Let us now, Romans, consider the artifices, roguery, and forgery
to which the Christians themselves have given the name of “pious
frauds”; frauds that have cost you your liberty and your goods, and
have brought down the conquerors of Europe to a most lamentable
slavery. I again take God to witness that I will say no word that
is not amply proved. If I wished to use all the arms of reason
against fanaticism, all the piercing darts of truth against error, I
should speak to you first of that prodigious number of contradictory
gospels which your popes themselves now recognise to be false. They
show, at least, that there were forgers among the first Christians.
This, however, is very well known. I have to tell you of impostures
that are not generally known, and are a thousand times more
pernicious.
_First Imposture_
It is a very ancient superstition that the last words of the dying
are prophetic, or are, at least, sacred maxims and venerable
precepts. It was believed that the soul, about to dissolve the union
with the body and already half united to the Deity, had a cloudless
vision of the future and of truth. Following this prejudice, the
Judæo-Christians forge, in the first century of the Church, the
_Testament of the Twelve Patriarchs_, written in Greek, to serve as
a prediction or a preparation for the new kingdom of Jesus. In the
testament of Reuben we find these words: “Adore his seed, for he will
die for you, in wars visible and invisible, and he will be your king
for ever.” This prophecy is applied to Jesus, in the usual way of
those who wrote fifty-four gospels in various places, and who nearly
all endeavoured to find in Jewish writers, especially those who were
called prophets, passages that could be twisted in favour of Jesus.
They even added some that are clearly recognised as false. The author
of the _Testament of the Patriarchs_ is one of the most impudent and
clumsy forgers that ever spoiled good parchment. His book was written
in Alexandria, in the school of a certain Mark.
_Second Chief Imposture_
They forged letters from the king of Edessa to Jesus, and from Jesus
to this supposed prince. There was no king at Edessa, which was a
town under the Syrian governor; the petty prince of Edessa never had
the title of king. Moreover, it is not said in any of the gospels
that Jesus could write; and if he could, he would have left some
proof of it to his disciples. Hence these letters are now declared by
all scholars to be forgeries.
_Third Chief Imposture_
(_which contains several_)
They forged _Acts of Pilate_, letters of Pilate, and even a history
of Pilate’s wife. The letters of Pilate are especially interesting.
Here is a fragment of one:
“It happened a short time ago, and I have verified it, that the Jews
in their envy drew on themselves a cruel condemnation. Their God
having promised that he would send his holy one to them from heaven
to be their legitimate king, and that he should be born of a virgin,
did indeed send him when I was procurator in Judæa. The leaders of
the Jews denounced him to me as a magician. I believed it, and had
him scourged, and handed him over to them; and they crucified him.
They put guards about his tomb, but he rose again the third day.”
To this forgery I may add that of the rescript of Tiberius to the
Senate, to raise Jesus to the rank of the imperial gods, and the
ridiculous letters of the philosopher Seneca to Paul, and of Paul to
Seneca, written in barbaric Latin; also the letters of the Virgin
Mary to St. Ignatius, and many other clumsy fictions of the same
nature. I will not draw out this list of impostures. It would amaze
you if I enumerated them one by one.
_Fourth Imposture_
The boldest, perhaps, and clumsiest of these forgeries is that of the
prophecies attributed to the Sibyls, foretelling the incarnation,
miracles, and death of Jesus, in acrostic verse. This piece of
folly, unknown to the Romans, fed the belief of the catechumens. It
circulated among us for eight centuries, and we still sing in one of
our hymns[55] “teste David cum Sibylla” [witness David and the Sibyl].
You are astonished, no doubt, that this despicable comedy was
maintained so long, and that men could be led with such a bridle as
that. But as the Christians were plunged in the most stupid barbarism
for fifteen hundred years, as books were very rare and theologians
very astute, one could say anything at all to poor wretches who would
believe anything at all.
_Fifth Imposture_
Illustrious and unfortunate Romans, before we come to the pernicious
untruths which have cost you your liberty, your property, and your
glory, and put you under the yoke of a priest; before I speak to you
of the alleged pontificate of Simon Barjona, who is said to have been
bishop of Rome for twenty-five years, you must be informed of the
“Apostolic Constitutions,” the first foundation of the hierarchy that
crushes you to-day.
At the beginning of the second century there was no such thing as an
_episcopos_ (“overseer”) or bishop, clothed with real dignity for
life, unalterably attached to a certain see, and distinguished from
other men by his clothes; bishops, in fact, dressed like ordinary
laymen until the middle of the fifth century. The meeting was held
in a chamber of some retired house. The minister was chosen by the
initiated, and continued his work as long as they were satisfied.
There were no altars, candles, or incense; the earliest fathers of
the Church speak of altars and temples with a shudder.[56] They were
content to make a collection and sup together. When the Christian
society had grown, however, ambition set up an hierarchy. How did
they go about it? The rogues who led the enthusiasts made them
believe that they had discovered the apostolic constitutions written
by St. John and St. Matthew: “quæ ego Matthæus et Joannes vobis
tradidimus [which I, Matthew, and John have given you].”[57] In these
Matthew is supposed to say (II., xxxvi.): “Be ye careful not to
judge your bishop, for it is given to the priests alone to judge.”
Matthew and John say (II., xxxiv.): “As much as the soul is above
the body, so much higher is the priesthood than royalty; consider
your bishop as a king, an absolute master (_dominum_); give him your
fruits, your works, your firstlings, your tithes, your savings, the
first and tenth part of your wine, oil, and corn, etc.” Again (II.,
xxx.): “Let the bishop be a god to you, and the deacon a prophet”;
and (II., xxxviii.): “In the festivals let the deacon have a double
portion, and the priest double that of the deacon; and if they be not
at table, send the portions to them.”
You see, Romans, the origin of your custom of spreading your tables
to give indigestion to your pontiffs. Would to God they had confined
themselves to the sin of gluttony.
You will further observe with care, in regard to this imposture
of the constitutions of the apostles, that it is an authentic
monument of the dogmas of the second century, and that forgery at
least does homage to truth in maintaining a complete silence about
innovations that could not be foreseen--innovations with which you
have been deluged century after century. You will find, in this
second-century document, neither trinity, nor consubstantiality, nor
transubstantiation, nor auricular confession. You will not find in
it that the mother of Jesus was the mother of God, that Jesus had
two natures and two wills, or that the Holy Ghost proceeds from the
father and the son. All these singular ornaments of imagination,
unknown to the religion of the gospels, have been added since to the
crude structure which fanaticism and ignorance raised up in the first
centuries.
You will assuredly find in it three persons, but not three persons
in one God. Read with all the acuteness of your mind, the only
treasure that your tyrants have left you, the common prayer which the
Christians, by the mouth of their bishop, offered in their meetings
in the second century:
“O all-powerful, unengendered, inaccessible God, the one true God,
father of Christ thy only son, God of the paraclete, God of all, thou
hast made the disciples of Christ doctors, etc.”[58]
Here, clearly, is one sole God who commands Christ and the paraclete
[Holy Ghost]. Judge for yourselves if that has any resemblance to
the trinity and consubstantiality which were afterwards declared at
Nicæa, in spite of the strong protest of eighteen bishops and two
thousand priests.[59]
In another place (III., xvi.) the author of the _Apostolic
Constitutions_, who is probably a bishop of the Christians at Rome,
says expressly that the father is God above all.
That is the doctrine of Paul, finding expression so frequently in
his epistles. “We have peace in God through Our Lord Jesus Christ”
(_Romans_ v., 1). “If through the offence of one many be dead, much
more the grace of God, and the gift by grace, which is by one man,
Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many” (_Romans_ v., 15). “We are
heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ” (_Romans_ viii., 17).
“Receive ye one another, as Christ also received us to the glory of
God” (_Romans_ xv., 7). “To God only wise, be glory through Jesus
Christ for ever” (_Romans_ xvi., 27). “That the God of Our Lord Jesus
Christ, the father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom”
(_Ephesians_ i., 17).
Thus does the Jew-Christian Saul Paul always express himself, and
thus is Jesus himself made to speak in the gospels. “My Father is
greater than I” (_John_ xiv., 28); that is to say, God can do what
men cannot do. All the Jews said “my father” when they spoke of God.
The Lord’s Prayer begins with the words “Our Father.” Jesus said: “Of
that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but
my Father only” (_Matthew_ xxiv., 36); and “That is not mine to give,
but for whom it is prepared by my Father” (_Matthew_ xx., 23). It
is also very remarkable that when Jesus awaited arrest, and sweated
blood and water, he cried out: “Father, remove this cup from me”
(_Luke_ xxii., 42). No gospel has put into his mouth the blasphemy
that he was God, or consubstantial with God.
You will ask me, Romans, why and how he was made into a God in the
course of time? I will ask you in turn why and how Bacchus, Perseus,
Hercules, and Romulus were made gods? In their case, moreover, the
sacrilege did not go so far as to give them the title of supreme god
and creator. This blasphemy was reserved for the Christian outgrowth
of the Jewish sect.
_Sixth Chief Imposture_
I pass over the countless impostures of “The Travels of Simon
Barjona,” the “Gospel of Simon Barjona,” his “Apocalypse,” the
“Apocalypse” of Cerinthus (ridiculously attributed to John), the
epistles of Barnaby, the “Gospel of the Twelve Apostles,” their
liturgies, the “Canons of the Council of the Apostles,” the
“Apostles’ Creed,” the “Travels of Matthew,” the “Travels of Thomas,”
and so many other vagaries that are now recognised to be the work of
forgers, who passed them off under venerated Christian names.
I will not insist much on the romance of the alleged Pope St.
Clement, who calls himself the first successor of St. Peter. I will
note only that Simon Barjona and he met an old man, who complained
of the unfaithfulness of his wife, who had lain with his servant.
Clement asks how he learned it. “By my wife’s horoscope,” said the
good man, “and from my brother, with whom she wished to lie, but he
would not.” From these words Clement recognised his father in the old
man.[60] From Peter Clement learned that he was of the blood of the
Cæsars. On such romances, Romans, was the papal power set up!
_Seventh Chief Imposture_
_On the Supposed Pontificate of Simon Barjona, Called Peter_
Who was the first to say that Simon, the poor fisherman, came from
Galilee to Rome, spoke Latin there (though he could not possibly know
more than his native dialect), and in the end was pope of Rome for
twenty-five years? It was a Syrian named Abdias, who lived about the
end of the first century, and is said to have been bishop of Babylon
(a good bishopric). He wrote in Syriac, and we have his work in a
Latin translation by Julius the African. Listen well to what this
intelligent writer says. He was an eye-witness, and his testimony is
irrefragable.
Simon Barjona Peter, having, he says, raised to life Tabitha, or
Dorcas, the sempstress of the apostles, and having been put in prison
by the orders of King Herod (though there was no King Herod at the
time); and an angel having opened the doors of the prison for him
(after the custom of angels), met, in Cæsarea, the other Simon, of
Samaria, known as the Magician (Magus), who also performed miracles.
They began to defy each other. Simon the Samaritan went off to the
Emperor Nero at Rome. Simon Barjona followed him, and the emperor
received them excellently. A cousin of the emperor had died, and it
was a question which of them could restore him to life. The Samaritan
has the honour of opening the ceremony. He calls upon God, and the
dead man gives signs of life and shakes his head. Simon Peter calls
on Jesus Christ, and tells the dead man to rise; forthwith he does
rise, and embraces Peter. Then follows the well-known story of the
two dogs. Then Abdias tells how Simon flew in the air, and his rival
Simon Peter brought him down. Simon the Magician broke his legs, and
Nero had Simon Peter crucified, head downwards, for breaking the legs
of the other Simon.
This harlequinade was described, not only by Abdias, but by some one
named Marcellus, and by a certain Hegesippus, whom Eusebius often
quotes in his history. Pray notice, judicious Romans, how this Simon
Peter may have reigned spiritually in your city for twenty-five
years. He came to it under Nero, according to the earliest writers of
the Church; he died under Nero; and Nero reigned only thirteen years.
Read the _Acts of the Apostles_. Is there any question therein of
Peter going to Rome? Not the least mention. Do you not see that,
when the fiction began that Peter was the first of the apostles, it
was thought that the imperial city alone was worthy of him? See how
clumsily you have been deluded in everything. Is it possible that the
son of God, nay God himself, should have made use of a play on words,
a ridiculous pun, to make Simon Barjona the head of his Church: “Thou
art Peter, and upon this rock [petra] I will build my Church.” Had
Barjona been called Pumpkin, Jesus might have said to him: “Thou art
Pumpkin, and Pumpkin shall henceforward be the king of the fruits in
my garden.”[61]
For more than three hundred years the alleged successor of a Galilean
peasant was unknown to Rome. Let us now see how the popes became your
masters.
_Eighth Imposture_
No one who is acquainted with the history of the Greek and Latin
Churches can be unaware that the metropolitan sees established their
chief rights at the Council of Chalcedon, convoked in the year 451 by
the order of the Emperor Marcian and of Pulcheria [his wife], and
composed of six hundred and thirty bishops. The senators who presided
in the emperor’s name had on their right the patriarchs of Alexandria
and Jerusalem, on their left the patriarch of Constantinople and the
deputies of the patriarch of Rome. It was in virtue of the canons
of this Council that the episcopal sees shared the dignities of the
cities in which they were situated. The bishops of the two imperial
cities, Rome and Constantinople, were declared to be the first
bishops, with equal prerogatives, by the celebrated twenty-eighth
canon:
“The fathers have justly granted prerogatives to the see of ancient
Rome, as to a reigning city, and the 150 bishops of the first Council
of Constantinople, very dear to God, have for the same reason given
the same privileges to the new Rome; they have rightly thought that
this city, in which the Emperor and Senate reside, should be equal to
it in all ecclesiastical matters.”
The popes have always contested the authenticity of this canon; they
have twisted and perverted its whole meaning. What did they do at
length to evade this equality and gradually to destroy all the titles
of subjection which placed them under the emperors like all other
men? They forged the famous donation of Constantine, which has been
for many centuries so strictly regarded as genuine that it was a
mortal and unpardonable sin to doubt it, and whoever did so incurred
the greater excommunication by the very fact of doubting.
A very pretty thing was this donation of Constantine to Bishop
Sylvester.
“We,” says the Emperor, “with all our satraps and the whole Roman
people, have thought it good to give to the successors of St. Peter
a greater power than that of our serene majesty.” Do you not think,
Romans, that the word “satrap” comes in very well there?
With equal authenticity, Constantine goes on, in this noble diploma,
to say that he has put the Apostles Peter and Paul in large amber
caskets; that he has built the churches of St. Peter and St. Paul;
that he has given them vast domains in Judæa, Greece, Thrace, Asia,
etc. (to maintain the luminary); that he has given to the pope his
Lateran palace, with chamberlains and guards; and that, lastly, he
gives him, as a pure donation for himself and his successors, the
city of Rome, Italy, and all the western provinces; and all this is
given to thank the Pope Sylvester for having cured him of leprosy,
and having baptised him--though, in point of fact, he was baptised
only on his death-bed, by Eusebius, bishop of Nicomedia.
Never was there a document more ridiculous from one end to the other,
yet more accredited in the ignorant ages in which Europe was so long
detained after the fall of your empire.
_Ninth Imposture_
I pass over the thousand and one little daily impostures to come at
once to the great fraud of the Decretals.
These false Decretals were spread everywhere in the time of
Charlemagne. In these, Romans, the better to rob you of your liberty,
the bishops are deprived of theirs; it is decreed that the bishop of
Rome shall be their only judge. Certainly, if he is the sovereign
of the bishops, he should soon be yours; and that is what happened.
These false Decretals abolished the Councils, and even abolished your
Senate, which became merely a court of justice, subject to the will
of a priest. Here is the real source of the humiliation you have
suffered. Your rights and privileges, so long maintained by your
wisdom, could be wrested from you only by untruth. Only by lying to
God and men did they succeed in making slaves of you; but they have
never extinguished the love of liberty in your hearts. The greater
the tyranny, the greater is that love. The sacred name of liberty is
still heard in your conversations and gatherings, and in the very
antechamber of the pope.