says they were _sixty_; but he has no Reason nor Authority to think,
they were so many. If they had been to be a Guard against Violence, I
could easily have believed they were more; but in as much as they were
only a _Watch_ against Fraud, and against any casual defacing of the
_Seals_ on the Stone, before the _Chief Priests_ came to open the
Sepulchre, _three_ or _four_ Soldiers were sufficient, and I don't
think, there were any more set to this Purpose.
It is not then at all improbable, that so few Soldiers should be fast
asleep at that time of Night, or so early in the Morning, when the
clandestine Work was done; especially after keeping such a _Gaudy-day_
as was the Feast of the Passover, which, like the Festivals of other
Nations, was celebrated with Excess. Foot Soldiers then, you may be
sure, upon the Bounty of one or other, did no more want, than they
would scruple to take their _Fill_, which like an Opiat, lock'd up
their Senses for that Night, when the Disciples, being aware of the
lucky Opportunity, carry'd the Body of _Jesus_ off safely.
And where's the Absurdity to suppose, that the Disciples themselves
might contrive the Intoxication of the Guards? _Herodotus_ tells us a
Story of a Deadbody's being stolen away by such an Artifice. And I
don't think the Disciples of _Jesus_ either so foolish or
conscientious, as not to take the Hint, and enterprize the like Fraud.
_Peter_, who, upon Occasion, could _swear_ and _curse_ like a
_Trooper_, would hardly scruple to fuddle a few _Foot-Soldiers_. But
which way soever it came to pass, the Watch were asleep, which is
neither hard to conceive nor believe; and then the Disciples executed
_that_ Fraud, which has been the Delusion of Nations and Ages since.
Your _Evangelists_ would hint that the _Chief Priests_ gave Money to
the Soldiers to say, they were asleep, when the Disciples stole the
Body of _Jesus_ away, as if they were brib'd to a false Testimony; but
there neither was nor could be any such thing. If there had been a
real Resurrection to their Astonishment and Amazement, as it is
represented in your Gospels, no Money could so soon have corrupted
them to a false Witness, being under such Fears of God and of _Jesus_.
I don't doubt but our _Chief Priests_ might reward the Soldiers for
speaking the Truth, and exhort them to persist in it, with a Promise
to _secure_ them against the Anger of _Pilate_ for their sleeping and
Neglect of their Duty.
Here then is no _Answer_ to the foresaid Argument or Objection against
_Jesus_'s Resurrection. It was not at all impossible for the
Disciples, who stole the Body away, to avoid the Guards, who were and
may reasonably be supposed to be lull'd asleep, when the Disciples did
it. Neither is there any more Force in the
2. Second Answer to it, _viz. That tho' the Chief Priests, the Sealers
of the Stone of the Sepulchre, were not present, opening the Seals and
beholding the Miracle; yet his Resurrection was afterwards made as
manifest to them, as if they had been there present_.
Ay, this is somewhat like an Answer, if there be any Truth in it. A
Manifestation of _Christ risen_ afterwards to our _Chief Priests_ would
have been equivalent to their Presence at and Sight of the Miracle. But
how was his Resurrection manifested to them? did _Jesus_ ever afterwards
appear personally to them, to their Satisfaction, that he was the same
Person, whom they crucified and put to Death for a Deceiver and false
Prophet? No; this is not once affected by your _Evangelists_ or ever
insinuated by any antient or modern Writer. How then was _Jesus_'s
Resurrection made manifest to our Chief Priests? Why; your _Divines_
say, what is all that can be said here, that the Words of the Disciples,
who, being Men of Honesty, Simplicity and Integrity, would not lye, are
to be taken for it. Very fine, indeed! our Chief Priests are to take the
Words of the Disciples for _Jesus_'s Resurrection, and look upon them as
Men of Veracity, when they knew and experienc'd them to be grand Cheats,
not only in stealing the Body of _Jesus_ away, but in the _known
Imposture_ of _Lazarus_'s Resurrection, or your _Evangelist_ had never
implicitly called it so. When therefore Deceivers will not be _Lyars_;
nor Thieves _Dissemblers_ of the Fact they are accused of, I will own
_Jesus_'s Resurrection to have been manifest enough to our _Chief
Priests_. There's no need of more Argument here: He that bellows more
Words on it, loses Time.
It has been a constant Objection of us _Jews_, against the
Resurrection of _Jesus_, that he appear'd not personally afterwards to
our _Chief Priests_, to _Pilate_ and to others his Crucifiers and
Insultors, to upbraid them with their Infidelity and ill Treatment of
him. Whether _Jesus_ would not have done so, if he really arose from
the dead; and whether he ought not in Reason, for the Conviction and
Conversion of Unbelievers, to have done so, with me is no Question.
_Celsus_ of old[314] in the Name of the _Jews_ made the Objection; and
_Olibio_, a late _Rabbi_[315] has repeated it. But in all my Reading
and Conversation with Men or Books, I never met with a tolerable
Answer to it. _Origen_ and _Limborch_, the Writers against _Celsus_
and _Olibio_, gently slide over the Objection, as if it was too hot or
weighty to be touch'd and handled by them. To recite the poor, short
and insufficient Answers of those two Great Authors, to the Objection,
would be the Exposing of them, and giving such Strength to the
Objection, which it don't want. Therefore I will leave the Objection,
which _Origen_[316] owns to be a considerable one, to the Meditation
of your modern Advocates for Christianity; and when they can prove,
that _Jesus_, after his Resurrection did personally appear to his
Crucifiers, the _Chief Priests_ and _Sealers_ of the Sepulchre, to
their Confutation; or that, according to the Law of Reason, he ought
not to have appear'd to them, then I will turn _Christian_, and grant,
that in the Argument above, which proves plain Fraud in the
Resurrection, there's no Force nor Truth. In the mean time _Jesus_'s
Non-Appearance to the _Chief Priests_ is a Confirmation, that he did
not arise from the Dead, but that his Body was stolen away, or he
would have waited in the Grave, the coming of the Sealers of the
Stone, and their regular opening of the Sepulchre, to the Conviction
and Conversion of all there present, and Confirmation of the Faith of
all Ages and Nations since. But,
3. A third Answer to the foresaid Argument of Fraud in the Resurrection
of _Jesus_, drawn from the Nature, Use and Design of sealing the Stone
of the Sepulchre, is, _that tho' the_ Sealers _of the Sepulchre were not
present, opening the Seals and beholding the Miracle; yet_ Jesus _did
certainly arise from the Dead, or the Belief of his Resurrection could
never have been at first propagated by the Apostles, nor would for so
many Ages of the Church since have stood its Ground_.
Here's as little Reason in this Answer as in either of the two former.
Who knows not, that many Errors in Philosophy, and as many Frauds in
Religion have been sometimes accidentally, sometimes designedly
espoused and palm'd upon Mankind, who in Process of Time become so
wedded to them thro' Prejudice and Interest, that they will not give
themselves Leave to enquire into the Rise and Foundation of them.
False Miracles have been common Things among Christians; and as the
Resurrection of _Jesus_ is their grand and fundamental one, so it is
not at all difficult to account for the Rise, Propagation and
Continuance of the Belief of it.
Why it has been believed thro' these latter Ages of the Church, is no
Wonder at all. The Priests had their Interest in it; the ignorant and
superstitious had their Comfort in it; and the wise and considerate,
for fear of Persecution, durst not enquire into the Grounds of it.
The only Difficulty here is to know, upon what Principle, the Project
and Story of _Jesus_'s Resurrection was at first devised. And whether
it was Ambition or Revenge upon our ancient and Pharisaical
Priesthood, that prompted the Apostles to it, is all one to me. Such
bad Principles too often put Men upon desperate Attempts. But
however, an Imposture it was, for the Argument above. To say the
Apostles and Confederates in the Fraud, would not have stood to it,
and have dy'd for it, if the Resurrection had not been real Fact,
signifies nothing. Many Cheats and Criminals, besides them, have
asserted their Innocencey, and deny'd their Guilt in the utmost
Extremity of Death, without the like Views of Honour and Fame. The
only Thing that's surprizing and astonishing in this Sham-Miracle, is,
that tho' it was the most manifest, the most bare-faced, and the most
self-evident Imposture that ever was put upon the World; yet it has
been the most fortunate and successful, having past thro' many Ages
and Nations with Reputation and Renown; and might have continued for
as many Generations to come, but for the Argument above, that
perfectly and clearly overthrows its Credit.
But some may say here, where was the Wisdom and Providence of God, all
this while, to suffer so many Ages and Nations to labour under such a
Delusion? Why, I'll tell you; The Providence of God in it was, "To
humble Mankind, in the End, for their vain Ostentation of Wisdom,
Learning and _Science falsly so call'd_; "To shame them for their
Madness and Wickedness to persecute one another for different Opinions
in that Religion, whose very Foundation is false and groundless; "To
caution them against a blind and implicit Faith for the future;
against believing any thing out of the Sight and Reach of their
Understandings; "To admonish them of the Necessity of Liberty to
think, speak and write freely about Religion, for the Correction of
Errors and Discovery of Truth; and, lastly, "To reduce the World, when
it should be ripe for it, to the golden Religion of Nature, which upon
the Testimony of our old _Cabalistical_ Doctors, and of your _Jesus_
himself, is the _End of the Law and the Prophets_.
And thus have I spoken to the _Answers_, which your _Christian
Priesthood_ may be presumed to make, to the foresaid Argument of Fraud
in _Jesus_'s Resurrection, drawn from the Design of our _Chief
Priests_ in sealing of the Stone of his Sepulchre. I should not have
concern'd my self to speak to these their supposed _Answers_, but to
save them the Trouble of making them, and the Imagination of there
being some Force in them.
As to the Stories in your _Evangelists_ of _Jesus_'s several Appearances
after his pretended Resurrection, sometimes to the Women, and at other
Times to his Disciples, I am not at all obliged to refute them. If these
Appearances had been more frequent, better circumstanced, and more
solemnly averr'd, they would have wanted no Confutation. There's no
Doubt on't, but the Disciples, who, for the Argument above,
unquestionably stole _Jesus_'s Body away, in order to pretend a
Resurrection, would talk much of his appearing to them, and of the
Conversation afterwards, they had with him. And if they had told better
and more plausible Tales of their Sight of and Conversation with him, it
would be nothing to the Purpose; _better_, I say, _and more plausible
Tales_ than those upon Record, which for Absurdity, Nonsense and
Incoherence carry their own Confutation along with them.
Whoever blends together the various History of the four _Evangelists_,
as to _Jesus_'s Appearances after his Resurrection, will find himself,
not only perplex'd how to make an intelligible, consistent, and
sensible Story of it; but must, with _Celsus_[317] needs think it, if
he closely think on't, like some of the confused and incredible
womanish Fables of the Apparitions of the Ghosts of deceased Persons,
which the Christian World in particular has in former Ages abounded
with. The Ghosts of the Dead in this present Age, and especially in
this Protestant Country, have ceas'd to appear; and we now-a-days
hardly ever hear of such an Apparition: And what is the Reason of it?
Why, the Belief of these Stories being banish'd out of Mens Minds, the
crafty and vaporous forbear to trump them upon us. There has been so
much clear Proof of the Fraud in many of these Stories, that the wise
and considerate Part of Mankind has rejected them all, excepting
_this_ of _Jesus_, which, to Admiration, has stood its Ground. It's no
Wonder indeed, that the _Clergy_, who are more incredulous than other
Folks as to Stories of Apparitions, do stick to _this_ of _Jesus_, the
only one excepted out of all others. It is a sweet Morsel of Faith,
and they readily swallow and digest it, because they live by it;
otherwise this Story of _Jesus_'s Appearances after Death had hardly
escaped the Fate of other Apparitions; nay, would have been rejected
one of the first of them; there being hardly one, I dare say it, among
all the Stories of Apparitions, were they to be collected together;
that's more absurd and incredible than _this_ of _Jesus_.
I have not Room here to make any Remarks on your Evangelical Story of
_Jesus_'s Apparitions after his Death; and if I had, I durst not do it,
for fear of an offensive Ludicrousness, and of transgressing the Rules
of _Decency_, _Sobriety_ and _Sedateness_ of Argument, you have confined
me to. But however; I can't read the Story without smiling, and there
are two or three Passages in it, that put me in Mind of _Robinson
Cruso_'s filling his Pockets with Biskets, when he had neither Coat,
Waste-coat, nor Breeches on. Sometimes I think your _Evangelists_ wanted
Wit to adapt their Tale to Sense, and to accommodate the Transaction to
Nature; and sometimes I think them crafty, and were minded, like _Daniel
de Foe_ in his aforesaid _Romance_, to put the Banter upon the Credulity
of Mankind, with some disguised and latent Absurdities, that, in the
Conclusion and Discovery, they might be heartily laugh'd at for the
Belief of them. I dare not, I say, so much as hint at one of these
Absurdities, lest I should be unwarily tempted to crack a Jest on it.
But the Time, I hope, is coming, when I shall use more Freedom. And
should your Priesthood, in Proof of _Jesus_'s Resurrection, urge any of
these Stories of his corporal Presence and Appearance after it, then I
trust, they'll permit me to make as merry Descants on them, as your
_Bishops_, when Academical _Jesters_, used to do on other Men's Bulls
and Blunders.
In the mean time I depend on the foregoing single, sober and sedate
Argument of Fraud in this grand Miracle, which I found on the Nature
and Design of sealing the Sepulchre; and for Confirmation of my
Opinion and Proof of Fraud in it, will conclude this Letter with a
parallel Case and Story. Not many Years since, one Dr. _Emms_, of the
Society of the _French_ Prophets, who in their Inspirations were, like
_Jesus_ and his Disciples of old, Declaimers against the Pharisaical
Priesthood of this Age, did by himself, or some of his Fraternity did
for him, predict his Resurrection on a certain Day, when there was a
Concourse of People about his Grave in vain to behold the Miracle, as
there would have been about _Jesus_'s Sepulchre, if he had lain in it,
his full Time. But supposing in this Case, that the Magistrates and
Priesthood of this City, to prevent a Cheat and Delusion of the
People, had interr'd the _Doctor_ in a Church-Vault, and seal'd the
Door of it against the Day appointed for his Resurrection, commanding
a _Night-Watch_ to look to the Vault, that no Violence or Deceit be
used: This would have been a wise Precaution against Fraud, as was in
the Case of _Jesus_. But what if his Fraternity, having a Mind, like
_Jesus_'s Disciples, to bambouzle the People and Priesthood, had, some
of them drawn the Watch aside to a _Gin-shop_, whilst others carry'd
the Body off, pretending a Resurrection? What would all reasonable Men
have said here? That it was an impudent and bare-fac'd Imposture. But
to carry on the Farce; supposing, the _Doctor_'s Fraternity had
afterwards averr'd that they had seen and convers'd with him alive,
several Times, as before his Death; and had told particular Stories of
their Conversation with him; as _first_ of all, how he appear'd to
some of their Women (who were admonish'd of the Certainty of his
Resurrection by a Youth or an Angel or two, they could not tell
whether, but they were as like to Angels, which they never saw before
in their Lives, as Youths could be) who knew him, not by his
Countenance, for _their Eyes were holden_, but by his Talk on
Scripture Prophecy, which was his usual Cant before his Death. And at
another Time he appear'd to his old Acquaintance, who knew him, not by
the Features of his Face, but by an habitual Motion and Action of his
Hand in _breaking of Bread_. And at another Time he was corporally
present, but _they thought, they saw a Spirit_. About _eight Days
after that_, he appear'd among more of his old Friends, but for all
their former Intimacy with him, some of them _doubted_ whether it was
the _Doctor_ or not. At another Time he came to them in _another Form_
and Shape, unlike to his pristine one, but they were sure it was _He_
by his Exposition of the Scripture. At another Time, when they were
assembled together and the Doors were lock'd, _for fear of the
Clergy_, the _Doctor_ slipt unexpectedly into their Company, either
from behind a Curtain, or miraculously enter'd at the Key-hole. And
the last Time he appear'd, there was one of his intimate Friends had
not known him, but by a _Sore_ in his Breast, which the Power of God,
in his Resurrection, did not heal: After which, they said, he
_vanish'd away, was taken up into Heaven_, and they saw him no more.
Supposing, I say, the _French_ Prophets had told such like Stories of
_Doctor Emms_'s Resurrection and of his Appearances to them; what
would your Priests and all other wise Men have said to it? Why, that
it was all idle Tales, manifest Lyes, Sham, and Imposture; and that if
the _Doctor_, in Confutation of the Errors of our Priests, had risen
to Life, God would have kept him in his Sepulchre, his full time, and
have rais'd him in the Presence of Priests, Magistrates and People;
and that he would have walk'd afterwards publickly in the Streets
without Danger, to the Satisfaction of all, who knew him, that he was
the same _Emms_ who died and was bury'd: _Without Danger_, I say, from
the Populace, who would have been so far from affronting him, that
they would have almost adored him for the miraculous Favour God had
done him, in his Resurrection from the Dead; and that he would never
have skulk'd about, and absconded himself for _forty Days_ together,
before he was pretendedly translated; and therefore there was nothing
but notorious Deceit and Imposture in all these Pretences.
I need not make the Application of this Case and Story, which your
_Priests_ know how to do for me. To say here, that there's none would
be so desperate to engage in such a Fraud, as is the supposed Case of
Dr. _Emms_ above, is a Mistake. Many Thousands for their Diversion
would enterprise it; and the Stories of the Apparitions of Ghosts,
which are almost all the Frauds of the Crafty to delude the Ignorant,
do prove it. I my self would be forward to concert such an Intrigue,
if it were but to put the Banter upon the _Clergy_, to ruffle their
Tempers, and secretly to laugh at them. Nothing would deter me from
it, but Fears of the Civil Magistrate, which was not the Danger of the
Disciples of _Jesus_, because _Pilate_, for the Sake of Rule over the
_Jews_, was a Countenancer of every Faction amongst them; and
particularly[318] _Tiberius_, upon _Pilate_'s Representation of the
Matter, soon commanded that the Disciples of _Jesus_ should not be
molested, nor call'd into Question: So the Disciples stood to the
Fraud, told the Story of _Jesus risen_ so often, till they believed it
themselves, and drew Multitudes into the Belief of it: Which Belief
must have continued thro' all Generations to come, but for my Argument
of Fraud, before urg'd and argued.
Here, Sir, before I conclude this Letter, I think it my Duty however to
give you my Opinion of the Religion, that _Jesus_ and his Disciples
were for introducing into the World. Tho' I believe, what I have proved,
his Resurrection, to be a Piece of Fraud, and his other Miracles to have
been all Artifice; and tho' our _Chief Priests_ and ancient Nation are
justifiable in the Sentence, that was pass'd and executed upon _Jesus_;
yet I must do him and his Disciples the Justice, to own, that the
Doctrine they taught was, for the most Part of it, good, useful and
popular, being no other than the Law and Religion of Nature, which, all
Nations being wearied with their own Superstitions, and sick of the
Burthen of their Priests, ran apace into. Accordingly one[319] of your
ancient Fathers says, that they _who lived according to the Law of
Nature, were true Christians_. And I must needs say, that if Christians,
in Process of Time, had not sophisticated this primitive Religion of
_Jesus_; if they had not built their systematical Divinity upon him, and
brought strange Inventions of Men into his Worship; if, lastly, they had
not again subjugated and entangled themselves with another and worse
Yoke of Bondage, to an intolerable and tyrannical Priesthood of the
Church, the World might have enjoy'd great Happiness under _Jesus_'s
Religion, even _that Happiness_ which is now only to be expected upon a
Disproof of his miraculous Resurrection, that has been the Foundation of
a most confused Superstructure of wild Doctrines and Opinions: Or more
truely speaking, _That Happiness_ of the State of Nature, Religion and
Liberty, which may be look'd for upon the coming of our _Messiah_, the
allegorical Accomplisher of the Law and the Prophets; whose Advent, upon
the Tradition of our _Cabalists_, will be towards the latter End of the
_Sixth_ grand Age of the Creation, to remove from our Faces and our
Hearts the Veil of the Letter; and in the mean while I adhere to the
umbratical Rites, Ceremonies and way of Worship, derived from our
Forefathers.
Thus, Sir, have I finish'd my _Letter_ on _Jesus_'s Resurrection; and
whether I have not said enough to justify our _Jewish_ Disbelief of
that Miracle, let your _Chief Priests_ judge. I don't expect my
Argument against it will be convincing of any of your Preachers. They
have a potent Reason for their Faith, which we _Jews_ can't come at;
or I don't know but we might believe with them.
I trust you'll meet with no Molestation for the Publication of this
_Letter_; neither do I think, it was any thing of mine, inserted in
your Discourses, that at any time brought Trouble on you. It was your
own Imprudence to rave, as you do, against _Ecclesiasticks_. What need
had you to talk of the Mischiefs and Inconveniences of an Hireling
Priesthood? What Occasion had you to call them Ecclesiastical Vermin,
and to speak of the Happiness of Mankind upon their Extinction? These
things are very provoking. And here's the true Source, in my Opinion,
of all your Troubles!
Tho' I have here shewn, that _Christ is not risen_, yet I have more
Wit than to make the Inference of St. _Paul_, that _their Preaching is
vain_. Their Oratory is still useful, if it be but to tickle the Ears
and amuse the Understandings of the People about Doctrines they
underhand not, whether true or false. And such an Order of Men, as are
your Priesthood, are, by their Habit of long Robes, an Ornament to
Society; and it is an Honour to the Country to have them well fed and
clad. Had I Room for it, I could write a curious _Encomium_ in Praise
of them, and tell the World of what Use and Advantage they have been,
in all Ages. O what Wars and Persecutions might have been rais'd in
the World, but for their pacifick Tempers! How would Sin and
Immorality have broke in upon Mankind, like a Deluge, but for the
Goodness of their Lives, and the Excellency of their Precepts! How has
the Increase and Multitude of their warm Sermons been the Ruin of
_Satan_'s hot and divided Kingdom of Darkness and Error! It's owing to
their Pains and Labours, that every Age, for many past, has been
improving in Virtue, till the present, which for Piety and good Morals
is that perfection of Time, which is not to be meliorated but by the
Restitution of the golden Age.