Chapter XXVII (2)

The learned Dr. Middleton, whom we have quoted on a preceding page, after a searching inquiry into the miraculous powers of the Christians, says:

"From these short hints and characters of the primitive
wonder-workers, as given both by friends and enemies, we may
fairly conclude, that the celebrated gifts of these ages were
generally engrossed and exercised by the primitive Christians,
chiefly of the laity, who used to travel about from city to
city, to assist the ordinary pastors of the church, and
preachers of the Gospel, in the conversion of Pagans, by the
extraordinary gifts with which they were supposed to be indued
by the spirit of God, and the miraculous works which they
pretended to perform. . . .

"We have just reason to suspect that there was some original
fraud in the case; and that the strolling wonder-workers, by a
dexterity of jugglery which art, not heaven, had taught them,
imposed upon the credulity of the pious Fathers, whose strong
prejudices and ardent zeal for the interest of Christianity
would dispose them to embrace, without examination, whatever
seemed to promote so good a cause. That this was really the
case in some instances, is certain and notorious, and that it
was so in all, will appear still more probable, when we have
considered the particular characters of the several Fathers,
on whose testimony the credit of these wonderful narratives
depends."[274:2]

Again he says:

"The pretended miracles of the primitive church were all mere
fictions, which the pious and zealous Fathers, partly from a
weak credulity, and partly from reasons of policy, believing
some perhaps to be true, and knowing all of them to be useful,
were induced to espouse and propagate, for the support of a
righteous cause."[274:3]

Origen, a Christian Father of the third century, uses the following words in his answer to Celsus:

"A vast number of persons who have left those horrid
debaucheries in which they formerly wallowed, and have
professed to embrace the Christian religion, shall receive a
bright and massive crown when this frail and short life is
ended, _though they don't stand to examine the grounds on
which their faith is_ built, nor defer their conversion till
they have a fair opportunity and capacity to apply themselves
to rational and learned studies. And since our adversaries are
continually making such a stir about our _taking things on
trust_, I answer, that we, who see plainly and have found the
vast advantage that the common people do manifestly and
frequently reap thereby (who make up by far the greater
number), I say, we (the Christian clergy), who are so well
advised of these things, _do professedly teach men to believe
without examination_."[275:1]

Origen flourished and wrote A. D. 225-235, which shows that at that early day there was no rational evidence for Christianity, but it was professedly taught, and men were supposed to believe "_these things_" (_i. e._ the Christian legends) _without severe examination_.

The primitive Christians were perpetually reproached for their gross credulity, by all their enemies. Celsus, as we have already seen, declares that they cared neither to receive nor give any reason for their faith, and that it was a usual saying with them: "Do not examine, but believe only, and thy faith will save thee;" and Julian affirms that, "the sum of all their wisdom was comprised in the single precept, '_believe_.'"

Arnobius, speaking of this, says:

"The Gentiles make it their constant business to laugh at our
faith, and to lash our credulity with their facetious jokes."

The Christian Fathers defended themselves against these charges by declaring that they did nothing more than the heathens themselves had always done; and reminds them that they too had found the same method useful with the uneducated or common people, who were not at leisure to examine things, and whom they taught therefore, to believe without reason.[275:2]

This "believing without reason" is illustrated in the following words of Tertullian, a Christian Father of the second century, who reasons on the evidence of Christianity as follows:

"I find no other means to prove myself to be impudent with
success, and happily a fool, than by my contempt of shame; as,
for instance--I maintain that the son of God was born: why am
I not ashamed of maintaining such a thing? Why! but because it
is a shameful thing. I maintain that the son of God died:
well, _that_ is wholly credible because it is monstrously
absurd. I maintain that after having been buried, he rose
again: and _that_ I take to be absolutely true, because it was
manifestly impossible."[275:3]

According to the very books which record the miracles of Jesus, he never claimed to perform such deeds, and Paul declares that the great reason why Israel did not believe Jesus to be the Messiah was that "the Jews required a sign."[276:1] He meant: "Signs and wonders are the only proofs they will admit that any one is sent by God and is preaching the truth. If they cannot have this palpable, external proof, they withhold their faith."

A writer of the second century (John, in ch. iv. 18) makes Jesus aim at his fellow-countrymen and contemporaries, the reproach: "Unless you see signs and wonders, you do not believe." In connection with Paul's declaration, given above, these words might be paraphrased: "The reason why the Jews never believed in Jesus was that they never saw him do signs and wonders."

Listen to the reply he (Jesus) made when told that if he wanted people to believe in him he must first prove his claim by a miracle: "A wicked and adulterous generation asks for a _sign_, and no sign shall be given it except the sign of the prophet Jonas."[276:2] Of course, this answer did not in the least degree satisfy the questioners; so they presently came to him again with a more direct request: "If the kingdom of God is, as you say, close at hand, show us at least some _one_ of the signs in heaven which are to precede the Messianic age." What could appear more reasonable than such a request? Every one knew that the end of the present age was to be heralded by fearful signs in heaven. The light of the sun was to be put out, the moon turned to blood, the stars robbed of their brightness, and many other fearful signs were to be shown![276:3] If any _one_ of these could be produced, they would be content; but if not, they must decline to surrender themselves to an idle joy which must end in a bitter disappointment; and surely Jesus himself could hardly expect them to believe in him on his bare word.

_Historians_ have recorded miracles said to have been performed by other persons, but not a word is said by _them_ about the miracles claimed to have been performed by Jesus.

Justus of Tiberias, who was born about five years after the time assigned for the crucifixion of Jesus, wrote a _Jewish History_. Now, if the miracles attributed to Christ Jesus, and his death and resurrection, had taken place in the manner described by the Gospel narrators, he could not have failed to allude to them. But Photius, Patriarch of Constantinople, tells us that it contained "_no mention of the coming of Christ, nor of the events concerning him, nor of the prodigies he wrought_." As Theodore Parker has remarked: "The miracle is of a most _fluctuating_ character. The miracle-worker of to-day is a matter-of-fact juggler to-morrow. Science each year adds new wonders to our store. The master of a locomotive steam-engine would have been thought greater than Jupiter Tonans, or the Elohim, thirty centuries ago."

In the words of Dr. Oort: "Our increased knowledge of nature has gradually undermined the belief in the possibility of miracles, and the time is not far distant when in the mind of every man, of any culture, all accounts of miracles will be banished together to their proper region--_that of legend_."

What had been said to have been done in _India_ was said by the "_half Jew_"[277:1] writers of the Gospels to have been done in Palestine. The change of names and places, with the mixing up of various sketches of _Egyptian_, _Phenician_, _Greek_ and _Roman_ mythology, was all that was necessary. They had an abundance of material, and with it they built. A long-continued habit of imposing upon others would in time subdue the minds of the impostors themselves, and cause them to become at length the dupes of their own deception.

FOOTNOTES:

[252:1] Dr. Conyers Middleton: Free Enquiry, p. 177.

[252:2] Indian Antiquities, vol. iii. p. 46.

[253:1] Asiatic Researches, vol. i. p. 237.

[253:2] Hist. Hindostan, vol. ii. p. 331.

[253:3] Ibid. p. 319.

[254:1] Hist. Hindostan, vol. ii. p. 320. Vishnu Parana, bk. v. ch. xx.

[254:2] Prog. Relig. Ideas, vol. i. p. 68.

[254:3] Hist. Hindostan, vol. ii. p. 269.

[254:4] See Hardy's Buddhist Legends, and Eastern Monachism. Beal's Romantic Hist. Buddha. Bunsen's Angel-Messiah, and Huc's Travels, &c.

[254:5] Hardy: Buddhist Legends, pp. xxi. xxii.

[254:6] The Science of Religion, p. 27.

[255:1] Beal: Hist. Buddha, pp. 246, 247.

[255:2] Dhammapada, pp. 47, 50 and 90. Bigandet, pp. 186 and 192. Bournouf: Intro. p. 156. In Lillie's Buddhism, pp. 139, 140.

[256:1] Hardy: Manual of Buddhism.

[256:2] See Prog. Relig. Ideas, vol. i. p. 229.

[256:3] See Tylor: Primitive Culture, vol. i. p. 135, and Hardy: Buddhist Legends, pp. 98, 126, 137.

[256:4] See Tylor: Primitive Culture, vol. i. p. 135.

[256:5] Thornton: Hist. China, vol. i. p. 341.

[256:6] See Dupuis: Origin of Religious Belief, p. 240, and Inman's Ancient Faiths, vol. ii. p. 460.

[256:7] See Higgins: Anacalypsis, vol. ii. p. 34.

[256:8] See Lundy: Monumental Christianity, pp. 303-405.

[256:9] See Bonwick's Egyptian Belief.

[257:1] Quoted by Baring-Gould: Orig. Relig. Belief, vol. i. p. 397.

[257:2] See Prichard's Mythology, p. 347.

[257:3] See Bonwick's Egyptian Belief, p. 404.

[257:4] See Dupuis: Origin of Religious Belief, 258, and Anacalypsis, vol. ii. p. 102. Compare John, ii. 7.

A _Grecian_ festival called THYIA was observed by the Eleans _in honor of Bacchus_. The priests conveyed three empty vessels into a chapel, in the presence of a large assembly, after which the doors were shut and _sealed_. "On the morrow the company returned, and after every man had looked upon his own seal, and seen that it was unbroken, the doors being opened, the vessels were found full of wine." The god himself is said to have appeared in person and filled the vessels. (Bell's Pantheon.)

[257:5] Cox: Aryan Mytho., vol. ii. p. 295.

[257:6] Bulfinch: The Age of Fable, p. 225. "And they laid their hands on the apostles, and put them in the common prison; but the angel of the Lord by night opened the prison doors, and brought them forth." (Acts, v. 18, 19.)

[258:1] Bell's Pantheon, vol. i. p. 28.

[258:2] Eusebius: Life of Constantine, lib. 3, ch. liv.

"_Æsculapius_, the son of Apollo, was endowed by his father with such skill in the healing art that he even restored the dead to life." (Bulfinch: The Age of Fable, p. 246.)

[258:3] Murray: Manual of Mythology, pp. 179, 180.

[258:4] See Prog. Relig. Ideas, vol. i. p. 304.

[258:5] Marinus: Quoted in Taylor's Diegesis, p. 151.

[258:6] Pausanias was one of the most eminent Greek geographers and historians.

[259:1] "And when Jesus departed thence, _two blind men_ followed him, crying and saying: thou son of David, have mercy on us. . . . And Jesus said unto them: Believe ye that I am able to do this? They said unto him, Yea, Lord. Then touched he their eyes, saying: According to your faith be it unto you, and their eyes were opened." (Matt. ix. 27-30.)

[259:2] Middleton's Works, vol. i. pp. 63, 64.

[259:3] Ibid. p. 48.

[259:4] Bell's Pantheon, vol. i. p. 62.

[259:5] See Middleton's Letters from Rome, p. 76.

[260:1] See Middleton's Letters from Rome, p. 76.

[260:2]

"Nunc Dea, nunc succurre mihi, nam posse mederi
Picta docet temptes multa tabella tuis."

(Horace: Tibull. lib. 1, Eleg. iii. In Ibid.)

[260:3] Chambers's Encyclo., art. "Æsculapius."

[260:4] Murray: Manual of Mythology, p. 180.

[260:5] Apol. 1, ch. xxii.

[260:6] Deane: Serp. Wor. p. 204. See also, Bell's Pantheon, vol. i. p. 29.

"There were numerous oracles of Æsculapius, but the most celebrated one was at Epidaurus. Here the sick sought responses and the recovery of their health by sleeping in the temple. . . . The worship of Æsculapius was introduced into Rome in a time of great sickness, and an embassy sent to the temple Epidaurus to entreat the aid of the god." (Bulfinch: The Age of Fable, p. 397.)

[261:1] Aryan Mytho. vol. ii. p. 238.

[261:2] Herodotus: bk. vi. ch. 61.

[261:3] See Philostratus: Vie d'Apo.

Gibbon, the historian, says of him: "Apollonius of Tyana, born about the same time as Jesus Christ. His life (that of the former) is related in so fabulous a manner by his disciples, that we are at a loss to discover whether he was a sage, an impostor, or a fanatic." (Gibbon's Rome, vol. i. p. 353, _note_.) What this learned historian says of Apollonius applies to Jesus of Nazareth. _His_ disciples have related his life in so fabulous a manner, that some consider him to have been an impostor, others a fanatic, others a sage, and others a GOD.

[262:1] See Philostratus, p. 146.

[262:2] Ibid. p. 158.

[262:3] See Ibid. p. 182.

[263:1] Compare Matt. ix. 18-25. "There came a certain ruler and worshiped him, saying: 'My daughter is even now dead, but come and lay thy hand upon her, and she shall live.' And Jesus arose and followed him, and so did his disciples. . . . And when Jesus came into the ruler's house, and saw the minstrels and the people making a noise, he said unto them: 'Give peace, for the maid is not dead, but sleepeth.' And they laughed him to scorn. But when the people were put forth, he went in, _and took her by the hand_, and the maid arose."

[263:2] See Philostratus, pp. 285-286.

[263:3] "He could render himself invisible, evoke departed spirits, utter predictions, and discover the thoughts of other men." (Hardy: Eastern Monachism, p. 380.)

[263:4] "And as they thus spoke, Jesus himself stood in the midst of them, and said unto them: 'Peace be unto you.' But they were terrified and affrighted, and supposed that they had seen a spirit. And he said unto them: 'Why are ye troubled? and why do thoughts arise in your hearts? Behold my hands and my feet, that it is myself; handle me and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have." (Luke, xxiv. 36-39.)

[264:1] See Philostratus, p. 342.

[264:2] Ibid. p. 5.

[264:3] Justin Martyr's "_Quæst._" xxiv. Quoted in King's Gnostics, p. 242.

[264:4] Acts, viii. 9, 10.

[265:1] See Mosheim, vol. i. pp. 137, 140.

[265:2] Irenæus: Against Heresies, bk. iii. ch. xi. The _authorship_ of the fourth gospel, attributed to John, has been traced to this same _Irenæus_. He is the _first_ person who speaks of it; and adding this fact to the statement that "it is impossible that there could be more or less than _four_," certainly makes it appear very suspicious. We shall allude to this again.

[265:3] Eusebius: Eccl. Hist. lib. 2, ch. xiv.

[265:4] Apol. 1, ch. xxiv.

[266:1] See Prog. Relig. Ideas, vol. ii. pp. 241, 242.

[266:2] According to Hieronymus (a Christian Father, born A. D. 348), Simon Magus applied to himself these words: "I am the Word (or Logos) of God; I am the Beautiful, I the Advocate, I the Omnipotent; I am all things that belong to God." (See "Son of the Man," p. 67.)

[266:3] See Prog. Relig. Ideas, vol. ii. p. 316, and Middleton's Free Inquiry, p. 62.

[266:4] Eusebius: Ecc. Hist., lib. 3, ch. xiv.

[266:5] Middleton's Works, vol. i. p. 54.

[267:1] Middleton's Works, vol. i. p. 54.

[267:2] Prog. Relig. Ideas, vol. ii. p. 312, and Middleton's Works, vol. i. p. 10.

[267:3] "The Egyptians call all men '_barbarians_' who do not speak the same language as themselves." (Herodotus, book ii. ch. 158.)

"By '_barbarians_' the Greeks meant all who were not sprung from themselves--all foreigners." (Henry Cary, translator of _Herodotus_.)

The Chinese call the English, and all foreigners from western countries, "_western barbarians_;" the Japanese were called by them the "_eastern barbarians_." (See Thornton's History of China, vol. i.)

The Jews considered all who did not belong to their race to be _heathens_ and _barbarians_.

The Christians consider those who are not followers of Christ Jesus to be _heathens_ and _barbarians_.

The Mohammedans consider all others to be _dogs_, _infidels_, and _barbarians_.

[267:4] "And in the fourth watch of the night, Jesus went unto them, walking on the sea." (Matt. xiv. 25.)

[267:5] Prog. Relig. Ideas, vol. ii. p. 236. We have it on the authority of _Strabo_ that Roman priests walked barefoot over burning coals, without receiving the slightest injury. This was done in the presence of crowds of people. _Pliny_ also relates the same story.

[267:6] Prog. Relig. Ideas, vol. ii. p. 236.

[267:7] Athenagoras, Apolog. p. 25. Quoted in Middleton's Works, vol. i. p. 62.

[267:8] Geikie: Life of Christ, vol. ii. p. 619.

[268:1] Geikie: Life of Christ, vol. i. p. 75.

[268:2] Jewish Antiquities, bk. viii. ch. ii.

[268:3] Middleton's Works, vol. i. p. 68.

[268:4] "And he cometh to Bethsaida, and they bring a _blind man_ unto him, and besought him to touch him. And he took the blind man by the hand . . . _and when he had spit on his eyes_, . . . he looked up and said: 'I see men and trees,' . . . and he was restored." (Mark, viii. 22-25.)

[268:5] "And behold there was a man _which had his hand withered_. . . . Then said he unto the man, 'Stretch forth thine hand;' and he stretched it forth, and it was restored whole, like as the other." (Matt. xii. 10-13.)

[268:6] Tacitus: Hist., lib. iv. ch. lxxxi.

[269:1] See Chambers's Encyclo., art. "Tacitus."

[269:2] See The Bible of To-Day, pp. 273, 278.

[269:3] See Gibbon's Rome, vol. i. pp. 539-541.

[270:1] Middleton's Letters from Rome, p. 102. See also, Bell's Pantheon, vol. i. p. 16.

[270:2] Dionysius of Halicarnassus, one of the most accurate historians of antiquity, says: "In the war with the Latins, Castor and Pollux appeared visibly on white horses, and fought on the side of the Romans, who by their assistance gained a complete victory. As a perpetual memorial of it, a temple was erected and a yearly festival instituted in honor of these deities." (Prog. Relig. Ideas, vol. i. p. 323, and Middleton's Letters from Rome, p. 103.)

[271:1] See Prefatory Discourse to vol. iii. Middleton's Works, p. 54.

[271:2] See Origen: Contra Celsus, bk. 1, ch. lxviii.

[272:1] See Origen: Contra Celsus, bk. 1, ch. ix.

[272:2] Ibid. bk. iii. ch. xliv.

[272:3] Ibid.

[272:4] Ibid. bk. 1, ch. lxviii.

[272:5] Ibid.

[272:6] Ibid.

[272:7] Dial. Cum. Typho. ch. lxix.

[272:8] See Isis Unveiled, vol. ii. p. 148.

[272:9] See Baring-Gould's Lost and Hostile Gospels. A knowledge of magic had spread from Central Asia into Syria, by means of the return of the Jews from Babylon, and had afterwards extended widely, through the mixing of nations produced by Alexander's conquests.

[273:1] See King's Gnostics, p. 145. Monumental Christianity, pp. 100 and 402, and Jameson's Hist. of Our Lord in Art, vol. i. p. 16.

[273:2] See Monumental Christianity, p. 402, and Hist. of Our Lord, vol. i. p. 16.

[273:3] Monumental Christianity, pp. 403-405.

[273:4] Middleton's Works, vol. i. p. 19.

[273:5] See Taylor's Diegesis, p. 59.

[274:1] Gibbon's Rome, vol. i. p. 588. An eminent heathen challenged his Christian friend Theophilus, Bishop of Antioch, a champion of the Gospel, to show him but one person who had been raised from the dead, on the condition of turning Christian himself upon it. _The Christian bishop was unable to give him that satisfaction._ (See Gibbon's Rome, vol. i. p. 541, and Middleton's Works, vol. i. p. 60.)

[274:2] Middleton's Works, vol. i. pp. 20, 21.

[274:3] Ibid. p. 62. The Christian Fathers are noted for their frauds. Their writings are full of falsehoods and deceit.

[275:1] Contra Celsus, bk. 1, ch. ix. x.

[275:2] See Middleton's Works, pp. 62, 63, 64.

[275:3] On The Flesh of Christ, ch. v.

[276:1] I. Corinthians, i. 22, 23.

[276:2] Matt. xii. 29.

[276:3] See for example, Joel, ii. 10, 31; iii. 15; Matt. xxiv. 29, 30; Acts, ii. 19, 20; Revelations, vi. 12, 13; xvi. 18, _et seq._

[277:1] The writers of the Gospels were "I know not what sort of _half_ Jews, not even agreeing with themselves." (Bishop Faustus.)