The first two chapters of Matthew not in existence during
the time of Paul and Apollos.--A compromise was made between
their followers at the council at Smyrna, A. D. 107.--The
creed of the Church as it existed at that day determined,
and how Christ was made manifest.--Catholics of the second
century repudiate this creed and abuse Paul.--Further proof
that Irenaeus never saw Polycarp.--Injuries inflicted upon
the world by the fourth Gospel.
We have shown in another place that not long after Apollos arrived at
Corinth he came in collision with Paul on some question which related
to Christ. Just what that difference was, it is hard in this age of the
world to determine; but it will be sufficient for our purpose at this
time to show what it was not. Had it been claimed by Apollos and his
followers that Christ was born in the way in which it is stated in
Matthew's Gospel, Paul, instead of wasting a whole lifetime in fighting
his enemies, would have gone straight to Jerusalem, and proved by
living witnesses that there was not a word of truth in this Gospel
which related to the supernatural birth of Christ. Paul's troubles with
Apollos and his school commenced as early as 57. At that time there were
thousands upon thousands who were born about the time Christ was, and
were comparatively young men when he was put to death. It was before the
fall of Jerusalem, and before any great calamity had befallen the Jewish
people. Many of the disciples may have been still living. Peter we know
was, for in 64 we find him preaching in Chaldea. Doubtless there
were still living, in Nazareth, women who grew up with Mary, and were
acquainted with her entire history. The Greeks did not contend, as long
as Paul lived, for anything stated in the first two chapters of Matthew
on the subject of the birth of Christ; for that reason there is no
mention of Mary by Paul in any of his epistles. What, then, was the
trouble? With Philo, the Logos was born in Heaven, and from thence he
descended to earth. With Paul, Christ was born on the earth, and in this
respect did not differ from other mortals. If the Logos was the Son of
God, and came down from heaven, by what instrumentalities did he reach
the earth? It was for Apollos to show how this was brought about.
Nothing is more difficult in the history of Christianity than to
find out what was Apollos belief as to the way by which the Logos is
connected or identified with the man Christ. The story of the descent of
the Spirit in the form of a dove, at the Jordan, was not known until a
long time after Paul's death. Paul could not disprove it, for during his
life no one asserted it. To establish this connection, we gather from
Paul that the school of Apollos had some subtle mode of reasoning, the
distillation of Greek wisdom and cunning. He never says what it was, but
compares it to the subtle sophistry with which the serpent deceived
Eve. To the wisdom of the Greeks Paul has nothing to oppose but direct
revelations from God. He sits in opposition to Hellenic sophistry, his
power and wisdom derived from above. When he talks to the Jews, before
they will believe what he tells them, they demand that a sign shall
be given unto them--something tangible to the senses. But the Greeks
required no proof of this kind. Conviction with them as to Christ was
wholly dependent upon some device, doubtless an outgrowth of Platonic
philosophy. From what is said hereafter, we can venture the belief that
with Apollos the Logos was made Christ simply by the providence of God.
How this providence was exerted to bring about this result, was a proper
subject to employ the cunning, the wisdom and sophistry of the Greek
school. After Paul's death, and after the fall of Jerusalem, the change
from the Logos from on high to the Christ of the earth, simply by the
providence of God and the theory of Apollos, was too indefinite, and the
reasoning of the Greeks too weak, to satisfy the minds of men. In the
second century, Christianity had worked west, and the Latin element
began to make itself felt in the Church, and we shall soon see the means
employed by Providence to bring the Logos into the world. We can readily
see why, in the disputes between Paul and the Greeks, as they stood in
his day, the name of Mary is nowhere mentioned. There was no necessity
for it. Ignatius, one of the oldest Fathers of the Church, was Bishop
of Antioch in the year 70. When Trajan set out on his expedition against
the Parthians, he stopped for a short time in this city. As he had
refused to sacrifice to the gods for the safety of the Emperor, and was
outspoken against the pagans, even in the royal presence, Ignatius was
condemned, and ordered to be sent to Rome to be devoured by the wild
beasts of the amphitheatre. This, as some say, was in A.D. 107; but some
writers, with greater plausibility, fix the time as late as 115. We will
err on the right side, and adopt the former period. On his way to Rome
he stayed some time at Smyrna, where he wrote letters to the churches
in Asia, as a kind of legacy, in which he imparts to them a knowledge
of the doctrines of the Church, and the foundation on which they were
based. No man of his day was better informed on such subjects than
Ignatius, and the cruel fate that awaited him on his arrival in Rome
was an earnest that in what he said he was sincere. In his letter to the
Ephesians he tells how, in the first place, Christ came into the world.
_He was born in the womb of Mary according to the dispensation of
Providence, of the seed of David, yet by the Holy Ghost_. Here is a
platform to which Paul himself could hardly object. That that which
Ignatius declares to be the way in which Christ came into the world was
the doctrine of the Church in his day, and for some time after, cannot
be questioned. On his way to Rome he stopped at Smyrna, where Polycarp,
who was then Bishop at that place, lived, and it was there that Ignatius
wrote his letter to the Ephesians. Polycarp stood at his side when the
letter was written, and knew its contents, and probably took charge of
it, for he himself says: "The Epistles of Ignatius which he wrote unto
us and _others_, as many as we have with us, we have sent unto you
according to your order, which are subjoined to thy epistle, from which
ye may be greatly profited; for they treat of faith and patience, and
of all things which portend to edification in our Lord." (_Epistle to
Philippians_). On his way to Rome, Ignatius stopped at different places,
and everywhere the churches sent their bishops and other messengers to
visit and console the venerable Father on his way to the wild beasts;
and everywhere he taught Christ as we find it at this day in his letter
to the Ephesians. Here we have the doctrines or creed of the Church in
the beginning of the second century as to the status of Christ, as it
was declared by Polycarp, Ignatius, and all the churches of Asia. That
Paul, at this time, was held in great estimation is evident from what
Polycarp and others say of him in writing to the churches. Polycarp
alone refers to his epistles twenty-six times, and in speaking of him
says: "For neither can I, nor any other such as I am, come up to the
wisdom of the blessed and renowned Paul, who, being amongst you in
the presence of those who then lived, taught with _exactness_ and
_soundness_ the word of truth; who in his absence also wrote an epistle
to you, unto which, if you diligently look, you may be able to be
edified in the faith delivered unto you, which is the mother of us all."
(_Polycarp to the Philippians_, sec. 3). Indeed, Polycarp's letter to
the Philippians is made up of quotations from the letter of the great
apostle. The bitter feeling which existed between the followers of Paul
and Apollos had in a great measure died away at the close of the first
century. Whatever difference of opinion there may have been between
these two great leaders, it seemed to be merged in the creed of the
Church in the days of Polycarp and other teachers of his time. With Paul
and these men, Christ was born of woman and of the seed of David; but,
with the latter, it was by the Holy Ghost, through the providence of
God. As Paul has nowhere declared how and in what way Christ was the son
of God, but believed him to be such from what he learned in his vision
at Damascus and other places, his followers might readily accept the
belief declared by Ignatius and all the Fathers in his day. Mutual
concessions seem to have been made in the latter part of the first
century; and while the followers of Apollos conceded the descent of
Christ from David, the friends of Paul could readily admit that he was
the Son of God through the Holy Ghost by the dispensation of God. The
violent animosity against Paul which sprang up afterward in the Church
was an outgrowth of the second century. In this century, Paul becomes a
liar and a heretic. To make Christ what the men of this century wished
to have him appear in their quarrels with the Gnostics and others, it
was necessary to assail the great apostle. To admit that Christ was born
in the womb of Mary, of the seed of David, would not admit the claim
that he was conceived in the womb of Mary by the Holy Ghost alone. It
was upon this point that Paul had thrown obstructions in the way of men
who were engaged in building up a Church controlling exclusively the
highway to heaven, and which in time was to govern the world. Here let
me ask if the most acute intellect can detect in the doctrines of the
Church, as declared by Polycarp and others at the beginning of the
second century, the faintest trace of the _incarnation of the fourth
Gospel, or the Trinity_, Both of these dogmas, which have convulsed the
world for eighteen hundred years, were unborn when the Fathers of all
the churches of Asia, at Smyrna, declared what was the faith of the
Church.
We have selected this place to settle a question of veracity between the
writer and Iraeneus. He says he saw Polycarp. We say he never did. Since
the introduction of the Gospels, especially the fourth, great importance
has been attached to the fact that Polycarp was a disciple of John, and
that Irenaeus had been instructed by the former. Speaking of Irenaeus,
Horn, in his introduction, says: "His testimony to the genuineness and
authenticity of the New Testament is the most important and valuable,
because he was a disciple of Polycarp, who was a disciple of John."
(Vol. I. 83.) Now Polycarp never mentions John, but speaks of Paul. If
he did see John, John _never taught him the doctrine of the incarnation_
as declared in the fourth Gospel. Polycarp _never heard of the
incarnation_, and it follows as a matter of course he never taught
Irenaeus anything of the kind. _Had he taught the incarnation, he never
would have indorsed Paul_. This attempt, on the part of the so-called
Bishop of Lyons, to trace the doctrines conceived and written by himself
to a disciple, is a stupendous fraud, which has cost the world more
misery than all causes of suffering since his day combined. This Gospel
has been the means of defeating the mission of Christ on earth--_peace
and good-will to all men_. There is not one word in it to encourage
virtue or reprove vice--not one for those who sorrow or are afflicted;
no charity for any except the woman caught in adultery. Love for one
another he entreated of his disciples, but none for the world. The
boundless love, the universal charity, which shine forth in the Sermon
on the Mount, and warm the heart, so that there flows from it all that
is good in our natures--as the beautiful flowers of the earth are made
to spring and bloom under the genial heat of the sun--finds no place
in the Gospel of John. What is said and taught in this Gospel, when
compared with the teachings on the Mount, are as hollow groans from the
cavern of Avernus compared with sweet sounds from the lyre of Orpheus.
It is belief--or damnation. "He that believeth on Him is not condemned,
but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not
believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God." It was this
Gospel which gave birth to that bigotry and fanaticism which has brought
on the world all the sufferings and misery caused by the Inquisition. It
destroyed in the fourth century all the grand and beautiful temples and
works of architecture of Asia and Europe. The Pantheon barely escaped.
It applied the torch to the library at Alexandria. It kindled the fires
of persecution in every age; and as it came down the centuries, like a
blazing comet, it carried with it "pestilence and war." It makes Christ
cold and selfish. He cures diseases to exalt himself. A man was deprived
of his sight from his birth, without any sin on his part, that he may
have an opportunity to make known his power. He thanks God for answering
his prayer for the death of Lazarus, that he might show the world that
he was master of the grave. This Gospel makes Christ vain and boastful.
Again and again he asserts that he is the Son of the Father; that the
Father had sent him; that he came to save the world, and that the world
was to be judged by him: and yet, with all these pretensions, he could
find but few that believed him. All important events told of in this
Gospel, are unnatural. Some who stood by and saw Lazarus come forth from
the tomb with the habiliments of the grave still upon him, as if some
great crime had been committed, ran for the police--for to inform the
Pharisees was about the same thing. When the Pharisees heard of it, they
called together the priests, and held a council, to devise some plan to
stop that kind of proceeding. What was the objection to raising a dead
man to life? It would give offense to the Romans. Can anyone give a
reason why? For this act, which, if true, would fill the heavens and the
earth with awe, Christ was compelled to fly to the wilderness. If the
scene at the grave of Lazarus, as related, was true, how different would
have been the conduct of those who witnessed it. All would have been
struck dumb and fallen prostrate at the feet of him who held the keys
of life and death. The Pharisees would shake and cower, for fear that at
any moment they might be struck dead by a bolt from heaven. There would
not have been a dry eye in all Jerusalem. What intelligence did Lazarus
bring us from the spirit land? One word from the other world would be
worth all this world of ours; but the world has gained nothing from the
resurrection of Lazarus. This Gospel takes from God his omnipotence.
When the Lord of the universe conceived a plan to prove to mankind that
Christ was his Son and their Saviour, we must believe that he who made
the heavens and the earth, who regulates the stars in their courses, and
who said, "Let there be light, and there was light," could not fail
in his purpose. But the resurrection of Lazarus was a failure. It
accomplished nothing. The tomb of Lazarus at Bethany was in sight from
the cross on Calvary.
We have stated that at Smyrna were declared the doctrines of the
Christian Church in the year 107, as they were understood and taught by
Polycarp, Ignatius, and all the great lights of Asia. And now we shall
show what assurances these Fathers gave to the world--why they knew that
Christ was truly the Son of God. This is made manifest by signs in
the heavens. Ignatius first declares the belief of the Church on this
subject, and proceeds to ask this question: "How was he made manifest to
the world?" "A star shone in heaven above all other stars; and its light
was inexpressible, and its novelty struck terror. All the rest of the
stars, with the sun and moon, were the chorus to this star, that sent
forth its light above all. And there was trouble, whence this novelty
came so unlike all the others. Hence all the power of magic was
dissolved; and every bond of wickedness was destroyed; ignorance was
taken away and the old kingdom was abolished: God made manifest in the
form of man, for the renewal of eternal life. Thence began what God
prepared. From thenceforth all things were disturbed, forasmuch as he
designed to abolish death." (_Epistle to Ephesians_, sec. 19.) This was
the way in which Christ made himself manifest to the world, as taught in
all the churches in A.D. 107. The story of the star which led the wise
men to Bethlehem was an _afterthought_. At the time Ignatius declared
the doctrine of the Church, as to the way by which Christ was brought
into the world and how he was made manifest, the Gospel of Matthew had
not yet appeared; for, if it had, he would have given the story of the
star, and the wise men of the East, rather than that of the sun,
moon, and all the stars, for the former was the most probable and most
sensible of the two. Why should he give one story which was false and
impossible on its face, if he could give another which, if false, was
not manifestly absurd. It is quite easy to tell why the story of the
stars and moon leaving their orbits to dance attendance to a bright
particular star was abandoned. Such a commotion of the heavenly bodies
would have put the universe out of joint; and as the star projected its
light above all the other stars, and all the other stars and the moon
and sun sang chorus to it, the display would have been apparent to all
the world. In the year A.D. 107, some few might have been alive who were
living at the time the phenomenon is said to have occurred; and if not,
then the children of those who lived at the time would have preserved
the tradition fresh in their minds, to say nothing of history. But as no
one living witnessed the scene enacted in the heavens, and none of their
descendants had heard of it, and no historian had recorded it, the men
of the day laughed it down. One single star might have been seen by the
wise men of the East, and no one else; and if the story was invented,
as the wise men were dead before it was told, there was no danger of
contradiction. If the Gospel of Matthew was not extant A.D. 107, it
is fatal to all the prophecy in the New Testament as to the fall of
Jerusalem. In the year A.D. 70, Jerusalem fell. The Roman standards
waved over its ruins. The daughters of Israel wept over the ashes of
their homes. The holy city was no more, and he who wrote the Gospel of
Matthew as it now stands wrote history. How much is the Christianity of
the Gospels indebted to the prophecies which foretold the fall of the
Jewish capital? In every age and in every country where Christianity
found a foothold, they were the corner-stone of the Christian faith.
In the hour of doubt and despair, when the heavens looked black and
the earth seemed to be a house of mourning, the Christian could draw
consolation from the tears shed by Christ as he wept over the fall of
the holy city. But Truth is inexorable. Her triumphant car moves on,
though she leaves in her wake the wreck of the brightest hopes, the most
cherished creeds, and the most ambitious schemes. So she has done for
ages. And her pathway is marked by the overthrow of dogmas by which
man vainly undertook to enslave the mind. To-day she is as mighty and
powerful as ever.
APPENDIX.
(A.)
Few passages from history have given rise to more discussion than the
following from Suetonius: "He," meaning the Emperor Claudius,
"banished all the Jews, who were continually making disturbance, at the
instigation of one Crestus." (_Life of Claudius_, sec. 25.) The original
is as follows: "_Judaeos, impulsore Chresto, assidue tumultuantes, Roma
expulit_." Does this order of banishment refer to the Christians? Dr.
Lardner and others think not. All difficulties vanish when we bear in
mind, that the Christians then at Rome were Jewish converts from Judea.
The writer knew little about Christians, and knowing them to be Jews, he
says all Jews were banished, which included the Jewish converts as
well as those who opposed Christianity. All engaged in the riot were
included, and none but Jews were. These Jews were constantly making
disturbance at the instigation of one Crestus: that is, they were
quarrelling about Crestus, which was a continual subject of quarrel
among the converted and unconverted Jews everywhere. The writer knew so
little about Christ that he failed to get the name correct, or there may
have been a mistake on the part of the transcribers.
(B.)
As a proof that the most learned scholars and correct thinkers, when
under the influence of an early bias, are liable to the most gross
mistakes and delusions, the following writers have given the authority
of their names to the belief, that Peter uses the name Babylon in a
figurative sense: Grotius, Macknight, Hale, Bishop Tomline, Whitby, and
Lardner. But a large majority of writers hold to the literal meaning.
Bishop Pearson, Le Clerk, and Mills think that Peter speaks of Babylon
in Egypt. Beza, Erasmus, Drusius, Dr. Cave, Lightfoot, Basnage,
Beausobre, Dr. Benson, A. Clarke think that Peter intended Babylon in
Assyria; Michaelis, that Babylon in Mesopotamia was meant. The frequent
use of the word Babylon in the Revelation attributed to St. John, which
there stands for Rome, is the principal argument used by those who
contend for a figurative sense. This book is the most impious and
malignant production among all the forgeries of the second century, and
its design can be readily exposed, if it was worth the time to do it.
Christ, whose last words were used in prayer for the forgiveness of his
enemies, is made through St. John to pour forth feelings full of hatred
against those who disagreed with the writer on matters of doctrine,
especially the followers of Paul. He hurls his envenomed shaft at the
heart of the great Apostle. It was at Ephesus where the war was warmest
between Paul's friends and the followers of the Alexandrian school. To
the church at that place, Christ is made to say: "I know thy works, and
thy labor, and thy patience, and _how thou canst not bear them which are
evil_: and thou hast tried them which say they are _Apostles, and are
not, and hast found them liars_." (_Revelation_ ii. 2.) Who could use
such language but a malignant partisan? Christ, the Son of God, is made
to use the language of a bar-room bully. When will those who profess to
be Christians, learn that Christ was all kindness, gentleness, and love.
They admit the authenticity and divine origin of writings that prove the
Son of God was not even a gentleman.
(C.)
The writings ascribed to the Fathers, especially Polycarp and Ignatius,
are entitled to little consideration; for nothing is clearer than that
their names were used by the men of the second century to supply proof
when disputes sprang up, or give authority to doctrines when divisions
arose. The introduction to the epistle of Ignatius, addressed to the
church at Rome, is a bare-faced attempt to prove that there was a church
at Rome during the reign of Trajan, at the beginning of the second
century. It was written not only to prove that there was a church at
Rome at that time, but that it was the bank or depository of divine
riches, "_wholly filled with the grace of God, and entirely cleansed
from any other doctrine_." But we submit the whole passage to the
judgment of the reader. "Ignatius, who is also called Theophorus, to the
Church which hath obtained mercy in the majesty of the Most High Father,
and his only Son Jesus Christ, beloved and illuminated through the will
of him who willeth all things, which are according to the love of Jesus
Christ, our God; (to the church) which presides also in the place of the
region of the Romans, worthy of God, and of all honor and blessing and
praise; worthy to receive that which she wishes, chaste, and pre-eminent
in charity, bearing the name of Christ and of the Father, which I salute
in the name of Jesus Christ, the Son of the Father: to those who are
united both in flesh and spirit to all his commands, and wholly filled
with the grace of God, and entirely cleansed from the stain of any other
doctrine, be all undefiled joy in Jesus Christ our God."
The forger overdid the work in which he was engaged. This language,
addressed to a church illuminated with all things according to the
will of Christ and God, and worthy to receive all blessings and praise,
proves that the passage was written at a time when the dogma of the
Apostolic succession was in vogue, and Rome was putting forth claims to
spiritual supremacy.* No time was more unpropitious to prove that there
was _such a church_ at Rome, than that Goog embraced in the reign of
Trajan, when Christianity was a crime, which subjected the believer to
the penalty of death. There being no Christians in Rome from the death
of Paul to the time of Hadrian, it leaves the time to be taken up by
traditions, which was gladly seized upon by Irenaeus, who populated it
with Bishops and others, the offspring of his own imagination.
* The strong probability is, that the letter of Ignatius is
a forgery throughout, and was gotten up for the sake of the
introduction. Condemned by Trajan, and ordered to be carried
to Rome to be devoured by wild beasts, for the amusement of
the people, it is claimed the letter was written on his way
to that city. Why he should write to the church at Rome
while on his way there, is something remarkable, since there
is nothing in the letter that was important to be known to
the Christians, if there were any there, before his arrival.
The epistle breathes a spirit which is unnatural and
repugnant to every feeling of humanity. The following is a
specimen of the whole. "May I enjoy the wild beasts which
are prepared for me; and pray that they may be found ready
for me: which I will even encourage to devour me all at
once, and not fear to touch me, as they have some others And
if they refuse, and will not, I will compel them." (Sec. 5.)
Why would Ignatius write an epistle of this character to the
Romans while he was on the way to Rome himself? especially
"as he was pressed by the soldiers to arrive at the great
city before the public spectacle, that he might be delivered
to the wild beasts." Why import a Christian Bishop from
Antioch for the wild beasts of the Amphitheatre, if there
was one to be found in the mean time in Rome? Where was
Clement, the third Bishop? Our confidence is not increased
in the genuineness of this letter, that the first distinct
reference is made to it by Irenaeus.
(D.)
WRITERS in the third and fourth centuries, for reasons sufficiently
obvious, take pleasure in scandalizing the name of Domitian as the
persecutor of Christians, and the great enemy of the Christian cause. It
is claimed he put to death many persons accused of Atheism, the common
charge against Christians, on account of their refusal to offer incense
or to worship the ancient gods of Rome. Flavius Clemens, his cousin, is
given as an instance. Now hear what a co-temporary historian has to say
on the subject:
"Flavius Clemens, his cousin-german, a man contemptible for his
indolence, whose sons, then of tender age, he had avowedly destined for
his successor, and taking from them his former names, had ordered one
to be called Vespasian, and the other Domitian, he suddenly put to death
upon some slight suspicion, almost before the father was put out of his
consulship," (Suet, _Life of Domitian_, sec. 15.) As the tyrant affected
great reverence for the gods, he would not fail to visit the most severe
punishment on those whom he judged guilty of irreverence, and as the
Christians of that day were bold in the face of the most imminent
danger, they could not escape the vengeance of the tyrant, had there
been any in Rome upon whom he could lay his hands. With a disposition
that was willing to furnish any number of victims, Eusebius has
succeeded in giving the name of a single one. He says, "At the same
time, for professing Christ, Flavius Domitilla, the niece of Flavius
Clemens, one of the consuls of Rome at that time, was transported, with
many others, to the Isle of Pontia." (Eus., E. H., book iii. chap. 18.)
The truthful father has succeeded in giving the name of one Christian
who had suffered under the reign of Domitian, and that was a case of
banishment.
As to the expression, "and many others," it is only an easy way of
conveying a falsehood without incurring the risk of detection. The story
of John's banishment to the Isle of Pat-mos, like everything else
which relates to this Apostle, is founded on a _tradition_ of the
third century, and is unworthy of serious notice. The story told by
Hegesippus, of the treatment received by the grandchildren of Jude,
called the brother of Jesus, at the hands of Domitian, if entitled to
any credit at all, only goes to refute the charges made against him. As
the story runs, these children were brought before him on the charge
of being Christians. After hearing what they had to say, "Domitian
dismissed them--made no reply--but treating them with contempt as
simpletons, commanded them to be dismissed, and, by a decree, ordered
the persecution to cease. Thus delivered, they ruled the churches,
both as witnesses and relations of the Lord. Such is the statement of
Hegesippus," says Eusebius (book iii. chap. 20).
Here is a clear case for persecution; but proceedings are dismissed, and
those who were the objects of it treated with contempt.
Suetonius makes special mention of the persecution of the Jews under the
reign of Domitian, who was governed, in their case, by his love of money
rather than his regard for the cause of religion. The vast amount of
money expended by him in the erection of palaces and public edifices had
ruined his finances, which he undertook to relieve by the confiscation
of the large estates and wealth in the hands of this people. To his
rapacity there was no limit in such cases, short of the ruin of his
victims. It is in vain to attempt to relieve the memory of the son of
Vespasian and brother of Titus from the ignominy of the most odious and
detestable crimes. From Augustus to Trajan, no one who bore the name of
emperor is more justly entitled to the name of monster. He put to death
his own cousin, Flavius Sabinus, because, upon his being chosen at the
consular election to that office, the public crier had, by a blunder,
declared him to the people--not consul, but emperor. Virtue as well as
vice stood in awe in his presence.
The genius and learning of Tacitus and Pliny made it unsafe for them to
remain in Rome, and both avoided danger by seeking obscurity. But to his
other crimes are not to be added the murder of Christians, who were wise
and cautious enough to avoid his presence.
The following dates are assigned to the epistles of Paul by Dr. Lardner
and others:--
[Illustration: Table 406]