Produced by David Widger
THE TWO TESTS:
THE SUPERNATURAL CLAIMS OF CHRISTIANITY TRIED BY TWO OF ITS OWN RULES.
By Lionel Lisle
"The axe is laid unto the root of the tree."
1877
WILLIAMS AND NORGATE,
14 HENRIETTA STREET, COVENT GARDEN, LONDON;
AND
20 SOUTH FREDERICK STREET, EDINBURGH.
TO THE READER.
"The following treatise was not originally written for publication;
but as it faithfully represents the process by which the minds of some,
brought up in reverence and affection for the Christian faith, were
relieved from the vague state of doubt that resulted on their cherished
beliefs being overthrown or shaken by the course of modern thought, it
has been suggested that it may, perhaps, be useful to others in the same
position. Although their hold on the reason and intellect may have been
lost or weakened, still the supernatural authority, the hopes, and the
terrors of the gospel continue to cling to the heart and conscience,
until they are effectually dislodged by considerations of mightier
mastery over the heart and conscience. 'The strong man armed keepeth his
palace' until the stronger appears. Then the whole faculties, mental
and moral, are set free, and brought into accord in the cause of
Truth."--Preface to the First Issue.
Some of the _principles_ of inquiry into the truth or falsehood of
the Christian evidences laid down by the ablest divines of the last
generation are wholly admirable in themselves, viewed apart from the
_application_ of them by these divines. Dr. Chalmers, for instance,
whose single-mindedness in devotion to truth and right was on a level
with his mighty intellect and strong and clear perceptions, held: "There
is a class of men who may feel disposed to overrate its evidences,
because they are anxious to give every support and stability to a system
which they conceive to be most intimately connected with the dearest
hopes and wishes of humanity; because their imagination is carried
away by the sublimity of its doctrines, or their heart engaged by that
amiable morality which is so much calculated to improve and adorn the
face of society. Now, we are ready to admit, that as the object of
the inquiry is not the character but the truth of Christianity, the
philosopher should be careful to protect his mind from the delusion of
its charms. He should separate the exercises of the understanding from
the tendencies of the fancy or of the heart. He should be prepared to
follow the light of evidence, though it may lead him to conclusions
the most painful and melancholy. He should train his mind to all the
hardihood of abstract and unfeeling intelligence. He should give up
everything to the supremacy of argument, and be able to renounce,
without a sigh, all the tenderest prepossessions of infancy, the moment
that truth demands of him the sacrifice." Dr. Chalmers would evidently
see no beauty in moral precepts apart from the truth of the testimony to
the authority on which they rest.
Again he wrote: "With them" (his own class of Christians) "the argument
is adduced to a narrower compass. Is the testimony of the apostles and
first Christians sufficient to establish the credibility of the facts
which are recorded in the New Testament? The question is made to rest
exclusively on the character of this testimony, and the circumstances
attending it, and no antecedent theory of their own is suffered
to mingle with the investigation. If the historical evidence of
Christianity is found to be conclusive they conceive the investigation
to be at an end, and that nothing remains on their part but an act of
unconditional submission to all its doctrines.... We profess ourselves
to belong to the latter description of Christians. We hold by the
insufficiency of Nature to pronounce upon the intrinsic merits of any
revelation, and think that the authority of every revelation rests
mainly upon its historical and experimental evidences, and upon such
marks of honesty in the composition itself as would apply to any human
performance." And in another portion of the same work: "We are
not competent to judge of the conduct of the Almighty in given
circumstances. Here we are precluded by the nature of the subject from
the benefit of observation. There is no antecedent experience to guide
or to enlighten us. It is not for man to assume what is right or proper
or natural for the Almighty to do. It is not in the mere spirit of
piety that we say so: it is in the spirit of the soundest experimental
philosophy." Elsewhere he prefers the atheist, or what would now be
called the agnostic, to the deist, who, rejecting revelation, professes
belief in a God fashioned according to the constitution of his own mind.
The question may, with clearness perhaps, be thus stated: Religion, in
its true and highest sense, is the endeavour of man to place himself in
a right position to the Power and to the laws of the Universe. If that
Power has spoken audibly to man, in man's language, and revealed what
that right position is, we must take the message as it has been given,
and implicitly submit to and be guided by it. Dr. Chalmers, on the
soundest truth-seeking principles, but, as I venture to think, with
imperfect knowledge, and contrary to what his conclusions would have
been had he lived now, decided that there was evidence that the Power of
the Universe had spoken audibly to man, by a special messenger from
on high--the very Son of God. The effect, therefore, on him was, as he
states, "unconditional submission." But if the Power of the Universe
has not spoken audibly to man, in man's language, then, on the same
principles, there is no other position towards that Power, possible to
man, than simply one of Agnosticism. _What_ that Power is no one can
tell. The theological method--that of authority resting on revelation
and supernatural power--is gone; but the laws of the Universe
remain,--the laws of God, whatever God may be. Man's knowledge of and
right position towards these laws will then depend solely on political,
social, and scientific methods of research. In this case the truly
religious man will be he who rejects authority and theological methods
and doctrine, and follows with "unconditional submission" the teachings
of the widest experience.
In marked, and in my view unfavourable, contrast with the principles of
Dr. Chalmers, the recent address of Dean Stanley to the students of St.
Andrews urges: "There is a well-known saying of St. Augustine, in one of
his happiest moods, which expressed this sense of proportion long ago:
'_We believe the miracles for the sake of the Gospels, not the Gospels
for the sake of the miracles_' Fill your minds with this saying, view it
in all its consequences, observe how many maxims both of the Bible and
of philosophy conform to it, and you will find yourselves in a position
which will enable you to treat with equanimity half the perplexities
of this subject." Here "equanimity," quite apart from their truth or
falsehood, is commended towards marvels, _vouched as eye-witnessed
facts_, for the sake of the Gospels. (See my remarks, pp. 86, 87, par.
commencing Paul 1.)
Another instance, in a quite different profession, of a mind guided by
a principle similar to that of Dr. Chalmers is presented by the
illustrious philosopher, Mr. Faraday. One of a small body of Christians
knit together in bands of love and peace, and himself the very
embodiment of that high morality and love of kind, so much preached
about however practised, no question appears to have crossed his mind as
to the validity of the evidences on which the gospel claims rest; but,
hating pretence and ever loyal to truth, he saw, with habitual clearness
of judgment, that a revelation, dealing with what man cannot himself
discover, must be taken, if true, implicitly as delivered. In his
lecture on Mental Education before Prince Albert, in the year 1854, he
said: "High as man is placed above the creatures around him, there is a
higher and far more exalted position within his view; and the ways are
infinite in which he occupies his thoughts about the fears, or hopes, or
expectations of a future life. I believe that the truth of that future
cannot be brought to his knowledge by any exertion of his mental powers,
however exalted they may be; that it is made known to him by other
teaching than his own, and is received through simple belief of the
testimony given. Let no one suppose for a moment that the self-education
I am about to commend in respect of the things of this life, extends
to any considerations of the hope set before us, as if man by reasoning
could find out God. It would be improper here to enter into this subject
further than to claim an absolute distinction between religious and
ordinary belief. I shall be reproached with the weakness of refusing
to apply those mental operations, which I think good in respect of high
things, to the very highest. I am content to bear the reproach. Yet,
even in earthly matters, I believe that the invisible things of Him
from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by
the things that are made, even his eternal Power and Godhead; and I have
never seen anything incompatible between those things of man which can
be known by the spirit of man which is within him, and those higher
things concerning his future which he cannot know by that spirit."
So that of himself, apart from revelation, Mr. Faraday's position was
agnostic. Had he seen reason to reject revelation he would not have been
a deist, any more than
Dr. Chalmers. There is an Eternal Power, but _what it is_ man cannot
divine. Of God or of a future state man himself can tell nothing. And
the reproach from the votaries of most popular religions, which Mr.
Faraday refers to, will apply equally to the agnostic who submits to
revelation with his "simple belief," and to the agnostic who sees reason
to reject it. Nothing would have been more utterly abhorrent to Mr.
Faraday than to have his name paraded and referred to, as a Christian,
in the sense in which it is alluded to in such books as the _Unseen
Universe_, or, since his death, by many of the clergy in their sermons.
Any communications, from those interested in the subject of this
treatise, addressed to me, care of the Publishers, will be gladly
received and attended to.
L. L.
1st July, 1877.
INTRODUCTION.
1. The belief, concerning the position of mankind in this world and
the next, held by the various Christians, who cling to the Old and New
Testaments as the one inspired and infallible revelation of the mind and
purpose of an Almighty, may be briefly summed up thus:--That the whole
human race, because of the disobedience of Adam, is fallen from its
original righteousness, and is under condemnation for transgression of
the law or will of God; whether as Jews, to whom the law was given in
certain forms of words or as Gentiles, who have the law, the knowledge
of right and wrong, written on their consciences: that the eternal
justice of God requires the eternal punishment of sin: that thus no
escape being possible from the consequences of guilt, the result of
Adam's disobedience and their own depravity, the whole human race must
have perished, had it not been that God in love, and in order that he
might place himself in a position to pardon sin in a way that would be
consistent with eternal justice, sent his Son--the sole-begotten--into
the world, who became incarnate in the person of Jesus of Nazareth:
that Jesus fulfilled the will of God in his life: that his death by
crucifixion has been accounted by God a full atonement for the sins of
all who believe on him and his fulfilment of the law as if it had been
their fulfilment: that by his atonement and righteousness they are thus
restored to the divine favour: that Jesus rose from the dead on the
third day: that he ascended into heaven: that he is now there waiting
until all who are ordained unto eternal life shall, in course of time,
be born, when he will return to earth in the glory and power of heaven:
that then those who have believed in him will be raised from the dead,
or, if not dead, will receive an incorruptible body and a purified mind:
that the new heavens and the new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness,
shall then be inaugurated: that risen mankind, who have believed on
Jesus, will thenceforth enjoy eternal bliss in direct communion with
God: that those of mankind who have not believed in Jesus will also be
raised from the dead, but, their sins being unatoned for, they will be
punished with everlasting banishment from the presence of God: that the
doom in each case will be irrevocable, everlasting.
2. The conception of the Almighty, in relation to fallen man, formed
in the minds of many believers, is that of a king dealing with rebel
subjects who are equally guilty, and whose lives are equally forfeit. He
shows mercy to whom he will--those who are thus favoured having no right
to this grace; and whom he will he leaves to deserved death--those thus
left having no right to complain of the pardon of the others, as their
own doom would have been the same whether the others were spared or not.
Other believers, again, rather conceive the Almighty to be in the
position of a gracious benefactor, offering pardon through the merits
of Jesus to any one who chooses to accept of it, the pardon not to take
effect unless the sinner accepts it by acquiescing in the divine plan of
salvation. And among the numerous sects into which believers are divided
through opposing interpretations of various passages of the Bible, other
conceptions of the Almighty and modifications of the foregoing statement
of belief will be found. But all, or almost all, agree in dividing
mankind into the believing and the unbelieving, the elect and the
non-elect, the sheep and the goats, the saved and the lost.
Many Christians maintain that the atonement was universal; but it is
doubtful if any maintain that the salvation will be universal, as belief
is held to be a necessary condition or a sign of salvation.
Beyond such ideas as these there are two momentous considerations:--(1.)
Whether an Almighty Maker of the universe could be such an one as,
were he to carry out a scheme of salvation for a condemned race of his
creatures, would do so in a way to have but a partial effect, or to be
dependent on the belief or unbelief of those for whom it was devised.
(2.) Whether vicarious sacrifice can in any way satisfy justice, divine
or human. For what is vicarious sacrifice?--the substitution of the
innocent for the guilty, whether an innocent lamb or an innocent child,
or the innocent Son of the Eternal made flesh. However exalted the
victim the principle is the same,--that of satisfying justice by
committing so gross an injustice as enjoining or permitting the innocent
to take the place of the guilty. Would any earthly tribunal be accounted
righteous which allowed a self-sacrificing mother to substitute herself
for a son, a son for a father? And does not the Christian doctrine
represent its deity as the author of a proceeding so utterly unjust?
3. Christian believers, however, consider themselves as, or as having
been, sinners under divine condemnation, but maintain that God can,
consistently with justice, on account of the merits and death of Jesus,
freely pardon their sin; and, in the hope that saving faith has been
given them, they rest content in this belief, seek to live in this
world in subjection to Christ's commandments, and await, after death,
an entrance into bliss unspeakable, and, on Christ's Second coming, a
joyful resurrection. Such, at least, is the profession; the practice
does not always correspond. Christians are not unknown to history, nor
possibly to the present age, whose conduct is widely at variance with
their profession. But this is true of others besides believers in
Christianity. They who rest content in the belief and hope just
mentioned, are seldom disturbed by misgivings as to the soundness of
the foundations of the Christian faith. They have no more doubt that
the miraculous birth, the miracles, and the resurrection of Jesus were
actual witnessed events, than they have of the assassination of Julius
Caesar, or of the landing of William the Conqueror in England. And this
belief seems to them to account for much. That stumbling-block to many in
the way of owning that a wise and beneficent deity could be the author
of such a world as this, of "a whole creation groaning and travailing in
pain," disappears, in their minds, in view of the curse of God against
sin, under which the earth and all it contains is, as they believe,
labouring, and of the love of God in providing a way by which he
could be just and yet pardon sin. It gives them, moreover, a definite,
settling belief, and a hope for the future, that there is something
better and different in store than life in this world. Regarding the
earth and all upon it as under a curse, they profess to set their hearts
on their home in heaven, on the glorious future revealed. Alas, then,
if the grounds on which the prospect of this glorious future rests
are worthless; if the hope is delusive; if its evil effect is, and has
continually been, to divert men from applying themselves strenuously
to make the best of this earth on which they live, and from heartily
co-operating with their fellows to do the same; to build up brazen
barriers of spiritual pride and self-complacency that sunder man from
man; to foster vain-glory, strife, acrimony, and intolerance through
pretence, as between opposing sects and schools, of a superior, or a
more accurate, or a better defined knowledge of the mind of God.
4. The foundations of the Christian faith are the supernatural
testimonies, as recorded in the New Testament, given from on high to the
supernatural attributes claimed for Jesus. Many there are who profess,
or by their mode of teaching imply, disbelief in these supernatural
testimonies or attributes, or ignore them altogether, yet who for the
sake of their position, clerical or otherwise, or to be in unison
with prevailing fashion, extol Christianity as a system of high moral
government and elevating tendency. All such, however, will appear to
the honest and truth-loving mind but deserving of unmeasured scorn.
Excepting the Jesus of the New Testament, is there any other Jesus? If
the supernatural attributes there claimed for him are a pretence, he was
either self-deluded or he was an impostor, or the compilers of the four
gospels have borne false witness, or are recorders of inflated hearsay,
or the inventors of fiction, all the while asserting that they were
eye-witnesses, or narrators of the testimony of eye-witnesses. And what
is to be said of a system founded either on self-delusion or imposition?
Are not noble and pure doctrines put to the basest use when they are
made supports of pretence and falsehood, and should they not be rescued
from such contamination? Besides, Jesus scarcely claims to be the
originator of new laws. His claim is far more. He is held to be the same
person who gave the commandments to Moses on Sinai; and his spiritual
application and extension of these laws are to be found also in the
books of the Psalms and the Prophets, alleged to have been written under
his own inspiration. Whether or not they are to be found elsewhere, in
so-called heathen writings, is a consideration beyond the scope of this
inquiry. The exhortation "to take heed and beware of covetousness, for a
man's life consisteth not in the abundance of the things he possesseth,"
might probably be found taught and practised under other than Christian
sanction,--might perhaps be discovered not to have been the guiding
principle of all Christian professors. As a system, then, of moral
government, or of high spiritual life, the Christianity of the New
Testament professes no more than to confirm and verify, explain, fulfil,
and develop the Jewish Scriptures. But its supernatural claims on behalf
of Christ himself, by which it pretends to lay bare the truth as to the
position of mankind in this world and the next, and to give them
the hope of a new life beyond the grave, rest on the supernatural
occurrences recorded. If these are true, Jesus is all he claimed to be.
He is now alive, he has the destinies of the whole human race in his
hands, and is to be worshipped as God. If they are not true, he was
either a mere man, deluding or self-deluded, or the history of his life
is a myth, however originated or developed. Truth and sincerity demand
that there be no compromise between these two positions. The time has
surely gone by when sound morality and brotherly kindness require the
support of supernatural pretence; when religion, in the words of an
ancient writer, is to be praised as an imposture devised by wise men
for restraining the evil passions of the multitude. Let every true
man repudiate the libel on his race implied by the most unworthy, most
pernicious and despairing idea, which has for so long influenced human
thought, that for the support of high morality and love of kind it
is necessary to disregard or to trifle with the highest of all
morality--Truth.
5. Ordinary scientific research is of little avail here. Science of
itself is unable either to affirm or to deny if any power beyond and
supreme over Nature exists. Whether Nature works spontaneously, and
there is nothing besides matter and its inherent organising powers; or
whether her various operations are carried on in fixed modes, and
by determinate forces, created and sustained by an Omnipotent and
Omniscient Being, the observation of cause and effect, and the induction
of general laws from ascertained facts is the same. But in the latter
case, the Almighty One, if he willed, might suspend or break through, or
alter the regular course of Nature's working; and the question here is,
whether there is any valid evidence to show that the manifestations, as
recorded in the New Testament, of a nature-controlling power actually
happened. If such an one, almighty, all-seeing, all-knowing, all-just,
all-loving, all-merciful (such as Exodus xxxiv. 6, 7) exists, a special
revelation from him to men, different from his working in the visible
universe, is not a thing impossible: moreover, assuming the Christian
doctrine to be true, that by sending his son Jesus into the world he
meant to save only a portion of the human race, the revelation might
take place in a mode suited to the knowledge and capacities of those for
whom it was intended; and merely because the mode may appear absurd and
unworthy of a deity (though this consideration may not be lost sight
of), or because it did not take place in the way which the learned and
philosophers--hitherto a small minority of mankind--might have selected,
it is not to be disbelieved if the evidence is good. And it may fairly
be argued that there would be no simpler way by which an Almighty could
reveal his own existence, or attest the divine mission of his chosen
messenger, than by instances of nature-controlling power. Again and
again, then, this one consideration presses, "Is there any good evidence
to show that these occurrences did really happen, that this man Jesus,
claiming to be the Son of God, received certain credentials from a Power
beyond and supreme over Nature?"
6. The supernatural attributes of Jesus, claimed by himself, or by his
disciples for him, and held to constitute saving faith, are--
a. That he was alive from all eternity, the sole-begotten Son of God,
before he appeared in this world.
b. That his birth was the result of the "overshadowing" of his
virgin-mother by the "power of the Highest."
c. That while he sojourned on earth he was a union of God and man, a
mortal human body with the mind and power of the Eternal.
d. That his career on earth and its results were the fulfilment of the
Jewish law and prophets.
e. That he rose from the dead on the third day from his crucifixion,
ascended from earth to heaven, and is now there, ever-living God and man
united, with all power in heaven and in earth.
f. That he is to return in the power of the Almighty to raise the dead,
and to inaugurate with his chosen an everlasting kingdom, and to banish
his enemies for ever from his presence.
The supernatural events recorded in the gospels as testimonies to these
supernatural attributes are--
(1.) Those connected with his birth, viz.:--The appearance of the angel
Gabriel to Zacharias to announce the birth of the forerunner John, and
to Mary to announce her conception of Jesus; the three appearances of
the angel of the Lord to Joseph in dreams; the visit of the wise men of
the East; and the appearance of the angels and of the heavenly host to
the shepherds on the plains of Bethlehem. (2.) The heavenly testimonies,
viz.:--The voice at the baptism. The transfiguration and the voice
thereat. The voice from heaven (John xii. 28-31). To which may be
added--
The testimony of the devils.
The temptation by Satan, and the subsequent ministration of angels. The
earthquake and rending of the veil of the temple at the crucifixion.
(3.) The miracles performed, which, if true, proved that Jesus and the
first apostles had power over diseases and the course of nature.
(4.) The fulfilment of prophecy.
(5.) The resurrection from the dead, the appearances after that event,
the ascension to heaven, the gifts of the apostles, and the subsequent
manifestations to Paul on his way to Damascus.
7. For the purposes of this inquiry there are two simple, and what
appear to be conclusive, tests ready to hand; one, a rule of evidence
held sacred by Jews and Christians alike, and the other arising out of
the nature of the claims made for Jesus.
(a.) Moses, or, as Christians affirm, the deity speaking by Moses, has
laid down this rule of evidence in cases of guilt: "One witness shall
not rise up against a man for any iniquity, or for any sin, in any sin
that he sinneth: at the mouth of two witnesses or at the mouth of three
witnesses shall the matter be established." This rule is commended in
the New Testament in the case of offences (Matt, xviii. 16). What then
can be more fair to Christianity than to examine its claims by a rule
of evidence held righteous by itself? For, to put it on the very lowest
grounds, the evidence necessary to establish events otherwise incredible
must surely be at least equally conclusive with that necessary to
convict a criminal. These are not ordinary historical statements, to be
credited or not as reasonable probability, fair conjecture, or prejudice
may determine, without any penal consequences-whatever, either in this
world or the world to come. If a man disbelieves that King Arthur, or
Romulus, or even Alexander the Great, or Julius Caesar ever existed,
does it affect his welfare now or hereafter? But the gospels set forth
extraordinary occurrences, disbelief of which by any one is said to
render him liable to be left to perish in his sins, to endure the
torments of hell evermore; and will it for a moment be asserted that a
deity would expect belief involving so dire a consequence, on evidence
he is said to consider insufficient for the punishment of common guilt?
If, then, judged by this Mosaic rule of evidence, disbelief of the
alleged supernatural testimonies to the claims of Jesus should be the
righteous, and belief the unrighteous result, on whose side would a God
of truth be? Would he be on the side of those who are swayed by emotion
and not evidence--who imagine that their feelings are in unison with
facts they have taken no pains to verify--who profess to believe because
it is fashionable, or because they have been so taught from youth--who
credit statements which they assert affect their relation to the
Almighty and their eternal interests, on grounds on which they would not
credit statements affecting their most trifling temporal interest? Would
a God of truth be on their side? Surely not.
(b.) The New Testament record and doctrine are said to be a development
and fulfilment of the Old. The deity of the one is the deity of the
other, under a different dispensation. "The law was given by Moses, but
grace and truth came by Jesus Christ." If, then, the New Testament is
shown conclusively to be a development and fulfilment of the Old, this
claim will be sustained. If, on the other hand, there are twisted and
untenable interpretations of Old Testament texts, to make them fit in
with New Testament facts; or if there are practices or doctrines or
aught else upheld in the New Testament, as of God, which are hateful
or foreign to the deity of the Old, such would argue deception (whether
intentional or not) in the writers of the New Testament, and show that,
if the deity of the Old Testament is the true God, the deity of the
New is not. Christianity thus maintaining that the God of the Jewish
Scriptures is the Eternal, would fall by its own supports.
8. Christian authorities, for the most part, hold that the books of
the Old Testament were composed by the different writers from Moses to
Malachi, during the 1100 years from B.C. 1490 to B.C. 390, and the books
of the New Testament, during the first century, a.d., by the companions
of Jesus, or by those who received their information from his
companions. Much learning and critical research have been expended on
the one hand in maintaining this position, and on the other hand in
impugning it, by stigmatising the whole of some books, and portions of
others, as interpolations or compositions of later times. Into so nice
a question as this, it is not proposed to enter here. A
conscience-satisfying belief for earnest men can in no wise rest on the
doubtful and disputed conclusions and arguments of verbal critics. The
object of this inquiry, then, is to consider the evidence of the alleged
supernatural credentials to the claims of Jesus, so far as possible in
the most favourable light in which they can be presented, and therefore
it will be assumed that the books of the Old and New Testaments were
written at the time generally understood, and by the persons whose names
they bear; and as by most believers in Christianity these books are held
to be the one infallible authority, the endeavour will be not to travel
beyond them. The alleged fulfilment of Old Testament prophecy by New
Testament events will be fully considered under its own head; and on
the divine inspiration claimed for the writers of the New Testament
narratives, one word will suffice. To relate facts seen, or facts told
to the narrator by others, requires no inspiration. If any one holds
that the gospels record, either in whole or in part, facts which the
writers did not see, or were not told of, but which were specially
revealed to their spirit by a God of truth, as having occurred, he
claims more for them than they do for themselves. See Luke i. 1-4; xxiv.
48; John i. 14; xx. 30, 31; xxi. 24, 25; Acts i. 1, 3; 1 Cor. xv. 1-9; 2
Peter i. 16-18; 1 John i. 1-3. The burden of these passages is summed
up in the last one--"That which we have seen and heard declare we
unto you." The truth or otherwise of the supernatural events recorded
professes thus to rest on the testimony of human eyes and human ears,
however divinely guided and enlightened.
9. Assuming, then, that the books of the New Testament were written
by those whose names they bear, what is known of the narrators? Their
character for honesty and trustworthiness among their neighbours and
contemporaries there is no voucher for. Yet, while no one who knew
them has left aught on record to their credit, there is nothing to the
contrary. True, they themselves confess that neither the miraculous
pretensions of Jesus himself, nor their own testimony with reference to
the supernatural events of his life, met with any credit from by far
the greater part of those living at the time, who had the means of
satisfying themselves of their truth or falsehood--means which no one at
the present day possesses. The people of Capernaum, consigned by Jesus
to hell for unbelief, or his own brothers and sisters, may, for all
that any one now can tell, have been as competent and truthful, in every
respect, as the publican Matthew, or the fishermen Peter and John. The
Roman governors, the Jewish high-priests, Gamaliel and the other rabbis,
why are they to be accounted less trustworthy, less able to discern
truth from pretence, than Paul and Luke? The following particulars, with
reference to its writers, are to be gleaned from the New Testament:--
(1.) Matthew, whose name the first Gospel bears, was a tax-gatherer,
sitting at the receipt of custom (Matt. ix. 9), in the thirty-first year
of Jesus' life, when he became a follower of Jesus. Whether they
knew each other previously is not mentioned. He was alive after the
crucifixion, but no separate mention is made of him subsequent to Acts
i. 13.
(2.) Mark, the writer of the second Gospel, is not mentioned before Acts
xii. 12 (ordinary chronology, a.d. 43 to 47), and then it is as the son
of one Mary, to whose house Peter went after his miraculous liberation
from prison. He accompanied Paul and Barnabas on their first mission to
the Gentiles, but soon left them. A quarrel afterwards occurred between
the two apostles on his account. Paul was hurt at the way in which he
had turned back at the outset, and objected to take him on their second
mission. Barnabas insisted that he should go. But if he is the same
Mark mentioned in Colossians iv. 10, 2 Tim. iv. 11, and Philemon 24, a
reconciliation with Paul had taken place, and he was alive and in Rome
in a.d. 66. Again, Peter in his first epistle thus refers to him, "The
church that is at Babylon, elected together with you, saluteth you, and
so doth Marcus my son." It cannot be gathered from the New Testament
that Mark (even if he had been the young man with the linen garment
about his naked body [Mark xiv. 51, 52], as some fondly conjecture) knew
anything of Jesus personally; but his own and his mother's connection
with Peter is shown to have been an intimate one. From the passage in
Philemon, also, it appears that he was at Rome, along with Luke, in
attendance on Paul.
(3.) Of Luke, the writer of the third Gospel and of the Acts, the first
mention is in Acts xvi. 10 (ordinary chronology, A.D. 53), where the
"we" first appears in the narrative. Thereafter he was the almost
constant companion of Paul in his journeys. He is also mentioned (2
Tim. iv. 11) as being alive in a.d. 66, in attendance on Paul in Rome.
Although he claims (Luke i. 1-4) "a perfect understanding of all things
from the very first," he places himself among those who received their
information from the "eye-witnesses and ministers of the word;" so that
he himself knew nothing of Jesus or of the events of his life. He opens
his Gospel thus: "Forasmuch as many have taken in hand to set forth in
order a declaration of those things which are most surely believed among
us." In his time, then, there were many different narratives of the
life of Jesus. It is not clear whether Luke considered these erroneous,
and requiring correction by the "perfect understanding" possessed by
himself, or whether he was merely following the example of others in
setting forth in order the events as he himself understood them.
(4.) John, whose name the fourth Gospel bears, and who is held to be the
author also of three epistles and the Revelation, became a follower of
Jesus in the thirty-first year of Jesus' life (Matt, iv. 18, 22; Mark i.
16-20; Luke v. 1-11). He does not claim, nor is there any mention, that
they were acquainted before, unless he was one of the two mentioned
in John i. 37. He is said to have lived till a.d. 96. Jesus at the
crucifixion (John xix. 25-27) left his mother Mary in charge of John,
who had thus the very best opportunity of informing himself of all the
circumstances within her knowledge.
(5.) Peter, if the first three Gospels are to be followed, became a
follower of Jesus at the Sea of Galilee, at the same time as the apostle
John, that is, after the imprisonment of John the Baptist (Matt. iv.
18-22; Mark i. 16-20; Luke v. 1-11). But in the fourth Gospel (John
i. 40-42) both Jesus and Peter are mentioned together as following the
preaching of John the Baptist. Peter is said to have died about a.d. 66.
(6.) Paul's first connection with Christianity was after his persecuting
journey to Damascus (Acts ix.; ordinary chronology, a.d. 35), and it is
believed that he suffered death at Rome, a.d. 68. With the exception of
the miraculous appearance of Jesus while Paul was on the way to execute
his persecuting mission at Damascus, and it may be the trance referred
to in 2 Cor. xii. 1-4, it is not claimed for him that he possessed any
knowledge of the events in the life of Jesus beyond what he learned from
others.
Of the six writers in the New Testament, then, who record facts
in connection with the life of Jesus, three--Matthew, John, and
Peter--claim to have been his companions, and three--Mark, Luke,
and Paul--with the exception just mentioned in the case of the last,
received their information from others.
10. The foregoing considerations will serve to show that this inquiry
into the evidence on which rest the supernatural credentials said to
have been given to the claims of Jesus to the worship of mankind,
will be proceeded with on the most favourable view possible for these
claims--
(1.) By adopting what is held by Christians to be a divine and righteous
rule of evidence,--"That at the mouth of two witnesses, or at the mouth
of three witnesses, shall the matter be established."
(2.) By examining the claim of the New Testament to be a development and
fulfilment of the Old.
(3.) By assuming that the books of the Old and New Testaments were
written by those whose names they bear, and at the times generally
believed by Christians.
(4.) By examining these books one with another, and travelling beyond
them only so far as the strict requirements of the subject necessitate.
THE TWO TESTS.
CHAPTER I. THE BIRTH OF JESUS, AND THE SUPERNATURAL EVENTS CONNECTED
THEREWITH
Luke i., ii.; Matt i., ii.
a. The appearances of the angel Gabriel to Zacharias and Mary. b. The
appearances of the angel of the Lord to Joseph in dreams.
c. The visit of the wise men of the East.
d. The appearance of the angel and the heavenly host to the shepherds on
the plains of Bethlehem.
FIRST TEST.--"In the mouth of two or three witnesses shall every word be
established."
Mark and John pass by the birth and upbringing of Jesus in silence.
John, who knew Mary, and to whose care Mary was consigned by the
expiring Jesus, would have been the most competent of all to record _her
version_ of the wondrous experiences of her cousin, herself, and her
husband, in connection with the births of John the Baptist and of Jesus,
yet he has not one word concerning them. Matthew, who may have known
Mary and Joseph, has only meagre statements, very unlike what would be
derived directly from either of the parents. But there is nothing to
show from whom Matthew obtained his information. The detailed narration
of the angelic appearances is made by Luke, who, so far as is known, was
never at Jerusalem at all, far less ever came into contact with Mary.
What, then, have we here?
_John_, the companion and best loved disciple of Jesus, the custodian
of Mary, the most competent of all to narrate occurrences within her
knowledge,--Silent.
_Mark_, the son of a woman known to Peter and the other companions of
Jesus, and himself a companion of Peter, who would have been aware of
these occurrences, if they had been believed among the very earliest
Christian circle,--Silent.
_Matthew_, the companion of Jesus, who may have known Mary and
Joseph,--Records three angel-visits to Joseph in dreams, and the visit
of the wise men of the East, but is silent as to-all the marvels of
Luke.--Is silent as to Matthew's marvels, but sets forth, in detail,
angel-visits to Zacharias and Mary, and the appearance to the shepherds
at Bethlehem.
Luke, who narrates the testimony of others, and does not name his
informants, merely stating that they were eyewitnesses and ministers of
the word, and who writes at least fifty years after the events referred
to.
In the mouth of two, or in the mouth of three witnesses, nay, even in
the mouth of one witness, is any one of these incidents established?
'But let them be examined separately in detail:---
(a.) Luke states that while the Jewish priest Zacharias, in the order
of his course, was burning incense in the temple, the angel of the Lord
appeared, standing on the right side of the altar. The old priest was
startled. The angel told him that his wife Elizabeth should bear a son,
who should be great in the sight of the Lord, who should turn many of
the children of Israel to the Lord their God, and make ready a people
prepared for the Lord. Zacharias had a misgiving that the event
predicted could not well happen, as he himself was an old man, and his
wife "well stricken in years." Whereupon the angel announced himself
to be Gabriel, who stands in the presence of God, and forthwith he
inflicted dumbness on Zacharias, to last until the child was born, as
a punishment for his very reasonable doubt. Hark! the clanking clog
of priestcraft the harsh ring of intolerance! Punishment because of
reasonable doubt of a supernatural event not verified! Are the angels,
then, on the side of the persecutors? Are they so sensitive of their
"_ipse dixit?_" Thomas the disciple, it is mentioned, dis-believed in
the risen Jesus, but Jesus appeared again to satisfy his doubts. Sarah,
the wife of Abraham, laughed heartily when she heard the Lord announcing
to her husband that she should bear a son when her child-bearing
condition was past, and was kindly rebuked. Jesus in John, and the Lord
in Genesis, had a tenderness to human doubt of a reasonable character;
but Luke's peremptory angel was not for one moment to be gainsaid. Is
this disposition angelic or earthly? Has such a temper of mind never
been known among men? But to return to the narrative. Zacharias himself
was the only one who saw the angel. Aged at the date of John's birth,
neither he nor his wife could have been alive when Luke wrote. Who,
then, came between Zacharias and Luke? Whose report has Luke credited?
This is not a question of the credibility of Zacharias or the
credibility of Luke, but of some unknown go-between, one or more. And
can such unknown go-between be credited in view of the silence of John
and Matthew; in view of the silence of Mark, the companion of Peter, who
was (John i 41) a follower of John the Baptist? Surely the hesitating
Zachariases, the doubting Thomases, and the mocking Sarahs of modern
times are to be dealt with tenderly.
Luke goes on to narrate that, in the sixth month afterwards, the same
angel Gabriel appeared to a virgin named Mary, betrothed to Joseph, a
descendant of King David. The angel hailed her as the divinely favoured
among women. She was very startled, wondering what he could mean by this
style of address. He proceeded to tell her that she was to be the mother
of a son, to be called the Son of the Highest, who was to reign for
ever. She (naturally enough, were it not that she was about to be
married) asked how that could be, in view of her virgin condition. More
gracious to the hesitation of the timid maiden than to that of the aged
priest, he replied, "The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power
of the Highest shall overshadow thee; therefore, also, that holy thing
which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God." He then
told her that her Cousin Elizabeth, hitherto barren, was in her sixth
month, and asserted that with God "nothing shall be impossible." She
made a sweetly-submissive speech in reply, and the angel went away.
Here, again, is the same lack of connecting evidence. Mary alone saw the
angel. Who were the go-betweens, the transmitters of the tale to Luke?
Why the silence of Matthew, Mark, and John, especially John, Mary's
custodian? Matthew mentions that Mary was found with child by the Holy
Ghost; that this was revealed to Joseph in a dream; but he has not one
word of the angel-visit to Mary. Moreover, in the next chapter, Luke
relates a circumstance quite inconsistent with this angel-visit. The
aged Simeon made some striking statements with reference to the destiny
of the child, whom he met in the temple; and Luke adds, "Joseph and his
mother marvelled at those things which were spoken of him." But Simeon's
statements were far less strong than the angel's. Can Mary, then, have
forgotten the angel's visit? Did she not tell Joseph of it? Can she
have forgotten her memorable visit to Cousin Elizabeth, when they
congratulated each other on their respective conditions, and when even
John the Baptist, before he saw the light, leaped for joy at Mary's
salutation of his mother? If not, where was there room for marvel at
Simeon's vaticination?
(6.) Matthew's account commences with Joseph's discovery of the
condition of his betrothed. "Before they came together she was found
with child of the Holy Ghost," He does not mention how this discovery
was made; if it was when Mary's condition could be no longer hid, or
if Mary informed him as soon as she found herself pregnant, and then
mentioned whatever grounds she had for asserting that this was the
result of a supernatural "overshadowing." In any case, Matthew's account
implies that at first Joseph doubted her, and thought that she had been
unfaithful to him; but as he was a quiet man, averse to unnecessary
scandal, he resolved to conceal her in some way. Yet, if Luke's
angel-visit to Mary ever occurred, why was not Joseph informed of it at
the time, for then there would have been no doubt on his mind that
her conception was supernatural? Why was he not informed of the
congratulatory visit to Cousin Elizabeth, of her speech and John the
Baptist's joyous bound? Cousin Elizabeth, according to Luke, had no
doubt that Mary was the "mother of my Lord." Joseph, her betrothed,
according to Matthew, thought something quite different. While Joseph
was considering the best mode of concealing Mary, the angel of the Lord
appeared to him "in a dream," and directed him not to fear to take Mary
to wife, for "that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost"
And he obeyed; but he "knew her not till she had brought forth her
first-born."
Luke's angel appeared to Zacharias and Mary in some visible shape, in
broad day, or, at all events, when they were fully awake; but Matthew's
angel made himself known to Joseph in dreams--why the difference!--the
object being to induce Joseph to become the reputed father of a child
_not his own_, and thus to conceal from the Jewish nation what is
alleged to be the fulfilment of the prophecy that a "virgin shall
be with child, and bring forth a son, and they shall call his name
Emmanuel," &c. Are mystery and misrepresentation, then, of divine
authority? Are unbelieving Jews and Gentiles to be eternally reprobate
for not allowing that a man was other than the son of his reputed
parents? An Almighty maker of the universe is here represented as
begetting a child by a virgin untouched by man, and so far from
disposing that this should be done in a way that would be clearly
verified and apparent, either to the world at large or to any select
portion of it, he--eternal God--is said to have proceeded in the
clandestine way of directing, by means of an angel who manifested
himself in dreams, that Joseph should take this virgin to wife, and pass
off the divine offspring as his own son, that thus the wondrous birth on
which so much depended might be concealed.
Matthew further mentions two subsequent appearances of the angel of the
Lord to Joseph in dreams, the first directing him to take the child to
Egypt to be out of the way of Herod's massacre, and then, when Herod
was dead, directing him to return to Judea. Luke, on the other hand,
practically ignores Joseph in the whole transaction of the birth of
Jesus. He makes no mention of the way in which Mary informed her lover;
of the condition she was in, and merely brings him in when the birth
is about to take place, as proceeding from Nazareth to Bethlehem, along
with Mary, to be taxed. While Matthew avers that he was desirous of
saving Mary's good name, there is nothing in Luke to show that Joseph
ever knew of Mary being with child before he married her; and for all
that is there stated, he may have believed that Jesus was his own son;
Luke's only later reference to Joseph in connection with Jesus, is in
his account of the visit to the temple, when the boy was twelve years
old. Discovering that he was not among the homeward-bound company,
Joseph and Mary returned to Jerusalem, and found him in the temple
posing the doctors, when his mother said, "Son, why hast thou thus dealt
with us? Behold, thy father and I have sought thee sorrowing." The
reply was, "How is it ye sought me? Wist ye not that I must be about
my Father's business?" and Luke adds, "They understood not the saying
which he spake unto them." How, then, can the angel-visit to Mary be
true, or the three angel-visits to the slumbering Joseph? For if these
be not false, Joseph and Mary were the two human beings at the time who
did understand fully who this wondrous child was.
(c and d.) The two further supernatural incidents in connection with
the birth of Jesus (the wise men of the East and the appearance to the
Bethlehem shepherds) remain to be considered. The details of the one are
quite irreconcilable with those of the other.
(c) Matthew states that on the birth of Jesus at Bethlehem, in the reign
of King Herod, certain wise men from the East came to Jerusalem. They
announced that the object of their visit was to worship the new-born
King of the Jews, whose natal star they had seen in the East. On hearing
this Herod was much troubled, and all Jerusalem with him. Herod sent for
the priests to inquire of them where Christ, the anointed one, was to
be born. On the authority of the prophecy, Micah v. 2, they informed him
that the Ruler of Israel was to come out of Bethlehem. Herod then had
a private conference with the wise men, eagerly asked when the star
appeared, charged them to proceed to Bethlehem and search for the child,
and when they had found him to bring him word again that he himself
might go and worship him. On leaving Herod, the very star they had seen
in the East made its appearance again, and went: before them until it
became stationary above the house where Jesus was. They entered the
house, found Mary and her infant boy, fell down and worshipped him, and
offered him gifts, gold, frankincense, and myrrh. Then being warned of
God in a dream that they should not return to Herod, they went back by
another route to their own country. After this, and again in a dream,
Joseph was warned to take Jesus to Egypt, to avoid a massacre which
Herod ordered, "when he saw that he was mocked of the wise men," of all
the children in Bethlehem two years old and under, "according to the
time which he had diligently inquired of the wise men." After Herod's
death, Joseph was directed, in another dream, to return to Judea;
but when he learned that Herod's son was reigning there he settled in
Nazareth of Galilee.
Luke's account is that Joseph and Mary dwelt in Nazareth before the
angel-visit to Mary; that he and Mary went up from there to Bethlehem to
be taxed; that Jesus was born while they were at. Bethlehem;
that he was circumcised on the eighth day; that when Mary's
purification--thirty-three days--was at an end they took the babe to
Jerusalem to present him to the Lord in the temple; and that when they
had performed all things according to the law of the Lord, they returned
to Galilee, "_to their own city Nazareth_."
The glaring contradiction here between Luke and Matthew need scarce
be dwelt on. Luke states that Joseph and Mary came to Bethlehem from
Nazareth: Matthew's account implies that they were not in Nazareth until
the return from Egypt, and that going to Nazareth at all was because
of a warning from God in a dream. Matthew states that they fled from
Bethlehem to Egypt to avoid the wrath of Herod: Luke, that they brought
the child to Jerusalem, where Herod, according to Matthew, was, and that
he was openly acknowledged in the temple by Simeon and Anna. Matthew
states that, at Herod's death, they went from Egypt to Nazareth,
avoiding Judea; Luke, that they went straight from Jerusalem to Nazareth
in a very short time after the birth of Jesus.
Matthew places the birth of Jesus in the reign of King Herod; Luke,
during the taxing made when Cyrenius was governor of Syria, which,
following Josephus, was not till after the death of Archelaus, Herod's
successor. This discrepancy has given much anxious concern to the
"reconcilers" and critics, the latest solution being a conjecture,
stated to rest "on good grounds," that Cyrenius was _twice_ governor of
Syria, first towards the close of Herod's life, afterwards on the death
of Archelaus. For the present purpose, it is assumed that Matthew and
Luke refer to the same period.
The tale of the wise men suggests many questions. What came of them
afterwards? How many were there? Where did they come from? How, when
they saw the star in the East, did they know that it indicated the birth
of a King of the Jews? What special _Jewish_ appearance did it present?
and what end was their heaven-directed visit to serve? Not to proclaim
Jesus to the Jews as their king and ruler; not to accredit them as
witnesses to proclaim his divinity far and wide; not, so far as is
stated, to bring their own minds to the saving belief that he was the
Saviour of the world; not even to confirm Mary and Joseph's faith--for
if the angel-visits are true that would have been unnecessary; but to
offer to him, the professed Lord of heaven and earth, such trumpery
gifts as were laid upon the altars of the old gods, or presented to baby
princes of this world.
(d.) Luke narrates that, at the birth of Jesus, a company of
shepherds--how many is not mentioned--were watching their flocks at
night in the fields, when "lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and
the glory of the Lord shone round about them, and they were sore afraid.
And the angel said unto them, Fear not, for behold I bring you good
tidings of great joy which shall be to all people. For unto you is born
this day in the city of David a Saviour who is Christ the Lord. And this
shall be a sign unto you: ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling
clothes lying in a manger. And suddenly there was with the angel a
multitude of the heavenly host, praising God and saying, Glory to God
in the highest, and on earth peace, goodwill towards men." The shepherds
forthwith hastened to Bethlehem, and discovered Mary, Joseph, and the
infant boy lying in a manger. Finding the vision they had seen thus
exactly realised, they spread abroad, among their wondering countrymen,
"the saying that was told them concerning this child." "But Mary kept
all these things, and pondered them in her heart."
The question here again arises: between the shepherds, the eye-witnesses
of this event, and Luke, who wrote at least fifty years after, who were
the go-betweens? Or if the information came from Mary, why are Matthew,
Mark, and, above all, John silent? And what became of the shepherds?
When Jesus began his public ministry, where were they? Where those they
informed? Joseph and Mary, by Luke's account, had come from Nazareth to
Bethlehem to be taxed, and returned. Thus they would have been known
in Bethlehem as belonging to Nazareth, and of the house and lineage
of David. There would not then have been difficulty in keeping them in
view. And would men who had seen so remarkable an appearance, to whom
the angel of the Lord had spoken, who had heard the heavenly host
singing, manifestations more glorious than before or since have been
vouchsafed to any one, have lost sight of the wondrous child, or would
those whom they informed have lost sight of him? Yet, during the three
years' public appearance of Jesus, not one of them, so far as can be
gathered, is to be found among his followers.
(e and d.) That the visit of the wise men of the East, and the
appearance to the shepherds, can both be true, is impossible. Luke
is very precise as to the length of the stay of Joseph and Mary in
Bethlehem after the birth of Jesus. It extended to the eighth day
for circumcision, and to the thirty-third day after this for Mary's
purification. Then they left Bethlehem for Jerusalem, there "performed
all things according to the law of the Lord," and returned straight
to Galilee. During the forty or forty-one days of the stay at
Bethlehem--five miles from Jerusalem--the shepherds were spreading
abroad "the saying that was told them concerning this child." That he
was a "Saviour, born in the city of David, Christ the Lord." The visit
of the wise men must have occurred in the course of these forty-one
days. Their inquiry put all Jerusalem in a ferment, roused Herod's
jealousy, set him inquiring where Christ should be born, induced the
most eager desire to find the new-born babe, that he might remove such
an obstacle from his path, _all the while that the shepherds in the
neighboring district were publishing the glad tidings of his birth_.
The wise men were guided by a star to the house where Joseph and Mary
stayed, saw and worshipped the wondrous child, and were warned of God
in a dream to depart to their own country privately; _but no such
admonition to keep silence restrained the outspoken shepherds in the
close vicinity of Herod_. To avoid Herod's wrath, Joseph "took the young
child and his mother by night and departed into Egypt," _just at the
time "when the days of her purification, according to the law of Moses,
were accomplished, they brought him to Jerusalem to present him to the
Lord," Herod being at Jerusalem, and having had his jealousy roused
by the tale of the wise men_. Can aught more utterly irreconcilable
be imagined? As, then, the falsehood of the accusers of Susanna in the
Apocrypha was detected, when they were examined apart by Daniel, on the
one affirming that her crime was committed "under a mastic tree" and the
other "under a holm tree," so such contradiction as that between Matthew
and Luke wholly destroys the credit of both narratives. What is there
for a conscience-satisfying belief to rest upon?
SECOND TEST.--_The claim of the New Testament to represent the Jewish
Jehovah._
1.. The deity begetting a mortal child by a mortal woman, was this a
Jewish or a Gentile idea? That it was not a Jewish idea will be shown
when the alleged fulfilment of Isaiah vii. 14,--"Behold a virgin shall
conceive" &c., is considered. That it was a common Gentile idea is most
manifest. A glowing account of Jupiter's commerce with the fair ones of
the earth is to be found in his amorous address to his sister-wife
Juno (_Iliad_, Book xiv. 280-353). The other gods and goddesses in like
manner bestowed their favours on mortals, and begat mortal children.
Plato was said to be the child of a virgin by Apollo. Apollo appeared
to her betrothed in a dream, and told him his bride was with child, on
which he delayed his marriage. What is this but the tale of Mary and
Joseph in another form? Which is the original? Plutarch also mentions
that a similar notion was held by the Egyptians, but of male gods only.
"The Egyptians, indeed, make a distinction in this case, which they
think not an absurd one, that it is not impossible for a woman to be
impregnated by the approach of some divine spirit, but that a man
can have no corporeal intercourse with a goddess." This is an exactly
similar notion to Luke's "overshadowing" of Mary. "Out of Egypt have I
called my son," is perfectly true in a sense. Confucius also, in one of
the sacred books of the Chinese, refers to the great Holy One, who would
appear in the latter days, born of a virgin, whose name shall be the
Prince of Peace.
Similar, too, are the legends of the fabled founders of some, to whom so
many of the civil and religious institutions of the city were ascribed.
Romulus and Remus were sons of the war-god Mars. Their mother Rhea took
refuge in a cave: the meeting of the god and the mortal was attended
by prodigies: the heaven was darkened, the sun eclipsed: her celestial
lover announced to Rhea that she should bear twin-sons, to be renowned
in arms, and then ascended in a cloud from the earth. Servius Tullius,
also, had a like origin. His mother, a slave in the household of
Tarquin, beheld a divine appearance on the hearth, and afterwards was
"found with child" by the god. The child, when born, was named
Servius, from his mother's condition. During its sleep she saw its head
surrounded by flames, which were extinguished when she awakened it. The
founder, likewise, of the Sabine town of Cures was a son of Mars. His
mother, a virgin of noble family, seized with divine favour, while
dancing in the temple, entered the shrine, and became pregnant by the
god. Her son, she is told, would be of superhuman beauty, matchless in
deeds of arms. So that a Roman on his conversion had merely to transfer
to Jesus a like belief to those in which he had been nurtured with
reference to the births of the fabled founders and ancient kings of his
own city, up to whom the political and religious practices which he had
been taught to regard as sacred were traced. To him there would have
been nothing incredible in the story of Mary's conception. The claim
of the church _of Rome_ to be the true church of Christ may thus, in a
certain sense, be cordially acquiesced in.
2. The Son of God, by a mortal woman, brought up as the child of that
woman and her husband,--Is that a proceeding proper to the deity of the
Old Testament? The writings and the spirit of Moses and the prophets
emphatically answer, No.
But it exactly corresponds with the Grecian legends of the "father of
gods and men." The suffering hero Hercules, son of Jupiter and Alcmena,
brought up by her and her husband Amphitryon, is a memorable pagan tale
of a kindred character.
3. The birth of an illustrious personage made manifest by a star,--Is
that consistent with the attributes of the Jewish Jehovah? The stars in
the Old Testament are ever referred to as witnesses to the might of the
Eternal, and those who sought to divine earthly events by their courses,
conjunctions, or appearances, were treated with derision. "Let now the
astrologers, the stargazers, the monthly prognosticators stand up
and save thee from these things that shall come upon thee." This is
addressed by Isaiah, xlvii. 13, to the daughter of the Chaldeans,
Babylon. Matthew's stargazing wise men would thus have been "spued out
of the mouth" of the Jewish Jehovah.