).

131

i).

Repeat the Beatitudes which are common to both Evangelists.

"Blessed are the poor
the
in

spirit

for theirs
v, 3).
is

is

kingdom
of

of heaven"

(Matthew
20).

"Blessed be ye poor; for yours

the king-

dom

God" (Luke

vi,

"Blessed are they that

mourn

for they shall

be comforted" (Matthew). "Blessed are ye that weep

now

for

ye shall

laugh" (Luke).
"Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst
after righteousness
:

for

they

shall

be

filled"

(Matthew).
"Blessed are ye which hunger now: for ye
shall be filled"

(Luke).

"Blessed are ye,

when men

shall

revile you,

and persecute you, and shall say all manner of falsely, for my sake" (Matevil against you
thew).

"Blessed are ye,

when men

shall

hate

you,

and when they shall separate you from their companv, and shall reproach you, and cast out

The
your name as
(Luke).

^4inistry of Christ.
evil

149'

for the

Son of man's sake"

"Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets v^hich were before you" (Matthew). "Rejoice ye in that day, and leap for joy for. behold, your reward is great in heaven for in
:
:

like

manner

did their fathers unto the prophets"

rLuke).

The agreements between

this

the

two versions

of

sermon, of which the foregoing are a part, are ample to prove them to be reports of the same discourse; while the variations are certainly

sufficient to disprove

the infallibility of the

evangelistic reporters.

Whether

it

be

historical

or

fabricated

whether Jesus delivered the sermon or not Matthew and Luke have given merely different

same composition. The exordiums are the same; the perorations are the same both end with the illustration of the men, one of whom built his house on a frail, the other on a firm foundation; the doctrines enunciated are substantially th^ same; while the words in which they are clothed proclaim a common origin. Matthew's vtersion is longer than Luke's; either Matthew has added to, or Luke has taken from the original report of the sermon.
versions of the

132

Repeat the Golden Rule. "All things whatsoever ye would that men

ISO

The

Christ.
:

this

should do to you, do ye even so to them for is the law and the prophets" (Matthew vii,
12;

Luke

vi,

31).
Hillel,

Seventy years before Christ,

ish rabbi, said:

the Jew-

"Do
law."

not to others what you would not have

to you.

them do

This

is

the substance

of

the

Rabbi Hirsch says ''Before Jesus, the Golden Rule was one of the household sayings of Israel."
:

133

Repeat the Lord's Prayer.

According to Matthew.

Old Version.
**Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy Thy kingdom come. will be done in earth, as

New

Version,

"Our Father which

art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy

kingdom
will

come. be done, as

Thy
in hea-

Give in heaven. us 'this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts as we forgive
it is

our debtors.

And

lead

ven, so on earth. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.

us not into temptation, but deliver us from

the
for

And

bring us not
evil

into temptation, but deliver us

For thine is kingdom, and the power, and the glory,

evil:

from the

one."

ever.

Amen"

(vi,

9-13)-

The

Ministry of

Chirist.

151

According to Luke.

Old Version.

New
be
thy

Version.

"Our Father which

art in heaven,

Hallowed be thy name. Thy Thy kingdom come.

will be done, as in heaven, so in earth. Give

Hallowed Thy name. Give kingdom come. us day by day our daily
''Father,

bread.

us day by day our daily bread. And forgive us

forgive us we ourforgive selves also every one that is in-

And

our sins; for

our sins; for we also forgive every one that And is indebted to us. lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil" (xi, 2-4).
:

debted to us. And bring us not mto temptation

>

The commonly accepted

version of the Lord's

Prayer is the Authorized Version of Matthew This version is admitted to be grossly inaccurate The Revised Ver It contains sixty-six words. sion of Matthew contains but fifty-five. Twenty four words either do not belong to the prayer or have been misplaced; while words which do
belong to
it

have been omitted.

If

the custo-

dians of the Christian Scriptures have permitto be corrupted to can be placed upon the this extent, what reliance genuineness of the remainder of these writings?

ted the prayer of their

Lord

The Lord's
rowed.

Prayer, like so

many more

of the
is

precepts and discourses ascribed to Jesus, Prayer'

bor-

Dr. Hardwicke, of England, says:

"The
the

so-called 'Lord's

was learned by

152

The

Christ.

Messiah as the 'Kadish' from the Tahnud." The Kadish, as translated by a Christian scholar, Rev. John Gre^s^orie, is as follows: "Our Father which art in heaven, be gracious to us, O Lord, our God; hallowed be thy name, and let the remembrance of thee be glorified in heaven above and in the earth here below. Let thy kingdom reign over us now and forever. The holy men of old said. Remit and forgive unto all men whatsoever they have done against me.

And

lead us not into temptation, but deliver us

For thine is the kingdom; from the evil thing. and thou shalt reign in glory for ever and for
evermore."

The eminent Swiss

says
:

theologian, Dr. Wetstein,

*Tt

is

a curious fact that the Lord's Prayer

may

be constructed almost verbatim out of the

the
of
is

Talmud."

The Sermon on
sect to

Mount
the

is

derived largely
a

from the teachings which Jesus

belonged.

Essenes,

Jewish
to have

believed by

many

134

When
livered?

and where was the Lord's Prayer dehis

Matthew: During
before the multitude.

Sermon on

the Mount,

Luke: At a
alone
(xi,

later period, before the

disciples

i).

Was

the

Sermon on

13s the

Mount

delivered be-

The Ministry
fore

of Christ.

153

Matthew (Levi

called

in Mark and Luke) from the receipt of custom?

(v, 7; ix, 9).
(v,

was

Matthew: It was Luke: It was not

27;

vi,

20).

136

When

did Jesus cleanse the leper?

Matthew: After the Sermon on the Mount

(v, i; viii, 1-4).

Luke
12-14;

Before the Sermon on the

20-49).

Mount

(v,

vi,

When
3;
14,

137 did he cure Peter's mother-in-law?

(viii, 2,

Matthew: After he cleansed the leper

15)-

(Mark

Mark and Luke: Before he cleansed the leper 29-31 40-42; Luke iv, 38, 39; v, 12, 13).
i,
;

138

Was

this before or after

Peter was called to

the ministry?

Luke: Before

(iv, 38,

39; v 10).
iv,

Matthew and Mark: After (Matt, viii, 14, 15; Mark i, 16, 17; 30, 31).
139

18,

19;

Were James and John

performed
:

with Jesus

when he

this cure?
(i,

Mark They were Luke: They were

been called
(iv. 38,

29)

not.

They had not yet

39; v, 10, 11).

140

When was

the centurion's servant healed?

of the leper

Matthew: Between the cleansing

154

The

Christ.
(viii,

and the curing of Peter's mother-in-law

2-14).

Luke: Not until after both these cures had been performed (iv, 38, 39; v, 12, 13; vii, i-io).
141

Who
s).

came for Jesus? Matthew: The centurion came himself

(viii,

Luke The centurion

:

did not

come

himself, but

sent the Jewish elders for

him

(vii, 2-4).

142

Where was he when

acle?
:

he performed this mir-

5;

Matthew and Luke In Capernaum (Matt, viii, Luke vii, i). John: In Cana (iv, 46). According to Matthew and Luke, Jesus was elsein Capernaum while the patient lived where; according to John, Jesus was in Cana
while
the patient lived in Capernaum.

John
(as

says he was a nobleman's son, but

of

all critics

well as the Archbishop of York, in his ''Harmony

the

Gospels")

agree that he refers to the

same

miracle.

When

did he
:

still

143 the tempest?

Matthiew

Before Matthew
(viii,

was

called

from
(il,

the receipt of custom

23-27;

ix, 9).

Mark: After Matthew (Levi) was

14;
iv,

called

35-41)-

The Ministry of
144

Christ.

155

When

did he cast out the devils that entered

called to the

into the herd of swine?

Matthew: Before Matthew was

ministry
(viii, 28,
:

33;

ix, 9).

Mark and Luke Not until after he was called (Mark ii, 14; v, 1-13; Luke v, 27; viii, 26-33).
145

were possessed with devils? Matthew "There met him two possessed with devils coming out of the tombs" (viii, 28). Mark and Luke "There met him out of the tombs a man with an unclean spirit" (Mark v,
:

How many

2;

Luke

viii,

27).

146

When
answer?

asked his name what did the demoniac

is

Legion" (Mark v, 9). the Rev. Dr. Giles says: "The Four Gospels are written in Greek, and the word iegion' is Latin; but in Galilee and Perea the people spoke neither Latin nor Greek,

"My name

Concerning

this

it. The word 'legion* w^uld be perfectly unintelligible to the disciples of Christ, and to almost everybody in the coun-

but Hebrew, or a dialect of

try" (Christian Records,

p.

197).

How many
Mark
13):

147 swine were there?

(v,

"They were about two thousand"

hog received a
devil there

If each

must have

156

The

Christ.

Legion must have been two thousand devils. been a very large man, or they were very little
devils.

148

Where
(viii,

did this occur?

:

Matthew
28).

In "the country of the Gergesenes"

Mark and Luke:

darenes" (Mark
It
is
it

In "the country of the Gai;

v,

Luke

viii,

26).

generally conceded by orthodox critics

occurred neither in the country of the Gergesenes nor in the country of the Gadarenes,
that

but

in

the country of the Gerasenes.

It

could

not have occurred in the country of the Gadarenes because it is said to have occurred on
the sea shore and Gadara

was
is

situated several

miles from the sea.

Voltaire says the story

fact that the eVent
in
is

disproved by the

alleged to have taken place

a country where no swine were kept.

149

Do

the Evangelists

all

agree in regard to the

expulsion of demons by Jesus? The Synoptics abound with these miracles: Matthew Viii, 28-34; ix, 32-34; xv, 22-28; xvii,
14-21
;

Mark
iv,

i,

21-28; v, 1-20;
viii,

vii,

24-30;

ix,

20-29;

Luke

31-37;

26-39;

ix

37-42-

John never

mentions them.
150

What
Luke:

great miracle did Jesus perform at Nain?

"Now when

he came nigh to the gate

The

Ministry of Christ.

157

of the city, behold, there

a dead man carried mother, and she was out, the only son of his a widow and much people of the city was with

was

her.

the Lord saw her he had compassion on her, and said unto her, Weep not. And he came and touched the bier: and they

And when

And he said, Young him stood still. And he that was man, I say unto thee, Arise. And he desat up, and began to speak. dead him to his mother" (vii, 12-15). livered The other Evangelists were certainly ignorant of this miracle; for if they had known of
that bare

they could not have omitted it, as it is the most important miracle related by a Synoptist, and, with one exception, the most important of
it

all

Christ's miracles.

miracle almost identical with this

to Luke,

is

related

of Apollonius. Referring to the two,

"As according
;

it

was

Baur says: young man,

the only son of a

widow, who was being carried

out of the city so, in Philostratus, it is a young maiden already betrothed, whose bier Apollonius
meets.

The command
a

to set

down

the bier, the

mere touch, and

of

few words, are

145).

sufficient here,

as thtere, to bring the dead to life"

(Apollonius

Tyana and

Christ, p.

151

In their accounts of his curing the paralytic what parenthetical clause is to be found in each
of the Synoptics?

158
"(Then (Matthew
saith
ix,

The
Mark
is

Christ.

he to the sick of the palsy)'*

ii,

6;

10;

Luke

v, 24).

As

the clause

superfluous, this agreement,

instead of furnishing proof of divine inspiration,

tends to prove w^hat has already been affirmed,

that these books are not original, but copied, for

the most part, from older docum-ents. 152

What

effect

had the teachings of Jesus upon

at his doc-

the people?

Matthew: ''They were astonished

trine"
(xxii,

33).
at his doctrine"

Mark: "They were astonished

(i,

22).

Luke
(iv,

"They were astonished

at his doctrine"

32).

What
-

153 did he say to the people in regard to

letting their light shine?

"No man, when he

it

hath
place,

lighted

candle,

putteth

in a

secret

neither

bushel, but on a candle stick"

xi, 33).

under a (Luke, Old Ver.,

a

"N"o man,

when he hath

lighted

lamp,

putteth

it

in

a cellar, neither under the bushel,

but on the stand"

(New
154

Ver.).

What
to
life?

did he say concerning the

the gate,

way
is

that leads

"Strait

is

and narrow

the

way,

The

Ministry of Christ.
life"

159 Old
Ver.,

which leadeth unto

vii,

(Matthew,

14).
is

"Narrow

the gate, and straitened the way,

that leadeth unto life"

(New Ver.). The Old Version has a strait gate and

narrow way; the and a strait way.

New

Version a narrow gate

155

Quote the words which

Peter.

relate the calling of

John: ''He [Andrew]

first

findeth

his

own
have

brother Simon, and saith unto him,

We

found the Messias, which

the Christ.

is

being

interpreted

"And he brought him

son of Jona
is
:

to Jesus.

And when
Simon the

Jesus beheld him, he said.

Thou
(i,

art

thou shalt be called Cephas, which

by

interpretation,
last clause of

stone"
is

41, 42).

The

each

an interpolation.

Where was John

his

156 baptizing

when Jesus and

22, 23).

came into Judea? John: "In Aenon near to Salim" (iii, This is declared by nearly all critics
disciples

geographical error.
this existed
in

No
157

be a place corresponding to
to

Judea.

Samaria did Jesus visit? John: "Then cometh he to a city of Samaria which is called Sychar" (iv, 5). Samaria contained no city of this name. Bible
city of

What

i6o

The

Christ.
is

commentators believe that Shechem

158

intended.

What
to leave

did his disciples say to

him when about

to

Bethany? "Master, the Jews

xi, 8).

of

late

sought

stone

thee" (John

The
above
his

disciples
is

were themselves Jews, and the

not the language of a

Jew speaking

of

own

people, but of a foreigner.

159

Where was he when he

and sinners?

dined with publicans

Mark: meat in
(h,

At

his

his house,

own house. *'As Jesus sat at many publicans and sinners

with Jesus and his disciples"

sat also together

15)-

Luke: At the house of Levi. ''And Levi made him a great feast in his own house and there was a great company of publicans and of others that sat down with them" (v, 29).
;

160

What

did the Pharisees say to his disciples,

because they, with Jesus, dined with publicans

and sinners? "Why do ye eat and drink with publicans and sinners?" (Luke v, 30.) "Why eateth your master with publicans and
sinners?"

(Matthew

ix,

11.)

161

Who

inquired of Jesus the reason for his dis-

ciples not fasting?

The Ministry of
Matthew:

Christ.

16

"Then came

to

him the

disciples

do we and the Pharisees fast oft, but thy disciples fast not?" (ix, 14.) Luke ''And they [the scribes and Pharisees]
of John, saying,
:

Why

said unto him,

often,
. . .

why do the disciples of John fast and likewise the disciples of the Pharisees; but thine eat and drink?" (v, 33.)
162

What

did he say

when reproved

for plucking

the ears of corn on the Sabbath?

How

"Have ye never read what David did? he went into the house of God in the days
.

of Abiathar,

the

high priest, and did eat

ii,

the

shew bread?" (Mark

David did not do

25, 26.)

this "in the

days of Abia-

thar," but in the days of Ahimelech.

"Then came

Ahimelech the priest ... So the priest gave him hallowed bread; for there was no bread there but the shew bread" (i Sam.

David

to

Nob

to

xxi,

I,

6).

wrote of me" (John v, 46). is quoted in Acts iii, and may be found in Deuteronomy xviii, 15. 22, It alludes to Joshua, the successor of Moses. "The Lord thy God will raise up unto thee a prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren like unto me unto him ye shall hearken." Had Jesus been omniscient he would have

What did he "He [Moses]

The passage

163 claim regarding Moses?

referred to

known

that

Moses

did not write this; that

it

62

The

Christ.

was not written

time of Moses.

until nearly

800 years after the

164

Jesus

is

credited with having raised the daugh-

ter of Jairus

from the dead.

said,

Was

she

really

dead?

Matthew: Jairus

"My
little

daughter daughter

is

even
at

now dead"

(ix,

18).

Mark: He
:

said,

"My

lieth

the point of death" (v, 23). Luke It was reported that "she lay a dying"
(viii,

42).
to

According

Matthew,
life;

in this miracle

he

re-

stored the dead to

according to
sick.

Mark and

Luke, he merely healed the

165

Who

of Christ's disciples witnessed the raising

of Jairus' daughter?

Mark and Luke

y,

Peter,
51).

James and John (Mark

is

37-40;

Luke

viii,

John,
said to

who

alone of his alleged biographers

have witnessed this miracle, is the only one who fails to mention it. "A proper witness is silent, while an improper witness testifies." Bishop Faustus.

166

What
"He

did Jesus

say

when sending out

his

Twelve Apostles?
you receiveth me, and he that receiveth me receiveth him that sent me" (Matthew x, 40; Luke x. 16).
that receiveth

The Ministry
According to John
(xiii,

of Christ.
20) these

163

words were

uttered not at the beginning of his ministry as

stated by Matthew and Luke, but at the Last Supper; regarding which ''Supernatural Rehgion" says: "It is clear that its insertion here
is

a mistake."

167

What command

did he give

them respecting

the provision of staves?

Matthew and Luke They were not

:

themselves with staves.

nor
for
silver,

nor brass

in

to provide 'Trovide neither gold, your purses, nor scrip

your journey,

neither

two

coats,
9,

neither

shoes, nor yet staves" (Matt, x,

3)-

10

Luke

ix,

Mark
(vi, 8).

"Commanded them

that they

should

take nothing for their journey, save a staff only'*

168

When

the Samaritans refused to receive

said
?

him

what was Luke: "And when his disciples James and John saw this, they said. Lord, wilt thou that we command fire to come down from heaven, and consume them even as Elias did? "But he turned and rebuked them, and said. Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of. "For the Son of man is not come to destroy men's lives, but to save them. And they went
to another village" (ix, 54-56).
It is

conceded by the best Christian scholars

164
that the

The

Christ.
all

words "as Elias did" and

that follow,

excepting "he turned and rebuked them,"

spurious.

are

169

What
*Trom
the

did Jesus say to the multitude concern-

ing John the Baptist?

the days of John the Baptist until
of

now

kingdom thew xi, 12).

tist

heaven suffereth violence" (Matthe days of John the Bapthat

a long

The words,
until

*'from

now," signify

period

of

time had elapsed since the days of John. on the very da}^ that Jesus is said to
ciples of John,
2, 3)-

Yet,

have
xi,

uttered them, he received a visit from the dis-

who was

still

living

(Matthew

170

Whose rejection of him provoked the tion, "A prophet is not without honor, his own country"?
Matthew: "And when he came mto
. . .

declara-

save in
his

own

country [Galilee], he taught them in their synagogue, and they were .offended in him.

But Jesus said unto them,

out honor, save in his

prophet

is

not with54-57).

own

country"

(xiii,

John: "He departed thence, [he had come from Judea and Samaria] and went into Galilee. For Jesus himself testified, that a prophet hath no honor in his own country. Then when he

was come into Galilee, the him" (iv, 43-45).

Galileans

received

Th-

Ministry of Christ.

165

According to Matthew, he was without honor

in

Galilee; according to John, he

went

to Gali-

because he was without honor in Judea. According to Matthew the Galileans rejected him; according to John "the Galileans received him."
lee

According to Matthew,
;

Galilee

was

''his

country" according to John, Judea was country."

''his

own own

Regarding
Scott,
in his

these

contradictory

statements,

"English Life of Jesus" (p. 114), says: "The Synoptists in every case give a special reason for his leaving Galilee, while the fourth
gospel is equally careful in specifying the reason for his leaving Jerusalem. According to the former, Jesus would not have left Galilee if he

could have avoided

it;

according to the

latter,

he

would have remained at Jerusalem if he could have done so with safety. The inconsistency is
glaring."

171

When
in the

own country and taught synagogue what did the people say? Mark: "Is not this the carpenter?" (vi, 3.) Matthew: "Is not this the carpenter's son?"
55-)

he came into his

(xiii,

172

When Herod

heard of his wonderful works,

risen

what did he say? "This is John the Baptist; he the dead" (Matthew xiv, 2).
Here, early
in

is

from

Christ's ministry, the tetrarch

i66
of Galilee
is

The

Christ.
as

represented

entertaining

the

Christian doctrine of a bodily resurrection.

173

When
ed?

and

for

what reason was John behead-

Matthew and Mark "But when Herod's birthday was kept, the daughter of Herodias [Salome] danced before them, and pleased Herod. Where:

upon he promised with an oath to give her whatsoever she would ask. And she, being before instructed of her mother, said, Give me here John Baptist's head in a charger. And the king was sorry: nevertheless for the oath's sake, and

them which
it

sat

with him

to be given her.
in the prison.

John

at meat, he commanded And he sent, and beheaded And his head was brought
:

in a charger,

brought
v'i,

it

to her

and given to the damsel and she mother" (Matt, xiv, 6-1 1 Mark
;

21-28).

This account of the death of John is utterly This at variance with that given in Josephus. historian, assuming the passage relating to John
to be genuine, says

"Herod, who feared lest the great influence John had over the people might put it into his power and inclination to raise rebellion (for they seemed to do anything he should advise), thought it best by putting him to death, to prevent any mischief he might cause, and not bring himself into difficulties, by sparing a man who might make him repent of it when it should be too

The

Ministry of Christ.

i6

late. Accordingly he was sent a prisoner, out of Herod's suspicious temper, to Macherus, the castle I before mentioned, and was there put to death" (Antiquities, B. xviii, ch. v, sec. 2). Macherus, where Josephus states that John was executed, was a place far removed from Herod's capital was outside of his dominions

Arabia Petrea. Referring to the Evangelistic account of John's "This eminently Dr. Hooykaas says death, dramatic story certainly cannot be accepted as
in
:

it

stands.

It

betrays too

much

art in its strik-

ing contrasts between the manners of the court

and the person of the prophet.

is

We

have already

seen that the occasion of John's imprisonment

not correctly given by the Gospels.
a

man

as

Herod

'delighted in

hearing'

That such John is,

ghastly

to say the least, an exaggeration. scene in which the prophet's head

The
is

carried into

the festive hall may not be quite impossible in such an age and at such a court, but it is hardly probable. It is easy to see that Herodias is drawn after the model of Ahab's wife, who hated and

persecuted the

first

Elijah; and Salome

is

evi-

dently copied from Esther, for she, too, visits the

prince by surprise, captivates

him by her beauty,

board demands boon" (Bible

obtains a promise of anything up to the half of

his

kingdom, and

at the festive

the death of her

enemy
iii,

as the royal

for Learners, vol.

p. 272).

68

The
was Herodias?
"His

Christ.

174

Who
wife'

Synoptics:

[Herod's]

brother
17;

Philip's

(Matt, xiv, 3;

Herodias was a
herited son of

Luke iii, 19). grand-daughter of Herod the

vi,

Mark

Great, and married her uncle Herod, the disin-

Herod

the Great.

She subse-

quently married Antipas, the Herod

to

who

is

said

have put John to

death.

Herod's

brother

Philip (Tetrarch of Trachonitis and Gaulonitis)

was not the son of Marianne, as the first husband of Herodias was, but the son of Cleopatra. Philip's wife was Salome, the daughter of Herodias.

The daughter of Herodias, instead of being damsel dancing at the court of Herod, as the

Synoptics declare, was at this time the wife of an aged ruler of a foreign province. According to Whiston, she became a widow in the very

year

in

which John
Whiston,

died.

Herodias was not the

Josephus,
in-

wife, but the mother-in-law of Herod's brother

Philip.
in his translation of

attempts to gloss over the Synoptics' error by

serting in brackets after

Herod

the

word

"Philip."

Scribncrs' "Bible Dictionary" concedes the error

and accounts for it ''By supposing that there is a confusion between the first husband and the son-in-law of Herodias, for her daughter Salome
married Philip the tetrarch."
175 the numbers

What

is

said

of

baptized

by

The

Ministry of Christ.

169

Jesus and his disciples as compared with those baptized by John?

John ''The Pharisees had heard that Jesus made and baptized more disciples than John.
:

(Though Jesus himself baptized

ciples.)" (iv,
I,
(iii,

not,

but his disdeclare that

2.)

Matthew

5)

and Mark
"J^^^-^salem

(i,

5)

and all Judea." It is admitted, both in the New Testament and by Christians, that Jesus made but few converts during- his lifetime, and to assert or intimate that he and his disciples baptized more than John is

John had baptized

preposterous.

Who
Mark

furnished

the

176 loaves

and

fishes

with
15-17;

which the multitude

in the desert

was fed?
xiv,

Synoptics: The disciples (Matt, vi, 35-38; Luke ix, 12, 13).

John:

"A

lad" (vi, 9).

177

How many
were about

were fed?
that did eat of the loaves

Mark: "And they

five
:

thousand men" (vi, 44). Matthew "And they that had eaten were about five thousand men, beside women and children"
(xiv, 21).

178

Where
Luke
:

did this miracle occur?

"In a desert place belonging to the city

says that after the
miracle

called Bethsaida" (ix, 10).

Mark

"He

con-

lyo

The

Christ.

strained his disciples to get into a ship, and to

go

to the other side before

unto Bethsaida"
in

(vi,

45).
If the miracle was performed longing to the city of Bethsaida,

a place be-

as

stated

by

Luke, they did not cross the sea to reach Bethsaida, as stated

by Mark.

179 After feeding the five thousand what did Jesus

do?

Matthew and Mark "He sent the multitudes away" (Matt, xiv, 22; Mark vi, 45). John He did not send the multitude away, but withdrew himself into a mountain (vi, 15).
:

180

For what purpose did he go to the mountain? Matthew and Mark "And when he had sent the multitudes away, he went up into a moun:

tain,

apart to pray" (Matt, xiv, 23;

Mark

vi,

46).

John: "When Jesus therefore perceived that they [the multitude] would come and take him by force, to make him a king, he departed again
into a

mountain alone"

(vi, 15).

Matthew and Mark say nothing about the attempt to make him king; John says nothing
about his praying.
181

Were

his disciples with

:

him?

Matthew and Mark

"And straightway Jesus

constrained his disciples to get into a ship, and to go before him unto the other side, while he

The

Ministry of Christ.

171

sent the multitude away.

And when he had

sent the multitudes away, he

mountain apart

went up into a and when the evening was come, he was there alone. But the ship was
to pray;

now in the midst of the sea" (Matt, xiv, 22-24; Mark vi, 45-47)Luke "And it came to pass, as he was alone
:

praying, his disciples were with him"

(ix,

18).

Matthew and Mark send his disciples ahead in a ship to make room for his miracle of walking on the sea, a miracle that Luke knows nothing
of.

182

To what
to sail?

port did he

command
(vi,

his disciples

Mark: "Unto Bethsaida"

Pursuant to
this

45).

command toward what

(vi,

place

did they steer?

John: "Toward Capernaum"

17).

Where
34).

did this bring

them?
(xiv,

Matthew: "Into the land of Gennesaret"

183

Jesus himself
foot.

is

said to have followed

them on

Where

did he overtake

them?

(Matt, xiv, 24-26;

21).

Matthew and Mark: "In the midst of the sea" Mark vi, 47, 48). John: As they were nearing the land (vi, 19According to John, he walked entirely across

172

The
way

Christ.

the sea; according to

half
across.

Matthew and Mark, but

Christ's

walking on the sea was probably sug-

gested by Job (ix, 8), who says God "treadeth upon the waves of the sea," or, according to the Septuagint, "walking upon the sea as upon a

pavement."
184

What
trip?

remarkable feat was attempted on the

Matthew: "And when Peter was come down out of the ship, he walked on the water, to go to Jesus. And when he saw the wind boisterous, he was afraid and beginning to sink, he cried, saying, Lord save me. And immediately Jesus stretched forth his hand, and caught him" (Matt.
;

xiv, 29-31).

Mark and

John,

who

relate

larity the events of this voyage,

with much particudo not mention

Peter's adventure.

"Probably they had good reason for omitting A profane mind might make a jest of an apostle 'half seas over,' and ridicule an apostolic gate-keeper who couldn't keep his head above water." Bradlaugh.
it.

What

did

the

Jews say
:

to Jesus

respecting

his Messianic mission?

"Search and look for out of Galilee ariseth no prophet" (John vii, 52). Search and look; for out of Galilee arose some

The Ministry of Christ.

of their greatest prophets, Jonah, Hosea,

173

Nahum
Jews
plain

and EHjah.

It

may

be urged that

it

is

the
it is

who
the

give expression to the error; but

EvangeHst accepts the statement as

186

true.

What

notable incident occurred at Jerusalem?

John: The release by

taken in adultery
(vii,

Jesus

of

the

woman

53, viii, i-ii).

This is popularly regarded as one of the most admirable acts in Christ's ministry. In the New Version the twelve verses relating it are declared

by the Oxford

revisers to be an interpolation.

187 In the miracle of restoring the sight of the

man
7).
in,

born

what did he tell the man to do? "Go wash in the pool of Siloam" (John ix, "The Lord sent the blind man to wash, not
blind,
it,

as our version has

for

but at the pool of Siloam;

to

it was the clay from his eyes that was washed off." Smith's Bible Dictionary. be

188

meaning of the word "Siloam"? John "Which is by interpretation, 'Sent' " (ix,
is

What
:

the

7).

Which

is

not

by interpretation
189

"sent,"

but

"aqueduct."

provoked the displeasure of the Pharisees by eating with unwashed hands? Matthew and Mark: The disciples of Jesus
(Matt. XV,
I,

Who

2;

Mark

vii, i, 2).

iy4

The

Christ.
(xi, 37, 38).

Luke: Jesus himself

190

Of what

nationality

was

the

woman who
(xv, 22).
(vii,

de-

sired Jesus to cast the devil out of her daughter?

Matthew: "A woman of Canaan" Mark: "The woman was a Greek"

191

26).

What

did his disciples say

when he expressed
thousand?

his intention of feeding the four

Mark: ''And his disciples answered him, From whence can a man satisfy these men with bread
here in the wilderness?

many

loaves have ye?

And he asked thern, How And they said, Seven"

(viii, 4, 5)-

should they be surprised at his intenfeeding four thousand with seven loaves tion of when but a few weeks before he had fed five

Why

thousand with five loaves? In regard to this miracle Rev. William Sanday, of England, author of "J^sus Christ," the

most important
tionary," says:

article in Scribners' ''Bible Dic-

"Are the two Feedings of Mark Besides to be regarded as two events or one? the general resemblance between the two narratives, a weighty argument in favor of the latter
hypothesis
disciples'
is,

that

in

the second narrative the

the

question

implies that

emergency

was something new.

They

could hardly havfc

put this question as they did if a similar event had happened only a few weeks before." This
is

also the opinion of Dr. Schlciermacher.

The

Ministry of Christ.

175

192 After feedinor the four thousand where did he

come? Matthew (Old Ver.) of Magdala" (xv, 39). Matthew (New Ver.) of Magadan."

"Came
:

into the coasts

"Came

into the borders

193

Where "Came

does

Mark say he came?

Dalmanutha
the
(viii,

into the parts of

this

10).

Criticising

statement,

"Bible

for

Learners" says: "Mark makes him journey still farther north, through the district of Sidon, and
then turn southeast to the lake of Galilee, pass some way down its eastern shore apparently,

and cross in a southwesterly Dalmanutha, where we meet him once again. But the Evangelist's geography is open to suspicion, and we are inclined to lay these apparently purposeless wanderings of Jesus to the account of Mark's want of accuracy" (Vol.

and

finally take ship

direction to

iii,

p. 282).

194

What

did he say to the Pharisees

who

asked

for a sign?

"There
tion"

shall

no sign be given unto

12).

this genera-

(Mark

viii,

"There

shall

no sign be given unto

it,

but the

sign of the prophet Jonas"

195

(Matthew

xvi, 4).

On

the

way

to Caesarea Philippi

what remark-

able discovery

was made by

Peter?-

176

The
''He

Christ.

[Jesus] asked his disciples, do men say that I the Son of Man am? And they said, Some say that thou art John the Baptist some Elias and others, Jeremias, or one of the prophets. He saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am? And Simon Peter answered and said. Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven"
saying,

Matthew:

Whom

(xvi, 13-17)-

According to Matthew, Jesus

lation
in the

is

astonished at
it

the discovery of Peter and attributes

to a reve-

from Heaven.

Yet previous

to this,

and

presence of Peter, according to the same

writer, the other disciples

be

''the

had declared him to Son of God" (Matthew xiv, 33).

196
all

The S3moptics
of Jesus

declare that the Messiahship

to his disciples until

was not revealed

It is not.

late in his ministry.

Is this true?
It

John
called

was known

to

them

at the

beginning of his

ministr}^

Before

Peter

was
41).

Andrew
is,

said,

"We

have found the Messias,

(i,

which

being interpreted, the Christ"

On

the following day Nathanael said to Jesus,

art the

"Thou

Son

of

God thou
;

art the

King

of

Israel" (49).

197

When

did the Transfiguration take place?

The Ministry of

Christ,

t77

Matthew and Mark: Six days aft*>/ rh^ discourse in which he announced his second coming (Matt, xvii, i Mark ix, 2).
;

Luke: "About an eight days

ings"
(ix,

after these say-

28).

Was

198 the countenance of Jesus changed?

:

Matthew and Luke It was. ''And his face did shine as the sun, and his raiment was white as the light" (Matt, xvii, 2). "The fashion of his
countenance was altered, and his raiment was white and glistening" (Luke ix, 29). Mark The appearance of his raiment only was changed. "And his raiment became shining, ex:

ceeding white as snow"

(ix, 3).

199

When

did Peter propose

building

the

three

Moses and Elias? Matthew and Mark: While Moses and Elias were yet with them (Matt, xvii, 3, 4; Mark ix,
tabernacles to Jesus,
4-8).

Luke: After they had departed

200

(ix, 33).

What

did the voice from the clouds declare?

:

Mark and Luke "This

ye him" (Mark
T^Iatthew
:

is

my

beloved Son
35).

hear
I

ix,
is

7;

Luke

ix,

"This

my

beloved Son, in

whom

am
in

well pleased, hear ye him" (xvii, 5). Luke's account of the Transfiguration differs

many

respects

from that
that Jesus

of

Matthew and
into the

Mark.

Luke says

went up

178

The

Christ.

mountain to pray; Matthew and Mark mike no mention of this. Luke says the disciples were asleep when Moses and Elias appeared. According to Matthew and Mark they were awake. Luke says that Moses and Elias ''spake of his decease." Matthew and Mark do not know what they talked
about.

Who
I
;

201 witnessed the Transfiguration?

:

Synoptics

Peter,
;

James and John (Matt,

ix,

xvii,

Mark
It
is

ix,

Luke

28)

remarkable

that

Matthew,
it

Mark and

Luke,
is

who

did not witness

the Transfiguration,
;

are the only ones to report

declared to have witnessed

it,

while John, who knows nothing

about it. Concerning this and other events which John is said to have witnessed, Greg says: "All the events said to have been witnessed by John alone are omitted by John alone. This fact seems
fatal either to the reality of the

events in ques-

tion or to the genuineness of the

Fourth Gospel."

Regarding

this subject Scott says:

"By some

singular fatality the writer of the fourth gospel

seems incapable of describing any one incident in the life of Jesus as the Synoptics have described
it.
. .
.

It is

hard to believe that

If

we

are

reading narratives which profess to relate the

life

of the

same person. ...

then in these parare

correct,

ticulars, the

Synoptic Gospels

the

Johannine version of the events is pure fiction; and if the latter be taken as the true account,

The Ministry of

Christ.

179

no dependence whatever can be placed upon the

former" (Life of Jesus, pp. 259-263). 202

Compare the account of the Transfiguration of Jesus with the account of Moses at Mount Sinai.
Matthew.
*'And after six days taketh Peter, Jesus James, and John his brother, and bringeth them up into a high
ses,

Exodus.
''Then went up

Mo-

and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu" (xxiv, 9). "And Moses went up into the mount, and
a

mountain apart,

cloud

/covered

the
of

"And was
ed
his

transfigur-

mount.

before them, and face did shine as

his
2).
rai-

"And
the Lord

the

glory

the sun, and

ment was white

Hght"
(xvii,
I,

as the

"While he yet spake,

behold, a bright cloud

abode upon Mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it six days; and the seventh day he called unto Moses out of the midst
of the cloud.

overshadowed them and behold a voice out

of the cloud," etc. (5).

"And the sight of the glory of the Lord

was
fire"

like

devouring

(15-17)

We have in each account a prophet and three companions; in each the persons mentioned go up into a mountain in each there is a supernatural brightness; in each an overshadowing cloud; in each a celestial voice speaking out of the cloud; in each Moses is a prominent figure; in each a period of six days is mentioned.
;

i8o

The

Christ

203

What

occu^r<^d immediately after the Trans?

figuration

Matthew:

''Iiir

disciples

asked

him,

saying,
first

Why
come?

then say the scribes that EUas must

And

Jesus answered and said unto them,

first

Elias truly shall

come, and restore

all

things.

But I say unto you, that Elias is come already Then the disciples and they know him not. understood that he spake unto them of John the
. . .

Baptist" (xvii, 10-13).

It
is

quite natural that

ih( writing

of

one

story concerning Elias should suggest another;

but reason forbids the acceptance of both as true. was seen and recognized at the mountain, as stated, the above conversat'on did not
If Elias

follow that appearance.

What

ailed the

204 man's son

whom

Jesrts cure(^

after the Transfiguration?

Matthew (Old Ver.)

15).

He was
:

a lunatia

(-jcru,

Matthew (New Ver.) He was an epileptic. Mark: He had "a dumb spirit" (ix, 17).
205

When
do?

the authorities at

Capernaum demanded

tribute of Jesus

what

did he

command

Peter to

and cast an hook, and take up the fish that first cometh up and when thou hast opened his mouth, thou shalt find a piece of
to the sea,
;

"Go thou

The Ministry
money;
and

of Christ.

i8i

them for me (Matthew xvii, 2^]). Matthew does not venture to say that Peter was successful, doubtless recognizing the fact that
that take, and give unto
thee'*

there ought to be limits even to a fish story.

Regarding
"It
is

this story
is

Archbishop Trench says:

a solitary instance of the

remarkable, and

kind, that the issue of this

biddmg

is

not told us."

Dr. Farrar says:

''I

agree with the learned and

of
all

thoughtful Olshausen in regarding this as the

most

difficult to

comprehend
p.

the

gospel

miracles" (Life of Christ,

288).

206

What was
It

the nature of the tribute demanded?

tax, known as the temple from which no Jew, rich or Regarding the time and man-

was an annual
was exempt.

service tax, a tax

poor,

ner of

its collection,

Farrar says:

"On

the ist of

Adar, the demand was made quietly and civilly; 25th, if, however, it had not been paid by the
then
it

tion (tobhin shekalim)

it

seems that the collectors of the contribumight take a security for

from the defaulter" (Life of Christ, p. 285). tax was always collected in the early spring. Yet according to Matthew it was collected from Jesus in the autumn, just before the

The

feast of tabernacles.

Either

Matthew was

igno-

rant of the time of

defaulter.

its

collection, or Jesus

was

Nor
tion.

is this

the only difficulty needing explana-

It is

assumed that Peter secured fhe coin

82

The
manner
existence?
If so,

Christ.
If so,

in the

directed.

how

did

it

come

into
it?

Did Jesus miraculously create

he was a counterfeiter. Was it a lost coin? In this case, if he was omniscient, as claimed, he knew the owner and should have restored
it.

207
After leaving Galilee where did Jesus go?

Matthew: 'Into the

Jordan"
(xix, i).

coasts of Judea

beyond
of

The Jordan being

the

eastern

boundary
it.

Judea, no ''coasts of Judea" existed beyond 208

over,

In going to Jerusalem to attend his last Passwhat route did he take?

Luke: "He passed through the midst

ria" (xvii, 11).

of

Sama-

Mark He "cometh
:

into the coasts of

Judea by

the farther side of the Jordan" (x, i).

Two

entirely different routes.

As

the province

of Samaria lay

between those of Galilee and Judea, the direct route from Galilee to Jerusalem was "through the midst of Samaria." The orthodox Jews, however, in order to avoid the
Samaritans,

whom

they

thoroughly

despised,

usually crossed the Jordan, which formed the boundary of the three provinces, came down on the east side of the river through Perea, recrossed the river, and thus entered "into the coasts of Judea from the farther side of Jordan."

The
What
Luke
:

Ministry of Christ.
209 he pass through on his

183

city did

way

to

Jerusalem?
''And Jesus entered and passed through
i).

Jericho" (xix,

Luke here
for Jericho

contradicts his previous statement

that "he passed through the midst of Samaria,"

was not on the route from Samaria,

but on the route from Perea by way of ''the farther side of Jordan," the route which Mark declares he took.

210
miracle did he perform on the way? Luke: ''As he entered into a certain village, there met him ten men that were lepers, which stood afar off; and they lifted up their voices, and said, Jesus, Master, have mercy on us. And when he saw them, he said unto them, Go shew

What

yourselves to the priests.

that, as

And

it

came

to pass,
(xvii,

they

went, they were

cleansed"

The
acle.

other Evangelists do not mention this mir-

says: "It

Concerning it the "Bible for Learners" is an unsuccessful imdtation of the account we have already examined of the healing
It
is

of a leper.
iii,

absolutely unhistorical"

(Vol.

p.

310).

211

one or two blind men that sat by the wayside beseeching him to heal them? Mark: "Blind Bartimeus, the son of Timeus,
it

Was

184
sat

The

Christ.

by the highway

side begging.

And when

he

heard that it was X^sus of Nazareth, he began to cry out, and say, Jesus, thou son of David, have mercy on me" (x, 46, 47).

Luke: "A certain blind man

side begging:
.
.

sat

by the way(xviii, 35,

And

he cried, saying, Jesus,

thou son of David, have mercy on

38).

me"

Matthew: ''Two bHnd men

side,

sitting

by the way-

cried

when they heard that Jesus passed by, out, saying, Have mercy on us, O Lord,

thou son of David" (xx, 30). 212

What

inquiry did the disciples

make regarding

the cause of the man's blindness?

''Master,
ents, that

who

did sin, this man, or his par-

he was born blind?" (John ix, 2). Regarding this, Mrs. Evans, in her ''Christ

Myth" (p. 55), says: "Such a suggestion has no meaning when uttered by a Jew, but to a behever in the transmigration of souls the query would be natural and pertinent, and the story appears to be a modification of a well-known Buddhistic
parable."

213

When
Luke
:

did this occur?

"As he was come nigh

into

Jericho"

(xviii, 35).

Matthew: "As they separated from Jericho"

(xx, 29).

Mark: "As he went out

of Jericho" (x, 46).

The Ministry of

Christ.

185

Mark agrees with Luke and disagrees with Matthew as to the number of men, and agrees with Matthew and disagrees with Luke as to the
time of
its

occurrence.

214

What
shall

did Jesus say regarding divorce?

Mark: ''And he saith unto them, Whosoever put away his wife and marry another, com-

mitteth adultery against her.

shall put

And

if

woman
to

away her husband, and be married

another, she committeth adultery" (x, 11, 12). This was written by one acquainted with the
the Jewish law. law did not recognize the right of put away her husband for any cause Matthew (v, 31, 32) and Luke (xvi,
ish
better.

Roman, but not with

The Jewa wife to

whatever.
18)

knew

215

According to Mark he put away his wife, and

mitteth adultery."
to

said,

''Whosoever

shall

marry another, comdid he say according

What

Matthew? "Whosoever

It

shall put away his wife, except be for fornication, and shall marry another,

committeth adultery" (xix, 9). This is a notable discrepancy. According to. Mark if a husband divorce his wife for any cause whatever he cannot lawfully marry another. According to MatthcAv if he divorce his wife for fornication he can lawfully marry again.

86

The

Christ.

216
In his conversation with the rich

man what
kill,

commandments did he prescribe? "Do not commit adultery, Do not

steal,

Do

not

Do

not

bear

false

witness.

Honor thy
kill.

father and thy mother"

(Luke

xviii, 20).

"Do
steal,

not commit adultery.

Do

not

Do

not

Do

Honor "Thou
commit

not bear false witness. Defraud not, thy father and thy mother" (Mark x, 19).
shalt

do no murder. Thou shalt not

adultery.

Thou

shalt

not

steal,

Thou
fathet

shalt not bear false witness.

Honor thy

and thy mother; and, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself" (Matthew xix, 18, 19). No two of the Synoptics agree. Mark and Matthew each give a commandment not given

by

either of the others.

217

What
any? John
:

great miracle did he perform at Beth-

The

raising of Lazarus from the dead.

"Then
dead"

said Jesus unto

(xi,

them

plainly,

Lazarus

is

14).

"Jesus therefore

in himself

cometh to the grave. and a stone lay upon it. Jesus said, Take ye away the stone. Martha, the sister of him that was dead, saith unto him. Lord, by this time he stinketh for he hath been dead four days" (38, "Then they took away the stone from the 39). place where the dead was laid. And Jesus lifted up his eyes, and said, Father, I thank thee that
;

agam groaning It was a cave,

The Ministry of

Christ.

187

thou hast heard me'* (41). "And when he thus had spoken, he cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth. And he that was dead came forth, bound hand and foot with grave clothes" (43,
44).

The Synoptics make no mention

acle
;

of this mir-

and as
it

it

is

the greatest miracle ascribed

to Jesus

Was certainly unknown to them. Commenting on the doubtful character of alleged events narrated by one Evangelist and omitted by the others, Strauss says: "But this

ground of doubt falls with incomparably greater weight, on the narrative of the resurrection of Lazarus in the fourth gospel. If the authors or
collectors of the three first gospels

knew
For,

of this,

they could not, for

introducing
all all
it

more than one reason, avoid

first,

into their writings.

of

the resuscitations eflfected by Jesus, nay, of

his miracles, this resurrection of Lazarus,
is
if

not the most wonderful,

the marvelous presents

yet the one in which

and

strikingly,

itself the most obviously and which, therefore, if Its his-

torical reality

can

be

established,

is

a preemi-

nently strong proof of the extraordinary endow-

ments of Jesus as a divine messenger; whence the evangelists, although they had related one
or

two other instances

it

of the kind,

could

not

think

superfluous to add this also.

of

But, sec-

ondly, the resurrection of Lazarus had, accord-

ing to the representation

John, a

direct in-

fluence in the development of the fate of Jesua;

i8S
for

The
we
learn from
xi,

Christ.

47 ff., that the increased resort to Jesus, and the credit which this event procured him, led to that consultation of the Sanhedrim in which the sanguinary counsel of

Caiaphas was given and approved. Thus the event had a double importance pragmatical as well as dogmatical; consequently, the synoptic-

al

writers could not have failed to narrate

it

it,

had

been within

their

knowledge"

(Leben

Jesu, p. 548).
of the sight of the

Referring to this miracle and the restoration man born blind, Prof. Newsays
:

man

"That the three

first
is

narrators should

have been ignorant of them that they should not have

value
27).
is

simply impossible felt their preeminent

History,
p.

incredible"

(Religion not

There are three alleged instances

pels of Christ restoring the dead to
1.

in
life.

the Gos-

The
The

raising of the daughter of Jairus from

her death bed, related by Matthew.

2.

raising of

the

son of the

widow

of

Nain from
3.

his bier as they

were carrying him

to the grave, related

by Luke.
by John.

The

raising of Lazarus from his grave after

he had

lain four days, related

if

Even
ists.

these miracles were possible one fact

:

disproves them

the silence of the other Evangelis

Of

these three stories not one

confirmed

l)y

another Evangelist.

His

less
sick,

important mirare,

acles,

such as healing the

^any

of

The Ministry of

Christ.

189

them, recorded in all of the gospels, or at least in all of the Synoptics; yet each of the^e, his greatest miracles, stands alone, unnoticed by the
other writers.

Mark and

Luke

mention

the

daughter of Jairus,.but only to deny the miracle by declaring that she was not dea'd. Had these
miracles really been performed,
gelists
all of the Evanwould have had a knowledge of them, and all would have recorded them. These writers do not complement each other, as claimed: they exclude each other. There are many Lives of Napoleon; but not one of his biographers

has seen

fit

to omit his greatest victories because

some other biographer has narrated them.

218

Who
might
the
left

was
sit,

it

requested that James and John

one on the right and the other on hand of Jesus in his kingdom? Matthew: "She [their mother] said unto him, Grant that these my two sons may ^it, the one on thy right hand, and the other on the left, in thy kingdom" (xx, 21). Mark "They [James and John] said unto him, Grant unto us that we may sit, one on thy right hand, and the other on thy left, in thy glory"
:

(x,

37)-

219

Who

occupies a seat at the

19).

left

hand

of Jesus?

Mark: God (xvi, The modesty of

parent.

the foregoing request

is

ap-

Zebedee's family were evidently trying

190
to play a sharp

The

Christ.
Jesus,

game on
220

and get a

first

mortgage on

his Father's throne.

What

did Jesus affirm in regard to the

the
least of

mus-

tard seed?

''Which indeed

is

all

seeds; but

grown is herbs" (Matthew xiii,

when

it

is

the
32).

greatest

among
all

the
;"

mustard seed
is

is

not "the least of

221

seeds

neither

the plant "the greatest

among

herbs."

mustard seed, what did he say his disciples could do? "If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place and it shall remove" (Matthew

With

faith as large as a grain of

xvii, 20).

mustard seed, ye might say unto this sycamine tree, Be thou plucked up by the root, and be thou planted in the sea; and it should obey you" (Luke xvii, 6).
"If ye

had

faith as a grain of

222
In the parable of the Great Feast the character of the feast?

what was
4).

Matthew: A wedding "dinner" (xxii, Luke: "A great supper" (xiv, 16).
223

Whom

did the giver of the feast send to

in-

vite the guests?

Matthew: "His servants" (3). Luke: "His servant" (17).

The

Ministry of Christ.
be
considered
infallible
trivial

191

Such errors may

their notice captious;

but

writings

and do

not contain even

trivial

errors.

224

What

befell the servants, or servant? Matthev^: "And the remnant took his servants,

and entreated them

<6).

spitefully,

and slew them"

(21).

Luke: The servant returned unharmed

225

What

did the giver of the feast declare re-

specting those
shall taste

who

refused to attend?

"That none of those men which were bidden

my

supper"

(xiv, 24).

As they had

already declined
is

to

do

so,

the

force of the interdiction

not apparent.

226
Relate the circumstances connected

with

the

attendance of the guest

who wore no wedding

garment.

Matthew: "Then saith he to his servants, The wedding is ready, but they which were bidden were not worthy. Go ye therefore into the highways, and as many as ye shall find, bid to the marriage. And when the king came in to see the guests, he saw there a man which had not on a wedding garment; and he saith unto
. . .

him, Friend,

how camest

thou

in hither not

hav-

ing a wedding garment?

less" (xxii, 8-12).

And

he was speech-

The

relator of this incident,

which

is

omitted

ig2

The

Christ.

by Luke, would have us suppose that the frequenters of the highways went clad in wedding
garments.

The
fect

parables of Jesus are declared to be per-

models of literary

composition,

with lessons of divine wisdom.

them

possess some literary merit; but They contain many questionare faulty.
able ethical teachings
;

and filled few of them the most of

they are illogically conis

structed

the imagery

unnatural, and the lan-

guage crude.
227
In the parable of the
the

Wicked Husbandmen

did

owner more than

2-5;

of the vineyard send

one servant, or

one, each time to collect tthe rent?

Alark and Luke:

He

sent but one

(Mark

xii,

Luke XX, 10-12). Matthew: He sent more than one

228

(xxi, 33-36).

What happened to the servants? Some of them 'Matthew and Mark

:

were

killed.

Luke

They were beaten and

killed.

sent away, but

none were

229 In the parable of the Talents

how

did

the

master apportion his money? Matthew: Lie gave to the

talents, to the
15).

first

servant five

second two, to the third, one (xxv,

The Ministry of
Luke: He gave
to each

Christ.
(xix,

193
13).

one pound

What

230 was their gain?

Matthew: Each doubled his money (16, 17). Luke: The first increased his tenfold, the second fivefold (16, 18).
231

What
money

did the unprofitable servant do with the entrusted to him?

Matthew: He ''digged in the earth, and hid money" (xxv, 18). Luke: He said, ''Lord, behold, here is thy pound, which I have kept laid up in a napkin"
his lord's
(xix, 20).

232

What

are the concluding

words

of

Jesus

in

this parable?

...

"For unto every one that hath shall be given: but from him that hath not shall be taken
that

away even

which he hath.
into

And

cast

ye

the unprofitable servant

outer

darkness:

there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth"

(Matthew xxv,

29, 30).

'That unto every one which hath shall be given; and from him that hath not, even that he hath shall be taken away from him. But those mine enemies, which would not that I
should reign over them, bring hither, and slay

them before me" (Luke

xix, 26, 2^).

233 In the lawyer's interview with Jesus,

who was

194
it,

The

Christ.

great

that stated the two commandments? Matthew and Mark Jesus. "Then one of them, which was a lawyer, asked him a question,

the lawyer, or Jesus,

tempting him, saying, Master which

is

the great

commandment in the law? Jesus said unto him. Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy
heart,

and with
is

all

thy

mind. This

the first

soul, and with all thy and great commandment.

And the second is like unto it. Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself" (xxii, 35-39).
"And, behold, a certain and tempted him, saying, Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life? He said unto him. What is written in the law? how readest thou? And he [the lawyer] answering said, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy
:

Luke

The

lawyer.
up,

lawyer

stood

neighbor as thyself"

(x, 25-27).

234

"And

after that they durst not ask

him any
with
the

question^i.''

After what? After

his

Matthew:
46).

controversy

Pharisees respecting David and Christ (xxii, 41-

Mark
:

After his conversation with the scribe

regarding the

commandments (xii, 28-37). Luke After confuting the Sadducces in regard

(xx, 27-40).

to the resurrection

The Ministry of
Did

Christ.

195

his

235 controversy concerning

David and

Christ take place with the Pharisees, as stated

by Matthew? Luke It did

:

not.

It

was with

''certain of the

scribes" (xx, 39).

236
Jesus on the day triumphal entry into Jerusalem?
:

Where was

preceding

his

John With Lazarus at Bethany (three miles from Jerusalem) (xii, 1-15). Luke With Zaccheus near Jericho (twenty miles from Jerusalem) (xix, 1-40).
:

237 Preparatory to his triumphal entry wdiat command did he give his disciples?

"Go ye
tied,

into the village over against

you;

In

the which at your entering ye shall

find

a colt

whereon yet never man

sat: loose him,

and

bring him hither" (Luke xix, 30). ''Go into the village over against

you,

and

straightway ye shall find an ass tied, and a cplt with her: loose them, and bring them unto me"

(Matthew

xxi, 2).

238

Did he ride both animals? Matthew: He did. "And the disciples went, and did as Jesus commanded them, and brought the ass, and the colt, and put on them their clothes, and they set him thereon" (6, 7). The equestrian feat of his riding two asses,

196

The

Christ.

a large one and a small one, at the sain>i time,

must have heightened the

pageant.

effect of this

sublime
In the
;

Matthew

is

continually seeing double.

demoniac of Gadara he sees two demoniacs in the blind man by the wayside he sees two men and in other instances where the other Evangelists see but one person or thing he sees two.
239

The

riding of

two asses by Jesus was

in ful-

what prophecy? Matthew: ''And this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet,
fillment of

saying, Tell ye the daughter of Sion, Behold, thy

thee, meek, and siting upon and a colt the foal of an ass" (xxi, 4, 5). Matthew's rendering of this passage (Zechariah ix, 9) arises from a misunderstanding of the

King cometh unto

ass,

an

meaning
not

of its words.

The

prophet, or poet, does

mean two

asses, but one; the clause "a colt

is

the foal of an ass,"

or.

merely a poetical repetition qualification of the preceding clause.

is

This blunder of Matthew

poses the fictitious

significant. It ex-

character

of

this

so-called

proves that Christ's triumphal entry into Jerusalem is not a historical event that this story is a pure fabrication, suggested

Gospel history.

It

by

this alleged

prophecy.

When

240 purge the temple? did Jesus

Synoptics: At the close of his ministry, a few

The
days before
xi,

Ministry of Christ.

197

15-18;
:

John

Ws death (Matthew xxi, 12-16; Mark Luke xix, 45-48). At the beginning of his ministry, three
(ii,

years before his death

13-22).
this

Origen doubted the occurrence of believing it to be a mere allegory.

241

event,

When
12-19).

did he curse the

fig

tree?
(xxi,

Matthew: After he purged the temple

Mark
IS)-

Before he purged the temple

242

(xi,

12-

When was
to be

the tree discovered by his disciples

withered?
(13-20).

Matthew: As soon as cursed (19). Mark: Not until the next morning
243

Mark
tain

says that he visited the tree for the purfigs.

pose of obtaining

Why

did the tree con-

no

fruit?
:

Mark
(13).

''Because the time of figs

was not yet"

This was before the Passover which occurred

in

March

or April.

In that

part

of

Palestine

where the

m.iracle is said to
fig,

have been performed

its

the bocore, or early

ripened
;

first

crop

during the latter part of June while the kermus, or fig proper, ripened in August. What a spectacle
!

An

omniscient

God searching

for figs in

March, and disappointed

at not finding

them

198

The

Christ.

creating a tree to bear fruit in the

summer and

cursing

it

for not bearing in the spring!

244

Jews of doing? Matthew: Of having slain prophets and wise men, among them "Zacharias son of Barachias"
did Jesus accuse the
(xxiii, 35).

What

lem, 69 A. D.
fer to

The Zacharias mentioned was slain in Jerusaso that Matthew makes Jesus re;

an event that occurred forty years after

his death.

Referring to this passage, the Catholic scholar, Dr. Hug, says "There cannot be a doubt, if we
:

attend to the name, the fact and

its

circumstances,

and the object of Jesus in citing it, that it was the same Zacharias Barouchos, who, according to
Josephus, a short time before the destruction of Jerusalem, was unjustly slain in the temple."

Commenting on
Sjays
:

this

passage,

Prof.

Newman

no other man known in history to' whom the verse can allude. If so, it shows how late, how ignorant, how rasa, is the composer of a text passed ofiF on us as sacred truth"
"There
is

(Religion not History, p. 46).

245

Repeat his lamentation concerning Jerusalem's

rejection of him.

"O
thee,

Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the

prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto

how

often

would

dren together, even

as

have gathered thy a hen gathcreth

chil-

her

The Ministry of Christ.

(Matthew
tation
?

199

chickens under her wing's, and ye would not!"

xxiil,

37;

Luke

xiii,

34.)

Where was he when he

uttered this lamen-

Matthew: During his visit at Jerusalem. Luke In Galilee before he went to Jerusalem. Not only are these writers at variance with each other as to the time and place of utterance, but the lamentation itsdf, which declares that he had made repeated efforts to convert Jerusa:

lem,

is

at variance

with both of them.

For

ac-

cording to Matthew he had just arrived on his first visit to Jerusalem, while according to Luke

he had never yet, during his ministry, visited

Jerusalem.

246

Who

anointed Jesus?
(Matt, xxvi,

Matthew and Mark: "A woman" 7; Mark xiv, 3).

Luke: "A
sinful

woman"

(vii,

37).

John: Mary, the sister of Lazarus (xii, 3). Luke's "sinful woman" is recognized as Mary Magdalene. Farrar says "In the popular consciousness she will till the end of time be identified with the Magdalene." Matthew and Mark's "woman" may be harmonized with either Mary
:

Magdalene or Mary the sister of Lazarus; but Luke and John are irreconcilable.
247

Where

did she put the ointment?

200

The

Christ.
his

7;

Matthew and Mark: On Mark xiv, 3). Luke and John: On his
xii,

head (Matt, xxvi,

feet

(Luke

vii,

38-46;

John

3).

248

Where
xxvi, 6;

did this occur?

Matthew, Mark and John: In Bethany (Matt, Mark xiv, 3; John xii, i). Luke: In Nain (vii, 11-37).
249

6,

At whose house did it occur? Synoptics: At the house of Simon (iMatt. xxvi, 7; Mark xiv, 3; Luke vii, 36-40). John: At the house of Lazarus (xii, 1-3).
250

Who
Mark

was Simon? Matthew and Mark:

xiv, 3).

A
251

leper (Matt, xxvi, 6;

Luke:

Pharisee

(vii,

39-40).

At what time during

anointing occur?

his

ministry

did

this

Matthew, Mark and John: At the

ministry (Matt, xxvi, xxvii
;

close of his

Mark

xiv;

John

xii).

Luke: Early
Did
entry?
xxvi, 6-13;
it

in his ministry (vii, 36-50).

occur

252 before or

after

his

triumphal
i-ii,

Matthew and Mark: After Mark xi, i-ii, xiv,

(xii,

(Matt, xxi,
3-9).

John: Before

1-15).

The

Ministry of Christ.

aoi

How many
cur?

253 days before the Passover did

,

it

oc-

Mark:

Two

days (xiv, 1-3).

(xii,

John: Six days

1-3).

"The prima

facie

the anointing at

view woifld certainly be that Bethany was placed by Mark

two days and by

John
254

six

days

before

the

Passover." Scribner's Bible Dictionary.

Who

objected to this apparent waste of the

disciples" (xxvi, 8, 9).
(xii, 4, 5).

ointment?

Matthew: "His
These

John: "Judas Iscariot"

different versions of

the

anointing of

Jesus present so many discrepancies that some have supposed that two or more anointings

were made.

The Archbishop

of York, the

most

popular of Gospel harmonists, concedes that but

one anointing was made. After an exhaustive review of the case, Strauss says: "Without doubt, w^e have here but one history under three various forms; and this

seems

to

have been the

real conclusion of Origen,

as well as recently of Schleiermacher."

255

came a voice from heaven. For what purpose was the

While Jesus was

at Jerusalem there

voice sent?

John: For the sake of those

who

stood

by.

202

The

Christ.

"Jesus answered and said, This voice came not

because of me, but for your sakes"

(xii,

30).

Of what benefit was the voice when those who heard it were unable to distinguish it from thunder? 'The people therefore, that stood by
and heard
celestial
it,

said that

it

thundered"
several

(29).

The Evangelists
voices

relate

instances there
is,

of
in

being heard.

As

nearly every instance, a disagreement in regard

to the

probable that an electrical disturbance inspired the voice, while a

it
is

message conveyed,

Revivid imagination interpreted its meaning garding these voices, the Duke of Somerset says *'A belief in these heavenly voices was a common
superstition

among

the Jews."

256

When
20;

did the Last Supper take place?

Synoptics:

On

the Passover (Matt, xxvi, 18-

Mark

xiv, 16-18;

Luke

xxii,

13-15).

John:

On

the day preceding the Passover.

Luke
over.

"And they made ready the passAnd when the hour was come, he sat
says:

down, and the twelve apostles with him. And he said unto them, With desire I have desired to
eat this passover with

you before

suffer."

it

John, in his account of the Last Supper, says was "before the feast of the passover" (xiii, i).
all

The Evangelists
Supper.

agree that his

trial

and exeinto the

cution took place on the day following the Last

John says the Jews "went not

hall, lest

judgment

they should be defiled; but

The
that they

Ministry of Christ.
(xviii,

1203
28).

might eat the passover"

trial,

After narrating the events of the

John says
passover"

"And

it

was the preparation

of

the

(xix, 14).

According

to the Synoptics, the

was eaten on

the 14th Nisan, and,

Last Supper by our mode

of reckoning time,

on Thursday evening; accord-

ing to John, it was eaten on the 13th Nisan, and, by our mode of reckoning, on Wednesday evening. The Synoptics declare that this supper was
the regular Paschal meal; according to John,
it

was an ordinary meal,

the Paschal meal not being

that

eaten until after Christ's death.

"The Synoptics represent most

clearly

Jesus on the evening of the 14th Nisan, after the custom of the Jews, ate the Passover with his

and that he was arrested in the first hours of the 15th Nisan, the day on which he was put to death. Nothing can be more distinct
disciples,

than the statement that the

last

supper was the

Paschal

feast.

The

fourth Gospel, however,

in accordance with the principle

which

is

domi-

nant throughout, represents the last repast which Jesus eats with his disciples as a common supper, which takes place, not on the 14th, but on the 13th Nisan, the day 'before the feast of the Passover.'

"

Supernatural
to

Religion.

Thousands
attempts

of pages have been written reconcile

this

vain

grave

discrepancy.

Scribner's "Bible Dictionary," which contains the

best fruits of orthodox scholarship, both of Eng-

204

The

Christ.
If

land and America, concedes a contradiction.

says:

two [the Last Supper and the Paschal meal], whereas St. John expressly places the Last Supper be-

"The Synoptics seem

to identify the

fore the Passover."

After

an

exhaustive

review of

the

subject,

Strauss voices the conclusion of

German

scholars

in the following words: "Our only course is to acknowledge an irreconcilable contradiction between the respective accounts, without venturing a decision as to which is the correct one" (Leben

Jesu, p. 702).

257

The Synoptics
the Paschal meal.

state that the Last

Supper was
around
the

Describe the Paschal meal.

cushions

"All leaning upon the

table, the first

cup of wine was served, and grace pronounced over the same and the feast. This cup of wine being disposed of, vegetables and
sauce were placed on the table, and the vegetables,

eaten.

were blessed and Next the unleavened bread, the bitter herb, and a piquant sauce called Haroseth were served, and the bitter herb, dipped in the Haroseth, was blessed and eaten. Then the Paschal lamb was placed on the table with portions of another sacrifice. One of the company asked the question why all this was done, during which the second cup of wine was served. The head
dipped in the sauce,
of the table explaining narrated the story of the

Exodus,' closed with a hymn, spoke the second

The Ministry of

Christ.

205

the same.

time grace over the wine, and all disposed of Now came the breaking of the bread

and the eating and drinking. This finished, the third cup of wine was served, and grace after meal was pronounced. After which the fourth cup was served, and the ceremonies closed with hymns a^nd psalms, and disposing of the fourth cup of wine'* (Mishna). This was the Paschal meal as it was observed in the reputed time of Christ and up to 70 A. D. After the fall of Jerusalem and the destruction of the temple the great Passover feast retained but the shadow of its former glory. The Paschal meal and the ceremonies attending it were generally shortened. The fact that the EvangeHsts were unacquainted with the regular Paschal meal, that the Synoptics were familiar only with the ceremonies of later times, shows that the Last Supper is a myth, and the Gospels
the products of a later age.
Criticising the Synoptics' accounts of the Pas-

chal

meal,

Dr.

Isaac

Wise,

an able

Jewish

scholar, says:

any evidence is required that neither Mark nor Matthew had ever seen the Paschal meal,
"If

or described that of Jesus,

it

is

furnished here.
point

They do not mention any one

connected

with the Paschal supper, the ceremonies of which They mention only one cerewere estabUshed.

mony, viz., the breaking of the bread, and the cup of wine after the meal, which is not only a

ao6

The

Christ.
that
either

mistake, but shows conclusively,

of

them had seen

the Paschal supper, after the des-

truction of Jerusalem, in

some Jewish house, and

the ceremonies connected therewith, called the

no mention whatsoever is main thing the Paschal lamb and the bread is broken after the meal, which was done by the Jews after closing the Paschal meal, outside of Jerusalem, when the altar had been destroyed; and no Paschal lamb was eaten" (Martyrdom of Jesus, pp. 36, 37). *'Luke begins correctly, but makes a mistake in having the bread broken right after the first cup of wine was handed round, which was done so at every festive meal, except at the one described, and has but two cups of wine instead of
Seder.

Therefore,

made

of the

four. So we know that Luke did not describe what actually happened that evening. He had seen the Jewish custom of opening the festive meals witli grace over the wine and bread, and

an introduction to the Last Supper, without knowing that just that evening the cus-

made

of

it

tom was changed"

(Ibid. p. 38).

258

What ceremony was

Supper?
Synoptics:

instituted

at

the

Last

Mark

xiv, 22-24;

The Eucharist Luke xxii,

(Matt, xxvi, 26-28;

19, 20).

John: The washing of feet (xiii, 4-9). John does not mention the former ceremony, and the Synoptics do not mention the latter; yet

The
each
is

Ministry of Christ.

207

said to have been

performed immediately

after supper.

259

He

told his disciples that he

would no more
it

drink of the fruit of the vine until he drank in his Father's kingdom. When was this?

Matthew: After instituting the Eucharist. ''And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and blessed it, and brake it, and gave it to the
disciples,

And
it

and said, Take, eat; this is my body. he took the cup and gave thanks, and gave to them, saying. Drink ye all of it; for this
blood of the
I

is

my

new

testament, which
will

is

shed

for

many

for the remission of sins.

"But
I

say unto you,

not drink hence-

forth of this fruit of the vine, until that

day when

drink

it

new with you

in

my

Father's king-

dom" (xxvi, 26-29). Luke Before instituting

:

the Eucharist.
will not drink of the

"For
come.

say unto you,

fruit of the vine, until the

kingdom

of

God

shall

bread, and gave thanks, and and gave unto them, saying, This is my body which is given for you: this do in remembrance of me. Likewise also the cup after supper, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood, which is shed for you" (xxii, 18-20). 260 At the Last Supper did Jesus pass the cup

"And he took
it,

brake

once, or twice?

2o8

The

Christ.

Matthew and Mark: Once Mark xlv. 16-26).

(Matt, xxvi, 26-30;

Luke: Twice (xxii, 13-20). Regarding this discrepancy, Scribners' "Bible Dictionary" says "The temptation to expand was much stronger than to contract; and the double mention of the cup raises real difficulties of the kind which suggest interpolation."
:

261

Where was
prayer?

Jesus

when he

uttered

his

last

Synoptics: In the garden of Gethsemane (Matt,

xxvi, 36-39;

Mark

xiv, 32-36;

Luke

xxii, 39-42).

John: In Jerusalem before he retired to the garden (xvii, xviii, i). 262

What

is said of his agony Luke: "His sweat was as

of blood falling

down

to

Gethsemane? were great drops the ground" (xxii, 44).

at
it

Whatever was the character

;

of this so-called

"bloody sweat," it may be remarked that Matthew, who was an apostle Mark, who is claimed

be the interpreter of Peter, an apostle who was with Jesus at the time; and John who was not only an apostle, but present also, do not reto
fer to
it.

Luke,

who was

not an eye-witness
is

who was
mentions

not an apostle
it.

the only one

who

263

How many

times

did

Jesus

visit

Jerusalem

during his ministry?

The Ministry of
John
23;
:

Christ.
13
v^,

209
i
;

At

least four times

(ii,

x, 22,

xii, 12).

The Synoptics

record but one

visit.

264

To what
fined?

country was his ministry chiefly con-

Synoptics
:

To

Galilee.

John To Judea. According to the Synoptics nearly his entire

ministry was confined to Galilee.
It

was only

at

the close of his ministry, a few days before his

death, that he visited Judea to attend the Passover.

According

to

John

his ministry

was conhis

fined chiefly to Judea.

It requires

but three or
record

four of his twenty-one

chapters
:

to

work
St.

in

Galilee.

Farrar says

''The Synoptists

almost confine themselves to the Galilean, and

John

to the

Judean ministry" (Life of Christ,

p. 361).

How
John
first
:

265 long did his ministry last?

Synoptics:

One

year.

At

least three years.

The Rev.

Dr. Giles says: "According to the

life lasted only one year" (Christian Records, p. 11). Referring to this and the preceding discrepancy, the author of "Supernatural Religion" says: "The Synoptics clearly represent the ministry of Jesus as having been limited to a single year, and his preaching is confined to Galilee and

three Gospels, Christ's public

2IO

The

Christ.

Jerusalem, where his career culminates at the fatal Passover. The fourth Gospel distributes the

teaching of Jesus between Galilee, Samaria, and Jerusalem, makes it extend over at least three
years,

and

refers to

three

Passovers

spent

by

Jesus at Jerusalem" (p. 68i). Irenaeus, the greatest of the early Christian Fathers, and who lived in the century following
Jesus, declares that his ministry lasted twenty
years. In his principal work, "Against Heresies,"

he combats the heresy of a one-year ministry of

Jesus.

He

says:
that they

"They however,

may

establish their

false opinion regarding that which is written, 'To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord,' main-

tain that he preached for one year only,

and then
his

suffered in the twelfth month.

ful

They

are forget-

of their

own

disadvantage,

destroying

whole work, and robbing him of that age which is both more necessary and more honorable than any other; that more advanced age, I mean, during which also, as a teacher, he excelled all others. For how could he have had disciples if he did not teach? And how could he have taught, unFor less he had reached the age of a master? when he came to be baptized, he had not yet completed his thirtieth year, but

be about thirty years of age.

first

was beginning to Now, that the

. .

stage of early

life

embraces thirty years, and

to

that this extends

onward

the

fortieth

year,

every one will admit; but from the fortieth and

The Ministry of
fiftieth year, a

Christ.

21

age

man begins to decline toward old which our Lord possessed, while he still

fulfilled the office of a teacher.

... He

did not

therefore preach for only one year, nor did he suffer in the twelfth month of the year. For the

period included between the thirtieth and fiftieth year can never be regarded as one year" (Book
ii,

ch. xxii, sees. 5, 6).

266

What

is

said regarding the extent of his

works?

John: "li they should be written every one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books" (xxi, 25).
In the very next verses of the Bible (Acts i, I, 2) Luke declares that his brief Gospel contains
a record
*'of all

that Jesus

teach, until the

day

in

began both to do and which he was taken up."

267

Can the
Three
1.

alleged teachings of Jesus be accepted

as authentic?
facts disprove, for the

most

part, their

authenticity.

The most important

teachings

ascribed

to

him by the Synoptics were borrowed, either by him or his biographers, from other teachers and
writers.
2. His teachings as presented by the Synoptics, and as presented by John, exclude each other.

No

critic

courses and sayings

can seriously contend that the disof Jesus recorded in the

Synoptics and those given in the Fourth Gospel

212

The

Christ.

emanated from the same mind. They are wholly dissimilar, both in doctrine and phraseology. Dr. Westcott says ''It is impossible to pass from the Synoptic Gospels to that of St. John without feeling that the transition involves the passage from one world of thought to another. No familiarity with the general teaching of the Gospels, no wide conception of the character of the Savior, is sufficient to destroy the contrast which exists in form and spirit between the earlier and later narratives" (Introduction to Study of Gospels,
:

p.

249).
3.

The

discourses attributed

to

Jesus

in

the

Fourth Gospel were evidently composed by the author of that Gospel. This is apparent to every
careful reader.

The
thew,
ticity.

teachings ascribed to Jesus in John, then,

are spurious; while those ascribed to

him

in

Mat-

Mark and Luke

If

are of doubtful authen-

any

of the

teachings

of
first

Jesus have

been preserved they exist in the

pels,

three Gosbut the unauthentic character of the Gospels themselves, renders it impossible to ascribe
to

him with certainty

a single teaching.

CHAPTER
Cbe

VI.

Crucifixioii of
268.

EhrisU

When

did Jesus
:

first

foretell his
late
in

passion?
his
ix,

Synoptics

(Matt, xvi, 21;

Not until Mark viii, According to John (ii,

at the

ministry
21-27).

31

Luke

19-22) he

referred to

it

beginning of

his ministry.

269

When

did he announce his betrayal?

:

Matthew and Mark At

they were eating.

the Last Supper, while

"Now when
I

the

even was
as they

come, he sat
of

down with

the twelve.

And

did eat, he said, Verily

say unto you, that one

you shall betray me" (Matt, xxvi, 20, 21 Mark xiv, 18). Luke and John: Not until after supper (Luke
John says that after his disciples' feet and delivered a discourse to them, after which he said, "Verily, verily, I say unto you, that one of you
John xiii, supper he washed
2-21).
shall betray me."

xxii, 20, 21;

270.

Did Jesus say who should betray him? Matthew and John: He did (Matt, xxvi, 25; John xiii, 26).
213

214

"^^e Christ.
did not.

Mark and Luke: He

271

How

did he disclose his betrayer?

Matthew: By an implied
to Judas'

question, 'Is it I ?"

answer ''Then Judas which

affirmative

betrayed him, answered and said, Master, is it I? He said unto him, Thou hast said" (xxvi, 25).

John: By giving Judas a sop.

ed,

'Jesus answer-

He

it

is

to

whom

shall give a sop,

when

And when he had dipped the I have dipped it. it to Judas Iscariot." sop, he gave
272

When

did Satan enter into Judas?

Luke: Before the Last Supper (xxii, 3-7). John: After the Last Supper (xiii, 1-27).
273

How

did Judas betray Jesus?

Matthew and Mark: ''Now he that betrayed him, gave them a sign, saying, Whomsoever I And shall kiss, that same is he; hold him fast. forthwith he came to Jesus, and said. Hail,
Master, and kissed him"
(]^Iatt.

xxvi,

48,

49;

Mark

xiv, 44, 45).

According to John, Judas did not betray him

with a
kiss.

274

What
him?

did Jesus say to Judas

when he betrayed

'Tricnd, wherefore art thou come?" (Matthew

xxvi, 50.)

The
"Jtiflas,

Crucifixion of Christ.

215
a

betrayest thou the Son of

xxii, 48.)

man with

kiss?"

(Luke

275

What was

Judas, and what office did he hold?

thief,

John: "He was a

and had the bag, and

(xii, 6).

bare what was put therein''

Judas was thus the

first

Christian treasurer.
as

But why did

Jesus,

if

omniscient,

claimed,

select a thief for this office?

Was he unable to conduct his ministry without the aid of one?

276

What
ter?

did Judas receive for betraying his mas-

Matthew: ''And they covenanted with

thirty pieces of silver" (xxvi, 15).
'*It

hira for

is

strange that a

man who kept

the purse,

death of and knew what he would lose by his chief, should abandon the profits of his office Renan. for so small a sum."
'the

V7
money? Matthew: "Then Judas, which had betrayed him, when he saw that he was condemned, redid he do with the

What

pented himself, and brought

again

the

thirt}
.

pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders

.

And he

cast

down

the pieces of silver in

the temple and departed" (xxvii, 3-5).

Peter:
field

"Now

this

man

[Judas]

purchased
i,

with the reward of iniquity" (Acts

18).

2i6

The

Christ.

278.

fillment of

was m fulwhat prophecy? Matthew ''That which was spoken by Jeremy

The purchase
:

of the potter's field

the prophet, saying,

And

they, took the thirty

pieces of silver, the price of

. .
.

him that was valued, and gave them for the potter's field, as the

Lord appointed me" (xxvii. 9, 10). This was not spoken by Jeremiah, but by Zechariah. ''And the Lord said unto me. Cast it unto the potter: a goodly price that I was prized
at of them.

And
13).

took the thirty pieces of silver

and Lord"

cast

them

to the potter in the house of the

(xi,

It is

evident that the account of the betrayal

was

inspired, not
"fulfill''

by

a historical fact,

desire to

a Messianic prophecy.

but by a Zecha-

riah did not predict an event, but his

suggest a

fiction.

This

is

the
is

words did more probable

from the
ist

fact that

Matthew

the only Evangel-

who mentions
The

the thirty pieces of silver.

visit

story of Christ's last

to

Jerusalem

and the story of his betrayal exclude each other. According to the Evangelists he was not arrested for any ofifense he had committed during this visit, but for offenses he had committed prior to this. Yet during this visit he is said to have appeared openly with his disciples, making a tri-

umphal entry
and teaching

into the city, visiting the temple

in

public.

In the face of this the

story that the Jews were obliged to bribe one

The
One

Crucifixion of Christ.

217

of his disciples in order to

surd.

of these stories

apprehend him is abmust be false. Re:

garding them Lord Amberley observes

teaching
in

*'The rep-

resentation of the Gospels, that Jesus

went on

public to the very end of his career,

and

3^et

that Judas received a bribe for his beis

trayal,

self-contradictory"

(Life of Jesus,

p.

214).

To

those

who

believe the accounts of the be-

trayal of Jesus to be historical, the ecclesiastical

historian, Neander, in his **Life of Christ," ad-

vances a suggestion that

tion.

is

worth}^ of considera^
it

The

betrayal of Jesus by Judas,

is

sug-

gested, Avas intended as a test of his Messiaship.

If

Jesus was the Messiah,

if

could save himself;

Judas reasoned, he he was not the Messiah

he was an impostor and deserved death.

279

What became of Judas? Matthew: He 'Svent and hanged

(xxvii, 5).

himself"

Peter: "Falling headlong he burst asunder in

the midst,
i,

and

all

his

bowels gushed out" (Acts

18).

Papias, bishop of Hierapolis, one of the chief

Christian authorities of the second century, and

who wrote

before the books of Matthew and Acts were written, gives the following account
of the fate of Judas
"^Judas

walked about

in the

world a great ex-

ample

of impiety; for his

body having Swollen

ari8

The

Christ.

so that, on an occasion,

ing on
out."

its

wagon was movway, he could not pass it, he was

when

crushed by the chariot and his bowels gushed

The German commentator.

Dr. Hase, attempts

to reconcile his suicide, as related

by Matthew,

with his death by accident, as related by Peter, by supposing that he attempted to hang himself,
but that the rope broke, causing him to fall with such force as to disembowel himself. This har-

monist apparently forgets to note that Peter says he fell "headlong," which makes it necessary to

suppose that he hung himself by the feet. 280 To whom did Peter deliver his speech describing the fate of Judas? 'Teter stood up in the midst of the disciples"
(Acts
Is
it
i,

15).

not reasonable to suppose that the alleged

in

information conveyed
to himself?

his

speech

was

as

familiar to the disciples

whom
this

he addressed as
aptly
the
this

Regarding

De Wette

says: "In the

composition
281

of

speech

author has not considered historical decorum."

What
"And
their

did Peter say in regard to the

name

of

the field?
it
;

was known unto

all

the dwellers of

Jerusalem

insomuch as that field is called in proper tongue, Aceldama, that is to say.

blood" (Acts
i,

The

field of

19)-

The
Here Peter

Crucifixion of Christ.
is

219
in

represented as

interpreting

Greek a Jewish word

to his Jewish brethren.

282.

Were

there

more than one

of Jesus' disciples

concerned in his betrayal?

John: There were. "For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were [of his disciples] that believed not, and who should betray him" (vi,
64).

283

When

rest of Jesus, to

met to plan the arwhat conclusion did they come? Matthew and Mark Not to arrest him on the
the Jewish council
:

day (Matt, xxvi, 3-5; Mark xiv, i, 2). Yet this was the very day on which Matthew and Mark declare that he was arrested.
feast

284.

Who

arrested him? Matthew and Mark

'*A great multitude

from the chief priests and elders of the people'*

(Matt, xxvi, 47;

Mark

xiv, 43).

Luke: "The chief priests, and captains of the temple, and the elders" themselves (xxii, 47-52).
285.

Who A "band
Ver.).

does John say was sent to arrest him?

of soldiers

and

officers"

(xviii, 3,

New

This contradicts the

that
it

Synoptics,

who

declare

was

mob

of civilians.

210

Tha

Christ.

286

What
to

is

said regarding the multitude sent out

apprehend him?
Synoptics
:

staves" (Alatt. xxvi, 47;

xxii, 52).

They were armed "with swords and Mark xiv, 43; Luke

Were
All
xxvi,
xviii,
:

the disciples armed?

They were, or one of them at least (Matt, 51; Mark xiv, 47; Luke xxii, 38, 50; John
10),
is

This

incredible, for

Jews were never allowed

to carry

arms on

a holy day.

287

How

did they go out to capture

''A\'ith

him?

(xviii, 3). John: His enemies are represented as believing that his arrest could be secured only by strategy and stealth. Under these circumstances is it reason-

lanterns and torches"

able to suppose that the chief priests would send out a torchlight procession to apprehend him?

Besides, as

it

was

at the full of the

moon, what
Again,

need had they of lanterns and torches? lanterns were unknown in Palestine.
288

When
up

the band sent to capture

him

first

came

to him what did they do? Matthew and Mark: "They laid hands on him and took him" (Matt, xxvi, 47-50; Mark xiv, 43-

46).

John

"They went backward and

fell

to the

ground'' (xviii, 3-6).

The
What
John
:

Crucifixion of Christ.

221

289
did Peter do

when Jesus was

Peter

arrested?
a

''Then Simon

having

drew

it,

and smote the high

(xviii,

priest's servant,
10).

sword and

cut off his right ear"

Yet no efforts were made to arrest and punish Peter, notwithstanding he w^as recognized and
pointed out by the kinsman of the
It

wounded man.

may be urged

that Jesus had healed the serif

vant's ear.

This, even

true,

would not have

disciple.
it

removed the
able that he

guilt of the

miUtant

Had

Peter really committed the deed,

is

not prob-

would have

visited the
in the

house of the

high priest and remained

enemies.

presence of his

290

When was Jesus bound? John When he was arrested

:

(xviii,

12).

Matthew and Mark: Not until after his trial before the Sanhedrim when he was taken to Pilate (Matt, xxvii, 2; Mark xv, i). According to Luke he was not bound.
291.

What
taken?

did they do with Jesus

when he was

Matthew: "Led him away

57).

to Caiaphas" (xxvi,

John: "Led him away to Armas

13).

first"

(xviii,

292

Did he have an examination before

his trial?

222

The

Christ.

John: He did (xviii, 13-23). Our laws provide for what is known as a preliminary examination before a magistrate. This was forbidden by the Jewish law, and his alleged examination before a priest could not have taken
place.

293

Before

whom

did his preliminary examination

take place?

John: Before Annas

(xviii,

13-23).

The Synoptics

state that

he was examined and

tried before Caiaphas.

294

Repeat John

xviii, 24.

"Now Annas

had sent him bound unto Caiasent

phas the high priest" (Old Ver.).

"Annas therefore

him bound unto Caia-

phas the high priest" (New Ver.). This verse follows the account of Jesus' preliminary examination and shows clearly that this examination took place before Annas, and that

he was not sent to Caiaphas until its conclusion. The King James translators, in order to hide the discrepancy, prefixed the word "now" and changed the tense of the verb, substituting "had sent" for "sent," so that it might appear that Annas had sent him to Caiaphas before the examination commenced. Concerning this corruption of the text, Scott says: "There is no conjunction 'now,' and an
aorist cannot

mark a

definite time.

If

a hiatus

The
is

Crucifixion of Christ

223

suspected, it may be indicated by an asterisk; but to insert words and alter the force of a tense in order to get over a grave historical difficulty
is

sheer dishonesty" (Life of Jesus,

p. 289,

note).

295

Matthew and John

of Acts state

state that

high priest at this time.

Who

Caiaphas was does the author

was high

priest?

"And Annas

the high priest, and Caiaphas, and

John, and Alexander, and as many as were of the kindred of the high priest, were gathered together at Jerusalem" (iv, 6).

Luke

(iii,

2),

who

is

declared to be the author

of Acts, says that

Annas and Caiaphas were both

examination

high priests.
Criticizing John's account of the

before Annas, the author of "Supernatural Religion" says: "The Synoptics know nothing of the preliminary examination before Annas, and the reason given by the writer of the fourth Gospel
'for
first

why

the soldiers first took Jesus to Annas: he was father-in-law to Caiaphas who was high priest that year,' is inadmissible. The
is

assertion

a clear mistake, and

it

probably or-

iginated in a stranger
stitutions with
ed,

writing of facts and in-

which he was not well acquaintbeing misled by an error equally committed by the author of the third Gospel, and of the
. . .

Acts of the Apostles. Such statements, erroneous in themselves and not understood by the author of the fourth Gospel, may have led to the

124-

The

Christ.

confusion
ly

in the narrative.

Annas had previousJosephus,

been high but nothing

the
title

priest, as
is

we know from

more

certain than the fact that

after the office

was not continued

was

resigned; and Ishmael, Elcazar, and Simon,

who

succeeded Annas and separated his term of office from that of Caiaphas, did not subsequently bear
title. The narrative is a mistake, and such an error could not have been committed by a native of Palestine, and much less by an ac-

the

quaintance of the high priest"

(p. 660).

What
office?

is

296 said regarding the tenure of Caiaphas'

''high priest that year"' (xi, 49).

John:

He was

John's language implies that the high priest

was appointed
fice

annually, whereas he held his ofuntil

for

life,

or

removed.
years.

Caiaphas

had

been high priest for

'

many

What had

297 Caiaphas prophesied

concerning

Jesus?

John: 'Tie prophesied that Jesus should die for that nation and not for that nation only, but that also he should gather together in one the children of God that were scattered abroad"
;

(xi, 51, 52).

high priest

did

prophet,

much

less

not assume the role of would he have given uttert

)

ance to the prophecy ascribed

Caiaphas.

The

Roman

procurator might h.ivc expressed such a

The
sentiment,
for

Crucifixion of Christ.
according
to

125

Roman law and

sacrificed for the high priest, on the other hand, could not have uttered such a sentiment, because it was abhorrent to the Jewish mind.

ethics an individual

could be

welfare of the state.

The

If all Israel could have been saved, and could have been saved only by the death of one of its innocent members, that member could not have been put to death, because, according to Jewish law, it would have made of every Jew concerned in it a murderer. It was a fundamental principle of the Je^\ish code that, "No human life must be abandoned on account of any other life."

298

Did Jesus have a trial before the Sanhedrim? Synoptics: He had (Matt, xxvi, 57-75; Mark xiv, 53-72; Luke xxii, 54-71). It was about this time (30 A. D.), that the Sanhedrim ceased to have jurisdiction over capital

oflFenses.

After

its

jurisdiction ceased Jesus

it;

could not have been tried before

its

and before

jurisdiction ceased he
trial

would not have had a

subsequent

before Pilate.

299

Where was
priest.

his trial held?

:

Matthew and Mark At

the palace of the high

at the residence of the

No
high

trial

was ever held

priest.

All meetings of the

Sanhedrim were

held in the hall adjoining the temple. trial at any other place would have been illegal.

226

The

Christ.

300

What was
All
:

the charge preferred against

him?

Blasphemy.
it

was charged, had declared himself to be the son of God. This, if true, would not have constituted blasphemy. It was no offense against the law for a man to claim that he was the son
Jesus,

All men, and especially all good men, were recognized as the sons of God. Referring to Christ's claim, a Jewish writer says "No law, no precedent, and no fictitious case in the Bible
of God.
:

or the rabbinical literature, can be cited to

of this expression a case of

make

blasphemy."

And

he had been proven guilty of blasphemy, he could not have been put to death, fo^r blaseven
if

phemy,
offense.

at this time,

had ceased

to be a capital

And

is it

reasonable to suppose that the

a

Romans would have condemned

for

man
in

to death

an offense against a religion

did not 'themselves believe,

which they but which they re-

garded as one of the vilest of superstitions? It may be urged that in his trial before Pilate the
charge was changed was not sustained.
to
sedition.

This

charge

301

What
and

is

said regarding witnesses?

:

Matthew and Mark

elders,

"Now

the chief priests,

and

all

the council, sought false wit-

nesses against Jesus, to put him to death; but

found none; yea, though

many

false witnesses

The

Crucifixion of Christ.
59,

227
60;

came, yet found they none" (Matt, xxvi,

Mark
cil

xiv,

55,

56).

When

had been

every step thus far taken by the counillegal, why should it have been so

particular in regard to the witnesses?

is

The

fact

the Evangelists were ignorant of Jewish laws.

They believed that while the prosecution of Jesus was unjust it was yet conducted according to
the established rules of Jewish courts.

Referring

to Mark, Dr. Wise says: *Tn his ignorance of Jewish law, he imagined the trial which he de-

scribed

was lawful among the Jews.

He

proves

by the very statement that witnesses were sought and produced. A court convoked and acting in rebellion to law and custom can be considered only a band of rebels.
this, in the first place,

What

use have such

men

of witnesses?

Being
.

lawless from the beginning,

no

legal

restraint
. .

makes the presence

of witnesses necessary.

He

certainly thought of an honest, lawful trial,

in the legal

form
after

an honest and legal examinareflection the

tion of witnesses, a fair consideration of the testi-

mony, and

mature

rejection

thereof on account of insufficiency"

of Jesus, pp. 69, 70).

(Martyrdom

302

What

did the so-called

false

witnesses

that

he had said? ''I am able to destroy the temple of God, and to build it in three days" (Matthew xxvi, 61). *'I will destroy this temple that is made with
testify that

appeared against him

228

The

Christ.
I

hands, and within three days

other

will build anxiv, 58).

made without hands" (Mark

303 Jesus said?

What had
raise
it

^'Destroy this temple and in three days

will

up" (John
if

ii,

19).

Passing- over the discrepancies of

Matthew and

they have given the substance of these witnesses' testimony, then they were not false,

Mark,

but truthful witnesses; for Jesus,

it

is

seen,

had

given utterance to such a declaration. If he referred to the temple of his body, as John affirms,

and the Jews misunderstood him, the

his,

fault

was

not theirs. Josephus gives an account of a so-called prophet who, a few years later, boasted of his supernatural powers in much the same manner
is said to have done: "There came out of Egypt about this time to Jerusalem, one that said that he was a prophet, and advised the multitude of the common people to go along to the Mount of Olives, as it was called, which lay over against the city, and at

that Jesus

the distance of five furlongs. that he

He

said further,
his
fall

would show them from hence, how, at command, the walls of Jerusalem would down'* (Antiquities, Book xx, chap, viii, sec.
304-

6).

Was

he questioned by the Sanhedrim?

Synoptics:

He

was.

They

tried to convict

him

The
by
his

Crucifixion of Christ.
(Matt, xxvi, 62-64;

229

own testimony
idid

Mark

xiv, 60-63; Li^ke xxii, 66-71).

Jewish court

not question a prisoner.

prisoner could not even plead guilty.

305

To

the

priest's

question,

"Art

thou

the

Christ?" what answer did he give?

Mark: ''Jesus said, I am" (xiv, 61, 62). Luke ''He said unto them. If I tell you, ye
:

will

not believe"

(xxii, 6y).

306

When
place?

did his trial before the Sanhedrim take the night.

Matthew and Mark: During

After

his arrest, which probably occurred not later than midnight, they at once "led him away to the chief Caiaphas the high priest, where priests, and elders, and all the council [Sanhedrim]" had assembled, when his trial immediately began (Matt, xxvi, 57-68; Mark xiv, 58-65). Luke: Not until the next morning. During the night he was held in custody at the house of the high priest. "As soon as it was day, the elders of the people and the chief priests and the scribes came together, and led him into the
. . .

council''

(xxii, 66).

This, according to Luke,

was

his

first

only appearance

before

the

Sanhedrim.

and Mat-

thew and Mark, in addition to the night trial mentioned by them, also mention an adjourned

230
session in
the.

The

Christ.

morning corresponding to the

307.

meeting of Luke.

have been held in the night as stated by Matthew and Mark? The Jewish law prohibited the It could not. opening of a trial at night. The Sanhedrim could not hold a session before 6 a. m. or after Luke was seemingly acquainted with 3 p. m. this law; Matthew and Mark were not.
Could
this trial

308.

During what
held?

religious festivities

was

his trial

Synoptics: During the feast of the Passover. It could not have been held during the Passover, for no trials were held by the Jews dur-

ing this feast.

309 day of the week was it held? Synoptics: On Friday, the day preceding the

On what
Sabbath.

No

trial for

a capital offense

was ever allowed

to begin

on the day preceding the Sabbath.

310

How
All:

long did this

trial last?

But

a few hours.

The Jewish law

a capital
trial

required at least

two days

for

one for prosecution, and one for

the defense.

The

Crucifixion of Christ.
311

231

Did he have Sanhedrim?

Synoptics:

a defender or counselor in the

He

did not.

According- to the Synoptics he had no counsel,

and the Sanhedrim were unanimous in their condemnation of him. This was contrary to Jewish law. The Sanhedrim might be unanimous in their belief that he was guilty, but it was the duty of at least one of them to defend him. This was the law: *Tf none of the judges defend the culprit, i. e., all pronounce him guilty, having no defender in the court, the verdict of guilty was invalid and the sentence of death could not be executed" (Maimonides).
Dr. Geikie admits that the
fore the
trial of Jesus beSanhedrim, as related in the Gospels, nearly every particular contrary to Jew-

was

in

ish law.

He

says:

in all cases to be held inproved guilty. It was an axiom, that 'the Sanhedrim was to save, not to destroy life.' No one could be tried and condemned in his absence, and when a person accused was brought before the court, it was the duty of the

"The accused was

till

nocent,

president, at the outset, to

to

remember the value

of

admonish the witnesses human life, and to

tell in

take care that they forgot nothing that v^ould the prisoner's favor. Nor was he left un;

defended

a Baal-Rib, or counsel,
all

was appointed,

to see that

possible

was done

for his acquittal.

232

The

Christ. to aid

Whatever evidence tended

freely

him was
of

to be

admitted, and no

member

the

court

who had

once spoken

in

favor of acquittal could

afterwards vote for condemnation.

The

votes of

the youngest of the judges were taken first, that they might not be influenced by their seniors. In capital charges, it required a majority of at
least

two

to

condemn, and while the verdict

of

acquittal could be given at once, that of guilty

could only be pronounced the next day. Hence, capital trials could not begin on the day pre-

ceding a Sabbath, or public feast. No criminal trial could be carried through in the night; the

judges

to death had to day before, and no one could be executed on the same day on which the sentence was pronounced." (Life of Christ, vol. ii, p. 487.)
fast all the

who condemned any one

Had

312 Jesus been tried, convicted and executed

by the Jews would he have been crucified? He would not. Crucifixion was a mode f punishment never employed by the Jews. Had the Jews executed him he would have been
stoned.
It is

impliedly stated in the Synoptics, and ex-

pressly stated in John, that the Sanhedrim's jurisdiction

not lawful for us to put any

31).

over capital crimes had ceased. man to death"

it is

''It

is

(xviii,

The Sanhedrim's

D., and

authority ceased in 30 A. generally claimed by Christians that

The
the crucifixion
after this time.

Crucifixion of Christ.
occurred from one to
five

233
years

313 does Peter say in regard to the punishment employed in his execution?

What

mode

of

"The God of our fathers raised up Jesus, whom ye slew and hanged on a tree" (Acts v, 30).

"And we
lem
;

are witnesses of

all

things which he
a tree"

did both in the land of the Jews, and in Jerusa-

whom

ye

slew

and

hanged on

(x, 39).

Concerning this, Mrs. Evans says: "With regard to his death, it was said that the Jews slew him and hanged him on a tree; and again that he was taken down from the tree; expressions

which do not imply

legal execution

crucifixion, but rather the

for such

crimes as

fthe

one

al-

leged, that

is,

stoning to death and the exposure

a stake, or a tree" (Christ

of the dead

body upon

Myth,

p.

79).

314

was he treated by the Sanhedrim? Matthew and Mark: "They spit in his face, and buffeted him and others smote him with
;
,

How

the palms of their hands'' (Matt, xxvi, dy

xiv, 65).

Mark

Every Jew, and every other person acquainted with the Jewish history of that age, knows that
this is false.

the wisest and the best

stitious,

The Sanhedrim was composed of men of that race. Superand

fanatical

bigoted

some

of

them

234

The
in

Christ.
that

doubtless were, but

august

court

law

and dignity and decorum reigned. These accounts of the trial of Christ before the Sanhedrim afiford overwhelming proof that they were not written by apostles nor by residents of Palestine. They were written by Gentile Christians, or by Jewish converts living in foreign lands, and presumably the former, for even foreign Jews must have possessed a better knowledge of Jewish laws and customs than the
Evangelists display.
315

During the trial Peter denied his master. What had Jesus predicted concerning his denial? Matthew, Luke and John: "J^sus said unto
him, Verily
I

say unto thee, that this night, be-

fore the cock crow, thou shalt

(Matt, xxvi, 34;

:

Luke

xxii, 34;

deny me thrice" John xiii, 38).

Mark "And Jesus saith unto him, Verily T say unto thee, that this day. even in this night,
before the cock crow twice, thou shalt deny
thrice"
(xiv, 30).

me

316

Did Peter deny him three times before the cock crew? Matthew, Luke and John He did (Matt, xxvi, 69-75; L"^e xxii, 54-62; John xviii, 15-27). Mark: He did not; he had denied him but once when the cock crew (xiv, 66-68).
:

The

Crucifixion of Christ.

235

317

Where were
denial?

they

when Jesus
the
xiv,

foretold Peter's

Matthew and Mark: At (Matt, xxvi, 30-35; Mark

Mount
26-30).

of Olives

Luke: In Jerusalem, at supper, before they went out to the Mount of Olives (xxii, 7-39).

What
palace?

did Peter
sat

318 do when

he

entered

the

Luke: 'Teter
55).

down among them"

(xxii,

John: "Peter stood with them"

(xviii, 18).

When was
of Jesus?

he

first

319 accused of being the friend

John: As he entered the room (xviii, 16, 17). Mark and Luke: As he sat by the fire (Mark
xiv, 66, (yj\

Luke

xxii, 54-57)-

320 he accused the second time? John: In the house as he '^stood and warmed

When was

himself"

(xviii, 25).

Matthew: "When he was gone out

porch" (xxvi, 71).
321

into the

By whom was
71
;

he accused the second time? Matthew and Mark: By a "maid" (Matt. xxvi.

Mark

xiv, 69).
(xxii, 59, 60).

Luke: By a "man"

236

The

Christ.

322 accused him the third time? Who Matthew and Mark: 'They that stood

by''

(Matt, xxvi, 73; Mark xiv, 70). John "One of the servants of the high priest"
:

(xviii, 26).

323

Was

Jesus present

when Peter denied him?

Matthew and Mark: He was not. Luke: He was. "The Lord turned and looked upon Pet:er" (xxii, 60, 61).
324

Where was Jesus next sent for trial? Luke: To Herod, tetrarch of Galilee, who was
attending- the

Passover at Jerusalem

(xxiii, 6-1 1).

In the matter of trials the EvangeUsfts, as in

everything

else,

standing no

trial

have overdone things. Notwithwas ever held during the Pass-

over they give him four trials in one day, and not finding courts enough in Judea for the purpose, they import one from Galilee.

nothing more improbable than this alleged examination of Jesus by Herod. Imagine the Governor General of Canada sitting in judg-

There

is

ment on
criminal

a criminal at
is

a Canadian, or an

Washington, because the Ohio court holdbecause the prisoner

ing a session in

New York

arraigned once lived in Ohio.

in

The

offenses with

which Jesus was charged were committed, not

Herod's province, Galilee, but
Judea.
in Pilate's

prov-

ince,

The

Crucifixion of Christ.

237

It is strange that John, who pretends to relate every important event connected with the trial of Jesus, should omit his trial before Herod. Concerning this Strauss says: "The conjecture, that
it

may probably have appeared

all

to

him

[John]
it

too unimportant, loses

the leadiner

foundation

when

is

considered that John does not scorn to mention

away

to

was equally

indecisive

Annas, which nevertheless and in general, the narra;

tive of these events in

John

is,

as Schleiermacher

himself confesses,

so

consecutive

that

it

no-

where presents a break in which such an episode could be inserted. Hence even Schleiermacher
at last takes refuge in the conjecture that pos-

sibly the sending to

Herod may have escaped the

it happened on an opon which the disciple stood, through a back door; and that it came to the knowledge of Luke because his informant had an acquaintance in the household of Herod, as John had in that of Annas; the former conjecture, however, is figuratively as well as literally nothing more than a back door; the latter, a fiction which is but the effort of despair" (Leben Jesu,

notice of John, because

posite side to that

pp. 764, 765).

325

What was
to

the result of Pilate's sending Jesus

Herod? Luke: "And the same day Pilate and Herod were made friends together, for before they were at enmity between themselves" (xxiii, 12).

238
Pilate and

The
Herod
day of

Christ.

become friends. To they were enemies. Herod was continually plotting and striving to unite with his tetrarchy the province of Judea which belonged to his father's kingdom, and which his father had promised to give him.
did not
recall

the

Pilate's

326

Did Jesus's
Luke: John:
It

trial

before Pilate take place in the

presence of his accusers?

did (xxiii,
1-4,

13,

14).

It did

not

(xviii, 28).

327

go out of the judgment hall to consult with those who were prosecuting Jesus? Luke: He did not (xxiii, 1-25). John: He did. ^'Pilate then went out unto them [the Jews], and said, What accusation bring" ye against this man? They answered and said unto him. If he were not aj malefactor, we would not havie delivered him up unto thee. Then Pilate entered into the judgment hall again, and called Jesus, and said unto him. Art thou the King of the Jews? Jesus answered

Did

Pilate

him, Sayest thou this thing of thyself, or did others tell it thee of me?" (xxiii, 29, 30, 33, 34.) The prosecution and the defense are both declared to have returned insolent answers to the
questions of Pilate.

wise for
polite as

this,

The Jewish priests were too and Christians will be loath to ad-

mit that their Savior was so indiscreet and so imto indulge in such insolence,

The
What was
All
:

Crucifixion of Christ.

239

328
the result of his
trial

before Pilate?

Pilate declared

him innocent and sentenced

him

to death.

when he had called together the and the rulers and the people, said unto them. Ye have brought this man unto me, as one that perverteth the people and, behold, I, having examined him before you, have found no fault in this man touching those things whereof ye accuse him. And Pilate gave sentence
"^And Pilate,
chief priests
;
.

that

it

should be as they required.

He
13,

de14,

livered Jesus to their will"

24, 25).

(Luke

xxiii,

"Pilate saith unto them.

cify

him

for I find

no

fault in

Take ye him, and him" (John

cruxix,

6).
It is

impossible to believe that the highest court

of a country

cent and then

would pronounce a prisoner innocondemn him to death. Judicial murders are sometimes committed, but the murderers do not confess their guilt.
It
is

declared that Pilate

desired to release
ruled Judea, Pilate

Jesus but could not.

or the Sanhedrim?
ists,

Who

According to the Evangelruled Judea, while the

the

Romans

Jews

ruled the Romans.

Between the
mon.

Pilate of the

New
is

the Pilate of history there

The

Pilate of the

New

Testament and in comTestament is subnothing

their

servient to

the

Jews, acceding to

every

240
wish, even to

The

Christ.

murdering an innocent prisoner.

is

The

Pilate of history

noted for his hatred of

It

the Jews and his cruelties to them.

was these

which provoked

his recall.

329

upon the Jews to allow him to release Jesus, what did he do? Matthew: ''He took water, and washed his hands before the multitude, saying", I am innoPilate could not prevail

When

cent of the blood of this just person" (xxvii, 24).

]\Iatthew does

not appear to reaHze the ab-

surdity of supposing that a

Roman

official

would
he

adopt a custom peculiar to a people held in contempt.

whom

"And

all

the eMers of that

city, that are

.

next
.

unto the slain man,, shall wash their hands and they shall answer and say. Our hands have not shed this blood" (Deuteronomy xx, 6, 7).
.

330

What
ing his

indignities
trial

were heaped upon Jesus durand

before Pilate?
Pilate therefore took Jesus,

John

"Then

scourged him.
of thorns,

crown on his head, and they put ciu liim a purple robe, and said, Hail, King of the Jews and they smote him with their hands. Pilate therefore went forth again, and saith unto them, Behold, I bring him forth to you, that ye may know that I find no fault in h;rn. Then came Jesus forth, wearing the crown cv ti,or^s ^r
the soldiers platted a

And

and put

it

'i

The

Crucifixion of Christ.

241

And Pilate salth unto them, Behold the man!" (xix, 1-5.) These indignities Jesus is said to have suffered, not at the hands of a Jewish mob, but at the hands of a Roman court, from which the Jews had absented themselves and whose prothe purple robe.

ceedings they could not witness nor directly in-

Every lawyer knows that for more than two thousand years the Roman court has been the world's model for dignity and fairness.
fluence.

That an innocent and defenseless prisoner was subjected to these insults and brutalities in a Roman court, presided over by a Roman governor, none but a slave of superstition can believe.

331

When was
''And

he scourged?
executed.
Jesus, he

Matthew and Mark: Before he was when he [Pilate] had scourged

him
xv, 15).

delivered

to be crucified'' (Matt, xxvii, 26;

Mark
1-16).

John: Before the termination of

his trial (xix,

Scourging was frequently inflicted by the Romans before execution, but never before the prisoner was convicted and sentenced. The
"Bible Dictionary" concedes the illegal and unusual character of the scourging mentioned by
John.
fliction

'Tn our Lord's case, however, this inseems neither to have been the legal

242

The

Christ.

scourging after sentence nor yet the examination by torture" (Acts xxii, 24).
332

What custom
at the

is

said to have been observed

Passover?

All

The

release of a prisoner

governor (Matt, xxvii, 15; Mark xv,

xxiii,

by the Roman 6; Luke

vi^ont

17; John xviii, 39). ''Now at that feast the governor v^as

to release

unto the people

prisoner,

whom

they would."

There

is

no

historical authority
It

whatever for

this alleged custom.

was a custom that the

Judea could not with safety adopt. The Jews were a subject people, waiting and hoping for an opportunity to throwoff the Roman yoke. To release to them ^'whomsoever they desired" (Mark xv, 6) might be to release a political prisoner whose liberty would endanger the government itself. This story wa-^.
in

Roman government

probably suggested by a custom of the

Roman

emperors who day festivals.

released a prisoner at their birth-

333

They demanded and obtained Barrabas. Who was Barrabas?

John:
ber"

the

release

of

robber.

"Now

Barrabas was a rob-

(xviii, 40).

Mark and Luke: A murderer. "Barrabas (who for a certain sedition made in the city, and

The
for murder,
18,

Crucifixion of Christ.
cast into prison)"

243
xxiii,

was

(Luke

19;

Mark

xv, 7).

334

By whom was Jesus clad in mockery? Matthew, Mark and John: By Pilate's
diers (Matt, xxvii,
xix,
I,
2^],

sol-

28;

Mark

xv, 16, 17; John

2).
:

Luke

with his
robe''

By Herod and his soldiers. *'And Herod men of war set him at nought, and
in

mocked him, and arrayed him

(xxiii,

gorgeous

11).

What was

335 the color of the robe they put on

him? Matthew: "They stripped him, and put on him a scarlet robe" (xxvii, 28). Mark and John: 'They put on him a purple
robe" (John xix, 2;

Mark
336

xv,

17)..

When

did this occur?

John: During his trial (xix, i, 2, 12-16). Matthew and Mark After Pilate had deliver:

ed him, to be crucified (Matt, xxvii, 26-28;

xv, 15-17).

Mark

337 Describe the mocking of Jesus. Matthew: ^Then released he Barrabas

unto

them

livered

and when he had scourged Jesus, he dehim to be crucified. Then the soldiers

of the governor took Jesus into the

common

hall,

and gathered unto him the whole band of sol-

244
diers.

The
And

Christ.

they stripped him, and put on him

scarlet

robe.

And when
it

they had platted a

crown

of thorns, they put

upon

his head,

and
the
!"

a reed in his right hand; and they

bowed

knee before him, saying, Hail, King of the Jews

(xxvii, 26-29.)

mocking is "Adversus Flaccum," written more than one hundred years before the Gospels made their appearance. Herod Agrippa was on his way from Rome to Palestine to assume the government of that country.
original of this account of the

The

of Jesus

to be found

in

Philo's

When

he stopped at Alexandria his enemies, to

instituted a

annoy him,

mock

coronation, which

Philo relates as follows

"There was a certain poor wretch named Carrabas, who spent all his days and nights in the roads, the sport of idle children and wanton youths; and the multitude, having driven him as far as the public gymnasium, and having set him up there on high, that he might be seen of everybody, flattening out a papyrus leaf, put it on his head instead of a crown, and clothed the rest of his body with a common mat in place of a robe, and in lieu of a sceptre thrust into his hand a reed, which they found lying by the wayside. And when he had received all the insignia of royalty, and had been dressed and adorned like
a king,

young men bearing

came

sticks

on their shoulin imitation of

ders stood on each side of

him
up,

guards, while others

some

as

if

to

The

Crucifixion of Christ.

245

saltite him, and others pretending to plead their causes before him" (Philo's Works, Vol. iv

pp

68,69).

Who

338 smote Jesus after

his trial? strike

Mark: 'The servants did

palms of their hands'' John: *'One of the
22).

him with the

(xiv, 65).

officers which stood by struck Jesus with the palm of his hand" (xviii,

The
brutal

stories of these mockings,

revilings,

and

They

assaults cannot be acepted as historical. are self-evidently false. Were they al-

leged to have been committed by an irresponsiRoman mob they might be credited; but when they are declared to have been
ble Jewish or

committed by, or '(vhile in the custody of the highest Jewish ci-nd Roman officials they must be rejected.
339

To whom
fied?

did Pilate deli\er

him

to

be cruci-

Matthew and Mark: To the Roman sol"And when he had scourged Jesus he delivered him to be crucified. Then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus. And when they were come unto a place called Golgotha,
diers.
. . .

that
fied

is

to say, a place of a skull,

they cruci-

him" (Matt, xxvii, 26-35; Mark xv, 15-24). John He delivered him to the Jews. ''And he
:

saith unto the Jews,

Behold your King!

But

246
they cried out,

The
Away

Christ.

with him,
Shall
I

crucify
crucify

him.

your King? The chief priests answered. We have no king but Caesar. Then delivered he him thereAnd they took fore unto them to be crucified. And he bearing his Jesus and led him away.
Pilate saith unto

them.

cross

went

forth into a place called the place of

is

the skulls, which

called in

Hebrew Golgotha;
14-18).

where they

crucified

him"

(xix,

Matthew and Mark plainly state that Jesus was delivered to the Roman soldiers; John just as plainly states that he was delivered to the Jews. Matthew and Mark declare that he was
by the soldiers; John declares that he was crucified by the Jews. Were it not that John elsewhere (xix, 23) contradicts himself and
crucified

states that

the soldiers crucified him, the con-

would be, after reading John, that he was crucified by the Jews. Peter declares that the Jews executed him.
clusion

Addressing the Sanhedrim, he says: *'The God of our fathers raised up Jesus, whom ye slew and hanged on a tree" (Acts v, 30).
340

Who
a

was compelled to carry the cross? Synoptics "And as they came out, they found man of Cyrene, Simon by name; him they
:

compelled to bear his cross" (Matt, xxvii, 32;

Mark
''xix,

xv, 21

Luke

xxiii, 26).

John: The cross was borne by Jesus himself

17).

The

Crucifixion of Christ.
341

247

Where was Simon when they compelled him

to carry the cross?

Mark: "Coming out The correct reading

the field,"
is
i,

of the country" (xv, 21). of this

is,

"coming from

''coming from, his work." This improbable as they did not work on the Passe.,

over.

The Synoptics
was compelled
able?
It
is

342 agree in

stating

that

Simon

to carry the cross.

Is this prob-

not.

In executions

of

this

kind
it

the

criminal
as a

was always required mark of disgrace.

343

to carry

himself

from the Synoptics that the cross was too heavy for Jesus to bear, and Christian writings and paintings represent him bending with fatigue beneath the burden of the entire cross. What was the burden he was required
It is inferred

to carry?

Simply the patibulum, or cross

piece,

which

was not heavy. The upright portion was a permanent fixture.

344

of the cross

On
to the
fate.

his

way women

to

execution he

made

a speech

of Jerusalem
is

who

bewailed his

Alluding, as

alleged,

destruction of Jerusalem,

to the coming what did he declare

they would say?

248

The
Cover us" (Luke

Christ.

'^To the mountains, Fall on us;

hills,

and

to

the

xxiii,

30).

Luke attempts
a quotation
defective.

to put into the

mouth

of Jesus

from Hosea, but his memory was What the prophet said was as folhills,

lows:
Fall

Cover us; and to the (Hosea x, 8). Renan pronounces this speech spurious.
'*To the mountains,

on

us''

He

says: '*The speech to the

the siege of the year 70."

women

of Jerusalem

could scarcely have been conceived except after

345

Where was he
gotha, that
xxvii,
is

crucified?
''a

Mattthew and Mark: At

33;

place called Gol-

to say, a place of a skull" (Matt,

Mark
like

xv, 22).
(xxiii,.

Luke: At Calvary
Calvary,
sk4alls in

33).

Golgotha,

means

place

of

the vicinity of Jerusalem.

The explana-

by Christian commentators is that *'it was a spot where executions ordinarily took place, and therefore abounded in skulls." Fleetwood says it "was called Golgotha, or Place of Skulls, from the criminals' bones which lay
tion

given

scattered there'' (Life of Christ, p. 416).

Jewish customs prevailed

this time,

and

Where
admitted

it

is

that they did prevail in Jerusalem

man

and Judea at and had for hundreds of years a huskull or bone was not allowed to be ex-

posed for even a moment.

The
What was

Crucifixion of Christ.

249

346
the inscription on the cross?

Mark: 'The King of the Jews" (xv, 26). Luke: **This is the King of the Jews" (xxiii,
38).

Matthew
:

"This

is

Jesus the

King

of

the

Jews" (xxvii, 37). John "Jesus of Nazareth, the

Jews'' (xix, 19).

King

of the

tion.

There was placed on the cross a certain inscripAccording to Luke and John it appeared in Greek, Latin and Hebrew. Four divinely inspired historians attempt to report in Greek the exact words of this inscription. Yet no two of
347

their reports agree.

Did the name of Jesus appear on the cross? Matthew and John: It did. Mark and Luke: It did not.
348

Did the word "Nazareth" appear

scription
?

in

the

in-

John:

It did.
:

Synoptics

It did not.

349

What
cifying

did they offer him to drink before cru-

him? Matthew: "Vinegar mingled with

gall" (xxvii,

34)-

Mark: "Wine mingled with myrrh" Luke: "Vinegar" alone (xxiii. 36).

(xv, 23).

250

The

Christ.

The draughts mentioned by Matthew and Mark refer to a Jewish mixture intended to produce stupefaction and lessen pain. Had the Romans crucified him it is not probable that they
would have observed
this

Jewish custom.

350

How

was he fastened on the cross?

and
feet

Luke and John: His hands

nailed to
it

were
nailed

(Luke

xxiv, 39;

John

xx, 25, 27).

The Evangelists do not say

to the cross; but
texts
it

that he

was

has been inferred from the

mentioned

in

In crucifixion the
the cross.

Luke and John that he was. victim was usually bound to

Nails were sometimes driven through

the hands, but never through the feet.

lusions
to the supposed

The

al-

wounds on

his

hands

and feet were evidently inserted in the accounts for the purpose of establishing his identity after Great prominence has been the resurrection.
given
create

them by

Christians

in

order

to

make

Christ's

crucifixion

appear especially cruel and

sympathy

for him.

351

At what hour of the day was he cruc'fied? Mark "It was the third hour [nine o'clock in the morning]" (xv, 25). Luke: "It was about the sixth hour [noon]"
:

(xxiii, 44).

sentenced

John: At the sixth hour he had not been and delivered to the executioners;

The

Crucifixion of Christ.

251

hence he was not crucified until the afternoon

(xix,

14-16).

Dr. Geikie admits that three hours

his crucifixion.

may have

elapsed between the termination of his

crucifixion

may

trial and Hence, according to John, the have occurred as late as three

o'clock in
It

the afternoon.

has been attempted

to

explain

the

dis-

crepancy between
ing time.

Mark and John by suppos-

ing that John used a different method of reckon-

Concerning this. Prof. Sanday, one of England's highest orthodox authorities, says:

"The writer
ise

of this

was
the

at one time inclined to

If

look with favor on these attempts.

the prem-

could be proved,
.
.

data would
it

work out

satisfactorily.

said that the

be major premise cannot be proved,

.

But

must

definitely

and that the attempt to reconcile the two ments on this basis breaks down."
352

state-

How

did the soldiers divlide the garments?

:

Matthew "And they

filled

crucified him,
it

his garments, casting lots; that

and parted might be ful-

parted

which was spoken by the prophet, They my garments among them, and upon my

vesture did they cast lots" (xxvii, 35). John "Then the soldiers when they had cruci:

fied

Jesus,

took his garments,

and made four

parts, to every soldier a part;

and also his coat:

was without seam, woven from the top throughout. They said, therefore, among

now

the coat

2 $2

The
whose
be

Christ.
it,

themselves,
for
it,

Let us not rend

it

but cast lots

shall

that the scripture might

be fulfilled, which saith. They parted my raiment among them, and for my vesture they did
cast lots" (xix, 23, 24).

According to Matthew they cast lots for all the garments according to John they cast lots for the coat alone. John here makes the same error in regard to the garments that Matthew does in regard to the ass on which Jesus made his triumphal entry. In the verse cited from Psalms garments and vesture are the same thing
;

the
it

clothing of the writer.

of

One

of the

chief
of
is

characteristics
least,

Hebrew

poetry,

or

much

at is that each successive thought stated twice, but in different words.

353

were crucified with Jesus? Mark and Matthew: "And with him crucify two thieves" (Mark xv, 2y; Matt,
38)'.

Who

they
xxvii,

Thieves were
both Jewish and
capital offense.

not

crucified.

Crucifixion,

or
to

death in any form, for theft

was

contrary

Roman

law.

Theft was not a

354

His crucifixion between two thieves what prophecy?

fulfilled

Mark: "And
saith,

the scripture

And

he

shall be

was fulfilled which numbered with the trans-

gressors"

(xv, 28).

The

Crucifixion of Christ.

253

"The same thing might be

said of the thieves/'

Paine.
This passage is not to be found in the earUer manuscripts of Mark, and Westcott declares it
to be an interpolation.

How

355 long did Jesus survive after being placed

(xxiii,

upon the cross? Luke: About three hours

44).
in

crucified Jamaica negro lived two hundred and ten hours.

slave,

1760,

Kitto says
to be

"We may

consider thirty-six hours

at

the earliest period

which

crucifixion

would occasion death

in a healthy adult" (Bibli-

cal Cyclopedia, Art. Crucifixion).

356

What were
Matthew:

his last w^ords?

"Eli, Eli,

lama sabachthani, that

is

to say, My God, my God, saken me?'' (xxvii, 46).

why

hast thou for-

Mark:
is,

''Eloi,

Eloi,

lama sabachthani,

which

being interpreted, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" (xv, 34-) Luke 'Tather, into thy hands I commend my
:

spirit"

(xxiii,
is

John: *Tt

46). finished" (xix, 30).

Four Gospels before them, Chriswere. The tians do not know what his last words Lives of Christ are two most popular English writhose of Dr. Farrar and Dr. Geikie. These friends, and both ters were contemporaries and

With

the

254

The

Christ.

Both, with Gospels for their authorities, attempt to portray the closing scene. I quote from each Dr. Farrar: *'And now the end was come. Once more, in the words of the sweet Psalmist of
these
Israel,

were adherents of the same church.

but adding to them that

title

of trustful

love which, through

of
all

Him,

is

mankind,
I

'Father,'

permitted to the use he said, 'into Thy

hands

spirit.' Then with one he uttered the last cry the one victorious word, 'It is finished.' "

commend my
efifort

more great
Dr.
over.
rose.

Geikie

"A moment more, and

all

was
it

The cloud had passed

as suddenly as

of his

Far and wide, over the vanquished throngs enemies, with a loud voice, as if uttering
Tt is finished Then, more words, 'Father, into Thy
!'

his shout of eternal victory before entering into his glory, he cried,

gently,

HANDS
in

came the COMMEND MY

SPIRIT.'

"

357

what language were his last words uttered? Matthew: In Hebrew. Mark In Aramaic and Hebrew. The language spoken by Jesus and by the people of Palestine at this time was the Aramaic. Mark attempts to give the words of Jesus in this language. But while the first two words The are Aramaic, the last two are Hebrew. words Mark attempts to give are "Elohi, Elohi, metul mah shabaktani?" This Gospel was writ:

The

Crucifixion of Christ.

255

ten by one ignorant of the language of Palestine.

3S8

Matthew interprets the Hebrew words quoted by him to mean, "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" Is this correct? It is not. The words mean, "My God, my God, why hast thou sacrificed me?" The Gospel of Matthew, it is claimed, originally appeared in Hebrew. But this shows that the author of Matthew did not understand the Hebrew language.
359

What
Mark? The

are the

words given by Matthew and

In
the

first words of the 22d Psalm. words of Farrar, "He borrowed from utter agony the expression of his own."

David's

Is

it

probable that a

man

in the agonies of a
his expiring breath

terrible death

would devote

to a recital of

Hebrew
this

poetry?

When

even the
is
it

dying words of

Christ are borrowed,

not evident that the whole story of his fabulous?

life

is

The accounts of the crucifixion given by the Evangelists are to a large extent reproductions
of the

22d Psalm, even to the language

allusions

itself,

the

poetical

of

the

psalmist

being

transformed into alleged historical facts. The devout Christian who is familiar with this Passion

Psalm

sees in the Evangelists' account of

7^6

The

Christ.

the crucifixion a wonderful fulfillment of prophBut the critic sees merely the borrowed ecy.

embellishments of a legend. j6o

What

expression did his words,

'*Eli, Eli,

lama
there,

sabachthani/' provoke?

Matthew: "Some of them that when they heard that, said. This
for

stood
m'an

calleth

Elias"
is

This

(xxvii, 47). additional proof of

rance of Hebrew.

He

Matthew's ignosupposes a similarity of

sound between the two words, whereas they were utterly unlike in pronunciation. Eli was pronounced Ali (long a), while Elias was pronounced Eleeyahu. But even had they been so much alike in sound that one might have been
mistaken for the other, as Matthew supposes,
the alleged incident
the
is

disproved by the fact that

to attend the execu-

Jews were not allowed

while to the

tion,

Romans
361

the words were mean-

ingless.

Who

was

it

bade them see whether Elias would

come to his rescue? Mark: The one who "gave him the sponge "And one ran and filled a filled with vinegar.
sponge full of vinegar, and put it on a reed, and gave him to drink, saying. Let alone, let us see whether Elias will come to take him down'^ (xv,
36).

Matthew:

It

was not

this person,

but those

The
who were
them
ran,

Crucifixion of Christ.

257
of

with him.

"And straightway one

and took a sponge and filled it with vinegar, and put it on a reed, and gave him to drink. The rest said. Let be, let us see whether Elias will come to save him" (xxvii, 48, 49). In regard to these alleged last words of Jesus, Dr. Hooykaas says: ''It seems to us far more probable that these words of the Messianic passion-psalm were put into the mouth of Jesus by tradition than that he really uttered them. The sequel, too, throws great suspicion on the report; for the Jews were not allowed to approach the cross, and what did the Roman solBesides, if the Jews diers know about Elijah? had really heard him cry ''Eli!" or "Eloi!" they would hardly have mistaken the words of the twenty-second Psalm for a cry to the precursor of the Messianic kingdom a mistake upon which

their raillery

is

made

to

depend.

We
all

must,
probiii,

therefore, put aside these words, as in

ability unhistorical" (Bible for Learners, vol.

p. 454).

362

Did the thieves between whom he was crucified both revile him? Matthew and Mark: They did. "And they that were crucified with him reviled him" (Mark
XV, 32; Matt, xxvii, 44).

Luke: They did not; but

one

reviled

him.

"And one
railed

of the malefactors
.
. .

on him.

which were hanged But the other answering

258

The

Christ.

rebuked him, saying, Dost not thou fear God,

seeing thou art in the same condemnation?"
39, 40.)
If
(xxiii,

these

men were

crucified

with

Jesus,

as

claimed, neither reviled him.

Reason

rejects the

statement that a dying man, suflFering unutterable agony, reviled a fellow sufferer.

What
Jesus?

363 request did the penitent thief

make

of

Luke
ber
(xxiii,

"And he said unto Jesus, me when thou comest into

:

Lord, rememthy kingdom"

42).
thief
is

Here the dying

represented as being

familiar with a subject

selves did not at this

which the disciples themtime comprehend.

364

What

did Jesus say to the thief?

in

"Today shalt thou be with me (Luke xxiii, 43).

Instead of going to
above, they went to
the

paradise"

Cliristian

Heaven

Jewish-Pagan Sheol (Hell) below. Did Jesus recant on the cross? Did he renounce the Kingdom of God when God deserted him? Concerning this remarkable
the

passage. Smith's "Bible Dictionary" says:

there

"The Rabbis in the time of our Savior taught was a region of 'the world of the dead, of Sheol, in the heart of the earth. Gehenna was

dise

on one side, with its flames anrl torments; Paraon the other, the intermediate home of the

The
blessed.
.

Crucifixion of Christ.

259

It is significant, indeed, that the

word

'paradise'

nowhere occurs
as
it

in

the

public

teaching of our Lord, or in his intercourse with

his disciples.

Connected

had been with

it

the thoughts of a sensuous

happiness,

was

not the

fittest

nor the best word for those

outi of

whom

he was training to rise them, accordingly, the

sensuous thoughts
of

life. For Heaven, the Kingdom of God, are the words most dwelt on. With the thief dying on the cross the case was different. We can assume nothing in the robber-outlaw but the most rudimentary forms of the popular belief. The answer to his prayer gave him what he needed most, the assurance of im-

to the higher regions of the spiritual

Kingdom

mediate rest and peace."

The

explanation of the apologist

is

as

lame

Did Jesus go Hell with the thief because the thief was unto This apologist fit to go to Heaven with him? says that Jesus used these words gave expression to a false doctrine because the thief was incapable of comprehending the true doctrine. But this conflicts with the alleged words of the thief himself which show that he did comprehend the nature of the kingdom of Heaven. It was this, and not the peace of the grave, for
as the story of the Evangelist.

v/hich he prayed.

365

What were

the centurion's words?

26o

The

Christ.

Luke: "Certainly
(xxiii, 47).

this

was
was

a righteous
the

man"

Matthew:
(xxvii, 54).

''Truly this

Son of God"

have here the anomaly of a Roman officer entertaining a Jewish doctrine of a Messiah, and accepting the Christian claim that If this be true it is Jesus was the Messiah.

We

Pagan

strange that he permitted his soldiers to insult

and abuse Jesus.

366
After Jesus expired what did one of the soldiers do?

John

"One

of

the

soldiers

with

spear

pierced his side" (xix, 34). It is remarkable that the Synoptics,

who

pre-

tend to relate every important incident connected with the crucifixion, make no mention of the
spear thrust.

What
:

is

said to

367 have issued from the wound?

John '^'And forthwith came there out blood and water" (xix, 34). According to a well known physiological fact, if Jesus was still alive or had but recently expired, not blood and water, but blood alone would have flowed from the wound. If he was dead, and it is stated that he was, then neither blood nor water would have flowed from it. When blood is drawn from a living body it becomes separated into two parts, a thick substance

The
known
serum.

Crucifixion of Christ.

261

and a watery fluid known as John was familiar with this fact and supposed that this also took place in a corpse, which is not the case.
as febrine,

Dr. Cabanes, a noted physician of Paris, writes as follows regarding the crucifixion of Jesus: "It appears that crucifixion alone could not

have produced the death of Jesus, and in reference to the wounds produced by the nails, these wounds being the result of crushing, the hemorrhage was small. A burning fever might possibly occur

which would be manifested by an

intense thirst, but the flow of blood could not be sufficient to cause death. Death in this case
is

preceded by a comatose condition which would be inconsistent with the cry uttered in a loud
voice

by Jesus shortly before his last breath. All the commentators of the gospels further agree that Jesus did not remain more than three to six hours on the cross, and death cannot be
produced by an exposure
of this duration to this

mode of torture. "The generally accepted version of the lance wound received by Jesus is that the blow was
struck on the

and that there flowed from the wound water mingled with blood. It has been correctly remarked that blood does not flow from a corpse, and therefore if blood followed the lance stroke, Jesus must have been alive; further, in order that the blow might have killed
left side

the dying man,

it

must have injured

a vital or^

26(2

The

Christ.
that a lance directed
left

gan.

It must be observed upward and from right to

could not read:

first

the right-hand cavities of the heart v^ithout

opening
liver^

the

peritoneal

cavity,

traversing

the

the pericardium

and perhaps the pleura.

We must therefore ask how the few hundred grams of blood which a right ventricle could contain, could penetrate to the exterior of the body after such a great wound. Also with those who
found a distended heart in which the blood has very rapidly coagulated, and it must follow that if a flood of the liquid
die slowly there
is

come from the

cava,
it

appeared on the side of Jesus it could not have heart. With regard to the vena
its

situation

is

too far back to have allowed'

If the

to

be touched by the lance.

in

wound had
digestive

been

the stomach a lesion

of the

tube would have been disclosed by an ejection

of blood mingled with alimentary matter, either

from the mouth or the opening of the^ wound, or by a discharge of blood into the abdomiHad the liver been touched the nal cavity. symptoms of an internal hemorrhage would have
at least

been observed, as
not, in

in the case of

President Car-

whose case the blow of the poignard, directed downward, perforated the liver and the portal vein, inducing a state of coma, whereas
Jesus,
voice.

we have been

told, cried

out with a loud

We

thus see that death was not due to

or to the torture of crucifixion,

the lance

wound

as so often stated."

The

Crucifixion of Christ.
368

26^

Was
ets?

Christ's suffering foretold

by the proph-

Peter: "But those things, which God before had showed by the mouth of all his prophets,
that Christ should suffer, he hath so
fulfilled''

(Acts

iii,

18).

God had

not showed by the

mouth

of

all

his

prophets, nor

by the mouth

of even one of his

prophets, that Christ should suffer.

ets
is

The prophThere

know nothing

of a suffering Messiah.

not a text in the Old Testamtent referring to such a Messiah. The passages relating to suffering cited by
the

Evangelists

and

applied

to

Christ have no reference whatever to a Messiah.

The Encyclopedia

Britannica says

"That

the

Jews in the time of Christ believed in a suffering and atoning Messiah is, to say the least, unproved and highly improbable."

What

369 marvelous events occurred

at the

time
the

of the crucifixion?

Matthew: "There was darkness over

all

land" (xxvii, 45). "The veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom and
;

the earth did quake, and the rocks rent; and the

graves were opened; and

saints

many

bodies of

the

which

slept arose'* (51, 52).

:

Mark and Luke

''There

was darkness over

the whole land" (Mark xv, 33).

"And

the veil

264
of the temple
to the

The
was

Christ.
the top

rent in twain from

bottom" (38). INIark and Luke know nothing of two of the

important events related by Matthew; John is ignorant of all of them. Had these events real-

happened, the naturalists and chroniclers of As they that age would have recorded them. make no mention of them, we know that they
ly

did not occur.

If

we

accept the claims of their followers, near-

ly all the

gods and heroes of antiquity amid the convulsions of Nature. The Romulus went out amid the battling of ments; '^the sun was darkened and
fire

expired
soul of

her
the

ele-

sky

and ashes" when the Hindu Krishna rained left his saddened followers; ''the earth shook, the rocks were rent, the graves opened, and in a storm which threatened the dissolution of the universe," Prometheus closed his earthly career; a pall of darkness settled over Egypt when her Os'iris died the death of Alexander was succeeded by six hours of preternatural gloom and
;

"Ere the mighty Julius

fell.

The grave stood

tenantless, and the sheeted dead

Did squeak and gibber in the

Roman

streets."

How

long did the darkness last?

(Matt, xxvii, 45;

From the sixth to the ninth hour Mark xv, 33; Luke xxiii, 44). According to Matthew and Luke this darkness
Synoptics:

The
lasted

Crucifixion of Christ.

265

the cross until

from the time that he was suspended upon he died. Yet his executioners
it.

are ignorant of
tances,

Luke says
off,

''His

acquain-

and the

women

that followed

him from

Galilee, stood

afar

beholding these things

[the

crucifixion]"

(xxiii, 49),

which they could

at

not have done had this darkness really occurred.

If this

darkness occurred, and began

the

sixth hour, as stated

by the Synoptics,

then, ac-

cording to John, the conclusion of the trial, the sentencing of Jesus, the preparations for his execution,

and the journey to

the darkness,

Golgotha,

all

took

place during

a conclusion

which

the nature of the narrative utterly precludes.

Christian apologists have cited Phlegon

notices an eclipse
time.

who
this

which

occurred

about

But there

is

a variance of at least six years

in regard to the time that Jesus was crucified. Besides an eclipse could not have occurred with-

two weeks of a Passover, on the occurrence which he is declared to have been executed. Farrar says: '^It could have been no darkness of any natural eclipse, for the Paschal moon was
in

of

at the full" (Life of Christ, p. 505). Geikie says:

"It

is

impossible to explain the origin of this

darkness.
full,

The Passover moon was then

it

so that
earlier

at the could not have been an eclipse.

The
it

fathers,

relying on

notice of

eclipse that

seemed
it,

to coincide in time,

an though

really did not, fancied that the darkness

was

caused by

but incorrectly"

(Life of Christ,

266
Vol.
ii,

The
p.

Christ.

624, Notes).

'The celebrat-d passage

*'is

of Phlegon," says Gibbon,

now

wisely aban-

doned" (Rome, Vol.

i,

p. 589,

Note).

371

Was
of

the veil of the temple rent, as our Gospel

affirmed, original-

Matthew declares? The Gospel of Matthew, ly appeared in Hebrew,

written in

it is

bt.

this original version, says: '*In

is

Jerome, who had that Gospel which

Hebrew

letters,

we

read, not that

lintel

the veil of the temple was (or beam) of a prodigious size

rent,

but that a
fell

down."
the object

Commenting on
ing of the
veil,

this alleged prodigy, the rend-

Strauss says:

"Now
:

of the divine

Providence in effecting such a miracle could only have been this to produce in the Jewish contemporaries of Jesus a deep impression of the importance of his death, and to furnish the first promulgators of the gospel with
a fact to which they might appeal in support
of their cause. But, as Schleiermacher has shown,

nowhere

else in

the

New
in

Testament, either

in

the apostolic epistles or In Acts, or even in the

Epistle to the

Hebrews,
it

connection with the

subject of which

fail to be mentioned: on the contrary, with the exception of this bare Synoptical notice, every trace of it is lost which could

could scarcely

suggested,

is

this event

been the case if it had really formed a ground of apostolical argument. Thus the divine purpose in ordaining this miracle
scarcely have

The
must have
ceivable,
it

Crucifixion of Christ.
is

267
incon-

totally failed, or, since this

object

in

cannot have been ordained for this other words, since neither any other

object of the miracle, nor yet a the

mode

in

which
(Leben

event might happen naturally can

it

be dis-

covered,

cannot have happened at

372

all"

Jesu, p. 789).

Matthew
day of the

declares that the dead arose on the

crucifixion.

When

did they

come out
which

of their graves?

Not

until

after

Christ's

resurrection,

did not occur until the following week.

"And

many

bodies of the saints which slept arose, and

of the

came out

graves after his resurrection"

(Matt, xxvii, 52, 53).

"They were
soll.

polite

enough

to sit in their
first."

open

graves and wait for Christ to rise

Inger-

373

was Matthew's story regarding these marvelous events derived? From Zechariah "And his feet shall stand
source
:

From what

in
is

upon the Mount .of Olives, which before Jerusalem on the East, and the Mount
that day
.

of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof

mountain shall remove toward it toward the South. Ye shall flee, like as ye fled from before the earthquake in the days of Uzziah King of Judah and the Lord my God shall come, and all the
and
half of the

the North, and half of

268
saints with thee.

The
And

Christ.
it

shall

come

to pass in

that day, that the light shall not be clear" (xiv,

4-6).

Concerning

this

Dr.

Wise

says:

"God who

comes, according to Zachariah, to fight for JeruTheresalem, will stand upon Mount Olivet.
fore, Jesus, during his fight against Pharisees, Sadducees and priests, had to make his princiBut he could not pal home on Mount Olivet. split the mountain, as Zachariah imagined God would, and move one part North and the other South therefore, the curtain of the temple had to be torn in twain when Jesus died, although
;

none has ever mentioned the

fact.

The

curtain

was

there
;

some
had

thirty-five years after the death

it been torn, sombody must have The earthquake mentioned by Zachanoticed of course, was borrowed to embellish riah, Because Zachariah states God Calvary. corning to Jerusalem, *And the Lord my God

of Jesus

it.

cometh,
saints

all

the saints with thee/ therefore the

and not the sinners had to resurrect and But in the visit the city on that particular day. fertile imagmation of Zachariah, the day of that This darkterrible combat must be dark. ness was transported over to Calvary to embellish the scene. ... So these miracles were not wrought, but the entire outer embellishment of Calvary is taken from Zachariah; not because it was believed this prophecy referred to Jesus, but simply because the evangelical writers were
. .

The
dom

Crucifixion of Christ.

269

incompetent to invent original poetry" (Martyrof Jesus, p. 116).

374

What
:

request did the Jews

make

of Pilate con-

cerning Jesus and the malefactors? John They ''besought Pilate that their legs

might be broken" (xix, 31). This punishment, known

as

crurifragium,

was
seen,

a distinct

mode

of execution

united with crucifixion.

and was never Crucifixion, we have

was not employed to punish theft. Neither was crurifra.i[^ium. Yet we are asked to believe that both modes of execution, two of the crudest forms of punishment, were combined to punThe Synoptics do not menish these offenders.
tion this punishment.

375 the soldiers broke the legs of the thieves, why did they spare those of Jesus? ''That the scripture should be fulfilled, John

When
:

be broken" (xix, 36). refers to Exodus xii, 46, and relates to the disposition to be made of the lamb used at Nearly the entire chapter from the Passover.

bone This

of

him

shall not

which John quotes

is
it

devoted to this subject.

states that

Among
his legs,

other things

"They

shall

eat the flesh in that night,

...

his

head with

ye

and with the purtenance thereof. And nothing of it remain until the morning" (8-10). If a part of this prophecy was fulAnd filled, may not all of it have been fulfilled?
shall let

270
if

The
of it was fulfilled, empty sepulchre?

Christ.
will not this

all

account for
break
to

the

Regarding the
ligion"

failure of the soldiers to

the legs of Jesus, as ordered, ^'Supernatural Re-

says

"An order having been given

the

accordance with the request of the Jews, to break the legs of the crucified, we are asked to believe that they did not
soldiers, in
it

Roman

execute

in the case

of Jesus.

It is

not reasol-

sonable to suppose, however, that

diers either

Roman

were in the habit of disregarding their orders, or could have any motive for doing so in this case, and subjecting themselves to the severe punishment for disobedience inflicted by

Roman
it

military law.

It is

argued that they saw

but sol-

that Jesus

was already

dead, and, therefore, that

;

was not necessary

to break his legs

diers are not in

the habit of thinking in this

(p.

way

they are disciplined to obey"

993).

376

What demand was made by

evening of the crucifixion?

the Jews on the

John: That their bodies be taken down from

the cross (xix, 31). John was evidently familiar with the Mosaic

law (Deut. xxi,

22, 23)

which, in cases of hang-

ing, enjoined the burial of the

body on the day

of execution, but seemingly ignorant of the Roman law under which they were executed, which,
in cases of crucifixion, prohibited burial, requir-

ing the body to remain upon the cross until de-

The

Crucifixion of Christ.
it.

271

cayed, or birds and beasts had devoured

The

Jews esteemed

it

sinful

to allow a criminal to

'^remain all night upon the tree ;" but the Jewish law was inapplicable to the Roman mode of punishment which presupposed that the criminal would remain on the cross several days and

nights before death ensued.

377

What

additional reason

was there

for

having

the bodies taken

down? Mark: ''Because it was

the

the preparation, that

day before the Sabbath" (xv, 42). The Sabbath began at sunset on the day that he is declared to have been crucified. The Jewish law would not permit his body, whether dead or alive, to be exposed on the Sabbath. Crucifixion, as we have seen, was a lingering death;
is,

several days usually elapsing before the victim expired. Now, is it reasonable to suppose that

the Jews would demand, as claimed, a punishment lasting several days when they knew that he must be taken down from the cross in a

few hours?
378

What
Mark:

did Pilate do
?

when Joseph
if

soHcited the

body of Jesus

'Tilate

marveled

he were already

dead" (xv, 44).

Why should Pilate marvel if he were already dead when previous to this, according to John (xix, 31-313), he had, at the request of the Jews,

1^1

The

Christ.
if

ordered his soldiers to dispatch him

take his body away?

alive

and

379

Were

the disciples present at the crucifixion?

least (xix, 26).
all

John: They were, or one, at According to the Synoptics,

all

had forsaken Twelve Apostles

their Master, all

at
this

were absent had fled. The time, unless Judas had

declares,

already

hung

himself, as

Matthew

num-

bered one traitor and eleven cowards.

380

What women
execution?

followed Jesus and witnessed his

Matthew and Mark

xxvii, 55
;

Women
of

of Galilee (Matt.

Mark

xv, 40, 41).

Luke

''Daughters
of

Jerusalem,"

that

is,

women

Judea

(xxiii, 28).

381

Where were Mary Magdalene and her companions during the crucifixion?

Matthew and Mark: "L^ooking on afar off" (Mark xv, 40; Matt, xxvii, 55, 56). They ''stood by the cross" (xix, 25). John
:

Was

382 Mary, the mother of Jesus, present? She was (xix, 25). John Synoptics She was not.
:
:

The Synoptics do
was absent, but
firms,
is
it if

not expressly state that she

she was present, as John

af-

possible that they would ignore the

The
fact

Crucifixion of Christ.
''the strolling

273

when they mention

Magdalene"

no

less

than seven times?

383 stood by the cross with the mother of Je-

Who
sus?

John
his

"Now

there stood by the cross of Jesus

sister,

mother, and his mother's

Mary, the

wife of Cleophas" (xix, 25).

Mary must have been a very popular name to be given to two daughters of the same family. It is not probable that these sisters were both named
Mary.
her

John never mentions the name

it is

of Jesus'

mother, and
Christians

evident that he did not suppose

the only Gospel,
the
in

name was Mary. Were John

would be ignorant

of

Virgin's

name. Mariolatry did not originate hannine church.

384

the Jo-

To whom was
mother?

entrusted the

care

of

Jesus'

John

and the

disciple

''When Jesus therefore saw his mother, standing by whom he loved

[John], he saith unto his mother, Woman, behold thy son! Then saith he to the disciple. Behold thy mother! And from that hour that disciple

took her unto

his

own house"

(xix, 26, 27).

"The teacher who had been

son to the mother
Dictionary.

to

him as a brother

leaves to him| a brother's duty.

He

is

to be as a

who

is

left

desolate."

Bible
this

Very touchingly expressed.

But why was

274

The

Christ.

(the Less)

duty imposed upon John when the Apostle James was a brother of Jesus and a son of

Was he a worthless ingrate, unable and unwilHng to care for her? And what of Joses, and Juda, and Simon, and her daughters who remained at home? Had they turned their mother
out of doors?

Mary?

38s In whose sepulcher was

placed ?

the

body

of

Jesus

Matthew: Joseph "laid it in his own new tomb which he had hewn out in the rock" (xxvii, 60). "Now in the place where he was cruciJohn fied there was a garden and in the garden a new sepulcher, wherein was never man yet laid. There laid they Jesus therefore because of the Jew's preparation day for the sepulcher was nigh at hand" (xix, 41, 42).
: ; ;

from John that the sepulcher did it was one which happened to be convenient to the place of crucifixion for, as Strauss justly argues "The viciniIt is evident

not belong to Joseph, but that

ty of the grave,

when

alleged as a motive, ex-

cludes the fact of possession."

Was

his

body embalmed when

it

was

laid in the

sepulcher?
It was. '^He [Joseph] came therefore, John and took the body of Jesus. And there came also Nicodcmus, which at the first came to Jesus by
:

night,

and brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes,

The

Crucifixion of Christ.

275

about an hundred pound weight. Then took they the body of Jesus, and wound it in Hnen clothes
with the spices, as the manner of the Jews
is

to

bury"

(xix, 38-40).
:

was not embalmed. 'The women also, which came with him from Galilee, followed after, and beheld the sepulcher, and how And they returned, and prehis body was laid. pared spices and ointments" (Luke xxiii, 55, 56) intending to embalm it ''when the Sabbath was

Mark and Luke

It

past" (Mark xvi,

i).

387

What

is

said in regard to

wrapping the body of

linen,

Jesus by Joseph?

Mark:

"He bought
is

fine

and took him

down, and wrapped him

This statement
of the

in the linen" (xv, 46).

rejected by critics.

A member

Sanhedrim would not desecrate the Passover by making a purchase on it.

3^
What was
the

amount

of the material

used in

embalming Jesus?
John: A hundred pounds (xix, 39). This was sufficient to embalm a dozen bodies. Yet after seeing his body literally buried in the material, the women, we are told, procured more.

When
Luke:

did the

women

389 procure materials for emspices

balming Jesus ?

"They returned, and prepared

2/6

The

Christ.

and ointments; and rested the

(xxiii, 56).

Sabbath

Day"

past,

Mark (New Ver.) ''And when the Sabbath was Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of
:

James, and Salome, bought spices that they might come and anoint him" (xvi, i).

According to I^uke they prepared the spices is, before the end Mark, they did not of the sixth day according to procure them until ''the Sabbath was past," that
before the Sabbath began, that
;

is,

not until the beginning of the

first

day.

390

When
.
.

did they

Mark and Luke

the
xxiv,
it

first
i).

go to embalm the body? "When the Sabbath was day of the week" (Mark xvi,
:

past,
i,

2;

Luke
Is

reasonable to suppose that in that warm spring climate (Dr. Geikie speaks of the fierce

heat that prevailed at the time), they would let a wounded body lie two days, until decomposition

had commenced, and then attempt to embalm

it?

When
All:

391 was the sepulcher closed?

When

the body was placed in

xv, 46;

it

(Matt,
I,

xxvii, 60;

Mark

Luke

xxiii, 53, xxiv,

2; John xix, 41, 42, XX, i). According to the Evangelists, the stone was
rolled to the door of the sepulcher as soon as the body was deposited, and according to Mark and Luke, the women were troubled as to who should

The
roll

Crucifixion of Christ.

1277
to

away

the stone

when they went

embalm

the body.

In sepulture of this kind, the

closed until the third day, and
it

tomb was not when once closed

was not to be opened. This deviation from the customary mode is evidently for the purpose of
of escape or re-

establishing faith in the doctrine of the resurrection, by shutting of? all means moval without supernatural aid.

The Evangelists

are particular to state that Joseph ''rolled a great stone to the door."

In a single paragraph, Scribner's "Bible Dictionary" concedes no less than seven Synoptical errors regarding the trial, crucifixion and burial of
Jesus
:

"The Synoptists make the Sanhedrim say

will

beforehand that they

feast day,'
;

not arrest Jesus 'on the

and then actually arrest him on that day that not only the guards, but one of the disciples carries arms, which on the feast day was not allowed; that the trial was also held on the feast day, which would be unlawful; that the feast day would not be called 'Preparation'; that
the phrase "^coming from the
field'

(Mk. xv, 21)

means properly 'coming from work'; that Joseph of Arimathea is represented as buying a linen cloth (Mk. XV, 46), and the women as preparing
spices and ointments (Lk. xxiii, 56), all of which would be contrary to law and custom."

392 In what year was Jesus crucified?

Not one

of the Evangelists

knows.

They agree

278
that he

The
was

Christ.

crucified during the time that Pontius procurator of Judea, and Joseph CaiaPilate was

phas was high priest of the Jews. But this, so far as Matthew, Mark and John are concerned, may have been any time from 26 to 36 A. D. Luke, while he does not state the particular year, nor furnish data for determining it, is more definite. He says that Jesus began his ministry
in

"the fifteenth year of the

reign

of

Tiberius Tiberius

Caesar/' and his narrative clearly implies that he

was

crucified at the following Passover.

his

commenced

reign in August, 14 A. D.
reign, then,

The

fifteenth year of his

extended from

began

August, 28 A. D., to August, 29 A. D. If Jesus his ministry during the first months of this
year, he

might have been crucified as early as the But it is generally conceded that the time which this would allow for his ministry was far too brief, and that he could not have been crucified before 30 A. D. The Christian Fathers who, for the most part, accepted the tradition of Luke and affirmed that his ministry lasted but one year, or less, held that
spring of 29.
the crucifixion occurred in 29 A. D.
Scribner's "Bible Dictionary" gives preference
to 29 A. D.

Cuthbert Hamilton Turner, M.A.,

Oxford, the

New

Testament chronologist of that

work, after a lengthy review of the subject, says "To sum up briefly, the separate results of five
lines- of

enquiry harmonize with one another beyond expectation, so that each in turn supplies

The

Crucifixion of Christ.

279

The nativity in B. C. y-6\ the age of our I^ord at the baptism, 30 years, more or less the baptism in A. D. 26 (26-27) the
fresh security for the rest.
; ;

duration of the ministry between two and three years the crucifixion in A. D. 29."
;

This authority states that his ministry lasted two or three years. It was necessary to do this
taking a year or more from John's ministry of Jesus and adding it to the one
year ministry of the Synoptics
or reject John.

By

by assuming that
more Passby
pretends to have
ministry lasted

the Synoptics omit to mention one or

overs, and that one of the Passovers mentioned

John was some other

of Christ's

feast

if

it

reconciled the discrepancy regarding the length

ministry.

But

his

two or three

years, as affirmed, he could not have

been crucified in 29 A. D. With orthodox commentators, a favorite method of reconciling Old Testament dates, as I have
noted
in

a previous work,

is

king, concerning the date of

to assume that a whose accession, or

length of reign, a discrepancy appears, reigned in

consort with his predecessor for a number

years sufficient to cover the discrepancy.

of
dis-

This

honest method of explanation

for

it

is

a dishon-

and hide from him an error has been employed to reconcile Luke and John. By assuming that Tiberius divided the government with Augustus for two
est trick, intended to deceive the reader

years preceding his accession to the throne, an

assumption for which there

is

no credible author!-

28o
ty,

The

Christ.

and that Luke accordingly

really

reckons

the

fif-

teenth year from 12 A. D., instead of 14 A. D.,

when he
still

became emperor,
in

it

is

possible to

give Jesus a ministry of two or three years and

have him crucified

difficulty

29 A. D.

irreconcilable
state that he

remains.

But another The Synoptics

on the Passover and on the day preceding the Sabbath, that is, on FriIf so, he could not have been crucified in day. 29 A. D., for the Passover did not fall on Friday

was

crucified

that year.

Dr. Farrar says

it

is

''highly probable that the

crucifixion took place at the passover of

March,

30 A. D."
Justice Bradley of the United States

Supreme
all

Court,

who made an
decided

exhaustive examination of

the evidence and arguments bearing on the ques-

30 A. D. He says "There were only three years from A. D. 27 to A. D. 36, inclusive, in which the ist of Nisan, and
tion,

in favor of

consequently the 15th of Nisan, happened on Friday, and these were A. D. 2y, 30 and 33, the last of

which

is

very doubtful.

But the

crucifixion could

not have happened before A. D. 28, and probably not later than A. D. 31.
is

Therefore the year 30

all

the only one which satisfies

. .

the conditions

of the problem. the 1st of Nisan

Now,

since in A. D. 30,

the 15th

fell

on Friday, the 24th of March, on Friday, the 7th of April, which

fell

was the day

of the crucifixion."

Dr. Farrar and Justice Bradley are agreed in

The

Crucifixion of Christ.

181

regard to the year of the crucifixion, but they are not agreed in regard to the calendar month in

which
in

it

occurred.

Dr. Farrar says

it

it

occurred

March; Justice Bradley says

occurred in
all

April.

Justice Bradley says that 30 A. D. satisfies

the conditions.

does satisfy the conditions of the Synoptics, but it does not satisfy the condiIt

tions of John, as claimed.

ditions of

To

satisfy the condi-

necessary to adopt the untenable hypothesis of 12 A. D. as the date of

John

it

is

Tiberius Caesar's accession.

isfies

the conditions of

But whatever satJohn must necessarily

conflict

with those of the Synoptics.

Christian scholars place the crucifixion in

Some
3li

in 32 A. D. But neither year can be harmonized with the Synoptics' statement that he was put to death on the Passover, or with

A. D., others

John's that he suffered on the day of Preparation.

Neither can they be harmonized with either the

Synoptics or John in regard to the duration of his
ministry.
It
is

probable that a

majority

of

Christian

scholars today believe that Jesus

33.

was

crucified in

Renan accepted

this date.

He

says

"Ac-

cording to the calculation we adopt, the death of

Jesus happened in the year 33 of our era. It could not, at all events, be either before the year 29, the

preaching of John and Jesus having commenced in the year 28, or after 35, since in the year 36,

82

The

Christ.
Pilate

and probably before the Passover, Kaiapha both lost their offices."

and

The adoption

of 33 allows for the four years'

it cannot be reconciled with the brief ministry ascribed to him by the Synoptics. As for Renan, who in the first edition of his ''J^sus" accepted the authen-

ministry ascribed to Jesus by John, but

ticity of

John, but subsequently rejected

it

and ac-

cepted only the Synoptics, he has no Evangelistic

Kuenen, Oort and Hooykaas, and many other Rationalists, give 35 A. D. the preference. To accept this year, hov^ever, it is necessary to reject the Passover crucifixion, and to assign to Jesus a much longer ministry than even John assigns. Of one hundred Christian authorities who attempt to name the year in which Christ was crucified,

authority for 33. The Dutch theologians,

twenty-three say 29, eighteen 30, nine 31,

seven 32, thirty-seven 33, and six 35 A. D. Thus it will be seen that not a year that can

be named can be harmonized with the accounts

of the crucifixion given in the four gospels.

The

result
in
is

is

that there

is

as great a lack of

agreement
Christians

regard to the time of Christ's death as there

in

regard to the time of his birth.

do not know when he was born, they do not know when he died, they cannot prove that he lived,

On what

393 day of the month was he crucified?

Synoptics:

On

the 15th of Nisan.

The
John
This
:

Crucifixion of Christ.

283

On

the 14th of Nisan.

is

discrepancy

conceded
:

by

Scribner's

'^Bible Dictionary."
''It is

It says

the Last Supper which the Synoptics apfix

by identifying it with the Passover. that on the morning of the 'first day of unleavened bread, when they sacrificed the passover' (Mk. xiv, 12), the disciples asked where the Passover was to be eaten. This would be on the morning of Nisan 14. In the evening, which from twihght onwards would belong to Nisan 15, would follow the Last Supper, and on the next afternoon (still, on the Jewish reckoning, Nisan 15) the crucifixion. St. John,
pear to

They say expressly

on the other hand, by a number

tions (John
xiii,
i,

of clear indica14,

xviii,

28, xix,

31) implies

that the Last Supper

of the

was eaten before the time regular Passover, and that the Lord sufof

fered

on the afternoon

Nisan

14,

about the time

of the slaying of the Paschal lamb.

left

We

are thus

with a conflict of testimony."

394
of the

On what day
Synoptics
:

week was he

crucified?

On

Friday.

John

On

Thursday.

that he was crucified on the day following the Preparation, that is, on the day of the Passover, and the day preceding the Sabbath. As the Jewish Sabbath fell on Saturday, he was, therefore, crucified on Friday. John repeatedly declares that his trial and cruel-

The Synoptics agree

284
fixlon occurred

The

Christ.

on "the preparation of the passFriday, as

crucified

over."

If

the Passover occurred on

the Synoptics state, he was

ceding day, or Thursday. It is though the claim is disputed, that the Synoptics are in error, that the Passover was never held on
Friday.

on the preclaimed by some,

395

On
occur?

what day

of

the feast did the crucifixion

Synoptics

On

the Passover.

John
It is

On

the day of Preparation.

expressly stated in the Synoptics that he

''Then

celebrated the Passover before his death.

came the day

over must be
saying,

of

unleavened bread, when the pass-

And he sent Peter and John, Go and prepare us the passover, that we And they made ready the passmay eat. over. And when the hour was come, he sat down, and the twelve apostles with him. And he said
killed.
.

unto them. With desire I have desired to eat

passover with you before
15; Matt, xxvi, 17-20;
I

this

suffer"
xiv,

(Luke
12-18).

xxii, 7-

Mark

The author
tl/

I^ast

Fourth Gospel declares that Supper was not the Paschal meal, and
of the
is,

that Jesus was crucified on the day preceding the

Passover, that

on the day of Preparation.

He

refers to the events connected with the Last

Supper as having taken place "before the passover"

(xiii,

i);

after supper,

when Jesus bade Judas do

quickly what he proposed to do, he states that

The

Crucifixion of Christ.

285

the disciples ''thought because Judas had the bag,

that Jesus had said unto him,

Buy

those things
(xiii,

that

we have need

of against the feast"

29)

he says, the Jews "themselves went not into the judgment hall, lest they might be deat the trial,
filed,

but that they might eat the passover"

(xviii,

28)

when
''It

crucified,

about to deliver him up to be he even goes out of the way to repeat

Pilate
is

that

was the preparation

is

of

the

passover"
other Bible
It repre-

(xix, 14).

This discrepancy
discrepancies, an

not, like

many

unintentional

error.

sents a conflict between

itive

two dogmas.

The prim-

ing this question,

church was rent with dissensions regardsome contending that Christ

15th.

it was During the second century the century in which our gospels appeared this controversy was especially bitter. According to John (i, 29, xix, 33, 36) Jesus was the Paschal Lamb, and as such, must be The slaying of slain on the day of Preparation. the lambs began at three o'clock in the afternoon, the hour at which Jesus is said to have

suffered on the 14th Nisan, others that

en the

expired.

The

Synoptics, on the other hand, in

order to enable him to partake of the Paschal meal and institute the Eucharist, which is a sur-

and perpetuation of the Passover, must prolong his existence until after this meal, and consequently his crucifixion cannot take place
vival
until the following day.
It

was impossible

for

2S6
him

The

Christ.

to be the Paschal Lamb and at the same time partake of the Paschal meal. This necesThe Fourth Gospel sarily produced a schism. written in support of the one side, the was

Synoptics in support of the other.

It
is

declared by the
of

most eminent fathers

accus-

of

the second

century that the Apostle John,

whom some
tomed

them had known, was

is to observe the Paschal meal. another argument against the Johannine author-

This

ship of the Fourth Gospel.

in

Referring to the Lord's Supper, as recorded John, the "Bible for Learners" says: "It was

not the Paschal meal. The Passover did not begin until the following evening; for he himself

who was

the true Paschal

of
all

made an end

sacrifices,

Lamb, and as such must be put to

death at the very day and hour ordained for the slaughter of the lamb not twenty-four

hours later as the Synoptic Gospels say" (Vol.

in, p.

684).

Admitting the discrepancy, but without determining which is correct, Smith's "Bible Dictionary" says: "The crowning application of the Paschal rites to the truths of which they were the shadowy promises appears to be that which is afforded by the fact that our Lord's death occurred during the festival. According to the
Divine purpose, the true Lamb of God was slain at nearly the same time as 'the Lord's Passover,* in obedience to the letter of the law."

The
It

Crucifixion of Christ.

287

that Jesus

was not "according to the Divine purpose" was slain at the Passover, but it was

according to a

human

invention that he

is

de-

clared to have been slain at this time.

These
the
is

attempts to connect the crucifixion with Passover afford the strongest proof that it myth.
396

What
Jesus?

ltd

to

the

arrest

and

crucifixion

of

His miracle of raising Lazarus from the learning of it the Jewish council met, and "from that day forth they took counsel together for to put him to death" (xi, 47, 53). This is more difficult to believe than the miracle itself. It is the most improbable statement ever penned the one that does most violence to human reason. The crudest savages on earth would not have slain nor even harmed a man who had proved himself the Conqueror and

John

dead.

On

King

of Death.

397

What

did Christ say during his ministry con-

cerning the cross?

"He that after me is

taketh not his cross, and followeth

not worthy of
will

me" (IMatthew
after me, let

x,

38;

Luke "Whosoever
(Mark
"If
viii,

xiv, 27).

come

him deny

himself, and take

34).

up

his cross,

and follow me"

any man

will

come

after me, let

him deny

?88
himself,

The
and take up
ix,

Christ.

his cross daily

and follow
have
been

me" (Luke

23).

These utterances
a

are alleged

to

n^.ade early in his ministry.

Now,

the cross as

Christian

adopted
Its

after,

symbol is supposed to have been and not until after, the crucifixion.
the

quoted sugSynopgests one of two that he tics put into the mouth of Jesus words
introduction in

passages

things: either that the

never uttered, or that the cross, as a religious symbol, was used before the crucifixion, in which case its adoption by the church is no proof of
the crucifixion.

398

books of the New Testament, the Four Gospels and the Acts of

The

so-called

historical

the Apostles, declare that Christ

Do

the remaining books of the

it?
first

New

was crucified. Testament

confirm
In the
crucified

four Pauline Epistles,

in

known

as

the genuine Epistles of Paul, the verb crucify-

appears

ten different texts, as fol-

lows

this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroy-

''Knowing

ed'*

(Romans

vi, 6).

"Is Christ divided?

Was

Paul

crucified

for

you?" (i Corinthians, i, 13.) "But we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumbling block, and unto the Greeks
foolishness " (23).

The
"For

Crucifixion of Christ.

289

among
(ii,

I determined not to know any thing you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified"

2).

"For had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory" (8). "For though he was crucified through weakness, yet he liveth

by the power

of

God"
ii,

(2

Corinthians
"I

xiii,

4).

am

crucified with Christ" (Galatians

20).

"O

foolish

Galatians,

who

hath

bewitched

you, that ye should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently set
forth, crucified

among you?"

(iii,

i.)

that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts" (v, 24).

"And they

"But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the
world"
(vi, 14).

Webster

defines this

word

as follows: "i.

To

put to death by nailing the hands and feet to a cross or gibbet, sometimes, anciently, by fastening a criminal to a tree with cords. 2. In scriptural language, to subdue; to mortify; to destroy the power or ruling influence
of.
3.

nail to a cross; to

To

reject

and despise.

4.

To vex

or tor-

ment."

The
which,

first,
it

is

only, denotes a physical crucifixion, claimed, Christ suffered. The word,

in

as used

by Paul,

most instances, clearly de-

notes a crucifying of the passions and carnal

290

The

Christ.

pleasures, and the exceptions, when taken in connection with Paul's well known teachings, and allowing for the probable corruption of the original text, do not confirm the Evangelistic

accounts of the crucifixion. Besides this it is admitted that Paul did not witness the crucifixion, and that these Epistles, even if authentic, were not written until nearly thirty years after it is
said to have occurred.

In the eighteen books which follow, the

crucify appears but twice and in Revelation (xi, 8).

word Hebrews (vi, 6) The word crucifixion

in

does not appear once in the Bible.

Concerning the books we have been considering in this criticism, Paine writes as follows: "Whether the fourteen epistles ascribed to Paul were written by him or not, is a matter of indifference; they are either argumentative or dogmatical and as the argument is defective and the dogmatical part is merely presumptive, And the same it signifies not who wrote them. may be said for the remaining parts of the Testament. It is not upon the Epistles, but upon
;

what

is

called the Gospel, contained in the four

books ascribed to Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, and upon the pretended prophecies, t.Iiat the theory of the church calling itself the ChrisThe Epistles are detian Church is founded. and must follow their fate; pendent upon those,
for
if

the story of Jesus Christ be fabulous,

all

The

Crucifixion of Christ,

291

reasoning founded upon it as a supposed truth must fall with it" (Age of Reason).

399

How

was Jesus Luke: He was but

old

at the time of his death?

little

more than

thirty

years old.

John: He was nearly fifty. In a controversy with the Jews, during his ministry, he said

"Your

father

Abraham

rejoiced to see

my

day:

and he saw, and was glad.

unto him.

Then
(viii,

Thou

art not yet fifty

Jews years old, and

said the
56,

hast thou seen

implies that

Abraham?" he was nearly

57.)

This

fifty at

this time.

Discussing the question of Jesus' age, St. Irenaeus, the most renowned of the early Christian Fathers, and the founder of the New Testa-

ment canon, who

lived in

the

century

immemeans

diately following Jesus, says

"He

[Christ]

came
say,

of himself

to save all through

all I

again to God infants and children, and boys, and youths, and old men. He therefore passed through every age becoming an infant for in;

who through him

are born

fants, thus

sanctifying infants

a child for chil-

dren, thus sanctifying those

who

are of this age,

being at the same time made to them an example of piety, righteousness and submission; a youth for youths, becoming an example to youths, and
thus sanctifying them for the
wise, he

So likemen, that he might be a perfect master for all; not merely

Lord.

was an

old

man

for old

292

The

Christ.
of the truth, but

as respects the setting forth

also as regards age;

at the same becoming an example to Then, at last, he came on to them likewise. death itself, that he might be the first born from the dead, that in all things he might have

sanctifying

time, the aged also, and

the pre-eminence; the

Prince of Life, existing

all"

before
sies,

all,

and going before

(Against Here-

Book iv, ch. xxii, sec. 4). Commenting on the passage quoted from John,
this,

Irenaeus says: "But besides Jews who thus disputed with

Christ, have
thing.

those

very

most

closely

Lord Jesus indicated the same

the
to them, 'Your

For when the Lord said

day, and he Abraham rejoiced to see saw it, and was glad;' they answered him, 'Thou
father
art not yet fifty years old
;

my

and hast thou seen

is

Abraham?'
plied to one

Now, such language

fittingly ap-

has already passed the age of forty, without having yet reached his fiftieth
year, yet
to 'one
is

who

not far from this latter period.

is

who

only thirty years old,

it

But would

unquestionably be said, 'Thou art not yet forty years old.' For those w(ho wished to convict him of falsehood, would certainly not extend the

number of his years far beyond they saw he had attained.

. . .

the age which

It is

altogether

unreasonable to suppose that they were mistaken by twenty years, when they wished to prove

him younger than the times

of

Abraham.

The
He
did not then

Crucifixion of Christ.

293

want much

of being fifty years

old" (Ibid. sec. 6). Nor did Irenaeus depend upon the Fourth He was the Gospel alone for his authority.

aged Polycarp, whom Chrishave been the companion of the Apostle John. Concerning the testimony of Polycarp and others, he writes "Those who were conversant in Asia with John, the disciple of the Lord, [testify] that John conveyed to them that information. And he (John) remained among them up to the times of Tragan. Some of them, moreover, saw not only John, but the other apostles also, and heard the same account from them, and bear testimony to the statement" (lb.,

companion

of the

tians claim to

sec. 5).

In regard to this
Irenaeus," as he
is

called,

testimony of the "divine Godfrey Higgins says

guilty of the oversight of

"The church has been

letting this

passage from Irenaeus escape. One of the earliest, most respected, and most quoted of its ancient bishops, saints and martyrs, tells us in distinct words that Jesus was not crucified under Herod and Pontius Pilate, but that he This he lived to be turned fifty years of age.
tells

us on the authority of his master,

St.

Poly-

carp, also a martyr,

who had
the old

it

from

St.

John
Asia"

himself, and from

all

people

of

(Anacalypsis).

Of

this

Waite,

in his

testimony and its consequences, Judge "History of Christianity" (pp. 329,

294
:

The

Christ.

330) says *^It must be remembered that Irenaeus had been a companion of Polycarp and others who had seen John, and that he was speaking of what had come to his personal knowledge from the elders in Asia. If, then, Irenaeus tells

the truth, the evidence in favor of the fact is almost overwhelming. If, on the other hand, he

would

deliberately

falsify

in

matter of this

importance, what is his testimony worth as to the origin of the four gospels? Against this evidence, we have only the silence of the gospels. But if the silence of the Synoptics is consistent

with a ministry of three or four years, why is not the further silence of all the gospels consistent with a ministry of twenty years? "How would such a theory affect the received

chronology concerning Christ? The date of the crucifixion at not later than A. D). 36, or when
Christ was, by
the

received

chronology,

forty

years old,

his governbe accepted as a historical fact that Christ was about fifty years old at this crucifixion, the date of his birth w^ould have to

by the fact, that Pontius Pilate was removed from

is

settled

in that year,

ment.

...

If,

then,

it

be set back at least ten years." Every line of these accounts of the
of fiction.

crucifixion of Christ bears the ineffaceable

There was no Christ

if

to

and stamp crucify, and

trial

Jesus of Nazareth, fied as claimed.

he existed, was not cruci-

For more than

fifteen centuries

an inoffensive,

The

Crucifixion of Christ.

295

industrious and moral people have been persecuted, robbed and butchered

by Christians, be-

cause their forefathers are said to have slain a mythical God.

Supposing that from the myth of Prometheus had sprung a popular religion, which, in its day,
had, like the religions of Osiris, Bacchus, Krishna and Christ, overspread the earth. Then thmk
of the devotees of this religion massacring the Hellenists because Zeus had crucified Prome-

long must our mythology, with all evils, rule and curse the world? How long must an innocent people suffer for an alleged crime that was never committed?
!

theus
its

How

attendant

CHAPTER
Cbe Resurrection
400

VII.
of

hrlsU

long did Jesus say he would remain the grave?

in

How

in

"For as Jonas was three days and three nights the whale's belly; so shall the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of
the earth"

(Matthew

xii,

40).

long did he remain in the grave? Synoptics: Being buried on Friday evening, and having risen on or before Sunday morning,

How

he was

in the grave, at the

most, but two nights

and one day.

What
rection?

401 occurred on the morning of the resurgreat

Matthew: "There was a

(xxviii, 2).

earthquake"
of this

The

other Evangelists

know nothing
it,

earthquake.

They not only omit

but their ac-

counts of the resurrection preclude the possibility of its occurrence.

402

Who
morning

were the

first

to visit the
1-96

tomb on the

of the resurrection?

The

Resurrection of Christ.
i).

297

John: ''Mary Magdalene" (xx,

Alary"
(xxviii,
i).

Matthew: "Mary Magdalene and

the

other

Mark: "Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome" (xvi, i, 2). Luke "Mary Magdalene, and Joanna, and Mary the mother of James, and other women"
:

(xxiv, i-io).

403

Who

was Salome?
of Zebedee, as appears
xxvii,
56,

"The wife
paring Matt,

from comxv,
40."

with

Mark

Smith's Bible Dictionary.

Matthew says
the
crucifixion

that the

women who

witnessed

were "Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James and Joses, and the mother of Zebedee's children." Mark says the women were "Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James the less and of Joses, and Salome." This is a discrepancy that can be reconciled only by supposing that the mother of Zebedee's children (James and John) was Salome. But the Gospel of the Egyptians, older than either Matthew or Mark, and accepted by early Christians as authentic, states that Salome was
a single

woman.
404

At what time in the morning did the women visit the tomb? Mark: "At the rising of the sun" (xvi, 2). John: "When it was yet dark" (xx, i).

29^
If

The
they came
''at

Christ.
rising of the

the

sun," or
it

''when the sun was risen"

yet dark.

(New

Ver.),

was not

When

405 does Matthew say they came?

first

it began to dawn week" (xxviii, i). day If they came "in the end of the Sabbath," and Jesus had already risen, then his resurrection took place, not on the first day of the week, as claimed, but on the seventh day. Matthew was a Jew; yet the author of this Gospel was seemingly ignorant of the Jewish method of computing time, according to which the Sabbath began and ended at sunset. He evidently supposed that the night preceding their visit to the tomb

"In the end of the Sabbath as

of the

toward the

belonged to the seventh day, whereas

to the first day.

it

belonged

406

Was
came? Luke

the

tomb open,

or

closed,

when they
rolled

"They found
:

the

stone
2).

away

from the sepulchre" (xxiv,

Matthew The tomb was closed. The stone was not rolled from the door until after they came (xxviii, i, 2).
This, in the opinion of

meaning

of

most Matthew's language.

407

critics,

is

the

Whom

did they meet at the

tomb?

Matthew: "The angel"

(xxviii, 2-5).

The Resurrection of

Christ.

299

Mark: "A young man" (xvi, 5). Luke: ''Two men" (xxiv, 4).
John:

"Two
these
it?

angels" (xx, 12).

408

Were

men

or angels in the sepulchre or

outside of

Matthew: Outside of it (xxviii, 2). Mark, Luke and John: Inside of it (Mark 5; Luke xxiv, 3, 4; John xx, 11, 12).
409

xvi,

Were

they sitting or standing?

(xxiv,
4).

John: Sitting (Matt, xxviii, 2; Mark xvi, i; John xx, 12). 410 What were the first words they spoke to the

Luke: Standing Matthew, Mark

and

women?
Matthew and Mark
xvi,
:

*'Be not affrighted"

5).

(Mark
the

6;
:

Matt, xxviii,

Luke
John:

*'Why seek ye the

5.)

living

among

dead?" (xxiv,

"Woman, why weepest thou?"

411

(xx, 13.)

sengers
xvi,

Did Mary Magdalene observe the divine meswhen she first came to the tomb?
Synoptics: She did
1-5;

(Matt, xxviii,
1-4).
2, 11, 12).

1-5;

Mark

Luke

xxiv,

John: She did not (xx, i, 412

V/^

became frightened

at the

messengers?

300

The Chi 1st.

as dead

Matthew: "The keepers did shake, and became men" (xxviii, 4). Mark and Luke: "They [the women] were affrighted" (]\Iark xvi, 5; Luke xxiv, 5).
413

What
Mark
:

did the

women
went

do when they became

out
quickly

frightened?

"They

and

fled"

(xvi, 8).

Luke: "They bowed down

earth" (xxiv, 5).

their faces to the

414

Did the women see Jesus? Matthew: They did. "As they went to tell his disciples, behold, Jesus met them" (xxviii, 9). Luke: They did not see him (xxiv).
415

Did the women tell the disciples what they had seen? Luke They "returned from the sepulchre, and
:

told

all

these things unto the eleven, and to

all

the rest" (xxiv, 9).

Mark: "Neither said they anything to man; for they were afraid" (xvi, 8). With these w^ords the Gospel of Mark
the

any
ends,

words that follow being an interpolation. In this appended passage Mary Magdalene is declared to have seen Jesus and informed them of
it,

but they "believed not."

416

How many

disciples visited the

tomb?

The

Resurrection of Christ.

301

Luke: But one, Peter (xxiv, 12). John: Two, Peter and John (xx, 3). 417 Who looked into the sepulchre and beheld the
linen clothes?

Luke: "Then arose Peter, and ran into the sepulchre; and stooping down, he beheld the
linen clothes" (xxiv, 12).

John:

''So

they ran both together; and the

other disciple [John] did outrun Peter, and came And he stooping down, first to the sepulchre.

and looking

in,

saw the

linen clothes" (xx, 4, 5).

418

Did Peter enter into the sepulchre? John He did. "Then cometh Simon Peter following him, and went into the sepulchre" (xx, 6). Luke: He did not. He looked into the sepul:

chre ''and departed"

State

(xxiv,

12).

all

419 of the appearances of Jesus mentioned

by the Evangelists.
Matthew.
1.

2.

To To

the

two Marys

(xxviii, 9).

the eleven in Galilee (17).

1.

2. 3.

Mark. Magdalene (xvi, 9). To Mary To two of his disciples (12). To the eleven at meat (14).
of Jesus

The appearances
are
all in

mentioned

in

Mark

the apochryphal supplement.

The Gos-

302

The

Christ.

pel of Mark proper does not record a single appearance of Jesus. Luke.
1.

To

Cleopas and his companion

(xxiv,

13-

31)2. 3.

To Simon (Peter) To the eleven and

(34).

others

(36).

John.
1.

2. 3. 4.

To Mary Magdalene (xx, 14-18). To ten (?) disciples (19-24). To the eleven (26-29). To Peter, John and others (xxi).
last

The

chapter of this Gospel which contains

the account of his fourth appearance, and

which
''be-

ascribes the authorship of the Gospel to the

loved disciple" (John), is a forgery. No two of the Evangelists agree.

No two

of

them are
pearance.

fully

agreed in regard to a single apEach not only omits the appearances

his narrative in near-

mentioned by the others, but

ly

every instance excludes them.

As Strauss

says,

"The designation
mination of time

of the locality in one excludes

the appearances narrated

in

by the

rest; the deter-

another leaves no space for

;

the narratives of his fellow-evangelists

the enu-

given without any regard events reported by his predecessors; lastly, to the among several appearances recounted by various

meration of a third

is

narrators, each claims to be the last, and yet has nothing in common with the others. Hence nothing but wilful blindness can prevent the

The

Resurrection of Ch/Ist.

303

perception that no one of the narrators presupposed what another records."

rection given

knew and

Referring to the different accounts of the resursays:

by the Evangelists, Dr. Westcott "They contain difficulties which it Is imof Gosepls, p. 329).

possible to explain with certainty" (Introduction

to

Study

Dr. Farrar

makes the following admission:

w^ill attentively read side by side the narratives of these appearances on the first day of the resurrection, will see that they have

''Any one

who

only been preserved for

us

in

general,

inter-

blended, and scattered notices, which, in strict exactness, render it impossible, without many arbitrary suppositions, to produce from
tain narrative of the order of events.

them

a cer-

lacunae, the compressions, the variations, the actual

differences, the subjectivity of the narrators as

The

affected by spiritual revelations, render

all

har-

monies at the best uncertain" (Life of Christ,

vol.
ii,

p. 432, note).

420
State the appearances mentioned by Paul.
1.

*'He w^as seen of Cephas."

2.
3.

"Then

of the twelve."
five

"After that, he was seen of above dred brethren at once."

4.
5.

hun-

"After that he was seen of James."

"Then of

all

the apostles."

6.

"And

last of all

he was seen of
first

me

also."

Paul says that his

appearance

was

to

304

The

Christ.

Peter. This contradicts all of the Evangelists. His next appearance, Paul declares, was to the But there were no twelve at this time; twelve. for Judas had deserted them and his successor had not been elected. Paul evidently knew nothing of the betrayal of Jesus by Judas. He says Jesus was seen by five hundred brethren at once.

The

Evangelists are

all

ignorant of this appear-

ance, while the author of Acts states that there

were but one hundred and twenty ''brethren" in all, and even this number is considered too large by critics. He says that he appeared to James, an appearance of which the Evangelists know
nothing.
of all the apostles.

After this he states that he was seen This is the only appearance

mentioned by Paul which can be reconciled with any of the Evangelists, and this cannot be reconciled with all of them. "Last of all he was seen of me also." Paul's belief in the resurrection was based solely upon Jesus' supposed appearance to him for the other Not until alleged appearances he had rejected. seen Jesus did he behe imagined that he had lieve that the disciples had seen him, and the appearance of Jesus to him, which occurred several years after the resurrection and ascension, is represented as an occurrence of exactly the same character as his appearances to the disciples. Paul's vision was clearly a delusion, and if so the other appearances, measured by Paul's criterion, were delusions also. The Rev. John W. Chad;

The

Resurrection of Christ.
:

305

wick truly says

tion
is

'Taul's witness to the resurrec-

the ruin of the argument."

421

To whom

did Jesus

first

appear?

Matthew: To Mary Magdalene and the other

Mary (xxviii, i, 9). Mark and John: To Mary Magdalene

(Mark xvi, 9; John xx, 14-18). Luke: To Cleopas and his companion
13-31)-

alone
(xxiv,

Paul:

To Cephas

(Peter)

(i

Cor. xv, 5).

422

Where was Mary Magdalene when

appeared to her?

Jesus

first

John: At the sepulchre (xx, 11-14). Matthew: On her way home from the
chre (xxviii,
8, 9).

sepul-

423

Did Mary know Jesus when he

to her?

first

appeared

Matthew: She did

John: ''She
(xx, 14).
. . .

(xxviii, 9).

knew

not that

it

was Jesus"

Was

424 permitted to touch him? she

Matthew: 'They [Mary Magdalene and her companion] came and held him by the feet"
(xxviii, 9).

John: "Jesus saith unto her, Touch

(xx, 17).

me

not"

3o6

The

Christ.

425

Where

did he appear to his disciples?

Matthew: In Galilee. Luke: In Jerusalem.

Matthew says
the other

that

Mary

visited the

when Mary Magdalene and tomb an angel ap-

peared to them and said: '*Go quickly, and tell he is risen from the dead; and, behold, he goeth before you into Galilee; there
his disciples that

shall ye see

him"

(xxviii,

7).

As they ran

to

convey this intelligence, Jesus himself met them and repeated the command: "Go tell my brethren that they go into Galilee, and there shall they
''Then the eleven disciples went see me" (10). away into Galilee, into a mountain where Jesus had appointed them. And when they saw him

they worshiped him"

(16, 17).

Luke
village

(xxiv,

13-35)

states that

on the day of

the resurrection Jesus journeyed to

Emmaus,

some

distance

Cleopas and his

from Jerusalem, with companion. They did not rec-

ognize him until after their arrival there,

the disciples.
self

when

they returned at once to Jerusalem and informed

''As they thus spake Jesus himstood in the midst of them" (36). He con-

versed with them for a time, after which "he led them out as far as to Bethany" where he

them and ascended to them go to Galilee, a three days journey from Jerusalem, as Matthew states, his command was "Tarry
took his
final

leave

of

heaven (38-51).

Instead of bidding

The

Resurrection of Christ.

307

ye in the city of Jerusalem, until ye be endued with power from on high," which, according to Acts (ii, 1-13), was not until the day of Penteseven weeks later. Matthew's narrative forbids the supposition of any meeting in Judea, while Luke's precludes the possibility of a meeting in Galilee. Regarding this discrepancy Dean Alford says: '*We must be content to walk by faith, and not by sight" (Greek Testament, p. 905).
cost,

426 from Jerusalem was Emmaus, where Jesus made his first appearance? Luke "Which was from Jerusalem about

How

far

threescore furlongs" (xxiv, 13). Threescore furlongs was seven and one-half

Roman, or about seven American miles. Emmaus of Judea was about twenty-five miles, or two hundred furlongs from Jerusalem. There was an Emmaus in Galilee, about seventy miles from Jerusalem. It is believed by some that the legend related to the latter place and was subsequently transferred by Luke to Judea.

How many

disciples

427 were present when

he

first appeared to them? Matthew and Luke: Elev'en (Matt, xxviii, 17; Luke xxiv, 33-36). John: But ten, Thomas being absent (xx,

16,

19-

24).

Paul: Twelve

(i

Cor. xv, 5).

3o8

The
effect

Christ.

428

had his presence when he first appeared to them? Luke: "They were terrified and affrighted"

What

(xxiv, 36, 37).

John "Then were the disciples saw the Lord" (xx, 20).
:

glad,

when they

429

How many

of the disciples doubted the reality

of his appearance?

Matthew: "Some doubted" (xxviii, 17). John: But one doubted Thomas (xx,

24, 25).

Were
rection?

they

all

430 finally convinced of his resur-

John: They were. Matthew: They were not.

431

When
that he
:

he appeared to them did they

know

as yet they knew not that he must John the dead" (xx, 9). rise from This cannot be reconciled with the Synoptics, who state that during his ministry he had acquainted them with it. "From that time forth began Jesus to shew unto his disciples how that he must go unto Jerusalem, and suffer many things of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised again the third day" (Matthew xvi, 21; Mark viii, 31; Luke ix, 22).

must "For

rise

from the dead?

The

Resurrection of Christ.
432

309

Paul says that the

last

appearance of Jesus

was

to him.

What

did his

companions do when

they saw the light which attended the appearance?

Acts
Paul

'The men which journeyed with him

(ix, 7).
all fallen to

stood speechless"
:

"We

were

the earth" (Acts

xxvi, 14).

433

Did Paul's companions see Jesus? Acts They did not. 'The men which journeyed with him stood speechless, hearing a voice,
:

but seeing no man" (ix, 7). This shows that Jesus' alleged appearance to Paul was an imaginary and not a real appearance.

434

The author
:

of Acts says that his

companions
. .

heard a voice. Is this true? Paul "They that were with

not the voice" (Acts
xxii, 9).

me

heard

435

Was
tion?

Jesus seen by

woman
:

after his resurrec-

Matthew, Mark and John He was. Luke and Paul He was not. According to Luke and Paul his most faithful followers were not honored by a visit from their Lord, but were neglected and ignored. The resur:

rection

prejudice

was not for woman. Nowhere is sex more conspicuous than in the accounts

3IO

The
Evangelist.

Christ.

of the resurrection written by Paul and the Pauline

To
is

ignore

the

testimony

of

Mary Magdalene

to ignore the

testimony of

the chief witness for the resurrection.

436
risen from the behooved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead" (Luke xxiv, "He was risen from the dead" (John xxi, 46).
:

From where did Jesus rise? All From the dead. "He is
xxviii, 7).

dead" (Matt,

"It

14)

According to the Evangelists Jesus rose, not from the grave not from the place where the bodies of the dead were deposited but from the lower world from the realm of the dead where the shades of the departed were supposed to repose. Regarding this Dr. Hooykaas says "Let us begin by considering what that word 'resurrection' really meant, whether applied to

Jesus or to others.
to pur

Later representations,
it

down

own

times, have regarded

as equivalent

to a rising

what

it

from the grave; but the question is, meant in the faith and preaching of the
had
risen.

Apostles, in the genuine, original, primitive tradition that Jesus

Now,
;

'resurrection'

shades to the

from the realm of on earth and Jesus too had left the underworld, but not, in this case, to return at once to life upon the earth, but to be taken up provisionally into heaven. Originally the resurrection and ascension of Jesus were
a return
life

means elsewhere

human

The
one.
It

Resurrection of Christ.
later

311

was only
of
his

that

the

conception

having paused upon earth, whether for a single day or for several weeks, on his journey from the abyss to the height. "We may, therefore, safely assert that if the friends of Jesus had thought as we do of the lot of those that die, they would never have so
sprang up

dreamed of their Master's resurrection For to the Christian belief of today it would be, so to speak, a matter of course that Jesus, like all good and noble souls and indeed above all others would go straight *to a
as

much

or ascension.

better world,' 'to heaven,' *to God,' at the instant

of his death
;

but

in the

conception of the Jews,

was impossible. Heaven was the abode of the Lord and his angels only; and if an Enoch or an Elijah had been caught up there alive, to dwell there for a time, it was certain that all who died, without exception, even the purest and most holy, must go down as shades into the realms of the dead in the bowels of the earth and thence, of course, they would not issue excepting by 'rising again And this is why we are never told that Jesus
including the Apostles, this

'

rose 'from death,' far less 'from the grave,' but

always 'from the dead'

vol.
iii,

"

(Bible

for

Learners,

p. 463).

Was

437 he readily recognized by his friends? Matthew, Luke and John: He was not.
that

Matthew says

when

his disciples

met him

312
in

The

Christ.

Galilee, after

having gone there for the exthat

press purpose of meeting him, ''some doubted"

(xxviii, 17).

Luke says

two

of his friends

journeyed with him from Jerusalem to Emmaus, conversing with him on the w^ay, and notwithstanding they had been informed of his resur-

him until after John says that Magdalene met him she "knew not when Mary supposing him to be the that it was Jesus, gardener" (xx, 14, 15) and when he met his disciples at the Lake of Tiberius they ''knew not that it was Jesus" (xxi, 4).
rection, they

did not recognize

they had reached the village.

Did

his

438 appearances indicate a corporeal,

declare that he

or

merely a spiritual existence?

The Evangelists
seen by

was not only

his disciples

and others, but that he con-

versed

Matthew says the two Marys held him by the feet, Luke says he inwith
them.

vited the disciples to handle him, and

that

John says w^ounds while both Luke and John state that he partook of nourishment. On the other hand, Luke says that while he

Thomas examined

his

sat at

meat with Cleopas and

his

companion

at

vanished out of their sight" (xxiv, John says that while the disciples were as31). sembled in a room in Jerusalem, "when the doors

Emmaus "He

were shut,"
midst"
(xx,

Jesus
19).

came

"and

stood

in

the

Eight days

later the

appear-

The

Resurrection of Christ.

313

ance was repeated: 'Then came Jesus, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst" (26). Mark says that after he appeared to Mary Magdalene "he appeared in another form" to two of his disciples (xvi, 12).

While
reconciled

the

first

named appearances can be

spiritual

with

so-called

manifesta-

tions, the latter cannot be reconciled with a cor-

poreal existence.

In the preceding chapter

we have shown

that

the alleged crucifixion of Jesus is unworthy of If he was not crucified the story of his belief.
resurrection
is,

of course,

fiction.

But con-

ceding, for the sake of argument, that he was

crucified; does this
ble, or
is

make his resurrection probaeven possible? The crucifixion of a man

a possible occurrence; but the corporeal resurrection of a man who has suffered death is im-

These reputed appearances of Jesus, foundation, were eviif they have a historical apparidently mere subjective impressions or remained tions. Although he is declared to have earth forty days, he made, at the most, but on
possible.

two or three brief visits to ing and disappearing like

his disciples, appear-

a phantom.

Instead

the docof abiding with them, teaching them to his religion of which they professed trines of and preparing them for their combe ignorant keeping in seing ministry he is represented as aimlessly along the country or roaming
clusion,

highways,

like

some demented

creature.

Refer-

314

The
"The

Christ.

ring to his appearance to his disciples, Jerome

says

apostles supposed

him

to be a spirit,

or according to the Gospel which the Nazarenes

receive [the

Hebrew Gospel

of

Matthew] an

in-

corporeal demon."

The

possibility,

and even prevalency,

of appa-

ritions similar to those related of Jesus are rec-

ognized by every student of psychology. Sir Benjamin Brodie, in his "Psychological Inqui-

"There are abundant proofs be made in the brain by other causes simulating those which are mad^ on it by external objects through the medium of the organs of sense, thus producing false perceptions, which may, in the first instance, and before we have had time to reflect on the subject, be mistaken for realities." The appearance of Jesus to Mary Magdalene was not believed even by the disciples. If the
ries" (p. 78), says:

that impressions

may

disciples believed that

Mary was

deluded.

Is

it

unreasonable to believe that they were deluded also? Illusions are contagious and may afifect

many minds
of

as well as one.

the

highest
:

science, says

Dr. Carpenter, one English authorities on mental "If not only a single individual,
feeling, the
all

but several persons should be 'possessed' by one

and the same idea or

pretation

may

be

made by

of

same misinterthem and in

;

such a case the concurrence of their testimony does not add the least strength to it" (Principles of Mental Physiology, p. 208).

In confirma-

The
tion of this
is

Resurrection of Christ.
cited the following

315

from a work

on "The Philosophy of
Hibbert, F.R.S.E.
into
:

Apparitions,"
ship's

by

Dr.

"A whole
the

company

utmost "consternation by the apparition of a cook who had died a few He was distinctly seen walking days before. ahead of the ship, with a peculiar gait by which he was distinguished when alive, through having

was thrown

one of his legs shorter than the other. On steering the ship towards the object, it was found to be a piece of floating wreck." These supposed appearances of Jesus were, at the most, only apparitions, and "Apparitions," to quote Dr. Hibbert again, "are nothing more
than morbid symptoms, which are indicative of an intense excitement of the renovated feelings of the mind" (Philosophy of Apparitions, p.
375).

Lord Amberley advances a psychological explanation of the reputed appearances of Jesus from which I quote the following: "Whatever other qualities Jesus may have possessed or

lacked, there can be no question that he had one that of inspiring in others a strong attachment

to himself.

He had

in his brief career

surround-

ed himself with devoted disciples; and he was taken from their midst in the full bloom of his powers by a violent and early death. Now there are some who have been taught by the bitter experience of their lives
possible
it

how

difficult,

nay,

how

im-

is to realize in imagination the fact

3i6
that a beloved

The

Christ.

companion is in truth gone from them forever. We fondly conceive that in some way the dead must still exist and if so, can one, who was so tender before, listen to our cry of pain and refuse to come? Can one,
. . .

who
lives,

soothed us
of all

in

the lesser troubles of our

look on while

we
fail

are suffering the great-

It cannot to comfort? Imagination declines to picture the long future that lies before us. We cannot understand that we shall never again listen to the tones of

est

agony

and

be.

the familiar voice

never

feel

the touch of the

gentle hand; never be encouraged by the

warm

embrace that tells us we are loved, or find a refuge from miserable thoughts and the vexations of the world in the affectionate and ever-open
heart.

All this

is

too hard for us.

We

long for
it

resurrection;

we

should believe in
it

could;
feelings

we do

believe in

in

sleep,

if we when our

are free to roam at pleasure, unreby the chilling presence of the material world. In dreams the old life is repeated again and again. Sometimes the lost one is beside us as of old and we are quite untroubled by the Sometimes there is a thought of parting. strange and confusing consciousness that the
strained

been calamity has happened, or has thought to happen, but that now we are again together, and that a new life has succeeded upon death. Granting only a strong emotion and a lively phantasy, we may comprehend at
great
.
. .

The

Resurrection of Christ.

317

once how, in many lands, to the images of their dreams

the
visions
of
their

many mourners, may also become

waking hours" (Analysis

historian,

of Religious Belief, pp. 275, 276).

Renan says

'Tor the

the

life

of

Jesus finishes with his last sigh. But such was the impression he had left in the heart of his

and of a few devoted women, that during some weeks more it was as if he were living and consoling them. Had his body been taken away, or did enthusiasm, always credulous, create afterwards the group of narratives by which it was sought to establish faith in the resurrection? In the absence of opposing documents this can never be ascertained. Let us say, however, that the strong imagination of Mary Magdalene played an important part in the circumstance. Divine power of love! Sacred moments in which the passion of one possessed
disciples,

gave to the world a resuscitated God" (Life of

Jesus, p. 296).

439 Jesus appeared in a material body, was he naked, or clothed?

If

This
tion.

is

not a
is

vital,

but

it

is

a pertinent questo

It

stated that he

appeared

Mary

Magdalene immediately after the resurrection. Did he appear to her naked, or was he clothed? As she mistook him for the gardener, and as the gardener undoubtedly went clad, it may be presumed that Jesus was clad also. If so, where

3i8

The

Christ.

His own garments were divided among- the soldiers, and his grave clothes were left in the sepulchre. If it be assumed that he was taken from the tomb by his
did he procure his clothes?
friends, as

some

critics

believe,

the

difhculty

vanishes.

440

What
day

is

said of the saints

who

arose on the

of the crucifixion?
:

Matthew

They "came out

went

of the graves after

the resurrection, and

into

the holy city,

and appeared unto many" (xxvii, 53). Before Matthew's wholesale resurrection
insignificance.

of

the saints the resurrection of Jesus pales into

In the opinion of

many

super-

naturalists

Matthew has mixed too

large a dose

of the miraculous for even to swallow,

Christian

credulity

and they would gladly omit this Regarding this story Dr. Farrar portion of it. says ''An earthquake shook the earth and split the rocks, and as it rolled away from their places the great stones which closed and covered the cavern sepulchres of the Jews, so it seemed to the imaginations of many to have disimprisoned the spirits of the dead, and to have filled the air with ghostly visitants, who after Christ had risen appeared to linger in the Holy City" (Life
:

of Christ, vol.
it

p. 419). Dean Milman dismisses same way. Referring to the earthquake, he says "The same convulsion would displace the stones which covered the ancient
ii,

in

much

the

The

Resurrection of Christ.

tombs and lay open many of the innumerable rock-hewn sepulchres which perforated the hills on every side of the city, and expose the dead to public view. To the awe-struck and depressed minds of the followers of Jesus, no doubt, were
confined
spirits

these

visionary

appearances

of

the

of their

deceased brethren"
i,

(History oi

Christianity, vol.
If the

p. 336).

minds
that

of the disciples

were so greatly
beheld
the

affected

they

imagined

they

they had never met and of whom they had probably never heard for they were nearly a hundred miles

resurrected bodies of strangers

whom

from the graves of their

resurrected Master with

own kindred

is

it

strange that they should imagine they saw the

whom

they had daily

associated for months and perhaps years?

visitants"

To

characterize these resurrected saints as "ghostly

and "visionary appearances," and the

is

resurrected Christ as a real being,

a distincit.

tion without a scintilla of evidence to support

Both appearances, if they be historical, belong to the same class of mental phenomena; and are, indeed, the offspring of the same minds.

When

441 did the resurrection take place?

it?

All: In the night.

Who
All:

witnessed

No

one.

The author of "Supernatural Religion" says: "The remarkable fact is, therefore, absolutely

320

The

Christ.

undeniable, that there

ness
to

was

not,

and that

it is

not

even pretended that there was, a single eye-witthe

actual

Resurrection.

The empty

grave, coupled with the supposed subsequent ap-

pearances of Jesus, is the only evidence of the Resurrection" (p. 1004).

442
It
IS

said that a guard

tomb.

Why
:

Matthew came together unto

was stationed at the was this done? "The chief priests and Pharisees
Pilate,

saying, Sir,

we

re-

member
alive.

that that deceiver said while he

I

was yet

After three days

will rise again.

mand,
until

therefore, that the sepulchre be

the third day, lest his

Commade sure disciples come by

night,

and

steal
is

him away, and say unto the

from the dead"(xxvii, 62-64).

people,
Is
it

He

risen

not strange that his enemies should be cognizant of this when his disciples ''knew not
the scripture, that he must rise again from the dead?" (John xx, 9.) Regarding this the ^'Bible for Learners" says: "Was such a foolish report really circulated

among
is

the Jews? In any case this story, which worked out elaborately in the Gospel of Nico-

demus, is quite absurd. Is it likely that the enemies of Jesus would have heard a prophecy of his rising again when his very friends never dreamed of it for a moment, and when he had never once spoken of his 'resurrection' in public?"

(Vol.

iii,

p. 480.)

The

Resurrection of Christ.
443

321

day did the Sanhedrim visit Pilate for the purpose of obtaining a guard? Matthew: On the Sabbath (xxvii, 62). Matthew, after describing the death and burial of Jesug, says *'Now the next day, that followed the day of the preparation, the chief priests and
:

On what

Pharisees came together unto Pilate."

erally

It is

gen-

conceded by Christian commentators that by "the next day" Matthew refers to the Sabbath, for if Jesus was crucified and buried on Friday, no other day can be meant. To avoid the disagreeable consequences of such an admission a fevvT have contended that by "the day of
preparation"
Passover.
telligible.
is

meant the Preparation

this

of

the

But

By

renders the passage unin"preparation" Matthew means, not

the Preparation of the Passover, but the preparation of the Sabbath.

This

is

made

clear

by the

other Synoptics.
the crucifixion,
burial

After relating the events of

Mark begins his account of the with these words "And now when the even was come, because it was the preparation, that is, the day before the Sabbath" (xv, 42). Luke, after giving an account of the crucifixion and burial, says "And that day was the preparation and the Sabbath drew on" (xxiii, 54). It is claimed by the Evangelists that the Jewish priests of that period were such rigid observers of the Sabbath that they sought to put Jesus to death for simply healing the sick on that
:
:

^22
day.

The

Christ.

That the Sanhedrim desecrated the Sabespecially the Passover Sabbath, by visiting and transacting business with a heathen
bath, and
ruler cannot be accepted as possible.

444

When was

the guard placed at the

until the second night.

tomb?

Matthew: Not

It is argued that Jesus must have risen because a guard was placed at his tomb so that it

for his disciples to *'come by and steal him away." But had his body' really been left in the tomb, as claimed, they would have taken it the first night had they desired it. The passage cited from Matthew in the preceding criticism declares that a guard was not requested of Pilate until the day follownight,

was impossible

ing the crucifixion, so that the

out a guard the

tomb was withThe sepulchre was not opened and examined when the guard was
first night.

placed there on the following day.

"So they went and made the sepulchre ?ure, sealing the stone, and setting a watch'' (Matt, xxvii, 66). Had the seal been found unbroken at the end of three days it would not have i)roved that Jesus* body still remained in the tomb. It would merely have proved that the body had not been removed after the seal was placed on it. It may be urged that Jesus had prophesied that he would not rise until the third day, and that an earlier disappearance of the body could not be harmonized with a strict fulfillment of the

The
prophecy.

Resurrection of Christ.

323
disciples,

we have

seen,

But of this prophecy the were ignorant.

445

What

is

said in regard to the opening of the

tomb? Matthew: *'In the end of the Sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week, came Mary Magdalene and the other Mary to see the sepulchre. And behold there was a great earthquake; for the angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and came and rolled back the stone from the door, and sat upon it. And the angel answered and said unto the women, Fear not ye for I know that ye seek Jesus, which was crucified. He is not here: for he is risen, as he said. Come, see the place where the Lord
.

lay" (xxviii, 1-6).

Matthew's story of the guard was evidently

inserted for the express purpose of establishing

a belief in the resurrection by making

it

appear

impossible for his friends to have removed the

body from the sepulchre.

gests,
if it

Yet

this

story sug-

does not prove, the very thing that he attempts to prove impossible. The sepulchre

was opened in the presence of witnesses the guards and the women. Jesus did not emerge from it, nor did it contain his body. It was empty when opened. This renders probable, if not certain, one of two things either his body
:

was not deposited there, or fore the watch was set.

it

was removed

be-

524

The

Christ.

Commenting on the empty tomb L. K. Washburn says: "If Jesus got out of the grave alive, he was put into it alive. If he was put into it dead, he was taken out dead. A depopulated sepulchre is not proof that its former tenant has moved to heaven. It is merely proof that somebody has stolen a dead body."
446

when they left the tomb? Matthew: "Some of the watch came into the city, and showed unto the chief priests all the things that were done" (xxviii, 11).
did the guards do

What

To one acquainted with the Roman army this story of the

of the \vatch

discipline of the

soldiers leaving

their post thirty-six hours before the expiration

assigned and going into the city

and

telling the

Jews what had transpired

447

is

in-

credible.

What

did the chief priests do?

Matthew: "They gave large sums of money unto the soldiers, saying. Say ye, His disciples came by night, and stole him away while we
slept" (12, 13).

The penalty

for sleeping while

death, and no bribe could have induced the

on duty was them to

for oc-

declare that they were guilty of this offense even

if

priests

had promised
this

to

intercede
really

them.
fcHrred

Again, had
it

transaction

would have been known only by the

par-

The
ties

Resurrection of Christ.

325

concerned in it, and when disclosure meant punishment to both the bribe-givers and the bribe-takers, neither would have divulged the crime.
the
direst

Strauss, criticising the

alleged action

of the

Jewish priests, says: "Their conduct, when the guards returning from the grave apprised them
of the resurrection of Jesus,
is

truly impossible.

They

believe the assertion of the soldiers that

Jesus had arisen out of his grave in a miraculous manner. How could the council, many of whose

members were Sadducees, receive this as crediEven the Pharisees in the Sanhedrim, ble?
though they held
resurrection,
in

theory the possibility of a

not,

with the mean opinion they entertained of Jesus, be inclined to believe

would

in his resurrection, especially as the assertion in

the
real

mouth

of the guards

sounded

nist like a false-

hood invented
from the
peration
:

to screen a failure in duty.

The

Sanhedrists, on hearing such an assertion

soldiers,

You

lie
;

him

to be stolen

for this,

when

it

would have replied with exasyou have slept and allowed but you will have to pay dearly comes to be investigated by the
!

procurator.
in

But instead

of this, the Sanhedrists

our gospel speak them fair, and entreat them thus Tell a lie, say that you have slept and allowed him to be stolen moreover, they pay them richly for the falsehood, and promise to excul:

pate them to the procurator.

spoken entirely

This is evidently on the Christian presupposition

326

The

Christ.

of the reality of the resurrection of Jesus; a pre-

supposition, however, which

is

quite incorrectly

attributed to the Sanhedrim"

806, 807).

(Leben Jesu, pp.

448

What is said of the resurrection by Peter? "Him God raised up the third day, and showed
to all the people, but unto witchosen before of God, even to us, who did eat and drink with him after he rose from the dead" (Acts x, 40, 41). If God really wished to convince all the people why did he not show him to all the people? It is said that more than two millions of Jews attended the Passover. Had he desired to prove to them that Jesus was the Christ he would have assembled this multitude at midday and in their presence raised his crucified and buried Son. Yet not a single human being witnessed
nesses

him openly; not

the resurrection, and not a single disinterested

witness is said to have seen him after his death. Like a thief he escapes from his prison in the night and avoids publicity. This story of the
resurrection
the
is

clearly a priestly invention

of

and

composer

the

speech ascribed to Peter

was conscious

of the fact.

449

What

did Paul teach regarding the resurrec-

tion of Christ?

**That Christ should suffer and that he should

The
be the
If
first

Resurrection of Christ.
that

3^7

should

rise

from the dead"

(Acts xxvi, 23).

was the first to rise from the dead what becomes of the miracles of Lazarus, of the
Christ

and of the daughter of Jairus? What becomes of Matthew's saints who rose from the dead on the day of the crucifixion,

widow

of

Nain's

son,

two days before Christ rose?

450

What
"If the
(i

did Paul teach regarding the resurrec-

tion of the dead in general?

dead

rise not,

then

is

Christ not raised"

Corinthians xv, 16).

"He

that goeth

down
vii,

to the grave shall

9).

come

up no more" (Job

451

When
:

did

the

disciples

receive

the

Holy

Ghost? John "And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and saith unto them. Receive ye the Holy Ghost" (xx, 22). This was on the evening of the resurrection. Forty days after this he said to them "Ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence" (Acts i, 5). Acts: "And when the day of Pentecost was they were all filled with the fully come
: . .

Holy Ghost" (ii, 1-4)This was seven weeks

452

after the resurrection

On what

day

of the

week

did

it

occur?

328

The

Christ.

John: "The first clay of the week" (xx, 19). John, hke the author of the first Gospel, is evidently ignorant of the Jewish method of reckHe makes the evening (it was oning time. night) following the first day a part of that day
instead of the next day to which
it

belonged.

453

Did Thomas receive the Holy Ghost? John He did not. He was absent when the
:

disciples received

it

(xx, 19-25)..

454

AVho had Jesus

Ghost

said

would send
is

the

Holy

to his disciples?

'The Comforter which

the

Holy Ghost

whom

(John xiv, 26). send him unto you" (xvi, 7) 'T [Jesus] will
the

Father will send"

455

had the Holy Ghost upon them? Acts: They "began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance" (ii

What

effect

4)..

Concerning this "gift" Greg says "Ignorance and folly too often became the arbiters of wisdom and the ravings of delirium were listened If to as the words of inspiration, and of God. Jesus could have returned to earth thirty years the midst of an asafter his death, and sat in sembly of his followers, who were listening in hushed and wondering prostration of mind to a speaker in the 'unknown tongue,' how would he have wept over the humiliating and disappoint:

The
!

Resurrection of Christ.

329

ing spectacle how would he have grieved to think that the incoherent jargon of delirium or hysteria should be mistaken for the promptings
of his Father's spirit!"
p. 250.)

(Creed of Christendom,

456 heard them speak in new tongues? Acts: "Parthians, and Medes, and Elamites, and the dwellers in Mesopotamia, and in Judea, and Cappadocia, in Pontus, and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, in Egypt, and in the parts of Libya about Cyrene, and strangers of Rome, Jews and proselytes, Cretes and Arabians" (ii,

Who

9-11).

Did representatives

of

all

these nations really

was this mereassemble imaginary gathering of the writer? Evily an

to hear the disciples, or

dently the

latter.

457

To

the charge of drunkenness

what reply

did

Peter make?
ing
il,

"These are not drunken, as ye suppose, see(Acts it is but the third hour of the day"
15)-

profane mind, unacquainted with Jewish customs, might infer from this that the disciples

were not

in

the habit of

becoming intoxicated

before nine o'clock in the morning. 45S

What
ciples
?

inquiry

did Paul

make

of John's dis-

330

The

Christ.

"Have ye received the Holy Ghost since ye beHeved?"

What

did they say in reply?

have not so much as heard whether there be any Holy Ghost" (Acts xix, 2). This was many years after the death of Jesus.
or the story of John John was the forerunner of Christ, as claimed, his disciples became followers of Christ; and if they became followers of Christ they were acquainted with the doctrine of the Holy Ghost if it existed at this time.

"We

Either this colloquy

is false.

is false,

the Baptist

If

459

When

did Jesus' disciples begin to baptize? Matthew and Mark: Not until after his resur-

rection (Matt, xxviii, 18, 19;

Mark
and

xvi, 15, 16).

John At the beginning of these things came Jesus

:

his ministry. his

"After
disciples

into the land of Judea

and there he tarried with

22).

"The Pharisees had- heard that Jesus made and baptized more disciples than John. (Though Jesus himself bapthem, and baptized"
(iii,

tized not, but his disciples.)" (iv,

i,

2)

What

460 form of baptism

is

Jesus said to have

prescribed for the use of his apostles?

"In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost" (Alatthew xxviii, 19).

The

apostles did not baptize in the

name

of

the Father, and of the Son,

and of the

Holy

Ghost, but in the

name

of Christ alone.

The
"Then Peter

Resurrection of Christ.

331

said unto them, Repent, and be one of you in the name of Jesus baptized every Christ" (Acts ii, 38).

"They were baptized

Jesus"
(viii, 16).

in the

name

of the

Lord

"He commanded them to be baptized in the name of the Lord" (x, 48). "They were baptized in the name of the Lord
Jesus" (xix,
5).
:

Concerning this Greg says "That this definite form of baptism proceeded from Jesus, is opposed by the fact that such an allocation of the Father, Son, and Spirit, does not elsewhere appear, except as a form of salutation in the epistles while as a definite form of baptism it is nowhere met with throughout the New Testament. Moreover, it was not the form used, and could scarcely, therefore, have been the form commanded; for in the apostolic epistles, and even in the Acts,
;

the form always

or,

is

'baptizing into Christ Jesus,'

of the

'into the

name

Lord Jesus'

"

(Creed

of Christendom, p. 191). This ecclesiastical formula was not adopted by the church until late in the second century, and then, not for baptism, but for admission into the In regard to this the Rev. Dr. Hooychurch.

kaas says

"Baptism

into the

name

of

God

the

Father, Jesus Christ the Son of God, and the Holy Spirit, means baptism into the confession of or faith in these three, and is a short epitome of Christian doctrine of which Jesus certainly

332

The

Christ,
all
it

never dreamed; nay, it is obvious from counts that, even in the apostolic age,
as yet quite
;

ac-

was

unknown and the still later age drew up the words by no means intended which them as a baptismal formula, but rather as a
statement of the conditions of admission into the

community.

In making the utterance of these

words, instead of the imposition of these conditions, the first act of admission into the community of Christ, the Church has confounded

words with things" (Bible

pp. 472, 473).

for Learners, vol.

iii,

461

What was
"Go ye

his final
all

command
(Mark

to the apostles?

into

the world, and preach the gosxvi, 15).

pel to every creature"

This is utterly irreconcilable with Acts (xi, lEight years after the death of Jesus, Peter 18). preaching to the Gentiles. is condemned for "And the apostles and brethren that were in Judea heard that the Gentiles had also received And when Peter was come the word of God.
to Jerusalem, they that

were of the circumcision contended with him" (i, 2). How does he meet the accusation and justify his conduct? By reminding them that it was the express will of their Master? No; he tells them that while in a trance at Joppa he had a vision instructing him
to carry the gospel to the Gentiles.

"When

they

heard these things, they held their peace, and

glorified

God, saying, Then hath God also to

The

Resurrection of Christ.

333

the Gentiles granted repentance unto life" (i8).

How

462 long did Jesus remain on earth?

Luke: One day (xxiv). John: At least ten days (xx, xxi). Acts: He was "seen of them forty days" (i, 3). The greatest discrepancy is between Luke and Acts, two books which it is claimed were written

by the same author.

463

Where
33)-

did the ascension take place?

(xvi, 14,

Mark: In Jerusalem
Luke: At Bethany

com. Luke xxiv,

(xxiv, 50, 51).

(i,

Acts: At Mount Olivet 464

Describe the ascension.

9-12).

Luke "And it came to pass while he blessed them he was parted from them and carried up
:

into heaven" (xxiv, 51).

The ascension of Romulus doubtless suggested the story of the ascension of Jesus.
465 occurred at the ascension? Acts: "While they looked steadfastly toward heaven as he went up, behold, two men stood by

What

of Galilee,

white apparel which also said, Ye men why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye

them

in

have seen him go into heaven"

(i,

10, 11).

334

The

Christ.

It is remarkable that the EvangeHsts who find space to record the sayings of kinatics and devils,

have not room to record the words of angels,

or even note their presence.

466

For what purpose did Jesus ascend to heaven? "I go to prepare a place for you" (John xiv, 2).

What was the need of this when the place from the founhad already been ''prepared dation of the world" (Matthew xxv, 34) ?
.

467
into heaven? ascended to heaven in a body of flesh and blood (xxiv, 36-43, 50, 51). Paul: "But some man will say, How are the dead raised up? and with what body do they come? Thou fool, that which thou sowest is not quickened except it die and that which thou

Did Jesus ascend bodily

Luke

He

sowest thou sowest

be"
(i

not

that

body that
it

shall

"It

is

Corinthians xv, 35-37). sown a natural body;

is

raised

'spiritual

body.

there

is

a spiritual

There is body"

a natural body, and

(44).

"Now

this I say, brethren, that flesh

and blood

cannot inherit the Kingdom of God" (50). The whole theology of Paul is opposed to the bodily resurrection and ascension of Jesus. The **Bible tor Learners" says: 'Tn speaking of the
he [Paul] docs not mean the reanimation of the body of Jesus; and indeed he expressly excludes such a thouj^ht bv ascribing
resurrection,

The
made

Resurrection of Christ.

335
body not

to the Christ a glorified and spiritual

of flesh

and blood.

It

is

equally certain

that he thinks of the Christ as having appeared

ranking the appearance the product of his parallel with those own which preceded it [his appearances to the disciples], seems to indicate that they were all

from heaven
himself

and

his

to

unquestionably fervid imagination as

iii,

visions alike" (Vol.

p.

467).

468 Do all the Evangelists record the ascension? INIatthew and John, both of whom are declared to have been apostles, and the only Evangelists

who
sion,

are supposed to have witnessed the ascen-

know nothing
it

of

it.

The

last

of Mark,

is

admitted, are spurious

twelve verses while the

;

words, "carried up into heaven," of

sion of the

Luke do not

appear in the Sinaitic version, the oldest ver-

Testament extant. With this forged appendix to Mark and this interpolated passage in Luke eliminated, the Four Gospels contain no mention of the ascension.
469
,

New

Had any man

:

ever ascended to heaven before

Jesus? Jesus "No man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven" (John iii, 13).

Then
it?

that story about Elijah

is

a fiction,

is

In regard to the resurrection and ascension

Z2^

The

Christ.

Thomas Paine
of his

says: "As to the account given

it

resurrection and ascension,

was

the

His historians having brought him into the world in a supernatural manner, were obliged to take him out again in the same manner, or the first part of the story must have fallen to the ground. The v/retched contrivance with which this latter part is told exceeds every thing that went before it. The first part, that of the miraculous conception, was not a thing that admitted of publicity; and therefore the tellers of this part of the story had this advantage, that though they might not be But credited, they could not be detected. the resurrection of a dead person from the grave, and his ascension through the air, is a thing very different as to the evidence it admits of,
necessary counterpart of his birth.
.
.

to

the

invisible conception

of a

child

in

the

womb.

The

resurrection and ascension, suppos-

ing them to have taken place, admitted of public and ocular demonstration, like that of the ascension of a balloon, or the sun at noon-day, to A thing which everyall Jerusalem at least.

body

is

proof and evidence of

required to believe, requires that the it should be equal to all,

;

and universal

and as the public

visibility of this

last related act

was the only evidence

that could

give sanction to the former part, the whole of because that evidence it falls to the ground,

never was given.

...

It

is

in

vain

to

at-

tempt

to palliate or disguise this

matter.

The

The

Resurrection of Christ.

337

story, so far as relates to the supernatural part,

has every mark of fraud and imposition stamped

were the authors of to know, as it is for us to be assured that the books in which the account is related were written by the persons whose names they bear; the best surviving evidence we now have respecting this affair is the Jews. They are regularly descended from the
face of
it.

upon the
is

Who

it

as impossible for us

now

people
say,
it

who
is

lived in the times this resurrection

is

and ascension

said to have happened,

It

and they

not true.

has long appeared to

the Jew^s
It
I
is

me
a

a strange inconsistency to cite

as

proof of the truth of the story.

just the

same

as

if

man
I

w^ere to say,

will

prove the

truth of

what

people
10,

who

say

have told you by producing the it is false" (Age of Reason, pp.

11).

"The story of Jesus Christ appearing after he was dead is the story of an apparition, such
as

timid

imaginations

can

always

create

in

vision,

and credulity believe"

(Ibid, 161).
:

''Supernatural Religion" says

to an undefined belief

''The wdiole of
itself

the evidence for the Resurrection reduces

a notoriously

on the part of a few persuperstitious

age,

sons,

in

that

had died and been buried they had These visions, it is admitted, seen him alive. occurred at a time of the most intense religious excitement, and under circumstances of wholly The exceptional mental agitation and distress.
after Jesus

^3^
wildest
ental

The
alternations

Christ.
fear,

of

doubt,

hope and

indefinite expectation,

added their

effects to ori-

imaginations already excited by indigna-

tion at the fate of their Master,

and sorrow or

despair at such a dissipation of their ]\Icssianic

There was present every element of inand moral disturbance. Now must we ask again whether this bare and wholly seriously
dreams.
tellectual

unjustified belief can be accepted as satisfactory

evidence for so astounding

miracle

as

the

Resurrection?

Can

the belief of such men, in

such an age, establish the reality of a phenome-

non which
ence?

is

contradicted by universal experi-

have no evidence as to what actually occurred. We do not even know the facts upon which they based their inferences. We only know that they thought they had seen Jesus and that they, therefore, concluded that he had It comes to us as bare risen from the dead. belief from the Age of Miracles, unsupported by uncorroborated by evidence, unaccomfacts, panied by proof of investigation, and unprovided with material for examination. What is such belief worth? We have no hesitation in saying
that
it

We

is

absolutely worth nothing"

(pp.

1048,

1049).

The Rev. Dr. Phillip Schaff, one of the most eminent evangelical Christian scholars of this country, in his "History of the Christian Church," makes this candid admission regarding
the resurrection and ascension of Christ

The

Resurrection of Christ.

339

'Truth compels us to admit that there are serious difficulties in harmonizing- the accounts of the Evangelists, and in forming a consistent
conception of Christ's resurrection body hovering as
it

were between heaven and

earth,

and

supernatural state, of a body clothed with flesh and blood and bearing the wound prints, and
yet
so spiritual as to appear and disappear through closed doors and to ascend visibly to

heaven.'*

CHAPTER

VIII.

Character and Ceacbtnas*

470

was Jesus Christ? Mark He was the son of man. Matthew and Luke He was the Son John He was God himself. In the Four Gospels are presented
: : :

Who

of God.

three en-

tirely

different
is

conceptions of the

Christ.

In
par-

Mark he
ents

represented as the son of

human

the

thew

Messiah but simply a man. In Matand Luke we have the story of the

miraculous conception

he

is

represented as the
declared to be

Son

of God.

In John he

is

God

himself.

*Tn the

beginning

was

the

Word

[Christ],

and the

Word was
(i,

with God, and the

Word was God"

to

i).

According to Mark Christ is a man; according Matthew and Luke, a demi-god according to John, a God. Voltaire thus harmonizes these discordant con;

ceptions "The son of God is the same as the son of man; the son of man is the same as the son of God. God, the father, is the same as Christ, the son; Christ, the son, is the same as God, the father. This language may appear con:

840

Character and Teachings.

341

fused to unbelievers, but Christians will readily understand it." This is quite as intelligible as the Christian Confession of Faith, Article II of which reads

'The Son, which is the Word of the Father, begotten from everlasting of the Father, the very and eternal God, and of one substance
as follows
:

Avith the Father, took man's nature in the womb of the blessed Virgin, of her substance: so that

the

two whole and perfect Natures, that is to say, Godhead and Manhood, were joined together
is

in one Person, never to be divided, whereof one Christ, very God, and very Man."

"The
of the

theological Christ

is

human and

divine

man

the impossible union

with the

attri-

butes of God, and

God with
471

weaknesses of man."
Is

Ingersoll.
God

the limitations and

God
:

a visible Being?
'T have seen

Jacob

face to face" (Genesis

xxxii, 30).

John: "No
(i,

man

hath seen
472

God

at

any time"

18).

How many
:

Gods are

there?.

Mark: One. John Three.

teaches the doctrine of Unitarianism (Monotheism), or one God. John teaches, not the doctrine of Unitarianism or one God, nor yet
the doctrine of Trinitarianism or three

Mark

Gods

in

342

The

Christ.

one, but the doctrine of Tritheism or three dist'nct

Gods, separate

and
473

independent

of

each

other.

Is

the doctrine of the Trinity taught in the

Testament? "For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost and these three are one" (i John v, 7). This is the only passage in the New Testament which clearly teaches the doctrine of the Trinity, and this passage is admitted by all Christian scholars to be an interpolation.

New

When

the

ment was

first

modern version of the New Testapublished by Erasmus it was critiit

cised because

contained no text teaching the

Erasmus promised his manuscript could be found conThe taining such a text he would insert it. manuscript was "found," and the text quoted appeared in a later edition. Concerning this interdoctrine of the Trinity.
critics that
if

polation Sir Isaac Newton, in a letter to a friend, which was afterward published by Bishop Horsley, says: "When the adversaries of Erasmus had got the Trinity into his edition, they threw by their manuscript as an old almanac out of
date."

Jeflferson says

Alluding to the doctrine of the Trinity, Thomas "It is too late in the day for men
:

of sincerity to pretend they believe in the Pla-

tonic mysticism that three are one and one

is

Character and Teachings.

three,

343

and

yet, that the

. .

one

is

not three, and the

constitutes the

three

not one.

But

this

craft, the

power, and profits of the priests. Sweep

away their gossamer fabrics of fictitious religion, and they w^ould catch no more flies" (Jefferson's Works, vol. iv, p. 205, Randolph's ed.). Again Jefferson says 'The hocus-pocus phantasm of a God, like another Cerberus, with one body and three heads, had its birth and growth in the blood of thousands and thousands of mar:

tyrs" (Ibid,

p.

360).

474

Was
John
(iii,

Christ the only begotten Son of

:

God?

He was

''the

only begotten Son of God"

18).
;

"There were giants in the earth in those days and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bare children unto them" (Genesis vi, 4).
475

By what agency and when was

gotten?

the Christ beat the

Matthew and Luke By

:

the

Holy Ghost

time of his conception by the Virgin Mary.

According

to Justin the

Holy Ghost begat

at his baptism.
:

the

Christ, not at the conception of Jesus, as claimed

by these Evangelists, but

his

At

baptism the voice from heaven said "Thou art my son; this day have I begotten thee' (Dialogues 88).

The

correctness of Justin's statement

is

cor-

344
roborated by
said

'^^^ Christ.

himself to be

Hebrews "Christ glorified not made an high priest but he that unto him, Thou art my Son, today have I
:

begotten thee" (v, at his baptism.

5).

Christ's priesthood

began

476

Of what gender is the Holy Ghost? Matthew (Greek Ver.) Masculine gender. Matthew (Hebrew Ver.) Feminine gender. The Holy Ghost (Spirit), as was noted in a previous chapter, was with the Greeks of mascu: :

line

gender, with the Jews of feminine gender.

The Gospel According to the Hebrews, which, it is claimed, was the original Gospel of Matthew, represented Jesus as saying, "Just now my mother, the Holy Ghost, laid hold on me." If the Holy Ghost was the mother of Jesus did
he have two mothers? According to our Greek version of Matthew, as well as that of Luke, he God, l.iad one mother and three reputed fathers

the

Holy Ghost, and Joseph.

477
it

was born of Mary. If him? so, If he was born of Mary she was his mother. 1. 2. She "being with child by the Holy Ghost," and Father, Son and Holy Ghost being one, she bore to him the relation of wife. and 3. God being the Father of all mankind, being one, she was his daughter. God and Christ
Christ,
is

affirmed,

what

relation did she bear to

4.

She being the daughter

of

God, and Christ

Character and Teachings.

being- the
sister.

345

Son

of

God, she was therefore his

of mother, wife, daughter

Consequently Mary bore to him the relation and sister.

478

greater portion of the Christian church affirms the perpetual virginity of Mary. It is

The

claimed that Jesus was her only child and that

the conception and birth of him did not destroy

her virginity.
ists?

Is this

confirmed by the Evangel-

It is not. Matthew and Mark say: ''Is not his mother called Mary? and his brethren, James and Joses, and Simon, and Judas? and his sisters,

are they not

all

with us?"
(viii,

(Matt,

xiii,

55,
(vii,

56;
3)

Mark

vi,

3).

Luke

19)

and John

both declare that he had brothers. To maintain this dogma it is affirmed that by "brethren and sisters" is meant cousins. Dr.
Farrar,

who

in regard

to this as

in

regard to

most disputed

points,

assumes a non-committal

or conciliatory attitude, concedes that "the natural supposition that, after the miraculous con-

ception of our Lord, Joseph and Mary lived together in the married state, and that James, and Joses, and Judas, and Simon, with daughters,

whose names are not recorded, were subsequently

born to them,"

is

"in accordance certainly with

the prima facie evidence of the Gospels"

of Christ, p. 51).

(Life

34^

The
did

Christ.

479
say was the father of Jesus? Luke When he remained behind in Jerusalem, and they found him in the temple, ''his mother said unto him, Son, why hast thou thus dealt with us? behold, thy father [Joseph] and I have
:

Who

Mary

sought thee sorrowing"

(ii,

48).

virgin was overshadowed by a spirit, and miraculously conceived and bore a child, requires more convincing proof than the dream of a credulous lover. We ouirht
believe
that
a Jewish
at
least

To

to

But we have
is

have the testimony of the mother. it not. She testifies that Joseph 480

his father.

What
paternity

did Jesus' neighbors say regarding his

?
:

Matthew
ter's

They

said, 'Ts not this the carpen(xiii,

[Joseph's]

son?"

55.)

Luke: "They
(iv,

said. Is not this Joseph's

son?"

22.)
:

John 'They said, Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph?" (vi, 42.) The Rev. Dr. Crapsey, of the Episcopal church, in his work on "Religion and Politics" (p. 289), makes this significant admission regarding the divine origin of Jesus: "The fact of his miraculous birth

was unknown
and unknown

to himself, to the

unknown

to

his mother,

whole Christian

community

of the first generations."

Jeflferson, in a letter to

Thomas

John Adams,

Character and Teachings.

347

wrote: 'The day will come when the mystical generation of Jesus, by the Supreme Being as his father, in the womb of a virgin, will be classed with the fable of the generation of Minerva in
the brain of Jupiter" (Jefferson
p. 365,

Works,

vol. iv,

Randolph's

ed.).

Who
Who
God
i,

481 did Peter declare him to be?

"Jesus of Nazareth, a (Acts ii, 22).

did Paul declare
is

man approved

of God'*

"There
arid
S)-

him to be? one God, and one mediator between men, the man Christ Jesus" (i Timothy

The

Christ of Peter and Paul

but a man a stowed divine

was not

a God,

man upon whom had been

gifts

but
is

be-

yet a man.

482

What

testimony

ascribed to Paul?
:

"Great is the mystery of godliness God was manifest in the flesh" (i Timothy iii, 16). This is a gross perversion of Scripture for the

purpose of making Paul a witness to Christ's divinity. Regarding this text and the Trinitarian
text inserted
his letter previously

"What

John, Sir Isaac Newton, in quoted from, says the Latins have done in this text (i
in
i

John V, 7) the Greeks have done to Paul (i Tim. iii, 16). They now read, 'Great is the mystery of godliness; God manifest in the flesh'; whereas all the churches for the first four or five

348

The

Christ.

hundred years, and the authors of all the ancient versions, Jerome as well as the rest, read, 'Great is the mystery of godliness, which was
manifest
it

in the flesh/

Our English

version
is

yet a

little

stronger. It reads, 'Great

:

the

makes mys"

tery of godliness

God was manifest in the Newton says *'If the In conclusion

:

flesh.'

ancient

churches, in debating and deciding the greatest mysteries of religion, knew nothing of these two texts, I understand not why we should be so

fond of them
Christ
is

now

the debate

is

over."

483 declared by the Christian creed to be "the very and eternal God." God, it is claimed, is omnipotent. Was Christ omnipotent?

"The Son can do nothing

V,

of himself"

(John

19)-

"I can of

mine own

self

do nothing" (30).

484
Christ omniscient? advent he says: "Of Referring to his second neither that day and hour knoweth no man,

God

is

omniscient.

Was

the Son"

(Mark

xiii,

32).

485

God
"I

is

omnipresent.

Was

Christ omnipresent?
that
I

am

glad for your sakes

was
:

not

there" (John xi, 15). "Ye shall seek me, and shall not find

me and

where I am, thither ye cannot come" (vii, 36). "And now I am no more in the world" (xvii,
II).

Character and Teachings.

486

349

God
ent?
''I

is

self-existent.

Was

Christ

self-exist-

live

''He liveth
thians

by the Father" (John vi, 57). by the power of God" (2 Corin487

xiii, 4).

Did Christ have a preexistence?

''Before

Abraham was,

am" (John

viii,

58).

According to the Synoptics with his life on earth.

488

his existence

began

wisdom? Was He "increased in wisdom" (ii, 52). Luke: was If he increased in wisdom his knowledge
he
infinite in

and limitation of knowledge attribute of an infinite God.

limited,

is

not an

Was he "Why callest

good

infinite in

489 goodness? thou me good?

is,

There
x,

is

none

but one, that

God" (Mark
490

18).

Was
"He
(Mark
fire"

he
that
xvi,

infinite

in

mercy?
not
shall

believeth
16).

be

damned"

"Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting

(Matthew xxv, 41)"Then began he to upbraid the cities wherem because most of his mighty works were done,
Chorazin they repented not: Woe unto thee, ... It shall be more thee, Bethsaida woe unto
!

350

The

Christ.

tolerable for Tyre and Sidon at the day of Judgment, than for you. And thou, Capernaum, which art exalted unto heaven, shalt be brought down
to hell"

(Matthew

xi,

20-23).

491

His resurrection

is

ment
self

in proof of his divinity.

adduced as the chief arguDid he raise him-

from the dead?

Peter:

He

did not.
.

God
. .

raised him.

''J^^us

Christ of Nazareth,

whom God

raised

from

the dead" (Acts

his

iv,

10).

If Christ, then, did

own

volition,

was

not rise from the dead by his resurrection any proof

of his divinity?

No more
492

than the resurrection

of Lazarus

was proof

of Lazarus's divinity.

His miraculous conception

other proof of his divinity.

is

adduced as anonly mi-

Is this the

raculous conception claimed

It
is

in the Bible?

not.

Isaac,
all

Samson, Samuel and John

the Baptist are

3; Judges

claimed to have been miraculously conceived (Genesis xviii, 10, 11; xxi, lxiii,

2,

3,

24;

Samuel

i,

9-1 1, 20;

Luke

i,

7-13).

493

His miracles, it is claimed, attest his divinity. Were he and his disciples the only ones who performed miracles? These alleged miracles were performed before the Old Testament abounds with them his time and they have been performed since his time.

Character and Teachings.

351

others in his own time performed by those who ignored and rewere performed by the disciples of jected him Satan himself (]\Iatthew vii, 22; xii, 2^ Mark ix,

They were performed by

were
38;

xiii,

22;

Luke

ix,

49).
:

"Supernatural Religion" says "The supposed miraculous evidence for the divine revelation, moreover, is without any special divine character, being avowedly common also to Satanic agency, but it is not original either in conception or details.

Similar miracles to those which are sup-

posed to attest it are reported long antecedent to the promulgation of Christianity, and continued A stream to be performed for centuries after it. of miraculous pretension, in fact, has flowed through all human history, deep and broad as it has passed through the darker ages, but dwindling down to a thread as it has entered days of enlightenment. The evidence was too hackneyed and commonplace to make any impression upon
those before

whom

the Christian miracles are said

to have been performed,

and

it

altogether failed
the revelation
selection of such

to convince the people to

whom
The
is

was primarily addressed.

evidence, for such a purpose,

much more
of

char-

acteristic of human weakness than power" (p. 699). Archbishop Trench says "Side by side with the miracles which serve for the furthering of the kingdom of God runs another line of wonders, the counter-workings of him who is ever the

divine

352

The

Christ.

This fact that the ape of the Most High. kingdom of Hes has its wonders no less than the kingdom of truth, is itself sufficient evidence
. . .

that miracles cannot be appealed to absolutely

and finally, in proof of the doctrine which the worker of them proclaims" (Miracles of Our
Lord,
p.

22).

miracles of Christ, like the miracles of Satan, existed only in the minds of his credulous and deluded followers.
*'Ye shall have miracles, aye, sound ones too, Seen, heard, attested, everything but true."

The

Thomas

Moore.

494 Prophecy is appealed to in support of his diIt is claimed that the writers of the Old vinity. Testament predicted his coming. Do such predictions exist?

In his work on "The Bible," as well as in a previous chapter of this work, the writer has shown that there is not a single passage in the

Old Testament
in the

that, in the original text, refers

remotest degree to Jesus Christ.

tory, like

Greg shows that much of Old Testament hisDeuteronomy, is presented in the form

of anticipatory narrative.

To

the Christian argu-

ment that the Messianic predictions, at least, were written long anterior to the time of Christ, he replies: "This is true, and the argument wouKI have all the force which is attributed to it, were
the objectors able to lay their fingers on a single

Character and Teachings.

353

Old Testament prediction clearly referring to Jesus Christ, intended by the utterers of it to character and relate to him, prefiguring his career, and manifestly fulfilled in his appearance on earth. This they cannot do. Most of the passages usually adduced as complying with these conditions, referred, and were clearly intended to refer, to eminent individuals in Israelitish

history

many
the

are

not prophecies at

all

the

Messiah,

anointed

deliverer, expected

by the Jews, hoped for and called for by their poets and prophets, was of a character so different, and a career so opposite, to those of the
meek, lowly, long-suffering Jesus, that the passages describing the one never could have been applied to the other, without a perversion of ingenuity, and a disloyal treatment of their obvious signification, which, if employed in any other field than that of theology, would have met with the prompt discredit and derision they^ deserve" (Creed of Christendom, pp. 135, 136).
495

His own prescience

divinity.

is

cited

in

proof of his

The
it

Romans,
called

is

destruction of the temple by the claimed, was a wonderful instance

of the fulfillment of prophecy.

But did

his so-

prophecy have reference to this event? No one can read this prophecy (Matthew xxiv, He 1-3) and then honestly contend that it did. clearly refers to his second coming and the end \)f the world when the temple, in common with

354
all

The

Christ.

sublunary things, shall be destroyed.

''Tell us,

In the

verse immediately following this prediction, his

disciples say
:

when

shall these things

be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?" But even if this so-called prophecy had referred to this event it is rendered nugatory by the fact that the book containing it was not composed until a hundred years after the destruction
of the temple.

496

When was

Christ's second

coming and the end

of terrestrial things to take place?

"There be some standing here that shall not till they see the Son of man coming in his kingdom" (Matthew xvi, 28). "This generation shall not pass away, till all be fulfilled" (Luke xxi, 32). Seventy-five generations have passed, and still the world rolls on, unmoved by Christ's and Mother Shipton's prophecies.
taste of death
"

497

Did the Apostles believe that the second coming of Christ and the end of the world were at band? Peter: "The end of all things is at hand" (i
Peter
iv,
:

7).

James "The coming of the nigh" (James v, 8). John "Ye have heard that
:

Lord

draweth
shall

antichrist

come, even now are

there

many

antichrists:

Character and Teachings.

^^^

whereby we know that it is the last time" (i John ii, i8). Paul: "For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God and the dead in Christ shall rise first; then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the
:

air" (i Thessalonians iv, i6, 17).

Renan, ever ready to

dictions

palliate or overlook the

errors of his hero, frankly admits that the pre-

concerning his second advent and the end of the world were a dismal failure. "It is evident, indeed," he says, "that such a doctrine, laken by itself in a literal manner, had no future. The world, in continuing to exist, caused it to crumble. One generation of man at the most was the limit of its endurance. The faith of the
is intelligible, but the second generation is no longer so. After the death of John, or of the last survivor, whoever he might be, of the group which had

first

Christian generation

faith of the

seen the master, the word of Jesus was convicted

of falsehood"

(Life of Jesus, pp. 203, 204).

To what
"Ye
Israel,
X, 23).

extent

was the gospel

to be

preached

before his second coming?

shall not
till

have gone
of

the

Son

man

over the cities of be come"' (Matthew

35^

The

Christ.

''The gospel must first be published nations" (IMark xiii, lo).

among

all

499

Did Jesus claim from the first?

John:

to be the Christ or

Messiah

did. Early in his ministry **The Samaria] saith unto him, I know that Messias cometh, which is called Christ: when he is come, he will tell us all things. Jesus saith unto her, I that speak unto thee am he" (iv,

He

Avoman

[of

25, 26).

Synoptics

He

did not announce his Messiah-

ship until late in his ministry.

500

Who
thew

where the
:

first to

recognize his divinity?

spirits

Synoptics
viii,

Devils and unclean

(Mativ,

28, 29;

Mark

iii,

1 1,

12;

Luke

41).

501

What
angels"

is

said of Jesus in a

Hebrews?
little

"Jesus,

who was made

9).

lower than the

(ii,

-"Being
(i,

made

so

much

better than the angels"

4).

502

What
God?

did he say respecting his identity with

"My "My

Father and I are one" (John x, 30). Father is greater than F' (xiv, 28).
503 did he attempt to establish his claims? also written in your law, that the testi-

How
"It
is

Character and Teachings.

^57

mony

of two men is true. I am one that bear witness of myself, and the Father that sent me beareth witness of me" (John viii, 17, 18). But if "I and my Father are one," how does
fulfill

that

the law?

504

What
his

did he say regarding the truthfulness of

testimony concerning himself? I bear record of myself, yet my record is true" (John viii, 14). "If I bear witness of myself, my witness is not true" (v. 31).

'Though

505

Did Jesus' neighbors believe in his divinity? Matthew: "When he was come into his own country," and to his own home, "He did not many mighty works there because of their unbelief" (xiii, 54, 58).

506

him? Mark: "And when his friends heard of it [his work], they went out to lay hold on him; for
his friends entertain of

W^hat opinion did

they said,

He

is

beside himself"

(iii,

21).

507 Did even his brothers believe, in him?

John

"Now

the Jews' feast of tabernacles

was

His brethren therefore said unto him, Depart hence, and go into Judea, that thy disciples 3.^io may see the w^orks that thou doest. For the"^ is no man that doeth any thing in secret, and he himself seeketh to be known openat hand.

2S^
iy.

The
If

Christ.

world.
1

thou do these things, shew thyself to the For neither did his brethren believe in

fatal to the claim of he was unable to convince his neie^hbors, his friends, or even his own famiiy Much its: of his divinity he was not divine. was he the "very God," as claimed. According to the Christian scheme, man by was lost. God desired to his disobedience fell Christ God manifest in the flesh save him.

im" (vii, 2-5). These three passages are

If

Christ's divinity.

came on earth
quired of
lieve

for this purpose.

What was

re-

man

to secure salvation?

Simply to be-

was the Christ. In order for what was necessary? That Jesus should convince him that he was divine. If he was all-powerful he could have done this; Did if he was all-just he would have done this.
that Jesus

him

to believe this

he do this?

His

own

race rejected him.

Dis-

belief in Christ's divinity disproves his divinity.

508

The

writings of the

New

duced as the evidences of

ters

Testament are adChrist's divinity and

the divine character of Christianity.

of

Do

the wriin-

the

New

Testament claim to be

spired?

With
ture
is

the possible exception of the author of

Revelation, they do not.

"scripture" of Paul

Paul says,

''All scrip-

given by inspiration of God.''

Testament.

But the was the scripture of the Old His words have no reference w'oJt

Character and Teachings.

ever to the writings of the
exist in his time.
If

359

New

which did not

the

infallible,

"If
itself

New Testament is not inspired and what follows? the New Testament is defective the church is in error, and must be given up as a de-

ception."
"It
is

Dr.

Tischendorf.

not a word too

much

to say that the

New

Testament abounds with

509

errors."

Dean

Alford.

Apocryphal Gospels which appeared in the early ages of the church? "Several histories of his [Christ's] life and doctrines, full of pious frauds and fabulous wonders, were composed by persons whose intentions perhaps were not bad, but whose writings discovered the greatest superstition and ignois

What

said of the

rance.

Nor was

this all;

productions appeared

which were imposed upon the world by fraudulent men, as the writings of the holy Apostles." Mosheim. Is the above less true of the books we are reviewing? Are not these writings "full of pious Do not these frauds and fabulous wonders"? writings display "the greatest superstition and ignorance"? Have not these writings been "imposed upon the world by fraudulent men, as the

writings of the holy (?) Apostles"? If some of these apocryphal Gospels had been accepted as canonical, and the canonical Gospels

360

The

Christ.

had been rejected as apocryphal, these canonical Gospels would appear as untruthful and foolish
to Christians as the apocryphal Gospels do.

510 Let us examine the religious teachings ascribed to Christ. For what purpose was his blood shed? "This is my blood of the New Testament which is shed for many" (Mark xiv, 24). "This cup is the New Testament in my blood, which is shed for you" (Luke xxii, 20). "This is my blood of the New Testament which is shed for many FOR REMISSION

THE

SINS" (Matthew xxvi, 28). The above is one of the most significant crepancies in the Bible. The Atonement is
chief doctrine connected with Christ

OF

dis-

the

and orthodox Christianity. The text quoted from Matthew is the only text in the Four Gospels which
clearly teaches this doctrine.

Two

other texts

(Matthew
port of
it,

John 29) are adduced in supMatbut do not clearly teach it.

XX, 28;
i,

Now

thew has falsely ascribed to Jesus the revelation of the Atonement, or Mark and Luke have either
ignorantly or intentionally omitted this
est of Christian doctrines.

great-

They contain no menby orthodox

tion of the

Atonement

as understood

Christians.

511

For whom did he say his blood was shed? "This is my blood of the New Testament,

Character and Teachings.

361

which

many [interpreted by the is shed for church to mean all mankind]" (Mark xiv, 24). ''This cup is the New Testament in my blood, which is shed for you [addressed to his disciples
alone]" (Luke xxii, 20).
512

Was
The

his blood really

shed?
a bloody death,

crucifixion

was not

and

aside from the self-confuted story of John about

blood and water flowing from his corpse, the Evangelists do not state that a drop of blood was
shed.

513
Christ,
it

is

Was
If

it

the

was both God and man. human, or the divine part of him
affirmed,

that suffered death?

only the human, this sacrifice was not an exIf

ceptional one, for thousands have died for their

fellow men.

the divine part

was

sacrificed

does

God

cease to exist?
called

His death
only the

is

514 an

infinite

sacrifice.

If

man

died can this be true?

it

The
mitted,

offering of a finite being,

must be ad-

would not constitute an

515

infinite sacrifice.

If

the

God was

crucified does he suffer end-

less

pain?
sacrifice

If not,

the
one.

then his suffering was not infinite, and in this case was not an infinite

362

The

Christ.

S16

God died, but subsequently rose from dead, was there not an interregnum when universe was without a ruler?
If If so,

the
the

then

it

must be conceded
is

that the exist-

ence of the universe

existence of God.

not dependent upon the

517

Are

all
I,

mankind
if

to be saved
lifted

*'And

be
to

by Christ? up from the earth,

xii,

will

draw

all

men

me" (John

32).

"IMany be called but few chosen" (Matthew

XX, 16).

What
ment?

518 does Paul affirm concerning the Atonesins

"Christ died for our

according

to

the

Old Testament, and according to the scriptures of the Old Testament, "Every man shall be put to death for
his*

scriptures" (i Corinthians xv, 3). By "scriptures" Paul means the

own

sins"

(Deuteronomy
all
is

xxiv, 16).

Like nearly

the doctrines ascribed to Christ,

in

the atonement

the highest degree unjust

to this

and absurd.

Referring
:

doctrine,

Lord
is

Byron says
justice.

"The The Son

the

basis of your religion

of

in-

God, the
is

pure,

the
for

imthe

maculate,
guilty.

innocent,

sacrificed

This proves his heroism, but no more does away with man's sin than a schoolboy's

Character and Teachings.

363

volunteering to be flogged for another would exculpate a dunce from negligence."

Greg

justlj charges Christians with ''holding

the strangely inconsistent doctrine that so just that he could not

let sin

God

is

go unpunished, yet so unjust that he could punish it in the person of the innocent." *'It is for orthodox dialectics," he says, "to explain how Divine Justice can be impugned by pardoning the guilty, and !" yet vindicated by punishing the innocent (Creed of Christendom, pp. 338, 339.)
519 claimed that the sacrifice of Jesus was necessary for our salvation. Through whom was this sacrifice secured? All Judas Iscariot procured it, and Pilate and
It
is
:

Jews offered it. Are not Christians, then, in condemning these men, ungrateful to their greatest benefactors? A
the

man
his

is

dangerously

ill.

The

druggist provides
it

a remedy, the physician administers

life.

and saves

When

restored does he

tude by praising the

tor?

show his gratidrug and damning the doc-

520 In permitting the crucifixion of Jesus, who committed the greater sin, Pilate or God? John "Jesus answered, Thou couldest have no
:

power

me, except it were given thee from above: therefore he [God] that delivered me unto thee hath the greater sin" (xix, 11).
at all against

364
Hon. Allan
L.

The
in

Christ.
in his

McDermott,

memorable

speech in Congress, the persecution of Jews by Christians, said: "If an omnipotent God orders anything done, the

1906, protesting against

human
ed.
If

instruments selected to carry out his or-

ders cannot be charged with the acts

command-

The

doctrine of repondeat superior applies.

what happened could have been prevented by Romans or by the Jews, then the New Testament is worthless. Let us assume that the Jews crucified Christ. Could they have done otherwise? Were they greater than God? According to the Bible, the crucifixion was arranged for by the Father. Why blame the Jews
the

or the

not

Romans or any other mortals? They did know what they were doing. The Roman
were crucifyinstru;

soldiers did not believe that they

ing the son of God crucifying God himself.

they did not

know they were

Ac-

Why

blame the

ments?

Why

persecute the descendants?

cording to the Synoptic Gospels and according to John, the arrangements for the crucifixion every detail were made by Almighty God,

and were known to Christ."

521

What was

the character of his death?

. . .

Homicide. *'Jesus of Nazareth, a man ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain" (Acts ii, 22, 23). Regicide. "The Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David" (Luke i,

Character and Teachings.

'This is the King of the Jews" "There they crucified him" (33).
32).

365
(xxiii, 38).

Deicide.

'The
"I

(John

i,

i).

Word [Christ] was God" and my Father are one" (x, 30).
him"
(xix,
18).

"They
I

crucified

Suicide.

"I
it

[Christ] again.

lay

might take
I

down my life, that No man taketh it from

(John
x,
17,

me, but
18).

lay

it

down

of myself"

522
did Jesus teach respecting the resurrection of the dead and the doctrine of immortality? "For the hour is coming in the which all that

What

are in the graves shall hear his voice, and shall

come

forth"

(John
life"

v,

28, 29).
;

"Search the scriptures

for in

them ye think ye
and
vanisheth

have eternal

(39).
is

"As the cloud

consumed

away, so he that come up no more." Job (vii, 9). "His breath goeth forth, he returneth to his earth; in that very day his thoughts perish."

goeth down

to the grave shall

Psalms (cxlvi, 4). "For that which befalleth the sons of men befalleth beasts. ... As one dieth, so dieth the other; yea, they have all one breath, so that man hath no preeminence over a beast." Bc-

clesiastes

(iii,

19).

523

His resurrection is accepted by Christians as a proof and type of man's resurrection and im-

3^6
mortality.

The
What was

Christ.

the nature of his resurrec-

tion?

According to all of the Evangelists it was merely a reanimation of his undecayed body. Other bodies supposedly dead have been revived, but neither these resuscitations nor the supposed reanimation of Jesus' corpse affords proof that bodies which ages ago crumbled into dust and whose particles subsequently entered into the composition of myriads of other bodies will be
reunited into the original beings.

And

as Jesus

almost immediately disappeared after his alleged resurrection and has never since been seen
this resurrection did not evince his
talit3%

own immor-

much

less that of

mankind

in general.

524

Did Christ descend

Peter:

into hell?
ii,

He

did (Acts
''his

31;

Peter

iii,

19).

Peter states that

soul

was not

left in hell,"

which necessitates the assumption of his having gone there. He also declares that after his death he-"went and preached unto the spirits in prison
[hell]."

The Confession
to be believed that

of Faith

Christ died for us, and

(Art. HI) says: "As was buried; so also is it he went down into hell."

For what purpose did Christ descend into hell and preach to its inhabitants? If it was to re-

deem them
to

his mission

was

fruitless

if it

was not

redeem them
Early

his mission

was

useless.

Christian

writers

almost

uniformly

Character and Teachings.

spelled the

367

of Christ, not "Christos" (the Chrestos was a but ''Chrestos." Pagan name given to the judge of Hades -- th^ lower world

name

Anointed),

What
and
Paul
:

cciUght regarding justihcation

jy

faith

justification

by works?
is
.

not justified by the works 0?: o the I'lw, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, no flesh be for by the works of the law shall "If righteousness justified" (Galatians ii, 16).

"A man

come by the law then Christ is dead in vain'^ 'To him that worketh not, but believeth (21) on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness" (Romans iv, 5)^

conclude that a man is justifiec. by faith without the deeds of the law" (iii, 28). James: "But wilt thou know, O vain man, that "Ye see. faith without works is dead?" (ii, 20). man is justified, and then, how that by works a
'Therefore,

we

not by faith only" (24), The church accepts the teachings of Paul and condemns or ignores the teachings of James, Martin Luther, in his "Table Talk," thus defines "He that the position of the Protestant church:
salvation, I says the gospel requires works for liar." "Every doer of say flat and plain he is a accursed, for the law and every moral worker is
his own righthe walketh in the presumption of believe enough in Christ eousness/ ^'if men only murder a tho^J.^ they can commit adultery and

368

The

Christ.

sand times a day without periling their salvation." Luther rejected and denounced the book of James because it teaches the efficacy of good works. The English ''Confession of Faith" affirms the following: "That we are justified by Faith only, is a most wholesome doctrine, and very full of ''Works done before the comfort" (Art. XI). grace of Christ, and the inspiration of the Spirit, are not pleasant to God/ forasmuch as they
spring not of faith in Jesus Christ.
rather, for that they are not
.

Yea

done as God hath

willed and

commanded them to be done, we doubt not but they have the nature of sin" (Art. XIII).
"Morality
tens
!

thou deadly bane, thousands thou hast slain! Vain is his hope, whose stay and trust is In moral mercy, truth and justice!

Thy

o'

"No
Abuse

stretch

a point to catch a plack;

a brother to his back;

Be

to the poor like onie

And

whunstane. baud their noses to the grunstane;

o'

Ply ev'ry art

legal thieving:

No

matter, stick to sound believing.

Wi

"Learn three-mile prayers, and half-mile graces, weel-spread loaves, and lang wry faces, Grunt up a solemn, lengthen'd groan, And damn a' parties but your own:

Character and Teachings.

I'll

369

warrant, then, ye're nae deceiver, steady, sturdy, staunch believer."

Robert

Burns.

What

526 does Christ teach regarding salvation?

''Whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die" (John xi, 26). *'He that believeth on him is not condemned;
but he that believeth not
(iii,

is

condemned already"

18).

''He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not on the Son
shall not see life" (36).

preposterous could have been made only in support of claims that were realized to be untenable. Credulity was appealed to because convincing evidence could not be adClaims which reason rejects are maniduced.

demand

so

only by a renunciation of reason that they can be accepted as true. The absurdity of this requirement of Christ is is thus exposed by the poet Shelley: "This
festly false,

and

it

is

the pivot

upon which

all

religions turn

they

all

assume that
to believe:

it is in our power whereas the mind can only believe

it

to believe or not

that which

thinks true.

A human

being can

only be supposed

accountable for those actions

which are influenced by his will. But belief is utterly distinct from and unconnected with volior tion: it is the apprehension of the agreement that compose any propdisagreement of the ideas

370
osition.

The
Belief
is

Christ.

a passion or involuntary operalike

tion of the

mind, and,
Volition

other passions,

its

intensity

is

precisely proportionate to the degree

is

of excitement.

essential to merit or

demerit.

But the Christian

religion attaches the

highest possible degree of merit and demerit to

that which
totally
is worthy of neither, and which is unconnected with the peculiar faculty of
is

the

mind whose presence

527

essential

to

their

being" (Notes to Queen Mab).

Did Christ abrogate the Mosaic law? "Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law" (Matthew V, 18). "The law and the prophets were until John;
since that time the

Kingdom

of

God

is

preached"

(Luke
;us

xvi, 16).
:

Paul "The law was our schoolmaster to bring unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith. But after that faith is come we are no longer under a schoolmaster" (Galatians iii, 24, "But now we are delivered from the law" 25).

(Romans

vii,

6).

"Christ certainly did

and the prophets."

Henry

come

to destroy the law

Ward

Beecher.

What
sin?

is

528 taught regarding the forgiveness of

is

"He [God]
^i

faithful

and just to forgive sins"

John

i,

9).

Character and Teachings.

371
for-

"The Son
''Today
full

of

man
ii,

hath power on earth to

10).

give sins" (^lark

I offer

you the pardon

I

of the gospel

do not care what your crime has been. Though you say you have committed a crime against God, against your own soul, against your fellow-man, against your family, against the day of judgment, against the cross of Christ whatever your crime has been, here is pardon, full pardon, and the very moment you take that pardon your heavenly Father throws his arms about you and says 'My son,
pardon, free pardon.

I forgive

you.

It is all right.

You

are as

much
"

in

Dr.

my

favor

now

as

if

you never had

sinned.'

Talmage. This doctrine of forgiveness, of sin is mium on crime. "Forgive us our sins" "Let us continue in our iniquity." It is the most pernicious of doctrines, and one

a pre-

means
one of
of the

most

fruitful sources of immorality.

It

has been

making Christian nations the most immoral of nations. In teaching this doctrine Christ committed a sin for which his death did not atone, and which can never be forgiven. There is no forgiveness of sin. Every cause has its effect; every sinner must suffer the consethe chief cause of

quences of his

sins.

What
"He

is

529 taught regarding future rewards and

is

punishments?
that believeth and

baptized shall be

372

The
xvi, i6).

Christ.

saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned"

(Mark

These words, while appearing in the unauthentic appendix to Mark, yet express clearly the alleged teachings of Jesus. Above all they have formed the key note of orthodox Christianity
in all

ages of the church.

lines of this

Between the
the

passage the eye of

mind discerns in large capitals the word FRAUD. These words are the words of an impostor. Had Jesus been divine he would
unfettered

not have been compelled to resort to bribes and

Had he even been a sincere man he would not have desired converts on such terms. These words are either the utterance of a false Messiah, conscious of his impotency, or the invention of priests who intended them to frighten the ignorajit and credulous into an acceptance of their faith. Concerning this teaching Col. Ingersoll says: "Redden your hands with human blood; blast
threats to secure the world's adherence.

by slander the
ceive, ruin,

fair

fame

of the innocent
its

strangle
;

the smiling child upon

mother's knees

de-

and desert the beautiful girl who loves and trusts you, and your case is not hopeless. For all this, and for all these, you may be forgiven. For all this, and for all these, that bankrupt court established by the gospel will give you a discharge but deny the existence of these divine ghosts, of these gods, and the sweet and tearful face of Mercy becomes livid with
;

Character and Teachings.

373

eternal hate. Heaven's golden gates are shut, and you, with an infinite curse ringing in your ears,

with the brand of infamy upon your brow, commence your endless wanderings in the lurid gloom of hell an immortal vagrant, an eternal

outcast, a deathless convict."

"A gloomy heaven above opening its jealous gates to the nineteen-thousandth part of the tithe
of

mankind
its
!

panding
mortals
the

And below an inexorable Hell exleviathan jaws for the vast residue of O doctrine comfortable and healing to
!

weary wounded soul

of

man !"

Robert Burns.

530

Did he teach the doctrine ment?

of endless punish-

"And these shall go away into everlasting punishment" (Matthew xxv, 46). That is the most infamous passage in all literature. It is the language, not of an incarnate God, but of an incarnate devil. The being who gave utterance to those words deserves not the worship, but the execration of mankind. The priests who preach this doctrine of eternal pain are fiends. There is misery enough in this world without adding to it the mental anguish of this monstrous lie. Less than a hundred years ago, when Christ
was yet believed
to be divine,
in nearly

every

pulpit, to frighten timid

and confiding mothers,

the preachers

dimpled babes were consigned to the red flames

of this eternal hell.

Then came

374
of

T^^

Christ.

humanity the Ballous, the Channings, the Parkers and the Beechers preachers with hearts and brains, who sought to humanize this heavenly demon, to make of him a decent man, and civihze his fiendish priests. To these men is due

the debt of everlasting gratitude.

With

the re-

turn of every spring the emancipated of the race should build above their sacred dust a pyramid
of flowers.

Not by the

sects

known

as Universalists

and
the

Unitarians, small in
Christian sects,

numbers,

though

in

character of their adherents the greatest of the

tance of

must we estimate the importhe work of Ballou and Channing and

other Liberal ministers.

The

influence of their

teachings has permeated

every

Christian

sect,

and quickened every humane

conscience.

In the

minds

of all intelligent Christians, largely as the

result of their labors, this heartless

this cruel

demon and dogma are dead. In their creeds they They are ashamed of the dogma; still survive. They should abhor its author, they abhor it.
and banish both.

"What!

should

call

on that

Infinite

Love that

has served us so well?

Infinite cruelty rather, that

made

everlasting hell,
us,

Made

us,

foreknew
he will

us,

foredoom'd

and does
has

with his own what Better our dead brute mother who heard us groan."

never

Tennyson.

Character and Teachings.

531
Is
it

375

possible to

fall

from grace?

Peter: "If after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again en-

tangled therein, and overcome, the latter end is worse with them than the beginning" (2 Peter
ii,

20).

sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: and I give unto them eternal life and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand" (John

"My

X, 27, 28).

lieve

"There is no condemnation for them that beand are baptized." Confession of Faith,
532

Art. IX.

baptism essential to salvation? "He that believeth and is baptized shall be

Is

saved" (Mark xvi,

16).

"Except a man be born of the water and of

the Spirit, he cannot enter the

Kingdom
all

of

God"

(John

iii,

5).

"Go
tizing

ye, therefore,

and teach

nations, bap-,

them" (Matthew

xxviii, 19).

Was

of you, but

the penitent thief baptized? Paul says: "I thank God that I baptized none Crispus and Gains. ... For Christ

sent

me

not to baptize, but to preach the gosi,

pel" (i Corinthians

14.

17)

37^

The
constitutes

Christ.

What
sion

533 Christian
Bibles
If

baptism,

immerthe

or sprinkling?
millions of
in

With

circulation,

Christian does not know.

he affirms, as
is

scholars affirm, that immersion

the

many mode authat

thorized by the Bible, then he

this

must admit

the greater portion of Christendom has rejected

mode and adopted one not authorized by

the Scriptures.

To whom is this rite to be administered, to both adults and infants, or to adults alone? After eighteen centuries of controversy after
;

employing millions of
Scriptures
;

priests

to

interpret

after Anabaptists

and

the Pedobaptists

have baptized their swords in each others' blood, the church is not prepared to answer.
534

Did Christ command

his disciples to repeat

and
of

perpetuate the observance of the Eucharist?

Luke
me."

He

did.

"This do

in

remembrance

Matthew, Mark and John: He did not. It is admitted by Dr. Westcott and others that
the earlier versions of

Luke

did not contain the

then,

injunction

quoted.

Christ,

according to
his disciples

the Four Gospels did not institute the Eucharist

as a sacrament to be observed

by
to

and

the

church.

Referring

the

Twelve
;

J. Savage says: "They knew nothing about any sacraments they

Apostles, the Rev. Dr. Minot

Character and Teachings.

377

had not been instituted" (What

is

Christianity?).

What
prayer ?

535 did he teach in regard to the efficacy of

"All things whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer,

believing, ye shall receive"

(Matthew

xxi, 22).

one of the cardinal doctrines of his religion. He is continually impressing upon the minds of his hearers the necessity and the efficacy
is

This

of prayer.

''This doctrine has in all ages

Referring to this doctrine, Greg says been a stumbling

block to the thoughtful. It is obviously irreconcilable with all that reason and revelation teach us of the divine nature; and the inconsistency has been felt by the ablest of the Scripture wri-

Various and desperate have ters themselves. been the expedients and suppositions resorted to, in order to reconcile the conception of an immutable, all-wise, all-foreseeing God, with that of a father who is turned from his course by the But all such efforts jprayers of his creatures.
are,

and are felt to be, hopeless failures. They involve the assertion and negation of the same
still

proposition in one breath.

insoluble
it
;

leave

so,

The problem remains and we must either be content to or we must abandon one or other of
man,

the hostile premises.

"The

religious

who

believes

that

all

events, mental as well as physical, are pre-ordered and arranged according to the decrees of infinite

wisdom, and the philosopher, who knows

378
that,

The

Christ.

verse, cause

by the wise and eternal laws of the uniand effect are indissolubly chained together, and that one follows the other in in-

evitable succession
tion

changed at the cry man. To suppose that it can is to place the whole harmonious system of nature at the mercy of the weak reason and the selfish wishes of humanity. If the purposes of God were not wise, they would not be formed if wise, they cannot
this

chain

equally cannot be

feel that this ordina-

of

be changed, for then they would become unwise. To suppose that an all-wise Being would alter
his designs

and modes of proceeding

at the en-

treaty of an

that

unknowing creature, is to believe compassion would change his wisdom into

foolishness.

...

If

the universe
is

is

governed by
in

fixed laws, or

(which

the

same proposition

different language),

if all

events are pre-ordained

of an infinite God, then

by the foreseeing wisdom

tions of martyrs

the prayers of thousands of years and genera-

and saints cannot change or

of our destiny.

modify one
tion
is

iota

The

proposi-

by the subtlest logic. The weak, fond affections of humanity struggle in vain against the unwelcome conclusion" (Creed
unassailable
of Christendom, pp. 322, 323).

536

Where

are

we commanded

to pray?
into

"When
(Matthew

thou prayest enter

vi, 6).

thy

closet"

How

long ought

we

to continue in prayer?

Character and Teachings.

379
xviii,
i).

"Men ought always

to pray"

(Luke

537

Did Christ assume for himself the power of answering petitions? "Whatsoever ye shall ask in my name that will But soon realizing that I do" (John xiv, 13).
his capital was too small to conduct a business of such magnitude, he was compelled to announce that, "Whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father
in

my

name, he

may

give

it

you"

(xv, 16).

538

Does God know our wants? "Your father knoweth what things ye have need of before ye ask him" (Matthew vi, 8). Then what is the use of prayer? Is God a mischievous urchin taunting his hungry dog with
Tray, a morsel of bread, and shouting, "Beg,

beg!"?
539 portion of their goods did he require salvation? the rich to give the poor to obtain No. i "Good Master, what shall Rich Ruler,

What

(Luke xviii, 18.) I do to inherit eternal life?" "Sell all that thou hast and distribute Jesus:
unto the poor" (22). goods Rich Ruler, No. 2 "Lord, the half of my the poor" (Luke xix, 8). I give to come to this Jesus: "This day is salvation
:

house"

(9).

540

What

publicity of did he teach respecting the

good works?

jSo
''Let

The
your
see your good

Christ.

may

men, that they works" (Alatthew v, i6). "Take heed that ye do not your righteousness before men to be seen of them" (vi, i, New Ver.).
light so shine before

541

What

original rules of table observance did he

teach his disciples?

before

Matthew: To abstain from washing their hands ''They wash not their hands eating.
:

when they eat bread" (xv, 2). John To wash their feet after

eating.

"He

riseth from supper, and laid aside his garments;

and took a towel and girded himself. After that he poured water into a basin, and began to wash the disciples' feet, and to wipe them with the towel wherewith he was girded" (xiii, 4, 5).
The' proneness of Christ's followers to neglect his ordinances and precepts which require some sacrifice or effort to obey, and the readiness with which they observe those which do not, find a fitting illustration in the reception accorded these
teachings.

While the

early Christians,

many

of

them, accepted the

first

as a religious obligation

not to be violated, the second was ignored. Writing of Christian monks and nuns, Lecky says: "The cleanliness of the body was regarded as a

who were had become one hideous mass of most admired relates with enSt. Athanasius clotted filth. Antony, the patriarch of St. thusiasm how monachism, had never, to extreme old age, been
pollution of the soul, and the saints

Character and Teachings.

guilty of

381

washing

his feet.

...

St.

Abraham

the hermit, however,

after
his

who Hved

for fifty years

conversion, rigidly refused from that

either his face or feet.
of

date to

wash

...

St.

one hundred and thirty nuns, who never washed their feet, and who shuddered at the mention of a bath" (European Morals, Vol. II, pp. 109, no).
542

Euphraxia joined a convent

What

religious formula

is

to be

found

in the

New

Testament?

"In the name of Jesus." *'In the name of Jesus" the disciples cast out devils and performed other miracles; "In the name of Jesus" they baptized their converts; "In the name of Jesus" salvation was secured. This formula, with various modifications, is in genIt betrays the eral use in the church today. heathern origin of Christianity. Referring to its use Prof. Meinhold of Bonn University says: "Name and person were at one time closely

combined, and elementary religious ideas were connected with the words. He who knew the name of a divinity and could pronounce it was
in this

way

able to secure a blessing.

It

was

the use of the

that

name

of Jesus in the sacraments

made them

effective, in the spirit of sorcery.

This idea came from the lowest type of religious

thought, reflected in religious mysteries in the days of Jesus, and was embodied in the earliest
Christianity."

382

The

Christ.

What

543 taught respecting the use of oaths t God: "Swear by my name" (Jeremiah xii, i6). Christ: "Swear not at all" (Matthew v, 34).
is

544

What opposing
promulgate?

rules of proselytism did Christ

"He
xi,

that

is

not with

me

is

against

me" (Luke
(Luke

23).

"He
ix,

that

is

not against us

is

for us"

50).

545

him that hath nothing? "Whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken away even that he hath" (Matthew xiii, 12).
is

What

to befall

Ex

nihilo nihil

fit.

546

What did he say would who took up the sword?

"They
that take the

be the fate of those

shall perish

sword

with

the sword"

(Matthew

xxvi, 52).

He evidently considered this commendable, for he immediately issued the following command
to his disciples

"He that hath no sword ments and buy one" (Luke

547

let

him

sell

his gar-

xxii, 36).

What

did he say regarding the fear of death?

afraid
4).

"Be not (Luke xii,

of

them that

kill

the body"

"After these things Jesus walked in Galilee

Character and Teachings.

383

for he would not walk in Jewry, because the Jews sought to kill him" (John vii, i).

What
"There

is

to

548 be the earthly reward of those

that follow Christ?

is

no

man

that

hath

left

house, or

brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife,

or children, or lands, for

pel's,

my

sake,

and the gos-

but he shall receive a hundred fold this time" (Mark x, 29, 30).

now

in

"Who is he that will harm you, if ye be lowers of that which is good?" (i Peter iii,
"For my yoke is (Matthew xi, 30).
xvi, 33).

fol-

13.)

easy,

and

my

burden

is

light"

"In the world ye shall have tribulation" (John

"Ye shall he hated of all men for my name's sake" (Luke xxi, 17). "Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution" (2 Tim. iii, 12).
"For
brews

whom

the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and

scourgeth every son

xii^ 6).

whom
549

he receiveth" (He-

What
"I

promise did Christ make to Paul at the

of his ministry? with thee and no man shall set on thee to hurt thee" (Acts xviii, 10). "Of the Jews five times received I forty stripes save one. Thrice was I beaten with rods, once was I stoned" (2 Corinthians xi, 24, 25).

commencement

am

384

The

Christ.

550

How
sin" (i

are Christ's true followers to be distin-

guished from those of the devil? "Whosoever is born of God doth not commit

John

iii

9).
is

"He

that committeth sin

this

of the devil"
is

(8).

Judged by
"There
viii,
is

standard what

the compara-

tive strength of these sovereigns' subjects?

no man that sinneth not"

not a just

(i

Kings
(Ec-

46).
is

"There

man upon

earth"

clesiastes vii, 20).

"There

is

none righteous, no, not one" (Ro551 placed upon the moral teachdid he teach?

mans

iii,

10).

Great stress
ings of Jesus.

is

What

Did he ad-

vocate industry and frugalitv? "Lay not up for yourselves

earth"

treasures upon (Matthew vi, 19). "Take no thought for your life what ye shall eat or what ye shall drink nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on" (25). "Take therefore no thought for the morrow"
;

(34).

552

What were
things

the early Christians?

"They had all For as many as were possessors of land or houses sold them, and brought the prices of the things that were sold, and laid
Acts: They were Communists.

common.

Character and Teachings.

3^5

them down at the apostles' according was made unto every man
need"

feet;

and distribution as he had

.

(iv, 32-35). ^ Communism, but Most Christians condemn hundred years was the Communism of nineteen io
,

Communism aeo better than the

condemn Communism
Christianity.
is

of

today?

to

condemn

primitive

Yet, Christians
of

profess to

abhor

the

the founder of this Comthey worship as a God

Communistic ideas

modern

teachers, vvhile

munistic sect of Palestine. 553 poverty and What did he teach respecting
,

wealth? vi, 20). "Blessed be ye poor" (Luke rich" (24). "Woe unto you that are honestly acquired Poverty is a curse; wealth
.

and wisely used

wealth is (Proverbs x, 15)poor is their poverty" 554 Man and Lazarus the parable of the Rich In and representatives of vagrancy

rich man s a blessing. "The the destruction of the his strong city:
is

what

befell the

respectability?

earned by the "The beggar died, and was <Lke xvi 22). bosom" angels into Abraham's

"The
lifted

rich

man

also died,

...

and

in hell

he

up

his eyes" (22, 23).

him twine "See the red flames around shine Who did in gold and purple

386

The
"While round the

Christ.

saint so poor below,

Full rivers of salvation flow.

''Jesus,

my

Lord,

let

me

appear

The meanest

of thy creatures here."

555

Why

was Dives' request

that his brothers be

informed of their impending fate refused? ''They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them" (Luke xvi, 29). Moses and the prophets do not teach the doctrine of endless punishment, nor even that of a
future existence,
dustry,
a crime

much

less that the

mere pos-

session of wealth, acquired perhaps by honest inis

which can be expiated only by

the sufferings of an endless hell.

Christ's Kingdom was a kingdom of vagrants and paupers. "A rich man shall hardly enter into the kingdom of heaven" (Matthew xix, 23). "It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle,

than for a

ri(

man

to enter the

kingdom
While

of

God" (24V
.556
the temple with his disciples what

at

act did he

of the poor widow who threw two mites into the treasury (Mark xii, 43
:

commend? Mark and Luke That

xxi, 3).

Luke

This widow's offering

teristic

ilUistrates

the charac-

generosity of the poor and the heartless greed of the church. This text has enabled

Character and Teachings.

a horde of indolent priests to prey
;

387

upon widows and orphans to filch the scanty earnings of the poor, and live like parasites upon the weak and sickly calves of humanity.
557

Did he practice the virtue of temperance? "The Son of Man is come eating and drinking; and ye say, Behold a gluttonous man and a winebibber" (Luke vii, 34).
558

What was
John
:

his first miracle?

marriage in Cana of both Jesus was called, and his disciples, to the marriage. And when they wanted wine, the mother of Jesus saith unto him, They have no wine. And there were containset there six water pots of stone, ing two or three firkins apiece. Jesus saith unto them. Fill the water pots with water. And they filled them up to the brim" (ii, 1-7). This water he turned into wine. Here is Christ supplying a party already ''well drunk" with more than one hundred gallons of As they were intoxicated when he perw^ine. formed the miracle, would it not have been better for them and better for the millions who have accepted him as a moral guide, if at the beginning of the feast he had turned the wine into water? The morality taught by Jesus suffers in comparison with that taught by Mohammed. MoGalilee.
.
.

'There was a
.

And

388

The
Mohammedans

Christ.

hammed
and the

prohibited the use of intoxicating drink, are a temperate people;

Jesus sanctioned the use of intoxicating drink, and the Christian world abounds with drunkenness.

Referring to the miracle at Cana, Strauss says

''Not only, however, has the miracle been im-

peached
both
in

in relation to possibility, but also in re-

lation to utility

and

fitness.

It

has been urged

it was unworthy of Jesus that he should not only remain in the society of drunkards, but even further their intemperance by an exercise of his miraculous power" (Leben Jesu, p. 584).

ancient and

modern

times, that

559

Did he oppose slavery?

All:

He

did not.

"Slavery was incorporated into the civil init was recognized accordstitutions of Moses Rev. Dr. ingly by Christ and his apostles." Nathan Lord, President of Dartmouth College. *"At the time of the advent of Jesus Christ, slavery in its worst forms prevailed over the world. The Savior found it around him in Judea; the apostles met with it in Asia, Greece and Italy. How did they treat it? Not by denunciation of slave-holding as necessarily sinful."
;

Prof.
*'I

Hodge

of Princeton.

have no doubt if Jesus Christ were now on earth that he would, under certain circumstances, become a slaveholder." Rev. Dr. Taylor of Yale-

Character and Teachings.

:

389

Rousseau says "Christ preaches only servitude True Christians are made and dependence.
. . .

to be slaves."

560

What

did the apostles teach?

Peter: "Servants [slaves], be subject to your masters with all fear; not only to the good and gentle, but also to the froward" (i Peter ii, 18). Paul: "Let as many servants [slaves] as are under the yoke count their own masters worthy "Servants, be of all honor" (i Timothy vi, i). obedient to them that are your masters accord-, ing to the flesh, with fear and trembling" (Ephesians
vi, 5).

The Rev.

Dr. Wilbur Fisk, president of

:

Wes-

leyan University, says

enjoins obedience

"The

New

Testament

upon the slave

561

as an obliga-

tion due to a present rightful authority."

Did he favor marriage?

Matthew
10-12).

He

self-mutilation as preferable to

advocated celibacy, and marriage

even
(xix,

Following
tians,

this teaching of their Master, Chris-

many

of them, have
S-iricius,

condemned marriage.

branded it as "a pollution of the flesh." St. Jerome taught that the duty of the saint was to "cut down by the axe
Christian pope,
of Virginity the

wood
is

of

Marriage."

Pascal

says

"Marriage

the lowest and most danger-

our condition of the Christian."

390
G.

The

Chiist.

to

W. Foote of England says: "J^sus appears have despised the union of the sexes, therefore marriage, and therefore the home. He taught
that in heaven, v^here
all
is

perfect,

there

is

neither marrying nor giving in

marriage."

*'Monks and nuns innumerable owe to this teaching their shriveled lives and withered Mrs. Besant. hearts."
evil

562

What

did he encourage

women

to do?

Luke To
apostles

leave their husbands and homes, and

follow and associate with him and his roving

''Mary, called Magdalene, out of whom

devils, and Joanna the wife of Chuza, Herod's steward, and Susanna, and many others, which ministered unto him of their sub-

went seven

stance"

(viii, 2, 3).

563

What
forbid
-

did he say respecting children?

"Suffer

little children to come unto me and them not." But it was only the children of Jews he wel-

comed. The afflicted child of a Gentile he spurned as a dog. When the woman of Canaan desired him to heal her daughter, he brutally replied *Tt is not meet to take the children's bread and cast it to the dogs" (Matthew xv, 26). The soldiers who spit on Jesus in Pilate's hall did not do a meaner thing than Jesus did that day. And if he afterwards consented to cure the child it was not as an act of humanity to the sufferer,
:

Character and Teachings.

but as a reward
for ^he

391
in

mother's faith

him.

Concerning this brutal act of Jesus, Helen Gardener says: "Do you think that was kind?

Do you

think

it

was godlike?
if

think of a physician,
distressed and said,
ter; she
is is

What would you woman came to him 'Doctor, come to my daugha

very
all
I

ill.

She has

lost

her reason,
think
all at first,

and she

have!'

What would you

reply at

of the doctor

and then, feet and worshiped him, answered that he did not spend his time doctoring dogs ? Would you like him as a family physician? Do you think that, even if he were to cure the child then, he would have done a
noble thing?
acter to
Is
it

who would not when she fell at his

evidence of a perfect chara service with an insult?

accompany
a

Do

you think that

character,
is

man who

could offer such an

indignity to a sorrowing mother has a perfect

an ideal God?"

He enjoined the observance of the commandment, ''Honor thy father and thy mother." Did he respect it himself? More striking examples of filial ingratitude are not to be found than are exhibited in the Gospel

history of

Jesus

Christ.

'

When

visiting

Jerusalem with his parents, he allows them to depart for home without him, thinking that he is with another part of the company and when they return to search for him and find him, he manifests no concern for the trouble he has
;

39^

The

Christ.

caused; when during his ministry his mother and brothers are announced, he receives them with a sneer at the marriage feast, when his
;

mother kindly speaks to him, he brutally exclaims, "Woman, what have I to do with thee?" Throughout the Four Gospels not one respectful word to that devoted mother is recorded. Even
in

his

last

hours,

when

the mental anguish of

that mother

must have equaled his own physical suffering, not one word of comfort or farebut the well greeting escapes from his lips same s*^udied disrespect that has characterized him all his life is exhibited here.
;

565

Did he not promote domestic

''Suppose ye that
I

strife?

am come

to

give peace

on earth? I tell you. Nay; but rather division: for from henceforth there shall be five in one house divided, three against two, and two against The father against the son, and the son three. against the father; the mother against the daughmother; the ter-, and the daughter against the mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law, and
the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law"

(Luke xii, 51-53). "Think not that I am come to send peace on I came not to send peace, but a sword. earth For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-inlaw" (Matthew x, 34, 35).
:

Character and Teachings.

566

393

What
'*If

did he require of his disciples? any man come to me, and hate not his

father,

and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple" (Luke xiv, 26). of enlightenIt is scarcely possible in this age realize what sorrows and ment and unbelief to miseries these accursed teachings of Christ once The eminent historian Lecky, in his caused. to ''History of European Morals," has attempted
describe

some

of their awful consequences.

From

his pages I quote the following: 'To break by his ingratitude the heart of the mother who had borne him, to persuade the wife

who adored him

rate

that

it

was her duty

abandon

to sepa-

from him the uncared for and beggars, to the mercies of the true hermit as the world, was regarded by most acceptable offering he could make to his
forever, to

his children,

His business was to save his own soul. The serenity of his devotion would be impaired to his by the discharge of the simplest duties
God.
family.

Evagrius, when a hermit in the desert, from his received, after a long interval, letters He could not bear that the father and mother. disturbed equable tenor of his thought should be of those who loved him, so by the recollection

A man fire. he cast the letters unread into the accompanied by his only child, named Mutius, abandoned his a little boy of eight years old,

394
possessions and
astery.

The

Christ.

demanded admission into a monThe monks received him, but they pro;

ceeded to discipline his heart. 'He had already he must next be forgotten that he was rich taught to forget that he was a father.' His little child was separated from him, clothed in rags^ subjected to every form of gross and wanton Day hardship, beaten, spurned and ill-treated. after day the father was compelled to look upon his boy wasting away with sorrow, his once

happy countenance forever stained with tears, distorted by sobs of anguish. But yet, says the admiring biographer, 'though he saw this day by day, such was his love for Christ, and for
the virtue of obedience, that the father's heart

was

rigid

and unmoved

'

(Vol.

ii,

125, 126).

Simeon Stylitesl had been passionately loved by his parents, and, if we may believe his eulogist and biographer, he began his saintly career by breaking the heart of his
[St.

"He

father,

who

died

of

grief

at

his

flight.

His

mother, however, lingered on. Twenty-seven years after his disappearance, at a period when his austerities had made him famous, she heard for the first time where he was and hastened to
visit

woman was

all her labor was in vain. No admitted within the precincts of his dwelling, and he refused to permit her even to Her entreaties and tears look upon his face. were mingled with words of bitter and eloquent reproach. 'My son,' she is represented as hav-

him.

But

Character and Teachings.

ing said, 'why have you done this?

395

I bore you and you have wrung my soul with grief. I gave you milk from my breast, you have filled my eyes with tears. For the kisses I gave you, you have given me the anguish of a broken heart; for all that I have done and suffered for you, you have repaid me by the most cruel wrongs.' At last the saint sent a message to her to tell her that she would soon see him. Three days and three nights she had wept and entreated in vain, and now, exhausted with grief and age and privation, she sank feebly to the ground and breathed her last sigh before

hi

my womb,

that inhospitable door. Then for the first time the saint, accompanied by his followers, came
out.

of his

shed some pious tears over the corpse murdered mother, and offered up a prayer consigning her soul to heaven" (Ibid, 130).
567^

He

Did he not indulge in vituperation and abuse? "Ye fools and blind" (Matthew xxiii, 17). "Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites" (14).

"All that ever came before robbers" (John x, 8).

me

are thieves and

"Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell?" (Matthew
xxiii, 33.)

Regarding these abusive

Prof.

epithets

of

Christ,

Newman
complain

says

"The Jewish nation may

they

well

that

have

been

cruelly

396

The

Christ.

slandered by the gospels. The invectives have been burnt into the heart of Christendom, so that the innocent Jews, children of the disperyes, and to sion, have felt in millennial misery the deadly sting of these fierce this day feel and haughty utterances" (Jesus Christ, p. 25).

568 Relate his treatment of the Pharisee

vited

who

in-

him to dine with him. Luke "And as he spake, a certain Pharisee besought him to dine with him and he went in, and sat down to meat. And when the Pharisee saw it, he marveled that he had not first washed And the Lord said unto him, before dinner.
: ;

now do
is
. .

ye Pharisees make clean the outside of

of

the cup and the platter; but your inward part

full
.

ravening and wickedness.

(xi, 37-44.)

Ye

fools

hypocrites!"

Was

such insolence of manners on the part

of Jesus calculated to

promote the

interest

of

the cause he professed to hold so dear at heart?

Supposing a Freethinker were

vitation
to

to receive an in-

dine

with

Christian

friend

and

were

to

repay the hospitality of his host with

of "grace" with an oath or a sneer,

rudeness and abuse, interrupting the ceremony and showering upon the head of his friend such epithets as Would such insolent "hypocrite" and "fool."
behavior have a tendency to gain for him the world's esteem or aid the cause he represents?

And

are

we

to approve in a

God conduct

that

Character and Teachings.

397

we

regard as detestable in a man? It may be of urged that God is not subject to the rules it; but is it necessary human conduct. Grant
for

to

him in order to exhibit his divine character assume the manners of a brute?
569

conthe Pharisees deserve the sweeping them by Christ and his demnation heaped upon

Do

followers?

is

In marked contrast to the diatribes of Jesus for the the testimony of Josephus "Now,
:

meanly [plainly], and dethe conspise delicacies in diet, and they follow that prescribes to them duct of reason and what they think they as good for them,, they do and
Pharisees, they live
;

ought
tates

dicearnestly to strive to observe reason's

for

practice.

...

The

cities

give great

their entire attestations to them on account of the actions of their virtuous conduct, both in
lives,

and
xviii,

their

discourses
i,

also"

(Antiquities,

Book

chap,

sec. 3).

Paul,

the

Christian,

when

Agrippa, believed that no than the fact his character could be adduced Pharisee (Acts xxvi, 4, 5)that he had been a
loftier

arraigned before testimonial to

What

is

said

in

570 regard to his

purgmg

the

temple? at hand, John: ''And the Jews' Passover was Jerusalem, and found in and Jesus went up to sheep and the temple those that sold oxen and

398

The

Christ.

money sitting: and made a scourge of small cords, when he had he drove them all out of the temple, and the
doves, and the changers of

and poured out the sheep, and the oxen changers' money, and overthrew the tables" (ii,
;

13-15)-

No

currency but the

Jewish was accepted in

the temple, while doves, lambs, and other aniThese permals were required for offerings.

sons performed the very necessary office of supplying the Jews with offerings and exchanging Jewish coins for the Roman money then in general circulation.

with the
difficult to

lawful

especially in

AVhat right he had to interfere business of these men, and the manner in which he did, it is
571

understand.
fig tree.

Describe the cursing of the

Matthew
saw

"Now
city,

in

the

morning

as

he
it,

re-

turned into the

he hungered.

And when
to

he

a fig tree in the way, he

came

found nothing thereon, but leaves only, it. Let no fruit grow on thee henceforward for ever. And presently the fig tree withered away" (xxi, 18, 19). Jesus cursed a living tree and it died Mohammed blessed a dead tree and it lived. The alleged conduct of Jesus on many occasions, notably his harsh treatment of his mother, his abuse of the Pharisees, his purging the temple and his cursing the fig tree, is not the
said unto
;

and and

Character and Teachings.

399

conduct of a rational being, but rather that of madman. If these stories be historical they would indicate that he was not wholly responsible for his words and acts. Dr. Jules Soury, of the University of France, believes that he was the victim of an incurable mental disorder. In a work on morbid psychology, entitled ''Studies on Jesus and The Gospels," Dr. Soury cites a long array of seemingly indisputable facts in support of his theory. From his preface to the work, I quote the following: "Jesus the God, gone down in his glory, like a star sunk beneath the horizon but still shedding a few faint rays on the world, threw a halo round the brow of Jesus the Prophet. In the dull glow of that twilight, in the melancholy but charming hour when everything seemed wrapped in vague, ethereal tints, Jesus appeared to Strauss and Renan such as he had shown himself to his first disciples, the Master para
excellence, a

man
as

truly divine.

Then came

the

night

and

flickering

darkness descended gospel beginnings there

on those remained

nought to be descried through the obscurity of dubious history, but dimly looming, the portentous outline of the gibbet and its victim.
present work Jesus makes his apperhaps for the first time, as a sufpearance, ferer from a grave malady, the course of which we have attempted to trace.

'Tn the

"The nervous,

or cerebral

disorder,

at

first

400

The

Christ.

congestive and then inflammatory, under which he labored, was not only deep-seated and dan-

gerous

it

was

incurable.
affection

Among
may

us

at

the

present time that

making
saints,

kings,

millionaires,
divinities of

be seen daily popes, prophets,

and even
their

poor fellows

who

have
*'If

lost

balance

it

has produced more

than one INIessiah.

be right in the interpretation of data has been followed in the study of morbid which psychology, Jesus, at the time of his death, was
in a

we

somewhat advanced stage

Vs'as,

of this disorder.

He

to all appearance, cut off opportunely;

the gibbet saved

him from actual madness.

we have ventured to "The draw is based on three sets of facts which are attested by the most ancient and trustworthy of
diagnosis which
the witnesses of his career.
''i.

Religious

excitement,

then

general

in

Palestine, drove Jesus to the wilderness,

where

he lived some time the life of a recluse, as those who considered themselves to have the prophetic mission often did. Carried away with the Idea

he was divinely Inspired to proclaim the coming of the Messiah, he left his own people and his native place, and, attended by a followthat

ing of fishermen and others of the same class,

went about among the towns and villages of Galilee announcing the speedy approach of the

Kingdom
"2.

of TTeaven.

After having proclaimed the

coming

of

Character and Teachings.

the Messiah,

401
Jewish

Hke

other

contemporary
to

prophets, Jesus gradually came

look

upon

himself as the Messiah, the Christ.

He

allowed

himself to be called the Son of David, the Son of God, and had among his followers one, if

not more, of those fanatical Sicarii, so graphically described by Josephus, who were waiting for
the deliverance of Israel from the yoke of Rome. Progressive obliteration of the consciousness of his personal identity marks the interval between the somewhat vague revelation which he made
to

his

disciples at the

foot of

Mount Hermon
he was the King of the

and the day when, before Caiaphas and before

Pilate,

he openly declared that Messiah, and by that token the

"3.

Jews.

The cursing
figs,

of the fig tree

whereon there

because 'the time of figs was not yet,' the violent conduct toward the dealers and changers at the temple, were manifestly foolish acts. Jesus had come to believe that everything was permitted him, that all things belonged to him, that nothing was too hard for him to do. For a long time he had given evident signs of

were no

perversion of the

natural

affections,

especially

To with respect to his mother aiid brethren. the fits of anger against the priests and religious ministers of his nation, to the ambitious extravagance of his words and acts, to the wild dream of his Messianic grandeur, there rapidly supervened a characteristic depression of the

402

The

Christ.

mental faculties and strength, a giving

the intellectual and muscular powers.

way

of

"Each of those periods in the career of Jesus corresponds to a certain pathological state of his nervous system.

"By reacting on the heart, the religious excitement he labored under and the attendant functional exacerbations had the immediate effect of accelerating the circulation,

ing the blood

congestion.

vessels,

unduly dilatand producing cerebral

"Chronic congestion of the brain, subjectiveconsidered, is always attended in the initial stage with great increase of the moral consciousness, extraordinary activity of the imagly

often leading to hallucinations, and on with absurdly exaggerated, frequently That delirious ideas of power and greatness. stage is also usually characterized by irritability
ination,
later

and

fits

of passion.
is

"Objectively considered what

observable

is

hypertrophy of the cellules and nerve-tubes, excessive cerebral plethora and vascularity due to the great efflux of blood and superabundant nuInflammation of the trition of the encephalon. meningeal covering, and of the brain itself, is, sooner or later, a further result of the chronic congestion. The vessels, turgid and loaded with blood, permit the transudation of the blood globules the circulation becomes impeded, then ar;

rested, with the result of depriving the cort'.cal

Character and Teachings.

403

life

cerebral substance of arterial blood, which is its the histological elements undergo alteration,
:

degenerate, become softened, and as the disorganization proceeds are finally reduced to inert
detritus.

"The brain may remain capable more

well of performing
its

or less

functions
cellules
is

when deprived

to a large extent of so wdien the cerebral

its

necessary food, but not are disorganized.

the natural sequel of the destruction of the

Dementia consequently
the congestive stage.
cortical

To

substance supervenes partial or total loss of consciousness, according to the extent of the lesion. Such portions of the encephalon as
in a state of

continue capable of performing any duty being hyperaemia, there is often delirium

more or less intense up to the last. "The process of the disorder is irregular; remissions occur during which the reasoning faculties seem to be recovered. But whether the duration extends only to a few months or to
several years, the increasing
patient, the intellectual

Aveakness

of

the

and muscular decay, the cachetic state into which he falls, the lesions of other organs performing essential functions
which, ensue, bring life to a close, and frequently without suffering. "This is how Jesus would have ended had he been spared the violent death of the cross." Nearly all the religious founders have been affected, to a greater or less extent, w^ith insanity.

^04
Genius
deed, in
itself is

The
many
:

Christ.

closely allied to insanity

is

in^

form of insanity. Moreau Tours in his "La Psychologie Morbide" (p. de 234) says *'The mental disposition which causes a man to be distinguished from his fellows by the originality of his mind and conceptions, by ills eccentricity, and the energy of his affrxtive faculties, or by the transcendence of his intelligence, take their rise in the very same organic conditions which are the source of the various mental perturbations whereof insanity and idiocy Buddha, are the most complete expressions." Mohammed, and probably Jesus, united Avith certain strong mental and moral characteristics, a form of insanity which manifested itself in a
cases, a

madness a madness that was and which has attacked and afflicted contagious
sort of religious

the greater portion of the

human

race.

572

Did he not teach the doctrine possession and exorcism?

Synoptics
:

of demoniacal

He

did.

After alluding to the prevalency of superstition among the Jews of this period, Renan says

"Jesus on this point differed in no respect from He believed In the devil, whom his companions. he regarded as a kind of evil genius, and he imagined, like all the world, that nervous maladies

were produced by demons who possessed the patient and agitated him" (Life of Jesus, p. Dr. Gelkle says: "The New Testament 59).

Character and Teachings.

405

leaves us in no doubt of the belief, on the part

of Jesus

and the Evangelists,

possessions"
573).

in

the reality of
Christ,

these demoniacal
vol.
ii,

(Life of

p.

Demonology was born

stition.

of ignorance

and superJesus
the

In
It

this

debasing

superstition

believed.

was

a part of his religion, and has

;

remained a part of Christianity

for while

more intelligent of his professed disciples have outgrown this superstition they have to the same The more ignoextent outgrown Christianity. rant, the more depraved, and, at the same time, the more devout of his followers, still accept it.
Regarding
ferred to
this

superstition,
:

the

author

of

''Supernatural Religion" says

"The

diseases reof

by the gospels, and by the Jews

that time, to the action of devils, exist now, but

known to proceed from purely physical The same superstition and medical ignorance would enunciate the same diagnosis at the present day. The superstition and ignorance,
they are
causes.

however, have passed away, and, with them, the demoniacal theory. In that day the theory was It is obvious that, with as baseless as in this. the necessary abandonment of the theory of 'possession' and demoniacal origih of disease, the largest class of miracles recorded in the gospels
is at

once exploded.
of
this

The

asserted cause of

the

diseases

class,

said to

have been

miraculously healed, must be recognized to be a mere vulgar superstition" (p. 159)-

4o6

The

Christ.

Prof. Huxley, in one of his essays, discussing

the Gadarene miracle, says

as that about the
fore us,
it

''When such a story Gadarene swine is placed bethe importance of the decision, whether
:

be accepted or rejected, cannot be overestimated. If the demonological part of it is to be accepted, the authority of Jesus is unmistakably
pledged to the demonological

system

current

in

Judea

in the first century.

The

belief in devils

who men
tian

men and can be transferred from becomes as much a part of Chrisdogma as any article of the creeds."
possess
to pigs

573

What became

of the

swine into which Jesus

ordered the devils to go?

Matthew: "And behold, the whole herd of swine ran violently down a steep place into the sea, and perished in the waters" (viii, 32).
It

may

offensive animals had

be pertinent to inquire what these indone that they should

merit such cruelty, or what their owner had done that his property should be thus wantonly destroyed.

In his narrative

of

this

miracle

Fleetwood
with

says

"The spectators beheld,

poor

at a distance, the

torments these

creatures

suffered

what amazing rapidity they ran

of the lake, leaped
sea,
p.

to the confines

and perished

in the

from the precipices into the waters" (Life of Christ,

121).

In striking contrast to the religion of Buddha,

Character and Teachings.

the
religion
of

407
adherents

Christ

has

made

its

and unmerciful. To this Christian writer the torture and destruction of these domestic animals is no more than the burning of a field
cruel

of stubble.
festation
of
his Savior.

In this miracle he sees only a mani-

love and kindness on the part of Referring to the request of the inhabitants that he depart from their country, he says *'The stupid request of the Gadarenes was
:

complied with by the blessed Jesus, who, entering the ship, returned to the country from whence he came, leaving them a valuable pledge of his love, and us a noble pattern of perseverance in well-doing, even when our kindnesses are condemned or requited with injuries" (Ibid,
p.

122).

574

What did Jesus say to the strange woman whom he met at the well?

Samaritan

''Thou hast had five husbands; and he whom thou now hast is not thy husband" (John iv,
18).

"Christ here makes himself a wandering gypsy,

or

Bohemian fortune

teller,

and

much wonder

that our gypsies do not account themselves the

genuine disciples of Jesus, being endowed with and exercising no worse arts than he himself practiced." Woolston.
like gifts,

Was

575 he not an egotist and given to vulgar

boasting?

4o8

The

Christ.

Speaking of himself, he said ''Behold, a greater

:

than Solomon

is

here" (]\latthew

xii,

41, 42).

Did he not practice dissimulation? John "And Jesus lifted up his eyes, and said, Father, I thank thee that thou hast heard me.
:

And I know that thou hearest me always, but because of the people which stand by I said it"
(xi,

41, 42).
:

when he intendwith his companions, "He made as though he would have gone further"
Luke
After his resurrection
ed to stop at
(xxiv, 28).

Emmaus

577 After performing one of his miraculous cures,

what charge did he make

it?

to those

who witnessed
tell

"He charged them that they should man but the more he charged them, much the more a great deal they published
Mark:
no
:

so
it"

(vii,

36).

desire them to disregard his commands? If he did he was a hypocrite; if he did not he was an impotent in either case a fallible

Did he

man

instead of an omnipotent God.

578

On

the approach of the Passover

what did he

say to his brethren?

"Go ye up unto this feast unto this feast" (John vii, 8).
The

go not up yet
is,

correct reading of the last clause

"I

Character and Teachings,

409
re-

go not up unto the

visers, to their credit,

feast."

The American"

urged the adoption of this Oxford revisers retained the reading; but the In uttering these words, Jesus, if omniserror. cient, uttered an untruth; for John says: "But v^hen his brethren were gone up, then went he also up unto the feast, not openly, but as it were
in secret" (10).

579

Why

did he teach in parables?

'That seeing they may see, and not perceive; and hearing they may hear, and not understand lest at any time they should be converted, and their sins should be forgiven them" (Mark iv,
12).

He

deceived the people that he might have

the pleasure of seeing

them damned.
580
is

What immoral

lesson

inculcated

in

the

parable of the Steward? He commends as wise and prudent the action of the steward, who, to provide for his future
welfare, causes his master's creditors to defraud

him. 'There was a certain rich man, which had a steward; and the same was accused unto him
that he had wasted his goods.

And

him, and said unto him, How is it this of thee? give an account of thy stewardship; Then for thou mayest be no longer steward. shall 1 the steward said within himself. What do? for my lord taketh away from me the stew-

he called that I hear

4IO
ardship:
I

The
resolved what
tlie

Christ.

cannot dig; to beg

stewardship, they

am

to do, that,

out of

am ashamed. I I am piu may receive me inI

when

So he called every one of his unto him, and said unto the first, lord's debtors How much owest thou unto my lord? And he And he said said, An hundred measures of oil. him. Take thy bill, and sit down quickly, unto and write fifty. Then said he unto another. And how much owest thou? And he said. An hundred measures of wdieat. And he said unto him,
to their houses.

Take thy

bill

and write fourscore.

And

the lord

commended
done wisely
in

the unjust steward, because he had

;

for the children of this

world are

their

light.

generation wiser than the children of And I say unto you, Make to yourselves

friends of the

mammon
they

of unrighteousness

that,

when ye

fail,

may

receive

you

into ever-

lasting habitations"

(Luke

xvi, 1-9).

581 In the parable of the Laborers what unjust

doctrine
is

taught?
of equal rewards for unequal

The assignment
burdens.
of the

He

justifies

the dishonest bargaining

householder who received twelve hours of labor for a penny, when he paid the same amount for one (Matthew xx, 1-16).

Regarding the parables of Jesus, W. P. Ball, an English writer, says "With one single exception, the parables attributed to Jesus are thoroughly religious and

Character and Teachings.

decidedly inferior in their moral
tone,

411
besides
is

possessing minor

faults.

The God who

to be

the object of our adoration and imitation is depicted to us as a judge who will grant vengeance

answer to incessant prayer, as a father who loves and honors the favorite prodigal and neglects the faithful and obedient worker, as an employer who pays no more for a life-time than for the nominal service of a death-bed repentance, as an unreasonable master who reaps where he has not sown and punishes men because he made them defective and gave them no
in

instructions, as a harsh despot

who

delivers dis-

obedient servants to tormentors and massacres those who object to his rule, as a judge who is merciful to harlots and relentless towards unbelievers, as a petulant king who drives beggars and outcasts into the heaven which is ignored

by the wise and worthy,

verse

as a ruler of the uni-

who

freely permits his

enemy

the devil to

sow

evil

and

then punishes his victims, as a

flames
of
hell

God

who

and plunges men in the reward of the calmly philosophizes over the blest who from Abraham's bosom behold the sight and are not permitted to bestow even so much as a drop of cold water t'o cool the parched tongues of their fellow-creatures amidst hopeless and unending agonies, in comparison with which momentary but are sufferings earthly all
dreams."

412

The
did he teach

Christ.

What
theft

582 regarding submission to

and robbery?

"Of him that taketh away thy goods ask them not again" (Luke vi, 30).
583

Why
:

was the woman taken

in

adultery re-

leased without punishment?

John Because those having her in custody were not without sin themselves (viii, 3-1 1). The adoption of this principle would require
the liberation of every criminal, because
are fallible.
If
all

men

man

from
all

sin himself, is

sin,

cannot punish crime because not free it just in God, the author of to punish man for his sins?
584
did he pronounce blessed?

Whom

"Blessed are the poor in spirit" (Matthew v, 3). Surely not. "Is poverty of spirit a blessing?

Manliness of
of spirit
is

spirit,

honesty of

spirit,
;

fulness of

rightful purpose, these are virtues a crime."

Bradlaugh.
58s

but poverty

Did he teach resistance to wrong? "Unto him that smiteth thee on the one cheek offer also the other" (Luke vi, 29).

"He who
:

courts oppression shares the crime."

Lord Amberley, referring to this teaching of Jesus, says "A doctrine more convenient for the purposes of tyrants and malefactors of every

Character and Teachings.

description
it

413
invent"

would

be

difficult
p. 355).

to

(Analysis of Religious Belief,

586 taught his hearers to return good for evil. Did he do this himself? "I pray for them [his followers], I pray not

He

world" (John xvii, 9). ''Whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father" (Matthew
for the
X, 33)-

587

The Golden Rule has been

ascribed to Christ.

Was

he its author? Five hundred years before the time of Christ Confucius taught ''What you do not like when
:

done to yourself do not to others."

tus, Isocrates

Centuries

before the Christian era Pittacus, Thales, Sex-

and Aristotle taught the same.

588 does Paul attribute to Jesus?

What maxim
"Remember
he
said,
It is

the words of the Lord Jesus,

how

more blessed

to give than to re-

ceive" (Acts XX, 35). These are not "the words of the Lord Jesus,"

but of the Pagan Epicurus, a man whose charachave for centuries defamed. Concerning the teachings of Jesus, Col. Thomas W. Higginson says "When they tell me that Jesus taught a gospel of love, I say I
ter Christians
:

it. Plato taught a gospel of love before him, and you deny it. If they say, Jesus taught

believe

414
that
it

The
is

Christ.

better to bear an injury than to resay, yes,

but so did Aristotle before I will accept it as the stateJesus was born. ment of Jesus if you will admit that Aristotle I am willing that any man should said it too.
taliate,
I

come before us and say, Jesus taught that you must love .your enemies, it is written in the Bible; but, if he will open the old manuscript
of Diogenes Laertus, he

may

there read in texts

that have never been disputed, that the Greek philosophers, half a dozen of them, said the

same before Jesus was born."

Buckle says
:

''That the system of morals pro-

pounded in the New Testament contained no maxim which had not been previously enunciated, and that some of the most beautiful passages in the apostolic
writings
is

are

quotations
to

from

Pagan authors,

well

known

every

scholar.

... To

assert that Christianity

com-

municated to man moral truths previously unknown, argues on the part of the asserter either
gross ignorance
Civilization, vol.

or
i,

wilful
129).

fraud"

(History of

p.

John Stuart Mill

the most

"says:

'Tt can do truth no

to all

service to blind the fact,

known

who have

acquaintance with literary history, that a large portion of the noblest and most valuable moral teaching has been the work
ordinary
not only of men who did who knew and rejected
(Liberty).

not know, but of

the Christian

men

faith"

Character and Teachings.

589

415

We
and

are told that Christ manifested "a stronf> o enduring courage which never shrank or

quailed before any danger however formidable.'*

Is this true?
It is not.

When
;

he heard that John was im-

prisoned, he retreated to the Sea of Galilee (Alativ, 12, 13) when John was beheaded, he took a ship and retired to a desert (xiv, 13) in going from Galilee to Judea, he went beyond the Jordan to avoid the Samaritans; when his brethren went up to Jerusalem he refused to ac-

thew

company them for fear of the Jews (John vii, when the Jews took up stones to stone 9) him he ''hid himself" (viii, 59) when the Pharisees took council against him he fled (Matthew
8,
; ;

xii,

14,

16)

at

Gethsemane,

in

the agonies of

fear,

he prayed that the cup might pass from

;

him

at Calvary, he frantically exclaimed,

"My

God,

my

God,

why

hast thou forsaken

me !"

Commenting on this dying exclamation of Conway says "That cry could never be wrung from the lips of a man who saw in
Christ, Dr.
:

his

own

death a prearranged plan for the world's

salvation,

and his own return

fictitious

to divine

glory

temiporarily renounced for transient misery on

earth.

The

theology of a thousand years

shrivels beneath the awful anguish of that cry."

What was
cestors?

590 the character of Christ's male an-

41

The

Christ.

nearly
in the

Assuming Matthew's genalogy to be correct, all of those whose histories are recorded
Old Testament were guilty
of infamous

crimes or gross immoralities. Abraham married his sister and seduced her handmaid; Jacob, after committing bigamy, seduced two of his housemaids; Judah committed 'incest with his David was a polygamist, an daughter-in-laAv
;

adulterer, a robber

and a murderer; Solomon had wives a;id concubines Rehoboam, Abijam, Joram, Ahaziah, Jotham, Ahaz, Manasseh, Amon and Jehoiachin, are all represented as monsters of iniquity; while others are declared to have been too vile to even name in
a thousand
;

his genealogy.

What

female

591 ancestors

are

named

in

his

genealogy?

Matthew: Thamar, Rachab, Ruth and Bathsheba.

the Rev. Dr. Alexremarkable that in the ander Walker says: 'Tt genealogy of Christ, only four women have been named Thamar, who seduced the father of her prostitute; late husband; Rachab, a common Ruth, who, instead of marrying one of her cousof them and ins, went to bed with another Bathsheba, an adulteress, who espoused David, the murderer of her first husband" (Woman, p.

Regarding these

women
is

330).

Matthew Henry,

a noted

Christian

commen-

Character and Teachings.

tator,

417

says: "There

are

four,

named

in

this

four Avomen, and but genealogy, Rachab,

. .
.

Canaanitess,

and
. . .

a harlot besides,

and Ruth,
adul-

the iMoabitess.
teresses,

The other two were

Tamar and Bathsheba" (Commentary,

592.

Vol. v).

Who
:

was

his favorite female attendant?

Luke "Mary called Magdalene, out went seven devils" (viii, 2).

of

whom

Referring to this woman, Dr. Farrar says: "This exorcism is not elsewhere alluded to, and it would be perfectly in accordance with the gen-

Hebrew phraseology if the expression had been applied to her in consequence of a passionate nature and an abandoned life. The Talmudists have much to say respecting her her wealth, her extreme beauty, her braided locks, her shameius of

less profligacy, her husband Pappus, and her paramour, Pandera" (Life of Christ, p. 162). In a chapter on "Sanctified Prostitution," Dr. Soury wTites "The Jewess is full of naive immodesty, her lip red with desire, her eye moist and singularly luminous in the shade. Yearning with voluptuousness, superb in her triumphs, or merely feline and caressing, she is ever the 'insatiable,' the w^oman 'with seven devils' of whom the scripture speaks, a kind of burning furnace in which the blond Teuton melts like wax. So far as in her lay, the Syrian woman, w^ith her supple and nervous arms, drew into
:

41
the

The

Christ.

tomb the last exhausted sons of Greece and Rome. But who can describe the grace and the

soft languor of these daughters of Syria, their

large black eyes, the

warm

bistre tints of their

skin?
being.
as

All the poets of the decadence, Catullus,

Tibullus,

Propercius, have sung this wondrous

soft and humble voice, languid and though crushed by some hidden ill, dragging

With

her limbs over

the

tiles

of

gynaecium,

she

might have been regarded as a stupid

slave.

Often, her gaze lost in long reveries, she seemed dead, save that her bosom began to swell, her

eye lighted up, her breath quickened, her cheeks

became covered wath crimson. The reverie becoming a reality by a matchless power of invovation and desire, such is the sacred disease
which, thanks to
to

Mary Magdalene, gave

(Religion
of
Israel,

birth
70,

Christianity"

pp.

71).
593.

Who

were his apostles? "A dozen knaves, as ignorant as owls and

ab

poor as church mice." Voltaire. ''Palestine was one of the most backward of
countries
;

the Galileans were the most ignorant

;

of the inhabitants of Palestine

and the

disciples

might be counted among

of Galilee."

the most simple people

Renan.

"His followers were 'unlearned and ignorant men,' chosen from the humblest of the people."

Farrar.

Character and Teachings.

594-

419

What power
on Peter?
''And
I
w^ill

is

Christ said to have bestowed

give unto thee the keys of the

:

and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be
of

kingdom

heaven

loosed in heaven"

(]\Iatthew xvi, 19).

remarkable bestowal of power, which has exerted such a mighty influence in the government of the church, but of which Mark, Luke and John know nothing, Greg comments as follows *'Not only do we know Peter's utter unfitness to be the depositary of such a fearful powder, from his impetuosity and instability of character, and Christ's thorough perception of this unfitness, but we find immediately after it is said to have been conferred upon him, his
this
:

On

of Satan,

Lord addresses him indignantly by the epithet and rebukes him for his presumption and unspirituality and shortly afterwards this very man thrice denied his master. Can any one
;

maintain it to be conceivable that Jesus should have conferred the awful power of deciding the salvation or damnation of his fellow-men upon one so frail, so faulty, and so fallible? Does any one believe that he did?" (Creed of Christen-

dom,

p. 189).

When
Christ

595 Peter discovered

that

Jesus

was

the

what did he do?

420

The

Christ.
[Christ] and be-

Mark: "And Peter took him

gan to rebuke him"
(viii,

32).

What
Alark:

did Jesus do in turn?

"He rebuked
!

Peter, saying,

Get thee

behind

incarnate God of the universe and his vicegerent on earth indulging in

a petty quarrel

me Satan" (33). What a spectacle The

Give an account of Peter's denial of his Master. ''Now when Peter sat without in the palace and a damsel came unto him, saying. Thou also wast with Jesus of Galilee. But he denied before them all, saying, I know not what thou sayest. And when he was gone out into the porch, another maid saw him, and said unto them

Matthew:
:

This fellow was also with Jesus And again he denied with an oath, I do not know the man. And after a while came up to him they that stood by, and said to Peter, Surely thou also art one of them for thy speech bewrayeth thee. Then began he to curse and to
that
there.

were

of Nazareth.

swear, saying,
74)-

know

not the

man"

(xxvi, 69-

597

What

did Peter say to Jesus in regard to com-

pensation for his services? "Behold, we have forsaken

thee;

all,

and

followed

what

shall

we have

therefore?"

(Matthew

xix, 27).

What

request

was made by James and John?

Character and Teachings.

421

said unto him, Grant unto us one on thy right hand, and tlie other on thy left hand, in thy glory" (x, 37). This shows that self-aggrandizement inspired the actions of his followers then as it does today.

Mark:

'They
sit,

that

we may

598

What

John in the Gospel of John? ''There was leaning on Jesus' bosom one of his
is

said of

disciples

whom
disciple

"The

he loved" (xiii, 23). standing by whom he

[Jesus]

loved" (xix, 26).

"The other
2).

disciple

whom

Jesus loved" (xx,

Peter, turning about, seeth the disciple Jesus loved following; which also leaned This is the disciple on his breast at supper. which testifieth of these things, and wrote these

"Then

whom

things" (xxi, 20, 24).

If

the

Apostle

claimed by
Gospel, he

Christians

John wrote this Gospel, as and as declared in the

was

a vulgar egotist.

What
fixion
?

is

said

599 regarding the conduct of his

Apostles on

the

evening preceding the cruci-

Luke: "And there was also a strife among them, which of them should be accounted the
greatest" (xxii, 24). This was immediately after he had announced
his

speedy
if

betrayal

and

death

and

when

his

disciples,

sincere, must have manifested the

422

The

Christ.

is

deepest sadness and humility. If the Evangelist not a base calumniator the Apostles were a

set of heartless knaves.

600

When

the

Jews came

to arrest Jesus

what did
forsook

the disciples do?

Matthew:

"Then

all

the

disciples

him, and fled" (xxvi, 56). "And they all forsook him, ]\Iark:
(xiv, 50).

and

fled"

"All his friends [the Apostles] Justin says: stood aloof from him, having denied him" (Apol-

ogy

i,

50).

One
or the

scarcelv

knows which

to detest the more,

the treachery of Judas in betraying his Master,

imbecility

and cowardice

of

the other
it

apostles

who

took no measures to prevent forsook him in the hour of danger,

601
of the

who

and

What became

The New Testament,

part of the
first

Twelve Apostles? a portion of which

all

is

ad-

mitted to have been written as late as the latter

century and nearly

of
is

which
silent

was

really written in the second century,

regarding them.
St.

Christian martyrology records

their fates as follows

Peter was crucified, at his own request head downward, and buried in the Vatican at Rome.
St.

Andrew,

after

having been scourged seven

times upon his naked body, was crucified by the proconsul of Achaia.

Character and Teachings.

St.

423
in

James was beheaded by Herod Antipas

John was ''thrown

Palestine.
St.

into a cauldron of boil-

ing- oil"

by Domitian, but

God

''delivered him."

was scourged and crucified or hanged by the magistrates of Plierapolis. St. Bartholomew was put to death by a Roman governor in Armenia. St. Matthew suffered martyrdom at Naddabar
St. Philip

in

Ethiopia.

the

Thomas was shet to death with arrows by Brahmans in India. St. James the Less was thrown from the
St.
fell.

pinnacle of the temple at Jerusalem and dispatch-

ed with a club where he

St.

Simon

was

"crucified

and

buried"

in

Britain.
St.

Jude was "cruelly put to death" by the Magi

Matthias, the successor of Judas Iscarlot,
is
if

of Persia.
St.

Christian tradition

to be credited,
crucified,

was put
and

to

death

three

times,

stoned,

be-

headed.

Nothing can be more incredible than these

called traditions regarding the

so-

Twelve Apostles, the most of an empire where all religious

in

martyrdom of the them occurring in

sects enjoyed as

perfect religious freedom as the different sects do

America today.

Whatever opinion may be

en-

tertained respecting the existence of Jesus, the

Twelve Apostles belong

to the realm of mythol-

424
og-y,

The
Had
yet

Christ.
in-

and their alleged martyrdoms are pure

these

ventions.

men
the

really existed Christian

reliable notice

history at least
of

would contain some

all

them,

stories

relating

to

them, like the story of Peter at Rome, and John In the at Ephesus, are self-evident fictions. significant words of the eminent Dutch theologians. Dr.
*'A11

Kuenen, Dr. Gort and Dr. Hooykaas,

602

the Apostles disappear without a trace."

are Paul's teachings regarding
to touch a

What

woman
woman"

and marriage? "It is good for a man not

(i

Corinthians
for

vii^

i).

unmarried and widows, But I. It is good contain, let them marry; for it if they cannot is better to marry than to burn" (8, 9). ''Art thou loose from a wife? seek not a wife"
"I say therefore to the

them

if

they abide even as

(2/-).

unmarried careth for the things that belong to the Lord, how he may please the Lord but he that is married careth for the things that
"Pie that
is

are of the world,

how

he

may

please his wife.

a vir-

There
gin.

is

difference also

between a wife and

The unmarried woman

careth for the things

of the Lord, that she

spirit;

may be holy in body and but she that is married careth for the things of the world, how she may please her husin

band" (32-34). "So then he that giveth her

marriage doeth

Character and Teachings.

425

well; but he that giveth not in marriage doeth

better" (38).

"This coarse and insulting way of regarding women, as though they existed merely to be the safety-valves of men's passions, and that the best

men were above

Besant.

the temptation of loving them,

evils."

has been the source of unnumbered

Annie

''Wives, submit yourselves to your own husbands" (Colossians iii, 18). "As the church is subject unto Christ so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything" (Ephesians v, 24). "Let 3^our women keep silence in the churches, for it is not permitted unto them to speak, but they are commanded to be under obedience, as
also saith the law.
thing, let
it is

And

if

they will learn any-

them ask their husbands at home; for shame for a woman to speak in the church"

(i

Corinthians xiv, 34, 35).

"Let
tion" (i

women

learn in silence with

all

subjec-

Timothy ii, 11). "That she [woman] does not crouch today where St. Paul tried to bind her, she owes to the men who are grand and brave enough to ignore Helen St. Paul, and rise superior to his God."

Gardener.
603

Did Paul encourage learning? "The wisdom of this world is foolishness with God" (i Corinthians iii, 19).

426

The

Christ.
(viii,

"Knowledge puffcth up"

"If

i).

any man be ignorant

lest

let

him be ignorant"
you through

(xiv, 38).

"Beware

an}^

man
ii,

spoil

philosophy" (Colossians

8).

"The clergy, with a few honorable exceptions, have in all modern countries been the avowed enemies of the diffusion of knowledge, the danger of which to their own profession they, by a certam instinct, seem always to have perceived."
Buckle.

"We know
This
it

the clerical party

it is

an old party.

which has found for the truth those two marvelous supporters, ignorance and error. This it is which forbids to science and genius the going beyond the Missal and which wishes to Every step which cloister thought in dogmas. the intelligence of Europe has taken has been in
is

spite of

it.

Its history is written in the history

it is written on the back opposed to it all. This it is which caused Prinelli to be scourged for having This it is said that the stars would not fall. which put Campanella seven times to torture for saying that the number of worlds was infinite and for having caught a glimpse of the secret of creaThis it is which persecuted Harvey for tion. having proved the circulation of the blood. In the name of Jesus it shut uo Galileo. In the name of St. Paul it imprisoned Christopher Columbus. To discover a law of the heavens was an impiety,

of

human

progress, but
It
is

of the leaf.

Character and Teachings.

to find a

427

world was a heresy. This it is which anathematized Pascal in the name of religion, Montaigne in the name of morality, Moliere in

the
is

name

of both morality

and

religion.

There

not a poet, not an author, not a thinker, not a philosopher, that you accept. All that has been
written, found, dreamed, deduced, inspired, im-

agined, invented by genius, the treasures of

civili-

zation, the venerable inheritance of generations,

you reject." 'There is

parson."

Victor Hugo.

in every village a lighted torch, the schoolmaster; and a mouth to blow it out, the

Ibid.

604 admissions are made by Paul regarding his want of candor and honesty? "Being crafty, I caught you with guile" (2

What

Corinthians

xii, 16).

''Unto the Jews

became

as a Jew, that I
ix,

might

gain the Jews"

"I

(i
all

Corinthians
things to
all

20).
(22).

am made
if

men"

God hath more abounded through my He unto his glory, why yet am I also judged as a sinner?" (Romans iii, 7.)
"For
the truth of
"I robbed other churches, taking wages of them, to do you service" (2 Corinthians xi, 8). 605 What is said of the persecutions of Paul?

"And

Saul,

yet

breathing

out

threatenings

and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord, went unto the high priest, and desired of him

4^8
letters

The
to

Christ.
if

Damascus

to the synagogues, that

he found any of this way, whether they were men or women he might bring them bound unto

Jerusalem" (Acts ix, i, 2). This was Saul the Jew. "But there be some that trouble you, and would
pervert the gospel of Christ. ... If any man preach any other gospel than that ye have received, let him be accursed" (Galatians i, 7, 9).
'T

would they were even cut

(v,

off

which trouble

you"

12).

This was Paul the Christian. The leopard changed his name but did not change his spots.

The alleged cause of Paul's sudden conversion and the transference of his hatred from Christianity to Judaism may well be questioned. The story of the apparition will not account for it. A genuine change of belief is not usually effected suddenly. Men sometimes change their religion for gain or revenge. It has been charged that Paul twice changed his, the first time for the hope of gain, the second from a desire for revenge. The Ebionites, one of the earliest of the Christian sects, claimed that Paul was originally a
that becoming infatuated with the daughter of the high priest he became a convert to Judaism for the purpose of winning her for a wife, but being rejected, he renounced the Jewish faith and became a vehement opponent of
Gentile,

the

law,

the

Sabbath, and circumcision

(Epi-

Character and Teachings.

phanius Against Heresies, chapter xxx, 606

429
sec. 16).

What was
disciples?

Christ's

final

command
xiii,

to

his

"Love one another" (John

Christian
writers prate

34).

about brotherly love, and yet from the very beginning the church of Christ Christ has been filled with dissensions. himself quarreled with his apostles. Paul opposed the teachings of James (Galatians ii, 16-21) James condemned the teachings of Paul (ii, 20). Paul proclaimed himself the divinely appointed
apostle to the Gentiles:
;

'The gospel of the uncircumcision was committed unto me" (Galatians

Peter contended that the mission had been assigned to him: "And when there had been
ii,

7).

much

disputing,

Peter rose up, and said unto

them. Men and brethren, ye know how that a good while ago God made choice among us, that the Gentiles by my mouth should hear the word of
the gospel" (Acts xv, 7). Paul declared Peter to be a dissembler.

"But

when Peter was come

to Antioch, I withstood

him face to face, because he was to be blamed. For before that certain came frpm James, he did eat with Gentiles; but when they were come, he withdrew and separated himself, fearing them which were of the circumcision. And the other Jews dissembled likewise with him" (Galatians ii,
11-13)-

John denounced Paul as a

liar.

"Thou

hast

430
tried
not,

The

Christ.

them which say they are apostles, and are and hast found them liars" (Revelation ii, 2).
these seeds of dissension death has reap-

From

ed a bloody harvest.
nineteen hundred years

Dr. Talmage says:

"A

red line runs through church history for nearly

line of

blood

not by

hundreds, but by millions

we count

the slain."

Lord Byron says: "I am no Platonist; I am all. But I would sooner be a Paulician, Manichean, Spinozist, Gentile, Pyrrhonian, Zoroastrian, than one of the seventy-two villainnothing at

ous sects

who

are tearing each other to pieces for

the love of the Lord and hatred of each other."

607

Quote Paul's characterization of Christians. "Not many wise .... not many noble are
called" (i

Corinthians

i,

26).

"Base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen" (28). "We are made as the filth of the world, and
are the oflscouring of
all

things"

(iv, 13).

"We
What

are fools for Christ's sake" (10).

608
did Christ say respecting the intellectual

character of his converts?

"I thank thee,

Father, Lord of heaven and

earth, because thou hast hid these things

from the

wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes" (Matthew xi, 25; Luke x, 21).

Comm.enting on
sus,

this expression of thanks, Cel-

who

lived at the time the

Four Gospels made

Character and Teachings.

their appearance, says:

431

'This

is

one of their [the

learned,

man that is Christians'] prudent come among us but if wise, or

rules:

Let no

they be
freely

unlearned, or a child, or

an

idiot, let

him

come.
slaves,

So

they openly declare that none but the

ignorant,

and those devoid of understanding, women, and children, are fit disciples for

the

God they worship."

Concerning the Christian teachers of that age Celsus whites as follows: '*'You may see weavers, tailors, fullers,
tic

and the most

they can
get

illiterate of rus-

fellows,

who

dare not speak a

a

wise men, when

children and silly

women

tog^cther,

word before company of set up to teach

strange paradoxes

among them."
609

Whom

did Christ declare to be

among

the

first

to enter the

Kinp^dom of Heaven?

Harlots and thieves.

"The harlots go into the Kingdom of God before you" (Matthew xxi, ^t). "Today sha1t thou [the thief] be with me in paradise" (Luke xxlii. 43).
6to

What promise did he make to his followers? "In my Father's house are many mansions. go to prepare a place for you. And if I go
.

and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself" (John xiv, 2, 3).
"Christians believe themselves to be the aristocracy of heaven upon earth, they are admitted to

432

The

Christ.

the spiritual court, while millions of

men

in for

eign lands have never been presented.

their knees

They bow

and say they are 'miserable sinners,' and their hearts rankle with abominable pride. Their servility is real and Poor infatuated fools
I

their

insolence
their

is

real

but their king

is

is

a phan-

tom and
Reade.

palace

dream."

Winwood

The Holy Ghost is a myth. overshadowed the harlot Superstition; this Christ was born; and the Joseph of humanity, beguiled by the Gabriel of credulity, was induced to support the family. But the soldiers of Reason have crucified the illegitimote impostor; he is dead; and the ignorant disciples and hysterical women who still linger about the cross should take his body down and bury it
The
Christ
Priestcraft

CHAPTER

IX.

Cbe Christ a mvtb*

The conceptions regarding
the

nature

and

character of Christ, and the value of the Christian Scriptures as historical evidence, are

many, which are the following: Orthodox Christians believe that Christ is 1. a historical character, supernatural and divine; and that the New Testament narratives, which purport to give a record of his life and teachings,
chief of

contain nothing but infallible truth.

2.

Conservative Rationalists,

like

Renan, and

the Unitarians, believe that Jesus of Nazareth is a historical character and that these narratives, eliminating the supernatural elements, v/hich

they regard as myths, give a fairly authentic ac-

count of his
3.

life.

Many

radical

Freethinkers

believe

that

Christ is a myth, of which Jesus of Nazareth is the basis, but that these narratives are so legendary and contradictory as to be almost if

not wholly, unworthy of credit. Other Freethinkers believe 4.

Christ
is

a pure

myth
as

that

existence,

except

a
433

that Jesus he never had an Messianic idea, or an

imaginary solar

deity.

434

'^^^ Christ

The first of these conceptions must be rejected because the existence of such a being is impossible, and because the Bible narratives which support it are incredible. The second cannot be accepted because, outside of these incredible narOne ratives, there is no evidence to confirm it. of the two last is the only true and rational conception of the Christ.

Jesus Christ is a myth. But what do we understand by the term myth? Falsehood, fable, and myth, are usually considered synonymous terms. But a falsehood, a fable, and a myth, while they may all be fictions and equally untrue, are npt the

same.

falsehood

is

the ex-

pression of an untruth intended to deceive. fable is an avowed or implied fiction usually in-

tended to instruct or entertain. A myth is a falsehood, a fable, or an erroneous opinion, which eventually becomes an established belief. While a falsehood and a fable are intentional and im-

mediate expressions of fiction, a myth is, in most cases, an unconscious and gradual development
of one.

Myths
sophical,

are of three kinds:

Historical, Philo-

and Poetical.

to

Historical myth according to Strauss, and some extent I follow his language, is a real event colored by the light of antiquity, which

confounded the human and divine, the natural and the supernatural. The event may be but slightly colored and the narrative essentially true,

The
or
it

Christ a

Myth.
numberless

435
legends

may

be

distorted

and

attached until but a small residuum of truth remains and the narrative is essentially false. A
large portion of ancient history, including the
Biblical

narratives, are

historical

myths.

The

and of all religions "Nothing great has are more or less mythical. been established," says Renan, ''which does not rest on a legend. The only culprit in such cases is the humanity which is willing to be deceived." A Philosophical myth is an idea clothed in the dress of historical narrative. When a mere idea is personified and presented in the form of a man or a god it is called a pure myth. Many of the gods and heroes of antiquity are pure myths. John Fiske refers to a myth as "a piece of unscientific philosophizing," and this is a fairly good definition of the philosophical myth.
earliest records of all nations

A
and

Poetical

myth

is

a blending of the historical

by the creations of Homer and Hesiod, which were the religious text books of the ancient Greeks, and the poetical writings of the Bible, wh^'ch helped to form and foster the Semitic faiths of Judaism, Christianity, and Mophiloscp^.ical, embellished

of the imagination.

The poems

hammedanism, belong
It is

to this class.

if not impossible, to distinguish a historical from a philosophical myth. Hence the non-agreement of Freethinkers in re-

often difficult,

gard to the nature of the Christ myth.

a historical or a philosophical

Is Christ

myth?

Does an

436

The

Christ.

analysis of his alleged history disclose the deification of a

man, or merely the personification

hypothesis,
is,

of

an idea

The following

written

by Mrs.

Besant, of England,

to a considerable extent,

an epitome of the views of Strauss, who, in his masterly ''Leben Jesu," adopts the historical

myth:
''The

mythic
for

theory

accepts

an

historical

groundwork
but
it

many
it

of the stories about Jesus,

does not seek to explain the miraculous

into the natural.

by attenuating

...

It at-

tributes the incredible portions of the history to

the Messianic theories current

among

the Jews.

The Messiah would do

the Messiah
;

and that; Jesus was therefore, Jesus did this and that
this

such,
theory,

argue the supporters of the mythical

was

the

method

in

which the mythus was

developed .... Thus, Jesus is descended from David, because the Messiah was to come of David's lineage; his birth is announced by an angelic visitant, because the birth of the Messiah must not be less honored than that of Isaac or of Samson; he is born of a virgin, because God says of the Messiah, 'this day have t begotten thee,' implying the direct paternity of God, and
because the prophecy in Is. vii, 14, was applied to the Messiah by the later Jews born at Bethlehem, because there the Messiah was to be born (Micah v, 2) announced to shepherds, because
;

Moses was

visited

among

the flocks, and David

The

Christ a

Myth.

437

taken from the sheepfolds at Bethlehem; heralded by a star, because a star should arise out of Jacob (Num. xxiv, 17), and 'the Gentiles shall come to thy light' (Is. Ix, 3) worshiped by
;

Magi, because the star was seen by Balaam, the magus, and astrologers would be those who would most notice a star; presented with gifts by these Eastern sages, because kings of Arabia and Saba shall offer gifts (Ps. Ixxii, 10) saved from the destruction of the infants by a jealous
;

king, because Aloses, one of the great types of the Messiah, was so saved; flying into Egypt

and thence returning, because Israel, again a type of the Messiah, so fled and returned, and 'out of Egypt have I called my son' (Hos. xi, i) at
;

twelve years of age found in the temple, because the duties of the law devolved on the Jewish boy at that age, and where should the Messiah then be found save in his Father's temple? recognized at his baptism by a divine voice, to

hovered over by a dove, because i, 2) was regarded as dove-like, and the spirit was to be especially poured on the Messiah (Is. xlii, i) tempted by the devil to test him, because God tested his greatest servants, and would surely test the Messiah; fasting forty days in the wilderness, because the types of the Messiah Moses and
fulfil Is. xlri, I
;

the brooding spirit (Gen.

Elijah

thuj

fasted

in

the

desert;

healing

all

manner
(Is.

of disease, because
;

xxxv, 5-6)

Messiah was to heal preaching, because Messiah was

438
to preach
(Is.

The
Ixi,

Christ.

crucified, because the 1-2) Messiah were to be pierced mocked, because Messiah was to (Ps. xxii, 16) be mocked (lb. 6-8) his garments divided, because thus it was spoken of Messiah (lb. 18) silent before his judges, because Messiah was not to open his mouth (Is. Hii, 7) buried by the rich, because Messiah was thus to find his grave rising again, because Messiah could not (lb. 9) be left in hell (Ps. xvi, 10) sitting at God's right hand, because there Messiah was to sit as king (Ps. ex, i). Thus the form of the Messiah was cast, and all that had to be done was to pour
;

hands and

feet of
;

in the

human

metal; those

who

alleged that the

Messiah had come in the person of Jesus of Nazareth, adapted his story to the story of the Messiah, pouring the history of Jesus into the mould already made for the Messiah, and thus the mythus was transformed into a history."

The foregoing
tions, is

theory, with various modificaaccepted by a majority of Freethinkers

that Christ

at the present time.

The hypothesis

is

a philosophical

myth, based, like the preceding one, upon the Messianic idea, is thus presented by T. B. Wake-

man

"Never was there an example of a word becoming a believed person, under this law of materialization, more plainly and evolutionally than the 'Messiah' and 'Son of Man' of the Hebrew prophecies. The Christ, 'Jesus,' was no man,
. . .

The

Christ a

Myth.

439
vis-

for the reason that he

ionated into this world and Hfe to do a

it

was prophesied and work

suppose a
killed,

that

would be

utterly absurd to

man
and

could ever do. could easily

kill,

The Romans had

every

man who had

tried to

resist their oppression.

Now

the

God Yahweh

by

his 'eternally begotten son,' spiritized as the

'Son of Man,' that is the 'Soul of the State,' as Shakespeare makes Ulysses say it, must, in order to be of any avail appear with supernatural powers. He was the personified people, Israel;

he had been crucified alive, in their subjection and massacre even to the death and Hades. But by supernatural power he, the Israel, would rise again and bring the final judgment backed by the infinite power of the nation's Father, Yahweh. It was only a Spirit-God who could do

nothing less could be originated, or thought of, or provided, for such a superhuman purpose. A person, a man, a
this

reformer,
heart in

weak
!

edition

of

Socrates,
!

or

Sa-

vonarola or Bruno
its

How

absurd

The human

its imagination, brought world to do a God's work. 'No man,' said Napoleon; 'nor a God,' says Science, except the idea. Such it was that finally united the millions of Asia, Africa, Europe, and Ameri-

despair by

God

into the

ca, in a

to be

dream so intoxicating that it dares not awakened though the dawn of Science is

here."

Mr.

Wakeman

argues that the silence of his-

440

The

Christ.

tory for one hundred years after the alleged appearance of Christ can be explained only upon
this

hypothesis of an ideal Christ.

To

this the

advocate of the historical mythus may, I think, very properly reply: Histor}^, for the most part, takes cognizance only of noted men and important events; and while this silence precludes the existence of the supernatural Christ of Christians, and even that of the human Jesus of Renan, it does not necessarily preclude the existence of an obscure religious teacher and an insignificant sect which subsequently, by a chain of fortuitous circumstances, became the mightiest

among the religions of the world. Again, this hypothesis presupposes a consid-

erable degree of intellectuality on the part of

those
ligion

who
as

evolved this ideal Christ, while tradigrossly

ignorant.

tion represents the founders of the Christian re-

Had

this

Christ

originally sprung

from the Hellenistic Jews of intellectual Alexandria instead of from the Jewish- dregs of illiterate Galilee, Mr. Wakeman's theory would appeal with surprising force. Still it must be admitted that some of the earliest
Christian sects denied the material existence of
Christ.

Another philosophical hypothesis, the astronomical, which regards Christ as a solar myth,
is

advanced by Volney. "These mythological traditions recounterl that, 'in the beginning, a woman and a man had, by

The
their
fall,

Christ a
into

Myth.
the

441
sin

introduced

world

and
fact

misery.'

"By
that

this

was

denoted the
virgin
heliacally

astronomical
the the

the

celestial

and
at

(Bootes), by

setting

herdsman autumnal

equinox, delivered the world to the wintry constellations,

and seemed, on

falling

below the horigenius

zon,
evil

to

introduce into the world the

of

(Ahrimanes), represented by the constel2ation

of the serpent.

"These traditions related that the

decoyed and seduced the man.
**And, in fact, the virgin setting

woman had
seems
to

first

draw

the

herdsman

after her.

'That the

woman

fruit fair to the sight,

tempted him by offering him and good to eat, which gave

evil.

the knowledge of good and

"And,

in

fact,

the virgin holds in her

hand

branch of fruit which she seems to offer to the herdsman; and the branch, emblem of autumn,
placed in the picture of Mithra between winter and

summer seems
"That
celestial

to

open the door and give knowledge,

evil.

the key to good and

this

couple had

been

driven

from the
it.

garden, and that a cherub with a flam-

ing sword had been placed at the gate to guard

"And,

in

fact,

when

the virgin and the herds-

fall beneath the western horizon, Perseus on the other side; and this genius, with a sword in his hand, seems to drive them from the

man

rises

442
summer
fruits

The
heaven,
the

Christ
garden

and

dominion

of

and flowers. 'That of the virgin should be born, spring up, an offspring, a child, who should bruise the head
of the serpent, and deliver the world from sin. 'This denotes the sun, which, at the moment of
die

winter

solstice,

precisely

when

the

Persian

magi drew the horoscope of the new year, was placed on the bosom of the virgin, rising heliacally On this account he was in the eastern horizon. figured in their astrological pictures under the form of a child suckled by a chaste virgin, and be-

came afterward,

at the

vernal equinox, the ram,

or lamb, triumphant over the constellation of the serpent, which disappeared from the skies.

"That,
celestial

in his infancy, the restorer

of divine and

nature would

live abased,

humble, obscure
abased below
scarcity,

and indigent.

"And

this,

because the winter sun

first

is

the horizon and that this

period of his four

ages or seasons
fasting and want.

is

a time of obscurity,

by the wicked, he had had reascended from hell to heaven, where he would reign forever. 'This is a sketch of the life of the sun, who,

'That being put

to death

risen gloriously; that he

finishing

his

career

at

the winter

solstice,

when

Typhon and

the rebel angels gain

;

the dominion,

seems to be put to death by them but who soon after is born again, and rises into the vault of
heaven, where he reigns."

The

Christ a

Myth.

443

Count Volney's portraiture of the second member of the Christian godhead is, for the most part, Numerous other analogies between him accurate. and the ancient sun gods might be named.
It
is

the behef of

many, however, that these

Christ
are
later

solar

attributes

of

accretions

borrowed by the Pagan religions which it supplanted. While all Freethinkers are agreed that the Christ of the New Testament is a myth they are not, as we have seen, and perhaps never will be, fully
agreed as to the nature of
that he
is

Roman

Catholic church from the

this
;

myth.

Some
is

believe

a historical

myth

others that he

a pure

myth.
the
tions

Some

believe that Jesus, a real person,

was

germ of

man
fully

this Christ whom gradually evolved; others contend that the Jesus, as well as the Christ, is wholly a

subsequent genera-

creation of the

human

imagination.

After carein sup-

weighing the evidence and arguments

expressing a
is

port of each hypothesis the writer, while refraining from

garding either,

dogmatic affirmation recompelled to accept the former

8& the more probable.

CHAPTER

X.
Rclfgiotis*
to

Sources Of the bri$t mytb-Hncicnt

Christ and
the
religion

he

is

said

have

founded are composite products,

made

up, to a

great extent, of the attributes, the doctrines, and the customs of the gods and the reHgions which

preceded them and existed around them.

Christian believes that Christ
his
father,
is

The

coexistent with

Jehovah

that

the foundations of the world.

he has existed from This is in a meas-

ure true. The years that have elapsed since his alleged incarnation are few compared with the
years of his gestation in the intellectual
of humanity.

womb

understand the origin and nature of Christ and Christianity it is necessary to know something of the religious systems and doctrines from

To

which they were evolved. The following, some in a large and others in but a small degree, contributed to mold this supposed divine incarnation and inspire this supposed revelation: i. Na2. Solar Worship. ture or Sex Worship. 3. Worship of the Elements Astral Worship. 4. and Forces of Nature. 5. Worship of Animals and Plants. 6. Fetichism. 7. Polytheism. 8
444

Sources of the Christ Myth.

445
10.

Monotheism.

9.

The
ii.

Mediatorial

Idea.
12.

The Messianic
Perfect Man.
I.

Idea.

The Logos.

The

Nature or Sex Worship. and worship of the procreative organs and the generative principles of life is one of the oldest and one of the most universal of religions. It has been called the foundation of all religions. In some nations the worship of the male energy, Phallic worship, predominated in others the worship of the female energy, Yoni worship, prevailed. But in all both elements were recognized. Mrs. Besant says ''Womanhood has been worshiped in all ages of the world, and maternity has been deified by all creeds from the savage who bowed before the female symbol of motherhood, to the philosophic Comtist who adores woman 'in the past, the present, and the future,' as mother, wife, and daughter, the worship of the female element in nature has run side by side with that of the male the worship is one and the same in all religions, and runs in an unbroken thread from the barbarous ages to the present time." Among the life generating gods may be named Vishnu, Osiris, Zeus, Priapus, Adonis, Bacchus, Saturn, Apollo, Baal, Moloch, and Jehovah. Among the receptive life producing goddesses were Isis, Rhea, Ceres, Venus, Istar^ Astarte, Where the Aschera, Devaki, Eve, and Mary. worship of the female element largely prevailed

The

deification

446

The

Christ.
a favorite deity.
Isis

the Virgin and Child

was

and Horus, Rhea and Ouirinus, Leto and Apollo, Devaki and Krishna, Mary and Christ, all had their inception in the sex worship of primitive man. The symbol of Phallic worship, the cross, has

become
the

the

emblem
India,

of

Christianity.
:

quote
find

again from our English authoress

cross
mi

"We

Egypt, Thibet, Japan, always as the sign of life-giving power; it was worn as an amulet by girls and women, and seems to have been specially worn by the women attached to the temples [sacred prostitutes], as a symbol of what was, to them, a religious calling. The cross is, in fact, nothing but the refined phallus, and in the Christian religion is a
significant

emblem

of its

adored, carved in temples, and

fore there

Pagan origin worn as

it

was
be-

a sacred

emblem by sun and nature worshipers, long

were any Christians to adore, carve, and wear it. The crowd kneeling before the cross in Roman Catholic and in High Anglican churches is a simple reproduction of the crowd

who

knelt before
girls

it

in the

temples of ancient days,

and the

who wear

it

amongst ourselves are

its

in

the most innocent unconsciousness of

real significance

exactly copying the Indian and

Egyptian women of an elder time." The "American Cyclopedia" says: "The crux ansata, so common on Egyptian monuments, symbolizes the union of the active and passive

Sources of the Christ Myth.

principles

447

of nature. In the Etruscan tombs have been found crosses of four phalli." Regarding this subject, McClintock and Strong's "Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature," a standard orthodox

Christian authority, says

is

"The

sign of the cross

several ancient

found as a holy symbol

among

Sometimes it is the phallus" (Art. Cross). The same authority says that the Tau or sign of life (one form of the Phallic cross) "was adopted by some of the early Chrisnations
tians in
lieu

....

of the cross

Christian inthis

scriptions at the great oasis are

;

headed by

symbol it has been found on Christian monuments at Rome" (Art. Egypt). Dr. Thomas Inman, of England, one of the foremost authorities on ancient symbolism, says "It has been reserved for Christian art to crowd our churches with the emblems of Bel and Astarte, Baalim and Ashtoreth, linga and yoni, and
to elevate the phallus to the position of the su-

preme

deity"

(Ancient
p.

Pagan
16).

and

Modern

Christian Symbolism,
priests,

Describing the chasuble, worn by Christian

Dr.

Inman

says

"Its

form

is

that of

the vesica piscis, one of the most

common em-

blems of the yoni. It is adorned by the Triad. When worn by the priest, he forms the male element, and with the chasuble completes the sacred four. When worshiping the ancient goddesses,

whom Mary

has displaced, the officiating

448

The

Christ.

ministers clothed themselves in feminine attire. Hence the use of the chemise, etc. Even the

tonsured head, adopted from the priests of the

Egyptian

Isis,

represents 'I'anncau'

so that on

head, shoulders, breast and body, we may see on Christian priests the relics of the v^orship of

How horVenus, and the adoration of woman rible all this would sound if, instead of using veiled language, we had employed vulgar words. The idea of a man adorning himself, when ministering before God and the people, with the effigies of those parts which nature as well as
!

civilization teaches us to conceal,

ply disgusting, but

when

all

is

said to be

would be simmys-

terious and connected with hidden signification,

almost everybody tolerates and many eulogize or admire it!" (Ibid, p. 104). Westropp and Wake, in their "Ancient Symbol Worship," state that Judaism and Christianity have been largely derived from Phallic worship.
its

Westropp says

''Circumcision

inception a purely Phallic ordinance."

was in Our

Christian marriage ceremonies, he says, are relics

of this worship.

Wake

says

*Tn the recogni-

tion of

God

as the

universal father, the great

Parent of mankind, there is a development of the fundamental idea of Phallism. In the position assigned to ^lary as the mother of God the

paramount principle
again predominant.
the cross, the
fish,

of

the

primitive

belief

is

The nimbus,

the aureole,

and even the spires of church-

Sources of the Christ Myth.

es,

449

are symbols retained from

the old Phallic

worship."
Dr. Alexander Wilder says
fast or festival, procession or
:

''There is not n sacrament, sociai

custom or religious symbol, existing at the present day which has not been taken bodily from Phallism, or from some successive system of Paganism." Aschera, the voluptuous goddess of fertility, was a Hebrew goddess and was worshiped, along
with Jehovah, in the temple itself at Jerusalem. Jules Soury, of France, in his "Religion of Israel" ''Under the kings of Judah and (p. 68), says:

symbol of Aschera [the phallus] became an object of general piety which was found in every house. Thus in the provinces of France, we still find gigantic crosses on the high roads, on the crossways of the woods which serve as
Israel, the

resting places at the Fete Dieu, while, under the porches of churches, vendors of religious toys
still

sell

little

Christs in

wood

or metal for a
of Israel, the

few half-pence.

The

rich

women

bourgeoises of Jerusalem, wore the symbols of Aschera in gold and silver, a sort of medals of
the

Virgin of the

time,

which were

jewels and objects of devotion."

at once Dulaure, an-

other French author,

of

tells

us that the worship

Priapus, the god of procreation, under the

of St. Fontin, with rites of the

name

most

in-

delicate

character,
in several

prevailed

in

the

Catholic

church

provinces of France and Italy

450

The

Christ.

up to the middle of the eighteenth century, of

later.

The sex worship

ern Asia had
its

of the Semitic tribes of

it

West-

origin,

is

believed, in India,

where, under the name of Sakti worship, it prevails today, three-fourth of the Hindoos, it is claimed, belonging to this sect. The worship is thus described by the "Encyclopedia Britannica's" chief authority on the subject, Prof. H. H. Wilson "The ceremonies are mostly gone through in a mixed society, the Sakti being personified by a naked female, to whom meat and wine are offered and then distributed amongst the company. These eat and drink alternately with gesticulations and mantras and when
:

the religious part of the business

a wild orgy."

is

over, the

males and females rush together and indulge in

The foregoing
of the Agapae, or

is

Love Feasts,

almost an exact description as they were ob-

in the early Christian church. Associated with the worship of Ascjicra and other goddesses of this character was what is

served for a time

known women,

as

sacred

prostitution.

Thousands

of

the fairest and best bred of their race,

and also men

(sodomites),

selves for the support of their religion.

Clark Ridpath, in his

for centuries

themJohn "History of the World,"

prostituted
It

dwells upon this institution.

was practiced

among

the Hebrews, constituting

a part of the temple worship, the Jewish kings,

Sources of the Christ Myth.

451

with the exception of a few, like Hezekiah and Solomon's temple was sanctioning it. Before it stood two largely a Pagan temple. Phallic pillars, while its doors were ornamented with symbols of Phallic and Solar worship. SoloJosiah,

mon

worshiped,
Astarte
(i

in

addition

to

other
the

Pagan

deities,

(Ashtoreth),
xi,
5,

Sidonian

Aschera

Kings,

7).
it,

The

pietistic wri-

but in spite of a few spasmodic efforts to suppress the worship, it continued to flourish until long after the Captivity. From Soury's account of the sanctified
ters of the Bible

condemn

prostitution of Israel

quote

the

following:

'The tents of the sacred prostitutes were generally erected on the 'high places,' where sacrifices were offered, beside the tablet of Baal or lahveh [Jehovah] and the symbol of Aschera
iv, 17).

Ezekiel xxiii, 14; Hosea 7, et seq. These tents were woven and ornamented with figures by the priestesses of Aschera.
(Isaiah
Ivii,
;

Robed in splendid garments, their tresses dripping with perfumes, their cheeks painted with vermilion, their eyes black-circled with antimony, their eyelashes lengthened with a compound of gums, musk and ebony, the priestesses awaited the worshipers of the goddess within these tents (Numbers xxv, 8) on spacious beds they fixed their own price and (Isaiah Ivii, 8) conditions, and poured the money into the treasury of the temple" (Religion of Israel, p. 71). After describing the temple of Zarpanit, which
;

452

The

Christ.

was furnished with cells for the use of the Baby"Cells of the lonian women, Dr. Soury says: same kind, serving the same purpose, existed
at Jerusalem in the very temple of Jehovah, wherein Aschera had her symbol and was ador"Prostitutes," says this wried" (Ibid 72). ter, "were of both sexes. The men were called kedeschim, the women kedeschoth that is 'holy, vowed, consecrated.' Deuteronomy bears witness that both the one and the other brought

the hire of their prostitution into the treasury of

This paid in part the the temple of Jehovah. expenses of w^orship at Jerusalem" (lb. 73). "If then, in Hebrew law and practice," says
Dr. Inman,

"we

find

such a strong infusion of

surprised
if

the sexual element,

we cannot be

it

should be found elsewhere, and gradually influence Christianity" (Ancient Symbolism).

"The worship
the
votaries

of

God
each

edly clashed with that of

of

Father has repeatthe Mother, and respectively have worn

the

God

badges characteristic of the sex of their deity

Our

sexual sections are as well marked as those

Jerusalem, which swore by Jehovah and Ashtoreth respectively" (Ibid).

in ancient
It
is

well

known

that

religious prostitution

has been practiced in some form by Christ's devotees from the earliest ages of the church

down
dle

to the present time.

ages,

Lecky,
:

the

morals, says

"We

Writing of the midof European may not lay much stress on

historian

Sources of the Christ Myth.

453

such isolated instances of depravity as that of

Pope John XXIIL, who was condemned, among

rjany other crimes^ for incest and adultery
;

or

the abbot-elect of St. Augustine, at Canterbury,

in 1 171 was found, on investigation, to have seventeen illegitimate children in a single village or an abbot of St. Pelayo, in Spain, who in 1 130 was proved to have kept no less than seventy concubines; or Henry III., Bishop of Liege, who was deposed in 1274 for having six;

who

ty-five illegitimate children

but

it

is

impossible

to resist the evidence of a long chain of

cils

Councon-

and

ecclesiastical
far

writers,
evils

who

conspire in

depicting

greater

than

simple

cubinage ages are

like

....
full of

The

writers of the middle

brothels,

of

accounts of nunneries that were the vast multitude of infan-

ticides within their walls,

and of that inveterate

prevalence of incest among the clergy, which rendered it necessary again and again to issue
the

most stringent enactments that priests should not be permitted to live with their mothers or sisters" (History of European Morals, Vol. H,
p.

331).

For centuries the worship of the Virgin Mary, the Christian goddess of reproduction and motherhood, was supreme the worship of God and Christ being subordinated to it. During
;

these centuries,

Hallam

tells

us,

chastity

was
igit

almost unknown. In every land, every class nored the seventh commandment, because

454

The

Christ.
that
all

was taught and believed

lam
cites

offenses of this

character were condoned by the Virgin.

Hal-

numerous instances
practices.

of her alleged in-

terventions in behalf of those

illegitimate

who

indulged in

is one *Tn one tale the Virgin takes the shape of a nun, who had eloped from the convent, and performs her duties ten years, till, tired of a libertine
life,

The following

she returns unsuspected.

This was

in

con-

sideration of her having never omitted to say

an Ave as she passed the Virgin's image" (Middle Ages, p. 604).

Christian chivalry, so

much lauded

in

our day,

was simply
characterizes
says, indicate

a
it

form of sex worship.

as

Hallam

unbridled libertinism.

The

writings of that age, like those of Boccaccio, he

"a.

general dissoluteness in the in.

.

tercourse of the sexes.

The
for

violation of

marriage vows passes

p. 666).

in

them

an incontest-

able privilege of the brave and the fair" (Ibid,

were Venus. **Some of the modes of atonement which the church most approved, were particularly hostile
to the shrines of saints
to

Holy pilgrimages

usually

pilgrimages

the

shrine

of

to public morals.

None was

so usual as pilgrim-

age
of

whether

to

Jerusalem or Rome, which were

saint, a

the great objects of devotion, or to the shrine

some national
David, or a

James
Becket.

of Compostella,

This licensed vagrancy was naturally productive of dissolute-

Thomas

Sources of the Christ Myth.

ness, especially
lish

455

among

the

women.

Our Engthe spiritual

ladies, in their zeal to obtain

treasures of

Rome,

are said to have relaxed the

necessary caution about one that was in their

own custody" The prelates

ble,

(lb., p.

607).

of the church, being equally culpa-

winked

at

the licentiousness of the lower

orders of the clergy.

'Tn every country," says

Hallam,

''the

secular and parochial clergy kept

of intercourse,

women
of their

in their houses,

knowledged terms

upon more or less acby a connivance

(lb.,
p.

ecclesiastical

superiors"

353).

"A

writer of respectable authority asserts that

the clergy frequently obtained a bishop's license

with a mate" (lb., p. 354). Another form of "sanctified" sexual indulgence, and which received the sanction of the church, was what is known as Marquette. Concerning this custom Mrs. Matilda Joslyn Gage, in her "The law "Woman, Church and State," says
to cohabit
:

known

Marchetta, or Marquette, compelled newly-married women to a most dishonorable

as

They were regarded as the rightful servitude. prey of the Feudal Lord from one to three days after their marriage, and from this custom the eldest son of the serf was held as the son of Marquette was claimed by the the Lord.
. .
.

Lord's Spiritual, as well as by the Lord's Temporal. The Church, indeed, was the bulwark oi
this base feudal claim."

This

is

affirmed by the

French

historian,

Michelet.

He

says:

"The

45
lords
spiritual

The
(clergy)

Christ.

had

this

right no

less

The parson, being a than the lords temporal. lord, expressly claimed the first fruits of the
bride" (La Sorcerie,
ity
p. 62).

The brazen lewdness

exists,
triot,

of medieval

Christianit

has been driven into privacy.

But
:

still

and

it

is

still

religious.

The

Italian pa-

Garibaldi, bears this testimony

"In Rome,
I was Without a

in

1849, I rnyself visited ev^ry convent.

at
all

present
single
ture,

the

investigations.

instruments of torwith the bodies of infant Referring to the priests connected children." with certain convents. Dr. Inman says "Their

exception

we found

and a

cellar

was to instruct their victims that whatever was said or done must be accompanied by a pious sentence. Thus, 'I love you dearly' was a profane expression; but *I desire your company in the name of Jesus,' and 'I embrace in you the Holy Virgin,' was orthodox."
practice

Protestant readers, generally, will accept this testimony as true of Catholic countries. But have Protestant countries a purer record? Lecky, classed as a Protestant historian, says: "The two countries which are most thoroughly pervaded by Protestant theology are probably

Scotland and Sweden; and

morality by the
fective test that
is

if we measure their common though somewhat de-

furnished by the
is

illegitimate births, the first

well

number of known to be

considerably below the average morality of Eu-

Sources of the Christ Myth.

457

ropean nations, while the second, in this as in general criminality, has been pronounced by a

very able and impartial Protestant witness, who has had the fullest means of judging, to be very far below every other Christian nation" (European Morals, Vol. I, p. 391). The religion of Christ as it exists today is not only in its external forms, but in its very essence, largely a survival of the nature worship of old. That it is closely allied to it is admitted by Christian ministers themselves. The Rev.
Frederick Robertson says
:

'The devotional

feel-

ings are often singularly allied to the animal naThey conduct the unconscious victim of ture.
feelings that appear divine, into a state of
life

at which the world stands aghast; fanaticism is always united with either excessive lewdness or desperate asceticism" (Essays). The Rev. S. Baring-Gould, in "Freaks of Fanaticism," says: 'The religious passion verges so closely on the sexual passion that a slight additional pressure

given to it bursts the partition, and both are conThe fused in a frenzy of religious debauch."

Rev. J. H. Noyes says: ''Religious love is a very near neighbor to sex love, and they always get mixed in the intimacies and social excitement
of [religious] revivals."

Solar Worship. Scarcely less prevalent than sex worship was the worship of the sun. While sex worship was
2.

confined chiefly to the generation of

human

life,

458

The

Christ.

sun worship comprehended the generation of all The sun was recognized as the generative power of the universe. He overshadows the receptive earth from whom all life is born. I quote from M. Soury: "Amid all these forces, the mightiest is, without contradiction, the sun, the fire of heaven, father of earthly fire, unique and supreme cause of motion and life on our planet. There is no need or reason to understand that the very life, and as it were the blood of our
life.

celestial father flows in the veins of the Earth,

our mother. In the time of love, when the luminous heaven embraces her, from her fertilized

womb
ers

springs forth a world.

It is

she

who

quiv-

on the plains where the soft moist air waves gently on the grasses it is she who climbs in
;

the bush,

who

soars in the oak,

who

fills

the

solitude with the joyous twitter of birds beneath

the cloudlet, or from the leaf-lined nests

she

it

is

who

in seas
in

and

in

running waters, or moungorgeous male

every
in

tains

and

woods, couples the

life.

with the ardent female, throbs

loves in every
this

bosom,

But

all this terrestrial life, all

warmth and all this light are but effluents from the sun." (Religion of Israel, pp. 3, 4.) Prof. Tyndall says "We are no longer in a poetical but in a purely mechanical sense, the children of the sun." "The sun," said Napoleon Bonaparte, "gives all things life and fertility. It
:

is

the true

God

of the earth."

John

Newton,

M.R.C.S.,

of England,

says.

Sources of the Christ Myth.

459

sun, that 'god of this world/ the and light to our earth, was early adored, and an effigy thereof used as a symbol. Mankind watched with rapture its rays gain

"The glorious
life

source of

strength daily in the Spring, until the golden

glories
of

Midsummer had

arrived,

when

the

earth

was bathed during the longest days

in his

beams, which ripened the fruits that his returning course had started into life. When the sun once more began its course downwards to the winter solstice, his votaries sorrowed, for he seemed to sicken and grow paler at the advent of December, when his rays scarcely reached the earth, and all nature, benumbed and cold, sunk Hence feasts and fasts into a death-like sleep.

were instituted to mark the commencement of the various phases of the solar year, which have continued from the earliest known period, under various names, to our own times" (The Assyrian Grove) The most prominent deities in the pantheons of the gods were solar deities. Among these were
Vishnu, Mithra, Apollo, Hercules, Adonis, Bacchus, and Baal. In the worship of some of these gods sex and solar worship were united. The early Israelites were mostly sun worshipAnd even in later times, the sun god, Baal, ers. divided with Jehovah the worship of the Jews.
Osiris,

Saul, Jonathan, and

in
. .

David named their children honor of this god. "Saul begat Jonathan, and Esh-baal. And the son of Jonathan was
.

46o
Merib-baal"
(i

The
Chron.

Christ.
viii,

33.34)-

David named

"Baal Knows," Solomon's worship included (i Chron. xiv, 7). not merely the worship of Jehovah, but that of Baal and other gods. His temple was filled with
his last son, save one, Beeliada,

Pagan ornaments and emblems pertaining to solar worship. Regarding this the Rev. Dr. Oort ''Solomon's temple had much of Holland says:
in

common

modifications

temple for

heathen edifices, and slight might have made it a suitable Baal. This need not surprise us, for
with

the ancient religion of the Israelitish tribes was itself a form of Nature-worship just as much aS the
religions

of

the

Canaanites,

Phenicians,

and other surrounding peoples were. Most of the Israelites certainly saw no harm in these ornaments, since they were not aware of any very great difference between the character of Yahweh [Jehovah] and that of Baal, Astarte, or Moloch" (Bible for Learners, vol. ii, p. 88). Long after the time of Solomon the horses and chariots of the Sun were kept in the temple (2
Philistines,

Kings xxiii, 11). Many of the stories concerning Moses, Joshua, Jonah, and other Bible characSamson was a sun god. ters are solar myths. "Sun-worship was by no means Dr. Oort says unknown to the Israelites .... The mythg that were circulated among these people show that they were zealous worshipers of the sun. These myths are still preserved, but, as in all
:

other cases, they are so

much

altered as to be

Sources of the Christ Myth.

461

hardly recognizable. The writer who has preserved them for us lived at a time when the worHe ship of the sun had long ago died out. transforms the sun god into an Israelite hero

[Samson]" (Ibid
lieved that

i,

p.

414).

St.

Augustine be-

Samson and

the sun god Hercules

were one.
Charles Francois Dupuis, in his "Origin of Worship," one of the most elaborate and remarkable works on mythology ever penned, shows
that nearly
all

the religions of the world, includ-

ing Christianity, were derived largely from solar

worship.

All the solar deities, he say, have a

history.

common

This history, summarized, is ''The god is born about December 25th, without sexual intercourse, for the sun, entering the winter solstice, emerges in His the sign of Virgo, the heavenly Virgin. mother remains ever-virgin, since the rays of the sun, passing through the zodiacal sign, leave it His infancy is begirt with dangers, beintact. cause the new-born Sun is feeble in the midst of
substantially as follows
:

the winter's fogs and mists, which threaten to

devour him minating at gle with the the day and

his life is

one of

toil

and

peril, cul-

the spring equinox in a final strug-

powers

of darkness.

At

that period

night are equal, and both fight for

the mastery.

Though the night veil the Sun and he seems dead; though he has descended out of sight, below the earth, yet he rises again triumphant, and he
rises in the sign of the

Lamb,

462 and

The

Christ.

is thus the Lamb of God, carrying away the darkness and death of the winter months. Henceforth he t^-iumphs, growing ever stronger and

more
self

brilHant.

He

there he glows, on the right

ascends into the zenith, and hand of God, him-

God, the very substance of the Father, the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, upholding all things by his lifegiving power."
Dr. G.
Oriental

W. Brown,
History,"

author of "Researches
''Strange
as
it

in

says:

may

seem, whilst Mithras and Osiris, Dionysos and Bacchus, Apollo and Serapis, with many others [including Christ] in name, all masculine sun
gods, and all interblended, a knowledge of one is generally a knowledge of the whole, wherever lo-

cated or worshiped." If Christ was not originally a solar god he wears today the livery of one. His mother, the
Virgin,

was the mother

is
;

of the solar gods; his

birthday, Christmas,

the birthday of

all

the

gods of the sun his Twelve Apostles correspond to the twelve signs of the Zodiac; according to the Gospels, at his crucifixion the sun was eclipsed, he expired toward sunset, and rose again with the sun; the day appointed for his worship, the Lord's day, is the die solis, Sunday, of the sun worshipers; while the principal feasts observed in memory of him were once ob-

of the

"Every detail served in honor of their gods. Sun myth," says the noted astronomer,

Sources of the Christ Myth.

Richard A. Proctor,
"is

463

worked

into the record of

the Galilean teacher.'*

The
lic
fix,

worship.

we have seen was a symbol of PhalThe cross, and especially the cruciwas also an emblem of solar worship. It
cross

or painted on, or within, a circle representing the horizon, the head and feet and the outstretched arms of the sacrificial offering

was carved

or crucified

quarters of the horizon.

served in

Redeemer pointing toward the four The Lord's Supper, obmemory of Christ, was observed in

memory of Mithra, Bacchus, and other solar gods. The nimbus, or aureola, surrounding the
head of Jesus
of the sun. of the sun
It

in his portraits represents the rays

was thus
the

that the ancient adorers

efiigies

adorned

of

their

god.

There

still

exists a pillar erected

by the sun wor-

On this pillar is carved the sun god, Baal, with a nimbus encircling his head. The Christian doctrine of the resurrection had its origin in sun worship. As the sun, the Father, rose from the dead, so it was believed that his earthly children would also rise from the dead. *'The daily disappearance and the subsequent rise of the sun," says Newton, "appeared to many
shipers of Carthage.
of the ancients as a true resurrection
;

thus, while

the east
light

came to be regarded as the source of and warmth, happiness and glory, the west
chill, decay and This led to the custom of burying the

was associated with darkness and

death.

dead so as to face the east when they rose again,

464

The

Christ

and of building temples and shrines with an opening toward the east. To effect this, Vitruvius, two thousand years ago, gave precise rules, which are still followed by Christian architects."
Mueller, in his "Origin of Religion," (pp. "People wonder why so much 200, 201), says: of the old mythology, the daily talk, of the Ary-

Max

ans was solar: what else could it have been? The names of the sun are endless and so are his stories but who he was, whence he came and
;

whither he went, remained a mystery from beginMan looked up to the sun, ning to end yearning for the response of a soul, and though that response never came, though his senses recoiled, dazzled and blinded by an effulgence which he could not support, yet he never doubt.
.

ed that the invisible was there, and that, where his senses failed him, where he could neither grasp nor comprehend, he might still shut his eyes and trust, fall down and worship." This worship of old survives in the worship
of -today.
limits

A knowledge of the location, the and the nature of the sun has gradually convinced the world that this is not God's dwelling place but somewhere in the infinite expanse of the blue beyond they fancy he has his throne. To this imaginary being is rendered the same adoration that was rendered to him by primitive
;

man the

adoration of childish ignorance.

3.

Astral Worship.

The worship

of the planets

and

stars

was prob-

Sources of the Christ Myth.

465

ably a later development than sex and solar worship. It flourished for a time in nearly every part
of the world,

and
it.

left its

impress on the religions

that succeeded

In Chaldea, one of the principal sources of Judaism and Christianity, the worship of the stars
prevailed.

aspirations for
ers,

"In their quote from Dr. Ridpath communion with the higher powthe yearning of the ancient Chaldeans turned
I
:

upwards

to the planets

and the

stars.

The

hori-

zon of the Babylonian plain was uniform and boundless. It was the heaven above rather than the earth beneath, which exhibited variety and life. The Zodiac was ever new with its brilliant Through the clear atmosphere the evolutions. tracks of the shining orbs could be traced in every phase and transposition. With each dawn of morning light, with each recurrence of the evening twilight, a new panorama spread before the reverent imagination of the dreamer, and he saw in the moving spheres not only the abode but the manifested glory of his gods" (History of the World, vol. i, p. 138).
the idea of

"Until today, in the high light of civilization, some kind of domination of the stars

over the affairs of human life has hardly released and the language its hold on the minds* of men of the old Chaldean ritual of signs has still a familiar sound in the ears of the credulous" (Ibid,
;

p. 140).

466

The

Christ.

which recognized
Christianized
later, tells his

After alluding to the ancient Vedic religion, in the stars the souls of our
:

departed ancestors, Prof. John Fiske says

"The

German

peasant,

fifty

centuries

children that the stars are angels'

and the English cottager impresses it on the youthful mind that it is wicked to point to the stars, though why he cannot tell" (Myths and Myth Makers, p. ^6). In the Zodiac the Sun had twelve palaces. Each palace had a star for a god, and each was Each day of the week was subject to the Sun. governed by a planet, and each hour of the day had its controlling star. Many scholars, including Jefferson, have held that Christ and his Twelve Apostles relate to the Zodiac and were derived from this stellar worship. The seven days of the week are still dedicated to the old planetary gods, and, with a few modifications, bear their names. "Chambers' Encyclopedia" says: "The Jews, as well as the early Christians, had no special names for the single days, but counted theii number from the previous Sabbath, beginning with Sunday, as the first after the Sabbath, and ending with Friday, as the sixth after the previeyes,

ous, or eve (Ereb) of the next Sabbath.

After

a very short time, however,

young

Christianity,

which
count

in the same manner had endeavored to from the feria secunda, or second day after Sunday, to the Septima (or Saturday), had

Sources of the Christ Myth.

to
fall

467

back again upon the old heathen names"

(Jupiter),

(Art.

Week). The planetary gods Nardouk

Adar

(Saturn), Istar (Venus), Nergal (Mars), and Nebo (Mercury), were all worshiped by the
ancient Israelites.
the Stars."
Istar

was

called

"Queen

of

Moloch, the rival of Jehovah, who shared for centuries the worship of the Hebrews, had his blazing star, the emblem of his implacable cruelty. The worship of Astarte, daughter
of the

moon, and "Queen

a star,
xi, 5
;

emblem was

of Heaven," whose was introduced by Solomon

himself (i Kings

Kings

xxiii, 13).

For

more than three hundred years she had her

temple
in

Jerusalem.

And
to the

eve^j

today devout

Jews address orizons

of astral worship.
stars.
It

the worship of Astarte.

new moon, a relic ot The rosary is a survival

a

was once

symbol of the

The author
"The

of "Supernatural Religion" says:

belief that sun,

moon and

stars

were living

entities possessed of souls

was generally held by

the Jews at the beginning of our era." The same belief was entertained by the Christian Fathers.

Origen says: "As the stars move with so much order and method that under no circumstances whatever do their course seem to be disturbed, is it not the extreme of absurdity to suppose that so much order, so much observance of discipline and method could be demanded from or fulfilled by irrational beings?"

468

The
of
astral

Christ.

Out

worship

grew
this

the

so-called

science of astrology.
:

"Chambers's En''Astrology is one of the most cyclopedia" says ancient forms of superstition, and is found prevailing among the nations of the East at the very

Of

dawn

of history.
it

The Jews became much

ad-

dicted to

after the Captivity."

One
the

of the so-called Messianic prophecies of

Old Testament reads:

"There

shall

come a

Jacob" (Num. xxiv, 17). "Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the King, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem, saying, Where is he that is born king of the Jews? For we have seen
star out of his star in the east,

....

and,

lo,

the star,

which they saw in the east, went before them, till it came and stood over where the young child was" (Matt, ii, i, 2, 9). This marvelous event at the advent of the Christian Messiah was a complete "fulfillment" of what had been predicted centuries before concerning the appearance of the expected Persian Messiah, the original of the expected Messiah of the Jews. Graves says that the language of Matthew
clearly betrays

the

astrological

origin

of

his

story:
the

"The practice of calculating nativities by stars was in vogue in the era and country

of Christ's birth,

previously in various countries.

and had been for a long time 'We have seen his star in the east, and have come to worship Now mark, here, it was not the star, nor him.'

Sources of the Christ Myth.

a star, but 'his star'; thus disclosing
its

469
unmis-

takable astrological features" (Sixteen Crucified Saviors, p. 53).

After referring to the prevalency of astrology

and anterior to, the Chris"'When such ideas were afloat, it was easy to imagine that the birth of the Messiah must be announced by a star,
at the

beginning

of,

tian era, Strauss says

especially as,

according to the

common

inter-

pretation of Balaam's prophecy, a star

was there

made
for

the symbol of the Messiah.

It is certain

that the Jewish

mind

effected this combination

it is a rabbinical idea that at the time of the Messiah's birth a star will appear in the east and remain for a long time visible. ... In the time of Jesus it was the general belief that stars were always the forerunners of great events."

Jesus in the Apocalypse declares himself to be "the bright and morning star" (xxii, 16). He "had
in his right hand seven stars" (i, 16). "The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches" His second coming will be heralded by (20).

"signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the

stars"

(Luke

xxi, 25).

The

star of the

Magi which pointed

so uner-

ringly to the cradle of Christ points not less unerringly to one of the sources from which Christ

came.
4.

Worship

of the

The elements and

Elements and Forces of Nature. forces of nature, Volney be-

470
lieves,

The
inspired the
:

Christ.
ideas of

first

God and
began

re-

ligion

"^lan, reflecting on his condition,

to

perceive that he
rior to his

was subjected

to forces supe-

own, and independent of his will. The sun enlightened and warmed him, fire burned him, thunder terrified him; the wind beat upon him, and water drowned him." "Considering the action of the elements on him, he conceived the idea of weakness and subjection on his part, and of power and domination on theirs; and this idea of power was the primitive and fundamental type of every idea of the
Divinity."

"The
cited in

action

of

these natural

existences

ex-

him sensations of pleasure and pain, of good or evil and by a natural efifect of his organization he conceived for them love or aver;

sion; he desired or dreaded their presence; and

fear or
ligion."

hope gave
this

rise

to the first idea of re-

From
Zeus,
evolved.

Odin,

worship Indra, Agni, Jehovah and other gods were Jehovah was originally a god of the
elemental

atmosphere. He manifested himself in the tempest; he unchained the waves of the sea; the

wind was

his breath; the

thunder was his voice,

the lightning his messenger.

He

filled

the air

with frost; he precipitated the hail; he blanketed the earth with snow; he deluged the land with

Sources of the Christ Myth.

471

water of the stream, and rain; he congealed the of the field. parched the verdure and Jehovah, Fire worship overcpread Asia,
like

Moloch, became a god of

out of his nostrils,

fire.

"There went
of his

out up a smoke coals were kindled by it" (2 mouth devoured; Abram as ''a Sam. xxii, 9)- He appeared to and a burning lamp" (Gen. xv, smoking furnace

and

fire

with fire, but^ the ing bush. "The bush burned When consumed" (Ex. iii, 2). bush was not him "he answered him from David called to

17)

He

revealed himself to

Moses

in the

burn-

To heaven by fire" (i Ch. xxi, 26). "pillar of fire" (Ex. xiv 24). Israelites he was a "m fire" (xix, 'The Lord descended upon" Sinai upon Horeb "the mounWhen he appeared 18) the midst of heaven" tain burned with fire unto the Lord spake out of the (Deut iv. II), "and cloud of the Lord midst of the fire" (12). "The by day, and fire was on tabernacle
the fleeing

was upon the it by night" (Ex.

xl,

38).

On

the Jewish altar

was kept burnmg. for centuries the sacred Solomon and Elijah made When Aaron, Gideon, came a fire out from offerings to Jehovah "there consumed" the offermgs before the Lord, and i K xvm, 2 Ch. vii, i vi, 21
fire

(Lev.

ix,

38).

Elijah

24; Jud. was translated in "a chariot of

;

fire

"horses Elisha was surrounded by (2 K ii 11) With fire he con(vi, 17). and chariots of fire" rained t^P on Sosumed his enemies. "The Lord

and dom and Gomorrah brimstone

fire

(Gen.

472
xix,

The
24).
fire

Christ.

When Nadab

and Abihu

"offered
i),

strange

before the Lord" (Lev. x,

"there

went out fire from before the Lord and devoured them" (2). When the Israelites displeased him at Taberah, "the fire of the Lord burnt among them and consumed them" (Num. xi, i). Whc the hosts of Satan encompassed the Christian saints, "fire came down from God out of heaven and devoured them" (Rev. xx, 9).
.

"It

is

now
in

a matter of demonstration," says

at the time of the

M. Soury, "that
Egypt,

Exodus from

the desert, and even in the time of

fire

Judges, light and

were not

to the Israelites

mere symbols
himself."

of the deity, but

were the deity

Christ inherited the fiery nature of his Father.

He

baptized his disciples with

11).

fire.

"He

shall
fire"

baptize you with the

Holy Ghost, and with

there appeared unto
fire,

(Matt,
of

iii,

"And
ii,

them

cloven tongues like as of

and

them" (Acts

3).

He

it sat upon each consigned his ene-

mies to everlasting punishment

able fires of hell.
forth his angels,

in

the unquenchshall

"The Son

of

man

send

and they

shall gather out of his

kingdom

all things that offend, and them which do iniquity; and shall cast them into a furnace "Depart irom me, of fire" (Matt, xiii, 41, 42).

ye cursed, into everlasting fire" (xxv, 41). "To be cast into hell fire where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched. For every one shall be salted with fire" (Mark ix, 47-49). His dis:

Sources of the Christ Myth.

ciples
lief.

473
and be-

were imbued with the same

.
. .

spirit

"And they (the Samaritans) did not receive him. And when his disciples James and John saw this, they said, Lord, wilt thou that we command fire to come down from heaven and
^jnsume them?*' (Luke
ix, 53, 54.)

fire worship have been transmitted to our time. John Newton says "A sacred fire, at first miraculously kindled, and subsequently kept up by the sedulous care of priests and priestesses, formed an important part

Some

vestiges of

ancient

of

the

religion

of

Judea,

Babylonia,

Persia.

Greece and Rome, and the superstition lingers amongst us still. So late as the advent of the Reformation, a sacred fire was kept ever burning on a shrine at Kildare, in Ireland, and attended by virgins of high rank, called 'inghean au dagha,' or daughters of fire. Every year is
the ceremony repeated at Jerusalem of the mir-

aculous kindling of the Holy Fire at the reputed

sepulchre, and

men and women crowd

sacred
of

to light

tapers

at
.

the

flame"

(The

Assyrian

Grove)

5.

Worship

Animals and Plants.

In the infancy of the world animals were deified and adored, and trees and plants were regarded as sentient beings and received the homage of man. Nearly every animal has been an object of worship. This worship flourished for ages in Egyipt and India. In Egypt the worship of the bull

474
(Apis)
apis).

The

Christ.
(Ser-

was associated with that of Osiris The cow is still worshiped in India.
in

Ser-

pent worship has existed

world.

every part of the

Remnants of animal worship survived in Judaism and Christianity. Satan was a serpent Jehovah, like Osiris, was worshiped as a bull; Christ was the lamb of God, and the Holy Ghost appeared in the form of a dove. Closely allied to this worship, and to some ex;

tent a part of

it,

is

the doctrine of the transmithe

gration of souls.
this.

So did

Some of many of the

Jews believed

in

early Christians, in-

cluding Origen.

The

leek, the lotus,

and other plants were held

as sacred or divine.

The

rose

was the
In

divine

flower of Greece.
tions the lily

Its petals

had been dyed with

the blood of her favorite goddess.

many

na-

was

the sacred

emblem

of virginity.
it.

Christians

still

attach a sort of sacredness to

"The groves were God's first temples," says Bryant. The groves, too, were among man's Volumes have been written on the first gods. ancient worship of trees. Not only the Druids
and the Semitic races worshipers of trees. The giant oaks of Asia were and the symmetrical evergreens were gods. The rustling of the aspen and the moaning of the pines were the audible whisperings of Divinity
of Britain, but the Greeks,

which the prophets interpreted. "The worship of trees," says Soury, "only

dis-

Sources of the Christ Myth.

. . .

475

The appeared in Syria at a very late date. largest and tallest trees, and the evergreen ones, were adored as gods. A great many Semitic myths were connected with the vegetable world. Thus the pomegranate, famous for the richness of its fruit, was sacred to Adonis and Aphrodite. The almond, which, while nature seems inanimate, comes forth first from winter's sleep, the amygdalis, the 'great mother,' gave birth to a crowd of Semitic legends" (Religion of Israel,
pp^66, 67).

The

tree, like the serpent,

immortality.
of Life.

was an emblem of The Garden of Eden had its Tree T am come that they Newton says
''
:

might have

Life,

and that they might have

it

Life is the reward abundantly' (John x, 10). which has been promised under every system, in-

cluding that of the founder of Christianity.

A
. .

Tree of Life stood in the midst of that Paradise which is described in the book of Genesis; and in a second Paradise, which is promised to the blessed by the author of the book of Revelation, a tree of life shall stand once more 'for the
.

healing of the nations.'

"

There still exist in Palestine venerable trees which receive not merely the reverence, but the worship of Mussulmans and Christians. Some of
these trees they believe possess divine curative

powers.

Travelers have observed them covered with strips of cloth or strings, which are tied to

476
the twigs.

The
This
is

Christ.
spirit of

done to induce the

the tree to heal or drive

away

disease.

Sex worship, as we have seen, bequeathed some of its doctrines and rites to nearly every
religion that has existed since
its

time.

It be-

came associated with

tree worship.

The

Bible

abounds with ''sacred groves." In Palestine hundreds of them were consecrated to Aschera, the favorite goddess of the ancient Jews. These groves were devoted to sacred prostitution. In some of them the worship of Baal and Aschera were combined; in others that of Jehovah and Aschera. "These sanctuaries of Aschera," says M. Soury, "were charming spots, shady groves of green trees, often watered by running streams,, mysterious retreats where all was silence save
the cooing of the doves sacred to the goddess.

The symbol

of Aschera, a simple pillar, or the

tree,

perhaps with its leaves and trunk of a branches, was the emblem of generative power." The spots once occupied by these groves are still demed holy ground. Many of them are marked

by Mohammedan mosques and Christian chapels. The sacred groves of Palestine where devout and voluptuous Jews mingled the worship of
Jehovah and Aschera live, too, in the Protestant camp meetings of our western world, where, in shady bowers. Christians worship fervently at the altar of Christ, and then, not infrequently, meet clandestinely and pay their vows to Aschera.

Sources of the Christ

Myth.

477

The palm
grow, worshiped. been used

the pine, both

and where the palm did not symbols of the phallus, were Newton says: "Palm-branches have
tree,

in all

ages as emblems of

life,

peace,

and victory. They were strewn before Christ. Palm-Sunda}^ the feast of palms, is still kept. Even within the present [19th] century, on this festival, in many towns of France, women and children carried in procession at the end of their palm-branches a phallus made of bread, which
they called, undisguisedly, 'la pine,' whence the The festival was called 'La Fete des Pinnes.'
'pine'

having been blest by the

priest, the

wom-

en carefully preserved it during the following year as an amulet" (The Assyrian Grove). 6. Fetichism. Closely related to the foregoing worship is fetichism, the worship of idols and images. This popularly supposed to be the religion only of savages and barbarians; but it also prevails to some extent among people who are considered
is

and enlightened. While it was opposed by some of the kingS; priests, and prophets, idolatry flourished among the Jews from the earliest ages down almost to the Christian era. Abraham's father, Terah, was an idolater (Josh, xxv, 2). Jacob's wives were daughters of an idolater. Rachel stole and hid
civilized

her father's images (Gen. xxxi, 30-34). Jacob's family were,. for a time at least, idolaters. "Then Jacob said anto his household, and all that were

478

The

Christ.

with him, Put away the strange gods that ar^ you. And they gave unto Jacob all the strange gods that were in their hands, and Jacob hid them under the oak which was by Shechem" (Gen. xxxv, 2-4). The kingdoms of Israel and Judah were steeped in idolatry. Israel "set them up images" and "served idols" (2 Kings, xvii, 10, 11), and "did offer sweet savor to their idols" (Ezek. vi, 13). Judah was "full

among

of idols" (Is.

ii,

8).

The
in the

fetichism of Christ's ancestors reappeared

image worship of
in

his devotees.

The

Chris-

tians of the middle ages, Dr.

immersed
and other
tivated"
cross,

fetichism."

Draper says, "were "The worship of im-

ages, of fragments of the cross, or bones, nails

relics, a

true fetich worship,

was

cul-

(Conflict, p. 49).

"A

chip of the true

some

iron filings

from the

chain

of St,

Peter, a tooth or bone of a martyr,

were held

in adoration; the world was full of the stupendous miracles which these relics had performed. But especially were painted or graven images of holy personages supposed to be endowed with such powers. They had become objects of actual worship" (Intellectual Development of Eu-

rope, vol.

i,

p. 414).

Concerning the fetichism of the church, "Chambers's Encyclopedia" says: "It was usual not only to keep lights and burn incense before the images, to kiss them reverently; and to knee( down and pray before them, but some went so

Sources of the Christ Myth.

far as to

479

make

the images serve as godfathers

in baptism^,

and godmothers

and even

to

mingle

the dust of the coloring matter scraped from the

images with the Eucharist elements

in the

Holy

Communion.

...

In

many

foreign churches,

Germany, and in France [at the present time], are to be found images which are popularly reputed as especially sacred, and to which, or to prayers offered before which, miraculous effects are ascribed." Bishop Newton, of England, admits and deespecially in Italy, in southern

plores the existence of Christian fetichism.

He
to

says

*'The consecrating and

bowing down

images; the attributing of miraculous powers and virtues to idols the setting up of little oratories, altars and statues in the streets and highways and on the tops of mountains; the carrying of images and relics in pompous procession, all these are equally parts of pagan and popish
;
.
. .

superstition."

Greek, Lutheran, and Anglican churches are

not free from fetichism, and even the Evangelical

churches of this country make a fetich of a book. 7. Polytheism.

Polytheism, the doctrine of a plurality of gods, has prevailed in every part of the world. The most interesting pantheons of the gods were those of India, Egypt, Greece, and Rome. The

Hebrews, who were polytheists, borrowed their gods from Assyria and Babylonia. The pantheon of these nations comprised twelve prin-

48o
cipal

The
chief of these

Christ.

gods and nearly a thousand minor deities. gods was El. His consort Elath. The Hebrews worshiped El under the name of El Shaddai and various other names. Elohim of the Bible, translated God, denotes the plural and included El and the minor gods who surrounded him. Yahweh, lahveh, Jehovah, etc., as he is variously called for Jews and Christians cannot spell and do not even know the name of their principal deity is a god of Assyro-Babylonian origin. In addition to their national god, Jehovah, many of the Jews worshiped Baal, Moloch, and Tammouz, male deities, and Astarte, Aschera, and Istar, female deities.

The was

That the writers

plurality of

of the

Bible

recognized a

gods

were

polytheists

is

proved

by the following: ''And the Lord God said. Behold, the man is become as one of us" (Gen. iii, 22). *'Who is like unto thee, O Lord, among
the gods?" (Ex. xv, 11.)

"Among

the gods, there

is none like unto thee, O Lord" (Ps. Ixxxvi, 8). 'The Lord is a great God, and a great king above "Thou shalt not revile all gods" (Ps. xcv, 3). the gods" (Ex. xxii, 28). Monotheism, the doctrine of one god, is not merely the worship of one god, but the belief in the existence of one god only. Many were monoworshiped one god, their theistic in worship national deity while at the same time they were

polytheistic in belief
of

believed

in

the existence
Je-

many

gods.

The Jews who worshiped

Sources of the Christ Myth.

48

hovah have been

for a

called monotheists.

And

yet,

thousand years, they believed in the existence of Kemosh, Baal, Moloch, Tammouz, and other deities. They believed that Jehovah was their national god and that they owed allegiance to him; just as the subjects of an earthly king profess their loyalty to him without denying the
existence of other kings.

While Christians
are
really

profess

Monotheism
three

they

polytheists

worship

gods

Father (Jehovah), Son (Christ), and Holy Ghost; and recognize a god of Evil, Satan. To these must also be added a female deity, the Virgin Mary, who is to the devout Catholic as much
of a divinity as Isis

and Venus were to ancient

polytheists.

The

canonization and adoration of

the saints, too, are analogous to the worship of

the inferior deities of ancient times.

After recounting what he believes to be the

salutary influences exerted by the medieval con-

ception
price,

of

the

Virgin,

Lecky says: "But the

price, of this

and perhaps the necessary

was

the exaltation of the Virgin as an omnipres-

ent deity of infinite power as well as infinite

condescension.

The legends represented her

.

as

performing every kind of prodigy. The painters depicted her invested with the divine aureole, judging men on equal terms with her Son, or even retaining her ascendancy over him
. .

in heaven.

In the devotions of the people she

in

was addressed

terms identical with those em-

482

The

Christ.

ployed to the Almighty. A reverence similar in kind but less in degree was soon bestowed upon the other saints, who speedily assumed the position of the minor deities of Paganism" (Historj
of Rationalism, Vol.
I,

pp. 226, 227).

Regarding the deification and worship of ''Every cathedral or monsaints Hallam says astery had its tutelar saint, and every saint his
:

legend, fabricated in order to enrich the churches

tues, his miracles,

under his protection, by exaggerating his virand consequently his power

of serving those

who

paid liberally for his pat-

ronage.

Many

of those saints

were imaginary

persons; sometimes a blundered inscription addto the calendar; and sometimes, it heathen god was surprised at the company to which he was introduced, and the rites with which he was honored" (Middle Ages, p.

ed a
is

name

said, a

603).

The church

historian
:

plores the truth of this

Mosheim admits and de"It is, at the same time,

as undoubtedly certain, as

it is extravagant and monstrous, that the worship of the martyrs was modeled, by degrees, according to the religious services that were paid to the gods before the

coming

of Christ" (Ecclesiastical History, p. 98).

Bishop Newton says: "The very same temples, the very same images, which were once consecrated to Jupiter and the other demons [gods], are now consecrated to the Virgin Mary and
the other saints."

Sources of the Christ Myth.

483

Milman says
tianity

that at an early period "Chris-

began

to

approach to a polytheistic form,

what it is difficult to call by any other name than polytheistic, habits and
or at least to permit
feelings of devotion"

(History of Christianity,

Vol. Ill, p. 424).

8. Monotheism. Monotheism, as previously stated, is the doctrine of one god only. It has gradually displaced, to a great extent, the fetichism and poly-

theism of earlier times. Comte's \a.w of human development

lov^'s
I

is

as fol-

Theological, or fictitious,

2.
3.

Metaphysical, or abstract,
Scientific, or positive.

human mind, seeking the essential nature of things, the first and final causes (the origin and purpose) of all effects in short Absolute know^ledge supposes
"In the Theological state, the

all

phenomena

to be produced by the immediate

action of supernatural beings.

*Tn the Metaphysical

modification of the
veritable
entities
first,

state,

the

which is only a mind supposes, inabstract

stead of supernatural
(that

beings,
is,

forms,
abstrac-

personified

tions) inherent in all things,

and capable of pro-

ducing

all

phenomena.
final,

the Positive state, the mind has given over the vain search after Absolute no-

"In the

tions, the origin

and destination of the universe,

484

The
of

Christ.
itself

and the causes

phenomena, and applies

to the study of their laws

that

is,

their invari-

able relations of succession

and

resemblance"

.(Positive Philosophy, pp. 26, 27).

state of human development is the Here the masses of mankind still repose. Only the scholars and thinkers have advanced beyond this and many of these have only

The lowest

theological.

reached the second or metaphysical state. The highest point in the theological state

is

monotheism. To Judaism Christians ascribe the glory of having been the first religion to teach But monotheism existed a pure monotheism.
long before the Jews attained to
it.

Zoroaster

were monotheists, later development of the Persian theology. The adoption of monotheism by the Jews, which occurred only at a very late period in their history, was not, however, the result of a divine revelation, or even of an inimtellectual superiority, for the Jews were -measurably inferior intellectually to the Greeks and Romans, to the Hindus and Egyptians, and to the Assyrians and Babylonians, who are supposed to have retained a belief in polytheism. This monotheism of the Jews was chiefly the
and his earliest dualism being a
followers
result of

a religious

intolerance

equaled and

never

since

surpassed,

never before except in

the history of Christianity

and Mohammedan]ehovistic priests

ism, the daughters of Judaism.

and kings tolerated no

rivals of their

god and

Sources of the Christ Myth.

485

made death the penalty for disloyalty to him. The Jewish nation became monotheistic for the
same reason
Inquisition,

that Spain, in the clutches of the

became

entirely Christian.

Jesus of Nazareth and his disciples, if they existed, were probably monotheists, believed that

Jehovah was the only God, and neither believed

nor claimed that Jesus was other than the son man. As generations passed the man became obscured, his deeds wxre magnified until at length he was accepted as the Son of God, and
of a

God

himself.

The

deification of Jesus, then,

together with the apotheosis of other mortals, cannot be regarded as an evolution from Jewish

a relapse from
9.

monotheism to a higher plane, but rather as monotheism to polytheism.

The Mediatorial

Idea.

This idea had its origin chiefly in the worship of the elements and forces of nature by primitive man. He believed that these elements and forces were intelligent beings. He realized that in their presence he was in a measure helpless. He therefore sought to win their favor and appease their wrath. He made offerings to them; But he prayed to them he worshiped them. other men, more wise, more cunning, and more fortunate, appeared to have greater influence with these deities. He employed them to intercede for him and thus the priesthood was
;
;

established.

The

priest

was the

first

mediator.
in

More complex

religious systems

were

time

486
evolved, and In

The
some

Christ.
of

them mediatc/ial gods was prominent Mithra was the Persian in the Persian system. mediator. The worship of Mithra was carried to Rome and the Romans became acquainted with
appeared.

The

mediatorial idea

the mediatorial idea.

In an exposition of Philo's

philosophy, Mrs. Evans says: "The most exalted

spirits are able to raise

themselves to the pure

essence and find peace and joy which earthly

conditions cannot disturb; but weaker natures

need a helper

in

a Being,

who,
lift

coming from
their

above, can dwell below and

souls to

God. The majority of mankind, in their passage along the slippery path of life, are sure to fall, and would perish if it were not for a mediaThe power tor between themselves and God. of the Caesars, culminating in Augustus, enabled them to claim divine honors from the people, already disposed to see in them chosen agents of celestial sovereignty. Rome, according to the expression of Valerius Maximus, recognized in the Caesars the mediators between heaven and
.
.

earth.

And

that

was before

Christianity intro-

duced its Myth, pp.

JeflFerson,

anointed
90, 92).

mediator"

(The

Christ

words of and unjust." He had cursed his creation he had drowned a world he had imposed the sentence upon spiritual as well as physical of death
of the Jews, to quote the

The God

was

"cruel, vindictive, capricious

;

his children.

To

placate this monster, to induce

Sources of the Christ Myth.

487

him

to

powerless.

remit this sentence, the priests were Millions of animals, and even human

beings, had been sacrificed to

him

in vain.

At

Jesus Christ, offered himself as a sacrifice to atone for the The sacrifice was accepted, sins of the world.
son,"

length his ''only begotten

and a reconciliation was effected between God and man. Thus Christ became the great mediator of Christianity. "There is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus" (i Tim. ii, 5). ''He is the mediator of
the

new

testament"

(Heb.

ix,

15).

Persia and from

Rome

this mediatorial

From God has

come.
10.

The Messianic

Idea.

The

desire for a deliverer naturally arises in

the minds of a people

bondage.

who are in subjection and This desire was the germ of the Mes-

While there are traces of this idea in the earlier writings of the Hebrews, it reached its highest development during and immediately following the Captivity, and again in the Maccasianic idea.

bean age. The Messiah of Judaism and the Messiah, or Christ, of Christianity, were derived from the Persian theology, the adherents of each system
modifying the doctrine to suit their respective In its article on Zoroaster, "Chamnotions. bers's Encyclopedia" says: "There is an important element to be noticed, viz., the Messiah, or Sosiosh, from whom the Jewish and Chris-

488
tian notions of a

The

Christ.
to

Messiah are held by many

. .
.

have been derived.

at this sketch will

Even a superficial glance show our readers what very

close parallels

tions on the one hand,

between Jewish and Christian noand the Zoroastrian on

the other, are to be drawn."

Christians cite numerous passages from the writings of the Old Testament which they claim Not one of these foretold the advent of Jesus.

passages, as originally penned, refers in the re-

motest degree to him, though many of them do The refer to the office he is said to have filled.

Jews hoped who would and restore They were

for a deliverer, for a national leader

reestablish the
to
it

kingdom
of

of

Israel,

the glory

David's

reign.

loyal to the house of

David and bea descendin

lieved that this deliverer

ant, a son, of David.

would be

Pietists, too,

the fer-

vor of their religious enthusiasm dreamed of universal conversion to the Jehovistic theocracy. In the writings of their prophets and poets these

hopes and dreams found expression. 'T have made a covenant with my chosen, I have sworn unto David, my servant, thy seed will I establish forever, and build up thy throne to all generations" (Ps. xxxix,
3,

4).

''And the kingdom

and dominion, and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven, shall be given to the people of the saints of the most High, whose kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and all dominions shall serve and obey him" (Dan. vii, 2^]),

Sources of the Christ Myth.

489

While the Messianic

idea

was

originally a Per-

sian idea, the materials used in the formation of

the Christian Messiah were the Jewish Scriptures.

drawn largely from There are passages in the Old Testament, as we have seen, which preThese furnished dict the coming of a Messiah. a portion of the materials out of which this Messianic deity, Christ, was formed. There are many more which have no reference whatever to a Messiah which have been made to serve as The Old Testament, as Messianic prophecies. we have it, is alleged to be a Jewish work. It
is,

rather, a Christian work.

It is a

Christian

version of ancient Jewish writings, every book

of

which has been more or

of
it

less

Christianized.

Much

is

scarcely recognizable to a Jewish

is

scholar.

This

especially true of so-called

Mes-

sianic prophecies.

The Christian Messiah was, on the one hand, modeled, to a considerable extent, after the Jewish ideal, while the Jewish materials, on the other hand, were freely altered to fit the new conception. Referring to the work of the Evangelists, M. Renan says ''Sometimes they reasoned thus The Messiah ought to do such a thing; now Jesus is the Messiah, therefore Jesus has done such a thing.' At other times, by an inverse process, it was said: 'Such a thing has happened to Jesus now Jesus is the Messiah therefore " such a thing was to happen to the Messiah.'
:

(Jesus, p.

2']),

490

The

Christ.

That the so-called Messianic prophecies of the Jewish Scriptures were the immediate source of the Christ is apparent. That he was, however,
merely a borrowed idea and not a historical
zation of these prophecies
is

reali-

equally apparent.

The Jews were expecting

a Messiah.

Had

Jesus

would have accepted him. But he did not realize them. These prophecies were not fulfilled in him. He was not a son of David he did not deliver his race from bondage; he did not become a king; the important events that were to attend and follow Messiah's advent form no part even of his alleged history. His rejection by the Jews proves him
realized these expectations they
;

to be either a false Messiah, or an imaginary being a historical myth, or a pure myth in either case a myth.

The Jewish argument against Jesus as the Messiah is unanswerable ''We do not find in the present comparatively imperfect stage of hu:

progress the realization of that blessed conmankind which the prophet Isaiah associates with the era when Messiah is to appear.
dition of

man

And

as our

Hebrew

sianic advent only,

Scriptures speak of one Mesand not of two advents; and

as the inspired

Book does not preach Messiah's

kingdom
tifies it

as a matter of faith, but distinctly iden-

with matters of fact which are to be made

evident to the senses,

we

cling to the plain infer-

ence to be drawn from the text of the Bible, and we deny that Messiah has yet appeared.

Sources of the Christ Myth.

491

and upon the following grounds: First, because of the three distinctive facts which the inspired seer of Judah inseparably connects with the advent of the Messiah, viz., (i) the cessation of war and the uninterrupted reign of peace, (2) tlie prevalence of a perfect concord of opinion

on all matters bearing upon the worship of the one and only God, and (3) the ingathering of the remnant of Judah and of the dispersed ten not one has, up to the present tribes of Israel Second, we dissent accomplished. time, been proposition that Jesus of Nazareth is from the the Messiah announced by the prophets, because the church which he founded, and which his successors developed, has offered, during a succes-

sion of centuries,
is

most singular contrast

to

what

described

by the

Hebrew

Scriptures as the

immediate consequence of Messiah's advent, and The prophet Isaiah of his glorious kingdom. the Messiah appears, peace, declares that when love, and union will be permanently established; and every candid man must admit that the world has not realized the accomplishment of this Again, in the days of Messiah, all prophecy. men, as Scripture saith, 'are to serve God with one accord' and yet it is very certain that since
;

the appearance of

him whom Christians believe to be Messiah, mankind has been split into more hostile divisions on the ground of religious belief, and more antagonistic sects have sprung up,

492
than
in

The
any

Christ.

historic age before Christianity

was
is

preached."

With orthodox Jews

the belief in a Messiah

For 2500 years there has been displayed in front of the synagogue this During this time sign "Wanted a Messiah," many, including Jesus, Bar-Cocheba, Moses of Candia, and Sabatai Zevi, have applied for the place, but all applicants have been rejected, and the Messianic predictions of the Jewish prophets
a deep rooted conviction.
:

are yet to be
of Jesus

fulfilled.

So, too, are those of the

Persian prophet.

In the meantime the followers

have

the Jews to the Gentiles borrowed idea evolved a deity who divides with Brahma, Buddha, and Allah, the worship of the world. II. The Logos (Word). The exaltation and deification of Jesus is thus described by the Dutch theologian, Dr. Hooykaas "When Jesus was gone, those who had known him personally insensibly surrounded him with a glory that shone at last with a more than human splendor. The spiritual blessings which flowed in ever rich measure from his person and his gospel compelled the Christians to exalt him ever more and more. The title of Son of God, which his followers had given him as the future Messiah, was elastic and ambiguous enough to

turning from
this

from

lend

very readily to this process. The idea of his being the Messiah now no longer sufficed he was something other and something
itself
;

Sources of the Christ Myth.

far

493

more than the Jewish Messiah. The philosophy and theology of the day were laid under contribution and nothing could so well indicate his significance for all humanity and his unap;

proachable exaltation as the idea that he was the Word" (Bible for Learners, Vol. Ill, pp. 670,
671).

The doctrine of the Logos, or Word, as an emanation or essence of divine wisdom is very It is found in old. the ancient religions of Egypt and India. It was recognized in the Persian theology, and was incorporated into the Jewish theology by the Babylonian exiles. It constitutes an important element in the Platonic philosophy. It received its highest development and exposition in the writings of the Jewish philosopher Philo, a contemporary of Jesus. Concerning the Logos, Dean Milman, in his "History of Christianity," says "This Being was
:

more or less distinctly impersonated, according to the more popular or more philosophic, the more material or the more abstract, notions of This was the doctrine the age of the people.
from the Ganges, or even the shores of the Yellow Sea, to the Ilissus it was the fundamental principle of the Indian religion and the Indian
:

philosophy; it was the basis of Zoroastrianism; it was the Platonic Judait was pure Platonism ism of the Alexandrian school." Another English clergyman, Mr. Lake, says "We can trace
;
:

its

[the Word's]

birthplace in the philosophic

494

T^^

Christ.

we can note gradual development and growth; we can see it in its early youth passing (through Philo and others), from Grecian philosophy into the
speculations of the ancient world;
its

current of Jewish thought"

(Philo,

Plato,

and

Paul, p. 71). The presentation of Jesus as an incarnation of

to the second century and is Fourth Gospel. The ideas are Plato's trinity chiefly those of Plato and Philo. was Thought, Word and Deed. The Word occupies the second place in the Platonic trinity

the

Logos belongs
in the

prominent

That the as it does in the Christian trinity. author of the gospel of John, written more than a century after the time of Philo, borrowed largely

from that philosopher, is shown by the lowing parallels drawn from their writings

fol-

Philo.~"The Logos
Profugis).

is

the

Son
the

of

God" (De
of

John. 'This
(i,

[the

Word]

is

Son

God"

34).

Logos is considered the same as God" (De Somniis). John. "The Word was God" (i, i). Philo. "He [the Logos] was before all things" (De Leg. Allegor). John. "The same [the Word] was in the beginning with God" (i, 2). "The Logos is the agent by whom the Philo. world was made" (De Leg. Allegor).
Philo.

"The

Sources of the Christ Myth.

49 S

John. ''All things were made by him [the Word]" (i, 3)Philo. "The Logos is the light of the world"
(De Somniis). John. 'The Word was the true light" (i, 9). Philo. "The Logos only can see God" (De
Confus. Ling.).

John. "No man hath seen God. ... He [the Word] hath declared him" (i, 18). 12. The Perfect Man. The New Testament contains at least five different mythical types or conceptions of Jesus The Messiah of the synoptics, omiti. Christ:

ting the opening chapters of Matthew and Luke. introduced in 2. The Son of God, or demi-god, The incarnate Logos these opening chapters. 3.

or

God

of John.

4-

The

Christ
or
less

of

Paul.

5.

Eliminating these more

supernatural

additypes, there remains in these writings, in

tion to the purely natural Jesus of Nazareth, a type

and purely human

known

as the Ideal

or Perfect Man. This type is not only mythical, superbut, in the stricter sense, supernatural and

human
The

for the perfect

man must always remain

type of man.

an ideal rather than

last

a real

type

is

believed by

many

to represent

the primal stage in the deification of Jesus.

This been held by many Raconception of Jesus has tionalistic Christians, and by some conservative Rationalists in all ages. This, too, forms a part
entertained of the dualistic conception of Christ

496

The

Christ.

by orthodox Christians, a conception which supposes him to have combined in his incarnation both a human and a divine element which made him both man and God. The portrayal of the vicarious suffering and death of this man has been one of the most powerful agents in the
propagation of Christianity. The molders of primitive
Christianity

were

greatly influenced by various philosophical speculations by the teachings of Pythagoras and Plato among the earlier, and by the writings of

Philo and Seneca

To

Philo,

among the later philosophers. we have seen, they were indebted

largely for the Logos; to Seneca they were indebted chiefly for the Ideal or Perfect Man.

The following extracts Myth" of Mrs. Evans:

are

from 'The Christ

"Seneca advises the cherishing of a hope that victory in the form of a wise man will finally appear, because humanity requires that the exemplification of perfection should

be visible."

"Seneca's conception of perfect humanity was a combination of the wise man of the Platonists and Stoics and the gentle sufferer who endures
insult

and sorrow."

"The Logos of Philo was too ethereal to answer The Godall the demands of feeble humanity. man must live and suffer and die among and for the people in order to make the sacrifice
complete."

Sources of the Christ Myth.

497

"Philo endowed the Logos of Heraclitus with the authority of a priestly mediator, who, floating between earth and heaven, brings God and

man
ish

together; Seneca places this mediator as a

standpoint,

suffering

man among men. Philo, from made the Logos the

his

Jew-

priestly

intercessor; Seneca, from the standpoint of his

Stoical society, believed in the possibility of a

perfect

man as savior and guide of weaker men." Cognizant of the striking resemblance between some of the writings of the New Testament and
writings
of

the

the

Stoics,

particularly

of

Seneca, modern Christian apologists affect to believe that this philosopher was acquainted with
the history and the gospel of Christ.
Stoical

But the

philosophy propounded by Seneca had been forming ever since the time of Zeno, three centuries before the time of Christ. Seneca himself was born before the Christian era, and no
part of the

New
:

Testament was
Relative
is

in

existence

when he

wrote.
'Tt

to

this

contention

admitted that the greatest empire either never menChristianity, or mentioned it with contioned tempt. The Jews, with whom the Christians were then identified, he (Seneca) emphati(Eurocally describes as 'an accursed race.' " During the pean Morals, vol. i, pp. 340, 342).
moralists of the

Lecky writes

Roman

second and third centuries

ransacked

Christian
for

scholars
of

Pagan

literature

recognitions
this,

Christ and Christianity.

Regarding

Lecky

498

The

Christ.

when the passion for discovering these connections was most extravagant, the notion of Seneca and his followers
says: "At the time,

being inspired by the Christians was unknown"

(Ibid, p.

346).
is
i,

[Christians]

totally

Gibbon says: "The new sect unnoticed by Seneca"

(Rome,

vol.
all

587, note).

Out

of

these various religious systems and

out of sex worship and sun worship out of the worship of the stars and the worship out of the worship of animals of the elements
doctrines

and the worship

of idols

Monotheism
sianic

out ideas out

out of Polytheism
Logos and the
this Christ

and

of the
of

Mediatorial and MesIdeal

the

Man

of the philosophers

has come.

CHAPTER XL
Sources
of the Cbrist

mytb-Padan
I

Divinities*

In the preceding chapter

have noticed some

of the typical religious systems and beliefs from

which Christ and Christianity were to a great extent derived. I shall next notice more particularly

some

of the so-called divine beings

some

of the gods,

and some of the mortals endowed

gifts,

belonging to these sysmany sons of gods besides Jehovah's "only begotten Son" that each of them possessed some attribute poswith supernatural
I

tems.

shall

show

that there were

sessed by him; that

in

all

of

them

lived or existed
of him,

the minds of men, centuries before his time;

that

i-itid

many

of

them were prototypes

and furnished

degree the ideas which suggested him, or which are associated with him and his religion. My list will comprise the folin a large

lowing,
shipers

all

of

whom

were believed by
to

their

wor-

be of divine descent: Krishna, Buddha, Confucius, Laou-tze, Zoroaster, Mithra, Sosiosh, Adonis, Osiris, Horus, Zeus, Apollo, Perseus, Hercules, Dionysos, Prometheus, Esculapius, Plato, Pythagoras, Bacchus,
or

followers

Saturn, Quirinus, Odin, Thor, and Baldur.

499

500

The

Christ.

Krishna.

Krishna was the eighth Avatar or incarnation In of the god Vishnu, one of the Hindoo Trinity.
this
all

incarnation Vishnu,

it

is

said,

''appeared in

the fullness of his

character,
is

power and

glory."
to

His
be a

mother was Devaki.

historical

He

is

believed

that of Jesus,

myths.
to

He

but his real history, like almost entirely obscured by lived from 900 to 1,200 years be-

fore the Christian era.

The

story of his

life

is

be found in the "Bhagavat," one of the '"Puranas," while his religious teachings are given in the "Bhagavad-Gita," a poem belonging
to the "Mahabarata."

The points of resemblance between Krishna and Christ that have been printed would fill a volume. Some of these are apocryphal, and not confirmed by the canonical scriptures of India. The limits of this chapter preclude an extended I shall list even of the undoubtedly genuine.
confine myself chiefly to a presentation of the

most important ones relating

the "Bhagavat Purana," Rev.
are as follows:
1.

to

their

births.

These, according to the Christian translator of

Thomas Maurice,

2. 3.

Both were miraculously conceived. Both were divine incarnations. Both were of royal descent.
Devatas or angels sang songs of praise at

4.

the birth of each.

Sources of the Christ Myth.

5.

501

Both were

visited

by neighboring shep-

herds.

In both cases the reigning monarch, fear6. ing that he would be supplanted in his kingdom by the divine child, sought to destroy him. Both were saved by friends who fled with 7.
in the night to distant countries. Foiled in their attempts to discover the babes both kings issued decrees that all the in-

them
8.

fants should be put to death.

Writing of Krishna in the eighteenth century, William Jones says: "In the Sanscrit dictionary, compiled more than two thousand years ago, we have the whole history of the incarnate deity, born of a virgin, and miraculously escaping in infancy from the reigning tyrant of his
Sir

country" (Asiatic Researches, Vol. I, p. 273). The subsequent careers of these deities are analogous in many respects. Their missions were the same the salvation of mankind. Both

performed miracles healed the sick and raised Both died for man by man. There the dead. is a tradition, though not to be found in the

Hindoo

scriptures, that Krishna, like Christ,

was

crucified.

Various incidents recorded in the life of Christ were doubtless suggested by similar incidents in the life of Krishna. He washed the feet of his disciples because Krishna had washed the feet of the Brahmins. He taught his disciples the possibility of removing a mountain, because Krish-

5C2

The

Christ.

na, to protect his worshipers

from the wrath of

Indra, raised

Mount Goverdhen above them. His

parents in their flight with him, as related in the Gospel of the Infancy, stopped at a place

Krishna was born at Mathura. each were from the lower classes of society, those of Krishna being herdsmen and milkmaids. Christ's most ardent worshipers have from the first been women. "Chrishna," to quote the authority last mentioned, "continues to this hour the darling god of the
called Maturea.

The

earliest followers of

women

of India."

McClintock and Strong's "Cyclopedia" notes the following events in the history of Krishna which correspond with those related of Christ: "That he was miraculously born at midnight oi a human mother, and saluted by a chorus of Devatas [angels] that he was cradled among cowherds, during which period of life he was persecuted by the giant Kansa, and saved by his mother's flight; the miracles with which his life abounds, among which were the raising of the dead and the cleansing of the leprous" (Art.
;

Krishna).

The celebrated missionary and traveler, Pere Hue, who made a journey of several thousand miles through China and Thibet, says: "If we addressed a Mogul or Thibetan this question, Who is Krishna? the reply was instantly, 'The savior of men.' " "All that converting the Hindoos to Christianity does for them," says Robert

Sources of the Christ Myth.

503

Cheyne, ''is to change the object of their worship from Krishna to Christ." Of Krishna's gospel, the ''Bhagavad-Gita," "Appleton's Cyclopedia" says: "Its correspondence with the New Testa-

ment

is

indeed striking."

The

parallels

between Krishna and Christ

to

be found in the Hindoo scriptures and the Christian Gospels are too numerous and too exact to

be accidental.

The legends
other.

of the

rowed from the

before Christ. Krishna legends

It is

one were boradmitted by Chris-

tian scholars that

Krishna lived many centuries To admit the priority of the

is

to deny, to this extent, the

originality of the Gospels.

To break the force be drawn from this of the logical conclusion to some argue that while Krishna himself antedated
Christ, the legends concerning

him

are of later

origin and borrowed from the Evangelists. Regarding this contention Judge Waite, in his "History of the Christian Religion," says: "Here
then,

the older religion and the older god. This, in the absence of any evidence on the other side, ought to settle the question. To

we have

assume without evidence that the older religion has been interpolated from the later, and that the legends of the older herd have been made
k)

conform to the history of a later character, it is absurd." is worse than illogical Sir William Jones, one of the best Christian authorities on Sanscrit literature, and the translator of the "Bhagavad-Gita," says: "That the

504

The
of Krishna,

Christ.

name

and the general outHne of his were long anterior to the birth of our Savior, and probably to the time of Homer [950 B. C], we know very certainly" (Asiatic Rehistory,

searches, Vol.

I.

p. 254).

Buddha.

The ninth incarnation of Vishnu was Buddha. The word Buddha, like the word Christ, is not a name, but a title. It means "the enlightened one." The name of this religious founder was Siddhartha Gautama. He was born about 643 B. C, and died 563 B. C. His mother, Mahamaya, was a virgin. Dean Milman, in his "History of Christianity," says:

known

in

the West,

p. 99, note).

"Budh, according to a tradition was born of a virgin" (Vol. I, Devaki, Mary, and Mahamaya, all

gave birth to their children among strangers. Krishna was born in a prison, Christ in a stable, and Buddha in a garden. "Werner's Encyclopedia," in its article on Buddha, speaks of "the marvelous stories which gathered round the belief
birth,

voluntary incarnation, the miracles at his the prophecies of the aged saint at his formal presentation to his father, and how nature altered her course to keep a shadow over his cradle, whilst the sages from afar came and worshiped him."
in -his

The
of

"Tripitaka,"

the

principal

Bible

of

the

Buddhists, containing the history and teachings

centuries

Buddha, is a collection of books written in the immediately following Buddha. The

Sources of the Christ Myth.

505

canon was

finally

determined at the Council of

Pataliputra, held under the auspices of the

Em-

C, more than 600 years before the Christian canon was established. The "Lalita Vistara/' the sacred book of the Northern Buddhists, was written long before the
peror Asoka the Great, 244
B.

Christian era.

Buddha was "about 30 years

gan
his ministry.

old"

when he

be-

He fasted "seven times seven nights and days." He had a "band of disciples" who accompanied him. He traveled from place
to

place and "preached to large multitudes." Bishop Bigandet calls his first sermon the "Sermon on the Mount." At his Renunciation "he forsook father and mother, wife and child." His

eousness."

mission was "to establish the kingdom of right"Buddha," says Max Muller, "promised salvation to all
;

and he commanded

his dis-

ciples to preach his doctrine in all places and to "Self-conquest and universal charity" all men." fundamental principles of his religion. are the He enjoined humility, and commanded his follow-

"Return good for "overcome anger with love"; "love your evil"; enemies," were some of his precepts.
ers to conceal their charities.

Buddha formulated the following command"Not to kill not to steal not to lie not ments to commit adultery; not to use strong drink." Christ said: "Thou knowest the commandments, do not commit adultery do not kill do not steal
:

do not bear false witness

honor thy father and

5o6

The

Christ.

thy mother (Luke

xviii, 20).

Christ ignored the

Decalogue of Moses and, like Buddha, presented a pentade which, with the exception of one commandment, is the same as that of Buddha.
Prof.

Seydel,
fifty

of

the

University of Leipsic,
Christianity

points out

analogies between

and Buddhism. Dr. Schleiden calls attention to over one hundred. Baron Harden-Hickey says ''Countless analogies exist between the Buddhisanalogies so striking tic and Christian legends that they forcibly prove to an impartial mind that a common origin must necessarily be given to the teachings of Sakay-Muni and those of

Jesus."

Concerning the biographical accounts of the two religious teachers Harden-Hickey says "One account must necessarily be a copy of the other, and since the Buddhist biographer, living long before the birth of Christ, could not have borrowed from the Christian one, the plain inference is that the early creed-mongers of Alexandria were guilty of an act of plagiarism." The
:

following are some of the parallels presented by

this writer:

Both have genealogies tracing their descent from ancestral kings. Both were born of virgin mothers. The conception of each was announced by a
divine messenger.

The hymns

uttered at the

two annunciations

resemble each other.

Sources of the Christ Myth.

507

Both were visited by wise men who brought them gifts. Both were presented in the temple. The aged Simeon of the one account corresponds to the aged Asita of the other. As "the child (Jesus) grew and waxed strong in spirit," so "the child (Sakay-Muni) waxed and
increased in strength." Both in childhood discoursed before teachers.

Both fasted in the wilderness. Both were tempted. Angels or devatas ministered to each. Buddha bathed in the Narajana, and Christ

was baptized in the Jordan. The mission of each was proclaimed by

a voice

from heaven. Both performed miracles. Both sent out disciples to propagate their
faiths.

In calling their disciples the command of each was, "Follow me." Buddha preached on the Holy Hill, and Christ
delivered his sermon on the Mount. The phraseology of the sermons of

Buddha and
in

the sermon ascribed to Christ

stances, the same.

is,

many

in-

to

Both Buddha and Christ compare themselves husbandmen sowing seed.

The

story of the prodigal son

is

found

in

both

Scriptures.

5o8

The
of the

Christ.

The account
to both.

man born
is

blind

is

common

In both the mustard seed

for littleness.

used as a simile

Christ speaks of "a foolish man, which built

his

house upon the sand"

is

Buddha

says, "Perish-

able

the city built of sand."

Both speak of "the rain which falls on the just and on the unjust." The story of the ruler, Nicodemus, who came to Jesus by night, has its parallel in the story of the rich man who came to Buddha by night. A converted courtezan, Magdalena, followed Jesus, and a converted courtezan, Ambapali, followed Buddha. There is a legend of a traitor connected with
each.

Both made triumphal

salem, and

entries, Christ into Jeru-

Buddha

into Rajagriba.

Both proclaimed kingdoms not of this world. eternal life promised by Christ corresponds to the eternal peace. Nirvana, promised by Buddha. Both religions recognize a trinity. "Catholic and Protestant missionaries," to

The

Muller again, "vie with each other in Buddha." Bishop Bigandet, one of the leading Christian writers on Buddha, says: "In reading the particulars of the life of Buddha it is impossible not to feel reminded of many circumstances relating to our Savior's life as
quote
their praises of

Max

Sources of the Christ

sketched by the evangelists.
favor of
It

Myth.

509
in

may

be said

Buddhism

that no philosophic-religious

system has ever upheld to an equal degree the

notions of a savior and deliverer, and the necessity of his mission for

procuring the salvation of

:

man."

St. Hilaire

says

''He [Buddha] requires

humility, disregard of worldly v^ealth, patience

and resignation
.

in adversity,
evil,

love

to

enemies
of
sins

non-resistance to

confession

and conversion." The bishop of Ramatha says: "There are many moral precepts equally commanded and enforced in common by both creeds. It w^ill not be rash to assert that most of the moral truths prescribed in the gospel are to be met w^ith in the Buddhistic scriptures." Writing of B.uddhism, Mrs. Spier, in her "Life in Ancient
India," says:

"Before God planted Christianity branch from the luxuriant upon it down to India." tree, and threw The external forms of Christianity, especially
earth, he took a of Catholic Christianity, are

degree after those of

modeled in a large Buddhism. Of Northern

Buddhism (Lamaism) the "Encyclopedia Britannica" says: "Lamaism, with its shaven priests,
and rosaries, its images and holy water, its popes and bishops, its abbots and monks of many grades, its processions and feast days, its confessional and purgatory, and its worship of
its bells

the double Virgin, so strongly resembles Romanism that the first Catholic missionaries thought
it

must be an imitation by the

devil of the re-

5IO
ligion of Christ."

The

Christ.
central object in every

The

Buddhist temple is an image of Buddha. The central object in every Catholic church is an image of Christ. Holy relics and the veneration of saints are prominent in both.

Buddha commanded
gospel to
ciples to
all

his disciples to preach his

men.

Christ

commanded

his dis-

do the same. In obedience to these commands the world was filled with missionaries, and largely as the result of this the adherents of these religious systems outnumber those of all Christian tradition says that others combined.

Thomas visited India. Some believe that it was in this way that the early Christians became acquainted with the history and teachings of Krishna and Buddha. This may be true, but so far
as the Buddhistic element in Christianity
is

con-

cerned

it

is

quite as reasonable to suppose that

Buddhist

missionaries

their religion to Alexandria

had previously carried and Rome, where the

molders of the Christian creed obtained their knowledge of it. "Thai remarkable missionary movement, beginning 300 B. C," says Max Muller, "sent forth a succession of devoted men who spent their lives in spreading the faith of Buddha
over
is

all

parts of Asia." Ilarden-IIickey says:

at

'Tt

not doubted

the present day that Indian

indeed more particularly ideas, and Buddhism, reached and were even propagated as far as Egypt, Asia Minor, and Palestine,
religious

those of

long before the Christian era."

Sources of the Christ Myth.

511

Connected with the triumphs of these religious is a historical analogy deserving mention. Three centuries after the time of Buddha, Asoka the Great, emperor of India, became a convert to the Buddhist faith^ made it the state religion of the empire, and did more than any other man to secure its supremacy in the East. Three centuries after Christ, Constantine the Great, emfaiths there

peror of Rome, became a convert to the Christian

faith,

made
for

it it

the state religion of his empire, the supremacy of the West.

and won

Remuset says: ''Buddhism has been called the East." It would be more appropriate to call Christianity the Buddhism of the West. Buddha, and not Christ, was "The Light of Asia." At this torch Christians lighted
Christianity of the
their

taper

and called

it

''The

Light

of

the

World."
Confucius.

This great Chinese sage and religious founder was born 551 B. C. His followers believed him to be divine. His birth was attended by prodiMagi and angels visited him, while celesgies. His disciples invented a tial music filled the air. genealogy for him, giving him a princely descent from Hoang-ti, a Chinese monarch, just as the
Christian Evangelists at a later period invented

genealogies for

Christ,

giving

him a princely

pedigree from David.

Concerning his deification the "International Encyclopedia" says: *'By the irony of fate he was deified after his death, and,

512
like

The

Christ.

Buddha, Confucius, who had httle belief in became a divinity." As Boulger states, "His name and his teachings were perpetuated by a band of devoted disciples, and the book which contained the moral and philosophical axioms of Confucius passed into the classical literature of the country and
the supernatural,

stood

in the place of a Bible for the Chinese" (History of China, p. i6). Of all the great religious systems which have

appeared since the dawn of history Buddhism and Confucianism, as originally presented, from a rational standpoint, stand pre-eminent. In both the supernatural is almost entirely absent. Both are godless religions, and both have been, for the most part, bloodless religions. The adherents of both have practiced in the highest degree what the adherents of their great rival have only pro*'On earth peace, good will toward men." fessed Both systems, like primitive Christianity, have been corrupted; but the system of Confucius has suffered less than that of Buddha. The religious, or rather ethical, system taught by Confucius, is
:

the

religion of the intellectual aristocracy of China, and, to a great extent, the religion of the

most enlightened everywhere. Christian scholars have been surprised to find in the writings of Confucius some of the best teachings attributed to Clirist. The Golden Rule
has been ascribed to the Christian founder. And yet this rule is the very essence of Confucianism

Sources of the Christ Myth.

513

and was borrowed from

it.

In a presentation of

the teachings of the Chinese sage, Rev. James Legge of Oxford University, the highest Euro-

pean authority on China and Confucius, says: "Foremost among these we must rank his distinct enunciation of the Golden Rule, deduced by him from his study of man's mental condition. Several times he gave that rule in express words 'What you do not like when done to yourself do
not to others.'
"

To

retain for Christ a portion of the credit due

Confucius,

Christians assert that the Chinese merely taught the negative form of this moralist what rule, the abstaining from doing to others to have them do to us, while Christ we dislike taught the positive form, the doing to others what we desire them to do to us. Regarding this Mr. Legge says: "It has been said that he only gave the rule in a negative form but he understood it also in its positive and most comprehen;

sive form,

and deplored on one occasion at least, taking that he had not himself always attained to doing to others as he would have the initiative in

them do

to him."

Another analogy may be noticed.

The

religion

to naof Confucius enjoins absolute- obedience This, too, is a prominent tenet of tional rulers.

the Christian religion.

As the result of this, Conand has remained the state refucianism became and ligion of China, while Christianity became
has remained the state religion of Europe.

514

The

Christ.

Laou-tsze.
Laou-tsze, the other great religious founder of

China, was born 604 B. C. His entry into the world and his exit from it were attended by miracles. Like Christ he was miraculously conceived like Christ he ascended bodily into heaven. He was believed to be an incarnation of an
;

astral god.

His gospel, the 'Tao Teh King," was written by him. "Tao" means "the way." Christ was
pel, is

Way." Alan, according to this gosboth a material and a spiritual being. By the renunciation of riches and worldly enjoycalled *'the to immortality.
like

ments the soul attains

divine of mortals

are^

The most Enoch and Elijah,

heaven without suffermg death. men to be righteous must become ''as little children." Christ said: "Except ye be converted and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven"
translated
to

Laou-tsze taught that

(Matt,
.

xviii. 3).

The more ignorant

diseases
are

followers of Laou-tsze, like

of Christ, believe that
ei^il

the

more ignorant followers

many

caused by

spirits,

and

their priests, like Christ, practice exorcism to ex-

pel them.
teries

Like the Catholics, they have monasProf.

and convents.
Montuci, the
things about a

Of Laou-tsze's writings
Italian philologist, says:

"Many

triune

God

are so clearly expressed that no one

who

has read this book can doubt that the mys-

Character and Teachings.

tery of the
Christ."

515

Holy Trinity was revealed to the Chinese five centuries before the coming of

There is one element in Christianity which was not borrowed from Paganism religious intolerance. Referring to Buddhism, Confucianism, and Taouism, a writer on China says: ''Between the
followers of the three national religions there is not only a total absence of persecution and bitter feeling,

but a very great indifference as to

which

of

them

the politer

man may classes, when

a
:

belong.

Among
the

strangers

meet,

To what sublime religion do question is asked you belong?' and each one pronounces a eulogium, not on his own religion, but on that professed by the others, and concludes with the oftrepeated formula: 'Religions are many; reason
is

one

we

are

all

brothers.'

"

Zoroaster.

The Persian prophet Zoroaster

lived

and wrote

From at least 1200 years before the Christian era. important dochis teachings some of the most
trines of Christianity, as well as of Judaism,

were

derived.

According to the Persian theology the universe Ormuzd (God) and is ruled by two great powers, Ahrimanes (Satan). The one represents light, other the other darkness; the one is good, the there is perpetuBetween these two powers evil. man, each striving al war. The center of battle is God created man with a free will for his soul.

5i6

The

Christ.

Those who to choose between good and evil. choose the good are rewarded with everlasting life in heaven; those who choose the evil are punished with endless misery in hell while those in whom the good and evil are balanced pass into an intermediate state (purgatory), to remain un;

til

the last judgment.

save mankind God sent a savior in the person of Zoroaster with a divine revelation, the "Zend Avesta." Like Christ, Zoroaster was of supernatural origin and endowed with superhuman powers. Like Christ, he believed that Satan

To

would be dethroned and

he' believed that the

cast into hell

like Christ

end of the world and the kingdom of God were at hand; like Christ, he
taught his followers to worship
declared that

God like Christ he God heard and answered prayer; like

; ;

Christ he was tempted by Satan like Christ he performed miracles; like Christ he was slain by those whom he had come to save. McClintock and Strong's "Cyclopedia" gives a

summary of the principal doctrines of Zoroaster among which are the following: "The principal duty of man in this life is to obey the word and commandments of God. "Those who obey the word of God will be free
from
all

defects and immortal.

"God
working

exercises his rule in the world through

the works

in

prompted by the Divine man and nature.

Spirit,

who

is

Character and Teachings.

5^7

"Men should pray to God and worship him. He hears the prayers of the good. "All men live solely through the bounty of God.
"The
soul of the pure will hereafter enjoy ever-

lasting life; that of the wicked will have to undergo everlasting punishment" (Art. Zoroaster).

Devils and angels are of Persian origin.

Kalisch,

Dr.

Jewish scholar, says: "When the Jews, ever open to foreign influence in matters of faith, lived under Persian rule, they imbibed, among many other religious views of their masters, their doctrines of angels and spirits, which, in the region of the Euphrates and Tigris, were most luxuriantly developed" (Levit"The belief in spirits and icus, part II, p. 287). not a concession made by educated demons was men to the prejudices of the masses, but a concession which all the educated as well as the uneducated made to Pagan polytheism" (Ibid). "It is in the Maccabean Daniel Strauss says
the

eminent

and in the Apocryphal Tobit that this doctrine of angels, in the most precise form, first appears; and it is evidently a product of the influence of the Zend religion of the Persian op the Jewish mind. We have the testimony of the Jews themselves that they brought the

names

of the angels

with them from Babylon" (Leben Jesu, p. 78). Baptism, communion, and even confirmation, are rites that were performed in Persia a thousand years before the advent of Christ. Dr. Hyde,
in his "Religion of the

Ancient Persians," says:

51

The

Christ.

''They do not use circumcision for their children, but only baptism or washing for the inward puriAfter such washfication of the soul ing, or baptism, the priest imposes on the child the name given by his parents. Afterwards, in the fifteenth year of his age, when he begins to put on the tunic, the sudra, and the girdle, that he may enter upon religion, and is engaged in the articles of belief, the priest bestows upon him
confirmation."

The

following,

from

the

"Britannica,"

was

written by England's leading authority on Zoroaster, Professor Gildner: "Like John the Baptist

and the Apostles

of Jesus, Zoroaster also be-

was kingdom of heaven was at hand. the whole of the Gathas (the Psalms
lieved that the fullness of time

near, that

the

Through
of Zoroas-

ter)

ent world

runs the pious hope that the end of the presis not far off. He himself hopes along
live to see the decisive

with his followers to

of things, the

turn

dawn

of the

new and

better aeon.

Ormuzd
forever;

will

summon

for a final struggle

together all his powers and break the power of evil

by

his help the faithful will achieve the

victory over their detested enemies, the daeva

worshipers, and render them powerless.

There-

upon Ormuzd will hold a judicium universale upon all mankind and judge strictly according to justice, punish the wicked, and assign to the good the hoped-for reward. Satan will be cast,
along with
all

those

who have been

delivered

Sources of the Christ Myth.

over to him to suffer the pains of
less.

hell, into
lie

the

abyss, where he will thenceforward

power-

dom

of

Forthwith begins the one undivided kingGod in heaven and on earth."

Substitute "Christ" for "Zoroaster/' "God" for "Ormuzd," and "Gospels" for "Gathas," in the above, and we have almost an exact exposition of
the teachings of Christ.
at
least

And

Zoroaster taught

1200 years before Christ taught, and

the Gospels were written.

wrote his "Gathas" more than 1300 years before The writings of Zoroaster were the principal source of the most im-

portant theological doctrines ascribed to Christ, as the Buddhistic writings were of his ethical
teachings.

Mithra.

This god was the offspring of the Sun, and, next to Ormuzd and Ahrimanes, held the highest rank among the gods of ancient Persia. He was
represented
Meditator.
as a

beautiful

youth.
J.

From

the Rev.

He is the W. Lake I quote

the following:

"Mithras is spiritual light, contending with spiritual darkness, and through his labors the kingdom of darkness shall be lit with heaven's own light; the Eternal will receive all things back into his favor, the world will be redeemed to God. The impure are to be purified, and the evil made good, through the mediation of
Mithras, the reconciler of

Mithras

is

the Good, his

is

Ormuzd and Ahriman. name is Love. In relathe source of grace, in

tion to the Eternal he

5^0
relation to

The
man

Christ.

he is the Hfe-giver and mediator" and Paul, p. 15). The "International Encyclopedia" says "Mithras seems to have owed his prominence to the belief that he was the source of life, and could also redeem the souls of the dead into the better The ceremonies included a sort world. of baptism to remove sins, anointing, and a sacred meal of bread and water, while a consecrated wine, believed to possess wonderful power, played a prominent part." Concerning Mithra "Chambers's Encyclopedia'' says: "The most important of his many festivals was his birthday, celebrated on the 25th of December, the day subsequently fixed against as the birthday of Christ. The worall evidence ship of Mithras early found its way into Rome,
(Plato, Philo,
:
.
.

and the mysteries of Mithras, which fell in the spring equinox, were famous even among the many Roman festivals. The ceremonies observed
in the initiation to these

mysteries

symbolical

between Ahriman and Ormuzd were of the most ex(the Good and the Evil) traordinary and to a certain degree even dangerous character. Baptism and the partaking of a mystical liquid, consisting of flour and water, to be drunk with the utterance of sacred formulas, were among the inauguration acts." In the catacombs at Rome was preserved a
of the struggle

relic of the old

Mithraic worship.

It

was

a pic-

ture of the infant Mithra seated in the lap of his

Sources of the Christ Myth.

virgin mother, while on their knees before

521

him

were Persian Magi adoring him and offering

gifts.

Prof.

Franz

Cumont,

of

the

University

of

Ghent, writes as follows concerning the religion

of Mithra

and the religion

of Christ

"The

sec-

taries of the

Persian god, like the Christians',

purified themselves

by baptism, received by a power necessary to combat the spirit of evil and expected from a Lord's supper salvation of body and soul. Like the latter, they also held Sunday sacred, and celebrated the birth of the Sun on the 25th of Despecies of confirmation the
;
,
. .

cember. They both preached a categorical system of ethics, regarded asceticism as meritorious and counted among their principal virtues abstinence and continence, renunciation and self-control. Their conceptions of the world and of the destiny of man were similar. They both admitted the existence of a Heaven inhabited by beatified ones, situate in the upper regions, and of a Hell, peopled by demons, situate in the bowels of the earth. They both placed a flood at the beginning of history; they both assigned as the
source of their condition, a primitive revelation; they both, finally, believed in the immortality of
the soul, in a last judgment, and in a resurrection
of the dead, consequent of the universe''
190, 191).

upon a final conflagration (The Mysteries of Mithras, pp.

:

The Rev.

Charles Biggs, D.D., says

"The

dis-

522

The

Christ.

ciples of Mithra formed an organized church, with a developed hierarchy. They possessed the ideas of Mediation, Atonement, and a Savior, who is human and yet divine, and not only the idea, but a doctrine of the future life. They had a Eucharist, and a Baptism, and other curious analogies might be pointed out between their system and the church of Christ" (The Christian

Platonists, p. 240).

quote again from McClintock and Strong: *'In modern times Christian writers have been induced to look favorably upon the assertion that some of our ecclesiastical usages (e. g., the institution of the Christmas festival) originated in the cultus of Mithraism. Some writers who
I

refuse to accept the Christian religion as of su-

pernatural origin, have even gone so far as to institute a close comparison with the founder of
Christianity; and Dupuis and others, going even

beyond
Gospel

this,

have not hesitated to pronounce the simply a branch of Mithraism" (Art.

Mithra).

The

Christian Father Manes, founder of the

sect

heretical

known

as

that Christ and Mithra were one.

Manicheans, believed His teaching,

"Christ
in the

according to Mosheim, was as follows:

is

that glorious intelligence which the Persians

. . .

called Mithras.

His residence

is

sun"

(Ecclesiastical History, 3rd century, Part

2, ch.'s).

The Mithraic worship

at

one ^ime covered a

Sources of the Christ Myth.

523

large portion of the ancient world. It flourished as late as the second century, but finally went

down

before

its

young and

invincible rival
its

which

appropriated, to a great extent,

doctrines, rites

and customs.
Sosiosh.

The Messianic idea, as we have from Persia. The expected Messiah

seen,

of the

came Jews

and tne Christ of Christians are of Persian origin. Sosiosh, the Messiah of the Persians, is the son

He

of Zoroaster, ''begotten in a supernatural way." constitutes a part of the Persian Trinity. He

exists, as yet, only in a spiritual form. His incarnation and advent on earth are yet to be. When he comes he will bring with him a new

revelation.

He

will

awaken the dead and

it is

pre-

side at the last judgment. Zoroaster,

claimed,

predicted his coming, declaring that he would be born of a virgin, and that a star would indicate the place of his birth. "As soon, therefore," said
Zoroaster, "as you shall behold the star, follow it whithersoever it shall lead you and adore that mysterious child, offering your gifts to him with profound humility." "And, lo, the star, which they

saw in the east, went before them till it came and stood over where the young child was. And when they were come into the house, they
.

child with Mary, his mother, and down, and worshiped him; and when they had opened their treasures, they presented unto him gifts" (Matthew ii, 9, 11).
fell

saw the young

524

The

Christ.

Adonis.
Babylonia, including Accadia, Chaldea, and Assyria, much of Christianity has come. Christ himself was descended from the Babylonian pantheon; his father, Jehovah, being originally a Babylonian god. Adonis,
zi,

From

Tammouz, Tam-

or Du-zi, as he
deity

Babylonian

was variously called, was a whose worship gradually

spread over Syria, Phoenicia and Greece. He was one of the most ancient of the sons of gods. His origin may be traced to that fertile, and perhaps earliest, source of gods and religions, Accadia. His worship was a combination of sun

worship and sex worship. He was the god of light, and life, and love. Associated with his worship in Babylonia and Syria was the worship of Istar; and in Phoenicia and Greece the worship of Venus. Under the name of Tammouz, Adonis was worshiped by the Jews. At the very gates of the temple, Ezekiel tells us, "There sat women weeping for Tammouz" ("Adonis" in Catholic ver.) (viii, 14). In the Bible he is frequently referred to as "the only son." One of the months of the Hebrew calendar was named in honor of him. The abstaining from the use of pork by the Jews had its origin in the legend of the slaying of Adonis by the wild boar. And the eating of fish on Friday by Christians is doubtless due to the fact that Friday was consecrated to Venus by

Sources of the Chrisc Myth.

her Asiatic worshipers and fish

525
in

was eaten

her honor.
ogies, the

In a citation of Babylonian and Biblical anal"Encyclopedia Britannica" says: "The

resemblance is still more striking when we examine the Babylonian mythology. The sacred tree of Babylonia, with its guardian cherubs a word, by the way, which seems of Accadian origin as well as the flaming sword or thunderbolt of fifty points and seven heads, recall Biblical analogies, while the Noachian deluge differs but slightly from the Chaldean one. Indeed, the

Jehovistic version of the flood story in Genesis

agrees not only

in details,

but even

in

phraseollay of
of the lat-

ogy with that which forms the eleventh

the great Babylonian epic.
ter

The hero

is Tam-zi or Tammuz, 'the sun of life,' the son of Ubaratutu, 'the glow of sunset,' and denotes the revivifying luminary of day, who sails upon his 'ark' behind the clouds of winter to reappear when the rainy season is past. He is called Sisuthrus by Berosus, that is, Susru 'the

founder,' a
tain

synonym

of

Na

'the sky.'

The moun-

on which his ark rested v/as placed in Nisir, southwest of Lake Urumiyeh. Its peak, whereon the first altar was built after the deluge, was the legendary model after which the zigurats or towers of the Babylonian temples were erected. Besides the account of the flood, fragments have been met with of stories resembling those of the tower of Babel or Babylon, of the creation, of the

526
fall,

The

Christ.

and of the sacrifice of Isaac the latter, by the way, forming the first lay of the great epic.
sixth lay

The

we

possess in

full.

It describes

the descent of Istar into

Hades

in

pursuit of her

dead husband Du-zi, 'the off-spring,' the BabyDu-zi is but another form of lonian Adonis. denotes the sun when obscured by Tam-zi and night and winter." Concerning the two lays of this Babylonian or Assyrian epic which pertain to Adonis, Dr. Soury ''The two important episodes of this epic says hitherto discovered, 'The Deluge,' and 'The De:

scent of Istar into Hell,' yield the best

tary on
(sheol).

commenand
hell

the Biblical stories of the deluge

We

have

henceforth

the

epigraphic

proof, confirming the valuable testimony of Berosus, that these legends

tion, of the

like

those of the crea-

Tower

of Babel, etc.

did

not orig-

by the and worship of Hebrews with the the people of the valley of the Tigris and Euphrates, amid whom they had sojourned for cenThe Babylonian deluge is also a turies. chastisement from the deity; it is the consequence of man's corruption (Assyrian poem, line 22). The details of the building of the Babylonian ark (line 24), into which are introduced the various pairs of male and female animals (line
inate in Palestine, but

were

carried thither

civilization

80), of the shutting of the doors of the ark (line 89), of the duration, increase and decrease of the
flood (lines 123-129), of the sending out of a dove,

Sources of the Christ Myth.

527

a swallow and a raven (lines 140-144), etc., leave no doubt as to the origin of the legend of Genesis" (Religion of Israel, p. 10).

British

The noted Assyriologist, George Smith, of the Museum, who discovered the tablets con-

taining these fragments of the Babylonian epic, says that the original text of these legends can-

not be later than the 17th century B. C., and may be much earlier, thus antedating the oldest books
of the Bible nearly 1,000 years.

From

these and

other Babylonian and Persian legends the most of the Old Testament legends were borrowed.

This fact disproves the existence of the orthodox Christ. If the accounts of the creation, the fall of man, and the Noachian deluge, as given in the Bible, are not authentic, but merely borrowed fables, then there remains no foundation for an
atoning Savior. Describing the worship of Adonis, "Chambers's Encyclopedia" says: "His festivals were partly the expressions of joy, partly of mourning. In the latter the women gave themselves up to the most unmitigated grief over the 'lost Adonis.' This period was followed by a succession
.

of festive and joyful days, in honor of the resurrection of Adonis."

to the

These

festivals

correspond

Good Friday and Easter of Christians, commemorating the death and resurrection of
Christ.

The most
women.

No

ardent worshipers of Adonis were other character, real or imaginary,

528

The

Christ

has so stirred the passions and the emotions of

woman

as this beautiful

young
with

lover of Venus.

His tragic

death

bathed

immortal

sadness

the hearts of his devotees, and from the remotest ages down to a very late period moved to tears the daughters of

men who adored

him.

Writing

ol Bethlehem at the close of the

St.
:

fourth century,

Jerome says "The lover of Venus is mourned grotto where Christ wailed as an infant." Along with the "Holy Sepulchre" of Christ, there still exists the "Tomb of Adonis," where "the
in the

women
tears

of the ancient mysteries, in the intoxica-

tion of a voluptuous grief,

came

to cover with

and kisses the cenotaph of the beautiful 3^outh." "Even at the present time," says Renan, "the Syrian hymns sung in honor of the Virgin
are a kind of tearful sigh, a strange sob." Moved by the same passions and the

same
female

emotions that thrilled worshipers of Adonis,

alive

the
it

hearts
the

of

the

is

women

of Chris-

tendom, who, more than any other cause, keep

the

memory and
a Carmelite

the

religion

of

Christ.

Thus writes

nun describing the pas-

sionate adoration of her Christian sisters: "One day they have raised their eyes to an

adorable

face.

A
the

horrible

diadem of interlaced
forehead;
rubies

branches
blood
roll

binds

august

of

upon the livid pallor of tlie cheeks; the mouth has forgotten how to smile. They have looked upon It is a man of sorrows. him and found him more beautiful, more noble,
slowly

Sources of the Christ Myth.

529

more

They have felt a loyal 'Jian any spouse. stronger heart-beat in his divine breast; they have understood that death no more dare touch
his emaciated figure,
ity is eternal.

and that

his conjugal fidel-

''Captivated, ravished, enamoured, enraptured,

Rendered insensible by they have loved him. love, they have trampled cruelly upon the broken hearts of fathers and desolate mothers they have
;

woful beseechings of those w^ho desire them for companions they have followed to Carmel the unique lover, the imlistened,
tearless,

to

the

mortal husband." The ancient adoration of Adonis survives in We see here this modern adoration of Jesus.
the

same strange commingling of superstition and fanaticism, of love and sorrow, of ecstasy and agony, of chastity and lust. The religion is the same the worship is the same. The divine The beautiful lovers only have been changed. Pagan has been supplanted by the Ideal Man. Writing of the Protestant women of his day,
;

Thomas Jefferson says: *Tn our Richmond there is much fanaticism, but chiefly among the women They have their night meetings and praying parties,

where, attended by their priests,

they

pour forth their love to Jesus in terms as amatory and carnal as their modesty would permit to a mere earthly lover'' (Jefferson's Works, Vol. IV, p. 358, Randolph's ed.).

530

The

Christ.

Osiris.

One of the most ancient and one of the most renowned of all the gods was Osiris, the Savior of He was the son of Seb (earth) and Nu Egypt.
(heaven).

He

appears

in

the

hieroglyphics

Egypt as early as 3427 B. C.

Two

of thousand years

before Christ his worship was universal in Egypt, and during the succeeding centuries spread over

much
Rome.

of Asia and Europe, including Greece and

Its

priests
all

looked confidently forward to

to Osiris,

the time

when
all

men would be brought

will

just as Christian priests today look forward to the

time

when

men

be brought to Christ.

was slain by Typhon (Satan), but rose again and became the ruler of the dead. He presides at the judgment of the departed where the good are rewarded with everlasting life, and the wicked are destroyed. The Osirian Bible is called
Osiris

the ''Book of the Dead."

Christians are indebted to this religion largely

for their views concerning immortality
ily

resurrection.

They

believe

that

and a bodthrough the

is

death and resurrection of Christ they have inherited eternal life, that

when

their earthly career

ended they

will live again in him.

Regarding the

Egyptians' belief, the "International Encyclopedia"

says: "Just as Osiris died and lived again, so the
spiritual

personality

of the deceased

lived

again

and was merged

Charles
says:
Gillett,

in Osiris."

Of

Osiris the Rev. Dr.

of

"The

belief in

Union Theological Seminary, him and in the immortality

Sources of the Christ Myth.

531

which he symbolized was the deepest in Egyptian rehgious thought." Sir John Gardner Wilkinson, one of the most eminent Egyptologists, says: "The peculiar character of Osiris, his coming upon earth for the benefit of mankind, with the titles of 'Manifester of Good' and 'Revealer of Truth'; his being put to death by the malice of the Evil One; his burial and resurrection, and his becoming the judge of the dead, are the most interesting features of the Egyptian religion." John Stuart Glennie, another English writer, notes the following analogies

between the religion of Osiris and the religion of

Christ: *'In ancient Osirianism, as in
tianism,
child.

modern Chris-

worship of a divine mother and In ancient Osirianism as in modern Chrisfind the

is

we

tianism, there
cient

a doctrine of atonement.

In an-

Osirianism, as in

modern Christianism,

we

find the vision of a last judgment,

and resurrection

of the body.
as in

And
fire

finally,

in ancient Osirianism,

modern Christianism, the

sanctions of morality

are a lake of

and torturing demons on the one

life in

hand, and on the other, eternal of God" (Christ and Osiris,

p.

the presence

14).

Referring to
sonification of

Osiris,

McClintock and Strong's

regarded as the per-

"Cyclopedia" says:

"He was

is related to have been on earth instructing mankind in useful arts; to have been slain by his adversary Typhon by whom

moral good.

He

he was cut
wife and

in pieces; to

sister

Isis; to

have been bewailed by his have been embalmed; to

have risen again, and to have become the judge of

532
the dead,

The
among whom

Christ.
the righteous were called

by his name and received his form a wonderful fore- feeling of the Gospel narrative" (Art. Egypt). Isis, the sister and wife of Osiris, was the greatest of

female

divinities.

Her worship was

coexist-

ent and coextensive with that of her divine brother

and husband. We have the following picture of her in the Apocalypse "And there appeared a great 'tfi^onder in heaven; a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars" (Revelation xii, i). The worship of Isis existed in Rome and Alexandria during the formative period of Christianity and Christians borrowed much from it. Horus. This popular Egyptian god was the son of Osiris and Isis. Osiris and Horus were both solar
:

deities; Osiris

was the
it

setting sun,

Horus

the ris-

ing sun.

Christ,

is

claimed, existed before his

it

incarnation;

and Horus,

was claimed, existed

Christ

even before the incarnation of his father.

when an

was carried into Egypt to escape the wrath of Herod; Horus when an infant was carried out of Egypt to escape the wrath of Tyinfant

the death of his father he afterTyphon. He was the last of the ward vanquished gods who reigned in Eg}^pt. Festivals and movable feasts similar to those celebrated in honor of

phon.

To avenge

Christ were held in his honor.

In India and Egypt, ages before the appearance of Christianity, the doctrine of
the

Trinity

pre-

Sources of the Christ Myth.

vailed.

533

Brahma, Vishnu, and Siva constituted the most important Trinity of Egypt was Osiris, Isis, and Horus. Even the Christian doctrine of a Trinity in Unity, an absurdity which Christianity alone is supposed to have taught, was an Egyptian doctrine. Samuel Sharp, in his "Egyptian Mythology" (p. 14), says:
principal trinity of India, while the

"We
ish

have a hieroglyphical inscription

in the Brit-

Museum

as early as the reign of Sevechus of

the eighth century before the Christian era, show-

ing that the doctrine of Trinity in Unity already

formed part of
three gods only

their religion

and that

* * the

made one
:

person."

Egyphad been familiar with the conception of a triune God. There was hardly a city of any note without its particular triads. Here it was Amum, Maut, and Khonso; there Osiris, Isis, and Horus" (Intellectual Development, Vol. I, p. 191). Dr. Inman affirms the Egyptian origin of the Christian trinity "The Christian trinity is of Egyptian origin, and is as surely a Pagan doctrine as the belief in heaven and hell, the existence of a devil, of archangels, angels, spirits and saints, martyrs and virgins, intercessors in heaven, gods and demigods, and other forms of faith which deface the greater part of modern religions" (Ancient Pagan and Modern Christian Symbolism, p.
thirty centuries the
tians
:

Dr. Draper says

"For

13)-

There are two myths connected with Horus analogous to stories found in the Old Testament, and

534
The hiding

The
of

Christ.

stories were written. marsh by his mother undoubtedly suggested the myth of the hiding of Moses in a marsh by his mother. When Horus died Isis implored Ra, the sun, to restore him to Ra stopped his ship in mid-heaven and sent life. down Thoth, the moon, to bring him back to life. The stopping of the sun and moon by Isis recalls the myth of the stopping of the sun and moon by

which were old when these

Horus

in a

Joshua.

The
its

deification

origin in the worship of Isis,

and worship of the Virgin had and the adoration

of the Virgin and Child is but the adoration of Isis and Horus transferred to Mary and Jesus. Describing the Paganization of Christianity Dr. Draper
says:

"Views of the

Trinity, in accordance with

Egyptian tradition, were established. Not only was the adoration of Isis under a new name restored,
but even her image standing on the crescent moon The well-known effigy of that godreappeared.
dess, with the infant

Horus

in her arms, has de-

scended to our days

tions of the

in the beautiful artistic crea-

of the Roman Catholic That the church was borrowed from Egypt is shown by the
fact that in the earlier representations of her, she

Madonna and Virgin Mary

Child" (Conflict,

p.

48).

was, like
his

Isis, veiled.

Concerning

this

Draper,

in

Development" (Vol. I, p. 361), says: "Of the Virgin Mary, destined in later times
"Intellectual

to furnish so

many

beautiful types of female love-

liness, the earliest representations

are veiled.

The

Sources of the Christ Myth.

535

Egyptian sculptors had thus depicted Isis; the first form of the Virgin and Child was the counterpart
of
Isis

Dr. G.
this

and Horus." W. Brown,

author

of

"Researches

in

Oriental History," writes:

''Mural illustrations of

mother and child are not confined to Egypt, but are scattered all over Asia Minor, and are numerous in Italy, while many temples and shrines are yet found which were erected to their memory. Matthew ii, 15, claims to be a quotation from one of the prophets: 'Out of Egypt have I called

my

son.''

Writing of the ancient Gnostics, C.

W.

King,

a noted English author, says: 'To this period belongs a beautiful sard in my collection, representing Serapis, * * * whilst before him stands Isis,

holding in one hand the sistrum, in the other a wheatsheaf, with the legend: 'Immaculate is our
lady
Isis,'

the very term applied afterwards to that

personage
bols,
rites,

who

succeeded to her form, her symand ceremonies" (Gnostics and Their

Remains, p. 71). Regarding the trans ferrence of the attributes of Isis to Mary, Newton, in his "Assyrian Grove and Other Emblems," says "When Mary, the mother of Jesus, took the place in Christendom of 'the great goddess,' the dogmas which propounded her
:

immaculate conception and perpetual virginity followed as a matter of course." "The 'Black Virgins,' " says King, "so highly reverenced in certain French cathedrals during the

536
middle ages,

The
proved,

Christ.

when

critically

examined,
de-

basalt figures of Isis."

Mrs. Besant believes that Christianity

rived chiefly from Egypt:
its
'*It

v^^as

grew out of Egypt;

;

gospels

came from thence [Alexandria]

its

its

ceremonies were learned there;

its

Virgin

is

Isis;

Christ Osiris and Horus."

Of

the antiquity of Egypt's religion, and the

mu-

tability

of the gods, that brilliant young English:

man, Winwood Reade, thus writes "Buried cities the ground on which we tread is the pavement of a tomb. See the pyramids towering to the sky, with men, like insects, crawling round their base; and the Sphinx, couched in vast repose, with a ruined temple between its paws. Since those great monuments were raised the very heavens have been changed. When the architects of Egypt began their work, there was another polar star in the northern sky, and the southern cross shone upon the Baltic shores. How glorious are the memories of those ancient men, whose names are forgotten, for they lived and labored in the distant and unwritten past. Too great to be known, they sit on the height of centuries and look down on fame. * * * The men are dead, and the gods are Naught but their memories remain. Where dead. now is Osiris, who came down upon earth out of love for man, who was killed by the malice of the evil one, who rose again from the grave and became the judge of the dead? Where now is Isis the mother, with the child Horus in her lap? They
are beneath our feet
;

Sources of the Christ Myth.

537

are dead; they are gone to the land of the shades. To-morrow, Jehovah, you and your son shall be

with them."

Zeus.
Zeus, Jove, or Jupiter, as he
is

variously called,

was the greatest of the sons of gods and held the highest place in the pantheons of Greece and Rome. He was the son of the god Kronos and the goddess Rhea.

The gods of Greece, while mostly pure myths, were yet intensely human. In these gods human vices sank to the lowest depths and human virtues rose to the loftiest heights. Zeus was one of the most puerile, one of the most sublime, one of the most depraved and one of the most beneficent In the words of Andrew Lang, "He of deities.
is

the

sum
in the

of

the

religious

thought of Hellas,

found

numberless ages between savagery and

of

complete civilization."
Zeus, like Christ, assumed the form

man.

Pagan deity, like that of the Kronos infant Christian deity, was imperiled. tried to destroy him, but he was secreted in a cave and saved. There was a widely accepted tradition among primitive Christians, before the myth of gained credence, that the shepherd's manger Concerning these cradled in a cave. Christ was Strauss says: "The myths of the ancient myths, world more generally ascribed divine apparitions
life

The

of the infant

countrymen and shepherds; the sons of the gods, and of great men were frequently brought up
to

538

The
shepherds.
is

Christ.
spirit

among

In the same

of the an-

cient legend

the apocryphal invention that Jesus

was born

in a cave,

and we are

at

once reminded

of the cave of Jupiter (Zeus) and the other gods"

(Leben Jesu,
This god,

p.

154).

Jehovah, became the ruler of heaven and earth. Like Jehovah he became dissatisfied with the human race, and with the aid of Pandora, who brought death into the world, tried to destroy it that he might create a new race. Seneca refers to Zeus as "the guardian and ruler of the universe, the soul and spirit, the lord and master of this mundane sphere * * * from whom
like

whose spirit we live." Lecky which the first Greek dramatists asserted the supreme authority and universal providence of Zeus was so emphatic that the Christian fathers commonly attributed it either to direct inspiration or to a knowledge of the Jewish writings" (European Morals, Vol. I, p. 161). One of the daughters of Zeus was Persephone, Life. Her mother was Demeter, the Earth. Hades seized Persephone and carried her to his regions in the lower world where she became his wife. Then Earth became disconsolate and could not be conall

things proceed, by

says:

"The language

in

soled.

To

assuage the

grief

of

the

sorrowing

mother Hades agreed to give her back to Earth for half the year. While Life dwells with her mother, Earth, we have summer, and flowers, and fruits, and joy. When Life returns to her husband, Hades,
winter and desolation return to Earth.

Of

this

god-

Sources of the Christ Myth.

dess Ridpath says
:

539
Eve.

''Persephone

is

close to

and should have been so rendered, and would have been but for the blundering of the English translators" (History of the World,

Eve means

Life,

Vol.

II, p.

501).

The realm of Hades was called by his name. The term was borrowed by the writers of the New
Testament but has been translated "hell." Christians took possession of Hades' kingdom; but

Hades was dethroned

ental Satan,

to

make room

for the Ori-

and the sad yet peaceful abode of departed spirits was transformed into a lake of fire, the habitation of the damned.

The

inhabitants of Crete,

who

believed in the

incarnation and death of Zeus, guarded for centuries with zealous care

what they

alleged to be the

tomb of

their god.

Apollo.

This god, one of the principal solar deities, was Like His mother was Leto. the son of Zeus. Mary, Leto had no hospitable place for her acbarren

couchement, and brought her child forth on the isle of Delos, where female divinities ministered to

flood of light, the prototype of a later scene

was illuminated by a where "the glory of the Lord shone round about" the
them.
isle

The

shepherds in the

field

at

Bethlehem; while sacred

swans, like the celestial visitants of Luke, joyous gyrations in the air above them.

made

Apollo was the best beloved god of Greece, and was represented as one of the most perfect types

540
of manly beauty.
a lowly
life,

The

Christ.

Like Christ he led on earth

following for a time the humble avoca-

tion of a herdsman.

veal the will of his father.

ciples a

Like Christ he came to reHe chose for his disThese, like

crew of

sailors or fishermen.

the disciples of Christ, were

lous powers.

endowed with miracu-

Apollo w^as regarded as a savior.

He

rescued the people from the deadly python, which was desolating the land. Numerous festivals, similar to

those held in honor of Christ, were held in

honor of Apollo. In its article on

"Cyclopedia" says

this
:

god McClintock and Strong's "Towards the later period of

the supremacy of paganism in the

Roman Empire,
indicating that

Apollo, as the deity of the sun,

chief place in heathen worship.

had assumed the

As

Christ

was

the true 'light of the world,' the 'Sun

of righteousness'
in

the

most favorite figure used

speaking of the Savior in the early centuries this very figure of Apollo was often introduced as
indicating Christ."

Leto, the mother of Apollo,

like

was

believed to be,

Mary, the mother of

Christ, a mortal raised

like that of

to divinity.

Her worship,

Mary, was

widespread and lasted for centuries. Perseus.

The Virgin myth,

Herodian myth
seus.
all

the Holy Ghost myth, and the have their prototypes in Perhis birth
it

Long before

was prophesied

that

he would be born of the virgin Danae, and that To he would supplant Acrisius in his kingdom.

Sources of the Christ Myth.

541

prevent this Acrisius confined Danae in a tower. Here she was overshadowed by Zeus in "a shower
of gold," and Perseus was born. To destroy him Acrisius placed him with his mother in a chest

and cast them into the sea. They He island and the child was saved. wonderful hood, performed many quished his enemy and ascended the
Hercules.

drifted to an

grew

to

manvan-

works,
throne.

virgin This god was the son of Zeus and the the mother of Jesus, His mother, like Alcmeni. her child. retained her virginity after the birth of babe, had^ an babe, like the Jewish

The Greek enemy. Hera attempted to destroy as Herod afterward attempted to

his

the former, just

destroy the

lat-

Like Christ he died a death of agony. When ter. earthly career labors were finished, he closed his
funeral pyre from which, surroundcloud,

by mounting a ed by a dark he ascended to The Tyrian

amid thunder and

lightning,

heaven.

Hercules

was

worshiped

by

the

high-priest, sent a reJews, and Jason, the Jewish of 300 drachms ligious embassy with an offering

of silver to this god. Bonn, says: Prof. Meinhold, of the University of may "The transfiguration and ascension of Christ of such apotheosis be compared to the heathen Hercules, while the story of the descent heroes as as Hades Is modeled after such narratives
into

Hercules and Theseus those describing the visit of to the lower world."

542

The

Christ.

Max Muller pronounces Hercules a solar god. His twelve labors, like the twelve apostles of Christ,
correspond to the twelve signs of
the

Zodiac.

Christians have admitted the resemblance of this

god
says:
a

to

Christ.

Parkhurst's

"Hebrew Lexicon"
had

"The

labors of Hercules seem to have

still

higher view and to have been originally de-

signed as emblematical memorials of what the real

son of

God and

savior of the world

was

to

do and
all

suflfer for

our sakes."
says:

The Rev. Heinrich Rower

legends the Greeks and the

"We

are

ac-

quainted with the fact that in their mythological

Romans and

other na-

tions of antiquity speak of certain persons as the

sons of the gods.

the Greek hero,

An

example of
those

this is Hercules,

who

is

the son of Jupiter, and an

earthly mother. * * *

AH

greater deeds than those which

ly

men who performed human beings usual-

do are regarded by antiquity as of divine origin. This Greek and heathen notion has been applied to

Testament and churchly conception of the We must remember that at the time when Christianity sprang into evidence, Greek culture and Greek religion spread over the whole world. It is accordingly nothing remarkable that from the heathens the highthe Christians took
the

New

person of Jesus.

est religious

conceptions that they possessed, and

transferred them to Jesus.

They accordingly

called

him

the son of God, and declared that he had been

This is the Greek and heathen influence which has determined the
supernaturally born of a virgin.

Sources of the Christ Myth.

character of the account given by Luke concerning the birth of Jesus."

543

Matthew and

Dionysos.
Zagreus was the son of Zeus.

He was

slain

by

the Titans, buried at the foot of Mount Parnassus, and rose from the dead as Dionysos. He was the

god of fruit and wine. Like those of Christ his most devoted followers were women. He is the beloved son and occupies a throne at the right hand of his father, Zeus. His empty tomb at Delphi was long preserved by his devotees as proof of his death and resurrection. The stories of the resurrection of Adonis in Phoenicia, of Osiris in Egypt and of Dionysos in Greece were old when Christ was born, and pave the way for the origin and acceptance of the story
1

of his resurrection. Justin Martyr recognized the analogies between

Christianity

and Paganism.

Addressing

the

Pa-

gans, he writes:

"When we

say that the

Word,

who

born of God, was produced without sexual union, and that he, Jesus Christ, our teacher, was crucified and died, and rose again, and ascended into heaven; we propound nothing
is

the

first

different

whom

from what you believe regarding those you esteem sons of Jupiter (Zeus)" (First

Apology, ch, xxi).

Festivals, called Lenaea and the Greater Dionysia, corresponding in a measure to the Christmas and Easter of Christians, were celebrated in honor of
this

god.

Prof. Gulick, professor

of

Greek

in

544

The

Christ.
festivals, says

Harvard University, describing these

"In the winter came various celebrations in honor of Dionysos, god of nature and the vine, the object of

which was

to

wake

the sleeping spirit of

generation and render him propitious for the coming of spring and the sowing of crops * * *

The
in

wine-casks were opened, and

allowed perfect holiday and

all,

even slaves, were

to

liberty

drink

honor of the god.

day of the festival was a sort of All Souls' Day, being devoted to the gods of the underworld and the spirits of the dead" (Life of the Ancient Greeks, pp. 274, 275). "The
last

The

Great Dionysia," says Prof. Gulick, "held in the spring, was the occasion of display and magnificence" (Ibid,
p. 113).
is

So-called Christian burial

burial.

identical with

Greek

Ancient Greek sepulture is thus described by Ridpath "To the dead were due the sacred rites
:

of sepulture * * *

When

a Greek

fell

into his last

slumber, the friends

body * * * upon a bier.

ing friends,
* * *

composed the The corse was clad in white and laid Flowers were brought by the mournwho put on badges of sorrow * * *
immediately
city

Cemeteries were arranged outside the

walls

Over each [grave] was raised a mound of * earth, and on this were planted ivy and roses. * * Over the grave was erected a memorial stone or monument, and on this was an inscription giving
the

name of the son, a word of

dead, an effigy perhaps of his perpraise for his virtues,

and an

epi-

Sources of the Christ Myth.

545
the

gram composed for his memory" (History of Word, Vol. II, p. 497)Prometheus.

The Titan

god,

Prometheus, was the son

of

lapetus and Asia.

creations of the

He

is

one of the most subHme

human

imagination.

When

Zeus,

Hke Jehovah, became enraged at mankind and sought to destroy it, Prometheus, Hke Christ, came on earth to intercede and suffer for the race. Hurled to Tartarus by the thunderbolts of Zeus he came again to endure, if need be, eternal agony
for man.

For centuries Greeks and Romans believed the

story of this vicarious god to be historical. Grote,

the historian,
this

says:

"So long and

that

so

firmly

did

belief

continue,
in

the

Roman
army

general

Pompey, v^hen

command

of an

in Kolchis,

made with
casus

his

companion, the literary Greek The-

ophanes, a special march to view the spot in Cau-

where Prometheus had been transfixed" (Greek Mythology, pp. 92, 93). Referring to the Greeks and their great tragedy, "Prometheus Bound," A. L. Rawson says: "Its hero was their friend, benefactor, creator, and savior, whose wrongs were incurred in their behalf, and whose sorrows were endured for their salvation.

He was wounded

for their transgressions,

;

and

bruised for their iniquities

the chastisement of
his stripes they

their peace

was upon him, and by

were healed" (Isaiah iv, 5), (Evolution of Israel's God, p. 30). Alluding to this subject. Dr. West-

546

The

Christ.

brook writes: "The New Testament description of the crucifixion and the attending circumstances, even to the earthquake and darkness, was thus anticipated by five centuries" (Bible: Whence and

What?).

The dying
crucifixion,

Christ shares with the dying Prome-

But how trivial the and how weak the courage of the Christian god appear compared
theus the sympathies of men.

how

light the suffering,

with the cruel crucifixion, the

infinite

suffering,

and the deathless courage of the immortal Pagan I Transfixed to the rock on Caucasus, the Golgotha of Greek mythology, with the devouring eagle feeding forever on his vitals, there falls from his lips no murmur of pain, no Sabachthani of despair.

What

lofty heroism,

what enduring

patience,

what

unselfish love, this tragic story has inspired!

"To suffer woes which hope thinks infinite; To forgive wrongs darker than death or night

To defy power which seems omnipotent; To love and bear; to hope till hope creates From its own wreck the thing it contemplates;
Neither to change, to
falter,
is

nor repent;

This, like thy glory. Titan,

to be

Good, great, and joyous, beautiful and free."

Shelley.
Esculapius.
Esculapius

was

the

illegitimate

son

of

the

nymph
child

Coronis, by Apollo.

The mother,

at the in-

stigation

of Apollo, was slain by Diana; but the

spared.

was

He became

noted for his won-

Sources of the Christ Myth.

derful curative powers.

547
and

He

healed

all

diseases, called

even restored the dead to

life.

He was

'The

Good
bolt

Physician."

He was
to

struck by a thunder-

and ascended

heaven.

The Greeks wor-

shiped him.

The miraculous cures

ascribed to Christ,

many

of them, doubtless, had their origin in the legends of Esculapius. Justin Martyr says: "In that we say he [Christ]
ic,

and those born

made whole the lame, blind, we seem to

the paralyt-

say what

is

very similar to the deeds said to have been done by Esculapius" (First Apology, ch. xxi).
Plato.

One

of the most gifted of mortals was Plato.

His followers believed him to be of divine descent. Concerning his parentage. Dr. Draper says: "Antiquity has often delighted to cast a halo of
ical

myth-

glory around

its

illustrious

names.

The im-

mortal works of this great philosopher seemed to entitle him to more than mortal honors. A legend
into the authenticity of

which we

will abstain

from

inquiring, asserted that his

pure virgin,

suffered

mother, Perictione, a an immaculate conception

through the influence of Apollo.

clared to Ariston, to
ried, the

The

god

de-

whom

she was about to be mar-

parentage of the child" (Intellectual DeI,

velopment, Vol.

p.

151).

myth, McClintock and Strong's says: "Legend, which is traced back "Cyclopedia"

Concerning

this

to Spensipus, the

nephew of

Plato, ascribed the

paternity of Plato to the god Apollo; and, in the

548
form
in

The

Christ.
is

which the story

told

by Olympiodorus,

closely imitates the record

in

regard to the nativity

of Christ" (Art. Plato).

Immaculate conceptions were common in Greece. "The furtive pregnancy of young women, often by a god," says Grote, *'is one of the most frequently
recurring incidents in the legendary narratives of
the country."

The

Christian story of the miracu-

lous conception has not even the merit of originality.

With

the Platonic legend before him,

all

that

the Evangelist had to do

for Apollo, Joseph
tione,

was

to substitute

Jehovah

for Ariston,

Mary
strange
the

for Peric-

and Jesus for Plato.

of profound

The philosophy of Plato is a wisdom concerning

vague speculations respecting the latter form no inconsiderable portion of the

ion ascribed to Christ.

compound known and of unknown. The

religis

The

Christian religion
its

supposed to be of Semitic origin; but

are,
its

doctrines

many

of them, the

work of Greek

theologians
its

incarnate

God

bears a Greek name, and

early

literature

was mostly Greek.

2.

Draper recognizes
i.

three primitive modifications of Christianity:

Judaic Christianity;
tonic Christianity.

Gnostic Christianity;

3.

Pla-

Platonic Christianity, he says,

endured and

is

essentially the Christianity of to-day.

The following
There
is

are

some of the

principles

of

Plato's philosophy:

but one God, and

we ought

to love

and

serve him.

Sources of the Christ Myth.

^49
it

The Word formed

visible.

the world

and rendered

knowledge of the
soul
is

Word

will

make us happy.

The
again.

immortal, and the dead will rise

There
will be

will

be a

final

judgment; the righteous

rewarded, and the wicked punished.

design argument, the chief argument relied
to prove the divine origin of

The

upon by Christians
the universe,
is

a Platonic argument.

In a letter to the author twenty-five years ago,

James Parton wrote:

dialogue,

"Read
will

carefully
see

over the

what you will see: the whole Christian system and the entire dream of the contemplative monk." Phaedo deals chiefly with the soul its nature and destiny. The following quotations are from the translation of Henry Cary, M.A., of Oxford: Death is defined oy Plato as "the separation of the soul from the body." "Can the soul, which is invisible, and which goes
Phaedo.

You

to another place like itself, excellent, pure,

visible,

and

in-

and
if

therefore

truly

called

the

invisible

world, to the presence of a good and wise God,

(whither

God

will,

my

soul also
I

go), can this soul of ours,

ask, being such

must shortly and

of such a nature,
assert?

when

separated from the body, be

immediately dispersed and destroyed, as most

men
it
i$^

Far from it." "If that which is immortal

is

imperishable,

5SO

The

Christ.

impossible for the soul to perish,

when death

ap-

proaches

it."

"When,

therefore, death approaches a

it

man, the

mortal part of him, as

appears, dies, but the

immortal part departs safe and uncorrupted, having

withdrawn
to a place

itself

from death."

After death, Plato says, the souls are conducted

where they "receive sentence and then

proceed to Hades."
If the soul "arrives at the place
ers are, impure,
will
it
.

every one shuns

where the othit, and

guide, but

neither be

its

fellow traveler or

wanders about oppressed with every kind of helplessness. But the soul which has passed through life with purity and moderation,
.

having obtained the gods for

its

fellow travelers
it."

and guides,

settles
is

each in the place suiied to

it

"If the soul

immortal,

requires our care not

only for the present time, which

all

time; and the danger would

if

we call life, but for now appear to be

it.

dreadful,

one should neglect

were a deliverance from everything,

great gain for the wicked,
delivered at the

it

For if death would be a

die,

when they

to be

same time from the body, and from their vices together with the soul; but now, since immortal, it can have no other it appears to be refuge from evils, nor safety, except by becoming as good and wise as possible."
Christ,
light."

claimed, "brought immortality to is it Yet Phaedo was written nearly four cen-

turies before Christ came.

Sources of the Christ Myth.

55

McClintock and Strong's "Cyclopedia" concedes Plato's "near approximation to the doctrines of Christianity some of which," it says, "he announces almost
in the

language of the Apostles."

"We know no Continuing, this authority says: more terrible and sublime picture than the passage themselves in which he depicts the dead presenting
judgment in the other world, scarred and marks blotched and branded with the ineradicable many of their earthly sins. Yet this is but one of
for

analogous passages. This approximation to revealed betruth is among the most insoluble problems

queathed to us by antiquity. solution of the enigma, which awaits

... We
its
:

offer

no

Oedipus.

We
a

only note the existence of the riddle" (Plato). " 'Christianity is Prof. Gunkel, of Berlin, says
syncretistic
religion.
It
is

providential that

it

passed safely over from the Orient into the Greek acquired It imbibed both influences, and world.

many

features that were

foreign to the original

gospel.'

Pythagoras.
teacher lived in the This B. C, the century in which flourished sixth century Buddha, Laoutsze, and Confucius, three of the was his world's greatest religious founders. Greece
religio-philosophical
native,

and

Italy his adopted, country.

His history

He was claimed to is largely obscured by myths. the son of Apollo. He was said to be, like Plato, endowed have performed miracles and to have been
with the gift of prophecy.

He

traveled in Egypt

552

The

Christ.

and India, and

his system contains

some elements

of the Egyptian and Buddhist rehgions.

There was a small Jewish sect, known as the which adopted to a large extent the teachings of Pythagoras. Jesus is believed to have belonged to this sect. There is an Essene element in the New Testament which is especially promiEssenes,

nent in the teachings ascribed to Christ.

in his

Josephus,

"Wars of

the Jews," describes at length the

doctrines and customs of this sect.

From Josephus

and the New Testament I cite a few of the parallels between the religion of the Essenes and the
religion of Christ.

"These men are despisers of riches" (Wars, B. II,

ch. viii, sec. 3).
"It
is

law
those

them,

that

among who

"A rich man shall hardly enter into the kingdom of heaven" (Matt, xix, 23). any of "Neither said them that aught of the
things which he possessed was his own; but they had all things common"
(Acts,
iv,

come to them must let what they have be com-

mon

to (Ibid).

the whole order"

32).

"They carry nothing at all with them when they

tr9,vel

into (Sec. 4).

remote parts"

gold, "Provide neither nor silver, nor brass in your purses, nor scrip for (Matt, x, your journey"
9,

10).

"Every one of them gives what he hath to him that wanteth it" (lb).

"A
fore

meat" "They

priest says grace be(Sec. 5).

. .

"Give to him that asketh thee" (Matt, v, 42.) "And he took bread, and gave thanks" (Luke xxii,
19).

are

the
(Sec.

"Blessed are the peace-

ministers of peace"
6).

makers" (Matt.
"But
I

V,

9).
.

"Whatsoever they
also oath;
is

say

firmer

but avoided by them" (Sec.

than swearing

an
is

say unto you, Swear not at all; but let your communicayea; nay, yea, tion be,
.

6).

nay" (Matt,

v,

34,

37).

Sources of the Christ

Myth.

553

Christians

Closely allied to the Essenes and the primitive is another Pythagorian sect, known as

the

Therapeuts of Egypt.
different

Regarding
held:
i.

this

sect,

That they four 2. That they were a Jewish sect. were a Jewish 3. That they were Pagans, many Christian sect. teachings were incorporated into the of whose Christian creed. 4. That they are a myth, that the "De Vita Contemplativa" of Philo, which contains
theories

are

the only account of them, is a Christian forgery, written for the purpose of extolling the monastic of the church. life, the celibacy, and the asceticism

Bacchus.

Bacchus was a

Roman

god, or rather a

Roman

modification of the Greek god, Dionysos. He was He cultivated the vine, made the god of wine. wine, and encouraged its use. His worship extended over nearly the whole of the ancient world. It consisted largely of protracted festivals, where wine

flowed freely, and joyous and noisy ceremonies were indulged in. This god and his worship have survived in Christ and Christianity. Christ was called a "winebibber"

(Luke vii, 34) he made wine his first miracle was the conversion of water into wine (John ii, ihe blessed the winecup, ^nd commanded his 10) him (Luke disciples to drink in remembrance of
;
;

xxii, 17), just as the devotees of

remembrance of
all

their god.

Christianity,

Bacchus drank in more than

other

religions

combined, has contributed to

keep alive the Bacchanalian feasts and revelries.

554

The

Christ.

"Bacchus," says Volncy, "in the history of his whole life, and even of his death, brings to mind the history of the god of Christians" (Ruins, p. 169). The cabaHstic names of Bacchus and Jesus, Volney says, were the same. United with the worship of Bacchus, and similar to it, was the worship of the goddess Ceres (Demeter). Her rites were known as the Eleusinian mysteries. Cakes were eaten in her honor. And thus in the bread of Ceres and the wine of Bacchus we have the bread and wine of the Christian Eucharist. "It is well known," says Dr. Westbrook, "that the Athenians celebrated the allegorical giving of the flesh to eat of Ceres, the goddess of corn,

and

in like

manner the giving

his blood to drink

by

Bacchus, the god of wine."

nion,
first,

This worship,

like the

Mithraic worship, which also included the

commu-

had

its

origin in the East,

and was one of the

as well as one of the last, of the religions of

ancient Greece and

Rome.
Lempriere, in his "Classical

Another

rite

connected with the mysteries was

the use of holy water.

Dictionary," describing the Eleusinian mysteries as

they existed in Greece centuries before the Christian era, says:

"As the candidates

for initiation

entered

the

temple,

they purified themselves by

washing their hands in holy water." The mysteries comprehended the origin of life, and nature worship was included in the ceremonies.

At

the festivals

women

carried the phallus in their

processions.

Regarding the worship of Bacchus

Sources of the Christ Myth.

555

and Ceres at Rome, "Chambers' Encyclopedia" "These rites degenerated, and came to be says:
celebrated with a licentiousness that threatened the

destruction of morality and of society itself. They were made the occasion of the most unnatural excesses.

At

first,

only

women

took part in these

mysterious Bacchic
admitted."

rites,

but latterly

men

also

were
later

The Roman government suppressed

Bacchanalian and Eleusinian
obscenities,

the

feasts, together

with

the Christian Agapae, because of their debaucheries,

and supposed infant

sacrifices.

Merfar

edith, in
institutes

"The Prophet of Nazareth"

(pp. 225-231),

an examination to ascertain "how

His conclusion
is

the Eleusinian and Bacchanalian feasts resembled

the Christian Agapae."

facts

that the

"show clearly that the Christian Agapae were of pagan origin were identically the same as the pagan feasts." Gibbon says: "The language of

that great historian

[Tacitus,

in

his

allusion

to

Christians]

is

almost similar to the style employed

relates the introduction

by Livy, when he
I, P-

and the

suppression of the rites of Bacchus" (Rome, vol.

579)it

Referring to the Agapae, Dr. Cave says

was

commonly charged
and
filthiness

that Christians "exercised lust

religion,

under a pretense of

promis-

cuously calling themselves brothers and

sisters, that

by the help of so sacred a name their common adulteries might become incestuous" (Primitive Christianity,

Part

II,

chap. v).

Describing the Carpo-

556
cratians,

The

Christ.
sect,

an early Christian

Dr.

Cave says:

at supper (which was called their love-feast), when after they had loaded themselves with a plentiful meal, to prevent all shame, if they had any remaining,

''Both

men and women used

to

meet

they put out the lights, and then promiscuously

mixed

in filthiness

with one another" (Ibid).

:

The

"International Cyclopedia" says

"With the

increase of wealth and the decay of religious ear-

nestness and purity in the Christian church, the

Agapae became occasions of great riotousness and

debaucheries."

The Agapae, with

ster

their excesses eliminated, sur-

vive in the love-feasts of

defines

modern
as

Christians.

Web-

"love-feast"

"a religious

festival,

held quarterly by the Methodists, in imitation of

the

Agapae of

the early Christians."

That these mysteries of Bacchus and Ceres were adopted by the early Christians is largely admitted by the great church historian himself. Writing
of the second century,

Mosheim

says:

"The pro-

found respect paid to the Greek and Roman mysteries, and the extraordinary sanctity that was attributed to them,

was

a further circumstance that

induced the Christians to give their religion a mystic

air,

in

order to put

it

upon an equal

foot,

in

point of dignity, with that of the Pagans.

this

For

purpose they gave the name of 'mysteries' to

the institutions of the gospel, and decorated particularly the holy

Sacrament with that solemn

title.

They used

in that

sacred institution, as also in that

Sources of the Christ Myth.

557

of baptism, several of the terms employed in the

heathen mysteries and proceeded so far at length as even to adopt some of the rites and ceremonies
of v^hich these renowned mysteries consisted." (Ecclesiastical History, p. 56.)

England's highest authority on early Christian

history.

Dean
its

IMilman,

says:
its

"Christianity

dis-

dained that
less

Redeemer should be magnificently honored than the demons (gods)

In
the
service
it

God and

of

Paganism.
it

delighted

to

breathe, as

were, a sublimer sense into the com-

mon

appellations of the Pagan worship, whether from the ordinary ceremonial or the more secret mysteries. The church became a temple the table
;

of the

communion an

altar; the celebration of the

. . .

Eucharist, the appalling, or unbloody sacrifice.

The

incense, the garlands, the lamps,

all

were gradas the

ually adopted

by zealous

rivalry, or seized

lawful spoils of vanquished Paganism and consecrated to the service of Christ.

"The church
in
.
. .

rivaled the old heathen mysteries

its

expanding by slow degrees

Its

higher privileges.

preparatory ceremonial of abstinence,

personal purity, ablution, secrecy, closely resembled

that of the

Pagan mysteries (perhaps each may

have contributed to the other)" (History of Christianity, Vol. Ill, pp. 312, 313).

Smith's "Dictionary of Antiquities" says:

mysteries occupied a place

"The

among

the ancients an-

alogous to that of the holy sacraments in the Chris-

55 8
tian

The
church."

Christ.

The

''Encyclopedia

Britannica"

makes the same statement. James Anthony Froude, in a

son, of England, says
:

letter to

Prof. John-

"I have long been convinced

is

that the Christian Eucharist

but a continuation
using the

of the Eleusinian mysteries.

St. Paul, in

word

teleiois,

almost confirms this."

Saturn.

One

of the oldest and most renowned of the Eu-

ropean gods was Saturn, whose name was given

one of the planets and to one He was worshiped by the inhabitants of Italy more than a thousand years before Christ came, and centuries before Rome took her place among the nations of the
to

by the ancients

of the days of the week.

earth.

His temples were located in various parts His chief

festival,

of Italy, the latest and the principal one being at

Rome.
the

and the greatest of

all

Roman

festivals,

was the Saturnalia celebrated

This festival

at the time of the winter solstice.

survives in the Christian festival of Christmas.

The
of
all

following description of the Saturnalia

the celebrations of

is

trom the pen of Ridpath:

''The most elaborate

that of Saturn,

Rome was

held at the winter solstice, and afterwards extend-

ed so as to include the twenty-fifth of December.

.
. .

The

festival

was

called the Saturnalia.

La-

bor ceased, public business was at an end, the

courts were closed, the schools had holiday. Tables,

laden with bounties, were spread on every hand,

and

at

these

all

classes

for the nonce sat

down

Sources of the Christ Myth.

together.

559

The master and the slave for the day were equals, it was a time of gift-giving and inIn the public shops every nocent abandonment. variety of the present, from the simplest to the most costly, could be found. Fathers, mothers,
kinspeople, friends,
all

hurried thither to purchase,

according to their fancy, what things soever seemed

and appropriate as presents" (History of the World, Vol. Ill, p. 97). Concerning this festival the ''Encyclopedia Brit"All classes exchanged gifts, the annica" says commonest being wax tapers and clay dolls. These dolls were especially given to children, and the makers of them held a regular fair at this time."
tasteful
:

most

One
was

of the principal
the burning of
carnival,"
to

rites,

the ''Britannica" says,

candles.

many

"The modern

Italian

says "Chambers' Encyclopedia,"

"would seem

be only the old pagan Saturnalia

Quirinus.

baptized into Christianity."

Nearly every reader

virgin, bears twins

is

familiar with the story

of the founding of Rome.

Rhea

Silvia,

a vestal

by the god Mars. As they are heirs to the throne which Amulius has usurped, he attempts to destroy them by drowning. They are miraculously preserved and finally rescued by One of them, Romulus, becomes the a shepherd. founder and king of Rome. After a reign of 37 years he is translated by his father, and eventually becomes the tutelary god of the Romans, under
the

name

of Quirinus.

The

following account of

560
his translation is

The

Christ.

from "Chambers' Encyclopedia" "While he was standing near the 'Goat's Pool' in
the

Campus Martins, reviewing

his

militia,

the

sun was eclipsed, and a dark storm swept over the When it had passed, the people plain and hills. looked round for their king, but he was gone.

His father. Mars, had carried him up to heaven

(like the

prophet Elijah) in a chariot of

future

fire.

Some

time after he reappeared in a glorified form to

Proculus Julius, announced the

of the

greatness

Roman

people,

and

told

him

that hence-

forth he

would watch over them

as their guardian

god, under the

name

of Quirinus" (Art. Romulus).

Next
ious

to the Saturnalia, the

festival of

most important religPagan Rome was the Quirinalia,

which celebrated the ascension of Quirinus. It corresponds to Ascension Day, one of the principal religious festivals of the Christian church, which
celebrates the ascension of Christ.

The supernatural darkness of

it

the

Roman

myth,

is

believed, suggested the supernatural darkness

of the crucifixion myth.

inus in a glorified
to

form

The reappearance of Quiris also believed by some

have suggested the transfiguration.

Odin.
Odin, the All-Father, held the highest rank
in

the Northern pantheon.

He was
his

the son of Boer

and

Bestla.

Freya was

queen.

His religion

prevailed

among

the Scandinavians and

Goths, the Saxons, and other ancient

Some

believe

that

among the German tribes. he was an ancient hero who

Sources of the Christ Myth.

561

with a horde of Goths or Scythians conquered the

North a thousand years or more before the Christian era.

The prevaiHng

opinion, however,
its

is

that

the Norse mythology had

dia,

birth in Asia

Persia, or Accadia
to

and

in In-

was

carried by the
it

Aryans

northern Europe, where

underwent
in

many

modifications.

This mythology recognized as existing

beginning, two worlds

the

one

the

warm

South, the

other the icy North.

The entrance

to the South-

land was guarded by a flaming sword.

heat and cold, as between good and
perpetual
strife.
evil,

there

Between was
the

From

heat

Ymir (Chaos),

father of giants,
ers

was evolved. Odin and his brothslew Ymir and from his body created the
trees

earth, his flesh

Out of two
abode of

forming the land, his blood the sea. Odin made man and woman, and
life.

breathed into them the breath of

For the

garden was planted in the center of the earth and called Midgard. Bea
fruitful

man

neath the earth dwells Hel, the goddess of the dead.

Loki
low.

is

the god of

evil.

He

will be chained for

fol-

a time and then released.

bloody war will

one side, led by Loki, will fight the hosts of Hel; on the other Odin and his followers. Loki will triumph for a while, mankind will be destroyed, and heaven and earth will be consumed by fire.

On

But Odin
create a

will

be victorious in the end.

a

He

will

new heaven and

all

new

earth.

He

will be

the ruler of

things,

and

will dwell in heaven,

562

The

Christ.
his followers are to

where the best and bravest of

be received after death.

The Norse,
trines,
fire, all

the Persian, and the Christian doc-

regarding the destruction of the world by

had a common origin. Thor. Thor was the son of Odin and the virgin Earth. He was called the first born son of God. His worship was more widespread than that of any In the temple at Upsala he other Northern god. occupied the same place in the Scandinavian Trinity that

Christ does in the Christian Trinity.

Like
as a
if

Christ he died for

Savior.

man and was worshiped

serpent,

Midgard had a

more formidable

not
to

more wily than

destroy the

that of Eden, which threatened

race.

human

Thor attacked and

it.

slew the monster, but was himself killed by the

venom which was exhaled from

The

slaying

of the serpent of Midgard by Thor, the slaying

of the python by the Greek god, and the bruising

of the head of the serpent of

Hebrew mythology
in
is

by

Christ, are analogous myths.

Thor dwells
thunder
chariot

in a

mansion

the clouds.

The

we

hear in the sky

the noise of his

wheels,

and the

flashes

of liglitning are
against
the

hammer which he mountains. The "Britannica"

from
his

dashes
says
:

"Some

of the

monks of a later period endeavored to persuade the Northmen that in Thor their forefathers had
worshiped Christ, the strong and mighty Savior of the oppressed, and that his mallet was the rude

Sources of the Christ Myth.

563

form of the cross." 'The sign of the hammer," says "Chambers," "was analogous to that of the cross among Christians."
Baldur.
of the purest, one of the gentlest, and one of the best beloved of all the gods was Baldur, the beautiful son of Odin and Freya. In him were

One

combined

all things good and noble. The envious gods, inspired by Loki, shot their arrows at him in vain until the blind god Hoder pierced his

body with an arrow of mistletoe and he passed into the power of Hel, the pallid goddess of death. Sometime when the old order of things has passed away in another and better world, where envy, and hatred, and war are unknown, Baldur will live

again.

"The death of Baldur,"

says Prof.

Rasmus

B.

Anderson, the highest authority on Norse mythology, "forms the turning point in the great drama. While he lived the power of the asas
. .
.

(gods) was secure, but

stigation of Loki,

when
slain,

Baldur, at the inthe fall of creation

was

could not be prevented."

Writing of Norse mythology, Andrew Lang says "There is, almost undoubtedly, a touch of Christian dawn on the figure and myth of the pure and beloved and ill-fated god Baldur, and his descent
into hell."

Odin, and Thor, and Baldur, and their divine companions are worshiped no longer; but their religion has left a deep impress on the religion

564
that supplanted
it.

The
The

Christ.

Christianity of Scandinavia,

of northern Germany, of England, and of

ica,

Amer-

the whole of Protestant Christianity, in short,

to

and

some extent Catholicism

this

itself,

has been
faith.

modified by this strange and fascinating

Re-

garding
says:
faith of

subject

"Chambers'

Encyclopedia"

''So

deep-rooted was the adhesion to the

in the North, that the early Christian

Odin

teachers, unable to

eradicate the old

ideas,

were

driven to the expedient of trying to give them a

coloring of Christianity."

The
raic or

selection of

the Nativity

December 25th as the date of was doubtless suggested by the Mith-

the Protestant

solar worship of the East, but Christmas came from the North. Tlie mistletoe with which Baldur was slain reap-

some other

pears in this festival.

The

fire

wheel, a remnant

of the old Norse sun worship, existed

man

Christians until the nineteenth century.

still

among GerThe
In

burning of the Yule log

provinces of
its

survives.
is still

some
by

Germany

the festival

called

Pagan name. Rev. Samuel M. Jackson, D.D., LL.D., Professor of Church History, New York University, says: 'The Romans had, like other Pagan nations, a nature festival, called by them Saturnalia, and the Northern peoples had Yule; both celebrated the turn of the year from the death of winter to the the winter solstice. As this was an life of spring auspicious change the festival was a very joyous The giving of presents and the burnone.

Sources of the Christ Myth.

565

ing of candles characterized it. Among the northern people the lighting of a huge log in the houses of the great and with appropriate ceremonies was
a feature.

The Roman church

finding this festival

deeply intrenched in popular esteem, wisely adopted

it"

(Universal Cyclopedia).

It

The festival of Easter belongs to this religion. was observed in honor of the Saxon goddess
It cele-

Eastre, or Ostara, the goddess of Spring.

brated, not the resurrection of Christ, but the res-

urrection of Spring and flowers.

the

It

still

retains
festival

name of
the

this

goddess.

Nearly every
origin.

and the Catholic and English are of Pagan Every day of the week bears a Pagan name four of them the names of Scandinavian gods Tuesday the
of

church

churches have

many

name

of

Tiu

(Tyr),

Wednesday

the

name of

Woden

(Odin), Thursday the name of Thor, and

Friday that of Freya. Even the Christian "hell" was derived from "Hel," the name of the Norse
goddess of the lower world.

CHAPTER

XII.

Sources of tbc ^brist mvtb-onclu$ioti

In each of these divinities we find some element or lineament of Christ. And all of them existed, either as myths or mortals, long anterior
to his time.

Plato, the latest of

them

to appear,

was born

century B. C. These Pagan divinities and deified sages, together with the
in the fifth

and doctrines previously nowere the sources from which Christ and Christianity were, for the most part, derived. The following religious elements and ideas, nearly all of which Christians believe to have been divinely revealed, and to belong exclusively to their religion, are of Pagan origin Son of God,
religious systems
ticed,

Messiah,
Mediator,

The Word, The Ideal Man,

Annunciation,

Immaculate conception,
Divine incarnation, Genealogies showing royal descent, Virgin mother,
566

Sources of the Christ Myth.

Angelic visitants, Celestial music, Visit of shepherds, Visit of Magi, Star of Magi,
Slaughter of innocents.

567

Temptation,
Transfiguration,
Crucified Redeemer,

Supernatural darkness.
Resurrection,

Ascension,

Descent into Hell, Second advent. Unity of God,

Trinity in Unity.

Holy Ghost
Devil,

(Spirit),

Angels,

Immortality of the soul, Last judgment, Future rewards and punishments. Heaven, Hell, and Purgatory,

Fatherhood of God, Brotherhood of man,

Freedom^ of the
Fall of
will.

man,

Vicarious atonement. Kingdom of God,

Binding of Satan,
Miracles,

568
Prophecies,

The

Christ

Obsession,

Exorcism,

The

priesthood,

Pope and bishops. Monks and nuns, Worship of Virgin.

Adoration of Virgin and Child,

Worship of saints. Worship of relics. Image worship,

Inspired Scriptures,

The

cross as a religious symbol.

Crucifix,

Rosary,

Holy water, Lord's Day (Sunday),

Christmas,
Easter,

Baptism,
Eucharist,

.Washing of
Anointing.

feet.

Confirmation,

Masses
Fasting,

for the dead,

Prayer,

Auricular confession, Penance,

Absolution,
Celibacy,

Sources of the Christ Myth.

Poverty,
Asceticism,
Tithes,

569

Community

of goods,

Golden Rule and other precepts. The Old Testament consists largely of borNearly everything in Genesis, rowed myths. and much of the so-called history which follows,
are but a recital of Assyrian, Babylonian, ChalDr. Draper says: dean and other legends.

"From such Assyrian

sources, the legends of the

creation of the earth and heaven, the garden of

Eden, the making of man from clay, and of one of his ribs, the temptation by the serpent, the naming of animals, the cherubim and flaming sword, the Deluge and the ark, the drying up of the waters by the wind, the building of the Tower of Babel, and the confusion of tongues, were obtained by Ezra" (Conflict, p.

woman from

223).

The
selah,

ten antediluvian patriarchs,

Adam,

Seth,

Enos, Cainan, Mahalaleel, Jared, Enoch, Methu-

Lamech, and Noah,

first

whom Luke

presents

as the

ten progenitors of Christ, are

now

known

have been a dynasty of Babylonian Abram, Isaac, Jacob, and Judah, whom kings. both Matthew and Luke declare to have been ancestors of Christ, and whom Matthew places at the head of his genealogy, were not persons
to
at
all,

this

but merely tribes of people. In regard to Rev. Dr. Oort, professor of Oriental Ian-

5/0

The

Christ.

guages at Amsterdam, says: "They do not signify men, so much as groups of nations or single
tribes.

Abram,

for instance, represents a great

part of the Terachites; Lot, the Moabites and

Ammonites, whose ancestor he

el,

is

called;

certain tribes of Arabia; Isaac, Israel

Ishmaand

Edom together; Jacob, Israel alone; while his twelve sons stand for the twelve tribes of Israel.
*
* *

Here and there the writers

of the old

legend themselves point out, as it were, that the patriarchs whom they bring upon the scene as

men

are

personifications
I,

of tribes"

(Bible

for

Learners, Vol.

pp.

100-102).

Moses, the re-

puted founder of Judaism and archetype of Christ, doubtless existed but nearly all the Bible David and stories concerning him are myths. Solomon, from whose house Christ is said to have been descended, are historical characters; but the accounts respecting the greatness of their kingdom and the splendor of their reigns are
;

fabulous.

Christ and Christianity are partly creations and partly evolutions. While the elements composing them were mostly derived from preexisting and contemporary beliefs, they were not formed as a novelist creates a hero and a conTheir growth vention frames a constitution. was gradual. Jesus, if he existed, was a Jew, and his religion, with a few innovations, wafi Ju

daism.
began.

With

his death, probably, his apotheosis

first

During the

century the trans forma-

Sources of the Christ Myth.

tion

57

but during the succeeding cenJudaic elements of his religion were, in time, nearly all eliminated, and the Pagan elements, one by one, were incorporated into
;

was slow

turies rapid.

The

the

new

faith.

Regarding the establishment of this religion Lecky says: "Christianity had become the cen-

power of the world, but umphed not so much by superseding rival as by absorbing and transforming them.
tral intellectual

it

tri-

faiths

Old

systems, old
the

rites,

old images were grafted into

new

belief, retaining

character but assuming

Its origin is

much of their ancient new names and a new

complexion" (Rationalism, Vol.

the later

"From Jews comes the Unity of God from India and Egypt the Trinity in Unity; from India and Egypt the crucified Redeemer; from India, Egypt, Greece, and Rome, the virgin mother and the divine son from Egypt its priests and its ritual; from the Essenes and the Therapeuts its asceticism; from Persia, India, and Egypt, its sacraments; from Persia and Babylonia its angels and devils; from Alexandria the blending
;

I. p. 223). thus traced by Mrs. Besant:

into one of
ers'

many

lines of thought."

(Freethink-

Text Book, p. 392.) Concerning this, Judge Strange, another English writer, says: "The Jewish Scriptures and
the traditionary teachings of their doctors, the
the Neo-Platonism of Alexandria and the

Essenes and Therapeuts, the Greek philosophers, Bud-

572

The

Christ.

dhism of the East, gave ample suppHes for the composition of the doctrinal portion of the new faith; the divinely procreated personages of the Grecian and Roman pantheons, the tales of the Egyptian Osiris, and of the Indian Rama, Krish-

and Buddha, furnished the materials for the image of the new Savior of mankind." (Portraiture and Mission of Jesus, p. 2.'^^ Dr. G. W. Brown, previously quoted, says: "The Eclectics formed the nucleus into which were merged all the various religions of the OriMithra, of the Zoroastrians; Krishna and ent. Buddha, of the Brahmans; Osiris, of the Egyptians, and Bacchus, of the Greeks and Romans, all disappeared and were lost in the new God
na,

Jesus, each of the predecessors contributing to

the conglomerate religion

known as Christian, Buddha and probably Bacchus contributing the

most."

Draper, recognized on both sides most erudite, one of the most philosophic, and one of the most impartial of historians, in the following paragraphs
Dr. John
of the Atlantic as one of the
tells the story of the rise and triumph of this everchanging faith "In a political sense, Christianity is the be-

W.

quest of the

Roman Empire

to the world."

had made, but also as a gratification to her pride, the conquering republic brought the gods of the vanquished peoples to Rome. With disdainful
as a token of the conquest she

"Not only

Sources of the Christ Myth.

toleration,
all.

573

she permitted the worship of them That paramount authority exercised by each

divinity in his original seat disappeared at once

gods and goddesses among whom Already, as we have seen, through geographical discoveries and philosophical criticism, faith in the religion of the old days had been profoundly shaken. It was, by this policy of Rome, brought to an end." "In one of the Eastern provinces, Syria, some persons in very humble life had associated themselves together for benevolent and religious purposes. The doctrines they held were in harmony with that sentiment of universal brotherhood arising from the coalescence of the conquered kingdoms. They were doctrines inculcated by Jesus." "From this germ was developed a new, and
in the

crowd

of

he had been brought.

as the events proved, all-powerful society

the

Church

new, for nothing of the kind had existed

powerful, for the local churches, at soon began to confederate for their

in antiquity;
first isolated,

com.mon

interest.

Through
all

this

organization

Christianity achieved

her political triumphs."

"After the abdication of Diocletian (A. D., 305), Constantine, one of the competitors for the purple, perceiving the advantages that would accrue
to

him from such

a policy, put himself forth as

the head of the Christian party.

in

This gave him,

every part of the empire,

men and women

ready to encounter fire and sword in his behalf; it gave him unwavering adherents in every legion

574
of the armies.

The

Christ.

In a decisive battle, near the Mil-

vian bridge, victory crowned his schemes.

cinius,

The

death of Maximian, and subsequently that of Li-

removed

all

obstacles.

He

ascended the
Christian em-

throne of the Caesars

peror."

the

first

"Place, profit, pow^er these were in view of whoever now joined the conquering sect. Crowds
of worldly persons,
religious ideas,

who

cared nothing about

its

its

became

Pagans

at heart, their

warmest supporters. influence was soon mani-

fested in

the paganization of Christianity that

forthwith ensued."
*'As years passed on, the faith

Tertullian

was transmuted ionable and more debased.

the old

into
It

described by one more fash-

was incorporated

Greek mythology. Olympus was restored, but the divinities passed under other names. The more powerful provinces insisted on the adoption of their time-honored conceptions. Views of the Trinity, in accordance with Egyptian traditions, were established." "Heathen rites were adopted, a pompous and splendid ritual, gorgeous robes, mitres, tiaras,
with

wax-tapers,

processional

services,

lustrations,

gold and silver vases, were introduced.

The Ro-

man

lituns, the chief

ensign of the augurs, be-

came the crozier. Churches were built over the tombs of martyrs, and consecrated with rites borrowed from the ancient laws of the Roman pontiffs. Festivals and commemorations of martyrs

Sources of the Christ Myth.

575

multiplied with the numberless fictitious discoveries of their remains.

Fasting became the grand

means

of repelling the devil and appeasing

God;

celibacy the greatest of the virtues.

Pilgrimages

were made to Palestine and the tombs of the Quantities of dust and earth were martyrs. brought from the Holy Land and sold at enor-

mous
and
. .

prices, as antidotes against devils.

The

vir-

tues of consecrated water were upheld.

relics

were introduced into

Images the churches, and

worshiped after the fashion of the heathen gods. The apotheosis of the old Roman times was replaced by canonization tutelary saints
.

succeeded to local mythological divinities." "As centuries passed, the paganization became more and more complete."

"The maxim holds good

the

in

the social as well as

mechanical world, that, when two bodies Paganism strike, the form of both is changed. was modified by Christianity; Christianity by

Paganism" (Conflict, pp. 34-52). While affirming the divine origin

ity,

of Christian-

Mosheim admits its early paganization. He says: "The rites and institutions, by which the Greeks, Romans, and other
the church historian

nations had formerly testified their religious veneration for fictitious deities, were now adopted,

with some slight alterations, by Christian bishops, and employed in the service of the true God. Hence it happened that in these times the religion of the Greeks and Romans differed
.
. .

576
very
little

The
in
its

Christ.

external appearance from that

of the Christians.

They had both

ritual.

pous and splendid

tiaras,

a most pomGorgeous robes, mitres,

wax-tapers, crosiers, processions, lustra-

tions, images, gold

and

silver vases,

and many

such circumstances of pageantry, were equally to be seen in the heathen temples and the Christian churches" (Ecclesiastical History, p. 105).

The Rev. Dr. R. Heber Newton, in an article which appeared in the North American Review, says "There is, in fact, as we now see, nothing in the externals of the Christian church which is not a survival from the churches of paganism. The sacramental use of water and bread and wine, the very sign of the cross all are ancient human institutions, rites and symbols. Scratch a Christian and you come upon a Pagan. Christianity is a rebaptized paganism." "Christendom," says Dr. Lyman Abbott, "is only an
:

imperfectly Christianized paganism."

The

creeds of old are dead or dying, and the

are

celestial kings,

shipers,

who seemed so real to their wormostly crownless phantoms now. Buddha, Laoutsze, and Confucius, the wise men
East,

of the

command

the reverence of nearly

half the world,

and the Persian prophet has a few followers; but from these faiths the supernatural
is

vanishing.

Millions
is

yet

believe

that

Krishna, the Christ of India,

the son of

God;

but this

faith, too,

is

waning.

The

intellectual

offspring of Plato's brilliant brain survive, but

Sources of the Christ Myth.

all

577

that remains of his divine father

is

a mutilated

effigy.

The

genial

Sun

still

warms and

lights the

have fiown since Mithra, his beloved, received the adoration of mankind. The fire still gloves upon the hearth, but the great Titan who brought it down from Heaven lives only in a poet's dream. The crimson nectar of the vine moves men to mirth and madness now as when the swan of Teos sang its praise, but Bacchus and the ancient mysteries are dead. Above storm-wrapped Olympus, as of old, is heard the thunder's awful peal, but it is not the
earth, but centuries

voice of Zeus.
all

The

voice of this, the mightiest of

hushed forever. The populous and ever-growing empire of the dead still flourishes, but in its solemn court Osiris no longer sits as judge. The mother, as of yore, presses to her loving heart her dimpled babe and fondly gazes into its azure eyes to woo its artless smile but
the gods,
is
;

Egypt's star-crowned virgin and her royal child, who once received the homage of a worW, are now but mythic dust. Manly beauty thrills our daughters' hearts with love's strange ecstasy, and the feigned suffering of the dying hero on the mimic stage moistens their eyes with tears; but Adonis sleeps in his Phoenician tomb, his slumbers undisturbed by woman's sobs. The purple
flower, substance of his dear self,

which Venus

carried in her bosom, withered long ago.

at eve, the

When,
its

summer shower bathes with

fields,

cool-

ing drops the verdure of the

across the sun-

578
kissed
still

The

Christ.

cloud which veils the Orient sky may be seen the gorgeous bridge of Bifrost; but over its majestic arch the dauntless Odin rides no

more.

"The fair humanities of old The power, the beauty, and

That had

religions,

the majesty,

Or Or chasms and watery

vanished;

their haunts in dale, or piny mountain, forest by slow stream, or pebbly spring,

depths;

all

these have

They

live

no longer

in the faith of reason."

Schiller.

What has been the fate of the Pagan gods will be the fate of the Christian deity. Christianity, which supplanted the ancient faiths, will, in turn, be supplanted by other religions. On two continents already the cross has gone down before
the
crescent.
is

The

belief

in

Christ

as

divine

being

passing away.
followers

The
the

creeds, as of old,

affirm his divinity, but in the

minds of

his

more
are

enlightened
disappearing.

divine

elements

What was formerly believed to be supernatural is now known to be natural. What were once living verities are now dead formalities.
ly,

men

Slowly and painfully, but surely and clearare becoming convinced that there are

no divine beings and no supernatural religions that all the gods, including Christ, are myths,

and

all

the religions, including Christianity, hu-

man

In the words of Jules Soury, "Time, which condenses nebulae, lights up suns.

productions.

Sources of the Christ Myth.

brings
life

579

steeped

and thought upon planets theretofore death, and gives back ephemeral worlds to dissolution and the fertile chaos of the everlasting universe time knov^s nought of gods nor of the dim and fallacious hopes of ignorant
in

mortals."

With these sublime pictures a retrospect and prophecy from the gallery of the great masa ter, I close this long-drawn subject: "When India is supreme, Brahma sits upon

the world's throne. When the sceptre passes to Egypt, Isis and Osiris receive the homage of man-

Greece, with her fierce valor, sweeps to empire, and Zeus puts on the purple of authorThe earth trembles with the tread of Rome's ity.
kind.

intrepid sons, and Jove grasps with mailed

the thunderbolts of

Heaven.

Christians, from her territory, of war, carve out the ruling nations of the world,

hand and with the red sword

Rome

falls,

and now Christ

"I

sits

upon the old throne.

Who
are

will be his successor?"

look

again.

The popes and

priests

gone. The altars and the thrones have mingled with the dust. The aristocracy of land and cloud

have perished from the earth and

are dead.
kind.
. .

air.

The gods

A new
.

religion sheds

its

glory on man-

look Life lengthens, Joy deepens, Love intensifies, Fear dies Liberty at

And

as

Is^t is

God, and Heaven

is

here."

INDEX.
ABBOTT,
Dr.

Lyman, on the paganization

of,"

of

Chris-

tianity, 576.

ABIATHAR,

eating shew bread in the days

129. 218.

of, 161.

"ABILENE, Tetrarch

ACELDAMA,

ACTS, not authentic, 57, 58. ADONIS, 524; and Jesus, 529.

ADULTERY, woman taken in, 173. AENON NEAR TO SALLM, a geographical error, 159. AGAPAE, debaucheries of, 555, 556. ALFORD, Dean, on conflicting accounts of Matthew and
first appearance of Jesus to his on errors of N. T., 359. AMBERLY, Lord, on submission to wrong, 412; supposed appearances of Jesus explained by, 315-317; on the bribing of Judas, 217. AMBROSE, on passage in Josephus, 28. AMERICAN CYCLOPEDIA, on Phallic worship, 446, 447.

Luke regarding the

disciples, 307;

ANCESTORS OF CHRIST, female, 416. ANDERSON, Prof. Rasmus B., on Baldur, 563. ANDREW, when called, 136. ANIMALS AND PLANTS, worship of, 473-477. ANNAS AND CAIAPHAS, 128.
ANNUNCIATION, ANOINTING OF
APOLLONIUS,
the, 101, 102. JESUS, the, cerning, 199-201. APOLLO, 539, 540.

discrepancies

con-

teachings of analogous to teachings of Christ, 20, 21. APOSTLE, favorite, 139, 140. APOSTLES, chief, 134; character and fate of, 418-424; their denunciation of each other, 429, 430.

APOSTOLIC FATHERS, gospels unknown to, 51, 52. APPLETON'S CYCLOPEDIA, on correspondence
Krishna's gospel with N.
T., 503.

of

ARCHELAUS, 67, 105. ARNOLD, Matthew, on miracles, 22. ASCENSION OF JESUS, 333-335. ASCHERA, worship of by Jews, 449-451. ASSYRIAN AND BABYLONIAN LEGENDS,
527, 569.

525,

526,

582

Index.
belief of

ASTROLOGY,
468.

Jews and early Christians

in,

ASTRAL WORSHIP, 464-469. ATONEMENT, the, 360-363.

AUGUSTINE,
79,
80.
St.,

on omissions in Matthew's genealogy,

AUGUSTUS CAESAR, the decree of, 104-107. BABYLONIAN AND ASSYRIAN LEGENDS,
569.

525,

526,

BACCHUS, 553-558. BALDUR, 563, 564.

BALL, W. P., on parables, 410-411. BAPTISM, form of prescribed, 330-332;
vation, 375;

essential to sal-

modes

of, 376.

BARACHIAS, 198. BARING-GOULD, Rev.

on Gospel

S., on forgery in Josephus, 34; of Marcion as the basis of Luke's Gospel, 55; on close relation of religious and sexual passions, 457. BARRABAS, release of, 242-244. BARTIMEUS, the blind, Mrs. Evans on, 184. BAUR, the Four Gospels pronounced spurious by, 57; on Colossians and Philippians, 61; miracle at Nain similar to one performed by Apollonius, 157. BEATITUDES, common to Matthew and Luke^ 148,

149.

BEECHER,

on abrogation of Mosaic law by Christ,

370.

BEROSIS, on Babylonian

legends, 525, 526. BESANT, Mrs. Annie, the Christ a historical myth, 436438; on sex worship, 445; Egyptian origin of Christianity affirmed by, 536; on sources of Christianity,

57L

BETHANY, where located, 122. BETHLEHEM, birth of Jesus at, must

prophecy concerning,

be given up, 73;

BETHSAIDA, BIBLE FOR LEARNERS,

75, 76. location of, 138.

declares Acts purposely inaccurate, 57; on First John, 59; why December 25th was fixed as date of Jesus' birth, 71; on place of Jesus' birth, 74; on manger legend, 108; on Mark's geography, 175; on Paul's views of resurrection,
334, 335.

BIGANDET, Bishop, on BOULGER, writings of

512.

religion of

Buddha,

508,

509.

Confucius, the Chinese Bible,

BRADLEY,

Justice,

BRIGGS, Rev.

on date of crucifixion, 280, 281. Charles, analogies between MIthra and

Christ, 521, 522.

Index.

583

BRODIE,

BROWN,

Sir Benjamin, on apparitions, 314. Dr. G. W., on solar gods, 402; Virgin and child of Egyptian origin, 535; sources of the Christ

BUCKLE,

myth, 572. moral teachings of N. T. not original, 414; on the clergy and learning, 426.
505.

BUDDHA, 504-511; commandments of, BUDDHIST MISSIONARIES, 510. BURNS, Robert, on morality, 368, 369. BYRON, Lord, on atonement, 362; on
430.

Christian hatred,

CABANES, Dr., on cause of Jesus' death, 261, 262. CAIAPHAS, prophecy of concerning Jesus, 224, 225. CALVARY, 248. CARMELITE NUN, on adoration of Jesus, 528, 529. CARLYLE, Thomas, would bid Christ depart, 7.

CARPENTER,
314.

Dr.,

on contagious character

of illusions,

CATHOLIC EPISTLES,
CAVE,
556.
Dr.,

on debaucheries

the seven, not authentic, 58, 59. of Christian Agapae, 555of early Christians, 430, 431.

CELSUS, on ignorance
CERES, worship
of, 554.

CENTURION'S SERVANT, CEPHAS, meaning of, 135.

healing

of, 153, 154.

CHADWICK,

Rev. John W., on Paul's witness to resur-

rection, 304, 305.

CHALMERS, Dr., on forgery in Josephus, 35. CHAMBERS' ENCYCLOPEDIA, on pagan

names

origin of of days, 466, 467; on fetichism in the church, 478, 479; on Mithraic worship, 520; on worship of Adonis, 527; on worship of Bacchus and Ceres, 555; on adoption of Saturnalia by Christians, 559; on an ascension of Quirinus, 560. CHEYNE, Prof. T. K., on Isaiah ix, 6, 98. CHEYNE, Robert, on Krishna and Christ, 502, 503. CHIVALRY, Christian, a form of sex worship, 454. CHRIST, the; see Jesus.

CHRIST, wrongs

inspired by

name

of, 7;

the meaning

of the term, 9; the, an impossible character, 14; his alleged miracles, 14-17; no mention of by Jewish and Pagan writers for a hundred years after his time, 24, 25; the, attributes of, 348-350; by whom raised from the dead, 350; miracles of not proof of his divinity, 350-352; second advent of, 354, 355; religious teachings of, 360-384; nature of his death, 364,365; descent of into hell, 366; on necessity of belief, 369; on forgiveness of sin, 370; the, moral teachings of, 384-414; on poverty and riches, 385-

584.
386;

Index.

intemperance encouraged by, 387; his brutal treatment of woman of Canaan, 390; he promotes domestic strife and family hatred, 392, 393; his abuse of Pharisees, 396; his belief in demoniacal
possession, 404, 405; guilty of dissimulation, 408, immoral lessons inculcated in his parables, 409submission to theft and robbery enjoined by, his want of courage, 415; character of his male ancestors, 416; his female ancestors, 416; on intellectual character of his followers, 430; the, different conceptions of, 340, 433; paternity of, 343, 344, 346; his rules of table observance, 380; minor teachings of, 382, 383; solar attributes of, 462, 463; the, teachings of derived from fire worship, 472; the, different types of in N. T., 495.
409; 411; 412;

by Paul, 430. origin of, 564, 565. CHRONOLOGY, Christian, 68, 69. CLARKE, Dr. Adam, on Nativity, 72. CLERGY, licentiousness of, 453, 455, 456. COMPTE, on laws of human development, 483. the two great, by whom stated, 194; prescribed by Jesus, 186.
of

CHRISTIANITY, decadence of, CHRISTIANS, characterization

578.

CHRISTMAS, Pagan

COMMANDMENTS,

COMMUNISM OF EARLY CHRISTIANS,

CONFESSION OF FAITH,
of

384, 385.

the Godhead, 341; on futility

good works,

CONFUCIUS,

368. 511-513.

CONWAY,
CRAPSEY,
CROSS,

M. D., on dying exclamation of Christ, 415. Rev. Algernon S., on miraculous birth of

Jesus, 346. Christ's allusions to during ministry, 287, 288; an emblem of sex worship, 446, 447; an emblem
of sun worship, 463.

CRUCIFIXION, not a Jewish punishment,

232;

Kitto

on death by, 253; source of Matthew's story concerning marvelous events attending that of Christ's,
267-269, 245-273; women at, 272-273; opinions of Christian scholars regarding date of, 278-282; discrep-

ancy between Synoptics and John regarding day of, 282-287; alleged cause of, 287; references to in other books of N. T., 288-290.

CRURIFRAGIUM, 269. CUMONT, Prof. Franz,

Mithra and Christ,

on analogies between religions of

521.

CYRENIUS,

claim that he was twice governor of Syria untenable, 68. CHRISTIAN DOCTRINES, list of derived from Pagan66-69,

105-107;

ism, 566-569.

Index.

585

DARKNESS,
DAVIDSON,
52;

the supernatural, 264-266.

Dr.
of

Samuel, Gospels unknown to Papias, Matthew unknown, 54; author of Mark unknown, 55; Johannine authorship rejected
author
of
the,
is

DEAD,

by, 56. raising

ist,

Evangelist which
188, 189.

no instance of related by an confirmed by another Evangel404-406.

DEMONIACAL POSSESSION,
DEINIONS, expulsion
of,

DEVILS AND SWINE,

156. 155, 156. 218.

59.

DE WETTE,

on Peter's speech,

DIONYSirS, Bishop, on Revelation, DIONYSOS, 543-545. DISCIPLES, concerning presence of

character and fate
of,

at crucifixion, 272;

418-422.

DOCTRINE,

Christian, derived
Dr.,

DODWELL,
DRAPER,

from Paganism, 566-569. Gospels not mentioned by Apostolic

Fathers, 51, 52.

Dr. John W., on Christian fetichism, 478; on a triune God, 533; Virgin and child the counterpart of Isis and Horus, 534, 535; concerning divinity of

Plato. 547; on primitive modifications of Christianity, 548; on Assyrian origin of O. T. legends, 569; on the paganization of Christianity, 572-575. DUPUIS, Charles Francois, on derivation of other religions from solar worship, 461, 462. EASTER, origin of, 565.

EDINBURGH REVIEW,
sojourn
in.

EGYPT,

ELEMENTS AND
469-473.

on Revelation, 60. prophecy concerning, 115. FORCES OF NATURE, worship

111;

of,

ELEUSINIAN MYSTERIES,

554-558; their identity with Christian Agapae, 555, 556. EMERSON, on necessity of getting rid of Christ, 7.
of existence Nazareth, 75; on gradual formation of Synoptics, on 55- a suffering Messiah unknown to Jews, 263; Lamaism and Romanism, 509; on Babylonian and

EMMAUS, where located, 307. ENCYCLOPEDIA BIBLICA, regarding

Biblical analogies, 525, 526; on Saturnalia, 559; analogies between Thor and Christ, 562.

on

ENDLESS PUNISHMENT,
ESCULAPIUS, 546, 547. EUCHARIST, 376. EUSEBIUS, on passage in
92

doctrine

of,

373,

374.

Josephus, 30; on genealogies,

EVANS,

Elizabeth M., story of blind Bartimeus of Bud-

586

Index.

dhistic origin, 184; on manner of putting Jesus to death, 233; on Mediator, 486; on Seneca and Philo,

FARRAR,

496, 497. Dr., on Christianity and miracles, 17; passage in Josephus declared a forgery by, 35; on dearth of evidence concerning Christ, 50; date of Jesus' birth unknown, 72; concedes as probable Justin Martyr's statement that Jesus was born in a cave, 108; on silence of Josephus, 112, 113; on diflaculties concerning chronology of miracles, 145; concerning coin in fish's mouth, 181; identifies

Luke's "sinful woman" with the Magdalene, 199; on last words of Jesus, 254; on supernatural darkness, 265; on date of crucifixion, 280; on discrepancies in the Gospels regarding appearances of Jesus, 303; on resurrection of saints, 319; concerning Mary Magdalene, 417. FAUSTUS, Bishop, on anonymous character of Gospels,
57.

FEEDING OF FIVE THOUSAND,

FETICHISM,

the, 169. 477-479. FIG-TREE, the, cursing of, 197, 198, 398. FISHES, miraculous draught of, 145, 146. FISKE, Prof. John, on relics of astral worship, 466. on destruction of swine, 406, 407. FOOTE, G. W., on Jesus and marriage, 390. SIN, 370, 371.

FLEETWOOD,

FORGIVENESS OF FROUDE, James Anthony,

GADARENES,
of,

identity of Christian Eucharist and Eleusinian mysteries affirmed by, 558.

371-373.

FUTURE REWARDS AND PUNISHMENTS,

country of, 156. GAGE, Mrs. Matilda Joslyn, on Marquette, 455. GALILEE NOT A PROVINCE OF SYRIA, 105; prophets
173.

Helen, on Christ's treatment of woman of Canaan, 391; on Paul, 425. GARIBALDI, testimony of, concerning Italian convents,
456.

GARDENER,

GEIKIE,

Dr., concerning date of Nativity, 72; on genealogies, 89; regarding inn at Bethlehem, 108; on age of Jesus when he began his ministry, 120; on location of Bethany, 123; Jesus and John the Baptist unknown to each other previous to baptism, 124; admissions of regarding alleged trial before Sanhedrim, 231, 232; last words of Jesus, 254; on supernatural darkness, 265.

GENEALOGIES OF JESUS, 76-95. GENEALOGY, from Abraham to Jesus;

disagreement

Index.

587

GOLDEN

of Luke's with O. T., 77; from Abraham to David, 78; from David to the Captivity, 78-81; from the Captivity to Christ, 81-82. GODS, the, passing of, 576-578. RULE, 149, 150; borrowed from Pagans, 413. GOLGOTHA, 248. GOSPELS, the, existence of unknown to other writers of N. T., 51; late appearance of, 50-57; their want of credibility, 65, 66; value of as historical evidence,
433.

GRAVES, story of Magi of astrological origin, 468, 469. GREAT FEAST, the, parable of, 190, 191. GREG, W. R., on speaking in new tongues, 328, 329;
on baptism, 331; on genealogies, 89; on prayer, 377, 378; on bestowal of power on Peter, 419; on Messianic prophecies, 352, 353; on atonement, 363. GREGORIE, Rev. John, translation of Kadish by, 152. GROTE, on belief of Greeks and Romans in Prometheus as a historical character, 545.

GROVES, sacred, 476. GENERATIONS, average age of, GERGESENES, country of, 156.

82,

83.

GETHSEMANE,

agony

of, 208.

GIBBON, on prodigies attending 49; on December 25th as date

555.

the crucifixion, 48, of the Nativity, 71;

on passage in Phlegon, 266; Christians unnoticed by Seneca, 498; on language of Tacitus and Livy,

GILDNER,

Prof., on religion of Zoroaster, 518, 519. GILES, Rev. Dr., on forgery in Josephus, 33; Gospels not mentioned by Justin Martyr, 52; on the word

"legion," 155.

GILLETT, Rev. Dr. Charles, on Osiris, 530, 531. GLENNIE, John Stuart, analogies between Osirianism
and Christianity,
531.

GODS,

planetary, 467.

GOLDEN RULE, Confucius and the, 513. GUARD AT TOMB, concerning, 320-326.
GULICK,

GUNKEL,
551.

Prof., on Prof., on

Dionysian festivals,

543, 544.

Greek modifications

of Christianity,

HADES,
482.

HALLAM,

discourse concerning, 39, 539. Henry, on licentiousness of Christians dur-

ing middle ages, 454, 455;

on worship of

saints,

HARDEN-HICKEY,
Buddha,

Baron, analogies between Christ and

506-508. HARDWlCaCE, Dr., on origrin of the Lord's Prayer, 151.

588

Ind ex.
Dr.

HARTMANN,
Jesus, ]0.

Edward

von, on folly of reverencing

HELL,

of

Pagan

origin, 539, 565.

HEXRY, Matthew, on Christ's female ancestors, 417. HERCULES. 541-543; worship of by Jews, 541. HEROD, THE GREAT, in what year of his reign was
Jesus born?
Jesus, 165;

HEROD AXTIPAS,
HERODLIS, 168. HIBBERT, Dr., on
HIGGIXSON,

his massacre of babes, 111-114. his remarks concerning words of trial of Jesus before, 236.
69, 70;

apparitions, 315.

HOLY

of Irenaeus, 293. Col. T. W., on non-originality of Jesus' teachings, 413, 414. PRIEST, office of held by whom? 223. HILAIRE, St., on Buddha's teachings, 509. HITCHCOCK, Rev. Dr., on date of Chronicles, 84. HODGE, Prof., on sanction of slavery by Christ, 388. GHOST, the, gender of, 102, 103; when disciples received, 327, 328; effect of on the disciples, 328,

HIGGIXS, Godfrey, on testimony

HIGH

329;

disciples
of, 344.

of

John the Baptist and, 330; the

gender

HOLY WATER, HORUS, 532-537;

of the sun

use of by Greeks, 554. the hiding of Moses and the stopping

HOOYKAAS,

and moon borrowed from, 534. Rev. Dr., on passage in Josephus, 36; on Pauline Epistles, 60, 61; concerning Gabriel's prediction, 103; on the census, 106, 107; on Levi and Matthew, 137; pronounces story of beheading John the Baptist a fiction, 167; on last words of Jesus, 257; on resurrection of Jesus from the dead, 310, 311; on baptismal formula, 331, 332; on deification
of Jesus, 492, 493.

HUC, Pere, on Krishna, 502. HUG, Dr., on Zacharias, son of Barachias, 198. HUGO, Victor, on the clergy and learning, 426.

HUME, argument of against miracles, HUXLEY, Prof., on demonology, 40.

HYDE,
Dr.,

19.

on religion of Persians,
of

518.

Bible concerning, 365; Christ's resurrection no proof of, 365, 366. INGERSOLL, Robert G., on miracles, 22, 23; on forgiveness of sin, 372, 373; a retrospect and a prophecy,
579.

LAniORTALITY, teachings

INMAN,
447,

Dr.
448,

Thomas, on modern Christian symbolism,

456;
&33.

452; on practices of priests in convents, affirms Egyptian origin of Christian trinity,

Index.
INSCRIPTION,
the,

5^9
249.
^

INTERNATIONAL ENCYCLOPEDIA,

INTEMPERANCE ENCOURAGED,
IRENAEUS,
all

^. on deification o o20, Buddha and Confucius. 511. 512; on Mithra, debaucheries of Christian Agapae, 5o6.

on the Cross,

.^

387 the Gospels first mentioned by, ministry. 210, 211; on age 53; on duration of Jesus' of Jesus at death, 291-294. ISIS, 532; and Mary, 535, 536. ,^ ^f ^oa of, 480,
of

ISRAELITES,
481.

.idolatry of, 477, 478;

of

polytheism

ISTAR, descent

into Hell,

526.

JACKSON,

Rev.

Samuel,

Pagaa

origin

of

nv.vicfTT.n<. Christmas

affirmed by, 564, 565. JAMES, not mentioned by John 140. remiest request JAMES AND JOHN, the calliLg of, 135, 136, of, or concerning, 189. 1^7 loo THE LESS AND JOSES, parents of, 137, 13.
<.

JAMES

JAMES, on

justification by works, 367. JAIRUS, daughter of, 162. he beJECHONIAS, who was his father? when was against, 87. cotten*^ 86; curse pronounced Thomas, on the Trinity, 342 343; on

JEFFERSON,
his

miraculous
XVQ

and conception, 347; ^eleved Christ stellar Twelve Apostles to be derived from of women for worship, 466; on carnal affection
T^Q-i-iQ*

JEHOVAH,

god of a god of the atmosphere, 470; a

389;

fire,

JEROME^'on marriage,

on Adonis and Christ,

528.

JeISs OF Sl'^ARETH,

his existence possible 10, 14 the date of conflicting statements regarding 24 Christian schol66-72; various opinions of his born, 69, 70; place ot ars regarding time he was 76-95; from which ot birth 73-7^; genealogies of, the nammg ot, David's son; was he descended? 88; his birth, 116, 101- residence of his parents prior to concerning, 11 J, 117- mediums of communication 120; age of wben age arbeginning of his ministry, Had J B John the Baptist began his ministry, 123; ministry? his been cast into prison when he began had he a charge of concerning Samaritans, 132, miracles at the home"? 142; did he perform many discrepancies rebeginning of his ministry? 144; ministry, 152ga?ding events at beginning of his event 154- rpfersto John the Baptist's advent as an honor, etc., past, on "a prophet not without

bMh

long

59*^
164;

Index.

the carpenter the carpenter's son, 165; number baptized by his disciples, 169; reason of for going into a mountain, 170; walking on the sea, 171, 172; his Messiahship, when revealed to his disciples, 176; his route to last passover, 182, 183; healing of blind Bartimeus, 183, 184; on divorce, 185; his lamentation on Jerusalem, 198; number of visits to Jerusalem, 208, 209; to what country was ministry chiefly confined? 209; length of ministry, 209; teachings ascribed to, not authentic, 211, 212; announce-

ment of his betrayal, 213; manner of disclosing his betrayer, 214; arrest of, 219-221; preliminary examination of, 221, 222; trial of before Sanhedrim, 225; charge of blasphemy, 226; words of regarding temple of his body, 228; mistreatment of during trials, 233, 234, 240, 241, 245; trial of before Herod, 236; trial of before Pilate, 238-240; scourging of, 241; the mocking of, 243, 244; the crucifixion of, 245-273; by whom crucified, 245, 246; casting lots for the garments of, 251, 252; last words of, 253257; reasons for removing body of from cross, 270, 271; burial of, 274; embalming of, 274-276; age of, at time of death, 291-294; how long did he remain in the grave? 296; discrepancies regarding visits to tomb of, 296-301; appearances of mentioned by Evangelists, 301-303; appearances of mentioned by Paul, 303, 304; doubts of disciples concerning resurrection of, 308; nature of his appearances, 311-317; final command of to disciples, 332; number of days remained on earth after resurrection, 333; prophecy of concerning destruction of temple, 353, 354; filial ingratitude of, 391, 392; when did he announce his Messiahship? 356; opinions of neighbors, 'friends, and brothers concerning divinity of, 357, 358

JOHN, egotism of, 421. JOHN, the Gospel of,

thenticity by, 126.
fulfilled
of,

internal

evidence

against

au-

56;

baptism of Jesus not mentioned

he? the advent of

JOHN THE BAPTIST, who was

was he acquainted with Jesus

121; prior to his baptism? 123; his testimony concerning Jesus, 124, 125; number baptized by, 125; is he a historical character? 127, 128; reason for beheading, 166, 167. JONES, Sir William, on Krishna, 501, 503, 504. JOSEPH, who was his father? 88; not subject to taxation, 105, 106; on substitution of for "fatlier" in

what prophecy? prediction concerning,

A- v.. 117, 118.

Index.

5^1

F., knew nothing of Christ, 26; passage In relating to Christ a forgery, 27-39; arguments against genuineness of passage in, 28-31; passage in rejected by Christian Fathers, 30; clause containing name of Christ in passage relating to James an interpolation, 37; concerning Herod, Archelaus and Cyrenius, 66-68; on high priests, 128, 129; concerning an alleged prophet, 228; his tribute to Pharisees, 397; on teachings of Essenes, 552. JOSIAH, successor of, 85, 86; relation to Jechonias, 86. JUDAS, apostles bearing the name of, 139; his betrayal of Jesus, 214, 215; what he did with the money, 215;

JOSEPHUS,

fate of, 217.

JUDEA,
27.

coasts of beyond Jordan, 182.

JUSTUS OR TIBERIUS,

no mention of Christ by,

26,

KADISH, the, Lord's Prayer borrowed from, 152. KALISCH, Dr., devils and angels of Persian origin, KEIM, Theodor, on passage in Josephus, 35.
KING, C. W., on Isis and Mary, 535, KITTO, on death by orucifixion, 253.
536.

517.

KRISHNA,

500-504; Christ, 500-502.

parallels

between Krishna

and

KUENIN, Dr., on Pauline Epistles, 61. LAKE, Rev. J. W., on Logos, 493, 494; on
520.

Mithra, 519,

LANG, Andrew, on Baldur, LAOU-TSZE, 514, 515.

563.

LARDNER,
LAZARUS,
386.

Dr., his arguments against genuineness of passage in Josephus, 31, 32. LAST SUPPER, day of occurrence, 202-204.

the raising

of,

186-188;

rich

man

and, 385,

LEBBEUS, 139. LECKY, W. E.

380, 381;

H., on filthiness of early Christians, on Christian asceticism, 393-395; on Zeus, 538; on absorption of rival faiths by Christianity, 571; on sexual depravity of Christians during middle ages, 452, 453; Scotland and Sweden, 456, 457; on polytheism of medieval Christians, 481, 482; on Seneca and Christianity, 497, 498. LEGGE, Rev. James, on Confucius and the Golden

Rule, 513.

LEMPRIERE, on use of holy water by LEPERS, cleansing of, 183.

LETO,
540.

Greeks, 554.

LEVIRATE MARRIAGE, 91. LOGOS (WORD), the, 492-495;

widespread, 493.

the idea ancient and

592

Index.

of Jesus Matthew, 118. LUTHER, James, Jude, Hebrews, and Revelation rejected by, 58, 60, 61; justification by works denounced by, 367, 368.

LORD'S PRAYER, origin of, 150-152. LORD, Rev. Dr. Nathan, on slavery, 388. LUKE, his statement concerning annual visits
to Jerusalem conflicts with

location of, 167. I\IAGI, the star of, 109, 110. MANES, on identity of Mithra

MACHERUS,

and Christ,

522.

Dean, on Christianity and miracles, 17, 18. MARQUETTE, Mrs. Gage on, 455, 456. MARRIAGE, teachings of Christ regarding, 389; teachings of Paul regarding, 424, 425. MARTYR, Justin, Gospels unknown to, 52; declares that the ]Magi were from Arabia, 110; Jesus Christ and sons of Jupiter, 543; on similarity of the cures
of Christ

MANSEL,

and Esculapius,
of, 92-95;

547.
of,

MARY,

lineage

hymn

borrowed from Sam-

uel, 103, 104;

MARY

relationship of to Christ, 344, 345; on perpetual virginity of, 346. MAGDALENE, visit of to tomb, 297; appear-

ance of Jesus

to, 305.

MASSACRE OF INNOCENTS, 111-114. MATTHEW, a Roman Catholic Gospel,

the Less a brother of, 138. MAURICE, Rev. Thomas, on births
Christ, 500, 501.

54; of

was James

Krishna and

MEDIATORIAL IDEA,
man origin, 486. M'CLINTOCK AND

the, 485-487;

of Persian

and Roon

STRONG'S

CYCLOPEDIA,

on analogous events in Phallic Worship, 447; the histories of Krishna and Christ, 502; on doctrines of Zoroaster, 516, 517; on Christianity and iMithraism, 522; on Osiris, 531, 532; on Apollo, 540; on Christ and Plato, 547, 548, 551. M'DERMOTT, Hon. Allan L., on injustice of holding Jews responsible for death of Christ, 364. M'NAUGHT, Rev. Dr., on genealogies, 89. MEINHOLD, Prof., on religious formulas, 381; on Hercules and Christ, 541. MEREDITH, E. P., on identity of Christian Agapae
with Bacchanalian and Eleusinian feasts, 555. the, must be a son of David, 76, 91; Jewish argument against Jesus as, 490, 491. MESSIANIC IDEA, the, 487-492; of Persian origin, 487,

MESSIAH,
488.

MESSIANIC PROPHECIES,

Isaiah

vii,

14;

Genesis,

Index.
xlix, 10;

593

ix, 6; Jeremiah xxiii, 5, 6; Daniel ix, two kinds of, 100, 101; 488, 489. MICHELET, on first fruits of bride claimed by parson,

Isaiah

25;

92-101;

455, 456.

MILL, John

Stuart, best moral teachings not tian origin, 414, MILMAN, Dean, on passage in Josephus, 35; rection of saints, 319; on polytheistic Christianity, 482; on Logos, 493; Pagan

of Chris-

on resurforms of
mysteries
of,

adopted by the church,

MIRACLES OF CHRIST, arguments of Hume against,

MITHRA.

557. 14-17;

impossibility
19.

18;

MONOTHEISM,
MOSAIC LAW, MOSHEIM, on

519-523; picture of, 520. 483-485; Jewish, 484. MONTUCI, Prof., on revelation of Trinity in Laou-Tsze's writings, 514, 515.

on abrogation of, 370. Apocryphal Gospels, 359; polytheism of church admitted by, 482; on adoption of heathen mysteries by early Christians, 556, 557; early paganization of Christianity conceded by, 575, 576. MUELLER, Max, on sun worship, 464; on Buddha, 505,
508, 510.

MUSTARD SEED,
MYTH, meaning
NAIN, widow
156, 157.

the, 190. 434; different kinds of, 434, 435; various hypotheses regarding nature of Christ, 435442; sources of Christ, 444.
of,
of,

raising from

the

dead the son

of,

NAPOLEON BONAPARTE,
true God, 458.

declares the sun to be the

NATURE-WORSHIP,

469-473.
115, 116.

NAZARENE AND NAZARITE,

NAZARETH,
73,

texts affirming as the place of Jesus' birth,

74.

NEANDER,

NEWMAN,
NEWTON,

on motive of Judas for betraying Jesus, 217. Prof. F. W., on the healing of the blind man and the raising of Lazarus, 188; on Zacharias, son of Barachias, 198; on Christ's abuse of Jews,
395, 396.

John, on relics of sun-worship, 459, 463, 464; on vestiges of ancient fire-worship, 473 on the palm as a Phallic symbol, 477; on transference of dogmas of immaculate conception and perpetual virginity from Isis to Mary, 535. NEWTON, Bishop, on Christian fetichism, 479; on worship of Virgin and saints, 482.
;

594

Index.

NEWTON, NEWTON,

NORSE

Rev. Dr. R. Heber, on the paganization of Christianity, 576. Sir Isaac, on the Trinity, 342; on corruptions of text, 347, 348. MYTHOLOGY, 561; survivals of in Christianity,
564, 565.

NOYES,

Rev.

J.

H.,

sexual irregularities fostered by

religious revivals, 457. OATHS, respecting, 382. ODIN, 560-562.

OORT,
570.

Rev. Dr., on sun-worship

ites, 460, 461;

Abram,

Isaac, etc.,

among early names of

Israeltribes,

ORIGEN,

believed stars to be rational beings, 467. OSIRIS, 530-532. OZIAS, relation of to Joram, 85. PAGAN WRITERS, no mention of Christ by, 27. PAGANISM, list of Christian ideas and doctrines
rived from, 566-569.

de*

PAINE, Thomas, on

Epistles, 290; on resurrection and ascension, 335, 336. PAPIAS, not acquainted with Four Gospels, 52.

Hercules a prototype of Christ, 542. PARTON, James, Platonic origin of Christian system affirmed by, 549. PASCAL, on marriage, 389. PASCHAL MEAL, description of, 204. PATRIARCHS, antediluvian, a dynasty of Babylonian
kings, 569.

PARKHURST'S HEBREW LEXICON,

PAUL,

the miraculous conception and miracles of Christ unknown to, 63; the doctrine of a material resurrection denied by, 63, 64; discordant statements concerning appearance of Jesus to, 309; Christ the first to rise from dead affirmed by, 327, 328; on nature of Christ, 347; on justification by faith, 367; on woman and marriage, 424, 425; his condemnation of learning, 425, 426; persecutions of, 427, 428; his characterization of Christians, 430. PAULINE EPISTLES, all but four of spurious, 60, 61.

PERFECT

PERSEUS, 540, PETER, speech

INIAN, the, 495, 498. 541. of before disciples, 218; his denial of Jesus, 234-236, 420; concerning witnesses to Christ's resurrection, 326; on nature of Christ, 347. PETER, the calling of, 133, 134; son of whom, 135; attempt of to walk on the water, 172; his discovery

Index.

5y^

of Jesus' Messiahship, 176; coin in fish's mouth, 180,

181.

PHALLIC WORSHIP,
PHILO, no mention
Jesus

see Sex Worship. the mocking of John, parallels

borrowed drawn from concerning Logos,

of Christ by, 26; from, 244; and

494, 495.

PHLEGON,

concerning eclipse, 265. PHOTIUS, passage in Josephus rejected by, 31. PILATE, Pontius, trial of Jesus before, 238-240. PILGRIMAGES, Holy, dissoluteness attending, 454, 455.
547-551; his immaculate conception, 547, 548; his philosophy, 548, 549; on the immortality of the
soul, 549, 550.

PLATO,

PLINY THE YOUNGER,

letter

of,

43-46;

arguments

against genuineness of letter, 44-46.

POLYTHEISM, 479-483. POTTER'S FIELD, prophecy

216.

concerning purchase

of,

POVERTY AND RICHES,

462, 463.

385, 386.

PRAYER, efficacy of, 377-379. PROCTOR, Richard A., sun myths

connected with Jesus,

PROMETHEUS,
PROSTITUTION,

545,

546.

sacred, 450-457. PUBLICANS SINNERS, dining with, 160. PUNISHMENT, endless, doctrine of, 373, 374. PYTHAGORAS, 551-553; parallels between teachings of and Christ, 552.

AND

QUIRINALIA, its correspondence to Ascension Day, QUIRINUS, 559, 560; his ascension, 560.

560.

RAMATHA,
RAWSON,

Bishop

of,

on Buddhist and Christian

scrip-

tures, 509.

READE, Winwood, on

A. L., on Prometheus, 545. Christians, 431, 432; on antiquity

of Egypt's religion, 536, 537.

RELIGIOUS FORMULA, "In the name of Jesus," 381. RENAN, his Life of Jesus, 8; on miracles, 20; Mark
oldest of Gospels affirmed by, 55; on date of crucifixion, 281, 282; on alleged appearances of Jesus, 317; on second advent, 355; on belief of Jesus in demoniacal possession, 404; on Messiahship of Jesus, 489. RESURRECTION, the. See Jesus.

RESURRECTION OF SAINTS,
REVELATION,
scholars, 59, 60.

318, 319.

canonicity of questioned by Christian

RICH MAN AND LAZARUS, parable of, 385. 386. RIDPATH, John Clarke, on astral worship, 465; on

596

Index.

Persephone and Eve, 539; on Greek sepulture, 544, 545; on Saturnalia, 558, 559. ROBERTSON, Rev. Frederick, on fanaticism and lewdness, 457.

Rev. Heinrich, affirms Greek origin of Matthew's and Luke's stories concerning birth of Jesus, 542 543, ROUSSEAui on Christ and slavery, 389.

ROWER,

SALA,

relation of to Arphaxad, 85. of whom? 87. SAND AY, Rev. Wm., on the feeding of 4,000, 174; on the hour of crucifixion, 251. SANHEDRIM, trial and treatment of Jesus before, 225-

SALATHIAL, son

234.

SATURN, 558, 559. SATURNALIA, identity

558,
559.

of with festival of Christmas,

SAVAGE, Dr. M. J., on sacraments, 377. SCRIBNER'S BIBLE DICTIONARY, on discrepancy

be-

tween Synoptics and John regarding Last Supper, 204; on conflicting statements of Mark and John regarding anointment, 201, 204; on double mention of the cup, 208; on errors of Synoptics concerning crucifixion, 277; concerning day of
crucifixion, 283.

SCHAFF, Rev. Dr. Philin, on resurrection, 338, 339. SCHLEIER:^IACHER, Dr., declares Luke to be a mere
compilation, 54; on conflicting accounts of events following the birth of Jesus, 111. SCOTT, Thomas, on corruption of text of John xviii,
24;
222.

his writings chief source of the Ideal or Per496, 498; on Zeus, 5^:8. MOUNT, where delivered, 147. SEVENTY, the, 141. SEX- WORSHIP, 445-457; gods and goddesses connected with, 445.
fect

SENECA,

Man,

SERMON ON THE

SHARP, Samuel, Trinity in Unity, SHELLEY, on accountability for

Christ, 5;

533. belief,

369,

370;

on

on Prometheus,

546.

the, 109, 110. of, 173. SIMEON, prediction of, 117. SIMON, the Cyrenian, 246, 247. SANCTIONED, 388, 389.

SHEPHERDS,

"SILOAM," meaning

SLAVERY

SMITH'S BIBLE DICTIONARY, attempt

of to reconcile genealogies, 89, 90; on lineage of Mary, 92; on parentage of James the Less and Joses, 138; concern-

Index.

597

ing Christ's promise to penitent thief, 258, 259; on antiquity of Babylonian legend, 527. SMITH, Prof. Goldwin, on flight of Jesus, 7. SMITH, Prof. Robertson, on SjTioptics, 55. SMITH'S DICTIONARY OF ANTIQUITIES, ancient mysteries analogous to Christian sacraments, 557,
558.

SOLAR-WORSHIP,
459-461.

457-464; prevailed
of,

among

Israelites,

SO:\rERSET, Duke

on heavenly voices,

202.

SOSIOSH,

523.

SOURY,

Dr. Jules, on Renan's "Life of Jesus," 8, 9; on date of First Peter, 58, 59; he pronounces Jesus a victim of insanity, 399-403; on Mary Magdalene, 417, 418; on Jewish worship of Aschera, 449; on sacred prostitution, 451, 452; on the sun as the father of life, 458; on Biblical and Babylonian legends, 526, 527; on deluge legend, 526, 527; on the

fallaciousness of religious beliefs, 579.

SOUTH, Dr., on Revelation, 60. STAVES, command respecting, STRANGE, Judge, on origin of
571,

163.

Christ and Christianity,

572. STRAUSS, his Life of Jesus, 8; Mark latest of Synoptics affirmed b3% 55; on Messianic requirements, 91; on

Annunciation, 102; raising of Lazarus, 187; different versions of the anointment, 201; on trial of Jesus before Herod, 237; on rending of veil of the temple, 266, 267; on bribing the soldiers, 325, 326; on conflicting statements of Evangelists regarding appearances of Jesus, 302, 303; astrology associated with birth of Messiah, 469: angels of Persian origin, 517.

SUETONIUS, 46. SUN-WORSHIP,

from, 463.

doctrine

of

the

resurrection

derived

SUN GODS, list of, 459. "SUPERNATURAL RELIGION,"

on

miraculous

evi-

dence, 351; no trace of Gospels for a century and a half after the death of Jesus, 56, 57; declares Paul's vision a hallucination, 62; on Last Supper, 203; on discrepancy regarding length of ministry, 209, 210; on Jesus' examination before Annas, 223,
224; on failure of soldiers to break legs of Jesus, 270; on resurrection, 319, 320, 337, 338; on demoniacal possesssion, 405. SYCHAR, no city of this name, 159. SYMBOLISM, Christian, Inman on, 447.