HISTORY CHRISTIANITY. VOL. I. THE HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY, FROM THE BIRTH OF CHRIST TO THE ABOLITI Preparation for new Religion among the Jews - 24 Expansion of Judaism - - 25 Effects of Progress of Knowledge upon Polytheism - 26 beneficial 27 prejudicial 28 Xlv CONTENTS. Philosophy ... - 30 The Mysteries - - - - -31 Varieties of Philosophic Systems - - - 35 Epicureanism accordant to Greek Character, Stoicism to Roman - . - . - - 35 Academics - - - - - 35 Philosophy fatal to popular Religion - - - 36 Literature - - - - - - 37 Future Life - - - - - 39 Reception of foreign Religions - - - 41 Poetry ceases to be religious - - - 42 Superstitions - - - 43 Revolution effected by Christianity - - - 44 Immortality of the Soul - - - 45 Design of this History - - - - - 47 Christianity different in Form in different Periods of Civil isation - - - - 49 Christianity not self-developed - - - 50 CHAPTER II. LIFE OF JESUS CHRIST. — STATE OF JUDJEA. THE BELIEF IN THE MESSIAH. Life of Christ necessary to a History of Christianity - 52 its Difficulty - - - 53 State of Judaea. — Herod the Great - - - 54 Intrigues and Death of Antipater - - -55 Sons of Herod - - - -55 General Expectation of the Messiah - - -56 Nature of the Belief in the Messiah - - 58 The Prophets - - - - 58 Tradition - - - - - 59 Foreign Connections of the Jews - - - 60 Babylonia - - - - - -61 Cabala - - - - - 64 Syrian Religions - - - - - 64 Religion of Persia - - - - - 65 Completeness of Zoroastrian System - - 67 The Zendavesta - - - - 67 CONTENTS. XV Page The Angels - - - - - - 70 Principle of Evil ... 71 The Supreme Deity removed from all Connection with the material World - - - - 72 Mediator - - - - - 72 Future State - - - - - 75 Jewish Notion of the Messiah - - - - 76 Messiah, National - - - - - 77 Judseo-Grecian System - - - - 79 Reign of Messiah, according to Alexandrian Jews - 81 Belief different, according to the Character of the Believer 82 Popular Belief - - - - 84 State of political Confusion - - - - 85 Birth of Christ ... - - 86 Belief in preternatural Interpositions - - 88 Conception and Birth of John the Baptist (b. c. 5.) - 89 Vision of Zachariah - - - - - 91 Return of Zachariah to Hebron - - 93 Annunciation - - - - 94 Incarnation of the Deity - - - - 97 Birth from a Virgin - - - - - 98 Visit to Elizabeth - - - - - 101 Birth of John the Baptist - - - - 102 Journey to Bethlehem .... 103 Decree of Augustus ... - 104 Birth of Christ - - ... 107 Simeon — his Benediction - - - 110 The Magi - - - - 111 The Magi in Jerusalem - - - - 112 Flight into Egypt - - - - H3 Return to Galilee - - - 113 APPENDIX TO CHAPTER II. I. — Recent Lives of Christ - - - 115 II.— Origin of the Gospels - - -124 HI. Influence of the more imaginative Incidents of the early Evangelic History on the Propagation and Maintenance of the Religion - - - 129 XVI CONTENTS. CHAPTER III. COMMENCEMENT OF THE PUBLIC LIFE OF JESUS. Page Period to the Assumption of Public Character - - 133 Visit to Jerusalem - _ . . - 134 Political Revolutions during the preceding Period - 136 Reign of Archelaus - - - - - 136 Reduction to a Roman Province - - - 1 37 Sanhedrin - - -- - -137 The Publicans - - - - --137 Insurrections - - - - - 138 Judas the Galilean - - - - - 138 John the Baptist - - - - 140 Baptism --.._- 142 Multitudes who attend his Preaching - . 143 Expectation of the Messiah ... 145 Mysterious Language of the Baptist - - - 147 Deputation of the Priesthood concerning the Pretensions of John ...... 143 Avowed Inferiority of John to Jesus - - - 150 Baptism of Jesus - - - - 15] Temptation of Jesus - - - 152 Deputation from Jerusalem to John . - - 157 Jesus designated by John as the Messiah - - 158 First Disciples of Jesus - - - 159 Jesus commences his Career as a Teacher - - 160 First Miracle — Anti-Essenian - . - 161 Capernaum - - - . - 163 First Passover (a. d. 27.) - . - - 163 Jesus at Jerusalem - - - - - 164 The Temple a Mart - - _ . 165 Expulsion of the Traders - _ - 167 Expectations raised by this Event - - - 168 Reverence of the Jews for the Temple - - 170 Their Expectations disappointed - - . - 170 Nicodemus - - - . -171 CONTENTS. xvii CHAPTER IV. PUBLIC LIFE OF JESUS FROM THE FIRST TO THE SECOND PASSOVER. Page Departure from Jerusalem - - 175 John the Baptist and Herod - 175 Jesus passes through Samaria - - 177 Hostility of the Jews and Samaritans •¦ - 177 Samaritan Belief in the Messiah . 180 Samaritan Sanhedrin - - 183 Second Miracle in Capernaum - - - 184 Nazareth — Inhospitable Reception of Jesus - 1 84 Jesus in the Synagogue - - - 185 Violence of the Nazarenes - - ] 87 Capernaum the chief Residence of Jesus - 188 Apostles chosen - 189 Jesus in the Synagogue of Capernaum - - 189 His Mode of Teaching different from that of the Rabbins- 190 Causes of the Hostility of the ordinary Teachers - 192 Progress through Galilee - - 194 Populousness of Galilee - - 194 Herod Antipas - - - 195 Jesus passes unmolested through Galilee - 197 Comparison with Authors of other Revolutions - 197 Teaches in the Synagogues and in the open Air 199 Manner of his Discourses — Quotation from Jortin - 199 Sermon on the Mount - - 201 Principles of Christian Morality. — Not in Unison with the Age - - 201 Its Universality 205 Its original Principles ... 206 Conduct of Jesus with regard to his Countrymen - 207 Healing the Leper ... 208 Second Miracle - 208 The Publicans - - - 209 Close of first Year of public Life of Jesus • 213 VOL. I. a XVHI CONTENTS. CHAPTER V. SECOND YEAR OF THE PUBLIC LIFE OF JESUS. Jesus in Jerusalem (a. d. 28.) _ - 212 Change in popular Sentiment - - - 212 Breach of the Sabbath - . -214 Jewish Reverence for the Sabbath 214 Healing of the Sick Man at the Pool of Bethesda - 215 Judicial Investigation of the Case - 217 Defence of Jesus - - 217 Second Defence of Jesus - » 220 Difficult Position of the Sanhedrin . 218 Hostility of the Pharisaic Party _ - 221 They follow him into Galilee - . _ _ 221 New Violation of the Sabbath - - . - 221 Jesus withdraws beyond the Sea of Galilee 223 Jesus retires from public View - 223 Re-appears at Capernaum ... 224 Organisation of his Followers . _ 224 The Twelve Apostles - - . . 225 Healing of the Centurion's Servant ... 227 Message of John the Baptist - 229 Contrast between Jesus and John the Baptist - 232 Daemoniacs - - - 234 The Pharisees demand a Sign - 235 Conduct of Jesus to his Relatives - - 236 Parables - - - 237 Rebukes the Storm - _ 238 Destruction of the Swine - _ 238 The Apostles sent out - . 238 Conduct of Herod - _ 239 Death of John the Baptist - 239 Jesus withdraws from Galilee - _ 24] The Multitudes fed in the Desert - - 241 Enthusiasm of the People - - . 242 Jesus in the Synagogue of Capernaum . 243 CONTENTS. XIX CHAPTER VI. THIRD YEAR OF THE PUBLIC LIFE OF JESUS. Page Passover (a. d. 29.) _ 247 Massacre of the Galileans at the Passover - 248 Concealment of Jesus • - - 250 The Syro-Phcenician Woman ... 250 Jesus still in partial Concealment ... 253 Perplexity of the Apostles - - - 254 Jesus near Caesarea Philippi 255 The Transfiguration . 257 Tribute Money - 259 Contention of the Apostles - - 259 Jesus commends a Child to the Imitation of the Apostles - 260 Feast of Tabernacles - - - 260 Jesus in the Temple at Jerusalem - - - 261 Perplexity of the Sanhedrin - - 263 Woman taken in Adultery - - 265 Jesus teaches in the Temple - 266 Healing the Blind Man - - 269 Conduct of the Sanhedrin - 272 Jesus near Samaria - - 276 Feast of Dedication. — Jesus again in Jerusalem - 279 Period between the Feast of Dedication and the Passover - 282 Raizing of Lazarus - - 283 CHAPTER VII. THE LAST PASSOVER. THE CRUCIFIXION. Last Passover (a. d. 30.) ... 287 Zaccheus - - 289 All Sects hostile to Jesus - - 291 The Pharisees - - 291 The Lawyers - - - 292 a 2 XX CONTENTS. Page The Sadducees .... - 292 Jesus the Messiah - - - 294 The Essenes - - 297 The Rulers - - - - 298 Demeanour of Jesus - 300 Difficulty of Chronological Arrangement - 301 Jesus at Bethany - - - - - 301 Jesus enters Jerusalem in Triumph - - 302 Monday, Nisan 2. (March) - - - 303 Acclamations in the Temple - - 304 The Greeks .... 305 Cursing the barren Fig Tree - - • 307 Second Day in Jerusalem - 308 The Third Day - - 309 Deputation from the Rulers - - - 309 The Fourth Day - - - - 31 1 The Herodians - - -311 The Sadducees - 313 The Pharisees - - - - 315 The Crisis in the Fate of Jesus - 317 Jesus on the Mount of Olives - 317 Evening View of Jerusalem and the Temple - - 318 Necessity for the Destruction of the Temple at Jerusalem 319 Jesus contemplates with Sadness the future Ruin of Jeru salem - - - 320 The Ruin of the Jews the Consequence of their Character 321 Immediate Causes of the Rejection of Jesus by the Jews - 322 Distinctness with which Jesus prophesied the Fall of Jeru salem - ... 325 Embarrassment of the Sanhedrin - 325 Treachery and Motives of Judas - - 326 The Passover - _ 329 The Last Supper . 329 Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane - - 331 Betrayal of Jesus - 332 Jesus led Prisoner to the City 333 The High Priest . 334 House of Annas - - 334 First Interrogatory - - 335 Second, more public, Interrogatory - _ 335 CONTENTS. XXI Page Jesus acknowledges himself the Messiah - 3:57 Conduct of the High Priest - 337 Jesus insulted by the Soldiery - - 337 Denial of Peter - . . 338 Question of the Right of the Sanhedrin to inflict Capital Punishment . 339 Real Relation of the Sanhedrin to the Government 340 The Case of Jesus new and unprecedented - 342 Motives of the Rulers in disclaiming their Power - 343 Jesus before Pilate - - 343 Remorse and Death of Judas - - 344 Astonishment of Pilate 344 at the Conduct of the Sanhedrin 346 at the Nature of the Charge - 347 The Deputation refuse to communicate with Pilate from Fear of legal Defilement - - 347 Examination before Pilate - 348 Pilate endeavours to save Jesus - 350 Clamours of the Accusers - 350 Jesus sent to Herod - - - - 351 Jesus sent back with Insult - 351 Barabbas - - 353 Jesus crowned with Thorns, and shown to the People 354 The People demand his Crucifixion - 354 Intercession of Pilate's Wife - 355 Last Interrogatory of Jesus - 356 Condemnation of Jesus ... 357 Insults offered to Jesus by the Populace and Soldiery - 358 Circumstances of the Crucifixion - - 359 The Two Malefactors ... -361 Spectators of the Execution ... 361 Conduct of Jesus ... 363 Preternatural Darkness - - - 363 Death of Jesus - - 364 Burial of Jesus - - - 366 The Religion apparently at an End ... 366 xx'l CONTENTS. BOOK II. CHAPTER I. THE RESURRECTION, AND FIRST PROMULGATION OF CHRISTIANITY. Page Christian Doctrine of the Immortality of the Soul 371 Effects of this Doctrine .... 373 Style of the Evangelists - ... 375 The Women at the Sepulchre - 377 First Appearance of Jesus to Mary Magdalene 379 Later Appearances - _ 380 Incredulity of the Apostles. — Its Cause - - 381 Return of the Apostles to Galilee - - 382 Apostles in Judaea ... 383 Ascension - - 383 Election of a new Apostle - 384 Re-appearance of the Religion of Jesus - . 385 Disciples near the Temple. — Gift of Tongues 387 Speech of Peter - 388 Common Fund, not Community of Goods - - 389 Conduct of the Sanhedrin - - 390 Second Speech of Peter - - 390 Sadducees predominant in the Sanhedrin . _ 392 Apostles before the Sanhedrin - 393 Gamaliel - - 394 Institution of Deacons . . 395 Death of the Proto-martyr (a. d, 34.) - _ 999 Paul of Tarsus - - . 401 Paul in Arabia ... 406 Persecution of the Jews bv Caligula - 408 Death of James - . 499 Death of Herod - - 410 CONTENTS. XXlll CHAPTER H. CHRISTIANITY AND JUDAISM. Page- Progress of Christianity - - 411 Gradual Enlargement of the Views of the Apostles 413 Christianity an universal Religion - 413 External and internal Conflict of Christianity with Judaism 414 Paul and Barnabas - - 415 Differences between Jew and Gentile partially abrogated by Peter - - - - 416 Cornelius - - 416 State of Judea - - - -418 Paul and Barnabas Apostles - - 421 Cyprus - - - 421 Sergius Paulus - - 421 Jews in the City of Asia Minor 422 Jewish Attachment to the Law - 424 Council of Jerusalem (a. d. 49.) - •¦ 425 Second Journey of Paul (a. d. 50.) - - 427 Third Journey of Paul -431 Paul in Jerusalem (a. d. 58.) - ... 432 in the Temple . - - 433 apprehended - - 434 before the Sanhedrin ... 436 sent to Caesarea - - - 438 before Felix - - - - 438 in Prison at Caesarea .... 438 before Agrippa ..... 440 sent to Rome 440 Martyrdom of James (a. d. 62.) - - - 441 Jewish War ..... 443 Probable Effect of the Fall of Jerusalem on Christianity - 445 Effect on the Jews - - - 446 Jewish Attachment to the Law - - - 448 The Law - - - 449 XXIV CONTENTS. Page Strength of internal Judaism within the Church opposed by St. Paul - . - - 451 Belief in the approaching End of the World - - 453 J> Hostility of Judaism and Christianity 456 Mark, Bishop of Jerusalem .... 458 HISTORY CHRISTIANITY. CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION STATE AND VARIOUS FORMS OF PAGAN RELIGION, AND OF PHILOSOPHY. The reign of Augustus Caesar is the most remark able epoch in the history of mankind. For the first time, a large part of the families, tribes, and M™ of • ii i n Augustus nations, into which the human race had gradually Ca^ar. separated, were united under a vast, uniform, and apparently permanent, social system. The older Asiatic empires had, in general, owed their rise to the ability and success of some adventurous conqueror ; and, when the master-hand was with drawn, fell asunder ; or were swept away to make room for some new kingdom or dynasty, which sprang up with equal rapidity, and in its turn ex perienced the same fate. The Grecian monarchy established by Alexander, as though it shared in the Asiatic principle of vast and sudden growth and as rapid decay, broke up at his death into several conflicting kingdoms ; yet survived in its influence, and united, in some degree, Western vol. i. b 2 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. Asia, Egypt, and Greece into one political system, in which the Greek language and manners pre dominated. But the monarchy of Rome was founded on principles as yet unknown ; the king doms, which were won by the most unjustifiable aggression, were, for the most part, governed with a judicious union of firmness and conciliation, in which the conscious strength of irresistible power was tempered with the wisest respect to national usages. The Romans conquered like savages, but ruled like philosophic statesmen.* Till, from the Euphrates to the Atlantic, from the shores of Britain, and the borders of the German forests, to the sands of the African Desert, the whole Western world was consolidated into one great common wealth, united by the bonds of law and govern ment, by facilities of communication and com merce, and by the general dissemination of the Greek and Latin languages. For civilisation followed in the train of Roman rionlisa" conquest : the ferocity of her martial temperament seemed to have spent itself in the civil wars : the lava flood of her ambition had cooled ; and wherever it had spread, a rich and luxuriant vegetation broke forth. At least down to the time of the Antonines, though occasionally disturbed by the contests which arose on the change of dynasties, the rapid progressof improvement was by no means retarded. Diverging # On the capture of a city, pro- latter point, I mean, of course, the miscuous massacre was the general general policy, not the local ty- order, which descended even to ranny, which was so often exercised brute animals, until a certain sig- by the individual provincial go- nal. Polyb. x. 15. As to the vernor. RomanCivi tion HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. from Rome as a centre, magnificent and commo- chap. i. dious roads connected the most remote countries the free navigation of the Mediterranean united the most flourishing cities of the empire ; the military colonies had disseminated the language and manners of the South in the most distant regions ; the wealth and population of the African and Asiatic provinces had steadily increased ; while, amid the forests of Gaul, the morasses of Britain, the sierras of Spain, flourishing cities arose ; and the arts, the luxuries, the order, and regularity of cultivated life were introduced into regions which, a short time before, had afforded a scanty and precarious subsistence to tribes scarcely acquainted with agriculture. The frontiers of civilisation seemed gradually to advance, and to drive back the still-receding barbarism * : while within the pale, national distinctions were dying away ; all tribes and races met amicably in the general relation of Roman subjects or citizens, and mankind seemed settling down into one great federal society, t About this point of time Christianity appeared. Appear As Rome had united the whole Western world into one, as it might almost seem, lasting social system, lty so Christianity was the first religion which aimed at an universal and permanent moral conquest. * Quas sparsa congregaret im- f " Unum esse reipublicse cor- peria, ritusque molliret.et tot popu- pus, atque unius animo regendum." lorum discordes ferasque linguas Such was the argument of Asinius sermonis commercio contraheret Gallus, Tac. Ann. i. 12. ad colloquia, ethumanitatem homini daret. Plin.Nat. Hist. iii. 5. B 2 ance of Christian- 4 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. The older Religions. The religions of the older world were content with their dominion over the particular people which were their several votaries. Family, tribal, national, deities were universally recognised ; and as their gods accompanied the migrations or the conquests of different nations, their worship was extended over a wider surface, but rarely propagated among the subject races. To drag in triumph the di vinities of a vanquished people was the last and most insulting mark of subjugation. * Yet, though the gods of the conquerors had thus manifested their superiority, and, in some cases, the subject nation might be inclined to desert their inefficient protectors, who had been found wanting in the hour of trial ; still the godhead even of the defeated divinities was not denied : though their power could not withstand the mightier tutelar deity of the invaders ; yet their right to a seat in the crowded synod of heaven, and their rank among the inter mediate rulers of the world, was not called in question.! The conqueror might, indeed, take delight in showing his contempt, and, as it were, trampling under foot the rebuked and impotent deities of his subject; and thus religious perse cution be inflicted by the oppressor, and religious fanaticism excited among the oppressed. Yet, if * Tot de diis, 'quot de gentibus triumphi. Tertullian. Compare Isaiah, xlvi. 1., and Gesenius's note; Jer. xlviii. 7. xlix. 3.; Hos. x. 5,6.; Dan. xi. 8. +/ There is a curious passage in Lydus de Ostentis, a book which probably contains some parts of the ancient ritual of Rome. A certain aspect of a comet not merely fore told victory, but the passing over of the hostile gods to the side of the Romans : icai abrd di rd Seia Kara- \ei\povat robg ndXfpiovg, ware Ik Trepiaaov npooreQrjvai roig I'lKyTaic. — Lydus de Ostentis, lib. 12. HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. 5 the temple was desecrated, the altar thrown down, chap. the priesthood degraded or put to the sword, this , *' , was done in the fierceness of hostility, or the insolence of pride * ; or from policy, lest the religion should become the rallying point of civil independence t ; rarely, if ever, for the purpose of extirpating a false, or supplanting it by a true, system of belief; perhaps in no instance with the design of promulgating the tenets of a more pure and perfect religion. A wiser policy commenced Policy of with Alexander. The deities of the conquered nations were treated with uniform reverence, the sacrilegious plunder of their temples punished with exemplary severity, t According to the Grecian system, their own gods were recognised in those of Egypt and Asia ; they were called by Grecian names §, and worshipped with the accustomed offerings ; and thus all religious differences between Macedonian, and Syrian, and Egyptian, and Persian, at once vanished away. On the same principle, * Such was the conduct of Cam- seems to have mingled with his byses in Egypt. Xerxes had, before strange character. 1 Mace. i. 41. et his Grecian invasion, shown the seqq. 2 Mace. vi. Diod. Sic. xxxiv. proud intolerance of his disposition, 1 . Hist, of the Jews, vol. ii. p. 42. in destroying the deities of the Ba- J Arrian, lib. vi. p. 431. 439. bylonians, and slaying their priest- (Edit. Amst. 1668.); Polyb. v. 10. hood (Herod, i. 183., and Arrian, $ Arrian, lib. iii. p. 158., vii. vii. 19.) ; though, in this case, the p. 464., and 486. Some Persian tra- rapacity which fatally induced him ditions, perhaps, represent Alex- to pillage and desecrate the temples ander as a religious persecutor; of Greece may have combined with but these are of no authority against his natural arrogance. Herod, the direct statement of the Greek viii. 53. historians. The Indian religious f This was most likely the prin- usages, and the conduct of some ciple of the horrible persecution of of their faquirs, excited the wonder the Jews by Antiochus Epiphanes, of the Greeks. though a kind of heathen bigotry B 3 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. of Rome. and with equal sagacity, Rome, in this as in other respects, aspired to enslave the mind of those na tions which had been prostrated by her arms. The gods of the subject nations were treated with every mark of respect : sometimes they were admitted within the walls of the conqueror, as though to render their allegiance, and rank themselves in peaceful subordination under the supreme divinity of the Roman Gradivus, or the Jupiter of the Capitol*; till, at length, they all met in the amicable synod of the Pantheon, a representative assembly, as it were, of the presiding deities of all nations, in Rome, the religious as well as the civil capital of the world, t The state, as Cicero shows in his Book of Laws, retained the power of declaring what forms of religion were permitted by * Solere Romanos Deos omnes urbium superatarum partim pri- vatim per familias fepargere, partim publice consecrare. Arnob. iii. 38. It was a grave charge against Marcellus, that, by plundering the .temples in Sicily, he had made the state an object of jealousy (initpBo- vov), because not only men but gods were led in triumph. The older citizens ' approved rather the conduct of Fabius Maximus, who left to the Tarentines their offended gods. Plut. Vit. Marc. -(-According to VerriusFlaccus, cited by Pliny (xxviii. 2.), the Ro mans used to invoke the tutelary deity of every place which they besieged, and bribed him| to then- side by promising greater honours. Macrobius has a copy of the form of Evocation. The name of the tutelar deity of Rome was a secret. Pliny, Nat. H. iii. 5. Bayle, Art. Soranus. Plut. Qusest. Rom. Note on Hume's Hist. Nat. Rei. Essays, p. 450. Roma triumphantis quotiens ducis inclita currum Plausibus excepit, totiens altaria Divtlm Addidit, et spoliis sibimet nova numina fecit. Prudentius. Compare Augustin de Cons. Evang. i. 18. For the Grecian custom on this subject, see Thucyd. iv. 98. Philip, the king of Macedon, defeated by Flaminius in his wars with the Grecian states, paid little re spect to the temples. His ad miral Dicaearchus is said to have erected and sacrificed on two altars to Impiety and Lawlessness, 'Ao-£- €eia and Xlapavopia. This fact would be incredible on less grave authority than that of Polybius, lib. xviii. 37. On the general respect to temples in war, comp. Grot, de Jur. Bell, et Pac. iii. 12. 6. HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. the law (licitas) * ; but this authority was rarely exercised with rigour, excepting against such foreign superstitions as were considered pernicious to the morals of the people, in earlier times, the Dionysiact ; in later, the Isiac and Serapic rites, t Christianity proclaimed itself the religion not of Universal. r. ., -i • i ityofChris- tamily, or tribe, or nation, but of universal man. tianity. It admitted within its pale, on equal terms, all ranks and all races. It addressed mankind as one bro therhood, sprung from one common progenitor, and raised to immortality by one Redeemer. In this respect Christianity might appear singularly adapted to become the religion of a great empire. At an earlier period in the annals of the world, it would have encountered obstacles apparently in surmountable, in passing from one province to another, in moulding hostile and jealous nations into one religious community. A fiercer fire was necessary to melt and fuse the discordant ele ments into one kindred mass, before its gentler warmth could penetrate and permeate the whole with its vivifying influence. Not only were the circumstances of the times favourable to the ex tensive propagation of Christianity, from the faci lity of intercourse between the most remote na- * The question is_well discussed pies of Isis and Serapis were twice by Jortin, Discourses, p. 53. note, ordered to be destroyed, Dion. xl. Dionysius Hal. distinguishes be- p. 142, xiii. p. 196., also liv. p. 325. tween religions permitted, and pub- Val. Max. i. 3. Prop. ii. 24. On licly received, lib. n. vol. i. p. 275. the Roman law on this subject, edit. Reiske. compare Jortin, Discourses, p. 53. ¦f Livy, xxix. 12. et seqq. Gibbon, vol. i. p. 55, with Wenck's % During the republic, the tem- note. B 4 8 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. chap, tions, the cessation of hostile movements, and the ' , uniform system of internal police, but the state of mankind seemed imperiously to demand the intro duction of a new religion, to satisfy those universal propensities of human nature, which connect man with a higher order of things. Man, as history and experience teach, is essentially a religious being ; there are certain faculties and modes of thinking and feeling apparently inseparable from his mental organisation, which lead him irresistibly to seek some communication with another and a higher . world. But at the present juncture, the ancient religions were effete : they belonged to a totally different state of civilisation ; though they retained the strong hold of habit and interest on different j classes of society, yet the general mind was._ad- ,1 vanced beyond them ; they could not supply the < religious necessities of the age. Thus, the world, peaceably united under one temporal monarchy, might be compared to a vast body without a soul : the throne of the human mind appeared vacant ; among the rival competitors for its dominion, none advanced more than claims local, or limited to a certain class. Nothing less was required than a religion co-extensive with the empire of Rome, and calculated for the advanced state of intellectual culture : and in Christianity this new element of society was found ; which, in fact, incorporating itself with manners, usages, and laws, has been the bond which has held together, notwithstanding the internal feuds and divisions, the great European commonwealth ; maintained a kind of federal re- HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. 9 lation between its parts ; and stamped its peculiar chap. character on the whole of modern history. v I- Christianity announced the appearance of its Dissociating Divine Author as the era of a new moral creation ; oidreu^on^ and if we take our stand, as it were, on the isthmus which separates the ancient from the modern world, and survey the state of mankind before and after the introduction of this new power into human society, it is impossible not to be struck with the total revolution in the whole aspect of the world. If from this point of view we look upward, we see j the dissociating principle at work both in the civil and religious usages of mankind ; the human race breaking up into countless independent tribes and nations, which recede more and more from each other as they gradually spread over the surface of the earth ; and in some parts, as we adopt the theory of the primitive barbarism*, or that of the degeneracy of man from an earlier state of culture, either remaining stationary at the lowest point of ignorance and rudeness, or sinking to it ; either resuming the primeval dignity of the race, or rising gradually to a higher state of civilisation. A cer tain diversity of religion follows the diversity of race, * The notion that the primeval should at the same time call in state of man was altogether bar- question this, almost established, barous and uncivilised, so gene- theory. Dr. Whateley's argument, rally prevalent in the philosophy of that there is no instance in history the two last centuries (for Dry den's of a nation self-raised from savage line, life, is very strong. I have been Since wild in woods the noble savage ran, much struck by finding a very contains the whole theory of Rous- strong and lucid statement to the ; seau) has encountered a strong re- same effect, in an unpublished lec- action. It is remarkable that Nie- ture of the late Lord Stowell (Sir buhr in Germany, and Archbishop William Scott), delivered when Whateley in this country, with no professor of History at Oxford. knowledge of each other's views, 10 History of Christianity. chap, of people, and of country. In no respect is the com- , mon nature of human kind so strongly indicated as in the universality of some kind of religion ; in no respect is man so various, yet so much the same. All the religions of antiquity, multiform and count less as they appear, may be easily reduced to certain classes, and, independent of the traditions which they may possess in common, throughout the whole, reigns something like a family resemblance. Whether all may be rightly considered as depra vations of the same primitive form of worship ; whether the human mind is necessarily confined to a certain circle of religious notions ; whether the striking phenomena of the visible world, presented j to the imagination of various people in a similar state of civilisation, will excite the same train of devotional thoughts and emotions, — the philoso phical spirit, and extensive range of inquiry, which in modern times have been carried into the study of mythology, approximate in the most remarkable manner the religions of the most remote countries.* * The best, in my opinion, and stood, when considered in connec- most comprehensive work on the tion with the other religions of anti- ancient religions, is the (yet unfi- quity, than as an entirely indepen- nished) translation of Creuzer's dent system; and surely the sar- Symbolik, by M. De Guignaut, castic tone in which M. Lobeck Religions de I'Antiquite, Paris, speaks of the Oriental studies of 1825. 1835. It is far superior in his cotemporaries is unworthy of a arrangement, and does not appear man of consummate learning The to me so obstinately wedded to the work of the late M. Constant symbolic theory as the original of Sur la Religion, extensive in re- Creuzer. The Aglaophamus of search, ingenious in argument, and Lobeck, as might be expected from eloquent in style, is in mV per- that distinguished scholar, is full of haps partial, judgement, vitiated profound and accurate erudition, by an hostility to every kind of Yet I cannot but think that the Gre- priesthood, better suited to the cian polytheism will be better under- philosophy of the last than of the HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. 11 The same primary principles everywhere appear, modified by the social state, the local circumstances, the civil customs, the imaginative or practical cha racter of the people. Each state of social culture has its characteristic theology, self-adapted to the intellectual and moral condition of the people, and coloured in some degree by the habits of life. In the rudest and most savage races we find a gross superstition, called by modern foreign writers, Fetichism*, in which the shapeless stone, the Fetichism. meanest reptile, any object however worthless or insignificant, is consecrated by a vague and myste rious reverence, as the representative of an unseen Being. The beneficence of this deity is usually limited to supplying the wants of the day, or to in fluencing the hourly occurrences of a life, in which violent and exhausting labour alternates either with periods of sluggish and torpid indolence, as among some of the North American tribes ; or, as among the Africans, with wild bursts of thoughtless present century. M. Constant has nation (and here M. Constant placed the evils of sacerdotal.influ- would have agreed with us) is alto- ence in the strongest light, and dis- gether alien to genuine Chris- guised or dissembled its advantages, tianity. The ancient priestly castes, I con- # The Fetiche of the African ceive, attained their power over is the Manitou of the American the rest of their race by their ac- Indian. The word Fetiche was first, knowledged superiority; they were I believe, brought into general use the benefactors, and thence the in the curious volume of the Pre miers of their people : to retain sident De Brosses, Du Culte des their power, as the people advanced, Dieux Fetiches. The word was they resorted to every means of formed by the traders to Africa, keeping men in ignorance and sub- from the Portuguese, Fetisso, chose jection, and so degenerated into fee, enchantee, divine, ou rendant the tyrants of the human mind, des oracles. De Brosses, page 18. At all events, sacerdotal domi- 12 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. Tsabaism. Nature-worship. merriment. * This Fetichism apparently survived in more polished nations, in the household gods, perhaps in the Teraphim, and in the sacred stones (the Bcetylia), which were thought either to have fallen from heaven, or were sanctified by immemo rial reverence. In the Oriental pastoral tribes, Tsabaism t, the simpler worship of the heavenly bodies, in ge neral prevailed ; which among the agricultural races grew up into a more complicated system, connecting the periodical revolutions of the sun and moon with the pursuits of husbandry. It was Nature-worship, simple in its primary ele ments, but branching out into mythological fables, rich and diversified in proportion to the poetic genius of the people. This Nature-worship in its simpler, probably its earlier form, appears as a sort of dualism, in which two great antagonist powers, the creative and destructive, Light and Darkness, seem contending for the sovereignty of the world, and, em blematical of moral good and evil, are occupied in pouring the full horn of fertility and blessing, or the vial of wrath and misery, upon the human race. Sub ordinate to, or as a modification of, these two conflict ing powers, most of the Eastern races concurred in deifying the active and passive powers of genera tion. The sun and the earth, Osiris and Isis, formed * Hume (History of Nat. Reli gion) argues that a pure and phi losophical theism couldneverbe the creed of a barbarous nation strug gling with want. j The astral worship of the East is ably and clearly developed in an Excursus at the end of Ge- senius's Isaiah. HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. 13 a second dualism. And it is remarkable how widely, chap. almost universally extended throughout the earlier , L , world, appears the institution of a solemn period of mourning about the autumnal, and of rejoicing about the vernal, equinox.* The suspension, or ap parent extinction of the great t vivifying power of nature, Osiris or Iacchus ; the destitution of Ce res, Isis, or the Earth, of her husband or her beau tiful daughter, torn in pieces or carried away into their realms by the malignant powers of darkness ; their re-appearance in all their bright and fertilising energy ; these, under different forms, were the great annual fast and festival of the early heathen worship.t But the poets were the priests of this Poets. Nature-worship; and from their creative imagination arose the popular mythology, which gave its sepa rate deity to every part of animate or inanimate being ; and, departing still farther from the primi tive allegory, and the symbolic forms under which * Plutarch, de Iside et Osi- Gaul and Britain, as in India and ride: — °Perum ""one °a- the remarkable similarity between Etstupefactanovopendebatluminemundi. the usages of so many distinct na- Turn velut amissis mcerens, tum lata re- • i -*-r -ix?- i i n natis tions in the New World as well as Sideribus, &c. Mahil. i. 67. the Old, in Peru and Florida, in 14 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. I. chap, the phenomena of the visible world were embodied, wandered into pure fiction ; till nature-worship was almost supplanted by religious fable : and hence, by a natural transition, those who discerned God in every thing, multiplied every separate part of cre ation into a distinct divinity. The mind fluctuated between a kind of vague and unformed pantheism, the deification of the whole of nature, or its ani mation by one pervading power or soul, and the deification of every object which impressed the mind with awe or admiration.* While every na tion, every tribe, every province, every town, every village, every family, had its peculiar, local, or tute lar deity, there was a kind of common neutral ground on which they all met, a notion that the gods in their collective capacity exercised a general controlling providence over the affairs of men, in terfered, especially on great occasions, and, though this belief was still more vague and more inextrica- * Some able writers are of the sanctuary the primeval secret. opinion that the reverse of this Hence mythology appears to me was the case — that the variety was thelast developed and most change- the primary belief; the simplifi- able part of the old religion. The cation the work of a later and more divergence of the various mytho- intellectual age. On this point A. logies, therefore, proves nothing W. Schlegel observes," The more I against the descent of the religions investigate the ancient history of from a common source. The my- the world, the more I am convinced thologies might be locally formed, that the civilised nations set out according to the circumstances of from a purer worship of the Su- climate or soil ; it is impossible to preme Being ; that the magic power mistake this with regard to the of Nature oyer the imagination Egyptian myths." Schlegel, p. 16. of the successive human races, first, Preface to Pritchard's Egyptian at a later period, produced poly- Mythology. My own views, con- theism, and, finally, altogether ob- sidering the question in a purely scured the more spiritual religious historical light, coincide with those notions in the popular belief ; while of M. Schlegel. the wise alone preserved within caste. HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. 15 bly involved in fable, administered retribution in another state of being. And thus even the com mon language of the most polytheistic nations ap proached to monotheism.* Wherever, indeed, there has been a great priestly Priestly caste, less occupied with the daily toils of life, and advanced beyond the mass of the people, the primitive nature-worship has been perpetually brought back, as it were, to its original elements ; and, without disturbing the popular mytholo gical religion, furnished a creed to the higher and more thinking part of the community, less wild and extravagant.! In Persia the Magian order retained or acquired something like a pure theism, in which the Supreme Deity was repre sented under the symbol of the primal uncreated fire ; and their Nature-worship, under the form of the two conflicting principles, preserved much more of its original simplicity than in most other coun tries. To the influence of a distinct sacerdotal order may be traced t, in India, the singular union * This is strikingly expressed vulgar. One of the charges against by a Christian writer : — " Audio the Christians was their teaching vulgus cum ad ccelum manus ten- the worship of one God, which dunt, nihil aliud quam Deum di- they had full liberty to worship cunt, et Deus magnus est, et Deus themselves, to the common people .- verus est, et si Deus dederit. — " Non aeque placere, rudem ple- Vulgi iste naturalis sermo est, an beculam rerum novarum cupidi- Christiani confitentis oratio ? " tate, cceli Dominum venerari." Tri- Min. Fel. Octavius. The same gault, Exped. in Sinas, pp. 438 thought may be found in Cyprian, — 575. de Van. Idol., and Tertullian, J " The learned brahmins adore Apolog. one God, without form or quality, •J- This is nowhere more openly eternal, unchangeable, and occupy- professed than in China. The ing all space: but they carefully early Jesuit missionaries assert that confine these doctrines to their the higher class (the literatorum own schools, as dangerous ; and secta) despised the idolatry of the teach in public a religion, in which, 16" HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. Anthropo morphism of the Greeks. of the sublimest allegory, and a sort of lofty poeti cal religious philosophy, with the most monstrous and incoherent superstitions ; and the appearance of the profound political religion of Egypt in strange juxta-position withthe most debasing Feti chism, the worship of reptiles and vegetables.* From this Nature-worship arose the beautiful anthropomorphism of the Greeks, of which the Homeric poetry, from its extensive and lasting in supposed compliance with the infirmities and passions of human nature, the deity is brought more to a level with our prejudices and wants. The incomprehensible at tributes ascribed to him are invest ed with sensible and even human forms. The mind, lost in medita tion, and fatigued in the pursuit of something, which, being divested of all sensible qualities, suffers the thoughts to wander without find ing a resting-place, is happy, they tell us, to have an object on which human feelings and human senses may again find repose. To give a metaphysical deity to ignorant and sensual men, absorbed in the cares of supporting animal exist ence, and entangled in the impedi ments of matter, would be to con demn them to atheism. Such is the mode in which the brahmins excuse the gross idolatry of their religion." William Erskine, Bom bay Transactions, i. 199. Compare Colebrooke, Asiat. Res. vii. 279. ; and other quotations in Bohlen, Das Alte Indien, i. 153., which in deed might be multiplied without end. Mr. Mill (Hist, of India), among the ablest and most uncom promising opponents of the high view of Indian civilisation, appears to me not to pay sufficient atten tion to this point. * Heeren has conjectured, with his usual ingenuity, or rather per haps has adopted from De Brosses, the theory, that the higher part of the Egyptian religion was that of a foreign and dominant caste ; the worship of plants and brutes, the original undisturbed Feti chism of the primitive aud bar barous African race. (Compare Von Hammer, Geschichte der Assassinen, p. 57.) On the whole, I prefer this theory to that of Cicero (Nat. Deor. i. 36.), that it was derived from mere usefulness ; to the political reason suggested by Plutarch (de Isid. et Osir.); to that of Porphyry (de Abst. iv. 9.), which, however, is adopted, and, I think, made more probable by Dr. Pritchard in his Egyptian Mytho logy, from the transmigration of the soul into beasts; of Marsham and Warburton, from hieroglyphics; of Lucian (de Astrol.) and Dupuis, from the connection with astro nomy ; or, finally, that of Boh len (Das Alte Indien, i. 186.), who traces its origin to the consecra tion of particular animals to parti cular deities among their Indian ancestors. HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. 17 popularity, may in one sense be considered the chap. parent. The primitive traditions and the local t *' superstitions of the different races were moulded to gether in these songs, which, disseminated through out Greece, gave a kind of federal character to the religion of which they were, in some sort, the sacred books. But the genius of the people had already assumed its bias : few, yet still some, vestiges re main in Homer of the earlier theogonic fables.* Conscious, as it were, and prophetic of their future pre-eminence in all that constitutes the physical and mental perfection of our race, this wonderful peo ple conformed their religion to themselves. The cumbrous and multiform idol, in which wisdom, or power, or fertility, were represented by innumer able heads or arms, or breasts, as in the Ephesian Diana, was refined into' a being, only distinguished from human nature by its preterhuman develop ment of the noblest physical qualities of man. The imagination here took another and a nobler course ; it threw an ideal grandeur and an unearthly loveli ness over the human form, and by degrees deities became men, and men deities, or, as the distinction between the godlike (SeoeixaXog) and the divine (9-sToj) became more indistinct, were united in the intermediate form of heroes and demi-gods. The character of the people here, as elsewhere, ope rated on the religion ; the religion re-acted on the * Nothing can be more ground- thehistoryanddesignofthischange less or unsuccessful than the at- are admirably traced by Lobeck, tempt of later writers to frame an Aglaophamus, i. 158. allegorical system out of Homer ; VOL. I. C 18 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. chap. p0pUiar character. The religion of Greece was the religion of the Arts, the Games, the Theatre ; it was that of a race, living always in public, by whom the corporeal perfection of man had been carried to the highest point. In no other country would the legislator have taken under his pro tection the physical conformation, in some cases the procreation, in all the development of the bodily powers by gymnastic education ; and it re quired the most consummate skill in the sculptor to preserve the endangered pre-eminence of the gods, in whose images were embodied the perfect models of power and grace and beauty.* Region of The religion of Rome was political and military t. Rome. Springing originally from a kindred stock to that of earlier Greece, the rural Gods of the first cul tivators of Italy+% it received many of its rites from that remarkable people, the Etruscans ; and rapidly adapted itself, or was forced by the legis lator into an adaptation to the character of the people.§ Mars or Gradivus was the divine ancestor * Maximus Tyrius (Dissert, viii.) jected many of the more obscene defends the anthropomorphism of and monstrous fables of the Greeks. the Greeks, and distinguishes it from But it is as part of the civil polity the symbolic worship of barbarians, that he chiefly admires the Roman " If the soul of man is the nearest religion, lib. ii. c. 7. and most like to God, God would J The Palilia and other rural not have enclosed in an unworthy rites. The statues of the god- tabernacle that which bears the desses Seja and Segesta, of seed closest resemblance to himself." and of harvest, stood in the great Hence he argues that God ought Circus in the time of Pliny. H. N. to be represented under the noblest xviii. 2. form, that of man. § Beaufort's Republique Ro- T Dionysius Halicam. compares maine, b. i. ch. 5. Compare the the grave and serious character of recent and valuable work of Wal- the Roman as contrasted with the ter, Geschichte des Romischen Greek religion. The Romans re- Rechts, p. 177. HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. If) of the race.* The religious calendar was the early history of the people ; a large part of the festivals was not so much the celebration of the various deities, as the commemoration of the great events in their annals.t The priesthood was united with the highest civil and military offices ; and the great occupation of Roman worship seems to have been to secure the stability of her constitution, and still more, to give a religious character to her wars, and infuse a religious confidence of success into her le gionaries. The great office of the diviners, whether augurs or aruspices, was to choose the fortunate day of battle ; the Fetiales, religious officers, de nounced war : the standards and eagles possessed a kind of sanctity ; the eagle was in fact a shrine.t The altar had its place in the centre of the camp, as the ark of God in that of the Israelites. The Triumph may be considered as the great religious ceremony of the nation ; the god Terminus, who never receded, was, as it were, the deified ambition of Rome. At length Rome herself was impersonated and assumed her rank in heaven, as it were the re presentative of the all-conquering and all-ruling republic. * Et tamen ante omnes Martem coluere j. Compare the proportion ofRo- Hoc dederafstudiis bellica turba suis. man and of religious legend in the After reciting the national deities Fasti of Ovid. See, likewise, Con- of other cities, the religious poet of stant, I. 21, &c. ^ Rome proceeds, t '° 7aP cj£7"l>£ bvopaopivog (tori Mars Latio venerandus erat; quia prasidet Si vedg piKpbg) Kal ly abrtp derog armis, ypvaovg Ivibpvrai, Dion. Cass. xl. Arma fera, genti remque ^"^aban^ * ^ Gibbon> ;_ 16_ Moyle'sWorks, The month of Mars' began the ii- 86. Compare Tac. Ann. i. 39. year. Ibid. C 2 20 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. There was a stronger moral element in the Ro man religion, than in that of Greece.* In Greece Moral Eie- the gods had been represented, in their collective Roman capacity, as the avengers of great crimes ; a kind Rehg.on. of general retributive justice was assigned to them ; they guarded the sanctity of oaths. But in the better days of the republic, Rome had, as it were, deified her own virtues. Temples arose to Con cord, to Faith, to Constancy, to Modesty (Pudor), to Hope. The Penates, the household deities, became the guardians of domestic happiness. Venus Verti- cordia presided over the purity of domestic morals t, and Jupiter Stator over courage. But the true na tional character of the Roman theology is most re markably shown in the various temples, and various attributes assigned to the good Fortune of the city, who might appear the Deity of Patriotism. t Even Peace was at length received among the gods of Rome. And as long as the worship of the heart continued to sanctify these impersonations of human virtues, their adoration tended to maintain the lofty moral tone ; but as soon as that was with drawn, or languished into apathy, the deities became cold abstractions, without even that reality which might appear to attach itself to the other gods of the city : their temples stood, their rites were perhaps solemnised, but they had ceased to command, and no longer received the active veneration of the * The distinction between the of M. Constant, Du Polytheisme Roman and Greek religions is Romain. drawn with singular felicity in the f The most virtuous woman in two supplemental (in my opinion Rome was chosen to dedicate her the most valuable and original), but statue, Val. Max. viii. 15. unfortunately, unfinished volumes J Constant, i. 16. HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. 21 people. What, in fact, is the general result of the Roman religious calendar, half a year of which is described in the Fasti of Ovid ? There are festivals founded on old Italian and on picturesque Grecian legends ; others commemorative of the great events of the heroic days of the republic ; others instituted in base flattery of the ruling dynasty; one ceremonial only, that of the Manes*, which relates to the doc trine of another life, and that preserved as it were from pride, and as a memorial of older times. Nothing can show more strongly the nationality of the Roman religion, and its almost complete trans mutation from a moral into a political power.t Amidst all this labyrinth, we behold the sacred Religion of secret of the divine Unity, preserved inviolate, the Jews" though sometimes under the most adverse circum stances, and, as it were, perpetually hovering on the verge of extinction, in one narrow district of the world, the province of Palestine. Nor is it there the recondite treasure of a high and learned caste, or the hardly worked-out conclusion of the thinking and philosophical few, but the plain and distinct groundwork of the popular creed. Still, even there, as though in its earlier period, the yet un developed mind of man was unfit for the reception, or at least for the preservation of this doctrine, in * 11.533. The Lemuria (Re- f See the fine description of Ma- muria) were instituted to appease jestas (Fasti, v. 25 — 52.), who be- the shade of Remus, V. 451, &c. comes at the end the tutelar deity Ovid applies on another occasion of the senate and matrons, and pre- his general maxim sides over the triumphs of Rome. Pro magna teste vetustas Creditur : acceptam parce movere fidem. Fasti, iv. 20?. c 3 22 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. chap, its perfect spiritual purity; as though the Deity ' , condescended to the capacities of the age, and it were impossible for the divine nature to maintain its place in the mind of man, without some visible re presentative ; a kind of symbolic worship still en shrines the one great God of the Mosaic religion. There is a striking analogy between the Shechinah * or luminous appearance which " dwelt between the cherubim," and the pure immaterial fire of the Theism, which approaches nearest to the Hebrew, that of the early Persians. Yet even here likewise is found the great indelible distinction between the religion of the ancient and of the modern world ; the characteristic, which besides the general prac tice of propitiating the Deity, usually by animal sacrifices, universally prevails in the prae- Christian ages. The physical predominates over the moral God under character of the Deity. God is Power in the old the rfew31"1 religion, he is Love under the new. Nor does his Religion. pUre and essential spirituality, in the more complete faith of the gospel, attach itself to, or exhibit itself under any form. " God," says the divine author of Christianity, " is a Spirit, and they that worship him, must worship him in spirit and in truth." In the early Jewish worship, it was the physical power of the Deity, which was presented to the mind of the worshipper : he was their temporal king, the dispenser of earthly blessings, famine and plenty, drought and rain, discomfiture or success in war. * Even if the notion of a visible residence behind the veil, in the Shechinah was of a later period, unapproachable Holy of Holies ; (notetoHeber'sBamptonLectures, and the imagination would thus be p. 278.), God was universally be- even more powerfully excited than lieved to have a local and personal by a visible symbol. HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. 23 The miracles recorded in the Old Testament, parti- chap. cularly in the earlier books, are amplifications, as it were, or new directions of the powers of nature ; as if the object were to show that the deities of other nations were but subordinate and obedient instruments in the hand of the great self-existent Being, the Jehovah of Jewish worship. Yet, when it is said that the physical rather tljan the moral character of the Deity predominated, it must not be supposed that the latter was altogether excluded. It is impossible entirely to dissociate the notion of moral government from that belief, or that propensity to believe, in the existence of a God, implanted in the human mind ; and religion was too useful an ally, not to be called in to confirm the consciously imperfect authority of human law. But it may be laid down as a principle, that the nearer the nation approaches to barbarism, the child hood of the human race, the more earthly are the conceptions of the Deity ; the moral aspect of the divine nature seems gradually to develope itself with the development of the human mind. It is at first, as in Egypt and India, the prerogative of the higher class ; the vulgar are left to their stocks and their stones, their animals and their reptiles. In the republican states of Greece, the intellectual aristocracy of the philosophers, guarded by no such legally established distinction, rarely dared openly to assert their superiority ; but concealed their more extended views behind a prudential veil, as a secret or esoteric doctrine, and by studious con formity to the national rites and ceremonies. c 4 24 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. Gradually, however, as the period approaches, in which the religion of civilisation is to be intro- Prepara- duced into the great drama of human life, as we R™ig°ioneiri descend nearer towards the point of separation theHeathen between the ancient and modern world, the human World. mind appears expanding. Polytheism is evidently relaxing its hold upon all classes : the monarch maintains his throne, not from the deep-rooted, or rational, or conscientious loyalty of his subjects, but from the want of a competitor ; because man kind were habituated to a government which the statesman thought it might be dangerous, and the philosopher, enjoying perfect toleration, and rather proud of his distinctive superiority, than anxious to propagate his opinions throughout the world, did not think it worth while, at the hazard of popular odium, to disturb. Among the Judaism gave manifest indications of a preparation for a more essentially spiritual, more purely moral faith. The symbolic presence of the Deity (accord ing to their own tradition *) ceased with the temple of Solomon ; and the heathen world beheld with astonishment a whole race- whose deity was repre sented under no visible form or likeness. The conqueror Pompey, who enters the violated temple, is filled with wonder at finding the sanctuary with out image or emblem of the presiding deity t ; the poet describes them as worshipping nothing but the clouds and the divinity that fills the # Hist, of the Jews, ii. 10. f Ib. ii. 70. HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. 25 Heaven * ; the philosophic historian, whose pro- founder mind seems struggling with hostile pre judices, defines with his own inimitable compres sion of language, the doctrine, to the sublimity of whicli he has closed his eyes. " The worship of the Jews is purely mental ; they acknowledge but one God — and that God supreme and eternal, neither changeable, nor perishable."t The doctrine of another life (which derived no sanction from the Law, and was naturally obscured by the more immediate and intelligible prospect of temporal rewards and punishments,) dawns in the prophetic writings ; and from the apocryphal books and from Josephus, as well as from the writings of the New Testament, clearly appears to have become in corporated with the general sentiment. Retri bution in another life has already taken the place of the immediate or speedy avenging or rewarding providence of the Deity in the land of Canaan, t Judaism however only required to expand with Expansion the expansion of the human mind; its sacred records had preserved in its original simplicity the notion of the Divine Power ; the pregnant definitions of the one great self-existing Being, the magnificent poetical amplifications of his might and providence were of all ages : they were eternal poetry, because they were eternal truth. If the moral aspect of * Nil praster nubes et coeli nu- illud et aeternum, neque mutabile, men adorant. Juv. xiv. 97. neque interiturum. Tac. Hist. v. 5. f Judsei mente sola, unumque f See Chap. II., in which this nuraen intelligunt. * * * Summum question is resumed. 26 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. chap, the Divine nature was more obscurely intimated, . and, in this respect, had assumed the character of a local or national Deity, whose love was confined to the chosen people, and displayed itself chiefly in the beneficence of a temporal sovereign : yet nothing was needed but to give a higher and more extensive sense to those types and shadows of uni versal wisdom ; an improvement which the tendency of the age manifestly required ; and which the Jews themselves, especially the Alexandrian school, had already attempted, by allegorising the whole annals of their people, and extracting a profound moral meaning from all the circumstances of their extra ordinary history.* Effects of~ But the progress of knowledge was fatal to the knowledge popular religion of Greece and Rome. The awe- thdsmP°ly" struck imagination of the older race, which had listened with trembling belief to the wildest fables, the deep feeling of the sublime and the beautiful, which, uniting with national pride, had assembled adoring multitudes before the Parthenon or the Jove of Phidias, now gave place to cold and sober reason. Poetry had been religion — religion was becoming mere poetry. Humanizing the Deity, and bringing it too near the earth, naturally pro duced, in a less imaginative and more reflecting * Philo wrote for the unbe- philosophers who attempted to re lievers among his own people, and duce it to allegory, induced Philo, to conciliate the Greeks. (De Conf. and no doubt his predecessor Aris- Linguar. vol. i. p. 405.) The same tobulus, thus to endeavour to ac- principle which among the heathens commodate the Mosaic history to gave rise to the system of Euhe- an incredulous age, and to blend merus, who resolved all mythology Judaism and Platonism into one into history, and that of the other harmonious system. HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. 27 age, that familiarity which destroys respect. When man became more acquainted with his own nature, the less was he satisfied with deities cast in his own mould. In some respects the advancement of civilisation had no doubt softened and purified the old religions from their savage and licentious tendencies. Human sacrifices had ceased*, or had retired to the remotest parts of Germany, or to the shores of the Baltic.t Though some of the secret rites were said to be defiled with unspeakable Beneficial. * Human sacrifices sometimes, but rarely, occur in the earlier pe riods of Grecian history. Accord ing to Plutarch, Vit. Arist. 9. and Vit. ThemistocUs, three sons of Sandauke, sister of the king of Persia, were offered, in obedience to an oracle, to Bacchus Omestes. The bloodstained altar of Diana of Tauris was placed by the tragedi ans in a barbarous region. Prisoners were sometimes slain on the tombs of warriors in much later times, as in the Homeric age, even on that of Philopcemen. Plut. Vit. Philop. c. 21. Compare Tschirner, Fall des Heidenthums, p. 34. Octavius is said (Suet. Vit. Octav.) to have sacrificed 300 Pe- rugian captives on an altar sacred to the deified Julius (Divo Julio). This may be considered the san guinary spirit of the age of pro scriptions taking for once a more solemn and religious form. As to the libation of the blood of the gladiators, (see Tertullian, Apolog. c. 9. Scorpiac. 7. Cyprian, De Spectaculis. Compare Porphyr. de Abstin. Lactant. 1 — 21.) I should agree with M. Constant in ascribing this ceremony to the barbarity of the Roman amusements rather than to their religion. All public spec tacles were, perhaps, to a certain degree religious ceremonies ; but the gladiators were the victims of the sanguinary pleasures of the Ro man people, not slain in honour of their gods. Constant, iv. 335. Tschirner, p. 45. f Tac. Ann. i. 6 1 . Tac. Germ. 10. 40. Compare on the gradual aboli tion of human sacrifices, Constant, iv. 330. The exception, which rests on the authority of Pliny, xxviii.2., and Plutarch, Vita Marii. in init. Quaest. Rom., appears to me very doubtful. The prohibitory law of Lentulus, AU. DCLVII. and Livy's striking expression, more non Romano, concerning the sacri fice said to be continued to a late period, as well as the edict of Ti berius, promulgated in the remoter provinces, indicate the general sen timent of the time. Non satis aestimari potest quantum Romanis debeatur, qui sustulere monstra in quibus hominem occidere religio- sissimum erat, mandi vero salu- berrimum. Plin. H. N. xxx. 1. See in Ovid, Fasti, iii. 341. the reluc tance of Numa to offer human sa crifice. Hadrian issued an edict prohibiting human sacrifices; this was directed, according to Creuzer, (Symb. i. 363.), against the later 28 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. chap, pollutions*, yet this, if true, arose from the depra- . vation of manners, rather than from religion. The orgies of the Bona Dea were a profanation of the sacred rite, held up to detestation by the indignant satirist, not as among some of the early Oriental nations, the rite itself. Prejudicial. But with the tyranny, which could thus extort from reluctant human nature the sacrifice of all hu manity and all decency, the older religions had lost their more salutary, and, if the expression may be ventured, their constitutional authority. They had been driven away, or silently receded from their post, in which indeed they had never been firmly seated, as conservators of public morals. The circumstances of the times tended no less to loosen the bonds of the ancient faith. Peace enervated the deities, as well as the soldiers of Rome: their occupation was gonet; the augurs Mithriac rites, which had reintro- M. Constant on these rites, which duced the horrible practice of con- strikes me as extremely profouud suiting futurity in the entrails of and just : " La mauvaise influence human victims. The savage Com- des Tables licencieuses commence modus (Lamprid. in Comm.) of- avec le mepris et le ridicule verse fered a human victim to Mithra. sur ces fables. II en est de meme The East, if the accounts are to des ceremonies. Des rites inde- be credited, continually reacted on cens pouvent etre pratique's par un the religion of Rome. Human peuple religieux avec une grande sacrifices are said to have taken purete de caeur. Mais quand l'in- place under Aurelian (Aug. Hist. credulite" atteint ces peuples, ces Vit. Aureh), and even under Max- rites sont pour lui la cause et la entius. pretexte de la plus revoltante # The dissolute rites against corruption." Du Polyth. Rom. ii. which the Fathers inveigh were of 102. foreign and Oriental origin — Isiac, -j- Our generals began to wage Bacchanalian, Mithriac. Lobeck, civil wars against each other, as i. 197. See Constant, vol. iv. c. 11. soon as they neglected the auspices. Compare the Confession of His- Cic.Nat. Deor. ii. 3. This is good pala in Livy. I cannot refrain evidence to the fact; the cause lay from transcribing an observation of deeper. HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. 29 read no longer the signs of conquest in the entrails chap, of the victims ; and though down to the days , L of Augustine*, Roman pride clung to the wor ship of the older and glorious days of the re public, and denounced the ingratitude of forsaking gods, under whose tutelary sway Rome had be come the empress of the world, yet the ceremonies had now no stirring interest ; they were pageants in which the unbelieving aristocracy played their parts with formal coldness, the contagion of which could not but spread to the lower classes. The only novel or exciting rite of the Roman religion, was that which probably tended more than any other, when the immediate excitement was over, to enfeeble the religious feeling, the deificationt of the living, or the apotheosis of the dead emperor, whom a few years or perhaps a few days abandoned to the open execration or contempt of the whole people. At the same time that energy of mind, which had consumed itself in foreign conquest or civil faction, in carrying the arms of Rome to the * This was the main argument honours. In one instance, he al- of his great work, de Civitate Dei. lowed himself to be joined in di- It is no where more strongly ex- vine honours with his mother and pressed than in the oration of Sym- the senate, but in general he refused machus to Theodosius. Hie cultus them. Tac. Ann. iv. 15. 37. v. 2. in leges meas orbem redegit ; haec The very curious satire of Seneca, sacra Annibalem a mcenibus, a the AnoKokwroaig, though chiefly Capitolio Sennonas repulerunt. aimed at Claudius, throws ridicule This subject will frequently recur on the whole ceremony. Augustus, in the course of our History. in his speech to the gods, says, \ The deification of Augustus Denique dum tales deos facitis, found some opponents. Nihil De- nemo vos deos esse credet. A later orum honoribus relictum, cum se writer complains — Aliquanti pari templis et effigie numinum, per libidine in coelestium numerum re- flamines et sacerdotes coli vellet. feruntur, aegre exequiis digni. Tac. Ann. i. 10. The more saga- Aur. Victor, Caasar, in Gallieno. cious Tiberius shrunk from such M. Ranke, in the first chapter of so HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. Philo sophy. Euphrates or the Rhine, or in the mortal conflict for patrician or plebeian supremacy, now that the field of military or civil distinction was closed, turned inward and preyed upon itself; or com pressed by the iron hand of despotism, made itself a vent in philosophical or religious specu lations. The noble mind sought a retreat from the degradation of servitude in the groves of the Academy, or attempted to find consolation for the loss of personal dignity, by asserting with the Stoic the dignity of human nature.* But Philosophy aspired in vain to fill that void in the human mind, which had been created by the expulsion or secession of religion. The objects of Philosophy were twofold, either — 1 . to refine the popular religion into a more rational creed ; or, 2. to offer itself as a substitute. With this first view it endeavoured to bring back the fables to their original meaningt, to detect the latent truth under whose admirable work (die Ro'mis- chen Papste) I am not displeased to find some coincidences of view, even of expression, with my own, seems to think that much of the strength of the old religion lay in the worship of the emperor. I am not disposed to think so ill of hu man nature. * Cicero, no doubt, speaks the language of many of the more ele vated minds when he states that he took refuge in philosophy from the afflictions of life at that dark period of civil contention. Hortata etiam est, ut me ad haec conferrem, animi segritudo, magna et gravi commota injuria : cujus si majorem aliquam levationem reperire potuissem, non ad haec potissimum confugissem. De Nat. Deor. i. 4. -}- Tlpaypdrov bn' dvQponivyg dodEVEiac oil KaQopopivov tiatyuig ebaxypovkarepog ippyvebg b pvQoc. Max. Tyr., Dissert. X. The whole essay is intended to prove that poetry and philosophy held the same doctrine about the gods. This process, it should be ob served, though it had already com menced, was not carried to its height until philosophy and poly theism coalesced again, from the sense of their common danger, and endeavoured to array a system composed of the most rational and attractive parts of both, against the encroachments of Christianity, HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. 31 the allegoric shell : but in many cases the key was chap. lost, or the fable had wandered so far from its pri- , L mary sense, as to refuse all rational interpretation ; and where the truth had been less encumbered with fiction, it came forth cold and inanimate : the philosopher could strip off the splendid robes in which the moral or religious doctrine had been disguised, but he could not instil into it the breath of life. The imagination refused the unnatural alliance of cold and calculating reason ; and the religious feeling, when it saw the old deities reduced into ingenious allegories, sank into apathy ; or vaguely yearned for some new excitement, which it knew not from what quarter to expect. The last hopes of the ancient religion lay in the The Mys- Mysteries. Of them alone the writers, about the time of the appearance of Christianity, speak with uniform reverence, if not with awe. They alone could bestow happiness in life, and hope in death.* In these remarkable rites t the primitive Nature-worship had survived under a less refined and less humanized form ; the original and more simple symbolic forms (those of the first agricul tural inhabitants of Greece t~) had been retained by * Neque solum cum hetitia vi- that there was none, or scarcely vendi rationem accepimus, sed any, secret. etiam cum spe meliore moriendi. vetabo qui Cereris sacrum Cic. de Leg. ii. 14. The theory of Vulgarit arcana, sub iisdem ,TT ° , „_. . . J Sit trabibus, fragilemque mecum W arburton on the Mysteries is now Solvat phasclum. Hor. Carm. iii. & universally exploded ; but neither, with the utmost deference to his f The theories of Maier, War- erudition, can I enter altogether burton, Plessing, Boulanger, Du- into the views of Lobeck. In my puis, Meiners, Villoison, P. Knight, judgement his quotations do not Heeren, St. Croix, Creuzer, maybe bear him out, as to the publicity of found briefly stated, Lobeck, I. 6. 8. the ceremonies ; nor can I conceive \ Quibus explicatis,ad rationem- tenes. 32 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. ancient reverence : as its allegory was less intri cate and obscure *, it accommodated itself better with the advancing spirit of the age. It may in deed be questioned whether the Mysteries did not owe much of their influence to their secrecy, and to the impressive forms, under which they sha dowed forth their more recondite truths.! These, if they did not satisfy, yet kept the mind in a state of progressive and continued excitement. They were, if it may be so said, a great religious drama, in which the initiated were at once spectators and actors ; where the fifth act was designedly delayed to the utmost possible point, and of this still sus pended catastrophe, the dramatis personae, the only audience, were kept in studied ignorance, t The Mysteries had, perhaps, from an early period associated a moral§ purport with their sacred shows ; and with the progress of opinion, the moral would more and more predominate over the primitive reli gious meaning. || Yet the morality of the Mysteries was apparently that of the ancient Nature-wor- que revocatis, rerum magis natura dat revisentibus. Rerum natura, cognoscitur, quam deorum. Cic. sacra sua non simul tradit. Initiatos de Nat. Deor. i. 42. nos credimus : in yestibulo ejus hae- * See Varro's ViewoftheEleu- remus. Sen. Nat. Qusest. vii. 31. sinian Mysteries, preserved by Au- Ut opinionem suspendio cogniti- gustin, De Civ. Dei, vii. 15. onis aedificent, atque ita tantam ¦f 'Ayvoaia aepvbryg inl teXetov majestatem adhibere videantur, Kai vv%. bid tovto niaribtrai rd quantum praestruxerunt cupidita- pvarypia, Kal d&ara anyXaia Sid tem. Tert. adv. Valent. c. 1. tovto opbrrerai, Kaipoi kcu rbnoi § Pindar, Frag. ] 16. Sopho- Kpvnreiv e'iSoteq dppyrovpyiav ev- cles. Fragm. Luc. LVIII. Isoc. Beov. Synes. de Prov. Compare Pan. VII. Plato, Men. the splendid passage in Dio. Chrys. || Even Lobeck allows this of Orat. 12. the Eleusinian Mysteries — Sacer- J Non semel qusedam sacra tra- dotes interdum aliquid de metem- duntur : Eieusis servat, quod osten- psychosi dixisse largiar." i. 73. HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. 33 ship of the East. It taught the immortality of chap. the soul, as a part of that vast system of nature, , whicli, emanating from the Supreme Being, passed through a long course of deterioration or re finement, and at length returned and resolved itself into the primal source of all existence. But the Mysteries, from their very nature, could only act upon the public mind in a limited manner * : di rectly they ceased to be mysteries they lost their power, t Nor can it be doubted, that while the local and public Mysteries, particularly the greatest of all, the Eleusinian, were pure and undefiled by licentiousness, and, if they retained any of the obscene symbols, disguised or kept them in the back ground ; the private and moveable mys teries, which, under the conduct of vagabond priests, were continually flowing in from the East, displayed those symbols in unblushing nakedness, and gave occasion for the utmost licence and im purity, t II. Philosophy as a substitute for religion was Philosophy. still more manifestly deficient. Eor, in the first * The Jews were forbidden to rivers, the annual temperature of be initiated in the Mysteries. In the air, and the winds, theinnumer- the Greek text of the LXX, a text able tribes and races of animals, was interpolated or mistranslated and fruits of the earth, for the com- (Deut. xxiii. 17.), in which Moses, monuseofman — why then are the by an anachronism not uncommon Mysteries confined to a few, and in the Alexandrian school, was those not always the most wise made distinctly to condemn these and most virtuous?" This is the peculiar rites of paganism. general sense of a long passage, f Philo demands why, if they vol. ii. p. 260. Ed. Mang. are so useful, they are not public: J The republic severely prohi- " Nature makes all her most bited these practices, which were beautiful and splendid works, her unknown in its earlier and better heaven and all her stars for the days. Dionys. Hal. ii. viii. sight of all ; her seas, fountains, and VOL. I. D 3i HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. chap, place, it was unable, or condescended not, to reach t ' , the body of the people, whom the progress of civilisation was slowly bringing up towards the common level ; and where it found or sought pro selytes, it spoke without authority, and distracted with the multitude of its conflicting sects the patient but bewildered inquirer.* Philosophy main tained the aristocratic tone, which, while it declared that to a few elect spirits alone it was possible to communicate the highest secrets of knowledge, more particularly the mystery of the great Supreme Being, proclaimed it vain and unwise to attempt to elevate the many to such exalted speculations.t " The Father of the worlds," says Plato in this tone, " it is difficult to discover, and, when discovered, " it is impossible to make him known to all." So, observes a German historian of Christianity, think the Brahmins of India. Plato might aspire to the creation of an imaginary republic, which, if it could possibly be realised, might stand alone, an unap proachable model of the physical and moral per fection of man ; but the amelioration of the whole world, the simultaneous elevation of all nations, orders, and classes to a higher degree of moral ad vancement, would have been a vision from which * 'Opdlg rb nXr)9og tov avv&ypa- when the above was written. It is tov ; nrj rig rpdn yrai ; ndtov av- curious that Strabo remarks, on an- tov KareXiiopEv ; rivi niioQo rdv other point, the similarity of the napayyiXpaTov ; Max. Tyr. xxxv. Indian opinions to Platonism, and sub fin. treats them all as'pbQoi: — UapanXi- + Neander has likewise quoted Kovai di Kai pbBovg, oansp Kai IlXd- several of the same authorities ad- rov, nepi te dtpBapaiag j//t>Y,ijc, Kai duced in the following passage, rov Kaff cibov Kpiaeov Kai dXXa toi- See the translation of Neander, aura. L. xv. p. 713. which had not been announced HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. 35 even his imagination would have shrunk in despair. This remained to be conceived and accomplished by one who appeared to the mass of mankind in his own age, as a peasant of Palestine. It cannot be denied that, to those whom it deigned varieties of to address, philosophy was sufficiently accommo- phic°sys- dating ; and whatever the bias of the individual tems- mind, the school was open, and the teacher at hand, to lead the inquirer, either to the luxurious gardens of Epicurus, or among the loftier spirits of the Porch. In the two prevalent systems of philosophy, the Epicurean and the Stoic, appears a striking assimi lation to the national character of the two predomi nant races which constituted the larger part of the Roman world. The Epicurean, with its subtle meta- Epicurean- physics, its abstract notion of the Deity, its imagin- Cordant to ative materialism, its milder and more pleasurable r3J^-cha' morals, and perhaps its propensity to degenerate into indolence and sensuality, was kindred and con genial to that of Greece, and the Grecian part of the Roman society. The Stoic, with its more practical stoicism character, its mental strength and self-confidence, its fatalism, its universally diffused and all-governing Deity, the soul of the universe (of which the polit ical power of the all-ruling republic might appear an image), bore the same analogy to that of Rome. While the more profound thinkers, who could not disguise from themselves the insufficiency of the grounds on which the philosophical systems rested, either settled into a calm and contented scepticism, or with the Academics, formed an eclectic creed from Academies. what appeared the better parts of the rest. d % 36 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. chap. Such on all the great questions of religion, the i divine nature, providence, the origin and future state of the soul*, was the floating and uncertain state of the human mind. In the department of morals, Philosophy nobly performed her part ; but perhaps her success in this respect more clearly dis played her inefficiency. The height to which moral science was carried in the works of Cicero, Seneca, Epictetus, and Marcus Antoninus, while it made the breach still wider between the popular religion and the advanced state of the human mind, more vividly displayed the want of a faith, which would associate itself with the purest and loftiest morality; and re marry, as it were, those thoughts and feelings, which connect man with a future state of being, to the practical duties of life.t Philosophy For while these speculations occupied the loftier puiar're-130" and more thinking minds, what remained for the Ugion. vulgar of the higher and of the lower orders ? Philosophy had shaken the old edifice to its base ; and even if it could have confined its more pro found and secret doctrines within the circle of its own elect, if its contempt for the old fables of the popular creed had been more jealously guarded, it * Augustin speaking of the great great question of the immortality of work of Varro concludes thus : — the soul. There is a striking passage In hac tota serie pulcherrimae et in a writer, whose works have lately subtilissimae disputationis, vitam come to light through the industry asternam frustra quaeri et sperari, of Angelo Mai. The author is en- facillime apparet. Civ. Dei, vi. 3. deavouring to find consolation for f Gibbon and many other writers the loss of a favourite grandson: (Law.Theory of Religion, 127. 130.; Si maxime esse animas immortales Sumner, Evidences, p. 76.) have ad- constet, erit hoc philosophis disse- duced the well-known passages from rendi argumentum, non parentibus Sallust and Cicero, which indicate desiderandi remedium. Front, de the general state of feeling on the Nep. Amiss. HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. 37 is impossible but that the irreligion of the upper chap. order must work downwards upon the lower. When *' , religion has, if not avowedly, yet manifestly, sunk into an engine of state policy, its most imposing and solemn rites will lose all their commanding life and energy. Actors will perform ill who do not feel their parts. " It is marvellous," says the Epi curean in Cicero, "that one soothsayer (Haruspex), can look another in the face without laughing." And when the Epicurean himself stood before the altar, in the remarkable language of Plutarch, " he hypocritically enacted prayer and adoration from fear of the many ; he uttered words directly op posite to his philosophy. While he sacrifices, the ministering priest seems to him no more than a cook, and he departs uttering the line of Menander, " I have sacrificed to Gods in whom I have no concern." * Unless indeed the literature as well as the philo- Literature. sophy of the age, immediately preceding Christian ity, had been confined to the intellectual aristocracy, the reasoning spirit, which rejected with disdain the old imaginative fables, could not but descend at least as low as the rudiments of liberal education. When the gravest writers, like Polybius and Strabo, find it necessary to apologise to their more learned and thinking readers, for the introduction of those mythic legends, which formed the creed of their ancestors, and to plead the necessity of avoiding offence, because such tales are still sacred among * Quoted also by Neander from Epic.) I have adopted Reiske's Plutarch. (Non poss. suav. viv. sec. reading of the latter clause. D 3 38 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. chap, the vulgar, this deference shows rather the in creasing indifference, than the strength of popular opinion. " Historians," says the former writer, " must be pardoned, if for the sake of maintaining piety among the many, they occasionally introduce miraculous or fabulous tales ; but they must not be permitted on these points to run into extrava gance." "Religion," he declares in another passage, " would perhaps be unnecessary in a commonwealth of wise men. But since the multitude is ever fickle, full of lawless desires, irrational passions and violence, it is right to restrain it by the fear of the invisible world, and such tragic terrors. Whence our ancestors appear to have introduced notions con cerning the Gods, and opinions about the infernal regions not rashly or without consideration. Those rather act rashly and inconsiderately who would ex pel them."* "It is impossible," observes the in quiring geographer, " to govern a mob of women, or the whole mixed multitude, by philosophic rea soning, and to exhort them to piety, holiness, and faith ; we must also employ superstition with its fables and prodigies. For the thunder, the aegis, the trident, the torches, the serpents, the thyrsi of the Gods are fables, as is all the ancient theology ; but the legislature introduced these things as bugbears to those who are children in understanding." t In short even when the Roman writers professed the utmost respect for the religious institutions of their country, there was a kind of silent protest against their sincerity. It was an evident, frequently an * Polyb. vi. 56. f Strabo, lib. i. p. 19. HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. 3g avowed, condescension to the prejudices of the vul gar. Livy admires the wisdom of Numa, who intro duced the fear of the Gods, as a " most efficacious means of controlling an ignorant and barbarous populace."* Even the serious Dionysius judges of religion according to its usefulness, not accord ing to its truth, as the wise scheme of the legis lator, rather than as the revelation of the Deity.t Pausanias, while he is making a kind of religious survey of Greece, expressing a grave veneration for all the temples and rites of antiquity, frequently relating the miraculous intervention of the several deitiest, is jealous and careful lest he should be considered a believer in the fables which he relates.§ The natural consequence of this double doctrine was not unforeseen. "What," says the Academic in Cicero, "when men maintain all belief in the immortal Gods to have been invented by wise men for the good of the state, that religion might lead to their duty those who would not be led by reason, do they not sweep away the very foundations of all religion? "|| The mental childhood of the human race was Futu passing away, at least it had become wearied of its Llfe' old toys.^f The education itself, by which, accord- * H. R. i. 19. T Gibbon has a striking sentence T Ant. Rom. ii. 8, 9. in his juvenile Essai sur la Littera- t Boeotica,25. ; Laconica, 4. ture (Misc. Works, iv; 61.) : " Les 0 Tovtov tov Xbyov, Kai baa too- Romains etaient eclaires : cependant KOTaeipyrai.ovKdnoiiExbpivos ypd- ces memes Romains ne furent pas fo, ypdtpo Si ovbiv r\aaov. Corinth, choques de voir reunir dans la per- xvii. In another place he repeats sonne de Cesar un dieu, un pretre, that he gives the popular legend as et un athee." He adds atheist, as he finds it. Arcad.viii. disbelieving with the Epicureans || De Nat. Deor. i. 42. the providence of God. D 4 40 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. ing to these generally judicious writers, the youthful mind was to be impregnated with reverential feel ings for the objects of national worship, must have been coldly conducted by teachers conscious that they were practising a pious fraud upon their dis ciples, and perpetually embarrassed by the necessity of maintaining the gravity befitting such solemn subjects, and of suppressing the involuntary smile, which might betray the secret of their own impiety. One class of fables seems to have been universally exploded even in the earliest youth, those which related to another life. The picture of the unrival led satirist may be overcharged, but it corresponds strictly with the public language of the orator, and the private sentence of the philosopher : The silent realm of disembodied ghosts, The frogs that croak along the Stygian coasts ; The thousand souls in one crazed vessel steer'd, Not boys believe, save boys without a beard.* Even the religious Pausanias speaks of the im mortality of the soul as a foreign doctrine, intro duced by the Chaldeans and the Magi, and em braced by some of the Greeks, particularly by Plato, t Pliny, whose Natural History opens with a declara tion that the universe is the sole Deity, devotes a separate chapter to a contemptuous exposure of the idle notion of the immortality of the soul, as a vision * Esse aliquid manes et subterranea regna, intellisunt. — Cic.Pro Cluent C fil Et contum, et Stygio ranas in gurgite nigras; -\r . ?-, , Atque una transire vadum tot millia cymba. .Nemo tam puer est Ut Cerberum Nee puericredunt nisi qui nondum aere la- timeat, ettenebras et larvarum ha- vantur. Pro Sat. n. 119. biturn nudis ossibus cohaerentem_ Nisi forte ineptiis ac fabulis du- Mors nos aut consumit aut emittit. cimur, ut existimemus apud inferos Sen. Ep. 24. impiorum supplicia perferre * * * + Messeniaca, c. xxxii. quae si falsa sunt, id quod omnes HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. 41 of human pride, and equally absurd, whether under chap. the form of existence in another sphere, or under . that of transmigration.* We return then again to the question, what re- Reception mained for minds thus enlightened beyond the Reunion" poetic faith of their ancestors, yet not ripe for phi losophy ? how was the craving for religious excite ment to be appeased, which turned with dissatis faction or disgust from its accustomed nutriment ? Here is the secret of the remarkable union between the highest reason and the most abject super stition which characterises the age of Imperial Rome. Every foreign religion found proselytes in the capital of the world ; not only the pure and rational theism of the Jews, which had made a pro gress, the extent of which it is among the most difficult questions in history to estimate : but the Oriental rites of Phrygia, and the Isiac and Se- rapic worship of Egypt, which, in defiance of the edict of the magistrate! and the scorn of the philo sopher, maintained their ground in the capital, and were so widely propagated among the provinces, that their vestiges may be traced in the remote districts of Gaul t and Britain § ; and at a later period the reviving Mithriac Mysteries, which in the same manner made their way into the western provinces of the empire. || In the capital itself, * Lib. vii. 55. § I have been informed that in + See ante, p. 7. some recent excavations at York, f As late as the time of Julian, vestiges of Isiac worship have been the son of a German king had discovered. changed his barbarous name of Age- || Religions de I'Antiquite, 1. nario for that of Serapion, having 363. ; and note ", p. 743. been instructed in certain Mysteries in Gaul. Amm. Marcell. xvi. c. 12. 42 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. Poetry ceases to be re ligious. every thing that was new, or secret, or imposing, found a welcome reception among a people that listened with indifference to philosophers who reasoned, and poets who embodied philosophy in the most attractive diction. For in Rome, poetry had forsworn the alliance of the old imaginative faith. The irreligious system of Euhemerus* had found a translator in Ennius ; that of Epicurus was com mended by the unrivalled powers of Lucretius. Vir gil himself, who, as he collected from all quarters the beauties of ancient poetry, so he inlaid in his splendid tessellation the noblest images of the poetic faith of Greece : yet, though at one moment he transfuses mythology into his stately verse, with all the fire of an ardent votary, at the next he appears as a pantheist, and describes the Deity but as the animating soul of the universe, t An occasional fit of superstition crosses over the careless and Epi curean apathy of Horace, t Astrology and witch craft § led captive minds, which boasted them- * Euhemerus either of Messina in Sicily or of Messene in Pelo ponnesus (he lived in the time of Cassander king of Macedon), was of the Cyrenaic school of phi losophy, and was employed on a voyage to the Red Sea by Cas sander. But he was still more celebrated for his theologic in novation : he pretended to have discovered during this voyage on an island in the Eastern Ocean, called Panchaia, a register of the births and deaths of the gods inscribed on a golden column in the temple of the Triphylian Jupiter. Hence he inferred that all the popular deities were mere mortals deified on ac count of their fame, or their bene factions to the human race. Cic. de Nat. Deor. i. 42. Plut. de Isid. et Osir. p.421. Brucker, i. 604. ¦|- iEn. vi. 724. According to his life by Donatus Virgil was an Epicurean. j Insanientis dum sapiential Consultus erro, nunc retrorsum Vela dare, atque iterare cursus Cogor relictos. And this because he heard thunder at noon-day. § See the Canidia of Horace. According to Gibbon's just criti cism, a " vulgar witch," the Erictho of Lucan, is " tedious, disgusting, but sometimes sublime." Note, ch.xxv. vol.iv. p.239. Itis the dif ference between the weird sisters in Macbeth and Middleton's "Witch," excepting of course the prolixity of Lucan. tions. HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. 43 selves emancipated from the idle terrors of the avenging gods. In the Pharsalia of Lucan, which manifestly soars far above the vulgar theology, where the lofty Stoicism elevates the brave man who disdains, above the gods who flatter, the rising fortunes of Caesar ; yet in the description of the witch Erictho evoking the dead (the only purely imaginative passage in the whole rhetorical poem), there is a kind of tremendous truth and earnestness, which show that if the poet himself believed not " the magic wonders which he drew," at least he well knew the terrors that would strike the age in which he wrote. The old established traders in human ere- Supersti- dulity had almost lost their occupation, but their place was supplied by new empirics, who swarmed from all quarters. The oracles were silent, while astrology seized the administration of the secrets of futurity. Pompey, and Crassus, and Caasar, all consulted the Chaldeans*, whose flattering pre dictions that they should die in old age, in their homes, in glory, so belied by their miserable fates, still brought not the unblushing science into dis repute. The repeated edicts which expelled the astrologers and " mathematicians" from Rome, was no less an homage to their power over the public mind, than their recall, the tacit permission to return, or the return in defiance of the insulted edict. Banished by Agrippat, by Augustus}, by Tiberius§, by Claudius ||, they are described in the inimitable * Chaldeis sed major erit fiducia, quicquid 4- Dio. xlix. C. 43. Dixerit astrologus, credent de fonte relatum .. p.- , ¦ ge Hammonis;quoniamDelphUoraculacessant, -: ±>™- "'• ..' Et genus humanum damnat caligo futuri. A Tac Ann. 11. 66. JUT-Vi-553- || Tac. Ann. xii. 52. 44 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. language of Tacitus, as a race who, treacherous to those in power, fallacious to those who hope for power, are ever proscribed, yet will ever remain.* They were at length taken under the avowed pa tronage of Vespasian and his successors.t All these circumstances were manifest indications of the decay, and of the approaching dissolution of the old religion. The elegiac poet had read, not with out sagacity, the signs of the times. None sought the aid of foreign gods, while bow'd Before their native shrines the trembling crowd.} And thus, in this struggle between the old house hold deities of the established faith, and the half domiciliated gods of the stranger, undermined by philosophy, supplanted by still darker superstition, Polytheism seemed, as it were, to await its death blow ; and to be ready to surrender its ancient honours to the conqueror, whom Divine Providence should endow with sufficient authority over the hu man mind to seize upon the abdicated supremacy. Revolution Such is the state in which the ancient world effected leaves the mind of man. On a sudden a new era by Christi anity, commences ; a rapid yet gradual revolution takes place in the opinions, sentiments, and principles of mankind ; the void is filled ; the connection be- * Genus hominum, potentibus poet of this period : his verses teem infidum, sperantibus fallax, quod in with mythological allusion, but it civitate nostra et vetabitur semper is poetical ornament rather than et retinebitur. Tac. Hist. i. 22. the natural language of piety; f Tac. Hist. ii. 78. Suet. inVesp. it has much of the artificial Dio. lxviii. Suet, in Dom. xiv. xv. school of the Alexandrian Calli- t Nulli cura fuit externos quserere Divos, machus, his avowed model, no- Cum tremeret patrio pendula turba foro. thing of the Simplicity of faith prop. iv. 1-17. which breathed in Pindar and Propertius may be considered Sophocles. in one sense the most religious HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. 45 tween religion and morals re-established with an intimacy of union yet unknown. The unity of the Deity becomes, not the high and mysterious creed of a privileged sacerdotal or intellectual oligarchy, but the common property of all whose minds are fitted to receive it : all religious distinctions are annihilated ; the jurisdictions of all local deities abolished ; and imperceptibly the empire of Rome becomes one great Christian commonwealth, which even sends out, as it were, its peaceful colonies into regions beyond the limits of the Imperial power. The characteristic distinction of the general revo lution is this, that the physical agency of the Deity seems to recede from the view, while the spiritual character is more distinctly unfolded ; or rather, the notion of the Divine Power is merged in the more prevailing sentiment of his moral Good ness. The remarkable passage in the Jewish his tory, in which God is described as revealing him self to Elijah, " neither in the strong wind, nor in the earthquake, nor in the fire, but in the still small voice," may be considered, we will not say prophetic, but singularly significant of the sensations to be excited in the human mind by the succes sive revelations of the Deity. The doctrine of the immortality of the soul par- immortai- took in the same change with the notion of the ^ Deity ; it became at once popular, simple, and spiritual. It was disseminated throughout all orders of society : it admitted no aristocratic elysium of heroes and demi-gods,like that of the early Greeks* ; * It is curious to see, in another religions, excluded the dpEvyva mythology, the same martial aris- Kapyva, the inglorious vulgar, from tocratic spirit which, in the earlier the seats of bliss, where Achilles 46 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. it separated itself from that earlier and widely pre valent form, which it assumed in the theogonies of the Nature-worship, where the soul emanating from the source of Being, after one or many transmigra tions, was re-absorbed into the Divine Essence. It announced the resurrection of all mankind to judg ment, and the re-union of the spirit to a body, which, preserving the principle of identity, nevertheless should be of a purer and more imperishable nature. Such are the great primary principles, which be came incorporated with the mind of man ; and, operating on all human institutions, on the com mon sentiments of the whole race, form the great distinctive difference between the ancient and the modern, the European and the Asiatic world. During the dark ages there was a strong reaction of barbarism : in its outward form Christianity might appear to recede towards the polytheism of older times ; and, as has been shown, not in a phi losophic, but in a narrow polemic spirit of hostility to the Church of Rome, many of the rites and usages of heathenism were admitted into the Chris tian system ; yet the indelible difference between the two periods remained. A higher sense and meaning was infused into these forms ; God was considered in his moral rather than his physical attributes — as the Lord of the future as much or and Diomed pursued their war- the bloody train of some great like amusements. It was not pro- chieftain. Slaves at least were per to appear poor before Odin ; distinctly excluded, and after death and it is very doubtful whether a turned away from the doors of Val- poor man was thought worthy of halla. Geijer, Hist, of Sweden. any place in his dwellings, unless Germ. Transl. i. 103. he came from the field of battle in HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. 47 even more than of the present world. The saints chap. and angels, who have been compared to the in- , *' , termediate deities of the older superstitions, had, nevertheless, besides their tutelar power against immediate accidents and temporal calamities, an important influence over the state of the soul in the world to come ; they assumed the higher office of ministering the hopes of the future, in a still greater degree than the blessings of the present life. To the more complete development of this Design fact we shall descend in the course of our his- History. tory, which will endeavour to trace all the mo difications of Christianity, by which it accommo dated itself to the spirit of successive ages ; and by this apparently almost skilful, but in fact neces sary condescension to the predominant state of moral culture, of which itself formed a constituent element, maintained its uninterrupted dominion. It is the author's object, the difficulty of which he him self fully appreciates, to portray the genius of the Christianity of each successive age, in connection with that of the age itself; entirely to discard all polemic views ; to mark the origin and progress of all the subordinate diversities of belief; their origin in the circumstances of the place or time at which they appeared ; their progress from their adaptation to the prevailing state of opinion or sentiment : rather than directly to confute error or to establish truth ; in short, to exhibit the reci procal influence of civilisation on Christianity, of Christianity on civilisation. To the accomplish- 48 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. ment of such a scheme he is well aware, that be sides the usual high qualifications of a faithful his torian, is requisite, in an especial manner, the union of true philosophy with perfect charity, if indeed they are not one and the same. This calm, impartial, and dispassionate tone he will con stantly endeavour, he dares scarcely hope, with such warnings on every side of involuntary pre judice and unconscious prepossession, uniformly to maintain. In the honesty of his purpose he will seek his excuse for all imperfection or deficiency in the execution of his scheme. Nor is he aware that he enters on ground pre-occupied by any writers of established authority, at least in our own country, where the History of Chris tianity has usually assumed the form of a History of the Church, more or less controversial, and confined itself to annals of the internal feuds and divisions in the Christian community, and the vari ations in doctrine and discipline, rather than to its political and social influence. Our attention,^!! the other hand, will be chiefly directed to^s^erieJ§i)n the social and even political^ conditionof' manias it extended itself throughout the Roman world, and at length entered into the administration of govern ment and of law ; the gradual manner in which it absorbed and incorporated into the religious com mon wealth" the successive "masses of population, which, after having overthrown the temporal po lity of Rome, were subdued to the religion of the conquered people ; the separation of the human race into the distinct castes of the clergy and laity ; niSTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. 4Q the former at first an aristocracy, afterwards a despotic chap. monarchy : as Europe sank back into barbarism, , tlie imaginative state of the human mind, the form- christian- ation of a new poetic faith, a mythology, and a com- irfformTn" plete system of symbolic worship ; the inter working dl^f0™"eof of Christianity with barbarism, till they slowly grew civilisation, into a kind of semi-barbarous heroic period, that of Christian chivalry ; the gradual expansion of the system, with the expansion of the human mind; and the slow, perhaps not yet complete, certainly not general, development of a rational and intellectual religion. Throughout his work the author will equally, or as his disposition inclines, even more diligently, labour to show the good as well as the evil of each__phasis of. Chxistjajnty ; since it is his opinion that, at every period, much more is to be attributed to the circumstances of the age, to the collective operation of certain principles which grew out of the events of the time, than to the in tentional or accidental influence of any individual or class of men. Christianity, in short, may exist in a certain form in a nation of savages as well as in a nation of philosophers, yet its specific character will almost entirely depend upon the character of the people who are its votaries.* It must be considered, therefore, in constant con nection with that character : it will darken with * By the accounts of Bruce, barism. The conversions among Salt, and recently of Pearce, the the South Sea islanders, it will of Christianity of Abyssinia may be course be remembered, were effect- adduced as an instance of the state ed, and are still superintended by to which it may be degraded among strangers in a very different stage a people at a very low state of bar- of civilisation. VOL, I. E 50 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. the darkness and brighten with the light of each succeeding century ; in an ungenial time it will recede so far from its genuine and essential na ture as scarcely to retain any sign of its divine original : it will advance with the advancement of human nature, and keep up the moral to the utmost height of the intellectual culture of man. christian- While,however, Christianity necessarily submitted developed, to all these modifications, I strongly protest against the opinion, that the origin of the religion can be attributed, according to a theory adopted by many foreign writers, to the gradual and spontaneous de velopment of the human mind.* Christ is as much beyond his own age, as his own age is beyond the darkest barbarism. The time, though fitted to receive, could not by any combination of prevalent opinions, or by any conceivable course of moral improvement, have produced Christianity. The conception of the human character of Jesus, and the simple principles of the new religion, as they were in direct opposition to the predominant opinions and temper of his own countrymen, so they stand completely alone in the history of our race ; and, as imaginary no less than as real, altogether tran scend the powers of man's moral conception. Sup posing the gospels purely fictitious, or that, like the "Cyropaedia" of Xenophon, they embody on a groundwork of fact the highest moral and religious * This theory is sketched by no which, I am constrained to add, means with an unfair though un- the meagre performance contrasts friendly hand by Chateaubriand, strangely with the loftiness of its Etudes sur 1' Histoire ; a book of pretensions. HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. 51 notions to which man had attained, and show the utmost ideal perfection of the divine and human nature, they can be accounted for, according to my judgment, on none of the ordinary principles of human nature. * When we behold Christ stand ing in the midst of the wreck of old religious in stitutions, and building, or rather at one word commanding to arise, the simple and harmonious structure of the new faith, which seems equally adapted for all ages — a temple to which nations in the highest degree of civilisation may bring their offerings of pure hearts, virtuous dispositions, universal charity, — our natural emotion is the recognition of the Divine goodness, in the pro mulgation of this beneficent code of religion ; and adoration of that Being in whom that Divine good ness is thus embodied and made comprehensible to the faculties of man. In the language of the apostle, " God is in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself." t * Dirons nous que l'histoire de I'Evangile est invented a plaisir? Ce n'est pas ainsi qu'on invente: et les faits de Socrate, dont per- sonne ne doute, sont bien moins attestes que ceux de Jesus Christ. Au fond c'est reculer la difficulty sans la detruire ; il seroit plus in- concevable que plusieurs hommes d'accord eussent fabrique ce livre, qu'il ne l'est qu'un seul en a fourni le sujet. Et I'Evangile a des ca- racteres de verite si frappans, si parfaitement inimitables, que l'in- venteur en seroit plus etonnant que le heros. Rousseau, Emile. liv. iv. f 2Cor.v. 19. E <2 52 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. CHAP. II. CHAPTER II. LIFE OF JESUS CHRIST. — STATE OF JUDEA. THE BELIEF IN THE MESSIAH. Life of The history of Christianity without the life of its cessary to a Divine Author appears imperfect and incomplete, ChrUuan- particularly considering the close connection of that uy- life, not only with the more mysterious doctrines, but with the practical, and even political influence of the religion ; for even its apparently most un important incidents have, in many cases, affected most deeply the opinions and feelings of the Chris tian world. The isolation of the history of Christ in a kind of sacred seclusion has no doubt a bene- • •¦', ficial effect on the piety of the Christian, which delights in contemplating the Saviour, undisturbed and uncontaminated by less holy associations ; but it has likewise its disadvantages, in disconnecting his life from the general history of mankind, of which it forms an integral and essential part. Had the life of Christ been more generally considered as intimately and inseparably connected with the pro gress and development of human affairs, with the events and opinions of his time, works would not have been required to prove his existence, scarcely perhaps the authenticity of his history. The real historical evidence of Christianity is the absolute necessity of his life, to fill up the void in the annals Its diffi- H1ST0RY OF CHRISTIANITY. 53 of mankind, to account for the effects of his religion in the subsequent history of man. Yet to write the life of Christ, though at first sight it may appear the most easy, is perhaps the most diffi- cuity cult task which an historian can undertake. Many Lives have been composed with a devotional, none at least to my knowledge, in this country*, with an historic design ; none in which the author has en deavoured to throw himself completely back into the age, when Jesus of Nazareth began to travel as the teacher of a new religion through the villages of Galilee ; none which has attempted to keep up a perpetual reference to the circumstances of the times, the habits and national character of the peo ple, and the state of public feeling ; and thus, iden tifying itself with the past, to show the origin and progress of the new faith, as it slowly developed itself, and won its way through the adverse elements, which it encountered in Judea and the adjacent provinces. To depart from the evangelic simplicity in the relation of the facts would not merely offend the reverential feelings of the reader, but tend likewise to destroy the remarkable harmony between the facts and doctrines, which characterises the nar rative of the Gospels, and on which their authen ticity, as genuine historical documents, might to an intelligent mind be safely rested. The three first Gospels, unless written at a very early period, could scarcely have escaped the controversial, or at least argumentative tone, which enters into the later * See Appendix I., on the recent Lives of Christ, e 3 54 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. Christian writings, and with which the relation of St. John is imbued.* The plan then which the author will pursue, will be to presume, to a certain degree, on the reader's acquaintance with the subject on which he enters : he will not think it necessary to relate at length all the discourses or even all the acts of Christ, but rather to interweave the historic illustration with the main events, disposed, as far as possible, in the order of time, and to trace the effect which each separate incident, and the whole course of the life of Jesus, may be supposed to have produced upon the popular mind. In short it will partake, in some degree, of the nature of an histo rical comment, on facts which it will rather endea vour to elucidate, than to draw out to their full length. state of^ The days of the elder Herod were drawing to a Herod the close ; his prosperous and magnificent reign was ending in darkness and misery, such as the deepest tragedy has rarely ventured to imagine. His last years had revealed the horrible, the humiliating secret, that the son, at whose instigation he had put to death the two noble and popular princes, his children by Mariamne the Asmonean, had al most all his life been over-reaching him in that dark policy, of which he esteemed himself the master ; and now, as a final return for his unsus pecting confidence, had conspired to cut short the brief remainder of his days. Almost the last, and the most popular exercise of Herod's royal autho- * See Appendix II., on the Origin of the Gospels. Great. HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. 55 rity, was to order the execution of the perfidious chap. Antipater. Fearful times I when the condemnation , IIj , of a son by a father, and that father an odious and intrigues sanguinary tyrant, could coincide with the univer- ™ Anu-h sal sentiment of the people ! The attachment of Pater- the nation to the reigning family might have been secured, if the sons of Mariamne, the heiress of the Asmonean line, had survived to claim the succes sion : the foreign and Idumean origin of the father might have been forgotten in the national and splen did descent of the mother. There was, it should seem, a powerful Herodian party, attached to the fortunes of the ruling house ; but the body of the nation now looked with ill-concealed aversion to the perpetuation of the Idumean tyranny in the persons of the sons of Herod. Yet to those who Sons of contemplated only the political signs of the times, nothing remained but the degrading alternative, either to submit to the line of Herod, or to sink into a Roman province. Such was to be the end of their long ages of national glory, such the hopeless ter mination of the national independence. But, not withstanding the progress of Grecian opinions and manners, with which the politic Herod had endea voured to counterbalance the turbulent and unruly spirit of the religious party, the great mass of the people, obstinately wedded to the law and the in stitutions of their fathers, watched with undis guised jealousy the denationalising proceedings of their king. This stern and inextinguishable en thusiasm had recently broken out into active re sistance, in the conspiracy to tear down the golden e 4 56 HISTORY' OF CHRISTIANITY. CHAP. II. General expectation of the Messiah. eaglg, which Herod had suspended over the gate of the temple.* The signal for this daring act had been a rumour of the king's death ; and the terrific vengeance, which, under a temporary show of mo deration, Herod had wreaked on the offenders, the degradation of the high-priest, and the execu tion of the popular teachers, who were accused of having instigated the insurrection, could not but widen the breach between the dying sovereign and the people. The greater part of the nation looked to the death of Herod with a vague hope of libera tion and independence, which struck in with the more peculiar cause of excitement predominant in the general mind. For the principle of this universal ferment lay deeper than in the impatience of a tyrannical government, which burdened the people with in tolerable exactions, or the apprehension of national degradation, if Judaea should be reduced to the dominion of a Roman proconsul : it was the confi dence in the immediate coming of the Messiah, which was working with vague and mysterious agitation in the hearts of all orders.t The very * Hist, of the Jews, vol. ii. p. 124. ¦p Whoever is curious in such inquiries, will find a fearful cata logue of calamities, which were to precede, according to the Rabbi nical authorities, the coming of the Messiah, either in Lightfoot's Har mony, vol. v. p. 180. (8vo. edit.), or in Schoetgen, Horse Hebraicae, vol. ii. p. 509., or Eisenmenger, das entdecktes Judenthum, ii. p. 711. The notion may have been grounded on the last chapter of the Prophecy of Daniel. Com pare Bertholdt, c. 13.— The Rab bins deliver, " In the first year of that week (of years), that the Son of David is to come, shall that be fulfilled, ' I will rain upon one city, but I will not rain upon ano ther.' " Amos, iv. 7. — " The second year the arrows of famine shall be sent forth. The third, the famine HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. danger to which Jewish independence was— re chap. duced, was associated with this exalted sentiment ; ( lL the nearer the ruin, the nearer the restoration of their Theocracy. For there is no doubt, that among other predictions, according to the general belief, which pointed to the present period, a very ancient interpretation of the prophecy, which declared that the sceptre, the royal dominion, should not depart from the race of Israel, until the coming of the Shiloh, one of the titles uniformly attributed to the Messiah, connected the termination of the existing polity with the manifestation of the Deliverer.* This expectation of a wonderful revolution to be wrought t by the sudden appearance of some great mysterious person, had been so widely dissemi nated, as to excite the astonishment, perhaps the jealousy of the Romans, whose historians, Sueto nius and Tacitus, as is well known, bear witness to the fact. "Among many," writes the latter, "there was a persuasion, that in the ancient books of the priesthood it was written, that at this precise time, the East should become mighty, and that the so vereigns of the world should issue from Judaea." t shall be grievous, and men and shall be spread that the Son of women and children, holy men David comes, or " they shall sound and men of good works, shall die ; with the trumpet.") "The seventh and there shall be a forgetfulness year, wars ; and in the going out of the Law among those that learn of that year, the Son of David it. The fourth year fulness and shall come." Lightfoot, xi. 421. not fulness. The fifth year great * Casaubon Exercit, anti-Ba- fulness : they shall eat, and drink, ron, ii. and rejoice, and the Law shall re- f 2 Esdras, vi. 2.5. turn to its scholars. The sixth j Tac. Hist. v. 13. year, voices." (The gloss is, " afame 58 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY'. Nature of the belief in the Messiah. The Pro phets. "In the East, an ancient and consistent opinion prevailed, that it was fated there should issue, at this time, from Judaea, those who should obtain universal dominion." * Yet no question is more difficult than to ascertain the origin, the extent, the character of this belief, as it prevailed at the timeof our Saviour's coming; — how far it had spread among the surrounding nations ; or howfar, on the other hand, the original Jewish creed, formed from the authentic prophetical writings, had become impregnated with Oriental or Alexan drian notions. It is most probable, that there was no consistent, uniform, or authorised opinion on the subject: all was vague and indefinite ; and in this vagueness and indefiniteness lay much of its power over the general mind.t Whatever purer or loftier notions concerning the great Deliverer and Re storer, might be imparted to wise and holy men, in whatever sense we understand that "Abraham rejoiced to see the day" of the Messiah, the inti mations on this subj ect in the earlier books of the Old Testament, though distinctly to be traced along its whole course, are few, brief, and occurring at long intervals. But from the time, and during the whole period of the Prophets, this mysterious Being becomes gradually more prominent. The future dominion of some great king, to descend * Suet, Ves. p. 4. T The Jewish opinions concern ing the Messiah have been ex amined with great diligence and accuracy by Professor Bertholdt, in his ChristologiaJudseorum. Ber tholdt is what may be called a moderate Rationalist. To his work, and to Lightfoot, Schoetgen, Meuschen, and Eisenmenger, I am indebted for most of my Rabbinical quotations. HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. 59 from the line of David, to triumph over all his chap. enemies, and to establish an universal kingdom of ( *L peace and happiness, of which the descriptions of the golden age in the Greek poets are but a faint and unimaginative transcript : the promise of the Messiah, in short, comes more distinctly forward. As early as the first chapters of Isaiah, he appears to assume a title and sacred designation, which at least approaches near to that of the Divinity* ; and in the later prophets, not merely does this leading characteristic maintain its place, but under the splendid poetical imagery, drawn from existing cir cumstances, there seems to lie hid a more profound meaning, which points to some great and general moral revolution, to be achieved by this mysterious Being. But their sacred books, the Law and the Pro- Tradition. phets, were not the clear and unmingled source of the Jewish opinions on this all-absorbing subject. Over this, as over the whole system of the law, tra dition had thrown a veil ; and it is this traditionary notion of the Messiah, which it is necessary here to develop : but from whence tradition had derived its apparently extraneous and independent notions, becomes a much more deep and embarrassing question. t It is manifest from the Evangelic * Such is the opinion of espouses the opposite opinion. Rosenmiiller (on Isaiah, ix. 5. Neither of these authors, it may Compare likewise, on Psalm xiv. be added, discuss the question on 7.). On a point much contested theological, but purely on histori- by modern scholars, Gesenius, in cal and critical grounds. his note on the same passages, f Bertholdt, p. 8, 60 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. chap, history*, that although there was no settled or , established creed upon the subject, yet there was a certain conventional language : particular texts of the sacred writings were universally re cognised, as bearing reference to the Messiah ; and there were some few characteristic credentials of his title and office, which would have com manded universal assent. Foreign There are two quarters from which the Jews, as connections x of the jews, they ceased to bean insulated people, confined in the narrow tract of Palestine, and by their captivity and migrations became more mingled with other races, might insensibly contract new religious notions, the East and the West, Babylonia and Alexandria. The latter would be the chief, though not perhaps the only channel, through which the influence of Grecian opinions would penetrate into Palestine t; * The brief intimations in the from the uncertainty of their date : Gospels are almost the only abso- still, in this as in other points of lutely certain authorities for the coincidence, where their expres- nature of this belief, at that parti- sions are similar to those of the cular period, except, perhaps, the Christian records, there seems more genuine part of the Apocry- so manifest an improbability that pha. Josephus, though he acknow- these should have been adopted ledges the existence and the in- after the two religions had as- fluence of this remarkable feature sumed an hostile position towards in the national character, is either each other, that they may be fairly inclined to treat it as a popular de- considered as vestiges of an earlier lusion, or to warp it to his own system of opinions, retained from purposes, its fulfilment in the per- ancient reverence, and indelible son of Vespasian. For his own even by implacable animosity. It school, Philo is a valuable witness ; is far more likely that Christianity but among the Alexandrian Jews, should speak the current languao-e the belief in a personal Messiah of the time, than that the Syna- was much more faint and indistinct gogue should interpolate their own than in Palestine. The Rabbini- traditionary records, with terms or cal books, even the oldest Tar- notions borrowed from the Church. gumin or comments on the Sacred f Even as early as the reign of Writings, are somewhat suspicious, Antiochus the Great, certain Jews HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. 61 and of the Alexandrian notions of the Messiah, we shall hereafter adduce two competent representa tives, the author of the Book of Wisdom and Philo. But the East no doubt made a more early, profound, and lasting impression on the popular mind of the Jews. Unfortunately in no part does history pre sent us with so melancholy a blank, as in that of the great Babylonian settlement of the people of Israel. Babylonia. Yet its importance in the religious, and even in the civil, affairs of the nation cannot but have been very considerable. It was only a small part of the nation which returned with the successive remigra- tions under Ezra and Nehemiah to their native land ; and, though probably many of the poorer classes had remained behind at the period of the Captivity, and many more returned singly or in small bodies, yet on the other hand it is probable, that the tide of emigration, which at a later time was perpetually flowing from the valleys of Palestine into Egypt, Syria, Asia Minor, and even more remote regions, would often take the course of the Euphrates, and swell the numbers of the Mesopotamian colony. In the great contest between Alexander and the Per sian monarchy, excepting from some rather suspi cious stories in Josephus, we hear less than we might expect of this race of Jews.* But as we had attempted to introduce Grecian de haine et de mepris pour le peu- manners, and had built a Grecian pie Juif, qu'ils affectoient n'en pas school or gymnasium at Jerusalem, parler dans leurs ecrits." (His- 1 Mace. i. 11. 16. 2 Mace. ii. 4. toriens d'Alex. p. 655.) This, jlj 12. however, would apply only to the * There may be truth in the later writers, which are all we now observation of St. Croix: "Les possess ; but if in the cotemporary Grecs et les Romains avoient tant historians there had been much 62 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. chap, approach the era of Christianity, and somewhat , "' later, they emerge rather more into notice. While the Jews were spreading in the West, and no doubt successfully disseminating their Monotheism in many quarters, in Babylonia their proselytes were kings ; and the later Jewish Temple beheld an Eastern queen (by a singular coincidence, of the same name with the celebrated mother of Constan tine, the patroness of Christian Jerusalem) lavish ing her wealth on the structure on Mount Moriah, and in the most munificent charity to the poorer inhabitants of the city. The name of Helena, queen of the Adiabeni, was long dear to the memory of the Jews ; and her tomb was one of the most re markable monuments near the walls of the city. Philo not only asserts that Babylon and other Eastern satrapies were full of his countrymen*, but intimates that the apprehension of their taking up arms in behalf of their outraged religion and marching upon Palestine, weighed upon the mind of Petronius, when commanded, at all hazards, to place the statue of Caligula in the Temple.t It appears from some more, it would probably, at least on the History of the Birth and if to the credit of his countrymen, Death of Jesus Christ, which was have been gleaned by Josephus. to contain circumstantial accounts # See on the numbers of the of the Jews beyond the Euphrates. Jews in the Asiatic provinces, par- Of the different races of Jews ticularly Armenia ; at a later period mentioned in the Acts, as present (the conquest of Armenia by Sapor, in Jerusalem, four are from this A. D. 367.) St. Martin's additions quarter: — Parthians, Medes, Ela- to Le Beau's Hist, du Bas Empire, mites, dwellers in Mesopotamia. The death of this valuable writer, f Leg. ad Caium, vol. ii. p. 578. it is to be feared, will deprive the Edit. Mang. learned world of his promised work HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. hints of Josephus, that during the last war, the revolted party entertained great hopes of succour from that quarter * ; and there is good ground for supposing that the final insurrection in the time of Hadrian was connected with a rising in Mesopo- tamia.t At the same period the influence of this race of Jews on the religious character of the peo ple is no less manifest. Here was a chief scene of the preaching of the great apostle t : and we cannot but think, that its importance in early Christian history, which has usually been traced almost exclusively in the West, has been much underrated. Hence came the mystic Cabala§ of the Jews, the chief parent of those gnostic opinions, out of which grew the heresies of the early Church : here the Jews, under the Prince of the captivity, held their most famous schools, where learning was embodied in the Babylonian Talmud; and here the * Dio (or Xiphilin) asserts that established, the Roman Catholic they received considerable sue- had an unanswerable argument to cours from the East. L.lxvi. c. 4. prove the contested point of St. -j- Hist, of Jews, iii. 108. &c. Peter's residence in the Western j Nothing but the stubborn ob- metropolis ; Babylon therefore was stinacy of controversy could have decided to mean pagan Rome. The thrown a doubt on the plain date Protestant at once concurred, for if in the first Epistle of St. Peter (v. Rome was Babylon ,it was the mystic 13.). Philo, in two places (ii. spiritual Babylon of the Apocalypse. p. 578. 587.), Josephus in one The whole third chapter of the (Ant. xviii. 9. 8.), expressly name second Epistle appears to me full of Babylon as the habitation of the Oriental allusions, and the example great Eastern settlement. It is of Balaam seems peculiarly appro- not certain whether the city was priate if written in that region. then entirely destroyed (Gesenius Lucan's " Cumque superba foret on Isaiah, xiii. 22.), but in fact the Babylon spolianda" may indeed be name was extended to the province mere poetic licence, or may allude or satrapy. - But it was equally the to Seleucia. object of the two great conflicting § Cabala is used here in its most parties in Christianity to identify extensive sense. See Chiarini, Rome with Babylon. This fact p. 97. 64 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. CHAP. II. Cabala. Syrian Religions, most influential heresiarch, Manes, attempted to fuse into one system the elements of Magianism, Cabalism, and Christianity. Having thus rapidly traced the fortunes of this great Jewish colony, we must reascend to the time of its first establishment. From a very early period the Jews seem to have possessed a Cabala, a traditionary comment or in terpretation of the sacred writings. Whether it existed before the Captivity, it is impossible to ascertain ; it is certain that many of their books, even those written by distinguished prophets, Gad and Iddo, were lost at that disastrous time. But whether they carried any accredited tradition to Babylonia, it seems evident, from the Oriental cast which it assumed, that they either brought it from thence on their return to their native land, or received it subsequently during their intercourse with their Eastern brethren.* Down to the Cap tivity the Jews of Palestine had been in contact only with the religions of the neighbouring na tions, which, however differently modified, appear to have been essentially the same, a sort of Nature- worship, in which the host of Heaven, especially the sun and moon, under different names, Baal and Moloch, Astarte and Mylitta, and probably as symbols or representatives of the active and passive powers of nature, no doubt with some distinction of their attributes, were the predominant objects. These religions had long degenerated into cruel or licentious superstitions ; and the Jews, in falling * Mosheim, De Rebus Christ, ii. 18. Persia. HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. 65 off to the idolatry of their neighbours, or intro ducing foreign rites into their own religious sys tem, not merely offended against the great primal distinction of their faith, the unity of the godhead, but sunk from the pure, humane, and compara tively civilised institutes of their lawgiver, to the loose and sanguinary usages of barbarism. In the Religion of East, however, they encountered a religion of a far nobler and more regular structure * : a religion which offered no temptation to idolatrous prac tices ; for the Magian rejected, with the devout abhorrence of the followers of Moses, the exhi bition of the Deity in the human form ; though it possessed a rich store of mythological and symbo lical figures, singularly analogous to those which may be considered the poetic machinery of the later Hebrew prophets.! The religion of Persia seems to have held an intermediate rank between the Pan theism of India, where the whole universe emanated from the Deity, and was finally to be reabsorbed into the Deity, and the purer Theism of the Jews, which asserted the one omnific Jehovah, and seemed to place a wide and impassable interval between the * In Asia Persarum religionem that meaning is conveyed. There caeteris esse nobiliorem. Mosheim, is no reason why the images of Inst. p. 58., and Grot, de Ver. ii. Daniel and Ezekiel should not be 10. derived from, or assimilate to, the T This, it may be observed, has prevalent forms around them, as no connection whatever with the well as those of the rustic Amoz originality or authority of these be chiefly drawn from ¦ pastoral or predictions. It should be borne rural life. See, e. g., Chiarini's in mind, that in these visions it is curious theory about the chariot of the moral or religious meaning Ezekiel. Preface to Talmud, p. 90. alone which can be the object of and 101. faith, not the figures through which VOL. I. F 66 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. nature of the Creator and that of the created being. In the Persian system, the Creation owed its ex istence to the conflicting powers of evil and good. These were subordinate to, or proceeding from, the Great Primal Cause (Zeruane Akerene), Time without bounds*, which in fact appears, as Gibbon observes, rather as a metaphysical abstraction, than as an active and presiding deity. The Creation was at once the work and the dominion of the two antagonist creators, who had balanced against each other in perpetual conflict a race of spiritual and material beings, light and darkness, good and evil. This Magianism, subsequent to the Jewish Capti vity t, and during the residence of the captives in Mesopotamia, either spread with the conquests of the Persians, from the regions farther to the east, Aderbijan and Bactria, or was first profnulgate'd by Zoroaster, who is differently represented as the author or as the reformer of the faith. From the remarkable allusions or points of coincidence be tween some of the Magian tenets and the Sacred Writings t, Hyde and Prideaux laboured to prove that Zoroaster§ had been a pupil of Daniel, and de- * So translated by Du Per- Kings, is an extremely difficult ron and Kleuker. There is a question. Nebuchadnezzar's army learned dissertation of Foucher on was attended (Jer. xxxix. 3.) this subject. Acad, des Ins. vol. by Nergal-sharezer, the Rab-mag, xxix. According to Bohlen it is 30 it (Archimagus). Compare analogous to the Sanskrit Sarvam Bertholdt, Daniel Excurs. iii. akaranam, the Uncreated Whole ; + Isaiah, xlvii. 7. according to Fred. Schlegel, Sar- § The name Df Zoroaster (Zero- vam akharyam, the Unum Indi- toasn); has been deduced from visibue. words signifying "the star of gold," -f The appearance of the Ma- 0r " the star of splendour," and may gian order, before the conquest have been a title or appellative. of Babylon by the Medo-Persian HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. 67 rived those notions, which seem more nearly allied to the purer Jewish faith, from his intercourse with the Hebrew prophet, who held a high station un der the victorious Medo-Persian monarchy.* But, Compiete- in fact, there is such an originality and complete- zoToftrian ness in the Zoroastrian system, and in its leading s?stem- principles, especially that of the antagonist powers of good and evil, it departs so widely from the an cient and simple Theism of the Jews, as clearly to indicate an independent and peculiar source, at least in its more perfect development ; if it is not, as we are inclined to believe, of much more ancient date, and native to a region much further to the east than the Persian court, where Zoroaster, accord ing to one tradition, might have had intercourse, in his youth, with the prophet Daniel. If, as appears to be the general opinion of the con- The Zenda- tinental writers, who have most profoundly investi gated the subject, we have authentic remains, or at * The hypothesis which places The earlier date of the Persian Zoroaster under the reign of Da- prophet has likewise been main- rius Hystaspes, identified with the tained by Moyle, Gibbon, and Gushtasp of Persian mythological Volney. history, is maintained by Hj'de, These views may in some degree Prideaux, Anquetil du Perron, be reconciled by the supposition Kleuker, Herder, Goerres, Mai- that it was a reformation, not a colm, Von Hammer, and apparently primary development of the reli- by De Guignaut. The silence of gion which took place under the Herodotus appears to me amongthe Medo-Persian, or the Persian strongest objections to this view. monarchy. The elements of the Foucher, Tychsen, Heeren, and faith and the caste of the Magi recently Holty, identify Gushtasp were, I should conceive, earlier. with Cyaxares I., and place the The inculcation of agricultural ha- religious revolution under the pre- bits on a people emerging from vious Median dynasty. the pastoral life, so well developed A theory which throws Zoro- by Heeren, seems to indicate a aster much higher up into anti- more ancient date. Consult also quity is developed with great abi- Gesenius on Isaiah, lxv. 5. Con- lity by Rhode, in his Heilige Sage, stant, sur la Religion, ii. 187. F 2 vesta. 68 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. CHAP. II. least records which, if of later date, contain the true j principles of Magianism, in the Liturgies and In stitutes of the Zendavesta * ; it is by no means an * It may be necessary, in this country, briefly to state the ques tion as to the authenticity or value of these documents. They were brought from the East by that sin gular adventurer, Anqnetil du Per ron. Sir W. Jones, in a letter, not the most successful of the writings of that excellent and accomplished man, being a somewhat stiff and laboured imitation of the easy irony of Voltaire, threw a shade of sus picion over the character of Du Perron, which in England has never been dispelled, and, except among Oriental scholars, has attached to all his publications. Abroad, however, the antiquity of the Zen davesta, at least its value as a trustworthy record of the Zoro astrian tenets, has been generally acknowledged. If altogether spu rious, those works must be consi dered as forgeries of Du Perron. But, I., they are too incomplete and imperfect for forgeries ; if it had been worth Du Perron's while to fabricate the Institutes of Zoro aster, we should, no doubt, have had something more elaborate than several books of prayers, and trea tises of different ages, from which it required his own industry, and that of his German translator, Kleuker, to form - the fantastic but expressive symbolic forms of the f^™ East, to the colder and clearer light of Grecian philosophy, with which the Western Jews, espe cially in Alexandria, had endeavoured to associate their own religious truths. The poetic age of Greece had long passed away before the two na tions came into contact ; and the same ration alising tendency of the times led the Greek to reduce his religion, the Jew the history of his nation, to a lofty moral allegory. t Enough of poetry remained in the philosophic system, adopted in the great Jewish Alexandrian school, that of Plato, to leave ample scope for the imagination : * Tanchuma, foi. 255. Quot Articles inEdward the Sixth's reign. sunt dies Messia; ? R. Elieser, Atque de hujus in his terris regno, filius R. Jose, Galiteus, dixit Mes- mille annos duraturo, ejusdemque sia; tempora sunt mille anni, se- deliciis et voluptatibus, de bellis cundum dictum Jer. xxiii. 4. Dies ejus cum terribili quodam adver- enim Dei mille est annorum. Ber- sario quem Antichristum dicebant, tholdt, p. 38. de victoriis denique earumque fruc- The holy blessed God will re- tibus mirabilia narrabant somnia, new the world for a thousand quorum deinde pars ad Christianos years — quoted by Lightfoot, iii. 37. transferebatur. Mosheim, ii. 8. If I presume to treat the mille- This was the kingdom of heaven, nium as a fable "of Jewish dotage," the kingdom of God — of Christ, I may remind my readers that this or emphatically " the kingdom." expression is taken from what once See Kuinoel, vol. i. p.6 1 . Schoetgen, stood as an article (the forty-first) Hor. Heb. p. 1147. of our church. See Collier for the -j- Compare Bertholdt, ch. vi. 80 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. and indeed there was a kind of softened Oriental ism, probably derived by Plato from his master Pythagoras, by Pythagoras from the East, which readily assimilated with the mystic interpretations of the Egypto-Jewish theology. The Alexandrian notions of the days of the Messiah are faintly shadowed out in the book " of the Wisdom of Solomon*," in terms which occasionally remind us of some which occur in the New Testament. The righteous Jews, on account of their acknowledged moral and religious superiority, were to "judge the nations," and have " dominion over all people." But the more perfect development of these views is to be found in the works of Philo. This writer, who however inclined to soar into the cloudy realms of mysticism, often rests in the middle region of the moral sublime, and abounds in passages which would scarcely do discredit to his Athenian master, had arrayed a splendid vision of the perfectibility of human nature, in which his own nation was to take the most distinguished part. From them knowledge and virtue were to emanate through the universal race of man. The whole world, convinced at length of the moral superiority of the Mosaic institutes, interpreted, it is true, upon the allegorical system, and so harmonised with the sublimest Platonism of the Greeks, was to submit in voluntary homage, and render their allegiance to the great religious teachers and examples of mankind. The Jews * Wisdom, iii. 8. ; v. 16.; viii. 14. HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. 81 themselves, thus suddenly regenerated to more than the primitive purity and loftiness of their Law, (in which the Divine Reason, the Logos, was as it were embodied,) were to gather together from all quar ters, and under the guidance of a more than human being, unseen to all eyes but those of the favoured nation* (such was the only vestige of the Messiah) Reign of to re-assemble in their native land. There the great according era of virtue, and peace, and abundance, productive- *jV^ jXea^_ ness of the soil, prolificness in the people, in short, of all the blessings promised in the book of Deute ronomy, was to commence and endure for ever. This people were to be invincible, since true valour is inseparable from true virtue. By a singular inference, not out of character with allegoric inter preters who, while they refine the plainest facts and precepts to a more subtle and mystic meaning, are apt to take that which is evidently figurative in a literal sense, the very wild beasts in awe and wonder at this pure and passionless race, who shall have ceased to rage against each other with bestial ferocity, were to tame their savage hostility to mankind.! Thus the prophecy of Isaiah, to which Philo seems to allude, though he does not adduce the words, was to be accomplished to the letter ; and that paradisaical state of amity between brute and man, so beautifully described by Milton, per haps from this source, was finally to be renewed. And as the Jewish philosopher, contrary to most of his own countrymen, and to some of the Grecian * De Execr. ii. 435, 436. + De Pram, ii. p. 422, VOL. I. G 82 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. Belief dif ferent ac cording to character of the believer. sects, denied the future dissolution of the world by fire, and asserted its eternity*, he probably con templated the everlasting duration of this peaceful and holy state. Such, for no doubt the Alexandrian opinions had penetrated into Palestine, particularly among the Hellenist Jews — such were the vast, inco herent, and dazzling images with which the future teemed to the hopes of the Jewish people.! They admitted either a part or the whole of the common belief, as accorded with their tone of mind and feeling. Each region, each rank, each sect ; the Babylonian, the Egyptian, the Palestinian, the Samaritan ; the Pharisee, the lawyer, the zealot, arrayed the Messiah in those attributes which suited his own temperament. Of that which was more methodically taught in the synagogue or the adjacent school, the populace caught up whatever made the deeper impression. The enthusiasm took an active or contemplative, an ambitious or a re ligious, an earthly or a heavenly tone, according * De Mundi Incorruptibilitate, passim. f The following passages from the apocryphal books may be con sulted ; I do not think it neces sary to refer to all the citations which might be made from the Pro phets : — The " faithful prophet" is mentioned, 1 Mace. xiv. 41. ; the discomfiture of the enemies of Israel, Judith, xvi. 17.; universal peace, Ecclesiast. 1. 23, 24. ; the re-assembling of the tribes, Tobit, xiii. 13 — 18. Baruch, ii. 34, 35.; the conversion of many nations, Tobit, xiii. 11. xiv. 6, 7. : see par ticularly the second apocryphal book of Esdras, which, although manifestly Juda20-Christian, is of value as illustrating the opinions of the times, — " Thou madest the world for our sakes; as for the other people, which also come of Adam, thou hast said that they are nothing, but be like unto spit tle ; and hast likened the abundance of them unto a drop that falleth from a vessel. * # If the world now be made for our sakes, why do we not possess an inheritance with the world? how long shall this endure ? 2 Esdras, vi. 56 — 59. HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. 83 to tlie education, habits, or station of the believer ; chap. and to different men the Messiah was man or angel, L lL , or more than angel ; he was king *, conqueror, or moral reformer ; a more victorious Joshua, a more magnificent Herod, a wider-ruling Caesar, a wiser Moses t, a holier Abraham t ; an angel, the Angel of the Covenant, the Metatron, the Mediator between God and man § ; Michael, the great tutelar archangel of the nation, who appears by some to have been identified with the mysterious Being who led them forth from Egypt ; he was the Word of God || ; an Emanation from the Deity ; himself partaking of the divine nature. While this was the religious belief, some there were, no doubt, of the Sadducaic party, or the half-Grecised adherents of the Herodian family, who treated the whole as a popular delusion ; or, as Josephus to Vespasian, would not scruple to employ it as a politic means for the advancement of their own fortunes. While * The Gospels, passim ; 2 Es- my servant King Messiah, exalted, dras, xii. 32. lofty, and very high : more exalted T Thou wilt proclaim liberty to than Abraham, for it is written of thy people, the house of Israel, by him, I have lifted up my hand to the hand of Messias, as thou didst the Lord (Gen. xiv. 22.); and more by the hand of Moses and Aaron, exalted than Moses, for it is writ- on the day of the Passover. Chald. ten of him, He saith of me, take him Par. on Lament, ii. 22. quoted by unto thy bosom, for he is greater Lightfoot, v. 161. than the fathers." Jalkut Shamuni; Among others to the same pur- see Bertholdt, 101. port, the following, of a later date, Some of the titles of theMessiah, is curious. Moses came out of the recognised by general belief and wilderness, and King Messias out usage, will be noticed as they occur of the midst of Rome ; the one in the course of the history. spake in the head of a cloud, and § Sohar, quoted by Bertholdt, the other spake in the head of a p. 121. 133. cloud, and the Word of the Lord || Many of the quotations about speaking between these, and they the Memra, or divine Word, may be walking together. Targ. Jer. on found in Dr. Pye Smith's work on Exod. xii. the Messiah. J " Behold, glorious shall be G 2 84 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. CHAP. II. Popula belief. the robber chieftain looked out from his hill- tower to see the blood-red banner of him whom he literally expected to come "fromEdom with dyed garments from Bozrah," and " treading the wine press in his wrath," the Essene in his solitary hermitage, or monastic fraternity of husbandmen, looked to the reign of the Messiah, when the more peaceful images of the same prophet would be ac complished, and the Prince of Peace establish his quiet and uninterrupted reign. In the body of the people, the circumstances of the times powerfully tended both to develop more fully, and to stamp more deeply into their hearts, the expectation of a temporal deliverer, a conqueror, a king. As misgovernment irritated, as exaction pressed, as national pride was wounded by foreign domination, so enthusiasm took a fiercer and more martial turn : as the desire of national independence became the predominant sentiment, the Messiah was more immediately expected to accomplish that which lay nearest to their hearts. The higher views of his character, and the more unworldly hopes of a spiritual and moral revolution, receded farther and farther from the view ; and as the time ap proached in which the Messiah was to be born, the people in general were in a less favourable state of mind to listen to the doctrines of peace, humility, and love, or to recognise that Messiah in a being so entirely divested of temporal power or splendour. In the ruling party, on the other hand, as will hereafter appear, the dread of this inflammable state of the public mind, and the dangerous po- HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. 85 sition of affairs, would confirm that jealousy of chap. ii. innovation inseparable from established govern ments. Every tendency to commotion would be repressed with a strong hand, or at least the rulers would be constantly on the watch, by their forward zeal in condemning all disturbers of the public peace, to exculpate themselves with their foreign masters from any participation in the tumult. Holding, no doubt, with devout, perhaps with con scientious earnestness, the promised coming of the Messiah, as an abstract truth, and as an article of their religious creed, their own interests, their rank and authority, were so connected with the existing order of things, political prudence would appear so fully to justify more than ordinary caution, that while they would have fiercely re sented any imputation on their want of faith in the divine promises, it would have been difficult, even by the most public and imposing " signs," to have satisfied their cool incredulity. With all these elements of political and religious St^j °j[ excitement stirring through the whole fabric of confusion. society, it would be difficult to conceive a nation, in a more extraordinary state of suspense and agitation, than the Jews about the period of the birth of Christ. Their temporal and religious fortunes seemed drawing to an immediate issue. Their king lay slowly perishing of a lingering and loathsome disease; and his temper, which had so often broken out into paroxysms, little short of insanity, now seemed to be goaded by bodily and mental anguish to the fury of a wild beast. g 3 86 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. Every day might be anticipated the spectacle of the execution of his eldest son, now on his way from Rome, and known to have been detected in his unnatural treasons. It seemed that even yet the royal authority and the stern fanati cism of the religious party, which had, for many years, lowered upon each other with hostile front, might grapple in a deadly struggle. The more prudent of the religious leaders could scarcely restrain the indignant enthusiasm of their followers, which broke out at once on the accession of Archelaus ; while, on the other hand, the almost incredible testamentary cruelty, by which Herod commanded the heads of the principal Jewish families to be assembled in the Hippodrome, at the signal of his death, to be cut down in a pro miscuous massacre, may reasonably be ascribed to remorseless policy, as well as to frantic vengeance. He might suppose that, by removing all opponents of weight and influence, he could secure the peace able succession of his descendants, if the emperor, according to his promise, should ratify the will, by which he had divided his dominions among his surviving sons.* Birth cf In the midst of this civil confusion, that great m — :~. t * o event took place, which was to produce so total a revolution in the state of all mankind. However striking the few incidents which are related of the birth of Christ, when contemplated distinct and separate from the stirring transactions of the times, * Compare Hist, of the Jews, vol. ii. p. 125. Christ. HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. 87 and through the atmosphere, as it were, of devo tional feelings, which at once seem to magnify and harmonise them ; yet, for this very reason, we are perhaps scarcely capable of judging the effect which such events actually produced, and the relative magnitude in which they appeared to the contemporary generation. For if we endeavour to cast ourselves back into the period to which these incidents belong, and place ourselves, as it were, in the midst of the awful political crisis, which seemed about to decide at once the inde pendence or servitude of the nation, and might, more or less, affect the private and personal wel fare of each family and individual, it will by no means move our wonder, that the commotion ex cited by the appearance of the Magians in Jeru salem, and the announcement of the birth of the Christ, should not have made a more deep impres sion on the public mind, and should have passed away, it should seem, so speedily from the popular remembrance. In fact, even if generally credited, the intelligence that the Messiah had appeared in the form of a new-born infant, would rather perhaps have disappointed, than gratified, the high- wrought expectation, which looked for an instant, an im mediate deliverance, and would be too impatient to await the slow development of his manhood. Whether the more considerate expected the De liverer suddenly to reveal himself in his maturity of strength and power, may be uncertain : but the last thing that the more ardent and fiery looked g 4> 88 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. chap, for, particularly those who supposed that the Mes- , , siah would partake of the divine or superhuman nature, was his appearance as a child ; the last throne to which they would be summoned to render their homage, would be the cradle of an helpless infant.* Belief in Nor is it less important, throughout the early furaifater- history of Christianity, to seize the spirit of the positions, times. Events which appear to us so extra ordinary, that we can scarcely conceive that they should either fail in exciting a powerful sensation, or ever be obliterated from the popular remem brance, in their own day might pass off as of little more than ordinary occurrence. During the whole life of Christ, and the early propagation of the religion, it must be borne in mind that they took place in an age, and among a people, which superstition had made so familiar with what were supposed to be preternatural events, that wonders awakened no emotion, or were speedily superseded by some new demand on the ever-ready belief. The Jews of that period not only believed that the Supreme Being had the power of controlling the course of nature, but that the same influence was possessed by multitudes of subordinate spirits, both good and evil. Where the pious Christian in the present day would behold the direct agency of the Almighty, the Jews would invariably have interposed an angel, as the author or ministerial * " When Christ cometh, no man knoweth whence he is." John vii. 27. HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. 89 agent in the wonderful transaction. Where the Christian moralist would condemn the fierce pas sion, the ungovernable lust, or the inhuman temper, the Jew discerned the workings of diabolical pos session. Scarcely a malady was endured, or crime committed, but it was traced to the operation of one of these myriad daemons, who watched every opportunity of exercising their malice in the suf ferings and the sins of men. Yet the first incident in Christian history, the Conception annunciation of the conception and birth of John johnthe" the Baptist*, as its wonderful circumstances took jP'^h place in a priestly family, and on so public a scene as the temple, might be expected to excite the public attention in no ordinary degree. The four Levitical families who returned from the captivity had been distributed into twenty-four courses, one of which came into actual office in the temple every week : they had assumed the old names, as if de scended in direct lineage from the original heads of families ; and thus the regular ministrations of the priesthood were re-organised on the ancient footing, coeval with the foundation of the temple. In the course of Abia, the eighth in order f, was an aged priest, named Zachariah. The officiating course were accustomed to cast lots for the separate func tions. Some of these were considered of higher dignity than others, which were either of a more * Luke i. 5 22. quite impossible to calculate the f As each came into office twice time of the year in which this event in the year, and there is nothing to took place. Of this ordering of the indicate whether this was the first courses, observes Lightfoot, both or second period, it appears to me Talmuds speak largely, iii. 21. 90 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. chap, menial character, or at least were not held in , IL equal estimation. Almost the most important was the watching and supplying with incense the great brazen altar, which stood within the building of the temple, in the first or holy place. Into this, at the sound of a small bell, which gave notice to the worshippers at a distance, the ministering priest entered, alone : and in the sacred chamber, into which the light of day never penetrated, but where the dim fires of the altar, and the chandeliers, which were never extinguished, gave a solemn and uncer tain light, still more bedimmed by the clouds of smoke arising from the newly fed altar of incense, no doubt, in the pious mind, the sense of the more immediate presence of the Deity, only separated by the veil, which divided the Holy place from the Holy of Holies, would constantly have awakened the most profound emotions. While the priest was employed within the gates, the multitude of wor shippers in the adjacent court awaited his return ; for it should seem, that the offering of incense was considered emblematic of the prayers of the whole nation ; and though it took place twice every day, at morning and evening, the entrance and return of the priest from the mysterious precincts, was watched by the devout with something of awful anxiety. This day, to the general astonishment , Zacha riah, to whom the function had fallen, lingered far beyond the customary time. For it is said of the high-priest's annual entrance into the Holy of Holies, that he usually staid within as short a time HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. 91 as possible, lest the anxious people should fear, that on account of some omission in the offering, of guilt in the minister, or perhaps in the nation, of which he was the federal religious head, he might have been stricken with death. It may be supposed, therefore, that even in the subordinate ceremonies there was a certain ordinary time, after which the devouter people would begin to tremble, lest their representative, who in their behalf was making the national offering, might have met with some sinister or fatal sign of the divine disfavour. When at length Zachariah appeared he could not speak ; and it was evident that in some mysterious manner he had been struck dumb, and to the anxious inquiries he could only make known by signs that something awful and unusual had taken place within the sanctuary. At what period he made his full rela tion of the wonderful fact which had occurred does not appear ; but it was a relation of absorbing interest both to the aged man himself, who, although his wife was far advanced in years, was to be blessed with offspring ; and to the whole people, as indi cating the fulfilment of one of the preliminary signs which were universally accredited as precursive of the Messiah. In the vision of Zachariah, he had beheld an vision of angel standing on the right side of the altar, who announced that his prayer was heard*, and that his barren house was to be blessed ; that * Grotius and many other national prayer, offered by him in writers are of opinion that by this his ministerial function, for the ap is meant, not the prayer of Zacha- pearance of the Messiah. riah for offspring, but the general Zachariah. 92 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. his aged wife should bear a son, and that son be consecrated from his birth to the service of God, and observe the strictest austerity; that he was to revive the decaying spirit of religion, unite the disorganised nation, and above all, should appear as the expected harbinger, who was to precede and prepare the way for the approaching Redeemer. The angel proclaimed himself to be the messenger of God (Gabriel), and both as a punishment for his incredulity, and a sign of the certainty of the promise, Zachariah was struck dumb, but with an assurance that the affliction should remain only till the accomplishment of the divine prediction in the birth of his son.* If, as has been said, the vision of Zachariah was in any manner communicated to the assembled people (though the silence of the evangelist makes strongly against any such sup position), or even to his kindred the officiating priesthood, it would no doubt have caused a great sensation, falling in, as it would, with the prevailing tone of the public mind. For it was the general belief that some messenger would, in the language of Isaiah, "prepare the way of the Lord;" and the last words which had, as it were, sealed the book of prophecy, intimated, as many supposed, the personal re-appearance of Elijah, the greatest, and, in popu lar opinion, a sort of representative of the whole prophetic community. The ascetic life to which the infant prophet was to be dedicated, according * According to Josephus, Ant. he was offering on the altar of in- xiii. 18. Hyrcanus, the high-priest, cense. heard a voice from heaven, while HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. 93 to the Nazaritish vow of abstinence from all wine chap. or strong drink, was likewise a characteristic of the , prophetic order, which, although many, more par ticularly among the Essenes, asserted their inspired knowledge of futurity, was generally considered to have ceased in the person of Malachi, the last whose oracles were enrolled in the sacred canon.* It does not appear that dumbness was a legal Return of disqualification for the sacerdotal function, for to^Hebron. Zachariah remained among his brethren, the priests, till their week of ministration ended. He then returned to his usual residence in the southern part of Judaea, most probably in the ancient and well-known city of Hebron t, which was originally a Levitical city ; and although the sacerdotal order do not seem to have resumed the exclusive pos session of their cities at the" return from the cap tivity, it might lead the priestly families to settle more generally in those towns ; and Hebron, though of no great size, was considered remark ably populous in proportion to its extent. The divine promise began to be accomplished ; and during the five first months of her pregnancy, * The mystic interpreters (see cided with their own traditions, Strauss, p. 138.) assert that this was it likely to have any influence " short poem," as they call it, was upon that sect ? invented out of the passages in the f Yet, as there seems no reason Old Testament relating to the births why the city of Hebron should not of Isaac, Samson, and Samuel, by a be named, many of the most learned Judaising Christian, while there writers, Valesius, Reland, Harem- were still genuine followers of berg, Kuinoel, have supposed that John the Baptist, in order to con- Jutta (the name of a small city) is ciliate them to Christianity. This the right reading, which, being little is admitting very high antiquity of known, was altered into a city (of) the passage ; and unless it coin- Judah. 94 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. chap. Elizabeth, the wife of Zachariah, concealed herself, n- either avoiding the curious inquiries of her neigh bours in these jealous and perilous times, or in devotional retirement, rendering thanks to the Al mighty for the unexpected blessing.* Annunci- It was on a far less public scene, that the birth ation. Qf chri^ 0f whom the child of Zachariah was to be the harbinger, was announced to the Virgin Mother. The families which traced their descent from the house of David had fallen into poverty and neglect. When, after the return from the Babylonian captivity, the sovereignty had been assumed, first by the high-priests of Levitical descent, subsequently by the Asmonean family, who were likewise of the priestly line, and finally, by the house of Herod, of Idumean origin, but en grafted into the Maccabean line by the marriage of Herod with Mariamne, it was the most obvious policy to leave in the obscurity into which they had sunk, that race which, if it should produce any pretendant of the least distinction, he might advance an hereditary claim, as dear to the people as it would be dangerous to the reigning dynasty; The whole descendants of the royal race seem to have sunk so low, that even the popular belief, which looked to the line of David, as that from which the Messiah was to spring t, did not invest * Luke, i. 23—25. diligent search to be made for all _ f This opinion revived so strongly who claimed descent from the line in the time of Domitian, as, accord- of David. It does not appear how ing to the Christian historian, to many were discovered, as Euse- awaken the apprehension of the bius relates the story merely for Roman emperor, who commanded the purpose of showing that the HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY, 95 them with sufficient importance to awaken the chap. jealousy or suspicion of the rulers. Joseph, a , "' man descended from this royal race, had migrated, for some unknown reason, to a distance from the part of the land inhabited by the tribe of Ben jamin, to which, however, they were still consi dered to belong. He settled in Nazareth, an ob scure town in Lower Galilee, which, independent of the general disrepute in which the whole of the Galilean provinces were held by the inhabitants of the more holy district of Judsea, seems to have been marked by a kind of peculiar proverbial con tempt. Joseph had been betrothed to a virgin of his own race, named Mary, but according to Jewish usage, some time was to elapse between the betrothment and the espousals. In this in terval took place the annunciation of the divine conception to the Virgin.* In no part is the singular simplicity of the Gospel narrative more striking than in the relation of this incident ; and I should be inclined, for this reason alone, to reject the notion that these chapters were of a later date.t So early does that remarkable cha- descendants of our Lord's breth- traced his descent from the line of ren were brought before the em- the ancient kings. Conf. Casau- peror, and dismissed as simple bon, Exercit. anti-Baron, ii. p. 17. labourers, too humble to be re- * Luke, i. 26. 38. garded with suspicion. Many fa- f I cannot discover any great milies of this lineage may have force in the critical arguments ad- perished in the exterminating war duced to disjoin these preliminary of Titus, between the birth of chapters from the rest of the nar- Christ and this inquiry of Domi- rative. There is a very remarkable tian. In later times the Prince of evidence of their authenticity in the Captivity, with what right it the curious apocryphal book (the would be impossible to decide, Ascensio Isaiae, published from 96 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. II, chap, racteristic of the evangelic writings develope itself ; the manner in which they relate, in the same calm and equable tone, the most extraordinary and most trivial events ; the apparent absence either of wonder in the writer, or the desire of producing a strong effect on the mind of the, reader.* To illustrate this, no passage can be more striking than the account of her vision, — " And the angel came in unto her, and said, Hail thou that art highly favoured, the Lord is with thee : blessed art thou among women. And when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying, and cast in her mind what manner of salutation this should be. And the angel said unto her, Fear not, Mary : for thou hast found favour with God. And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a Son, and shalt call his name Jesus. He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest : and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David : and he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever ; and of his kingdom there shall be no end. Then said Mary unto the angel, How shall this be, seeing I know not a man. And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon the iEthiopic by Archbishop Law- might by her be communicated to rence). Compare Gesenius, Jesaias, the apostles. Einleitung, p. 50. This writing * I may be in error, but this marks its own date, the end of the appears to me the marked and per- reign of Nero, with unusual cer- ceptible internal difference between tainty, and contains distinct allu- the genuine and apocryphal gospels. sions to these facts, as forming in- The latter are mythic, not merely tegral parts of the life of Christ, in the matter but also in their The events were no doubt trea- style. sured in the memory of Mary, and HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. 97 thee, and the power of the Highest shall over shadow thee : therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God. And, behold, thy cousin Elizabeth, she hath also conceived a son in her old age ; and this is the sixth month with her, who was called barren. For with God nothing shall be impossible. And Mary said, Behold the handmaid of the Lord ; be it unto me according to thy word. And the angel departed from her." The incarnation of the Deity, or the union of incarnation some part of the Divine Essence with a material or Deity. human body, is by no means an uncommon reli gious notion, more particularly in the East. Yet, in the doctrine as subsequently developed by Christianity, there seems the same important dif ference which characterises the whole system of the ancient and modern religions. It is in the former a mythological impersonation of the Power, in Christ it is the Goodness of the Deity, which, associating itself with a human form, assumes the character of a representative of the human race ; in whose person is exhibited a pure model of moral perfection, and whose triumph over evil is by the slow and gradual progress of enlightening the mind, and softening and purifying the heart. The moral purpose of the descent of the Deity is by no means excluded in the religions, in which a similar notion has prevailed, as neither is that of divine power, though confining itself to acts of pure beneficence, from the Christian scheme. This seems more particularly the case, if we may state VOL. i. h 98 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. any thing with certainty concerning those half- mythological, half-real personages, the Buddh, Gau tama, or Somana Codom of the remoter East. * In these systems likewise the overbearing excess of hu man wickedness demands the interference, and the restoration of a better order of things is the object, which vindicates the presence of the embodied Deity ; yet there is invariably a greater or less con nection with the oriental cosmogonical systems 9 it is the triumph of mind over matter, the ter mination of the long strife between the two ad verse principles. The Christian scheme, however it may occasionally admit the current language of the time, as where Christ is called the " Light of the World," yet in its scope and purport stands clear and independent of all these physical notions : it is original, inasmuch as it is purely, essentially, and exclusively a moral revelation ; its sole design to work a moral change ; to establish a new re lation between man and the Almighty Creator, and to bring to light the great secret of the immortality of man. Binh from Hence the only deviation from the course of nature was the birth of this Being from a pure * The characteristic of the Bud- castes. But Budhism appears to hist religion, which in one respect be essentially monastic ; and how may be considered (I deprecate different the superstitious regard misconstruction) the Christianity for life in the Budhist from the of the remoter East, seems an enlightened humanity of Christian- union of political with religious re- ity ! See Mahony, in Asiat. Re formation ; its end to substitute search, vii. p. 40. purer morality for the wild and M. Klaproth has somewhere multifarious idolatry into which said, that, " next to the Christian Brahminism had degenerated, and no religion has contributed more to break down the distinction of to ennoble the human race than a virgin. HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY, 99 virgin.* Much has been written on this subject; but it is more consistent with our object to point out the influence of this doctrine upon the human mind, as hence its harmony with the general design of Christianity becomes more manifest. We estimate very inadequately the influence or the value of any religion, if we merely consider its the Buddha religion." Compare likewise the very judicious obser vations of Wm. Humboldt, iiber die Kawi Sprache, p. 95. * According to a tradition known in the West at an early period, and quoted by Jerom (Adv. Jovin. c. 26.), Budh was born of a virgin. So were the Fohi of China and the Schaka of Thibet, no doubt the same, whether a mythic or a real personage. The Jesuits in China were appalled at finding in the my thology of that country, the coun terpart of the " Virgo Deipara." (Barrow's Travels in China, i.) There is something extremely curious in the appearance of the same religious notions in remote, and apparently quite disconnected countries, where it is impossible to trace the secret manner of their transmission. Certain incidents, for example, in the history of the Indian Crishna, are so similar to those of the life of Christ, that De Guignaut is almost inclined to believe that they are derived from some very early Christian tradition. In the present instance, however, the peculiar sanctity attributed to virginity in all countries, where the ascetic principle is held in high honour as approximating the pure and passionless human being to the Divinity, might suggest such an origin for a Deity in human form. But the birth of Budh seems purely mythic : he was born from Maia, the virgin goddess of the imagin ative world — as it were the Phan- tasia of the Greeks, who was said by some to have given birth to Homer. The Schaka of Thibet was born from the nymph Lhamoghinpral. Georgi. Alph. Tibet. Compare Rosenmuller, das Alte und Neue Morgenland, v. iv.; on Budh and his birth, Bohlen, i. 312. I am inclined to think that the Jews, though partially oriental ised in their opinions, were the people among whom such a notion was least likely to originate of it self. Marriage by the mass of the people was considered in a holy light ; and there are traces that the hopes of becoming the mother of the Messiah, was one of the bless ings, which in their opinion, be longed to marriage ; and after all, before we admit the originality of these notions in some of the systems to which they belong, we must as certain (the most intricate problem in the history of Eastern religious opinions) their relative antiquity, as compared with the Nestorian Christianity, so widely prevalent in the East, and the effects of this form of Christianity on the more remote Oriental creeds. Jerome's testimony is the most remarkable. H 2 100 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. dogmas, its precepts, or its opinions. The im pression it makes, the emotions it awakens, the sentiments which it inspires, are perhaps its most vital and effective energies : from these men con tinually act ; and the character of a particular age is more distinctly marked by the predominance of these silent but universal motives, than by the professed creed, or prevalent philosophy, or, in general, by the opinions of the times. Thus, none of the primary facts in the history of a widely-extended religion can be without effect on the character of its believers. The images perpetually presented to the mind, work, as it were, into its most intimate being, become incor porated with the feelings, and thus powerfully con tribute to form the moral nature of the whole race. Nothing could be more appropriate than that the martial Romans should derive their origin from the nursling of the wolf, or from the god of war ; and whether those fables sprung from the national temperament, or contributed to form it, however these fierce images were enshrined in the national traditions, they were at once the emblem and ex ample of that bold and relentless spirit which gradu ally developed itself, until it had made the Romans the masters of the world. The circumstances of the birth of Christ were as strictly in unison with the design of the religion. This incident seemed to incorporate with the general feeling the deep sense of holiness and gentleness, which was to cha racterise the followers of Jesus Christ. It was the consecration of sexual purity and maternal tender- HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. 101 ness. No doubt by falling in, to a certain degree, with the ascetic spirit of Oriental enthusiasm, the former incidentally tended to confirm the sanctity of celibacy, which for so many ages reigned para mount in the church ; and in the days in which the Virgin Mother was associated with her divine Son in the general adoration, the propensity to this worship was strengthened by its coincidence with the better feelings of our nature, especially among the female sex. Still the substitution of these images for such as formed the symbols of the older religions, was a great advance towards that holier and more humane tone of thought and feeling, with which it was the professed design of the new religion to embue the mind of man.* In the marvellous incidents which follow, the visit of the Virgin Mother to her cousin t Eliza beth t, when the joy occasioned by the mira culous conception seemed to communicate itself to the child of which the latter was pregnant, and called forth her ardent expressions of homage : and in the Magnificat, or song of thanksgiving, into which, like Hannah in the older Scriptures, * The poetry of this sentiment is beautifully expressed by Words worth : — Mother! whose virgin bosom was uncrost With the least shade or thought to sin allied ; Woman, above all women glorified, O'er.tainted Nature's solitary boast : Purer than foam on central ocean tost, Brighter than Eastern skies at daybreak WmfTorced roses, than th' unblemish'd moon , .. Before her wane begins on heaven s blue Thylmage falls to earth. Yet sure, I ween Not unforgiven the suppliant heremight bend, As to a visible power, in whom did blend Visit to ' Elizabeth. AH that was mixed and reconciled in thee Of mother's love, and maiden purity, Of high with low, celestial with terrene. •f- Elizabeth must have been fur ther removed than a first cousin, for as it is clear that Mary, as well as her husband, were of the line of David, and Elizabeth of the priest ly line, the connection must have been formed in a preceding gener ation. J Luke i. 39. 50. H 3 102 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. chap, the Virgin broke forth, it is curious to observe how completely and exclusively consistent every expression appears with the state of belief at that period ; all is purely Jewish, and accordant with the prevalent expectation of the national Mes siah * : there is no word which seems to imply any acquaintance with the unworldly and purely moral nature of the redemption, which was subsequently developed. It may perhaps appear too closely to press the terms of that which was the common, almost the proverbial, language of the devotional feelings : yet the expressions which intimate the degradation of the mighty from their seat, the dis regard of the wealthy, the elevation of the lowly and the meek, and respect to the low estate of the poor, sound not unlike an allusion to the rejection of the proud and splendid royal race, which had so long ruled the nation, and the assumption of the throne of David by one born in a more humble state. t Birth of After the return of Mary to Nazareth, the birth Baptist.6 °f John the Baptist excited the attention of the whole of Southern Judasa to the fulfilment of the rest of the prediction. When the child is about to be named, the dumb father interferes ; he writes on a tablet the name by which he desires him to be * Agreeing so far, as the fact,with or composed after the complete Strauss, I should draw a directly formation of the Christian scheme. opposite inference, the high impro- -j- Neander in his recently pub- bability that this remarkable keep- lished work has made similar ob- ing, this pure Judaism, without servations on the Jewish notions the intervention of Christian no- in the Song of Simeon. Leben tions, should have been maintained, Jesu, p. 26. if this passage had been invented J Luke, i. 57. 80. HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. 103 called, and instantaneously recovers his speech. It chap. is not unworthy of remark, that in this hymn of , '' , thanksgiving, the part which was to be assigned to John in the promulgation of the new faith, and his subordination to the unborn Messiah, are distinctly announced. Already, while one is but a new-born infant, the other scarcely conceived in the womb of his mother, they have assumed their separate stations : the child of Elizabeth is announced as the prophet of the Highest, who shall go "before the face of the Lord, to prepare his ways." Yet even here the Jewish notion predominates : the first object of the Messiah's coming, is that the children of Israel " should be saved from their ene mies and from the hand of all that hate them ; that they being delivered from the hand of their ene mies, might serve him without fear." * As the period approaches at which the child of Journey to Mary is to be born, an apparently fortuitous cir cumstance summons both Joseph aud the Virgin Mother from their residence in the unpopular town of Nazareth, in the province of Galilee, to Bethle hem, a small village to the south of Jerusalem, t Joseph on the discovery of the pregnancy of his * Even the expression the "re- Jewish sense in the book of Mac- mission of sins," which to a Chris- cabees. 1 Mace. iii. 8. ; 2 Mace. tian ear may bear a different sense, viii. 5. 27. and 29. ; vii. 98. Le to the Jew would convey a much Clerc has made a similar observ- narrower meaning. All calamity ation (note in loc.) but is opposed being a mark of the divine displea- by Whitby, who however does not sure, was an evidence of sin; every appear to have been very pro- mark of divine favour therefore an foundly acquainted with Jewish evidence of divine forgiveness. The phraseology. expression is frequently used in its f Matt. i. 18. 25. h 4 104 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. betrothed, being a man of gentle* character, had been willing to spare her the rigorous punishment enacted by the law in such cases, and determined on a private dissolution of the marriage.t A vision however warned him of the real state of the case, and he no longer hesitated, though abstaining from all connection, to take her to his home ; and ac cordingly, being of the same descent, she accom panied him to Bethlehem. This town, as the birth place of David, had always been consecrated in the memory of the Jews with peculiar reverence ; and no prediction in the Old Testament appears more distinct, than that^ which assigns for the nativity of the great Prince, who was to perpetuate the line of David, the same town which had given birth to his royal ancestor, t Decree of The decree of the Emperor Augustus S, in Augustus. , , . , , ii , . n t. obedience to which the whole population ot Pa lestine was to be enrolled and registered, has been, and still remains, an endless subject of con troversy. || One point seems clear, that the en- * Grotius, in loc. from Chry- vorced without stating the cause sostom. in the bill of divorce. This is the T A bill of divorce was neces- meaning of the word XdQpa, secretly. sary, even when the parties were Grotius, in loc. only betrothed, and where the mar- i Micah, v. 2. riage had not actually been solem- § Luke, ii. 1 . 7. nised. It is probable that the J| The great difficulty arises from Mosaic law, which in such cases the introduction of the name of adjudged a female to death (Deut. Cyrenius as the governor, under xx. 23 — 25.) was not at this time whose direction the enrolment, or, executed in its original rigour. It as it is no doubt mistranslated in appears from Abarbanel(Buxtorf, our version, the taxation, took place. de Divort.) that in certain cases But it is well known that Cyrenius a betrothed maiden might be di- did not become governor of Sy- HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. 105 rolment must have been of the nature of a popu lation census ; for any property, possessed by Joseph or Mary, must have been at Nazareth ; and the enrolment, which seems to have included both husband and wife, was made at the place where the genealogical registers of the tribes were kept. About this period Josephus gives an account of an oath of allegiance and of fidelity, to Caesar and to the interests of the reigning sovereign, which was to be taken by the whole Jewish nation. The affair of this oath is strangely mingled up with predictions of a change of dynasty, and with the expected appearance of a great king, under whose all powerful reign the most extraordinary events were to take place. Six thousand of the Pharisees, the violent religious party, resolutely refused to take the oath. They were fined, and their fine discharged by the low-born wife of Pheroras, the ria till several years later. The another version. That followed most usual way of accounting for by Mr. Greswell, notwithstanding this difficulty, adopted by Lardner his apparent authorities, sounds to and Paley, is the natural one of me quite irreconcileable with the supposing that Cyrenius conducted genius of the Greek language. the transaction, while holding a There cannot perhaps be found a subordinate situation in the pro- more brief and satisfactory sum- vince, of which he afterwards be- mary of the different opinions on came governor, and superintended this subject, than in the common a more regular taxation. But Mr. book, Elsley's Annotations on the- Greswell has recently adduced Gospels. Tholuck, in his answer strong reasons for questioning whe- to Strauss, has examined the ques- ther Cyrenius could have been at tion at great length, pp. 162 — 198. this time in Palestine; and I Neander fairly admits the possibility agree with him, that such a census of a mistake in a point of this kind, must have been made by the native on the part of the Evangelists, authorities under Herod. The al- Leben Jesu, p. 19. With him I am ternative remains either to suppose at alosstoconceivehowDr. Strauss some error in the Gospel of St. can imagine a myth in such a plain Luke, as it now stands ; or to adopt prosaic sentence. 106 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. brother of Herod, into whose line certain impostors or enthusiasts, pretending to the gift of prophecy, had declared that the succession was to pass.* An eunuch, Bagoas, to whom they had promised pecu liar and miraculous advantages during the reign of the great predicted kingt, was implicated in this conspiracy, and suffered death, with many of the obstinate Pharisees and of Herod's kindred. It is highly probable that the administration of the oath of allegiance in Josephus, and the census in St. Luke, belong to the same transaction ; for if the oath was to be taken by all the subjects of Herod, a general enrolment would be necessary through out his dominions ; and it was likely, according to Jewish usage, that this enrolment would be con ducted according to the established divisions of the tribes.^ If however the expectation of the Mes siah had penetrated even into the palace of Herod ; if it had been made use of in the intrigues and dissensions among the separate branches of his family ; if the strong religious faction had not scrupled to assume the character of divinely-inspired * Though inclined to agree with this promise, on which I am in- Lardner in supposing that the tentionally silent, the text of Jo- census or population-return men- sephus (Ant. xvii. 2. 6.) is unin- tioned by St. Luke was connected telb'gible as it stands, nor is the with the oath of fidelity to Augus- emendation, proposed by Ward, a tus and to Herod, I cannot enter friend of Lardner's, though ingeni- into his notion, that the whole ous, altogether satisfactory. Ibid. circumstantial and highly credible J The chronological difficulties statement of Josephus is but a ma- in this case do not appear to me of liciously disguised account of the great importance, as the whole af- incidents which took place at the fair of the oath may have occupied birth of Christ. Lardner's Works, some time, and the enrolment may vol. i. (4to edit.) p. 152. have taken place somewhat later in T Independent of the nature of the provinces than in the capital. HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. 107 prophets, and to proclaim an immediate change of chap. dynasty, the whole conduct of Herod, as described 1L by the evangelists, harmonises in a most singular manner with the circumstances of the times. Though the birth of Jesus might appear to Herod but as an insignificant episode in the more danger ous tragic plot which was unfolding itself in his own family, yet his jealous apprehension at the very name of a new-born native king, would seize at once on the most trifling cause of suspicion ; and the judicial massacre of many of the most influ ential of the Pharisees, and of his own kindred in Jerusalem, which took place on the discovery of this plot, was a fitting prelude for the slaughter of all the children under a certain age in Bethlehem. But whether the enrolment, which summoned Birth of Joseph and Mary to the town where the registers of their descent were kept, was connected with this oath of fidelity to the emperor and the king ; or whether it was only a population-return, made by the command of the emperor, in all the provinces where the Roman sovereignty or influence ex tended*, it singularly contributed to the completion of the prophecy to which we have alluded, which designated the city of David as the birth-place of the Messiah. Those who claimed descent from the * This view is maintained by divisus censuque descriptus est, ut Tholuck,and seems to receive some possessio sua nulli haberetur in- support from the high authority certa, quam pro tributorum sus- of Savigny, writing on another sub- ceperat quantitate solvenda. Of ject : it is supported by two pas- itself the authority of Cassiodorus, sages of late writers, Isidore and though a sensible writer, would Cassiodorus. Augusti siquidem have no great weight; but he may temporibus orbis Romanus agris have read many works unknown to 108 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. families, whose original possessions were in the neighbourhood of Bethlehem, crowded the whole of the small town ; and in the stable of the inn or cara- vanserawas born THE CHILD, whose moral doc trines, if adopted throughout the world, would de stroy more than half the misery by destroying all the vice and mutual hostility of men ; and who has been for centuries considered the object of adoration, as the Divine Mediator between God and man, by the most civilised and enlightened nations of the earth. Of this immediate epoch only one incident is re corded ; but in all the early history of Christianity, nothing is more beautiful, nor in more perfect uni son with the future character of the religion, than the first revelation of its benign principles, by voices from heaven to the lowly shepherds.* The proclamation of " Glory to God, Peace on earth and good will towards men," is not made by day, but in the quiet stillness of the nightt; not in the stately temple of the ancient worship, but among the peaceful pastures ; not to the religious senate of the Jewish people, or to the priesthood arrayed in all the splendour of public ministration, but to peasants employed on their lowly occupation. t us on this period of history, of born is still contested. There is which we possess singularly imper- still more uncertainty concerning feet information. the time of the year, which learned * Luke ii. 8. 20. men are still labouring to deter- -j- Neander has well observed mine. Where there is and can that the modesty of this quiet scene be no certainty, it is the wisest is not in accordance with what course to acknowledge our igno- might be expected from the fer- ranee, and not to claim the author- tility and boldness of mythic in- ity of historic truth for that which vention. is purely conjectural. The two J The year in which Christ was ablest modern writers who have HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. 109 In eight days, according to the law, the child was initiated into the race of Abraham, by the rite of circumcision : and when the forty days of puri fication, likewise appointed by the statute, are over, the Virgin Mother hastens to make the cus tomary presentation of the first-born male in the temple. Her offering is that of the poorer Jewish females, who, while the more wealthy made an ob lation of a lamb, were content with the least costly, a pair of turtle doves, or two young pigeons.* Only two persons are recorded as having any knowledge of the future destiny of the child, Anna, a woman endowed with a prophetical character, and the aged Simeon. That Simeon t was not the celebrated master of the schools of Jewish learning, the son of Hillel, and the father of Gamaliel, is fairly inferred from the silence of St. Luke, who, though chiefly writing for the Greek converts, would scarcely have omitted to state distinctly the testimony of so distinguished a man to the Messiahship of Jesus. There are other insurmountable historical objec- investigated the chronology of the orti luminis ignorare, quum appa- life of Christ, Dr. Burton and Mr. ruisse illud, et cacis hominum Greswell, have come to opposite mentibus illuxisse constet, neque conclusions, one contending for sit, quod obsistat nobis, ne splen- the spring, the other for the au- dore ac calore ejus utamur. — Mo- tumn. Even if the argument of sheim. There is a good essay in the either had any solid ground to rest Opuscula of Jablonski, iii. 317. on on, it would be difficult (would it the origin of the festivity of Christ- be worth while ?) to extirpate the mas Day. traditionary belief, so beautifully * Luke ii. 21. 39. embodied in Milton's Hymn : — + This was the notion of Light- it was the winter wild foot, who, though often invaluable When the heaven.bom child, &c. as interpreting the New Testament Were the point of the least im- from Jewish usages, is sometimes portance, we should, no doubt, misled by his Rabbinism into fan- have known more about it. Quid ciful analogies and illustrations. tandem refert annum et diem ex- Hist, Jews, iii. 97. note. 110 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. CHAP. II. Simeon. His bene diction. tions.* Though occurrences among the more devout worshippers in the temple, were perhaps less likely to reach the ear of Herod than those in any other part of the city, yet it was impossible that the solemn act of recognising the Messiah in the infant son of Mary, on so public a scene, by a man whose language and conduct was watched by the whole people, could escape observation. Such an acknow ledgement, by so high an authority, would imme diately have been noised abroad ; no prudence could have suppressed the instantaneous excite ment. Besides this, if alive at this time, Simeon, Ben Hillel, would have presided in the court of inquiry, summoned by Herod, after the appear ance of the Magi. The most remarkable point in the benediction of Simeon is the prediction that the child, who it would have been supposed would have caused unmingled pride and joy, should also be the cause of the deepest sorrow to his mother ; and of the most fearful calamities, as well as of glory, to the nation.t The intercommunion of opinions between the * Our first and not least em barrassing difficulty in harmonising the facts recorded in the several Gospels, is the relative priority of the presentation in the temple and the visit of the Magians to Beth lehem. On one side there appears no reason for the return of the pa rents and the child, after the pre sentation, to Bethlehem, where they appear to have had no friends, and where the object of their visit was most probably effected : on the other hand, it is still more im probable, that, after the visit of the Magians, they should rush, as it were, into the very jaws of danger, by visiting Jerusalem, after the jea lousy of Herod was awakened. Yet in both cases, it should be remem bered that Bethlehem was but six miles, or two hours' journey, from Jerusalem. Reland, Palestina, p. 424. See, on one side, Schleier- macher's Essay on St. Luke, p. 47. though I entirely dissent on this point from the explanation of this author ; on the other, Hug's Intro duction. f Matt. ii. 1—12, HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. Ill Jewish and Zoroastrian religions throws great light chap. on the visit of the Magi, or Wise Men, to Jeru- . salern. The impregnation of the Jewish notions The Magi. about the Messiah with the Magian doctrines of the final triumph of Ormusd, makes it by no means improbable that, on the other side, the national doctrines of the Jews may have worked their way into the popular belief of the East, or at least into the opinions of those among the Magian hierarchy, who had come more imme diately into contact with the Babylonian Jews.* From them they may have adopted the expectation of the Great Principle of Light in a human form, and descending, according to ancient prophecy, from the race of Israel ; and thus have been prepared to set forth, at the first appearance of the luminous body, by which they were led to Judaaa.t The uni versal usage of the East, never to approach the presence of a superior, particularly a sovereign, * The communication with Ba- junction between Jupiter and Sa- bylonia at this period was constant turn. and regular; so much so, that He- For my own part, I cannot rod fortified and garrisoned a strong understand why the words of St. castle, placed under a Babylonian Matthew, relating to such a sub- commander, to protect the cara- ject, are to be so rigidly interpreted; vans from this quarter from the the same latitude of expression untameable robbers of the Tracho- may be allowed on astronomical nitis, the district east of the Jor- subjects, as necessarily must be in dan and of the sea of Tiberias. the Old Testament. The vague- -f- What this luminous celestial ness and uncertainty, possibly the appearance was has been debated scientific inaccuracy, seem to me with unwearied activity. I would the inevitable consequences of the refer more particularly to the work manner in which such circum- of Ideler, Handbuch' der Chrono- stances must have been pre- logie, ii. 399. There will be found, served, as handed down, and sub- very clearly stated, the opinion of sequently reduced to writing by Kepler (adopted by Bishop Mun- simple persons, awe-struck under ter), which explains it as a con- such extraordinary events. Jerusalem. 112 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. chap, without some precious gift, is naturally exem- « "' , plified in their costly but portable offerings of gold, myrrh, and frankincense.* Magi in The appearance of these strangers in Jerusalem at this critical period, particularly if considered in con nection with the conspiracy in the family of Herod and among the religious faction, as it excited an ex traordinary sensation through the whole city, would re-awaken all the watchfulness of the monarch. The assemblage of the religious authorities, in order that they might judicially declare the place from which the Messiah was expected, might be intended not merely to direct the ministers of the royal ven geance to the quarter from whence danger was to be apprehended, but to force the acknowledged inter preters of the sacred writings to an authoritative declaration as to the circumstances of the Messiah's birth ; so, if any event should occur, contrary to their version of the prophecies, either to commit them on the side of the ruling powers, or altogether to invalidate the expectation, that was danger ously brooding in the popular mind. The sub tlety of Herod's character is as strikingly exhi bited in his pretended resolution to join the Magians in their worship of the new-born king, as # It is the general opinion that cate, with any certainty, the place the Magi came from Arabia. Pliny from whence they came. If, in- and Ptolemy (Grotius.in loc.) name deed, by Arabia be meant not the Arabian Magi ; and the gifts were peninsula, but the whole district considered the produce of that reaching to the Euphrates, this country. But iu fact gold, myrrh, notion may be true ; but it is more and frankincense, are too common probable that they came from in the East, and too generally used beyond the Euphrates. as presents to a superior, to indi- HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. 113 his relentless decision, when the Magians did not return to Jerusalem, in commanding the general massacre of all the infants under the age of two years, in Bethlehem and its district.* Egypt, where, by divine command, the parents of Flight into Jesus took refuge, was but a few days' journey, on a Esypt, line perpetually frequented by regular caravans ; and in that country, those who fled from Palestine could scarcely fail to meet with hospitable reception, among some of that second nation of Jews, who inhabited Alexandria and its neighbourhood.! On their return from Egypt, after the death of Return to Herod, (which took place in the ensuing year, aiee* * The murder of the innocents is a curious instance of the re-action of legendary extravagance on the plain truth of the evangelic history. The Greek church canonised the 14,000 Innocents; and another no tion, founded on a misrepresent ation of Revelations (xiv. 3.), swelled the number to 144,000. The former, at least, was the com mon belief of the church, though even in our liturgy the latter has in some degree been sanctioned, by retaining the chapter of Re velations as the epistle for the day. Even later, Jeremy Taylor, in his Life of Christ, admits the 14,000 without scruple, or rather without thought. The error did not escape the notice of the acute adversaries of Christianity, who, impeaching this extravagant tale, attempted to bring the evangelic narrative into discredit. Vossius, I believe, was the first divine who pointed out the monstrous absurdity of supposing such a number of infant children in so small a village. Matth. ii. 13 — 18. T Some of the rabbinical stories accuse Jesus of having brought VOL. I. I " his enchantments" out of Egypt. (Lightfoot, xi. 45.) There is no satisfactory evidence to the anti quity of these notions, or, absurd as they are, they might be some testimony to the authenticity of this part of the Christian history. See also Eisenmenger, i. p. 150. The Jewish fiction of the birth of Jesus is at least as old as the time of Celsus (Origen contra Cels. 1.), but bears the impress of hostile malice, in assigning as his parent a Roman soldier. This is the fable which was perpetuated from that time by Jewish animosity, till it assumed its most obnoxious form in the Toldoth Jesu. How much more natural and credible than the minute detail which so obviously betrays later and hostile invention, the vague inquiry of his own compatriots — " Is not this the carpenter's son ?" Matth. xiii. 55. The answer of Origen to this Jewish invention is sensible and judicious. The Christians, if such a story had been true, would have invented something more di rectly opposed to the real truth ; II. 114 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. chap, though the parents of Jesus did not leave Egypt till the accession of Archelaus,) Joseph, justly ap prehensive that the son might inherit the jealousy and relentless disposition of the father, of which he had already given fearful indications, retired to his former residence in Galilee, under the less sus picious dominion of Herod Antipas.* There the ge neral prejudice against Galilee might be their best security ; and the universal belief that it was in Judaea that the great king was to assume his sovereignty, would render their situation less peril ous ; for it was the throne of the monarch of Judah, the dominion of the ruler in Jerusalem, rather than the government of the Galilean tetrarch, which would have been considered in danger from the appearance of the Messiah. they would not have agreed so piav, Kal pr) danepei aKovaiog avy- far with the relation, but rather Kara9ia9ai on ovk dno avvyBoiv carefully suppressed every allusion dvdodnoig ydpov 6 'lyaovg iy£vr)9y. to the extraordinary birth of Jesus. Contra Cels. i. 32. 'ESvvavro ydp dXXdg \pEv8onoiE7a9ai * Matth. xi. 19. 23. Luke,xi. 40. Sid rd atpoSpd napdSotflv ryv iaro- HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. 1 \5 APPENDIX TO CHAPTER II. ¦ RECENT LIVES OF CUBIST. At the time when this part of the present work was written, CHAP. the ultra-rationalist work of Professor Paulus, the Leben Jesu, IJ- (Heidelberg, 1828,) was the most recent publication. Since that time have appeared, the Life of Jesus, Das Leben Jesu, by Dr. D. F. Strauss, (2d edition, Tubingen, 1837,) and the counter publication of Neander, Das Leben Jesu (Berlin, 1837) ; to say nothing of a great number of controversial pamphlets and re views, arising out of the work of Dr. Strauss. This work (consisting of two thick and closely printed volumes of nearly 800 pages each) is a grave and elaborate exposition of an extraordinary hypothesis, which Dr. Strauss offers, in order to reconcile Christianity with the advancing intelligence of man kind, which is weary and dissatisfied with all previous philoso phical and rationalist theories. Dr. Strauss solemnly declares, that the essence of Christianity is entirely independent of his critical remarks. " The supernatural birth of Christ, his miracles, his resurrection and ascension, remain eternal truths, however their reality, as historical facts, may be called in question." * He refers to a dissertation at the close of his work, " to show that the doc trinal contents of the Life of Jesus are uninjured ; and that the calmness and cold-bloodedness with which his criticism proceeds in its dangerous operations can only be explained by his con viction, that it is not in the least prejudicial to Christian faith." That dissertation, which opens (t.ii. p.691.) with a singularly elo quent description of the total destruction which this remorseless criticism has made in the ordinary grounds of Christian faith * Christi iibernatiirliche Ge- Wirklichkeit als historische Facta burt, seine Wunder, seine Aufer- angezweifelt werden mag. Vor- stehung und Himmelfahrt bleiben rede, xii. ewige Wahrheiten, so sehr ihre I 2 116 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. CHAP. anu practice, I have read with much attention. But what rest- II. ing place it proposes to substitute for Christian faith, I have been unable to discover ; and must acknowledge my unwilling ness to abandon the firm ground of historical evidence, to place myself ou any sublime but unsubstantial cloud which may be offered by a mystic and unintelligible philosophy. Especially as I find Dr. Strauss himself coolly contemplating at the close of his work the desolating effects of his own arguments, looking about in vain for the unsubstantial tenets which he has extirpated by his uncompromising logic ; and plainly admitting, that if he has shattered to pieces the edifice of Christianity, it is not his fault. But Christianity will survive the criticism of Dr. Strauss. I would however calmly consider the first principles of this work, which appear to me, in many respects, singularly narrow and unphilosophical — by no means formed on an extensive and complete view of the whole case, and resting on grounds which, in my judgment, would be subversive of all history. The hypothesis of Dr. Strauss is, that the whole history of our Lord, as related in the Gospels, is mythic, that is to say, a kind of imaginative amplification of certain vague and slender traditions, the germ of which it is now impossible to trace. These myths are partly what he calls historical, partly philosophic, formed with the design of developing an ideal character of Jesus, and to harmonise that character with the Jewish notions of the Messiah. In order to prove this, the whole intermediate part of the work is a most elaborate, and it would be uncandid not to say, a singularly skilful examination of the difficulties and discrepancies in the Gospels ; and a perpetual endeavour to show, in what manner and with what design, each separate myth assumed its present form. Arguing on the ground of Dr. Strauss, I would urge the following objections, which appear to me fatal to his whole system : — First, The hypothesis of Strauss is unphilosophical, because it assumes dogmatically the principal point in dispute. His first canon of criticism is (t. i. p. 103.), that wherever there is any thing supernatural, angelic appearance, miracle, or interposition of the Deity, there we may presume a myth. Thus he concludes, both against the supernaturalists, as they are called in Germany, HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. 117 and the general mass of Christian believers of all sects in this CHAP. country, that any recorded interference with the ordinary and u- experienced order of causation must be unhistorical and untrue ; and even against the rationalists, that these wonders did not even apparently take place, having been supposed to be miraculous, from the superstition or ignorance of physical causes among the spectators : they cannot be even the honest, though mistaken, reports of eye-witnesses. But secondly, The belief m some of those supernatural events, e. g. the resurrection, is indispensable to the existence of the religion ; to suppose that this belief grew up, after the religion was formed ; to assume these primary facts as after-thoughts, seems to me an absolute impossibility. But if they, or any one of them, were integral parts of the religion from its earliest origin, though they may possibly have been subsequently embellished, or unfaithfully recorded in the Gospels, their supernatural cha racter is no evidence that they are so. Thirdly, Besides this inevitable inference, that the religion could not have subsequently invented that which was the foundation of the religion, — that these things must have been the belief of the first Christian communities, — there is distinct evidence in the Acts of the Apostles, (though Dr. Strauss, it seems, would in volve that book in the fate of the Gospels,) in the aposto lical Epistles, and in every written document and tradition, that they were so. The general harmony of these three distinct classes of records, as to the main preternatural facts in the Gospels, proves incontestably that they were not the slow growth of a subsequent period, embodied in narratives com posed in the second century. For fourthly, Dr. Strauss has by no means examined the evi dence for the early existence of the Gospels with the rigid dili gence which characterises the rest of his work. I think he does not fairly state that the early notices of the Gospels, in the works of the primitive fathers, show not only their existence but their general reception among the Christian communities, which im ply both a much earlier composition and some strong grounds for their authenticity. As to the time when the Gospels were composed, his argument seems to me self-destructive. The later he supposes them to have been written, the more impossible (considering that the Christians were then so widely dissemi- l 3 118 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. nated in Europe and Asia) is their accordance with each other in the same design or the same motives for fiction : if he takes an earlier date, he has no room for his long process of mythic developement. In one place he appears to admit that the three first, at least, must have been completed between the death of our Lord and the destruction of Jerusalem, less than forty years. (I myself consider their silence, or rather their obscure and confused prophetic allusions to that event, as absolutely deci sive on this point, with regard to all the four.) But is it con ceivable that in this narrow period, this mythic spirit should have been so prolific, and the primitive simplicity of the Chris tian history have been so embellished, and then universally re ceived by the first generation of believers ? The place, as well as the period, of their composition, is en cumbered with difficulties according to this system. Where were they written ? If all, or rather the three first, in Palestine, whence their general acceptance without direct and acknow ledged authority? If in different parts of the world, their general acceptance is equally improbable ; their similarity of design and object, altogether unaccountable. Were they written with this mythic latitude by Judaising or Hellenising Christians ? If by Judaising, I should expect to find far more of Judaism, of Jewish tradition, usage, and lan guage, as appears to have been the case in the Ebionitish Gospel; if by Hellenising, the attempt to frame the myths in accordance with Jewish traditions is inconceivable.* They Judaise too little for the Petrine Christians, (that is, those who considered the Gospel in some sort a re-enactment of the Mosaic law,) too much for the followers of St. Paul, who rejected the law. The other canons of Dr. Strauss seem to me subversive of all history. Every thing extraordinary or improbable, the prophetic anticipations of youthful ambition, complete revolution in iiidivi- * Dr. Strauss, for instance, as- other in their notions of the Mes- serts all the passages relating to siah, a Judaising and an anti-do- the miraculous birth of Christ (the ceticsect. See vol. i. pp.446 — 448. first chapters of St. Matthew and We must find time not merely for St. Luke), and those which relate the growth and development of his baptism by St. John, to have both notions, but for their blend- proceeded from two distinct classes ing into one system, and the gene- of Christians, differing materially, or ral adoption of that system by the rather directly opposed to each Christian communities. HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. HO, duul charactor,(he appears to allude to the change in the character CHAP. of the apostles after the resurrection, usually, and in my opinion IL justly, considered as one of the strongest arguments of the truth ' *"" —"' of the narrative,) though he admits that this canon is to bo applied with caution, are presumptive of a mythic character. If discrepancies in the circumstances between narratives of the same events, or differences of arrangement in point of time, particularly among rude and inartificial writers, are to be admitted as proofs of this kind of fiction, all history is mythic ; even the accounts of every transaction in the daily papers, which are never found to agree precisely in the minute details, are likewise mythic. To these which appear to me conclusive arguments against the hypothesis of Dr. Strauss, I would add some observations, which to my mind are general maxims, which must be applied to all such discussions. No rehgion is in its origin mythic. Mythologists embellish, adapt, modify, idealise, clothe in allegory or symbol, received and acknowledged truths. This is a later process, and addressed to the imagination, already excited and prepared to receive established doctrines or opinions in this new form. But in Christianity (according to Dr. Strauss's hypothesis) what was the first impulse, the germ of all this high-wrought and successful idealisation? — Nothing more than the existence of a man named Jesus, who obtained a few followers, and was put to death as a malefactor, without any pretensions on his part to a superior character, either as a divine or a divinely commissioned being, or as the expected Messiah of the Jews. Whatever extorted by the necessity of the case, is added to this primary conception of the character of Jesus, in order sufficiently to awaken the human mind to a new religion connected with his name, belief of his miraculous powers, of his resurrection, of his Messiah- ship, even of his more than human virtue and wisdom, tends to verify the delineation of his character in his Gospels, as the original object of admiration and belief to his followers ; and to anticipate and preclude, as it were, its being a subsequent mythic invention. Can the period in which Jesus appeared be justly considered a mythic age ? If by mythic age (and I do not think Dr. Strauss very rigid and philosophical in the use of the term) be meant an i 4 120 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. CHAP age> in which there was a general and even superstitious belief, II. in wonders and prodigies, mingled up with much cool incredulity, this cannot be denied. The prodigies which are related by grave historians, as taking place at the death of Caesar ; those which Josephus, who is disposed to rationalise many of the miracles of the early history of his people, describes during the capture of- Jerusalem, are enough, out of the countless instances which could be adduced, to determine the question. But if the term mythic be more properly applied to that idealisation, that investing religious doctrines in allegory or symbol ; above all, that elevating into a deity a man only distinguished for moral excellence (the deification of the Roman emperors was a poli tical act), this appears to me to be repugnant to the genius of the time and of the country. Among the Jewish traditions in the Talmud, there is much fable, much parable, much apologue ; as far as I can discern, nothing strictly speaking mythic. Philo's is a kind of poetico-philosophic rationalism. The later legends, of Simon Magus, Alexander in Lucian, and Apollonius of Tyana, are subsequent inventions, after the imaginative impulse given by Christianity, possibly imitative of the Gospels.* I would be understood, however, as laying the least stress upon this argument, as this tendency to imaginative excitement and creation does not depend so much on the age as on the state of civilisation, which perhaps in the East, has never become completely exempt from this tendency. But I cannot admit the spurious Gospels, which seem to me the manifest offspring of Gnostic and heretical sects, and to have been composed at periods which historical criticism might de signate from internal evidence, though clearly mythical, to involve the genuine Gospels in the- same proscription. To a discriminating and unprejudiced mind, I would rest the dis tinction between mythical and non-mythical on the comparison between the apocryphal and canonical Gospels. Neander, in my opinion, has exercised a very sound judgment in declining direct controversy with Dr. Strauss; for controversy, even conducted in the calm and Christian spirit of Neander, rarely works conviction, except in those who are already con- * The nearest approach to the Simon Magus among the Samari- mythic, would, perhaps, be the kind tans, and alluded to in the Acts. of divine character assumed by HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. 121 vinccd. He lias chosen the better course of giving a fair and candid view of tlie opposite side of the question, and of exhibit ing the accordance of the ordinary view of the origin and authority of the Gospels with sound reason and advanced philosophy. He has dissembled no difficulties, and appealed to no passions. It affords me much satisfaction to find that, although my plan did not require or admit of such minute in vestigation, I have anticipated many of the conclusions of Neander. In many respects the point of view, from which I have looked at the subject, is altogether different ; and, as I have pre ferred to leave my own work in its original form, though some of the difficulties and discrepancies on which Dr. Strauss dwells may, I trust, be reasonably accounted for in the following chapters of my work, this will be only incidentally ; the full counter-statement, prepared with constant reference to Dr. Strauss's book, must be sought in the work of Neander. It accords even less with the design of my work, which is rather to trace the influence and effect of Christian opinions, than rigidly to investigate their origin or to establish their truth, to notice the various particular animadversions on Dr. Strauss which might suggest themselves ; yet I have added some few observ ations on certain points, when they have crossed the course of my narrative. The best answer to Strauss is to show that a clear, consistent, and probable narrative can be formed out of that of the four Gospels, without more violence, I will venture to say, than any historian ever found necessary to harmonise four contemporary chronicles of the same events ; and with a general accord ance with the history, customs, habits, and opinions of the times, altogether irreconcilable with the poetic character of mythic history. The inexhaustible fertility of German speculation has now displayed itself in another original and elaborate work, Die Evangelische Geschichte, Kritisch und Philosophisch bearbeitet, Von. Ch. Hermann Weisse. 2 bande. Leipsic, 1838. Dr. Weisse repudiates the theory of Strauss. If he does not bring us to the cold and dreary conclusion of Strauss, or land us on the Nova Zembla of that writer, he leaves us enveloped in a vague and indistinct mist, in which we discern nothing clear, distinct, or satisfactory. 122 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY; CHAP. The critical system of Weisse rests on two leading points : — !!• The assumption of the Gospel of St. Mark as the primitive v » ' gospel, — a theory which has been advanced before, but which no writer has wrought out with so much elaborate diligence as Weisse ; — and an hostility which leads to the virtual rejection of the Gospel of St. John as almost entirely spurious. With regard to St. Mark's Gospel he receives the tradition of Papias, that it was written from the dictation, or at least from information obtained from St. Peter. St. Matthew's was formed from the incorpor ation of the Gospel of the Hebrews with the Xoyta, a collection of speeches attributed to our Lord. As to St. John's, he submits it to the test of his own arbitrary, and it appears to me, how ever they may be called critical, very narrow and unphiloso phical laws of probability. The theory by which Weisse would reconcile and harmonise what he retains of the evangelic history with what he considers the highest philosophy, I must confess my inability to compre hend, and must plead as my excuse, that he admits it to be unintelligible to those who are not acquainted with some of his former philosophical works, which I have not at my command. What I do comprehend it would be impossible to explain, as the philosophical language of Germany would, if retained, be entirely without meaning to most readers, and is untranslatable into a foreign tongue. Weisse retains a much larger and more solid substratum of historic fact than Strauss ; and though he may be called a mythic interpreter, his mythic system seems to me entirely dif ferent from that of Strauss. With the latter the historic facts are, in general, pure fictions, wrought out of preconceived Jewish notions ; with Weisse they are symbolic rather than mythic. In some cases they arise from the mistake of symbolic action for real fact ; as, for instance, the notion of the feeding the multitudes in the desert arose out of the mystic language of the Saviour, relating to spiritual nourishment by the bread of life. In other parts he adopts the language of Vico, which has found so much favour in Germany, but which I confess, when gravely applied to history, and followed out to an extent, I con ceive, scarcely anticipated by its author, appears to me to be one of the most monstrous improbabilities which has ever passed current under the garb of philosophy. Individual his- HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. 123 II. torical characters are merely symbols of the age in which they CHAP. live, — ideal personifications, as it were, of the imagination, without any actual or personal existence. Thus the elder Herod (Weisse is speaking of the massacre of the innocents) is the symbol, the representation of worldly power. And so the tyrant of the Jews is sublimated into au allegory. Weisse, however, in his own sense, distinctly asserts the divi nity of the religion and of our Lord himself. I mention this book for several reasons, first, because, although it is written in a tone of bold, and, with us it would seem, pre sumptuous speculation, and ends, in my opinion, in a kind of unsatisfactory mysticism, it contains much profound and ex tremely beautiful thought. Secondly, because in its system of interpretation it seems to me to bear a remarkable resemblance to that of Philo and the better part of the Alexandrian school, — it is to the New Testament, what they were to the Old. Lastly, to show that the German mind itself has been startled by the conclusions, to which the stern and remorseless logic of Strauss has pushed on the historical criticism of ra tionalism ; and that, even where there is no tendency to return to the old system of rehgious interpretation, there is not merely strong discontent with the new, but a manifest yearning for a loftier and more consistent harmony between the religion of the Gospels and true philosophy, than has yet been effected by any of the remarkable writers, who have attempted this reconciliation. 124 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. APPENDIX II. ORIGIN OF THE GOSPELS. CHAP. The question concerning the origin of the three first Gospels, II. both before and subsequent to the publication of Bishop Marsh's Michaelis, has assumed every possible form ; and, it may be safely asserted, that no one victorious theory has gained any thing like a general assent among the learned. Every conceiv able hypothesis has found its advocates ; the priority of each of the Evangelists has been maintained with erudition and inge nuity ; each has been considered the primary authority, which has been copied by the others. But the hypothesis of one or more common sources, from which all three derived their materials (the view supported with so much ingenuity and erudi tion by the Bishop of Peterborough), has in its turn shared the common fate. This inexhaustible question, though less actively agitated, still continues to occupy the attention of biblical critics in Germany. I cannot help suspecting, that the best solution of this intricate problem lies near the surface.* The incidents of the Saviour's life and death, the contents of the Gospels, necessarily formed a considerable part of the oral teaching, or, if not of the oral teaching, of oral communication, among the first propagators of Christianity. t These incidents would be * It would be difficult to point doubt in its primitive form a very out a clearer and more satisfactory few simple articles, would it not exposition of any controversy, than necessarily awaken curiosity as to that of this great question in bibli- the historic facts, and would not cal criticism, by Mr. Thirlwall in his that curiosity demand, as it were, preface to Schleiermacher's Essay to be satisfied ? The more belief on St. Luke. warmed into piety, the more insa- ¦f- 1 have considered the objections tiably would it require, and the urged by Hug, and more recently more would the teacher be disposed, with great force by Weisse, (p. 20. to gratify this awakened interest et seq.) to this theory, the more and eagerness for information on important of which resolve them- every point that related to the selves into the undoubted fact, that Redeemer. The formal public it was a creed and not a history, teaching no doubt confined itself which, in all the accounts we have to the enforcement of the creed, in the Acts of the Apostles and and to combating Jewish or hea- elsewhere, formed the subject of then objections, and confuting Ju- oral teaching. This is doubtless daism or idolatry. But in private true, but, resting as the creed did intercourse, when the minds of upon the history, containing no both instructor or hearer were ex- HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. 125 repeated and dwelt upon with different degrees of frequency CHAP. and perhaps distinctness, according to their relative import- II- ance. While, on the one hand, from the number of teachers, scattered at least through Palestine, and probably in many other parts of the Roman empire, many varieties of expression, much of that unintentional difference of colouring which every narra tive receives by frequent repetition, would unavoidably arise ; on the other, there would be a kind of sanctity attributed to the precise expressions of the apostles, if recollected, which would insure on many points a similarity, a perfect identity, of language. We cannot suppose but that these incidents and events in the life of Christ, these parables and doctrines deli vered by himself, thus orally communicated in the course of public teaching and in private, received with such zealous avidity, treasured as of such inestimable importance, would be perpetually written down, if not as yet in continuous narratives, in numerous and accumulating fragments, by the Christian com munity, or some one or more distinguished members of it. They would record, as far as possible, the ipsissima verba of the primitive teacher, especially if an apostle or a personal fol lower of Jesus. But these reeords would still be liable to some inaccuracy, from misapprehension or infirmity of me mory ; and to some discrepancy, from the inevitable variations of language in oral instruction or communication frequently re peated, and that often by different teachers. Each community or church, each intelligent Christian would thus possess a more or less imperfect Gospel, which he would preserve with jealous care, and increase with zealous activity, till it should be super seded by some more regular and complete narrative, the authen ticity and authority of which he might be disposed to admit. The evangelists who, like St. Luke, might determine to write in order, either to an individual like Theophilus, to some single church, or to the whole body of Christians, " those things which were most surely believed among them," would naturally have access to, would consult, and avail themselves of many of those private or more public collections. All the three, or any two, might find many coincidences of expression, (if indeed clusively full of these subjects, necessary and unavoidable conse- would not the development of the quence ? history, in more or less detail, be a 126 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. some expressions had not already become conventional and established, or even consecrated forms of language, with regard to certain incidents,) which they would transfer into their own narrative ; on the other hand, incidents would be more or less fully developed, or be entirely omitted in some, while retained in others. Of all points on which discrepancies would be likely to arise, there would be none so variable as the chronological order and consecutive series of events. The primitive teacher, or communicator, of the history of the life and death of Jesus, would often follow a doctrinal rather than an historical con nection ; and this would, in many instances, be perpetuated by those who should endeavour to preserve in writing that precious information communicated to them by the preacher. Hence the discrepancies and variations in order and arrangement, more especially, as it may be said without irreverence, these rude and simple historians, looking more to religious impression than to historic precision, may have undervalued the importance of rigid chronological narrative. Thus, instead of one or two primary, either received or unauthoritative, sources of the Gospels, I should conceive that there would be many, almost as many as there were Christian communities, all in them selves imperfect, but contributing more or less to the more regular and complete narratives extant in our Gospels. The general necessity, particularly as the apostles and first followers were gradually withdrawn from the scene, would demand a more full and accurate narrative ; and these confessedly imper fect collections would fall into disuse, directly that the want was supplied by regular gospels, composed by persons either con sidered as divinely commissioned, or at least as authoritative and trustworthy writers. The almost universal acceptance of these Gospels is the guarantee for their general conformity with these oral, traditional, and written records of the different com munities, from which if they had greatly differed, they would probably have been rejected ; while the same conformity suffi ciently accounts for the greater or less fulness, the variation in the selection of incidents, the silence on some points, or the introduction of others, in one Gospel alone. Whether or not either of the evangelists saw the work of the other, they made constant use of the same or similar sources of information, not HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. 127 merely from the personal knowledge of the evangelists, but like- CHAP. wise from the general oral teaching and oral communications of *1- the apostles and first preachers of Christianity, thus irregularly and incompletely, but honestly and faithfully, registered by the hearers. Under this view, for my own part, I seem rationally to avoid all embarrassment with the difficulties of the subject. I am not surprised at exact coincidences of tliought or language, though followed by, or accompanied with, equally remarkable deviations and discrepancies. I perceive why one is brief and the other full ; why one omits, while another details, minute circumstances. I can account for much apparent and some real discrepancy. I think that I discern, to my own satisfac tion, sufficient cause for diversity in the collocation of dif ferent incidents : in short, admitting these simple principles, there flows a natural harmony from the whole, which blends and re-unites all the apparent discords which appear to disturb the minds of others. There is one point which strikes me forcibly in all these minute and elaborate arguments, raised from every word and letter of the Gospels, which prevail throughout the whole of the modern German criticism. It is, that following out their rigid juridical examination, the most extreme rationalists are (unknowingly) influenced by the theory of the strict inspiration of the evangelists. Weisse himself has drawn very ably a distinction between juridical and historical truth, that is, the sort of legal truth which we should require in a court of justice, and that which we may expect from ordinary history. But in his own investigations he appears to me constantly to lose sight of this important distinction ; no cross-examination in an English court of law was ever so severe as that to which every word and shade of expression in the evangelists is sub mitted. Now this may be just in those who admit a rigid verbal inspiration ; but those who reject it, and consider the evan gelists merely as ordinary historians, have no right to require more than ordinary historic accuracy. The evangelists were, either, — I. Divinely inspired in their language and expressions as well as in the facts and doctrines which they relate. On this theory the inquirer may reasonably endeavour to harmonise discrepancies ; but if he fails, he must submit in devout re- 128 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. verence, and suppose that there is some secret way of reconciling such contradictions, which he wants acuteness or knowledge to comprehend. II. We may adopt a lower view of inspiration, whether of sug gestion or superintendence, or even that which seems to have been generally received in the early ages, the inflexible love of truth, which being inseparable from the spirit of Christianity, would of itself be a sufficient guarantee for fidelity and honesty. Under any of these notions of inspiration (the definition of which word is, in fact, the real difficulty), there would be much lati tude for variety of expression, of detail, of chronological ar rangement. Each narrative (as the form and the language would be uninspired) would bear marks of the individual cha racter, the local circumstances, the education, the character of the writer. III. We may consider the evangelists as ordinary historians, cre dible merely in proportion to their means of obtaining accurate knowledge, their freedom from prejudice, and the abstract credi bility of their statements. If, however, so considered (as is inva riably the case in the German school of criticism), they should undoubtedly have all the privileges of ordinary historians, and indeed of historians of a singularly rude and inartificial class. They would be liable to all the mistakes into which such writers might fall ; nor would trifling inaccuracies impeach the truth of their general narrative. Take, for instance, the introduction of Cyrenius, in relation to the census in the beginning of St. Luke's Gospel; in common historical inquiry, it would be concluded that the author had made a mistake * as to the name, his general * Non nos debere arbitrari men- explicandum, sed ex parte tangen- tiri quemquam, si pluribus rem dum quisque suscipiat ; sive ad quam audierunt vel viderunt remi- illuminandam declarandamque sen- niscentibus, non eodem modo atque tentiam, nihil quidem rerum, eisdem verbis, eadem tamen res verborum tamen aliquid addat, cui fuerit indicata : aut sive mutetur auctoritas narrandi concessa est, ordo verborum, sive alia pro aliis, sive rem bene tenens, non assecpm- quae tamen idem valeant, verba pro- tur quamvis id conetur, memoriter ferantur, sive aliquid vel quod re- etiam verba quce audivit ad integrum cordanti non occurrit, vel quod ex enuntiare. Augustin. De Consens. aliis qua? dicuntur possit intelligi Evangelist, ii. 28. Compare the minus dicatur, sive aliorum qua; whole passage, which coincides with magis dicere statuit narrandorum the general view of the fathers as gratia, ut congruus temporis mo- to this question, in c. 50. St. Au- dus sufficiat, aliquid sibi non totum gustine seems to admit an inspir- HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. 129 truth would remain unshaken, nor would any one think of build- CHAP. ing up an hypothesis on so trivial and natural an inaccuracy. II. But there is scarcely a work of this school without some such hypothesis. I confess that I am constantly astonished at the elaborate conclusions which are drawn from trifling discre pancies or inaccuracies in those writers, from whom is ex acted a precision of language, a minute and unerring knowledge of facts incident to, but by no means forming constituent parts of, their narrative, which is altogether inconsistent with the want of respect in other cases shown to their authority. The Evan gelists must have been either entirely inspired, or inspired as to the material parts of their history, or altogether uninspired. In the latter, and indeed in the more moderate view of the second case, thej- would have a right to the ordinary latitude of honest narrators ; they would, we may safely say, be read, as other his torians of their inartificial and popular character always are ; and so read, it would be impossible, I conceive, not to be sur prised and convinced of their authenticity, by their general ac cordance with all the circumstances of their age, country, and personal character. APPENDIX III. INFLUENCE OF THE MORE IMAGINATIVE INCIDENTS OF THE EARLY EVANGELIC HISTORY ON THE PROPAGATION AND MAINTENANCE OF THE RELIGION. A curious fact occurs to those who trace the progress of religious opinion, not merely in the popular theology, but in the works of those, chiefly foreign writers, who indulge in bolder speculations on these subjects. Many of these are men of the profoundest learning, and, it would be the worst insolence of un- charitableness to doubt, with the most sincere and ardent aspira tions after truth. The fact is this : — Certain parts of the evan gelic history, the angelic appearances, the revelations of the Deity addressed to the senses of man (the Angelo-phaniai and ation of guidance or superintend- be it spoken) into inextricable non. ence. In one passage he seems to go sense, iii. 30.; see also 48. farther, but to plunge (with respect VOL. I. K 180 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. Theophaniai, as they have been called,) — with some, though not with all this class of writers, every thing miraculous, appears totally inconsistent with historic truth. These incidents, being irreconcilable with our actual experience, and rendered suspi cious by a multitude of later fictions, which are rejected in the mass by most Protestant Christians, cannot accord with the more subtle and fastidious intelligence of the present times. Some writers go so far as to assert that it is impossible that an inquiring and reasoning age should receive these supernatural facts as historical verities. But if we look back we find that precisely these same parts of the sacred narrative were dearest to the believers of a more imaginative age ; and they are still dwelt upon by the general mass of Christians, with that kind of ardent faith, which refuses to break its old alliance with the imagination. It was by this very supernatural agency, if I may so speak, that the doctrines, the sentiments, the moral and religious influence of Christianity, were implanted in the mind, on the first promulgation of the Gospel, and the reverential feeling thus excited, most powerfully contributed to maintain the efficacy of the religion for at least seventeen centuries. That which is now to many incredible, not merely commanded the belief, but made the purely moral and spiritual part of Christianity, to which few of these writers now refuse their assent, credible. An argument which appears to me of considerable weight arises out of these considerations. Admit, as even the ra tionalist and mythic interpreters seem to do, though in vague and metaphysical terms, the divine interposition, or at least the pre-arrangement, and effective though remote agency of the Deity, in the introduction of Christianity into the world. These passages in general are not the vital and essential truths of Christianity, but the vehicle by which these truths were com municated ; a kind of language by which opinions were con veyed, and sentiments infused, and the general belief in Chris tianity implanted, confirmed, and strengthened. As we cannot but suppose that the state of the world, as well during, as sub sequent to the introduction of Christianity, the comparative re- barbarisation of the human race, the long centuries in which mankind was governed by imagination, rather than by severe reason, were within the design, or at least the foreknowledge, of all-seeing Providence ; so from the fact that this mode of com munication with mankind was for so long a period so effective HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. 131 we may not unreasonably infer its original adoption by Divine Wisdom. This language of poetic incident, and, if I may so speak, of imagery, interwoven as it was with the popular belief, infused into the hymns, the services, the ceremonial of the church, embodied in material representation by painting or sculpture, was the vernacular tongue of Christianity, universally intelligible, and responded to by the human heart, throughout these many centuries. Revelation thus spoke the language, not merely of its own, but of succeeding times ; because its design was the perpetuation as well as the first propagation of the Christian religion. Whether then these were actual appearances or impressions produced on the mind of those who witnessed them, is of slight importance. In either case they are real historical facts; they par take of poetry in their form, and-, in a certain sense, in their groundwork, but they are imaginative, not fictitious ; true, as relating that which appeared to the minds of the relators exactly as it did appear.* Poetry, meaning by poetry such an imagina tive form, and not merely the form, but the subject-matter of the narrative, as, for instance, in the first chapters of St. Matthew and St. Luke, was the appropriate and perhaps necessary intelligible dialect ; the vehicle for the more important truths of the Gospel to later generations. The incidents therefore were so ordered, that they should thus live in the thoughts of men ; the revelation itself was so adjusted and arranged in order that it might insure its continued existence throughout this period.-|- Could, it may be * This, of course, does not apply they may be guaranteed) through to facts which must have been the ordinary sources of information, either historical events or direct from the reminiscences of Mary fictions, such as the resurrection of herself, or from those of other con- Jesus. The re-appearance of an temporaries, it would be expected actual and well known bodily form, that these remote incidents would cannot be refined into one of those be related with the greatest indis- airy and unsubstantial appearances tinctness, without mutual connec- which may be presented to, or may tion or chronological arrangement, exist solely through, the imagina- and different incidents be preserved tive faculty. I would strictly main- by different Evangelists. This is tain this important distinction. precisely the case : the very mar- f By all those who consider the vellousness of the few circum- knowledge of these circumstances stances thus preserved accounts in to have reached the Evangelists some degree for their preservation, (by whatever notion of inspiration and at the same time for the kind K 2 132 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. inquired, a purely rational or metaphysical creed have survived for any length of time during such stages of human civilisation ? I am aware that this may be considered as carrying out what is called accommodation to an unprecedented extent ; and that the whole system of what is called accommodation is looked upon with great jealousy. It is supposed to compromise, as it were, the truth of the Deity, or at least of the revelation ; a deception, it is said, or at least an illusion, is practised upon the belief of man. I cannot assent to this view. From the necessity of the case there must be some departure from the pure and essential spirituality of the Deity, in order to communicate with the human race, — some kind of con descension from the infinite and inconceivable state of God head, to become cognisable, or to enter into any kind of relation with material and dimly-mental man. All this is in fact ac commodation ; and the adaptation of any appropriate means of addressing, for his benefit, man in any peculiar state of intelli gence, is but the wise contrivance, the indispensable condition, which renders that communication either possible, or at least effective to its manifest end. Religion is one great system of accommodation to the wants, to the moral and spiritual ad vancement, of mankind ; and I cannot but think that as it has so efficaciously adapted itself to one state of the human mind, so it will to that mind during all its progress ; and it is of all things the most remarkable in Christianity, that it has, as it were, its proper mode of addressing with effect every age and every conceivable state of man. Even if (though I conceive it impossible) the imagination should entirely wither from the human soul, and a severer faith enter into an exclusive alliance with pure reason, Christianity would still have its moral perfection, its rational promise of immortality — its approximation to the one pure, spiritual, incomprehensible Deity, to satisfy that reason, and to infuse those sentiments of dependence, of gratitude, of love to God, without which human society must fall to ruin, and the human mind, in humiliating desperation, suspend all its noble ac tivity, and care not to put forth its sublime and eternal energies. of dimness and poetic character tion : they seem like a few scat- with which they are clothed. They tered fragments preserved from are too slight and wanting in par- oral tradition. ticularity to give the idea of inven- HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. 133 CHAP. III. COMMENCEMENT OF THE PUBLIC LIFE OF JESUS. Nearly thirty years had passed away, since the Period t0 birth in Bethlehem, during which period there is theas- 1 ¦ • 1 i-ii.-i-.-i i sumption of but one incident recorded, which could direct the public public attention to the Son of Mary.* All religious character- Jews made their periodical visits to the capital at the three great festivals, especially at the Passover. The more pious women, though exempt by the law from regular attendance, usually accompanied their husbands or kindred. It is probable that, at the age of twelve, the children, who were then said to have assumed the rank of " Sons of the Law," and were considered responsible for their obedience to the civil and religious institutes of the nation, were first permitted to appear with their parents in the metropolis, to be present, and, as it were, to be initiated in the religious ceremonies, t Ac- * There is no likelihood that the it is a curious proof of the vitality extant apocryphal Gospel of the of popular legends, that many of Infancy contains any traditional these stories are still current, even truth. This work, in my opinion, in England, in our Christmas ca- was evidently composed with a rois, and in this form are dissemi- controversial design, to refute the nated among our cottages. sects which asserted that Jesus was f Lightfoot. Wetstein, in loc. no more than an ordinary child, " A child was free from present- and that the divine nature de- ing himself in the temple at the scended upon him at his baptism, three feasts, until (according to the Hence his childhood is represented school of Hillel) he was able, his as fertile in miracles as his man- father taking him by the hand, to hood ; miracles which are certainly go up with him into the mount of puerile enough for that age. But the temple." Lightfoot, x. 71. K 3 134 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. chap, cordingly, at this age, Jesus went up with his pa- t m- rents at the festival to Jerusalem * ; but on their visit to return, after the customary residence of seven Jerusalem, days, they had advanced a whole day's journey without discovering that the youth was not to be found in the whole caravan, or long train of pilgrims, which probably comprised almost all the religious inhabitants of the populous northern provinces. In the utmost anxiety they returned to Jerusalem, and, after three days t, found him in one of the chambers, within the precincts of the temple, set apart for public instruction. In these schools, the wisest and most respected of the rabbis, or teachers, were accustomed to hold their sittings, which were open to all who were desirous of knowledge. Jesus was seated, as the scholars usually were ; and at his familiarity with the law, and the depth and subtilty of his questions, the learned men were in the ut most astonishment : the phrase may, perhaps, bear the stronger sense — they were " in an ecstasy of admiration." This incident is strictly in accord ance with Jewish usage. The more promising youths were encouraged to the early develop ment and display of their acquaintance with the Sacred Writings, and the institutes of the country. Josephus, the historian, relates, that in his early youth, he was an object of wonder for his preco cious knowledge, with the Wise Men, who took delight in examining and developing his proficiency * Luke, ii. 41. 52. towards Galilee, returned the se- f According to Grotius, they cond, and found him the third: in had advanced one day's journey loc. HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. 135 in the subtler questions of the law. Whether the chap. impression of the transcendent promise of Jesus m" was as deep and lasting as it was vivid, we have no information ; for without reluctance, with no more than a brief and mysterious intimation that public instruction was the business imposed upon him by his Father, he returned with his parents to his remote and undistinguished home. The Law, in this, as in all such cases, harmonising with the eternal instincts of nature, had placed the relation of child and parent on the simplest and soundest principles. The authority of the parent was un limited, while his power of inflicting punishment on the person, or injuring the fortunes of the child by disinheritance, was controlled ; and while the child, on the one hand, was bound to obedience by the strongest sanctions, on the other the duty of maintaining and instructing his offspring was as rigidly enforced upon the father. The youth then returned to the usual subjection to his parents ; and, for nearly eighteen years longer, we have no know ledge that Jesus was distinguished among the inhabi tants of Nazareth, except by his exemplary piety, and by his engaging demeanour and conduct, which acquired him the general good-will. The law, as some suppose, prescribed the period of thirty years for the assumption of the most important functions ; and it was not till he had arrived at this age, that Jesus again emerged from his obscurity *; nor does * Or entering on his thirtieth week, or the day which had corn- year According to the 'Jewish menced was included in the calcu- mod'e of computation, the year, the lation. Lightfoot. K 4 136 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. it appear improbable that John had previously com menced his public career at the same period in his life. Political During these thirty years, most important revo- tionsduring lutions had taken place in the public administra- ing period" tion °f affairs in Judasa ; and a deep and sullen change had been slowly working in the popular mind. The stirring events which had rapidly suc ceeded each other, were such as no doubt might entirely obliterate any transient impressions made by the marvellous circumstances which attended the birth of Jesus, if indeed they had obtained greater publicity than we are inclined to suppose. As the period approached, in which the new Teacher was to publish his mild and benignant faith, the nation, wounded in their pride, galled by oppres sion, infuriated by the promulgation of fierce and turbulent doctrines more congenial to their tem per, became less and less fit to receive any but a Reign of warlike and conquering Messiah. The reign of Archelaus, or rather the interregnum, while he awaited the ratification of his kingly powers from Rome, had commenced with a bloody tumult, in which the royal soldiery had attempted to repress the insurrectionary spirit of the populace. The passover had been interrupted — an unprecedented and ill-omened event ! and the nation, assembled from all quarters, had been constrained to disperse without the completion of the sacred ceremony.* After the tyrannical reign of Archelaus as eth- narch, for more than nine years, he had been ba- # Hist, of the Jews, ii. 132. Archelaus. HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. 137 nished into Gaul, and Judaea was reduced to a Roman province, under a governor (procurator) of the equestrian order, who was subordinate to the Reduc President of Syria. But the first Roman gover- p°rovince?an nors, having taken up their residence in Herod's magnificent city on the coast, Caesarea, the muni cipal government of Jerusalem had apparently fallen into the hands of the native authorities. The sanhedrin. Sanhedrin of seventy-one, composed of the chief priests and men learned in the law, from a court of judicature, to which their functions were chiefly confined, while the executive was administered by the kings, had become a kind of senate. Pontius Pilate, the first of the Roman governors, who, if he did not afflict the capital with the spectacle of a resident foreign ruler, seems to have visited it more frequently, was the first who introduced into the city the " idolatrous" standards of Rome, and had attempted to suspend certain bucklers, bearing an image of the emperor, in the palace of Herod.* In his time, the Sanhedrin seems to have been recog nised as a sort of representative council of the nation. But the proud and unruly people could not disguise from itself the humiliating consciousness, that it was reduced to a state of foreign servitude. Throughout the country the publicans, the farm- The pub. ers or collectors of the tribute to Rome, a burden lil not less vexatious in its amountt and mode of col lection, than offensive to their feelings, were openly # Hist, of the Jews, ii. 156. of tribute, which was described as + About this period Syria and intolerably oppressive. Tac. Ann. Judaea petitioned for a remission ii. 42. licans. 138 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. chap, exercising their office. The chief priest was per- . petually displaced at the order of the Roman prefect, by what might be jealous or systematic policy, but which had all the appearance of capri cious and insulting violence.* They looked abroad, but without hope. The country had, without any advantage, suffered all the evils of insurrection- insurrec- ary anarchy. At the period between the death of Herod and the accession of his sons, adventurers of all classes had taken up arms, and some of the lowest, shepherds and slaves, whether hoping to strike in with the popular feeling, and if successful at first, to throw the whole nation on their side, had not scrupled to assume the title and ensigns of royalty. These commotions had been sup pressed ; but the external appearance of peace was but a fallacious evidence of the real state of public feeling. The religious sects which had long divided the nation, those of the Pharisees and Sadducees, no longer restrained by the strong hand of power, renewed their conflicts : sometimes one party, sometimes the other, obtained the high priesthood, and predominated in the Sanhedrin ; while from the former had sprung up a new fac tion, in whose tenets the stern sense of national degradation which rankled in the hearts of so many, found vent and expression. Judas the The sectof Judas theGaulonite, oras hewas called, the Galilean, may be considered the lineal inheritors of that mingled spirit of national independence and * There were twenty-eight, says to the burning of the temple by Josephus, from the time of Herod Titus. Ant. xx. 8. HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. 139 of religious enthusiasm, which had in early days won chap. the glorious triumph of freedom from the Syro- Grecian kings, and had maintained a stern though secret resistance to the later Asmoneans, and to the Idumean dynasty. Just before the death of Herod, it had induced the six thousand Pharisees to refuse the oath of allegiance to the king and to his imperial protector, and had probably been the secret incite ment in the other acts of resistance to the royal authority. Judas, the Galilean, openly proclaimed the unlawfulness, the impiety of God's people submitting to a foreign yoke, and thus acknowledg ing the subordination of the Jewish theocracy to the empire of Rome. The payment of tribute which began to be enforced on the deposition of Archelaus, according to his tenets, was not merely a base renunciation of their liberties, but a sin against their God. To the doctrines of this bold and eloquent man, which had been propa gated with dangerous rapidity and success, frequent allusions are found in the Gospels. Though the Galileans, slain by Pilate, may not have been of this sect, yet probably the Roman authorities would look with more than usual jealousy on any appearance of tumult arising in the province, which was the reputed birthplace of Judas ; and the constant attempts to implicate Jesus with this party appear in their insidious questions about the lawfulness of paying tribute to Caesar. The sub sequent excesses of the Zealots, who were the doctrinal descendants of Judas, and among whom his own sons assumed a dangerous and fatal pre- Baptist. 14)0 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. eminence, may show that the jealousy of the rulers was not groundless ; and indicate, as will hereafter appear, under what unfavourable impressions with the existing authorities, on account of his coming from Galilee, Jesus was about to enter on his public career. John the Towards the close of this period of thirty years, though we have no evidence to fix a precise date, while Jesus was growing up in the ordinary course of nature, in the obscurity of the Galilean town of Nazareth, which lay to the north of Jerusalem, at much the same distance to the south John had arrived af maturity, and suddenly appeared as a public teacher, at first in the desert country in the neighbourhood of Hebron ; but speedily removed, no doubt for the facility of administering the cha racteristic rite, from which he was called the Bap tist, at all seasons, and with the utmost publicity and effect. * In the southern desert of Judaea the streams are few and scanty, probably in the sum mer entirely dried up. The nearest large body of water was the Dead Sea. Besides that the western banks of this great lake are mostly rugged and precipitous, natural feeling, and still more the religious awe of the people, would have shrunk from performing sacred ablutions in. those fetid, unwholesome, and accursed waters.! But the banks of the great national stream, the scene of so many * Matt. iii. 1 — 12. Mark, i. 2 — 8. ri/v Vevvyaap pkayv, kntira noXXrjv Luke, iii. 1 — 18. dvaperpovpevog ipypiav tig rr)v 'Aa- f The Aulon, or Valley of the tpaXfinv Hewi Xipvyv. Joseph. B. Jordan, is mostly desert. Aiaripvei T. iii. 10. 7. HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. 141 miracles, offered many situations, in every respect chap. admirably calculated for this purpose. The Bap- v *Ir' tist's usual station was near the place, Bethabara, the ford of the Jordan, which tradition pointed out as that where the waters divided before the ark, that the chosen people might enter into the pro mised land. Here, though the adjacent region towards Jerusalem is wild and desert, the imme diate shores of the river offer spots of great pic turesque beauty. The Jordan has a kind of double channel. In its summer course, the shelv ing banks, to the top of which the waters reach at its period of flood, are covered with acacias and other trees of great luxuriance ; and amid the rich vegetation and grateful shade afforded by these scenes, the Italian painters, with no less truth than effect, have delighted to represent the Baptist sur rounded by listening multitudes, or performing the solemn rite of initiation. The teacher himself partook of the ascetic character of the more soli tary of the Essenes, all of whom retired from the tumult and license of the city, some dwelt alone in remote hermitages, and not rarely pre tended to a prophetic character. His raiment was of the coarsest texture, of camel's hair ; his girdle (an ornament often of the greatest richness in Oriental costume, of the finest linen or cotton, and embroidered with silver or gold,) was of un- tanned leather} his food the locusts*, and wild * That locusts are no uncom- called in that country the locust mon food is so well known from bean, which some have endea- all travellers in the East, that it is voured to make out to have been unnecessary to quote any single the food of John. authority. There is a kind of bean, 142 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. chap, honey, of which there is a copious supply both ¦ in the open and the wooded regions, in which he had taken up his abode. Baptism. No question has been more strenuously debated than the origin of the rite of baptism. The prac tice of the external washing of the body, as em blematic of the inward purification of the soul, is almost universal. The sacred Ganges cleanses all moral pollution from the Indian ; among the Greeks and Romans even the murderer might, it was supposed, wash the blood " clean from his hands* ;" and in many of their religious rites, lus trations or oblations, either in the running stream or in the sea, purified the candidate for divine fa vour, and made him fit to approach the shrines of the gods. The perpetual similitude and connection between the uncleanness of the body and of the soul, which ran through the Mosaic law, and had become completely interwoven with the common language and sentiment, the formal enactment of ablutions in many cases, which either required the cleansing of some unhealthy taint, or more than usual purity, must have familiarised the mind with the mysterious effects attributed to such a rite : and of all the Jewish sects, that of the Essenes, to which no doubt popular opinion associated the Baptist, were most frequent and scrupulous in their ceremonial ablutions. It is strongly asserted on the one hand, and denied with equal confidence on the other, that baptism was in general use among the Jews as a distinct and formal rite j and that it was * Ah nimium faciles, qui tristia crimina cadis Tolli fluminea posse putatis aqua. Ovid. HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. 143 by this ceremony that the Gentile proselytes, who were not yet thought worthy of circumcision, or perhaps refused to submit to it, were imperfectly initiated into the family of Israel.* Though there does not seem very conclusive evidence in the earlier rabbinical writings to the antiquity, yet there are perpetual allusions to the existence of this rite, at least at a later period ; and the argu ment, that after irreconcilable hostility had been declared between the two religions, the Jews would be little likely to borrow their distinctive ceremony from the Christians, applies with more than ordi nary force. Nor, if we may fairly judge from the very rapid and concise narrative of the Evangelists, does the public administration of baptism by John appear to have excited astonishment as a new and unprecedented rite. For, from every quarter, all ranks and sects Multitudes crowded to the teaching and to partake in the n^°pfetaecnh The further proceedings of the Sanhedrin are still more remarkable : unable to refute the fact of the miraculous cure, they endeavour, never theless, to withhold from Jesus all claim upon the gratitude of him whom he had relieved, and all participation in the power with which the instantaneous cure was wrought. The man is ex horted to give praise for the blessing to God alone, and to abandon the cause of Jesus of Nazareth, whom they authoritatively denounce as a sinner. He rejoins, with straight-forward simplicity, that he simply deposes to the fact of his blindness, and of his having received his sight : on such high questions as the character of Jesus, he pre sumes not at first to dispute with the great legal tribunal, with the chosen wisdom of the nation. Wearied, however, at length with their pertinacious examination, the man seems to dis cover the vantage ground on which he stands ; the altercation becomes more spirited on his part, more full of passionate violence on theirs. He de clares that he has already again and again repeated the circumstances of the transaction, and that it is in vain for them to question him further, unless they are determined, if the truth of the miracle should be established, to acknowledge the divine mission of Jesus. This seems to have been the object at which the more violent party in the Sanhedrin aimed ; so far to throw him off his guard, as to make him avow himself the partisan of Jesus, and VOL. i. t 274 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. chap, by this means to shake his whole testimony. On , J , the instant they begin to revile him, to appeal to the popular clamour, to declare him a secret ad herent of Jesus, while they were the stedfast dis ciples of Moses. God was acknowledged to have spoken by Moses, and to compare Jesus with him was inexpiable impiety — Jesus, of whose origin they professed themselves ignorant. The man rejoins in still bolder terms, " Why, herein is a marvel lous thing, that ye know not from whence he is, but yet he hath opened mine eyes." He continues in the same strain openly to assert his conviction that no man, unless commissioned by God, could work such wonders. Their whole history, abound ing as it did with extraordinary events, displayed nothing more wonderful than that which had so recently taken place in his person. This daring and disrespectful language excites the utmost indig nation in the whole assembly. They revert to the popular opinion, that the blindness with which the man was born, was aproof of his havingbeen accursed of God. " Thou wast altogether born in sin, and dost thou teach us ?" God marked thy very birth, thy very cradle, with the indelible sign of his dis pleasure ; and therefore the testimony of one branded by the wrath of Heaven can be of no value. Forgetful that even on their own principle, if, by being born blind, the man was manifestly an ob ject of the divine anger, his gaining his sight was an evidence equally unanswerable of the divine favour. But while they traced the hand of God in the curse, they refused to trace it in the blessing ; to HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. g^J close the eyes was a proof of divine power, but to open them none whatever. The fearless conduct, however, of the man appears to have united the divided council ; the formal and terrible sentence of excommunication was pronounced, probably for the first time, against any adherent of Jesus. The evangelist concludes the narrative, as if to show that the man was not as yet a declared disciple of Christ, with a second interview between the blind man and Jesus, in which Jesus openly ac cepted the title of the Messiah, the Son of God, and received the homage of the now avowed ad herent. Nor did Jesus discontinue his teaching on account of this declared interposition of the San hedrin ; his manifest superiority throughout this transaction rather appears to have caused a new schism in the council, which secured him from any violent measures on their part, until the termin ation of the festival. Another collision takes place with some of the Pharisaic party, with whom he now seems scarcely to keep any measure : he openly denounces them as misleading the people, and declares himself the " one true Shepherd." Whither Jesus retreated after this conflict with the ruling powers, we have no distinct information — most probably however into Galilee * ; nor is it possible with * From this period the difficulty when the Samaritans refuse to re- of arranging a consistent chronolo- ceive him because "his face was gical narrative out of the separate as though he would go to Jerusa- relations of the evangelists, in- lem," to be travelling in the directly creases to the greatest degree. Mr. opposite direction. He likewise, Greswell, to establish his system, in my opinion, on quite unsatisfac- is actually obliged to make Jesus, tory grounds, endeavours to prove T 2 276 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. chap, certainty to assign those events, which filled . - ' . up the period between the autumnal Feast of Tabernacles and that of the Dedication of the Temple, which took place in the winter. Now, how ever, Jesus appears more distinctly to have avowed his determination not to remain in his more con cealed and private character in Galilee : but when the occasion should demand, when, at the ap proaching Passover, the whole nation should be assembled in the metropolis, he would confront them, and at length bring his acceptance or re jection to a crisis.* He now, at times at least, assumes greater state ; messengers are sent before him to proclaim his arrival in the different towns and villages ; and as the Feast of Dedication draws Near near, he approaches the borders of Samaria, and Samaria, sends forward some of his followers into a neigh bouring village, to announce his approach, t Whether the Samaritans may have entertained some hopes, from the rumour of his former proceedings in their country, that, persecuted by the Jews, and avowedly opposed to the leading parties in Jeru salem, he might espouse their party in the national quarrel, and were therefore instigated by disap pointment as well as jealousy; or whether it was merely an accidental outburst of the old irrecon- cileable feud, the inhospitable village refused to that the "village of Martha and * By taking the expression of Mary was not Bethany." Any St. Luke " he stedfastly set his arrangement which places (Luke, face to go to Jerusalem," in this x. 38 — 42.) the scene in the house more general sense, many diffi- of Mary and Martha, after the culties, if not avoided, are con- raising of Lazarus, appears highly siderably diminished. improbable. f Luke, ix. 51 — 56. HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. 277 receive him.* The disciples were now elate with CIVAP- the expectation of the approaching crisis ; on their i minds all the dispiriting predictions of the fate of their Master passed away without the least im pression ; they were indignant that their triumph ant procession should be arrested ; and with these more immediate and peculiar motives mingled, no doubt, the implacable spirit of national hostility. They thought that the hour of vengeance was now come ; that even their gentle Master would resent on these deadliest foes of the race of Israel, this deliberate insult on his dignity ; that, as he had in some respects resembled the ancient prophets, he would now not hesitate to assume that fiercer and more terrific majesty, with which, according to their ancient histories, these holy men had at times been avenged ; they entreated their Master to call down fire from heaven to consume the village. Jesus simply replied by a sentence, which at once estab lished the incalculable difference between his own religion and that which it was to succeed. This sentence, most truly sublime and most charac teristic of the evangelic religion, ever since the establishment of Christianity has been struggling to maintain its authority against the still-reviving Judaism, which, inseparable it should seem from * The attendance of the Jews ment for placing this event at the at the Feast of the Dedication, a present period. I find that Dod- solemnity of more recent institu- dridge had before suggested this tion, was not unlikely to be still allusion. The inhabitants of Gi- more obnoxious to the possessors nea (Josephus, Ant. xx. ch. 6.) fell of the rival temple, than the other on certain Galileans proceeding to great national feasts. This consi- Jerusalem for one of the feasts, deration, in the want of more de- and slew many of them. cisive grounds, may be some argu- T 3 278 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. chap, uncivilised and unchristian man, has constantly en- , deavoured to array the Deity, rather in his attri butes of destructive power than of preserving mercy. " The Son of Man is not come to destroy men's lives, but to save them." So speaking he left the inhospitable Samaritans unharmed, and calmly passed to another village. It appears to me probable that he here left the direct road to the metropolis through Samaria, and turned aside to the district about Scythopolis and the valley of the Jordan, and most likely crossed into Peraea.* From hence, if not before, he sent out his messengers with greater regularity t, and it might seem, to keep up some resemblance with the established institutions of the nation, he chose the number of Seventy, a number already sanctified in the notions of the people, as that of the great San hedrin of the nation, who deduced their own origin and authority from the Council of Seventy, esta blished by Moses in the wilderness. The Seventy after a short absence returned and made a favour able report of the influence which they had ob tained over the people, t The language of Jesus, , both in his charge to his disciples and in his observ ations on the report of their success, appears to indicate the still approaching crisis ; it should seem that even the towns in which he had wrought his mightiest works, Chorazin, Bethsaida, and Capernaum, at least the general mass of the * After the visit to Jerusalem at therefore have been there before the Feast of the Dedication, he the Feast. went again (John, x. 40.) into the f Luke, x. ] — 16.. country beyond Jordan; he must j Ibid. 17 — 20. HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. 279 people, and the influential rulers, now had declared chap. against him. They are condemned in terms of un- , V1, , usual severity for their blindness ; yet among the meek and humble he had a still increasing hold — and the days were now at hand, which the disciples were permitted to behold, and for which the wise and good for many ages had been looking forward with still baffled hopes.* It was during the absence of the Seventy, or Feast of immediately after their return, that Jesus, who jesus perhaps had visited in the interval many towns and Jerusalem. villages both of Galilee and Peraaa, which his cen tral position near the Jordan commanded, de scended to the winter Festival of the Dedication.! Once it is clear that he drew near to Jerusalem, at least as near as the village of Bethany ; and though not insensible to the difficulties of this view, we cannot but think that this village, about two miles' distance from Jerusalem, and the house of the relations of Lazarus, was the place where he was concealed during both his two later unexpected and secret visits to the metropolis, and where he in general passed the nights during the week of the last Passover.t His appearance at * Luke,x.24. The parable of the month Cisleu, answering to our good Samaritan may gain in impres- 15th of December. The houses siveness if considered in connec- were illuminated at night during tionwith the recent transactions in the whole period of the feast, which Samaria, and as perhaps delivered lasted eight days. John, x. 22 — 39. during the journey to Jerusalem, J In connecting Luke, x.38 — 42. neartheplacewherethesceneislaid with John, x. 22 — 39., there is the — the wild and dangerous country obvious difficulty of the former between Jericho and Jerusalem. evangelist mentioning the compa- + This feast was instituted by ratively unimportant circumstance Judas Maccabeus, 1 Mace. 4 — 5. which he relates, and being entirely It was kept on the 25th of the silent about the latter. But this T 4 280 HISTORY Of CHRISTIANITY. this festival seems to have been, like the former, sudden and unlooked-for. The multitude probably at this time was not so great, both on account of the season, and because the festival was kept in other places besides Jerusalem *, though of course with the greatest splendour and concourse in the Temple itself. Jesus was seen walking in one of the porticoes or arcades which surrounded the outer court of the Temple, that to the east, which from its greater splendour, being formed of a triple instead of a double row of columns, was called by the name of Solomon's. The leading Jews, whether unprepared for more violent mea sures, or with some insidious design, now address him, seemingly neither in an hostile nor unfriendly tone. It almost appears, that having before at tempted force, they are now inclined to try the milder course of persuasion ; their language sounds like the expostulation of impatience. Why, they inquire, does he thus continue to keep up this strange excitement ? why thus persist in endanger ing the public peace ? why does he not avow him self at once ? why does he not distinctly assert himself to be the Christ, and by some signal, some public, some indisputable, evidence of his being the Messiah, at once set at rest the doubts, and com- objection is common to all liar- suppose the evangelists to have monies of the Gospels. The silence compiled from a common docu- of the three former evangelists ment, or adhere to any of the older concerning the events in Jerusalem theories, that each wrote either is equally remarkable, under every entirely independently or as sup- system, whether, according to plementary to the preceding evan- Bishop Marsh and the generality gelists. of the great German scholars we * Lightfoot in loco. HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. 281 pose the agitation of the troubled nation? The chap. answer of Jesus is an appeal to the wonderful works which he had already wrought ; but this evidence the Jews, in their present state and disposition of mind, were morally incapable of appreciating. He had already avowed himself, but in language unin telligible to their ears ; a few had heard him, a few would receive the reward of their obedience, and those few were, in the simple phrase, the sheep who heard his voice. But as he proceeded, his language assumed a higher, a more mysterious, tone. He spoke of his unity with the great Father of the worlds. " I and my Father are one.*" However understood, his words sounded to the Jewish ears so like direct blasphemy, as again to justify on the spot the summary punishment of the law. Without further trial they prepared to stone him where he stood. Jesus arrested their fury on the instant by a calm appeal to the manifest moral goodness, as well as the physical power, of the Deity displayed in his works. The Jews in plain terms accused him of blasphemously ascribing to himself the title of God. He replied by reference to their sacred books, in which they could not deny that the divine . name was sometimes ascribed to beings of an inferior rank ; how much less, therefore, ought they to be indignant at that sacred name being as sumed by him, in whom the great attributes of divinity, both the power and the goodness, had thus manifestly appeared. His wonderful works showed the intercommunion of nature in this re- * John, x. 30. 282 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY, Period be tween the Feast of Dedication and the Passover. spect, between himself and the Almighty. This ex planation, far beyond their moral perceptions, only excited a new burst of fury, which Jesus eluded, and retiring again from the capital, returned to the district beyond the Jordan. The three months which elapsed between the Feast of Dedication and the Passover * were no doubt occupied in excursions, if not in regular progresses, through the different districts of the Holy Land, on both sides of the river, which his central position, near one of the most celebrated fords, was extremely well suited to command. Wherever he went, mul titudes assembled around him ; and at one time the government of Herod was seized with alarm, and Jesus received information that his life was in danger, and that he might apprehend the same fate which had befallen John the Baptist if he remained in Galilee or Perasa, both which districts were within the dominions of Herod. It is remarkable that this intelligence came from some of the Pharisaic party t, whether suborned by Herod, thus peacefully, and without incurring any further unpopularity, to rid his dominions of one who might become either the designing or the innocent cause of tumult and confusion (the reflection of Jesus on the crafty character of Herod t may confirm the notion, that * Luke, xi. xii. xiii. to verse 30., also to xviii. 34. ; Matt. xix. xx. to verse 28.; Mark, x. 1—31. + Luke, xiii. 31 — 35. J Wetstein has struck out the character of Herod with great strength and success : — " Hie, ut plerique ejus temporis principes et praesides, mores ad exemplum Ti- berii imperatoris, qui nullam ex virtutibus suis magis quam dissi- mulationem diligebat, composuit; tunc autem erat annosa vulpes, cum jam triginta annos principatum gessisset, et diversissimas personas egisset, personam servi apud Tibe- HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. 283 the Pharisees were acting under his insidious direc- chap. • vr tion), or whether the Pharisaic party were of them selves desirous to force Jesus, before the Passover arrived, into the province of Judaea, where the Roman government might either, of itself, be dis posed to act with decision, or might grant permis sion to the Sanhedrin to interpose its authority with the utmost rigour. But it was no doubt in this quarter that he received intelligence of a very dif ferent nature, that led to one of his prseternatural works, which of itself was the most extraordinary, and evidently made the deepest impression upon the public mind.* The raising of Lazarus may be considered the proximate cause of the general con spiracy for his death, by throwing the popular feeling more decidedly on his side, and thereby deepening the fierce animosity of the rulers, who now saw that they had no alternative but to crush him at once, or to admit his triumph. We have supposed that it was at the house of Raising of Lazarus, or of his relatives, in the village of Bethany, that Jesus had passed the nights during his recent visits to Jerusalem : at some distance from the metropolis he receives information of the danger ous illness of that faithful adherent, whom he seems to have honoured with peculiar attachment. He at first assures his followers in ambiguous language of the favourable termination of the disorder ; and after two days' delay, notwithstanding the remon- rium, domini apud Galileam, amici et inter se et a studiis Herodis Sejano, Artabano, fratribus suis ipsius." In loc. Archelao, Philippo, Herodi alteri, # John, xi. 1 — 46. quorum studia erant diversissima, 284 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. chap, strances of his disciples who feared that he was precipitately rushing, as it were, into the toils of his enemies, and who resolve to accompany him, though in acknowledged apprehension that his death was inevitable, Jesus first informs his dis ciples of the actual death of Lazarus, yet, never theless, persists in his determination of visiting Bethany. On his arrival at Bethany the dead man, who according to Jewish usage had no doubt been immediately buried, had been four days in the sepulchre. The house was full of Jews, who had come to console, according to their cus tom, the afflicted relatives ; and the characters as signed in other parts of the history to the two sisters, are strikingly exemplified in their conduct on this mournful occasion. The more active Martha hastens to meet Jesus, laments his absence at the time of her brother's death, and, on his declaration of the resurrection of her brother, reverts only to the general resurrection of mankind, a truth embodied in a certain sense in the Jewish creed. So far Christ answers in language which intimates his own close connection with that resurrection of mankind. The gentler Mary falls at the feet of Jesus, and with many tears expresses the same confidence of his power, had he been present, of averting her brother's death. So deep, however, is their reverence, that neither of them ventures the slightest word of expostulation at his delay ; nor does either appear to have enter tained the least hope of further relief. The tears of Jesus himself appear to confirm the notion, that the case is utterly desperate ; and some of the HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. 285 Jews, in a less kindly spirit, begin to murmur at chap. his apparent neglect of a friend, to whom, never theless, he appears so tenderly attached. It should seem that it was in the presence of some of these persons, by no means well-disposed to his cause, that Jesus proceeded to the sepulchre, summoned the dead body to arise, and was obeyed. The intelligence of this inconceivable event spread with the utmost rapidity to Jerusalem : the Sanhedrin was instantly summoned, and a solemn debate commenced, finally to decide on their future proceedings towards Jesus. It had now become evi dent that his progress in the popular belief must be at once arrested, or the power of the Sanhedrin, the influence of the Pharisaic party, was lost for ever. With this may have mingled, in minds entirely ignorant of the real nature of the new religion, an honest and conscientious, though blind, dread of some tumult or insurrection taking place, which would give the Romans an excuse for wresting away the lingering semblance of national independence, to which they adhered with such passionate attach ment. The high priesthood was now filled by Caia phas, the son-in-law of Annas or Ananus ; for the Roman governors, as has been said, since the expul sion of Archelaus, either in the capricious or venal wantonness of power, or from jealousy of his author ity, had perpetually deposed and re-appointed this chief civil and religious magistrate of the nation. Caiaphas threwthe weightof hisofficial influence into the scale of the more decided and violent party; and endeavoured, as it were, to give an appearance of 286 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. chap, patriotism to the meditated crime, by declaring the , expediency of sacrificing one life, even though inno cent, for the welfare of the whole nation.* His language was afterwards treasured in the memory of the Christians, as inadvertently prophetic of the more extensive benefits derived to mankind by the death of their Master. The death of Jesus was deliberately decreed; but Jesus for the present avoided the gathering storm, withdrew from the neighbourhood of the metropolis, and retired to Ephraim, on the border of Judaea, near the wild and mountainous region which divided Judaea from Samaria.t * John, xi. 47 — 53. y John, xi. 54. HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. 287 CHAP. VII. CHAPTER VII. THE LAST PASSOVER. THE CRUCIFIXION. The Passover rapidly approached ; the roads from Last all quarters were already crowded with the assem bling worshippers. It is difficult for those who are ignorant of the extraordinary power which local religious reverence holds over Southern and Asiatic nations, to imagine the state of Judaea and of Jeru salem at the time of this great periodical festival.* The rolling onward of countless and gathering masses of population to some of the temples in India ; the caravans from all quarters of the Eastern world, which assemble at Mecca during the Holy Season ; the multitudes which formerly flowed to Loretto or Rome at the great ceremonies, when the Roman catholic religion held its unenfeebled sway over the mind of Europe — do not surpass, perhaps scarcely equal, the sudden, simultaneous confluence, not of the population of a single city, but of the whole Jewish nation, towards the capital of Judaea at the time of the Passover. Dispersed as they were throughout the world, it was not only the great mass of the inhabitants of Palestine, but many foreign Jews who thronged from every quarter — * Mvpwi dnb pvplov oaov ndXeov, apxrov Kal pEoyptpiag, Ka9' iKiiarnv ol piv Sid yrjg, ol Si Sid SaXdr- iopryv Eig to Upbv Karaipovoiv. ryg, t? dvaToXrjg Kal Svatog, Kai Philo, de Monarch. 821. 2^88 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. chap, from Babylonia, from Arabia, from Egypt, from Asia , VI1, Minor and Greece, from Italy, probably even from Gaul and Spain. Some notion of the density and vastness of the multitude may be formed from the calculation of Josephus, who, having ascertained the number of paschal lambs sacrificed on one of these solemn occasions, which amounted to 256,500* ; and assigning the ordinary number to a company who could partake of the same victim, estimated the total number of the pilgrims and residents in Jerusalem at 2,700,000. Through all this concourse of the whole Jewish race, animated more or less profoundly, according to their peculiar temperament, with the same national and religious feelings, rumours about the appearance, the conduct, the pretensions, the language of Jesus, could not but have spread abroad, and be communicated with unchecked rapidity. The utmost anxiety prevails throughout the whole crowded city and its neighbourhood, to ascertain whether this new prophet — this more, perhaps, than prophet — will, as it were, confront at this solemn period the assembled nation ; or, as on the last occasion, remain concealed in the remote parts of the country. The Sanhedrin are on their guard, and strict injunctions are issued that they may receive the earliest intelligence of his approach, in order that they may arrest him before he has at tempted to make any impression on the multitude.f Already Jesus had either crossed the Jordan, or descended from the hill country to the north. He had passed through Jericho, where he had been * Or, according to Mr. Greswell's f John, xi. 55, 57. reading, 266, 500. HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. 289 recognised by two blind men as the Son of David, chap. the title of the Messiah, probably the most preva- , VIL . lent among the common people ; and instead of disclaiming the homage, he had rewarded the avowal by the restoration of their sight to the sup pliants.* On his way from Jericho to Jerusalem, but much zaccheus. nearer to the metropolis, he was hospitably received in the house of a wealthy publican named Zac cheus, who had been so impressed with the report of his extraordinary character, that, being of small stature, he had climbed a tree by the road-side to see him pass by ; and had evinced the sincerity of his belief in the just and generous principles of the new faith, both by giving up at once half of his property to the poor, and offering the amplest re stitution to those whom he might have oppressed in the exercise of his function as a publican. t It is probable that Jesus passed the night, perhaps the whole of the Sabbath, in the house of Zaccheus, and set forth, on the first day of the week, through the villages of Bethphage and Bethany to Jerusalem. Let us, however, before we trace his progress, pause to ascertain, if possible, the actual state of feeling at this precise period, among the different ranks and orders of the Jews. Jesus of Nazareth had now, for three years, as sumed the character of a public teacher ; his won derful works were generally acknowledged ; all no doubt considered him as an extraordinary being ; * Matt. xx. 30. ; Mark, x. 46.; + Luke, xix. 1 — 10, Luke, xviii. 35. „ VOL. I. U 290 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. chap, but whether he was the Messiah still, as it were, hung in the balance. His language, plain enough to those who could comprehend the real supe riority, the real divinity of his character, was ne cessarily dark and ambiguous to those who were insensible to the moral beauty of his words and actions. Few, perhaps, beyond his more imme diate followers, looked upon him with implicit faith ; many with doubt, even with hope ; perhaps still greater numbers, comprising the more tur bulent of the lower class, and almost all the higher and more influential, with incredulity, if not with undisguised animosity. For, though thus for three years he had kept the public mind in suspense as to his being the promised Redeemer, of those cir cumstances to which the popular passions had looked forward as the only certain signs of the Messiah's coming ; those, which among the mass of the community were considered inseparable from the commencement of the kingdom of heaven — the terrific, the awful, the national, not one had come to pass. The deliverance of the nation from the Roman yoke was as remote as ever ; the governor had made but a short time, perhaps a year, before, a terrible assertion of his suprem acy, by defiling the Temple itself with the blood of the rebellious or unoffending Galileans. The Sanhedrin, imperious during his absence, quailed and submitted whenever the tribunal of Pilate was erected in the metropolis. The publicans, those unwelcome remembrancers of the subjugation of the country, were still abroad in every town and village, levying the hateful tribute ; and instead of HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. 291 joining in the popular clamour against these agents chap. of a foreign rule, or even reprobating their extor- , tions, Jesus had treated them with his accustomed equable gentleness ; he had entered familiarly into their houses ; one of his constant followers, one of his chosen twelve, was of this proscribed and odious profession. Thus, then, the fierce and violent, the avowed ah sects or the secret partisans of the Galilean Judas, jesus. and all who without having enrolled them selves in his sect, inclined to the same opinions, if not already enflamed against Jesus, were at least ready to take fire, on the instant that his success might appear to endanger their schemes and visions of independence : and their fanaticism once inflamed, no considerations of humanity or justice would arrest its course, or assuage its vio lence. To every sect Jesus had been equally un compromising : to the Pharisees he had always The piiari- proclaimed the most undisguised opposition ; and if his language rises from its gentle and persuasive, though authoritative tone, it is ever in inveighing against the hypocrisy, the avarice, the secret vices of this class, whose dominion over the public mind it was necessary to shake with a strong hand ; all communion with whose peculiar opinions it was incumbent on the Teacher of purer virtue to disclaim in the most unmeasured terms.* But this hostility to the Pharisaic party was likely to operate unfavourably to the cause of Jesus, not only with the party itself, but with the great mass * Luke, xi. 39—54. U 2 sees. 292 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. chap, of the lower orders. If there be in man a natural , love of independence both in thought and action, there is among the vulgar, especially in a nation so superstitious as the Jews, a reverence, even a passion ate attachment to religious tyranny. The bondage in which the minute observances of the traditionists, more like those of the Brahminical Indians than the free and more generous institutes of their Lawgiver, had fettered the whole life of the Jew, was never theless a source of satisfaction and pride ; and the offer of deliverance from this inveterate slavery would be received by most with unthankfulness or suspicion. Nor can any teacher of religion, how ever he may appeal to the better feelings and to the reason, without endangering his influence over the common people, permit himself to be outdone in that austerity which they ever consider the sole The Law- test of fervour and sincerity. Even those less en slaved to the traditionary observances, the Lawyers (perhaps the religious ancestors of the Karaites*), who adhered more closely, and confined their pre cepts, to the sacred books, must have trembled and recoiled at the manner in which Jesus assumed an authority above that of Moses or the prophets. The sad- With the Sadducees Jesus had come less frequently into collision : it is probable that this sect prevailed chiefly among the aristocracy of the larger cities and the metropolis, while Jesus in general mingled with the lower orders ; and the Sadducees were less regular attendants in the synagogues and * The Karaites among the later probable that a party of this nature Jews were the protestants of Juda- existed much earlier, though by no ism (see Hist, of Jews); it is means numerous or influential. yers. ducees. HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. 293 schools, where he was wont to deliver his instruc- chap. VTT tions. They, in all likelihood, were less possessed , than the rest of the nation with the expectation of the Messiah ; at all events they rejected as inno vations not merely the Babylonian notions about the angels and the resurrection, which prevailed in the rest of the community, but altogether disclaimed these doctrines, and professed themselves adherents of the original simple Mosaic Theocracy. Hence, though on one or two occasions they appear to have joined in the general confederacy to arrest his pro gress, the Sadducees in general would look on with contemptuous indifference ; and although the declaration of eternal life mingled with the whole system of the teaching of Jesus, yet it was not till his resurrection had become the leading article of the new faith — till Christianity was thus, as it were, committed in irreconcileable hostility with the main principle of their creed — that their oppo sition took a more active turn ; and from the ac cidental increase of their weight in the Sanhedrin, came into perpetual and terrible collision with the Apostles. The only point of union which the Sadducaic party would possess with the Pharisees would be the most extreme jealousy of the abroga tion of the law, the exclusive feeling of its superior sanctity, wisdom, and irrepealable authority: on this point the spirit of nationality would draw to gether these two 'conflicting parties, who would vie with each other in the patriotic, the religious vigil ance with which they would seize on any expres sion of Jesus, which might imply the abrogation of u S $94 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. the divinely inspired institutes of Moses, or even any material innovation on their strict letter. But, besides the general suspicion that Jesus was as suming an authority above, in some cases contrary to, the law, there were other trifling circumstances which threw doubts on that genuine and uncon- taminated Judaism, which the nation in general would have imperiously demanded from their Mes siah. There seems to have been some apprehen sion, as we have before stated, of his abandoning his ungrateful countrymen, and taking refuge among a foreign race ; and his conduct towards the Sama ritans was directly contrary to the strongest Jewish prejudices. On more than one instance, even if his remarkable conduct and language 'during his first journey through Samaria had not transpired, he had avowedly discountenanced that implacable national hatred, which no one can ever attempt to allay without diverting it, as it were, on his own head. He had adduced the example of a Samari tan as the only one of the ten lepers * who showed either gratitude to his benefactor, or piety to God ; and in the exquisite apologue of the good Samaritan, he had placed the Priest and the Levite in a most unfavourable light, as contrasted with the descendant of that hated race. jesus the Yet there could be no doubt that he had already avowed himself to be the Messiah : his harbinger, the Baptist, had proclaimed the rapid, the instan taneous approach of the kingdom of Christ: of that kingdom Jesus himself had spoken as com- * Luke, xvii. 18. Messiah. HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. 295 mencing, as having already commenced ; but where chap. were the outward, the visible, the undeniable signs of sovereignty ? He had permitted himself, both in private and in public, to be saluted as the Son of David, an expression which was equivalent to a claim to the hereditary throne of David: but still to the common eye he appeared the same lowly and unroyal being, as when he first set forth as a teacher through the villages of Galilee. As to the nature of this kingdom, even to his closest followers, his language was most perplexing and contradic tory. An unworldly kingdom, a moral dominion, a purely religious community, held together only by the bond of common faith, was so unlike the former intimate union of civil and religious polity — so diametrically opposite to the first principles of their Theocracy — as to be utterly unintelligible. The real nature and design of the new religion seemed altogether beyond their comprehension ; and it is most remarkable to trace it, as it slowly dawned on the minds of the Apostles themselves, and gradually, after the death of Jesus, extended its horizon till it comprehended all mankind within its expanding view. To be in the highest sense the religious ancestors of mankind ; to be the authors, or at least the agents, in the greatest moral revolution which has taken place in the world ; to obtain an influence over the human mind, as much more extensive than that which had been violently obtained by the arms of Rome, as it was more conducive to the happiness of the human race ; to be the teachers and disseminators of doc- u 4 296 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. chap, trines, opinions, sentiments, which slowly incorpor- , ating themselves, as it were, with the intimate essence of man's moral being, w.ere to work a gra dual but total change — a change which, as to the temporal as well as the eternal destiny of our race, to those who look forward to the simultaneous pro gress of human civilisation and the genuine religion of Jesus, is yet far from complete — all this was too high, too remote, too mysterious, for the narrow vision of the Jewish people. They, as a nation, were better prepared indeed, by already possessing the rudiments of the new faith, for becoming the willing agents in this divine work ; on the other hand they were, in some respects, disqualified by that very distinction, which, by keeping them in rigid seclusion from the rest of mankind, had ren dered them, as it were, the faithful depositaries of the great principle of religion, the Unity of God. The peculiar privilege, with which they had been entrusted for the benefit of mankind, had become, as it were, their exclusive property : nor were they willing, indiscriminately, to communicate to others this their own distinctive prerogative. Those, for such doubtless there were, who pierced, though dimly, through the veil — the more reason ing, the more advanced, the more philosophical, — were little likely to espouse the cause of Jesus with vigour and resolution. Persons of this character are usually too calm, dispassionate, and speculative, to be the active and zealous instruments in a great religious revolution. It is probable that most of this class were either far gone in Oriental mys- HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. 297 ticism, or in some instances in the colder philo- chap. , VII. sophy of the Greeks. For these Jesus was as much ¦ too plain and popular, as he was too gentle and peaceable for the turbulent. He was scarcely more congenial to the severe and ascetic practices of the Essene, than to the fiercer followers of the Galilean The Es- Judas. Though the Essene might admire the ex quisite purity of his moral teaching, and the un compromising firmness with which he repressed the vices of all ranks and parties ; however he might be prepared for the abrogation of the ceremonial law, and the substitution of the religion of the heart for that of the prevalent outward forms, on his side he was too closely bound by his own monastic rules : his whole existence was recluse and contem plative. His religion was so altogether unfitted for aggression, as, however apparently it might coin cide with Christianity in some material points, in fact its vital system was repugnant to that of the new faith. Though, after strict investigation, the Essene would admit the numerous candidates who aspired to unite themselves with his ccenobitic society, in which no one, according to Pliny's ex pression, was born, but which was always full, he would never seek proselytes, or use any active means for disseminating his principles ; and it is worthy of remark, that almost the only quarter of Palestine which Jesus does not appear to have visited, is the district near the Dead Sea, where the agricultural settlements of the Essenes were chiefly situated. While the mass of the community were hostile 298 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. chap, to Jesus, from his deficiency in the more imposing, . t ' . the warlike, the destructive signs of the Mes siah's power and glory ; from his opposition to the genius and principles of the prevailing sects ; from his want of nationality, both as regarded the civil independence and the exclusive religious superiority of the race of Abraham ; and from their own general incapacity for comprehending the moral sublimity of his teaching ; additional, and not less influential, motives, conspired to inflame TheRuiers. the animosity of the Rulers. Independent of the dread of innovation, inseparable from established governments, they could not but discern the utter incompatibility of their own rule with that of an unworldly Messiah. They must abdicate at once, if not their civil office as magistrates, unquestion ably their sovereignty over the public mind ; re tract much which they had been teaching on the authority of their fathers, the wise men ; and submit, with the lowest and most ignorant, to be the humble scholars of the new Teacher. With all this mingled, no doubt, a real apprehension of of fending the Roman power. They could not but dis cern on how precarious a foundation rested not only the feeble shadow of national independence, but even the national existence. A single mandate from the Emperor, not unlikely to be precipitately advised, and relentlessly carried into execution, on the least appearance of tumult, by a governor of so decided a character as Pontius Pilate, might annihilate at once all that remained of their civil, and even of their religious, constitution. If we HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. 299 look forward we find that, during the whole of chap. the period which precedes the last Jewish war, ! ! the ruling authorities of the nation pursued the same cautious policy. They were driven into the insurrection, not by their own deliberate deter mination, but by the uncontrollable fanaticism of the populace. To every overture of peace they lent a willing ear ; and their hopes of an honour able capitulation, by which the city might be spared the horrors of a storm, and the Temple be secured from desecration, did not expire, till their party was thinned by the remorseless sword of the Idumean and the assassin, and the Temple had become the stronghold of one of the contending factions. Religious fears might seem to counten ance this trembling apprehension of the Roman power, for there is strong ground, both in Jose phus and the Talmudic writings, for believing that the current interpretation of the prophecies of Daniel designated the Romans as the predestined destroyers of the Theocracy.* And however the more enthusiastic might look upon this only as one of the inevitable calamities which was to precede the appearance and final triumph of the Messiah, the less fervid faith of the older and more influential party was far more profoundly impressed with the # It is probable that in the Bell. Jud. iv. 6. 3., the npotpnreia allusion of Jesus to the " abomi- Kara rr)g ndrpiSog, referred to this nation of desolation," the phrase interpretation of the verses of the was already applied by the popular prophet. Compare Babyl. Talm. apprehensions to some impending Gemara, Masseck Nasir, c. 5., destruction by the Romans. Masseck Sanhedrin, c. 11., Jeru- Tda> avrov rponov AaviyXog Kai saiem Talmud, Masseck Kelaim. nepi rdv Popaidv yyepoviag dvk- c. 9. Bertholdt on Daniel, p. 585. ypa\pt, Kdi 'on bn avriov ipypo9r)- Compare likewise Jortin's Eccl. atrai. Ant. x. 2. 7., and in the Hist. i. 69. 300 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. chap, dread of the impending ruin, than elated with the ¦ remoter hope of final restoration. The advice of Caiaphas, therefore, to sacrifice even an innocent man for the safety of the state, would appear to them both sound and reasonable policy. Demeanour We must imagine this suspense, this agitation of the crowded city, or we shall be unable fully to enter into the beauty of the calm and unostentatious dig nity with which Jesus pursues his course through the midst of this terrific tumult. He preserves the same equable composure in the triumphant procession into the Temple and in the Hall of Pilate. Every thing indicates his tranquil conviction of his inevitable death ; he foretells it with all its afflicting circum stances to his disciples, incredulous almost to the last to this alone of their Master's declarations. At every step he feels himself more inextricably within the toils ; yet he moves onwards with the self- command of a willing sacrifice, constantly dwelling with a profound, though chastened, melancholy on his approaching fate, and intimating that his death was necessary, in order to secure indescribable benefits for his faithful followers and for mankind. Yet there is no needless exasperation of his enemies; he observes the utmost prudence, though he seems so fully aware that his prudence can be of no avail ; he never passes the night within the city ; and it is only by the treachery of one of his fol lowers that the Sanhedrin at length make them selves masters of his person. The Son of Man had now arrived at Bethany, and we must endeavour to trace his future pro- HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. 301 ceedings in a consecutive course*; but if it has been chap. vir difficult to dispose the events of the life of Jesus, . in the order of time, this difficulty increases as Difficulty we approach its termination. However embar- °0£Jd'£~ rassing this fact to those who require something rangement- more than historical credibility in the evangelical narratives, to those who are content with a lower and more rational view of their authority, it throws not the least suspicion on their truth. It might almost seem, at the present period, that the Evan gelists, confounded as it were, and stunned with the deep sense of the importance of the crisis, how ever they might remember the facts, had in some degree perplexed and confused their regular order. At Bethany he took up his abode in the house of jesus at Simon, who had been a leper, and, it is not impro- Bethany- bably conjectured, had been healed by the wonder ful power of Jesus.t Simon was, in all likelihood, closely connected, though the degree of relation ship is not intimated, with the family of Lazarus, for Lazarus was present at the feast, and it was conducted by Martha his sister. The fervent de votion of their sister Mary had been already indi cated on two occasions ; and this passionate zeal, now heightened by gratitude for the recent restor ation of her brother to life, evinced itself in her breaking an alabaster box of very costly perfume, and anointing his headt, according, as we have seen * Matt. xxi. 1.; Mark, xi. 1.; low St. John's narrative in placing Luke, xix. 28. ; John, xii. 1. this incident at the present period). f Matt. xxvi. 1 — 13.; Mark, xiv. J See Psalm, xxv. 5. Horat. 3—9. ; John, xii. 1 — 11. (We foi- Carm. ii. 11. 16. Martial, iii. 12. 4. 302 history of Christianity. chap, on a former occasion, to a usage not uncommon in , VIL , Oriental banquets. It is possible that vague thoughts of the royal character, which she expected that Jesus was about to assume, might mingle with those purer feelings which led her to pay this prodigal homage to his person. The mercenary character of Judas now begins to be developed. Judas had been appointed a kind of treasurer, and entrusted with the care of the common purse, from which the scanty necessities of the humble and temperate society had been defrayed, and the rest reserved for distribution among the poor. Some others of the disciples had been seized with astonishment at this unusual and seemingly unnecessary waste ef so valuable a commodity : but Judas broke out into open remonstrance ; and concealing his own avarice under the veil of charity for the poor, protested against the wanton prodigality. Jesus contented himself with praising the pious and affec tionate devotion of the woman, and reverting to his usual tone of calm melancholy, declared that in advertently she had performed a more pious office, the anointing his body for his burial. jesus enters The intelligence of the arrival of Jesus at in triumph. Bethany spread rapidly to the city, from which it was not quite two miles distant. Multitudes thronged forth to behold him : nor was Jesus the only object of interest, for the fame of the resurrection of Lazarus was widely disseminated, and the strangers in Jerusalem were scarcely less anxious to be hold a man who had undergone a fate so unpre cedented. HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. 303 Lazarus thus an object of intense interest to the chap. VII people*, became one of no less jealousy to the , ruling authorities, the enemies of Jesus. His death was likewise decreed, and the magistracy only awaited a favourable opportunity for the execution of their edicts. But the Sanhedrin is at first obliged to remain in overawed and trembling inactivity. The popular sentiment is so decidedly in favour of Jesus of Nazareth, that they dare not venture to oppose his open, his public, his triumphant procession into the city, or his entrance amid the applauses of the wondering multitude into the Temple itself. On the morning of the second day of the week t, Jesus Monday, is seen, in the face of day, approaching one of the March. ' gates of the city which looked towards Mount Olivet, t In avowed conformity to a celebrated prophecy of Zachariah, he appears riding on the yet unbroken colt of an ass ; the procession of his fol lowers, as he descends the side of the Mount of Olives, escort him with royal honours, and with ac clamations expressive of his title of the Messiah, towards the city : many of them had been witnesses of the resurrection of Lazarus, and no doubt pro claimed, as they advanced, this extraordinary in stance of power. They are met § by another band advancing from the city, who receive him with equal homage, strew branches of palm and even their garments in his way; and the Sanhedrin could not but hear within the courts of the Temple, # John, xii. 9— 11. 1 — 10.; Luke, xix. 29— 40. ; t John, xii. 12. John.xii. 12—19. ± Matt. xxi. 1—10.; Mark, xi. § John, xii. 18. 304 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. chap, the appalling proclamation, " Hosannah, blessed is t VI1, the King of Israel, that cometh in the name of the Lord." Some of the Pharisees, who had mingled with the multitude, remonstrate with Jesus, and command him to silence what to their ears sounded like the profane, the impious adulation of his par tisans. Uninterrupted, and only answering that if these were silent, the stones on which he trod would bear witness, Jesus still advances ; the acclama tions become yet louder ; he is hailed as the son of David, the rightful heir of David's kingdom ; and the desponding Pharisees, alarmed at the complete mastery over the public mind which he appears to possess, withdraw for the present their fruitless op position. On the declivity of the hill he pauses to behold the city at his feet, and something of that emotion, which afterwards is expressed with much greater fulness, betrays itself in a few brief and em phatic sentences, expressive of the future miserable destiny of the devoted Jerusalem.* The whole crowded city is excited by this in creasing tumult ; anxious inquiries about the cause, and the intelligence that it is the entrance of Jesus of Nazareth into the city, still heighten the uni- Acciama- versal suspense t ; and even in the Temple itself, TemPTe.the where perhaps the religion of the place, or the ex pectation of some public declaration, or perhaps of some immediate sign of his power, had caused a temporary silence among his older followers, the children prolong the acclamations t ; and as the sick, the infirm, the afflicted with different maladies, * Luke, xix. 41—44. f Matt. xxi. 10, 11. J Ibid. 15. HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. 30Z /, are brought to him to be healed, and are restored af jjeiiAP.'-/ once to health or the use of their faculties, at every "7 instance of the power and goodness of Jesus the same uncontrolled acclamations from the younger part of the multitude are renewed with increasing fervour. Those of the Sanhedrin who are present, though they do not attempt at this immediate juncture to stem the torrent, venture to remonstrate against the disrespect to the sanctity of the Temple, and demand of Jesus to silence, what to their feelings sounded like profane violation of the sacred edifice. Jesus replies, as usual, with an apt quotation from the sacred writings, which declared that even the voices of children and infants might be raised, without reproof, in praise and thanksgiving to God. Among the multitudes of Jews who assembled at The the Passover, there were usually many proselytes who were called Greeks* (a term in Jewish lan guage of as wide signification as that of barbarians with the Greeks, and including all who were not of Jewish descent). Some of this class, carried away by the general enthusiasm towards Jesus, ex pressed an anxious desire to be admitted to his presence. It is not improbable that these prose lytes might be permitted to advance no further than the division in the outer Court of the Gentiles, where certain palisades were erected, with inscrip tions in various languages, prohibiting the entrance * John, xii. 20. 43. VOL. I. X 306 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. chap. 0f all foreigners ; or even if they were allowed to pass this barrier, they may have been excluded from the court of Israel, into which Jesus may have passed. By the intervention of two of the Apostles, their desire is made known to Jesus ; who, per haps as he passes back through the outward court, permits them to approach. No doubt as these proselytes shared in the general excitement to wards the person of Jesus, so they shared in the general expectation of the immediate, the instant aneous commencement of the splendour, the hap piness of the Messiah's kingdom. To their sur prise, either in answer to or anticipating their de claration to this effect, instead of enlarging on the glory of that great event, the somewhat ambiguous language of Jesus dwells, at first, on his approach ing fate, on the severe trial which awaits the de votion of his followers ; yet on the necessity of this humiliation, this dissolution, to his final glory, and to the triumph of his beneficent religion. It rises at length into a devotional address to the Father, to bring immediately to accomplishment all his pro mises, for the glorification of the Messiah. As he was yet speaking, a rolling sound was heard in the heavens, which the unbelieving part of the mul titude heard only as an accidental burst of thunder : to others, however, it seemed an audible, a distinct, or, according to those who adhere to the strict letter, the articulate voice * of an angel, proclaim- * Kuinoel in loco. Some revert the Jews interpret this Bath-Kol to the Jewish superstition of the as an impression upon the mind, Bath-Kol, or audible voice from rather than on the outward senses. heaven; but the more rational of HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. 307 ing the divine sanction to the presage of his future chap. • VIT glory. Jesus continues his discourse in a tone of , profounder mystery, yet evidently declaring the immediate discomfiture of the " Prince of this world," the adversary of the Jewish people and of the human race, his own departure from the world, and the important consequences which were to ensue from that departure. After his death, his religion was to be more attractive than during his life. " I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me." Among the characteristics of the Messiah which were deeply-rooted in the general belief, was the eter nity of his reign ; once revealed, he was revealed for ever ; once established in their glorious, their paradisiacal state, the people of God, the subjects of the kingdom, were to be liable to no change, no vicissitude. The allusions of Jesus to his departure, clashing with this notion of his perpetual presence, heightened their embarrassment ; and, leaving them in this state of mysterious suspense, he withdrew un- perceived from the multitude, and retired again with his own chosen disciples to the village of Bethany. The second morning Jesus returned to Jeru- cursing saiem. A fig-tree stood by the wayside, of that fihge ie™6" kind well known in Palestine, which during a mild winter preserve their leaves, and with the early spring put forth and ripen their fruit.* Jesus ap- * There are three kinds of figs ripens in August ; and, 3. the in Palestine : 1. the early fig, which kind in question. See Kuinoel, in blossoms in March, and ripens its loco. Pliny.H. N. xvi. 27. Theophr. fruit in June ; 2. the Kerman, 3. 6. Shaw's Travels. Matt. xxi. which shows its fruit in June, and 18, 19. ; Mark, xi. 12. 14. x 2 308 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. chap, proached the tree to pluck the fruit ; but finding vn- , that it bore none, condemned it to perpetual bar renness. This transaction is remarkable, as almost the only instance in which Jesus adopted that symbolic mode of teaching byaction, rather than by language, so peculiar to the East, and so frequently exempli fied in the earlier books, especially of the Prophets. For it is difficult to conceive any reason either for the incident itself, or for its admission into the evangelic narrative at a period so important, unless it was believed to convey some profounder mean ing. The close moral analogy, the accordance with the common phraseology between the barren tree, disqualified by its hardened and sapless state from bearing its natural produce, and the Jewish nation, equally incapable of bearing the fruits of Christian goodness, formed a most expressive, and, as it were, living apologue. Second On this day, Jesus renews the remarkable jemTaiem. scene which had taken place at the first Passover. The customary traffic, the tumult and confusion, which his authority had restrained for a short time, had been renewed in the courts of the Temple ; and Jesus again expelled the traders from the holy precincts, and, to secure the silence and the sanctity of the whole enclosure, prohibited the carrying any vessel through the Temple courts.* Through the whole of this day the Sanhedrin, as it were, rested on their arms ; they found, with * Matt. xxi. 12, 13. ; Luke, xix. 45. 46. ; Mark, xi. 15. 17. HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. 309 still increasing apprehension, that every hour the c^p multitude crowded with more and more anxious n v , interest around the Prophet of Nazareth ; his authority over the Temple courts seems to have been admitted without resistance ; and probably the assertion of the violated dignity of the Temple was a point on which the devotional feelings would have been so strongly in favour of the Reformer, that it would have been highly dangerous and unwise for the magistrates to risk even the appearance either of opposition or of dissatisfaction. The third morning arrived. As Jesus passed The third to the Temple, the fig-tree, the symbol of the ay' Jewish nation, stood utterly withered and dried up. But, as it were, to prevent the obvious inference from the immediate fulfilment of his malediction, — almost the only destructive act during his whole public career, and that on a tree by the wayside, the common property, — Jesus mingles with his promise of power to his Apostles to perform acts as extraordinary, the strictest injunctions to the milder spirit inculcated by his precept and his example. Their prayers were to be for the for giveness, not for the providential destruction, of their enemies. The Sanhedrin had now determined on the Deputation necessity of making an effort to discredit Jesus ^^ with the more and more admiring multitude. A deputation arrives to demand by what authority he had taken up his station, and was daily teaching in the Temple, had expelled the traders, and, in short, had usurped a complete superiority over x 3 310 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. chap, the accredited and established instructors of the VII. . people ? * The self-command and promptitude of Jesus caught them, as it were, in their own toils, and reduced them to the utmost embarrassment. The claim of the Baptist to the prophetic character had been generally admitted and even passionately asserted; his death had, no doubt, still further endeared him to all who detested the Herodian rule, or who admired the uncompromising bold ness with which he had condemned iniquity even upon the throne. The popular feeling would have resented an impeachment on his prophetic dignity. When, therefore, Jesus demanded their sentence as to the Baptism of John, they had but the alter native of acknowledging its divine sanction, and so tacitly condemning themselves for not having sub mitted to his authority, and even for not admitting his testimonyin favour of Jesus ; orof exposing them selves, by denying it, to popular insult and fury. The self-degrading confession of their ignorance, placed Jesus immediately on the vantage ground, and at once annulled their right to question or to decide upon the authority of his mission, — that right which was considered to be vested in the Sanhedrin. They were condemned to listen to language still more humiliating. In two striking parables, that of the Lord of the Vineyard, and of the Marriage Feastt, Jesus not obscurely intimated the rejection of those labourers who had been first summoned to # Matt. xxi. 23—27. ; Mark, xi. 27—34., ; Luke, xx. 1—8. f Matt, xxi. 28. to xxii. 14.; Mark, xii. 1 — 12.; Luke, xx. 9 — 18. HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. 311 the work of God ; of those guests who had been first invited to the nuptial banquet ; and the sub stitution of meaner and most unexpected guests or subjects in their place. The fourth day * arrived ; and once more Jesus The fourth . . . day. appeared in the Temple with a still increasing con course of followers. No unfavourable impression had yet been made on the popular mind by his adversaries ; his career is yet unchecked ; his authority unshaken. His enemies are now fully aware of their own desperate situation ; the apprehension of the pro gress of Jesus unites the most discordant parties into one formidable conspiracy ; the Pharisaic, the Sadducaic, and the Herodian factions agree to make common cause against the common enemy : the two national sects, the Traditionists and the Anti- traditionists, no longer hesitate to accept the aid of the foreign or Herodian faction.! Some suppose The the Herodians to have been the officers and attend ants on the court of Herod, then present at Jeru salem ; but the appellation more probably includes all those who, estranged from the more inveterate Judaism of the nation, and having, in some degree, adopted Grecian habits and opinions, considered the peace of the country best secured by the govern- * There is considerable diffi- Jerusalem took place on the Mon- culty in ascertaining the events of day, not on the Sunday, according the Wednesday. It does not ap- to the common tradition of the pear altogether probable that Jesus church ; or, as here stated, the should have remained at Bethany collision with his various adversa- in perfect inactivity or seclusion ries spread over the succeeding during the whole orthis important day. day : either, therefore, as some f Matt. xxii. 15 — 22. ; Mark, suppose, the triumphant entry into xii. 13 — 17.; Luke, xxi. 19 — 26. X 4 312 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. chap, ment of the descendants of Herod, with the sanc- , tion and under the protection of Rome.* They were the foreign faction, and as such, in general, in direct opposition to the Pharisaic, or national party. But the success of Jesus, however at pre sent it threatened more immediately the ruling authorities in Jerusalem, could not but endanger the Galilean government of Herod. The object, therefore, was to implicate Jesus with the faction, or at least to tempt him into acknowledging opi nions similar to those of the Galilean demagogue, a scheme the more likely to work on the jealousy of the Roman government, if it was at the last Passover that the apprehension of tumult among the Galilean strangers had justified, or appeared to justify, the mas sacre perpetrated by Pilate. The plot was laid with great subtlety ; for either way Jesus, it appeared, must commit himself. The great test of the Gali lean opinion was, the lawfulness of tribute to a foreign power ; which Judas had boldly declared to be not merely a base compromise of the national independence, but an impious infringement on the first principles of their theocracy. But the inde pendence, if not the universal dominion of the Jews was inseparably bound up with the popular belief in the Messiah. Jesus, then, would either, * Of all notions on the much- with the elder Herod, had system- contested point of the Herodians^ atically attempted to soften the the most improbable is that which implacable hostility of the nation identifies them with the followers by the introduction of Grecian of the Galilean Judas. The whole manners. Their object accord- policy of the Herodian family was ingly was, to convict Jesus of the in diametrical hostility to those Galilean opinions, which they them- opinions. They maintained their selves held in the utmost detest- powcr by foreign influence, and, ation. HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. 313 on the question of the lawfulness of tribute to chap. VTT Caesar, confirm the bolder doctrines of the Gali- , lean, and so convict himself, before the Romans, as one of that dangerous faction ; or he would admit its legality, and so annul at once all his claims to the character of the Messiah. Not in the least thrown off his guard by the artful courtesy, or rather the adulation of their address, Jesus appeals to the current coin of the country, which, bearing the impress of the Roman emperor, was in itself a recognition of Roman supremacy.* The Herodian or political party thus discomfited, The Sad- the Sadducees advanced to the encounter. No thing can appear more captious or frivolous than their question with regard to the future possession of a wife in another state of being, who had been successively married to seven brothers, according to the Levirate law. But, perhaps, considered in reference to the opinions of the time, it will seem less extraordinary. The Sadducees, no doubt, had heard that the resurrection, and the life to come, had formed an essential tenet in the teaching of Jesus. They concluded that his notions on these subjects were those generally prevalent among the people. But, if the later Rabbinical notions of the happiness of the renewed state of existence, were current, or even known in their general outline, * The latter part of the sen- which was only received in the coin tence, " Render therefore unto of the country. Hence, as before Caesar the things that are Caesar's," observed, the moneychangers in and " to God the things that are the temple. Matt., xxii. 23 — 33. ; God's," refers, in all probability, to Mark, xii. 18 — 27.; Luke, xx.27 the payment of the Temple tribute, — 38. 314 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. nothing could be more gross or unspiritual * : if less voluptuous, they were certainly not less strange and unreasonable, than those which perhaps were derived from the same source — the Paradise of Mahomet. The Sadducees were accustomed to contend with these disputants, whose paradisiacal state, to be estaWished by the Messiah, after the resurrection, was but the completion of those tem poral promises in the book of Deuteronomy, a per petuity of plenty, fertility, and earthly enjoyment, t The answer of Jesus, while it declares the certainty of another state of existence, carefully purifies it from all these corporeal and earthly images ; and assimilates man, in another state of existence, to a higher order of beings. And in his concluding inference from the passage in Exodus, in which God is described as the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the allusion may perhaps be still kept up. The temporal and corporeal resurrection of the common Pharisaic belief was to take place only after the coming of the Messiah ; yet their reverence for the fathers of the race, would scarcely allow even the Sadducee to suppose their total extinction. The actual, the pure beatitude of the Patriarchs, was probably an admitted point ; if not formally decided by their teachers, impli citly admitted, and fervently embraced by the * It is decided, in the Sohar on one splendid picture the Metemp- Genesis, foi. 24. col. 96., "that wo- sychosis and the Elysium of the man.who has married two husbands Greeks. In Schoetgen, in loco, in this world, is restored to the may be found extracts from the first in the world to come." Talmud, of a purer character, and Schoetgen in loco. more resembling the language of ¦f- Josephus, in his address to our Lord. his countrymen, mingles up into HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. 315 religious feelings of the whole people. But if, chap. according to the Sadducaic principle, the soul did , not exist independent of the body, even Abra ham, Isaac, and Jacob had shared the common fate, the favour of God had ceased with their earthly dissolution ; nor in the time of Moses could he be justly described as the God of those, who in death had sunk into utter annihilation. Although now engaged in a common cause, the hostility of the Pharisaic party to the Sadducees, could not but derive gratification from their public discomfiture. One scribe of their party is so struck by the superiority of Jesus, that, though still with something of an insidious design, he demands in what manner he should rank the commandments, which in popular belief were probably of equal dig nity and importance.* But when Jesus comprises the whole of religion under the simple precepts of the love of God and the love of man, he is so struck with the sublimity of the language, that he does not hesitate openly to espouse his doctrines. Paralysed by this desertion, and warned by the The discomfiture of the two parties which had preceded Pharlsces- them in dispute with Jesus, the Pharisees appear to have stood wavering and uncertain how to speak or act. Jesus seizes the opportunity of still further weakening their authority with the assembled mul titude ; and, in his turn, addresses an embarrassing question as to the descent of the Messiah.t The Messiah, according to the universal belief, would be * Matt. xxii. 34—40. ; Mark, + Matt. xxii. 41—46. ; Mark, xii. 28 — 40.; Luke, xx. 39, 40. xii. 35—37.; Luke, xx 39—44. 316 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. chap, the heir and representative of David : Jesus, by a reference to the second Psalm, which was consi dered prophetic of the Redeemer, forces them to confess that, even according to their own autho rity, the kingdom of the Messiah was to be of far higher dignity, far wider extent, and administer ed by a more exalted sovereign than David, for even David himself, by their own admission, had called him his Lord. The Pharisees withdrew in mortified silence, and for that time abandoned all hope of betraying him into any incautious or unpopular denial by their captious questions. But they withdrew unmoved by the wisdom, unattracted by the beauty, unsub dued by the authority of Jesus. After some delay, during which the beautiful inci dent of his approving the charity of the poor widow*, who cast her mite into the treasury of the Temple, took place, he addressed the wondering multitude, ("for the common people heard him gladly" t) in a grave and solemn denunciation against the tyranny, the hypocrisy, the bigotted attachment to the most minute observances, and at the same time the total blindness to the spirit of religion, which actuated that great predominant party. He declared them possessed with the same proud and inhuman spirit, which had perpetually bedewed the city with the blood of the Prophets, t Jerusalem had thus for ever rejected the mercy of God. * Mark, xii. 41 — 44. ; Luke, heard him gladly," — Mark xii xxi. 1—4. 37. f " And the common people t Matt., xxiii. ; Mark, xii. 38 40. ; Luke, xx. 45 — 17. HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY, 317 This appalling condemnation was, as it were, the chap. final declaration of war against the prevailing reli- . gion ; it declared that the new doctrines could not harmonise with minds so inveterately wedded to their own narrow bigotry ; but even yet the people were not altogether estranged from Jesus, and in that class in which the Pharisaic interest had hitherto despotically ruled, it appeared as it were trembling for its existence. And now every thing indicated the approaching, The crisis, the immediate crisis. Although the populace were '"{ j^ff6 so decidedly, up to the present instant, in his fa vour, — though many of the ruling party were only withholden by the dread of that awful sentence of excommunication, which inflicted civil, almost re ligious death *, from avowing themselves his dis ciples, — yet Jesus never entered the Temple again : the next time he appeared before the people, was as a prisoner, as a condemned malefactor. As he left the Temple, a casual expression of admiration from some of his followers, at the magnificence and solidity, of the building, and the immense size of the stones of which it was formed, called forth a prediction of its impending ruin ; which was ex panded, to four of his Apostles, into a more detailed and circumstantial description of its appalling fate, as he sate, during the evening, upon the Mount of Olives, t It is impossible to conceive a spectacle of greater jesuson natural or moral sublimity, than the Saviour seated of6^™' * See Hist, of the Jews, vol. iii. f Matt. xxiv. xxv. ; Mark, xiii. p. Ill — 147. Luke, xxi. 5— 38. 318 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. chap, on the slope of the Mount of Olives, and thuslook- VII. ing down, almost for the last time, on the whole Temple and city of Jerusalem, crowded as it then Evening was with near three millions of worshippers. It Jerusalem was evening, and the whole irregular outline of the Temple. cn7' ris^ng fr°m tne deep glens, which encircled it on all sides, might be distinctly traced. The sun, the significant emblem of the great Fountain of moral light, to which Jesus and his faith had been perpetually compared, may 4 be imagined sinking behind the western hills, while its last rays might linger on the broad and massy fortifications on Mount Sion, on the stately palace of Herod, on the square tower, the Antonia, at the corner of the Temple, and on the roof of the Temple, fretted all over with golden spikes, which glittered like fire ; while below, the colonnades and lofty gates would cast their broad shadows over the courts, and afford that striking contrast between vast masses of gloom, and gleams of the richest light, which only an evening scene, like the present, can display. Nor, indeed, (even without the sacred and solemn associations connected with the holy city,) would it be easy to conceive any natural situation in the world of more impressive grandeur, or likely to be seen with greater advantage under the influence of such accessaries, than that of Je rusalem, seated, as it was, upon hills of irregular height, intersected by bold ravines, and hemmed in almost on all sides by still loftier mountains, and itself formed, in its most conspicuous parts, of gorgeous ranges of Eastern architecture, in all its HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. 319 lightness, luxuriance, and variety. The effect may chap. have been heightened by the rising of the slow . volumes of smoke from the evening sacrifices, while even at the distance of the slope of Mount Olivet, the silence may have been faintly broken by the hymns of the worshippers. Yet the fall of that splendid edifice was inevit- Necessity able ; the total demolition of all those magnificent destruction and time-hallowed structures might not be averted, temple at It was necessary to the complete development of Jerusalem. the designs of Almighty Providence for the welfare of mankind in the promulgation of Christianity. Independent of all other reasons, the destruction certainly of the Temple, and if not of the city, at least of the city as the centre and metropolis of a people, the only true and exclusive worshippers of the one Almighty Creator, seemed essential to the progress of the new faith. The universal and com prehensive religion to be promulgated by Christ and his Apostles, was grounded on the abrogation of all local claims to peculiar sanctity, of all dis tinctions of one nation above another, as possessing any especial privilege in the knowledge or favour of the Deity. The time was come when "neither in Jerusalem nor on the mountain of Gerizim," was the great Universal Spirit to be worshipped with circumscribed or local homage. As long, how ever, as the Temple on Mount Moriah remained hallowed by the reverence of ages, sanctified, ac cording to the general belief, for perpetuity, by the especial command of God, as his peculiar dwelling- place ; so long, among the Jews at least, and even 320 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. CHAP. VII. Jesus con templateswith sad ness the future ruin of Jerusalem. among other nations, the true principle of Christian worship might be counteracted by the notion of the inalienable sanctity of this one place. Ju daism would scarcely be entirely annulled, as long as the Temple rose in its original majesty and veneration. Yet, notwithstanding this absolute necessity for its destruction, notwithstanding that it thus stood, as it were, in the way of the progress of human improve ment and salvation, the Son of Man does not con template its ruin without emotion. And in all the super-human beauty of the character of Jesus, nothing is more affecting and impressive, than the profound melancholy with which he foretels the fu ture desolation of the city, which, before two days were passed, was to reek with his own blood. Nor should we do justice to this most remarkable inci dent in his life, if we should consider it merely as a sudden emotion of compassion, as the natural sensation of sadness at the decay or dissolution of that which has long worn the aspect of human grandeur. It seems rather a wise and far-sighted consideration, not merely of the approaching guilt and future penal doom of the city, but of the re moter moral causes, which, by forming the national character, influenced the national destiny; the long train of events, the wonderful combination of cir cumstances, which had gradually wrought the Jewish people to that sterner frame of mind, which was about to display itself with such barbarous, such fatal ferocity. Jesus might seem not merely to know what was in man, but how it entered into HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. 32L man's heart and mind. His was divine charity, en- chap; lightened by infinite wisdom. t VI1, , In fact, there was an intimate moral connection between the murder of Jesus and the doom of the Jewish city. It was the same national temperament, the same characteristic disposition of the people, which now morally disqualified them "from know ing," in the language of Christ, "the things which belonged unto their peace," which forty years after wards committed them in their deadly and ruinous struggle with the masters of the world. Christianity alone could have subdued or mitigated that stub- The ruin of born fanaticism, which drove them at length to their \hl coe^e. desperate collision with the arms of Rome. As ^'ee."ce of Christians, the Jewish people might have subsided character. into peaceful subjects of the universal empire. They might have lived, as the Christians did, with the high and inalienable consolations of faith and hope under the heaviest oppressions ; and calmly awaited the time when their holier and more be neficent ambition might be gratified by the sub mission of their rulers to the religious dominion founded by Christ and his Apostles. They would have slowly won that victory by the patient heroism of martyrdom, and the steady perseverance in the dissemination of their faith, which it was madness to hope that they could ever obtain by force of arms. As Jews, they were almost sure, sooner or later, to provoke the implacable vengeance of their foreign rulers. The same vision of worldly domi nion, the same obstinate expectation of a temporal Deliverer, which made them unable to compre- VOL. I. Y 322 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. chap, hend the nature of the redemption to be wrought [ VIL . by the presence, and the kingdom to be established by the power, of Christ, continued to the end to mingle with their wild and frantic resistance. immediate In the rejection and murder of Jesus, the Rulers, of'the3 as their interests and authority were more imme- of j^usV diately endangered, were more deeply implicated the jews, than the people ; but unless the mass of the people had been blinded by these false notions of the Messiah, they would not have demanded, or at least, with the general voice, assented to the sacri fice of Jesus. The progress of Jesus at the present period in the public estimation, his transient popu larity, arose from the enforced admiration of his commanding demeanour, the notoriety of his won derful works, perhaps, for such language is always acceptable to the common ear, from his bold animad versions on the existing authorities ; but it was no doubt supported in the mass of the populace by a hope, that even yet he would conform to the popu lar views of the Messiah's character. Their pre sent brief access of faith would not have stood long against the continued disappointment of that hope : and it was no doubt by working on the reaction of this powerful feeling, that the Sanhedrin were able so suddenly, and, it almost appears, so entirely, to change the prevailing sentiment. Whatever the proverbial versatility of the popular mind, there must have been some chord strung to the most sensitive pitch, the slightest touch of which would vibrate through the whole frame of society, and madden at least a commanding majority to their blind concurrence in this revolting iniquity. Thus HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. 323 in the Jewish nation, but more especially in the chap. prime movers, the Rulers and the heads of the , ' . Phai'isaic party, the murder of Jesus was an act of unmitigated cruelty, but, as we have said, it arose out of the generally fierce and bigotted spirit, which morally incapacitated the whole people from discerning the evidence of his mission from heaven, in his acts of divine goodness, as well as of divine power. It was an act of religious fanaticism ; they thought, in the language of Jesus himself, that they were "doing God service" when they slew the Master, as much as afterwards when they per secuted his followers. When however the last, and as far as the exist ence of the nation, the most fatal display of this fanaticism took place, it was accidentally allied with nobler motives, with generous impatience of oppression, and the patriotic desire of national in dependence. However desperate and frantic the struggle against such irresistible power, the unpre cedented tyranny of the later Roman procurators, Festus, Albinus, and Florus, might almost have justified the prudence of manly and resolute insur rection. Yet in its spirit and origin it was the same ; and it is well known that even to the last, during the most sanguinary and licentious tumults in the Temple as well as the city, they never en tirely lost sight of a deliverance from Heaven : God, they yet thought, would interpose in behalf of his chosen people. In short, the same moral state of the people (for the Rulers for obvious reasons were less forward in the resistance to the y 2 324 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. chap. Romans), the same temperament and disposition now led them to reject Jesus and demand the release of Barabbas, which, forty years later, pro voked the unrelenting vengeance of Titus, and deluged their streets with the blood of their own citizens. Even after the death of Jesus, this spirit might have been allayed, but only by a complete abandonment of all the motives which led to his crucifixion — by the general reception of Chris tianity in all its meekness, humility, and purity — ¦ by the tardy substitution of the hope of a moral, for that of temporal dominion. This unhappily was not the case : but it must be left to Jewish history to relate how the circumstances of the times, in stead of assuaging or subduing, exasperated the people into madness ; instead of predisposing to Christianity, confirmed the inveterate Judaism, and led at length to the accomplishment of their anti cipated doom. Altogether, then, it is evident, that it was this brooding hope of sovereignty, at least of political independence, moulded up with religious enthu siasm, and lurking, as it were, in the very heart's core of the people, which rendered it impossible that the pure, the gentle, the humane, the un worldly and comprehensive, doctrines of Jesus should be generally received, or his character ap preciated by a nation in that temper of mind ; and the nation who could thus incur the guilt of his death, were prepared to precipitate themselves to such a fate, as at length it suffered. Hence political sagacity might, perhaps, have HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. 325 anticipated the crisis, which could only be averted, chap. by that which was morally impossible, the simul- , drin. taneous conversion of the whole people to Chris tianity. Yet the distinctness, the minuteness, the Distinct- circumstantial accuracy, with which the prophetic whYchjesus outline of the siege and fall of Jerusalem is drawn, Pr°Phf.sief ° _ ' the tall of bear, perhaps, greater evidence of more than hu- Jerusalem. man foreknowledge, than any other in the sacred volume : and in fact this profound and far-sighted wisdom, this anticipation of the remote political consequences of the reception or rejection of his doctrines, supposing Jesus but an ordinary human being, would be scarcely less extraordinary than prophecy itself. Still though determined, at all hazards, to sup- Embar- ., . , n t . i a i i • rassment of press the growing party ot Jesus, the Sanhedrin theSanhe- were greatly embarrassed as to their course of pro ceeding. Jesus invariably passed the night with out the walls, and only appeared during the day time, though with the utmost publicity, in the Temple. His seizure in the Temple, especially during the festival, would almost inevitably lead to tumult, and (since it was yet doubtful on which side the populace would array themselves) tumult as inevitably to the prompt interference of the Roman authority. The Procurator, on the slight est indication of disturbance, without inquiring into the guilt or innocence of either party, might coerce both with equal severity ; or, even without further examination, let loose the guard, always mounted in the gallery which connected the for tress of Antonia with the north-western corner of y 3 326 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. CHAP, VII. Treachery and motives of Judas. the Temple, to mow down both the conflicting parties in indiscriminate havock. He might thus mingle the blood of all present, as he had done that of the Galileans, with the sacrificial offerings. To discover then where Jesus might be arrested without commotion or resistance from his followers, so reasonably to be apprehended, the treachery of one of his more immediate disciples was absolutely necessary ; yet this was an event, considering the commanding influence possessed by Jesus over his followers, rather to be desired than expected. On a sudden, however, appeared within their court, one of the chosen Twelve, with a voluntary offer of assisting them in the apprehension of his Master.* Much ingenuity has been displayed by some recent writers in attempting to palliate, or rather to account, for this extraordinary conduct of Judas ; but the language in which Jesus spake of the crime, appears to confirm the common opinion of its enormity. It has been suggested, either that Judas might expect Jesus to put forth his power, even after his apprehension, to elude or to escape from his enemies, and thus his avarice might calculate on securing the reward without being an accomplice in absolute murder, at once betraying his Master and defrauding his employers. According to others still higher motives may have mingled with his love of gain : he may have sup posed, that by thus involving Jesus in difficulties otherwise inextricable, he would leave him only * Matt. xxvi. 14 — 16.; Mark, xiv. 10— IL; Luke, xxii. 2 — 6. HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. 327 the alternative of declaring himself openly and chap. authoritatively to be the Messiah, and so force ¦ him to the tardy accomplishment of the ambitious visions of his partisans. It is possible that the traitor may not have contemplated, or may not have permitted himself clearly to contemplate, the ultimate consequences of his crime : he may have indulged the vague hope, that if Jesus were really the Messiah, he bore, if we may venture the ex pression, " a charmed life," and was safe in his inherent immortality (a notion in all likelihood inseparable from that of the Deliverer), from the malice of his enemies. If he were not, the crime of his betrayal would not be of very great import ance. There were other motives which would concur with the avarice of Judas ; the rebuke which he had received when he expostulated about the waste of the ointment, if it had not excited any feeling of exasperation against his Master, at least showed that his character was fully understood by him. He must have felt him self out of his element among the more honest and sincere disciples ; nor can he have been actuated by any real or profound veneration for the ex quisite perfection of a character so opposite to his own : and thus insincere and doubting, he may have shrunk from the approaching crisis, and as he would seize any means of extricating himself from that cause which had now become so full of danger, his covetousness would direct him to those means which would at once secure his own per sonal safety, and obtain the price, the thirty pieces y 4 328 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. chap, of silver *, set by public proclamation, on the head . ' , of Jesus. Nor is the desperate access of remorse, which led to the public restitution of the reward, and to the suicide of the traitor, irreconcileable with the unmitigated heinousness of the treachery. Men meditate a crime, of which the actual perpetration overwhelms them with horror. The general detest-. ation, of which, no doubt, Judas could not but be conscious, not merely among his former corrr- panions, the followers of Jesus, but even among the multitude ; the supercilious coldness of the Sanhedrin, who having employed him as their in strument, treat his recantation with the most con temptuous indifference, might overstrain the firm est, and work upon the basest mind : and even the unexampled sufferings, and tranquil endurance of Jesus, however he may have calmly surveyed them when distant, and softened and subdued by his ima gination, when present to his mind in their fearful reality, forced by the busy tongue of rumour upon his ears, perhaps not concealed from his sight, # The thirty pieces of silver fluenced by our own sense of the (shekels) areestimatedat3£10s.8rf. incalculable importance of those of our present money. It was consequences which arose out of the sum named in the law (Exod. the treachery of Judas. The service xxi. 32.), as the value of the life of which he performed for this sum a slave ; and it has been supposed was, after all, no more than giving that the Sanhedrin were desirous information as to the time and of showing their contempt for place in which Jesus might be Jesus by the mean price that they seized among a few disciples with- offered for his head. out fear of popular tumult, con- Perhaps, when we are em- ducting their officers to the spot barrassed at the smallness of the where he might be found, and sum covenanted for and received designating his person when they by Judas, we are imperceptibly in-, arrived at that spot. HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. 329 might drive him to desperation, little short of in- chap. ¦ VII sanity.* . It was on the last evening t but one before the The Pass- death of Jesus that the fatal compact was made: the next day, the last of his life, Jesus determines on returning to the city to celebrate the Feast of the Passover : his disciples are sent to occupy a room prepared for the purpose.! His conduct and language before and during the whole repast clearly indicate his preparation for inevitable death. § His washing the feet of the disciples, his prediction of his betrayal, his intimation to Judas that he is fully aware of his design, his quiet dis missal of the traitor from the assembly, his insti tution of the second characteristic ordinance of The Last the new religion, his allusions in that rite to the upper' breaking of his body, and the pouring forth of his blood, his prediction of the denial of Peter, his final address- to his followers, and his prayer before * Matt. xxvi. 17 — 29.; Mark, § Of all difficulties, that concern- xiv. ]2 25.; Luke, vii. 38. ; John, ing which we arrive at the least sa- xiii. to end of xvii. tisfactory conclusion, is the apparent + After two days was the Pass- anticipation of the Passover by over, in Jewish phraseology implies Christ. The fact is clear that on the second day after. Jesus celebrated the Passover on t All houses, according to Jose- the Thursday, the leading Jews on phus, were freely open to strangers the Friday; the historical evidence during the Passover, no payment of this in the Gospels is unanswer- was received for lodging. The able, independent of all theological Talmudic writings confirm this : — reasoning. The reason of this " The master of the family re- difference is and must, we conceive, ceived the skins of sacrifices. It remain undecided. Whether it is a custom that a man leave his was an act of supreme authority earthen jug, and also the skin of assumed by Jesus, whether there his sacrifice to his host." The was any schism about the right Gloss. The inhabitants did not day, whether that schism was be- let out their houses at a price to tween the Pharisaic and Anti- them that came up to the feasts, Pharisaic party, or between the but granted them to them gratis. Jews and Galileans, all is purely Lightfoot, vol. x. 44. conjectural. 330 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. he left the chamber, are all deeply impregnated with the solemn melancholy, yet calm and unalter* able composure, with which he looks forward to all the terrible details of his approaching, his almost immediate, sufferings. To his followers he makes, as it were, the valedictory promise, that his religion would not expire at his death, that his place would be filled by a mysterious Comforter, who was to teach, to guide, to console. This calm assurance of approaching death in Jesus is the more striking when contrasted with the inveterately Jewish notions of the Messiah's kingdom, which even yet possess the minds of the Apostles. They are now fiercely contesting * for their superiority in that earthly dominion, which even yet they suppose on the eve of its commencement. Nor does Jesus at this time altogether correct these erroneous notions, but in some degree falls into the prevailing language, to assure them of the dis tinguished reward which awaited his more faithful disciples. After inculcating the utmost humility by an allusion to the lowly fraternal service which he had just before performed in washing their feet, he describes the happiness and glory which they are at length to attain, by the strong, and no doubt familiar, imagery, of their being seated on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. The festival was closed according to the usage with the second part of theHallel t, the Psalms, from the 113th to the 11 8th inclusive, of which the # Luke, xxii. 24—30. f Buxtorf, Lex Talmudica, p. 613. Lightfoot in loco. HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. 331 former were customarily sung at the commence- chap. VII. ment, the latter at the end, of the paschal supper. . Jesus with his disciples again departed from the room in the city* where the feast had been held, probably down the street of the Temple, till they came to the valley : they crossed the brook of Kid- ron, and began to ascend the slope of the Mount of Olives. Within the city no open space was left for gardens t ; but the whole neighbourhood of Jerusalem was laid out in inclosures for the con venience and enjoyment of the inhabitants. The historian of the war relates, not without feelings of poignant sorrow, the havock made among these peaceful retreats by the devastating approaches of the Roman army, t Jesus turned aside into one of Jesus in • i c 1 • i • i i i n i tQe gafden these inclosures §, which, it should seem from the of Gethse- subsequent history, was a place of customary re- mane' treat, well-known to his immediate followers. The early hours of the night were passed by him in retired and devotional meditation, while the weary disciples are overpowered by involuntary slumber. Thrice Jesus returns to them, and each time he finds them sleeping. But to him it was no hour of quiet or repose. In the solitary garden of Geth- semane, Jesus, who in public, though confronting danger and suffering neither with stoical indiffer ence, nor with the effort of a strong mind working # Matt. xxvi. 30 — 56. ; Mark, place of green figs ; Geth-semane xiv. 32 — 52. ; Luke, xxii. 39— 53.; the place of oil presses. John, xviii. 1. t Hist, of the Jews, iii. 13. f Lightfoot's derivations of $ Matt. xxvi. 36 — 46.; Mark, some of the places on Mount xiv. 32 — 42. ; Luke, xxii. 4l — 46. ; Olivet are curious: — Beth-hana the John, xviii. 1. place of dates; Beth-phage the 332 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. chap, itself up to the highest moral courage, but with a settled dignity, a calm and natural superiority, now, as it were, endured the last struggle of human nature. The whole scene of his approaching trial, his inevitable death, is present to his mind, and for an instant he prays to the Almighty Father to release him from the task, which, however of such importance to the welfare of mankind, is to be ac complished by such fearful means. The next instant, however, the momentary weakness is sub dued, and though the agony is so severe that the sweat falls like large drops of blood to the ground, resigns himself at once to the will of God. Nothing can heighten the terrors of the coming scene so much, as its effect, in anticipation, on the mind of Jesus himself. Betrayal of The devotions of Jesus and the slumbers of his followers, as midnight approached, were rudely interrupted. Jesus had rejoined his, now awakened, disciples for the last time ; he had commanded them to rise, and be prepared for the terrible event. Still, no doubt, incredulous of the sad predic tions of their Master — still supposing that his un bounded power would secure him from any attempt of his enemies, they beheld the garden filled with armed men, and gleaming with lamps and torches. Judas advances and makes the signal which had been agreed on, saluting his Master with the cus tomary mark of respect, a kiss on the cheek, for which he receives the calm but severe rebuke of # Matt. xxvi. 47 — 56.; Mark, xiv. 43— 50. ; Luke, xxii. 47— 53.; John, xviii. 2 — 11. HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. 333 Jesus for thus treacherously abusing this mark of chap. familiarity and attachment : " Judas, betrayest thou the Son of Man with a kiss?" The tranquil dig nity of Jesus overawed the soldiers who first ap proached ; they were most likely ignorant of the service on which they were employed ; and when Jesus announces himself as the object of their search, they shrink back in astonishment, and fall to the earth. Jesus however, covenanting only for the safe dismissal of his followers, readily sur renders himself to the guard. The fiery indigna tion of Peter, who had drawn his sword, and endea voured, at least by his example, to incite the few adherents of Jesus to resistance, is repressed by the command of his Master : his peaceful religion dis claims all alliance with the acts or the weapons of the violent. The man* whose ear had been struck off, was instantaneously healed ; and Jesus, with no Jesus led . . . n , -. . prisoner to more than a brief and calm remonstrance against the aty. this ignominious treatment, against this arrestation, not in the face of day, in the public Temple, but at night, and with arms in their hands, as though he had been a robber, allows himself to be led back, without resistance, into the city. His panic- stricken followers disperse on all sides, and Jesus is left, forsaken and alone, amid his mortal enemies. The caprice, the jealousy, or the prudence, of the Roman government, we have before observed, had in no point so frequently violated the feelings of * It is a curious observation of it appears, was known to some of Semler, that St. John alone gives the household of the chief magis- the name of the servant of the trate. High Priest, Malchus ; and John, 334 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. chap, the subject nation, as in the deposition of the High . vu' , Priest, and the appointment of a successor to the The High office, in whom they might hope to place more lv,est- implicit confidence. The stubbornness of the people, revolted by this wanton insult, persisted in honouring with the title those whom they could not maintain in the post of authority ; all who had borne the office retained, in common lan guage, the appellation of High Priest, if indeed the appellation was not still more loosely applied. Pro bably the most influential man in Jerusalem at this time was Annas, or Ananus, four of whose sons in turn either had been, or were subsequently, ele vated to that high dignity, now filled by his son-in- law, Caiaphas. HoHseof The house of Annas was the first place* to which Jesus was led, either that the guard might receive further instructions, or perhaps as the place of the greatest security, while the Sanhedrin was hastily summoned to meet at that untimely hour, towards midnight or soon after, in the house of Caiaphas. Before the houses of the more wealthy in the East, or rather within the outer porch, there is usually a large square open court, in which pub lic business is transacted, particularly by those who fill official stations. Into such a court, before the palace of Caiaphas, Jesus was led by the soldiers, and Peter following unnoticed amid the throng, lin gered before the porch until John, who happened to be familiarly known to some of the High Priest's servants, obtained permission for his entrance, t * John, xviii. 12—14. f Ibid. 15—19. HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. 335 The first process seems to have been a private examination *, perhaps while the rest of the Sanhe drin were assembling, before the High Priest. He First inter- demanded of Jesus the nature of his doctrines, and r°satory# the character of his disciples. Jesus appealed to the publicity of his teaching, and referred him to his hearers for an account of the tenets which he had advanced. He had no secret doctrines, either of tumult or sedition; he had ever spoken "in public, in the synagogue, or in the Temple." And now the fearful scene of personal insult and vio lence began. An officer of the High Priest, enraged at the calm composure with which Jesus answered the interrogatory, struck him on the mouth (beat ing on the mouth, sometimes with the hand, more often with a thong of leather or a slipper, is still a common act of violence in the East).t He bore the insult with the same equable placidity : — " If I have spoken evil, bear witness of the evil ; but if well, why smitest thou me?" The more formal Second arraignment began t : and, however hurried and pU°bTic in- tumultuous the meeting, the Sanhedrin, either de- *°™ga"- sirous that their proceedings should be conducted with regularity, or, more likely, strictly fettered by the established rules of their court, perhaps by no means unanimous in their sentiments, were, after all, in the utmost embarrassment how to ob tain a legal capital conviction. Witnesses were summoned, but the immutable principles of the # Matt. xxvi. 57.; Mark, xiv. t Matt- xxvi- 59—66.; Mark, 55—64. ; Luke, xxii. 54. xiv. 55—64. ; Luke, xxii. 66—71.; f John, xviii. 20—24. John, xviii. 19—24. 336 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. chap. Law, and the invariable practice of the tribunal, x ' JL required, on every case of life and death, the agree ment of two witnesses on some specific charge. Many were at hand, suborned by the enemies of Jesus, and hesitating at no falsehood ; but their testimony was so confused, or bore so little on any capital charge, that the court was still further per plexed. At length two witnesses deposed to the misapprehended speech of Jesus, at his first visit to Jerusalem, relating to the destruction of the Temple. But even their depositions were so con tradictory, that it was scarcely possible to venture on a conviction upon such loose and incoherent statements. Jesus, in the meantime, preserved a tranquil and total silence. He neither interrupted nor questioned the witnesses, he did not con descend to place himself upon his defence. No thing, therefore, remained* but to question the prisoner, and, if possible, to betray him into crimi nating himself. The High Priest, rising to give greater energy to his address, and adjuring him in the most solemn manner, in the name of God, to answer the truth, demands whether he is indeed the Messiah, the Christ, the Son of the Living God. Jesus at once answers in the affirmative, and adds a distinct allusion to the prediction of # Some have supposed that usually sat. But the account of there were two examinations in St. John, the most particular of different places before the Sanhe- the whole, says expressly (xviii. drin, one more private in the house 28.), that he was carried directly of Caiaphas, another more public, from the house of Caiaphas to the in the Gazith, the chamber in Praetorium of Pilate. the temple where the Sanhedrin HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. 337 Daniel*, then universally admitted to refer to the chap. reign of the Messiah. His words may be thus para- t . phrased : — "Ye shall know me for that mighty King Jesus ac- described by the prophet ; ye shall know me when himself fhe my great, eternal, and imperishable kingdom shall Messiah- be established on the ruins of your Theocracy." The secret ioy of the High Priest, though per- Conduct of 1 i-i / , , ¦ ¦ 'he High naps ins devout horror was not altogether insincere, Priest. was disguised by the tone and gesture of religious indignation which he assumed. He rent his clothes ; an act considered indecorous, almost in decent, in the High Priest, unless justified by an outrage against the established religion so flagrant and offensive as this declaration of Jesus, t He pronounced his speech (strangely indeed did its lofty tone contrast with the appearance of the pri soner) to be direct and treasonable blasphemy. The whole court, either sharing in the indignation, or hurried away by the vehement gesture and com manding influence, of the High Priest, hastily passed the fatal sentence, and declared Jesus guilty of the capital crime. The insolent soldiery (as he was withdrawn jesusin- from the court) had now full licence, and perhaps theloi-7 more than the licence, of their superiors to indulge diei> the brutality of their own dispositions. They began * The allusion to this prophecy again. Sanhed.i. 7. 10., andBabyl. (Dan. vii. 13, 14.) is manifest. Gemar., in loc. f They who judge a blasphemer, The High Priest was forbidden first bid the witness to speak out to rend his garments in the case of plainly what he hath heard; and private mourning for the dead. when he speaks it, the judges, Lev. x. 6., xxi. 10. In the time of standing on their feet, rend their public calamity he did. 1 Mac. xi. garments, and do not sew them up 71. Joseph. B. J. ii. 26, 27. VOL. I. Z Peter. 338 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. chap, to spit on his face — in the East the most degrading , insult; they blind-folded him, and struck him with the palms of their hands, and, in their miserable merriment, commanded him to display his prophetic knowledge, by detecting the hand that was raised against him.* The dismay, the despair, which had seized upon his adherents, is most strongly exemplified by the denial of Peter. The zealous disciple, after he had obtained admittance into the hall, stood warming himself, in the cool of the dawning morning, pro bably by a kind of brazier.t He was first accosted by a female servant, who charged him with being Denial of an accomplice of the prisoner : Peter denied the charge with vehemence, and retired to the por tico or porch in front of the palace. A second time, another female renewed the accusation : with still more angry protestations Peter disclaimed all connection with his master ; and once, but unre garded, the cock crew. An hour afterwards, pro bably about this time, after the formal condemna tion, the charge was renewed by a relation of the man whose ear he had cut off. His harsh Galilean pronunciation had betrayed him as coming from that province ; but Peter now resolutely confirmed his denial with an oath. It was the usual time of the second cock-crowing, and again it was dis tinctly heard. Jesus, who was probably at that time in the outer hall or porch in the midst of the in- * Matt. xxvi. 67, 68. ; Mark, xiv. 54. 66. 72. ; Luke, xxii. 54— xiv. 65.; Luke, xxii. 63. 65. 62. ; John, xviii. 15, 16. f Matt. xxvi. 58. 69. 75. ; Mark, HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. 3S9 suiting soldiery, turned his face towards Peter, who, overwhelmed with shame and distress, hastily retreated from the sight of his deserted master, and wept the bitter tears of self-reproach and humi liation. But, although the Sanhedrin had thus passed their sentence, there remained a serious obstacle before it could be carried into execution. On the Question contested point, whether the Jews, under the Ro- ofthesfn- man government, possessed the power of life and j1^""^ death*, it is not easy to state the question with pitaipun- i it- -vt • i- i ishment. brevity and distinctness. JN otwithstandmg the appa rently clear and distinct recognition of the San hedrin, that they had not authority to put any man to death t ; notwithstanding the remarkable concur rence of Rabbinical tradition with this declaration, which asserts that the nation had been deprived of the power of life and death forty years before the destruction of the city J, many of the most learned writers, some indeed of the ablest of the fathers §, from arguments arising out of the practice of Roman provincial jurisprudence, and from later facts in the * The question is discussed in talia ab Israele. There is, however, all the commentators. See Lard- some doubt about the reading and ner, Credib., i. 2. ; Basnage, B. v. translation of this passage. Wa- c. 2. ; Biscoe on the Acts, c. 6. ; genseil reads four for forty. Sel- note to Law's Theory, 147. ; but den (De Syn.) insists that the above all Krebs, Observat. in Nov. judgments were not taken away, Test., 64 — 155. ; Rosenmiiller and but interrupted and disused. Kuinoel, m loc. § Among the ancients, Chrysos- -f- John, xviii. 31. torn and Augustine ; among the mo- J Traditio est quadraginta annos derns, Lightfoot, Lardner, Krebs, ante excidium templi, ablatum Rosenmiiller, Kuinoel. The best fuisse jus vitae et mortis. Hieros. disquisition on that side of the Sanhed., foi. 18. 1. lb. foi. 242. question appears to me that of Quadraginta annis ante vastatum Krebs ; on the other, that of templum, ablata sunt judicia capi- Basnage. Z 2 340 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. CHAP. VII. Real rela tion of the Sanhedrin to the go vernment. Evangelic history and that of the Jews, have sup posed, that even if, as is doubtful, they were de prived of this power in civil, they retained it in religious, cases. Some have added, that even in the latter, the ratification of the sentence by the Roman governor, or the permission to carry it into execu tion, was necessary. According to this view, the object of the Sanhedrin was to bring the case before Pilate as a civil charge ; since the assumption of a royal title and authority implied a design to cast off the Roman yoke. Or, if they retained the right of capital punishment in religious cases, it was con trary to usage, in the proceedings of the Sanhe drin, as sacred as law itself, to order an execution on the day of preparation for the Passover.* As then they dared not violate that usage, and as delay was in every way dangerous, either from the fickleness of the people, who having been mo mentarily wrought up to a pitch of deadly animo sity against Jesus, might again, by some act of power or goodness on his part, be carried away back to his side ; or, in case of tumult, from the unsoli cited intervention of the Romans ; their plainest course was to obtain, if possible, the immediate support and assistance of the government. In my own opinion, formed upon the study of the cotemporary Jewish history, the power of the Sanhedrin, at this period of political change and confusion, on this, as well as on other points, was # Cyril and Augustine, with John, " It is not lawful for us to whom Kuinoel is inclined to put any man to death," by subjoin- agree, interpret the words of St. ing, " on the day of the Passover." HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. 341 altogether undefined. Under the Asmonean princes, C^AP- the sovereign, uniting the civil and religious su- ¦ premacy, the High-Priesthood with the royal power, exercised, with the Sanhedrin as his coun cil, the highest political and civil jurisdiction. Herod, whose authority depended on the protection of Rome, and was maintained by his wealth, and in part by foreign mercenaries, although he might leave to the Sanhedrin, as the supreme tribunal, the judicial power, and in ordinary religious cases might admit their unlimited jurisdiction ; yet no doubt watched and controlled their proceedings with the jealousy of an Asiatic despot, and prac tically, if not formally, subjected all their decrees to his revision : at least he would not have per mitted any encroachment on his own supreme au thority. In fact, according to the general tradition of the Jews, he at one time put the whole San hedrin to death : and since, as his life advanced, his tyranny became more watchful and suspicious, he was more likely to diminish than increase the powers of the national tribunal. In the short. in terval of little more than thirty years, which , had elapsed since the death of Herod, nearly ten had been occupied by the reign of Archelaus. On his deposal, the Sanhedrin had probably extended or resumed its original functions, but still the supreme civil authority rested in the Roman Pro curator. All the commotions excited by the tur bulent adventurers who infested the country, or by Judas the Galilean and his adherents, would fall under the cognisance of the civil governor, and z 3 342 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. chap, were repressed by his direct interference. Nor can , '_'_ , capital religious offences have been of frequent occurrence, since it is evident that the rigour of the Mosaic Law had been greatly relaxed, partly by the feebleness of the judicial power, partly by the tendency of the age, which ran in a counter direction to those acts of idolatry against which the Mosaic statutes were chiefly framed, and left few crimes obnoxious to the extreme penalty. Nor, until the existence of their polity and religion was threatened, first by the progress of Christ, and afterwards of his religion, would they have cared to be armed with an authority, which it was rarely, if ever, necessary or expedient to put forth in its full force.* That of je- This, then, may have been, strictly speaking, a and unpre- new case, the first which had occurred since the reduction of Judsea to a Roman province. The Sanhedrin, from whom all jurisdiction in political cases was withdrawn ; and who had no recent pre cedent for the infliction of capital punishment on any religious charge, might think it more prudent * It may be worth observing, unwillingness to inflict the punish- that not merely were the phari- ment of death. saic and sadducaic party at issue on The authority of them, says the great question of the expe- Lightfoot (from the Rabbins), was diency of the severe administration not taken away by the Romans, of the law, which implied frequency but rather relinquished by them- of capital punishment; the latter selves. The slothfulness of the party being notoriously sanguinary council destroyed its own author- in the execution of public justice; ity. Hear it justly upbraided in but even in the pharisaic party one this matter : — The council which school, that of Hillel, was accused puts one to death in seven years is (Jost Geschichte der Israeliter), called " destructive." R. Lazar by the rival school of Shammai, of Ben Azariah said ; which puts one dangerous lenity in the adminis- to death in seventy years. Light- tration of the law, and of culpable foot, in loc. sus a new and unp cedented HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. 343 (particularly during this hurried and tumultuous chap. proceeding, which commenced at midnight, and . must be dispatched with the least possible delay) at once to disclaim an authority which, however the Roman governor seemed to attribute to them, he might at last prevent their carrying into execu tion. All the other motives then operating on their Motives of minds would concur in favour of this course of In^lX,. proceeding : — their mistrust of the people, who ins tlieir might attempt a rescue from their feeble and unre- spected officers, and could only, if they should fall off to the other side, be controlled by the dread of the Roman military ; and the reluctance to profane so sacred a day by a public execution, of which the odium would thus be cast on their foreign rulers. It was clearly their policy, at any cost, to secure the intervention of Pilate, as well to insure the destruction of their victim, as to shift the re sponsibility from their own head upon that of the Romans. They might, not unreasonably, suppose that Pilate, whose relentless disposition had been shown in a recent instance, would not hesitate, at once, and on their authority, on the first intimation of a dangerous and growing party, to act without further examination or inquiry, and without scruple, add one victim more to the robbers or turbulent insurgents who, it appears, were kept in prison, in order to be executed as a terrible example at that period of national concourse. It should seem that while Jesus was sent in Jesus be- chains to the Prastorium of Pilate, whether in the Antonia, the fortress adjacent to the Temple, or in z 4 344 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. chap, part of Herod's palace, which was connected with the mountain of the Temple by a bridge over the Tyropason, the council adjourned to their usual place of assemblage, the chamber called Gazith, within the Temple. A deputation only accom panied the prisoner to explain and support the Remorse charge, and here probably it was that, in his agony of judaf °f remorse> Judas brought back the reward that he had received * ; and when the assembly, to his confession of his crime, in betraying the innocent blood, replied with cold and contume lious unconcern, he cast down the money on the pavement, and rushed away to close his miser able life. Nor must the characteristic incident be omitted, the Sanhedrin, who had not hesitated to reward the basest treachery, probably out of the Temple funds, scruple to receive back and replace in the sacred Treasury, the price of blood. The sum, therefore, is set apart for the purchase of a field for the burial of strangers, long known by the name of Aceldama, the field of blood.t Such is ever the absurdity, as well as the heinousness, of crimes committed in the name of religion. Astonish- The first emotion of Pilate at this strange accus- Piiate°f ation from the great tribunal of the nation, however rumours of the name and influence of Jesus had, * Matt, xxvii. 3 — 10. fuller's earth had been worked out, ¦j- The sum appears extremely and which was therefore entirely small for the purchase of a field, barren and unproductive. Kuinoel, even should we adopt the very in loc. Matt, xxvii. 2 — 14.; Mark, probable suggestion of Kuinoel, xiv. 1 — 5.; Luke, xxiii. 1 — 6. that it was a field in which the John, xviii. 28 — 38. HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. 345 no doubt, reachedhis ears, must havebeen the utmost chap. . VII. astonishment. To the Roman mind the Jewish . character was ever an inexplicable problem. But if so when they were seen scattered about and mingled with the countless diversities of races of dis cordant habits, usages, and religions, which thronged to the metropolis of the world, or were dispersed through the principal cities of the empire ; in their own country, where there was, as it were, a con centration of all their extraordinary national pro pensities, they must have appeared in still stronger opposition to the rest of mankind. To the loose manner in which religious belief hung on the greater part of the subjects of the Roman empire, their recluse and uncompromising attachment to the faith of their ancestors offered the most singu lar contrast. Every where else the temples were open, the rites free to the stranger by race or coun try, who rarely scrupled to do homage to the tute lar deity of the place. The Jewish Temple alone received, indeed, but with a kind of jealous con descension, the offerings even of the Emperor. Throughout the rest of the world, religious enthu siasm might not be uncommon, here and there, in individual cases, particularly in the East : the priests of some of the mystic religions at times excited a considerable body of followers, and drove them blindfold to the wildest acts of superstitious frenzy ; but the sudden access of religious fervour was, in general, as transient as violent ; the flame burned with rapidand irresistible fury, and went out of itself. The Jews stood alone (according to the language 346 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. chap, and opinion of the Roman world), as a nation of , VIL , religious fanatics ; and this fanaticism was a deep, a settled, a conscientious feeling, and formed, an essential and inseparable part, the groundwork of their rigid and unsocial character. Yet even to one familiarised by a residence of several years with the Jewish nation, on the present occasion, the conduct of the Sanhedrin must have appeared utterly unaccountable. This senate, or municipal body, had left to the Roman governor to discover the danger, and suppress the turbulence, of the robbers and insurgents against whom Pilate had taken such decisive measures. Now, however, they appear suddenly seized with an access of at the con- loyalty for the Roman authority, and a trembling Sanhedrin! apprehension of the least invasion of the Roman title to supremacy. And against whom were they actuated by this unwonted caution, and burning with this unprecedented zeal ? Against a man who, as far as he could discover, was a harmless, peace ful, and benevolent enthusiast, who had per suaded many of the lower orders to believe in cer tain unintelligible doctrines, which seemed to have no relation to the government of the country, and were, as yet, no way connected with insurrectionary movements. In fact, he could not but clearly see that they were enemies of the influence obtained by Jesus over the populace ; but whether Jesus or the Sanhedrin governed the religious feelings and practices of the people, was a matter of perfect indifference to the Roman supremacy. The vehemence with which they pressed the HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. 347 charge, and the charge itself, were equally inexpli cable. When Pilate referred back, as it were, the judgment to themselves, and offered to leave Jesus atthena- "> ° ' ture of the to be punished by the existing law ; while they charge; shrunk from that responsibility, and disclaimed, at least over such a case and at such a season, the power of life and death, they did not in the least relax the vehement earnestness of their persecution. Jesus was accused of assuming the title of King of the Jews, and with an intention of throwing off the Roman yoke. But, however little Pilate may have heard or understood his doctrines, the con duct and demeanour of Christ were so utterly at variance with such a charge ; the only intelligible article in the accusation, his imputed prohibition of the payment of tribute, so unsupported by proof, as to bear no weight. This redoubted king had been seized by the emissaries of the Sanhedrin, perhaps Roman soldiers placed under their orders ; had been conveyed without resistance through the city ; his few adherents, mostly unarmed peasants, had fled at the instant of his capture ; not the slightest tumultuary movement had taken place during his examination before the High Priest, and the popu lar feeling seemed rather at present incensed against him than inclined to take his part. To the mind of Pilate, indeed, accustomed to The deput- the disconnection of religion and morality, the more *""» striking contradiction in the conduct of the Jewish ™j*£ ^ rulers mav not have appeared altogether so extra- fear of legal . . . , . , defilement. ordinary. At the moment when they were violat ing the great eternal and immutable principles of 348 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. CHAP. VII. Examina tion before Pilate. all religion, and infringing on one of the positive commandments of their law, by persecuting to death an innocent man, they were withholden by reli gious scruple from entering the dwelling of Pilate; they were endangering the success of their cause, lest this intercourse with the unclean stranger should exclude them from the worship of their God — a worship for which they contracted no disqualifying defilement by this deed of blood. The deputation stood without the hall of Pilate* ; and not even their animosity against Jesus could induce them to depart from that superstitious usage, to lend the weight of their personal appearance to the solemn accusation, or, at all events, to deprive the hated object of their persecution of any advantage which he might receive from undergoing his examination without being confronted with his accusers. Pilate seems to have paid so much respect to their usages, that he went out to receive their charge, and to inquire the nature of the crime for which Jesus was denounced. The simple question put to Jesus, on his first interrogatory before Pilate, was whether he claimed the title of King of the Jews.t The answer of Jesus may be considered as an appeal to the j ustice and right feeling of the governor. "As Roman prefect, have you any cause for suspecting me of ambi tious or insurrectionary designs ; do you entertain the least apprehension of my seditious demeanour ; or are you not rather adopting the suggestions of my enemies, and lending yourself to their unwar ranted animosity ? " Pilate disclaims all commu- * John, xviii. 28. + John, xviii. 33 — 37. HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. 349 nion with the passions or the prejudices of the Jewish rulers ; but Jesus had been brought before him, denounced as a dangerous disturber of the pub lic peace, and he was officially bound to take cogni sance of such a charge. In the rest of the defence of Christ, the only part intelligible to Pilate would be the unanswerable appeal to the peaceful con duct of his followers. When Jesus asserted that he was a king, yet evidently implied a moral or religious sense in his use of the term, Pilate might attribute a vague meaning to his language, from the Stoic axiom, I am a king when I rule myself*; and thus give a sense to that which otherwise would have sounded in his ears like unintelligible mysti cism. His perplexity, however, must have been greatly increased when Jesus, in this perilous hour, when his life trembled, at it were, on the balance, declared that the object of his birth and of his life was the establishment of " the truth." " To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness to the truth. Every one that is of the truth heareth my voice." That the peace of a nation or the life of an individual should be endangered on account of the truth or falsehood of any system of speculative opinions, was so diametrically opposite to the general opinion and feeling of the Roman world, that Pilate, either in contemptuous mockery, or with the merciful de sign of showing the utter harmlessness and insig- * Ad summum sapiens uno minor est Jove, dives Liber, honoratus, pulcher. Rex denique regum. Hor. Ep. ii. 1. 106. Comp. Sat. i. 3. 125. At pueri ludentes, rex eris, inquit, Si recte facies. Epist. i. 1. 59. 350 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. chap, nificance of such points, inquired what he meant . by truth, — what truth had to do with the present question, with a question of life and death, with a capital charge brought by the national council be fore the supreme tribunal. Apparently despairing, on one side, of bringing him, whom he seems to have considered a blameless enthusiast, to his senses ; on the other, unwilling to attach so much importance to what appeared to him in so different a light, he wished at once to put an end to the whole affair. Pilate en- He abruptly left Jesus, and went out again to the saTe'jesus.0 Jewish deputation at the gate, (now perhaps in creased by a greater number of the Sanhedrin,) and declared his conviction of the innocence of Jesus. clamours At this unexpected turn, the Sanhedrin burst into a furious clamour, reiterated their vague, per haps contradictory, and to the ears of Pilate unin telligible or insignificant charges, and seemed de termined to press the conviction with implacable animosity. Pilate turned to Jesus, who had been led out, to demand his answer to these charges. Jesus stood collected, but silent, and the astonish ment of Pilate was still further heightened. The only accusation which seemed to bear any .mean ing, imputed to Jesus the raising tumultuous meet ings of the people throughout the country, from Judaea to Galilee.* This incidental mention of Galilee, made perhaps with an invidious design of awakening in the mind of the governor the re membrance of the turbulent character of that people, suggested to Pilate a course by which he # Luke, xxiii. 5. of the ac cusers HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. 351 might rid himself of the embarrassment and re- chap. VII. sponsibility of this strange transaction. It has been , conjectured, not without probability, that the mas sacre of Herod's subjects was the cause of the en mity that existed between the tetrarch and the Roman governor. Pilate had now an opportunity at once to avoid an occurrence of the same nature, in which he had no desire to be implicated, and to make overtures of reconciliation to the native so vereign. He was indifferent about the fate of Jesus, provided he could shake off all actual con cern in his death ; or he might suppose that Herod, uninfected with the inexplicable enmity of the chief priests, might be inclined to protect his inno cent subject.* The fame of Jesus had already excited the cu- Jesus sent • • 1 t0 Herod. nosity of Herod, but his curiosity was rather that which sought amusement or excitement from the powers of an extraordinary wonder-worker, than that which looked for information or improvement from a wise moral, or a divinely-commissioned religious, teacher. The circumstances of the interview, which probably took place in the presence of the tetrarch and his courtiers, and into which none of the disciples of Jesus could find their way, are not related. The investigation was long ; but Jesus maintained his usual unruffled silence, and at the close of the examination, he was sent back to Pilate. Jesus sent By the murder of John, Herod had incurred deep insuitT and lasting unpopularity ; he might be unwilling to increase his character for cruelty by the same * Luke, xxiii. 5 — 12. 352 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. chap, conduct towards Jesus, against whom, as he had not the same private reasons for requiring his sup port, he had not the same bitterness of personal ani mosity ; nor was his sovereignty, as has before been observed, endangered in the same manner as that of the chief priests, by the progress of Jesus. Herod therefore might treat with derision what appeared to him an harmless assumption of royalty, and determine to effect, by contempt and contumely, that degradation of Jesus in the estimation of the people which his more cruel measures in the case of John had failed to accomplish. With his con nivance, therefore, if not under his instructions, his soldiers (perhaps some of them, — as those of his father had been, foreigners, Gaulish or Thracian barbarians) were permitted or encouraged in every kind of cruel and wanton insult. They clothed him, in mockery of his royal title, in a purple robe, and so escorted him back to Pilate, who, if he occupied part of the Herodion, not the Antonia, was close at hand, only in a different quarter of the same ex tensive palace. The refusal of Herod to take cognisance of the charge renewed the embarrassment of Pilate, but a way yet seemed open to extricate himself from his difficulty. There was a custom, that in honour of the great festival, the Passover, a prisoner should be set at liberty at the request of the people.* The multitude had already become clamorous for their annual privilege. Among the half-robbers, half- * Matt, xxvii. 15 — 20.; Mark, xv. 6 — 11.; Luke, xxiii. 13 — 19.; John, xviii. 39. HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. 353 insurgents, who had so long infested the province chap. of Judaea and the whole of Palestine, there was a , vn' , celebrated bandit, named Barabbas, who, probably Barabbas. in some insurrectionary tumult, had been guilty of murder. Of the extent of his crime we are igno rant ; but Pilate, by selecting the worst case, that which the people could not but consider the most atrocious and offensive to the Roman government, might desire to force them, as it were, to demand the release of Jesus. Barabbas had been unde niably guilty of those overt acts of insubordination, which they endeavoured to infer as necessary con sequences of the teaching of Jesus. He came forth, therefore, to the outside of his praetorium, and having declared that neither him self nor Herod could discover any real guilt in the prisoner who had been brought before them, he appealed to them to choose between the con demned insurgent and murderer, and the blame less prophet of Nazareth. The High Priests had now wrought the people to madness, and had most likely crowded the courts round Pilate's quarters with their most zealous and devoted partizans. The voice of the Governor was drowned with an instantaneous burst of acclamation, demanding the release of Barabbas. Pilate made yet another in effectual attempt to save the life of the innocent man. He thought by some punishment, short of death, if not to awaken the compassion, to satisfy the animosity, of the people.* The person of Jesus was given up to the lictors, and scourging with # Luke, xxiii. 16. ; John, xix. 1 — 5. VOL. I. A A 354 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. rods, the common Roman punishment for minor offences, was inflicted with merciless severity. The jesuT^ soldiers platted a crown of thorns, or, as is thought, wTththoms of some prickly plant, as it is scarcely conceivable and shown tnat ]jfe couirl have endured if the temples had to the peo- *¦ pie- been deeply pierced by a circle of thorns.* In this pitiable state Jesus was again led forth, bleeding with the scourge, his brow throbbing with the pointed crown ; and drest in the purple robe of mockery to make the last vain appeal to the com passion, the humanity, of the people. The wild and furious cries of " crucify him, crucify him," broke out on all sides. In vain Pilate commanded them to be the executioners of their own sentence, and reasserted his conviction of the innocence of Jesus. In vain he accompanied his assertion by the significant action of washing his hands in the public view, as if to show that he would contract no guilt or defilement from the blood of a blame less man.t He was answered by the awful impre- The people cation, " His Wood be upon us, and upon our crucifixion! children." The deputies of the Sanhedrin pressed more earnestly the capital charge of blasphemy — " He had made himself the Son of God." t This inexplicable accusation still more shook the resolu tion of Pilate, who, perhaps at this instant, was further agitated by a message from his wife. Claudia Procula (the law which prohibited the * It should seem, says Grotius, sharp spikes, — which would be pain- that the mockery was more in- ful, but not endanger life. Ras- tended than the pain. Some suppose selquist's Travels. the plant, the naba or nabka of the f Matt, xxvii. 24, 25. Arabians — with many smal and j John, xix. 7. HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. 355 wives of the provincial rulers from accompanying chap. their husbands to the seat of their governments ¦ now having fallen into disuse) had been permitted interces- to reside with her husband Pilate in Palestine.* ia!"s°wife!" The stern justice of the Romans had guarded by this law against the baneful effects of female in fluence. In this instance, had Pilate listened to the humaner counsels of his wife, from what a load of guilt would he have delivered his own con science and his province. Aware of the proceed ings which had occupied Pilate during the whole night ; perhaps in some way better acquainted with the character of Jesus, she had gone to rest ; but her sleep, her morning slumbers, when visions were supposed to be more than ordinarily true, were disturbed by dreams of the innocence of Jesus, and the injustice and inhumanity to which her husband might lend his authority. The prisoner was withdrawn into the guard room, and Pilate endeavoured to obtain some ex planation of the meaning of this new charge from Jesus himself. He made no answer, and Pilate appealed to his fears, reminding him that his life and death depended on the power of the Prefect. Jesus replied, that his life was only in the power of divine Providence, by whose permission alone Pilate enjoyed a temporary authority.! But touched, it may seem, by the exertions of Pilate to save # Matt, xxvii. 19 — 23. This in the Senate to put it more law had fallen into neglect in strictly in force, produced no effect. the time of Augustus ; during the Tac. Ann. iii. 33. reign of Tiberius it was openly in- f John, xix. 8—1 1. fringed, and the motion of Caecina A A 2 356 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. chap, him, with all his accustomed gentleness he declares , Pilate guiltless of his blood, in comparison with Last inter- his betrayers and persecutors among his own coun- Jesus°ry ° trymen. This speech still further moved Pilate in his favour. But the justice and the compassion of the Roman gave way at once before the fear of weakening his interest, or endangering his per sonal safety, with his imperial master. He made one effort more to work on the implacable people ; he was answered with the same furious exclama tions, and with menaces of more alarming import. They accused him of indifference to the stability of the imperial power : — " Thou art not Caesar's friend * : " they threatened to report his conduct, in thus allowing the title of royalty to be assumed with impunity, to the reigning Caesar. That Caesar was the dark and jealous Tiberius. Up to this period the Jewish nation, when they had com plained of the tyranny of their native sovereigns, had ever obtained a favourable hearing at Rome. Even against Herod the Great, their charges had been received ; they had been admitted to a public audience, and though their claim to national inde pendence at the death of that sovereign had not been allowed, Archelaus had received his govern ment with limited powers : and on the complaint of the people, had been removed from his throne. In short, the influence of that attachment to the Caesarean family t, which had obtained for the nation distinguished privileges both from Julius * John, xix. 12. + Compare Hist, of the Jews, ii. 86, HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. 35*7 and Augustus, had not yet been effaced by that chap. character of turbulence and insubordination which led to their final ruin. In what manner such a charge of not being " Caesar's friend " might be misrepresented or ag gravated, it was impossible to conjecture, but the very strangeness of the accusation was likely to work on the gloomy and suspicious mind of Tibe rius ; and the frail tenure by which Pilate held his favour at Rome is shown by his ignominious recall and banishment some years after, on the complaint of the Jewish people ; though not, it is true, for an act of indiscreet mercy, but one of unnecessary cruelty. The latent and suspended decision of his character reappeared in all its customary reckless ness. The life of one man, however blameless, was not for an instant to be considered, when his own advancement, his personal safety, were in peril : his sterner nature resumed the ascendant ; he mounted the tribunal, which was erected on a tesselated pavement near the praetorium*, and passed the solemn, the irrevocable sentence. It might almost seem, that in bitter mockery, Pilate Condemn- for the last time demanded, " Shall I crucify your je™.0 * We should not notice the Julianus, charged on horseback, strange mistake of the learned and forced his way into the inner German, Hug, on this subject, if it court of the Temple, his horse had not been adopted by a clever stepped up on the pavement writer in a popular journal. Hug (Xi96arpoTov), and he fell. It is has supposed the Xi66orpoTov (per- scarcely credible that any writer haps the tesselated) stone pavement acquainted with Jewish antiquities, on which Pilate's tribunal was or the structure of the Temple, erected, to be the same which was could suppose that the Roman the scene of a remarkable incident governor would raise his tribunal mentioned by Josephus. During within the inviolable precincts of the siege of the Temple, a centurion, the inner court. A A 3 358 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY- CHAP. VII. Insults of Jesus by the popu lace and soldiery. king ? " " We have no king, but Caesar," was the answer of the chief priests. Pilate yielded up the contest ; the murderer was commanded to be set at liberty, the just man surrendered to cru cifixion. The remorseless soldiery were at hand, and in stigated, no doubt, by the influence, by the bribes, of the Sanhedrin, carried the sentence into effect with the most savage and wanton insults. They dressed him up in all the mock semblance of royalty (he had already the purple robe and the crown) ; a reed was now placed in his hand for a sceptre ; they paid him their insulting homage ; struck him with the palms of their hands ; spit upon him ; and then stripping him of his splendid attire, drest him again in his own simple raiment, and led him out to death.* The place of execution was without the gates. This was the case in most towns ; and in Jerusa lem, which, according to tradition, always main tained a kind of resemblance to the camp in the wilderness t, as criminal punishments were for bidden to defile the sacred precincts, a field beyond the walls was set apart and desecrated for this un hallowed purpose, t * Matt, xxvii. 27 — 30.; Mark, xv. 15—20. ¦j- Numbers, xv. 35.; 1 Kings, xxi. 13. ; Hebrews, xiii. 12. Ex tra urbem, patibulum. Plautus. See Grotius. J It is curious to trace on what uncertain grounds rest many of our established notions re lating to incidents in the early history of our religion. No one scruples to speak in the popular language of " the Hill of Calvary ; " 3'et there appears no evidence, which is not purely legendary, for the assertion that Calvary was on a hill. The notion arose from the fanciful interpretation of the word HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. 359 Hitherto we have been tempted into some de- chap. tail, both by the desire of ascertaining the state of , VIL . the public mind, and the motives of the different actors in this unparalleled transaction, and by the necessity of harmonising the various circumstances related in the four separate narratives. As we approach the appalling close, we tremble lest the colder process of explanation should deaden the solemn and harrowing impression of the scene, or weaken the contrast between the wild and tu multuous uproar of the triumphant enemies and executioners of the Son of Man, with the deep and unutterable misery of the few faithful adherents who still followed his footsteps : and, far above all, his own serene, his more than human, composure, the dignity of suffering, which casts so far into the shade every example of human heroism. Yet in the circum- most trifling incidents there is so much life and the reality, so remarkable an adherence to the usages of the time, and to the state of public feeling, that we cannot but point out the most striking of these particulars. For, in fact, there is no single circum stance, however minute, which does not add to the truth of the whole description, so as to stamp it (we have honestly endeavoured to consider it with the calmest impartiality) with an impression of credibility, of certainty, equal to, if not sur passing, every event in the history of man. The Golgotha, the place of a skull, derived from having been strewn which was thought to imply some with the remains of condemned resemblance in its form to a human malefactors. skull ; but it is far more probably A A 4> cruci fixion. 360 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. chap, inability of Jesus (exhausted by a sleepless night, ' "' L by the length of the trial, by insults and bodily pain, by the scourging and the blows) to bear his own cross (the constant practice of condemned criminals) * ; the seizure of a Cyrenian, from a pro vince more numerously colonised by Jews than any other, except Egypt and Babylonia, as he was entering the city, and, perhaps, was known to be an adherent of Jesus, to bear his cross t ; the cus tomary deadening potion of wine and myrrh t, which was given to malefactors previous to their execution, but which Jesus, aware of its stupi- fying or intoxicating effect, and determined to pre serve his firmness and self-command, but slightly touched with his lips; the title, the King§ of the Jews, in three languages ||, so strictly in accordance with the public usage of the time ; the division and casting lots for . his garments by the soldiers who executed him (those who suffered the ignomi nious punishment of the cross being exposed entirely naked, or with nothing more than was necessary for decency) ^f ; all these particulars, as well as the instrument of execution, the cross, are * Hence the common term || The inscriptions on the pali- " furcifer." Patibulum ferat per sades which divided the part of urbem, deinde affigatur cruci. the temple court which might be Plauti frag. entered by the Gentiles from that I Mark, xv. 21. ; Luke, xxiii. 26. which was open only to the Jews, Matt, xxvii. 34. ; Mark, xv. 23. were written, with the Roman The Rabbins say, wine with frank- sanction, in the three languages, incense. This potion was given Hebrew, Greek, and Latin. by the Jews out of compassion % Matt, xxvii. 35.; Mark, xv. to criminals. 24. ; Luke, xxiii. 34. ; John, xix. § Luke, xxiii. 38. ; John, xix. 23, 24. 19,20. HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. 361 in strict unison with the well-known practice of chap. Roman criminal jurisprudence. The execution of t ' , the two malefactors, one on each side of Jesus, is equally consonant with their ordinary administration of justice, particularly in this ill-fated province. Probably before, unquestionably at a later period, Jerusalem was doomed to behold the long line of crosses on which her sons were left by the relent less Roman authorities to struggle with slow and agonising death. In other circumstances, the Jewish national cha racter is equally conspicuous. This appears even in the conduct of the malefactors. The fanatical The two Judaism of one, not improbably a follower, or in- ™*s^ ac" fected with the doctrines of the Gaulonite, even in his last agony, has strength enough to insult the pretender to the name of a Messiah who yet has not the power to release himself and his fellow- sufferers from death. The other, of milder dispo sition, yet in death, inclines to believe in Jesus, and when he returns to assume his kingdom, would hope to share in its blessings. To him Jesus, speak ing in the current language, promises an immediate reward ; he is to pass at once from life to happi ness. * Besides this, how striking the triumph of his enemies, as he seemed to surrender himself without resistance to the growing pangs of death ; the as- spectators semblage, not only of the rude and ferocious popu- 0l " lace, but of many of the most distinguished rank, the members of the Sanhedrin, to behold and to insult the last moments of their once redoubted, * Luke, xxiii. 39—43. cution. 362 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. chap, but now despised, adversary. And still every in- 11 dication of approaching death seemed more and more to justify their rejection! still no sign of the mighty, the all-powerful Messiah ! Their taunting allusions to his royal title, to his misapprehended speech, which rankled in their hearts, about the demolition and rebuilding of the Temple* ; to his power of healing others, and restoring life, a power in his own case so manifestly suspended or lost ; the offer to acknowledge him as the Messiah, if he would come down from the cross in the face of day ; the still more malignant reproach, that he, who had boasted of the peculiar favour of God, was now so visibly deserted and abandoned, — the Son of God, as he called himself, is left to perish despised and disregarded by God; all this as strikingly accords with, and illustrates the state of, Jewish feeling, as the former circumstances of the Roman usages. And amid the whole wild and tumultuous scene. there are some quiet gleams of pure Christianity, which contrast with and relieve the general dark ness and horror : not merely the superhuman pa tience, with which insult, and pain, and ignominy, are borne ; not merely the serene self-command, which shows that the senses are not benumbed or deadened by the intensity of suffering ; but the slight incidental touches of gentleness and human ity.! We cannot but indicate the answer to the af- * Matt, xxvii. 39—43.; Mark, xv. 31, 32.; Luke, xxiii. 35. f Luke, xxiii. 27—31. HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. 363 flicted women, who stood by the way weeping, as he chap- passed on to Calvary, and whom he commanded not , VIL , " to weep for him," but for the deeper sorrows to conduct of which themselves or their children were devoted ; Jesus" the notice of the group of his own kindred and fol lowers who stood by the cross ; his bequest of the support of his Virgin Mother to the beloved disci ple * ; above all, that most affecting exemplification of his own tenets, the prayer for the pardon of his enemies, the palliation of their crime from their igno rance of its real enormity, — " Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do." t Yet so little are the Evangelists studious of effect, that this incident of unrivalled moral sublimity, even in the whole life of Christ, is but briefly, we might almost say carelessly, noticed by St. Luke alone. From the sixth hour (noonday), writes the Evan- Pretema. gelist St. Matthew, there was darkness over all the nuerSs! dark" land unto the ninth hour, t The whole earth (the phrase in the other Evangelists) is no doubt used ac cording to Jewish phraseology, in which Palestine, the sacred land, was emphatically the earth. This supernatural gloom appears to resemble that terrific darkness which precedes an earthquake. For these three hours Jesus had borne the ex- * John, xix. 25 — 27. Phlegon is now wisely abandoned." f Luke, xxiii. 34. It still maintains its ground, how- t Matt, xxvii. 45 — 53. ; Mark, ever, with writers of a certain class, xv. 33 — 38. ; Luke, xxiii. 44, 45. ; notwithstanding its irrelevancy has John, xix. 28 — 30. already been admitted by Origen, Gibbon has said, and truly, as and its authority rejected by every regards all well-informed and sober writer who has the least preten- interpreters of the sacred writings, sions to historical criticism. that " the celebrated passage of 364s HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. CHAP. VII. Death of Jesus. cruciating anguish — his human nature begins to fail, and he complains of the burning thirst, the most painful but usual aggravation of such a death. A compassionate bystander filled a sponge with vine gar, fixed it on a long reed, and was about to lift it to his lips, when the dying Jesus uttered his last words, those of the twenty-second Psalm, in which, in the bitterness of his heart, David had com plained of the manifest desertion of his God, who had yielded him up to his enemies — the phrase had perhaps been in common use in extreme distress — Eli, Eli, lama Sabacthani? — My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me ? * The compassionate hand of the man, raising the vinegar, was arrested by others, who, a few perhaps in trembling curiosity, but more in bitter mockery, supposing that he called not on God (Eli) but on Elias, commanded him to wait and see, whether, even now, that great and certain sign of the Messiah, the appearance of Elijah, would at length take place. Their barbarous triumph was uninterrupted ; and he, who yet (his followers were not without some lingering hope, and the more superstitious of his enemies not without some trembling appre hension) might awaken to all his terrible and pre vailing majesty, had now manifestly expired.t The Messiah, the imperishable, the eternal Messiah, had quietly yielded up the ghost. Even the dreadful earthquake which followed, seemed to pass away without appalling the enemies * Matt, xxvii. 40. ; Mark, xv. 34—37. ; John, xix. 28—30. f Luke, xxiii. 46. HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. 365 of Jesus. The rending of the veil of the Temple chap. from the top to the bottom, so strikingly significant of the approaching abolition of the local worship, would either be concealed by the priesthood, or attributed as a natural effect to the convulsion of the earth. The same convulsion would displace the stones which covered the ancient tombs, and lay open many of the innumerable rock-hewn sepul chres which perforated the hills on every side of the city, and expose the dead to public view. To the awe-struck and depressed minds of the follow ers of Jesus, no doubt, were confined those vision ary appearances of the spirits of their deceased brethren, which are obscurely intimated in the rapid narratives of the Evangelists.* But these terrific appearances, which seem to have been lost on the infatuated Jews, were not without effect on the less prejudiced Roman soldiery; they appeared to bear the testimony of Heaven to the innocence, to the divine commission, of the crucified Jesus. The centurion who guarded the spot, according to St. Luke, declared aloud his con viction that Jesus was a just man ; according to St. Matthew, that he was the Son of God. t * This is the probable and con- on the minds of the Jews, and the sistent view of Michaelis. Those total silence of all other history. who assert a supernatural eclipse of Compare the very sensible note of the sun rest on the most dubious and M. Guizot on the latter part of suspicious tradition ; while those Gibbon's xvth chapter. who .look with jealousy on the in- f Matt, xxvii. 54. ; Luke, xxiii. traduction of natural causes, how- 47. Lightfoot supposes that by ever so timed as in fact to be no intercourse with the Jews he may less extraordinary than events have learned their phraseology: altogether contrary to the course Grotius, that he had a general im- of nature, forget or despise the pression that Jesus was a superior difficulty of accounting for the ap- being. parently slight sensation produced 366 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. chap. Secure now, by the visible marks of dissolution, VTT • , by the piercing of his side, from which blood and water flowed out, that Jesus was actually dead ; and still, even in their most irreligious acts of Burial of cruelty and wickedness, punctiliously religious (since 1 " it was a sin to leave the body of that blameless being on the cross during one day *, whom it had been no sin, but rather an act of the highest virtue, to murder the day before), the Sanhedrin gave their consent to a wealthy adherent of Jesus, Joseph, of the town of Arimathea, to bury the body. The sanction of Pilate was easily obtained : it was taken down from the cross, and consigned to the sepulchre prepared by Joseph for his own family, but in which no body had yet been laid, t The sepulchre was at no great distance from the place of execution : the customary rites were performed ; the body was wrapped in fine Linen and anointed with a mixture of costly spice and myrrh, with which the remains of those who were held in respect by their kindred were usually preserved. As the Sabbath was drawing on, the work was performed with the utmost despatch, and Jesus was laid to rest in the grave of his faithful adherent. Thereii- In that rock-hewn tomb might appear to be fentiy at an buried for ever both the fears of his enemies and end" the hopes of his followers. Though some rumours of his predictions concerning his resurrection had * Deut. xxi. 23. The Jews f Matt, xxvii. 57—60.; Mark, usually buried executed criminals xv- 42 — 47. ; Luke, xxiii. 50 — 56. ; ignominiously, but at the request of John, xix. 38 — 42. a family would permit a regular burial. Lightfoot, from Babyl. San. HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. 367 crept abroad, sufficient to awaken the caution of chap. VII. the Sanhedrin, and to cause them to seal the out- . ward covering of the sepulchre, and, with the ap probation of Pilate, to station a Roman guard upon the spot ; yet, as far as the popular notion of the Messiah, nothing could be more entirely and abso lutely destructive of their hopes than the patient sub mission of Jesus to insult, to degradation, to death. However, with some of milder nature, his exquisite sufferings might excite compassion ; however the savage and implacable cruelty with which the rulers urged his fate might appear revolting to the multitude, after their first access of religious indig nation had passed away, and the recollection re turned to the gentle demeanour and beneficent acts of Jesus ; yet the hope of redemption, what ever meaning they might attach to the term, whether deliverance from their enemies or the restoration of their theocratic government, had set in utter darkness. However vague or contradictory this notion among the different sects or classes, with the mass of the people, nothing less than an immediate instantaneous re-appearance in some appalling or imposing form could have reinstated Jesus in his high place in the popular expectation. Without this, his career was finally closed, and he would pass away at once, as one of the brief won ders of the time, his temporary claims to respect or attachment refuted altogether by the shame, by the ignominy, of his death. His ostensible leading adherents were men of the humblest origin, and, as yet, of no distinguished ability ; men from whom 368 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. chap, little danger could be apprehended, and who might safely be treated with contemptuous neglect. No attempt appears to have been made to secure a single person, or to prevent their peaceful retreat to their native Galilee. The whole religion cen tered in the person of Jesus, and in his death was apparently suppressed, crushed, extinguished for ever. After a few days, the Sanhedrin would dread nothing less than a new disturbance from the same quarter ; and Pilate, as the whole affair had passed off without tumult, would soon suppress the remon strances of his conscience at the sacrifice of an in nocent life, since the public peace had been main tained, and no doubt his own popularity with the leading Jews considerably heightened, at so cheap a price. All then was at an end : yet, after the death of Christ, commences, strictly speaking, the history of Christianity. HISTOEY OF CHRISTIANITY. BOOK II. VOL. I. B B HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. 371 CHAP I. CHAPTER I. THE RESURRECTION, AND FIRST PROMULGATION OF CHRISTIANITY. The resurrection of Jesus is the basis of Christi- chris.tian doctrine anity; it is the groundwork of the Christian doc- oftheim- trine of the immortality of the soul. Henceforward Ine'souif ° that great truth begins to assume a new charac ter, and to obtain an influence over the political and social, as well as over the individual happiness of man, unknown in the former ages of the world.* It is no longer a feeble and uncertain instinct, nor a remote speculative opinion, obscured by the more pressing necessities and cares of the present life, but the universal predominant sentiment, con stantly present to the thoughts, enwoven with the usages, and pervading the whole moral being of man. The dim and scattered rays, either of tra ditionary belief, of intuitive feeling, or of philo sophic reasoning, were brought as it were to a focus, condensed and poured with an immeasurably stronger, an expanding, an all-permeating light upon the human soul, t Whatever its origin, # Our Saviour assumes the doc- when they address the heathen, trine of another life, as the basis of who formed far the largest part of his doctrines, because, in a certain the converts to Christianity. sense, it was already the popular f I have found some of these belief among the Jews, but it is observations and even expressions, very different with the Apostles, anticipated by the striking remarks B B 2 372 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. whether in human nature, or the aspirations of high-thoughted individuals, propagated through their followers, or in former revelation, it received such an impulse, and was so deeply and universally moulded up with the popular mind in all orders, that from this period may be dated the true era of its dominion. If by no means new in its element ary principle, it was new in the degree and the extent to which it began to operate in the affairs of men.* of Lessing. Und so ward Christus der erste zuverlassige praktische Lehrer der Unsterblichkeit der Seele. Der erste zuverlassige Lehrer. Zuverlassig durch seine Weissagungen, die in ihm erfullt schienen : zuverlassig durch die Wunder die er verrichtete : zu verlassig durch seine eigne Wieder- belebung nach einem Tode, durch die er seine Lehre versiegelt hatte. Der erste praktische Lehrer. Denn ein anders ist, die Unsterb lichkeit der Seele, als eine philo- sophische Speculation, vermuthen, wiinschen, glauben : ein anders seine innern und aussern Hand- lungen darnach einrichten. Lessing. Werke, ix. p. 63. * The most remarkable evidence of the extent to which German speculation has wandered away from the first principles of Chris tianity is this ; that one of the most religious writers, the one who has endeavoured with the most earnest sincerity to reconnect re ligious belief with the philosophy of the times, has actually represented Christianity without, or almost with out, the immortality of the soul ; and this the ardent and eloquent trans lator of Plato ! Copious and full on the moral regeneration effected by Christ in this world, with the loftiest sentiments of the emanci pation of the human soul from the bondage of sin by the gospel, Schleiermacher is silent, or almost silent, on the redemption from death. He beholds Christ dis tinctly as bringing life, only vaguely and remotely as bringing immor tality, to light. I acknowledge that I mistrusted the extent of my own acquaintance with the writings of Schleiermacher and the accuracy with which I had read them (chiefly the Glaubenlehre and some of those sermons -which were so highly admired at Berlin) ; but I have found my own conclusions con firmed by an author whom I can not suspect to be unacquainted with the writings, or unjust to the character, of one for whom he entertains the most profound re spect. So geschah es, das dieser Glaubenslehre unter den Handen der Begriff des Heiles sich aus einem wesentlich jenseitigen in einem wesentlich diesseitigen ver- wandelte. . . . Hiermit ist nun aber die eigentliche Bedeutung des alten Glaubengrundsatzes in der that verloren gegangen. Wo die aussicht auf eine dereinstige, aus dem dann in Schauen umgesetsten HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. 373 The calm inquirer into the history of human chap. nature, as displayed in the existing records of our L , race, if unhappily disinclined to receive the Chris- Effects of tian faitli as a divine revelation, must nevertheless th.u doc" 1. trine, behold in this point of time the crisis, and in this circumstance the governing principle, of the des tinies of mankind during many centuries of their most active and fertile development. A new race of passions was introduced into the political arena, as well as into the individual heart, or rather the natural and universal passions were enlisted in the service of more absorbing and momentous in terests. The fears and hopes by which man is governed, took a wider range, embracing the future life in many respects with as much, or even stronger, energy and intenseness than the present. The stupendous dominion erected by the church, the great characteristic feature of modern history, rested almost entirely on this basis ; it ruled as possessing an inherent power over the destiny of the soul in a future world. It differed in this primary principle of its authority from the sacer dotal castes of antiquity. The latter rested their influence on hereditary claims to superiority over the rest of mankind ; and though they dealt some- Glauben emporwachsende Seligkeit seine diesseitige Befriedigung in so, wie in Schleiermacher's eigener dem Glauben an Christus gewonnen Darstellung in den Hintergrund hat, offenbar seine machtigste, ja tritt, so ganz nur als eine beilaiifige, seine einzige Waffe gegen alle die in Bezug auf das Wie ganz und gar ihm die Wahrheit solcher Befriedi- problematisch bleibende Folge- gung bestreiten, oder bezweifeln, rung, ja fast als eine hors d'oeuvre aus den Handen gerissen. Weisse, hinzugebracht wird : da wird auch Die Evangelische Geschichte, demjenigen Bewusstsein welches Band. ii. p. 451. B B 3 374 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. times, more or less largely, in the terrors and hopes of another state of being, especially in defence of their own power and privileges, theirs was a kind of mixed aristocracy of birth and priestcraft. But if this new and irresistible power lent itself, in certain stages of society, to human ambition, and as a stern and inflexible lictor, bowed down the whole mind of man to the fasces of a spiritual tyranny, it must be likewise contemplated in its far wider and more lasting, though perhaps less imposing character, as the parent of all which is purifying, ennobling, unselfish, in Christian civilis ation ; as a principle of every humanising virtue which philosophy must ever want ; of self-sacrifice, to which the patriotism of antiquity shrinks into a narrow and national feeling : and as introducing a doctrine of equality as sublime, as it is without dan ger to the necessary gradations which must exist in human society. Since the promulgation of Chris tianity, the immortality of the soul, and its inse parable consequence, future retribution, have not only been assumed by the legislator as the basis of all political institutions, but the general mind has been brought into such complete unison with the spirit of the laws so founded, that the individual repugnance to the principle has been constantly overborne by the general predominant sentiment. In some periods it has seemed to survive the religion on which it was founded. Wherever, at all events, it operates upon the individual or social mind, wherever it is even tacitly admitted and assented to by the prevalent feeling of mankind, HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. 375 it must be traced to the profound influence which chap. Christianity has, at least at one time, exercised t over the inner nature of man. This was the moral revolution which set into activity, before unpre cedented, and endowed with vitality, till then un known, this great ruling agent in the history of the world. Still, however, as though almost unconscious of style of the the future effects of this event, the narratives of ists?ngc the Evangelists as they approach this crisis in their own, as well as in the destinies of man, pre serve their serene and unempassioned flow. Each follows his own course, with precisely that dis crepancy which might be expected among inarti ficial writers relating the same event, without any mutual understanding or reference to each other's work, but all with the same equable and unexalted tone. The Sabbath passed away without disturbance or commotion. The profound quiet which pre vailed in the crowded capital of Judaaa on the seventh day, at these times of rigid ceremonial ob servance, was unbroken by the partizans of Jesus. Yet even the Sabbath did not restrain the leading members of the Sanhedrin from taking the neces sary precautions to guard the body of their victim : their hostile jealousy, as has been before ob served, was more alive to the predictions of the resurrection than the attachment of the disciples. To prevent any secret or tumultuous attempt of the followers to possess themselves of the remains of their Master, they caused a seal to be attached b b 4> 376 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. to the stone which formed the door to the sepul chral enclosure, and stationed the guard, which was at their disposal, probably for the preservation of the public peace, in the garden around the tomb. The guard being Roman, might exercise their military functions on the sacred day. The disciples were no doubt restrained by the sanctity of the Sabbath, as well as by their apprehensions of re-awakening the popular indignation, even from approaching the burial-place of their Master. The religion of the day lulled alike the passions of the rulers, the popular tumult, the fears and the sor rows of the disciples. Thewomen If was n°t till the early dawn of the following ^ichre6"' mornulg * that some of the women set out to pay the last melancholy honours at the sepulchre. They had bought some of those precious drugs, which were used for the preservation of the remains of the more opulent, on the evening of the crucifixion ; and though the body had been anointed and wrapt in spices in the customary manner, previously to the burial, this further mark of respect was strictly ac cording to usage. But this circumstance, thus casually mentioned, clearly shows that the women, at least, had no hope whatever of any change which could take place as to the body of Jesus.t * Matt, xxviii. ; Mark, xvi.; which they were personally con- Luke, xxiv. ; John, xx. cerned. This appears to furnish a -f- In a prolusion of Griesbach,De very simple key to their apparent fontibus unde Evangelistas suas de discrepancies. John, who received resurrectione Domini narrationes his first intelligence from Mary hauserint, it is observed, that Magdalene, makes her the principal the Evangelists seem to have person in his narrative, while Mat- dwelt on those particular points in thew, who, with the rest of the HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. 377 The party of women consisted of Mary of Magdala, chap. a town near the lake of Tiberias ; Mary, the wife of Alpheus, mother of James and Joses ; Joanna, wife of Chuza, Herod's steward ; and Salome "the mother of Zebedee's children." They were all Galileans, and from the same neighbourhood ; all faithful attendants on Jesus, and related to some of the leading disciples. They set out very early ; and as perhaps they had to meet from different quarters, some not unlikely from Bethany, the sun was rising before they reached the garden. Before their arrival, the earthquake or atmospheric com motion * had taken place ; the tomb had burst open ; and the terrified guard had fled to the city. Of the sealing of the stone, and the placing of the guard, they appear to have been ignorant, as, in the most natural manner, they seem suddenly to remember the difficulty of removing the ponderous stone which closed the sepulchre, and which would require the strength of several men to raise it from its place. Sepulchres in the East, those at least belonging to men of rank and opulence, were formed of an outward small court or enclosure, the entrance to which was covered by a huge stone ; disciples, derived his information women collectively that communi- from the other women, gives their cation of the intelligence to the relation, and omits the appearance assembled body of the Apostles ¦ of Jesus to the Magdalene. St. which appears to have been made Mark gives a few additional minute separately to two distinct parties ; particulars, but the narrative of and disregarding the order of time, St. Luke is altogether more vague he after that reverts to the visit and general. He blends together, of St. Peter to the sepulchre. as a later historian, studious of * * Zeiopog is rather an ambiguous compression, the two separate term, though it usually means an transactions ; he ascribes to the - earthquake. 378 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. and within were cells or chambers, often hewn in the solid rock, for the deposit of the dead. As the women drewr near, they saw that the stone had been removed, and the first glance into the open sepul chre discovered that the body was no longer there. At this sight Mary Magdalene appears to have hurried back to the city, to give information to Peter and John. These disciples, it may be re membered, were the only two who followed Jesus to his trial ; and it is likely that they were toge ther in some part of the city, while the rest were scattered in different quarters, or perhaps had re tired to Bethany. During the absence of Mary, the other women made a closer inspection ; they entered the inner chamber, they saw the grave- clothes lying in an orderly manner, the bandage or covering of the head rolled up, and placed on one side ; — this circumstance would appear incompa tible with the haste of a surreptitious, or the care lessness of a violent, removal. To their minds thus highly excited, and bewildered with astonishment, with terror, and with grief, appeared, what is de scribed by the Evangelist as " a vision of angels." One or more beings in human form seated in the shadowy twilight within the sepulchre, and address ing them with human voices, told them that their Master had risen from the grave, that he was to go before them into Galilee. They had departed to communicate these wonderful tidings to the other disciples, before the two summoned by Mary Arrival of Magdalene arrived ; of these the younger and jot" a" more active, John, outran the older, Peter. But HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. 379 he only entered the outer chamber, from whence chap. he could see the state in which the grave-clothes ¦ were lying ; but before he entered the inner cham ber, he awaited the arrival of his companion. Peter went in first, and afterwards John, who, as he states, not till then, believed that the body had been taken away, for, up to that time, the Apostles themselves had no thought or expectation of the resurrection.* These two Apostles returned home, leaving Mary Magdalene, who probably wearied by her walk to the city and her return, had not come up with them till they had completed their search. The other women, meantime, had fled in haste, and in the silence of terror, through the hostile city ; and until, later in the day, they found the Apostles assembled together, did not unburthen their hearts of this extraordinary secret. Mary Magdalene t First aP- was left alone ; she had seen and heard nothing of jesus to the angelic vision which had appeared to the others ; a^ll^afS but on looking down into the sepulchre, she saw the same vision which had appeared to the others, and was in her turn addressed by the angels ; and it seems that her feelings were those of unmitigated sorrow. She stood near the sepulchre, weeping. To her Jesus then first appeared. So little was she prepared for his presence, that she at first mistook him for the person who had the charge of the garden. Her language is that of grief, because unfriendly hands have removed the body, and carried it away to some unknown place. Nor was it till he again * John, xx. 8 — 9. f Mark, xvi. 9—11.; John, xx. 11 — 18. 380 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. book addressed her, that she recognised his familiar t ' ¦ form and voice. Later aP- The second* appearance of Jesus was to the pearances. Qthex party of women, as they returned to the city, and, perhaps, separated to find out the different Apostles, to whom, when assembled, they related the whole of their adventure. In the mean time a third appearance t had taken place to two disciples who had made an excursion to Emmaus, a village between seven and eight miles from Jerusalem : a fourth to the Apostle Peter ; this apparition is not noticed by the Evangelists ; it rests on the authority of St Paul.t The intelligence of the women had been received with the utmost incredulity by the assembled Apostles. The arrival of the two dis ciples from Emmaus, with their more particular relation of his conversing with them ; his explain ing the Scriptures ; his breaking bread with them ; made a deeper impression. Still mistrust seems to have predominated ; and when Jesus appeared in the chamber, the doors of which had been closed from fear lest their meeting should be interrupted by the hostile rulers, the first sensation was terror rather than joy. It was not till Jesus conversed with them, and permitted them to ascertain by actual touch the identity of his body, that they yielded to emotions of gladness. Jesus appeared * Matt, xxviii. 9 — 10. harmonise the accounts if we could j- Mark, xvi. 12—13.; Luke, suppose that St.Paul (1 Cor. xv. 5.) xxiv. 13 — 32. originally dictated KXiona, which J It does not appear possible was changed for the more familiar that Peter could be one of the name Krjtpa. disciples near Emmaus. It would HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. 381 a second time, eight days after*, in the public chap. assembly of the disciples, and condescended to v ' remove the doubts of one Apostle, who had not been present at the former meeting, by permitting him to inspect and touch his wounds. This incredulity of the Apostles, related with so J""f&uV*J much simplicity, is, on many accounts, most re- ties:— markable, considering the apparent distinctness with which Jesus appears to have predicted both his death and resurrection, and the rumour which put the Sanhedrin on their guard against any clan destine removal of the body. The key to this difficulty is to be sought in the opinions of the time. The notion of a resurrection was intimately connected with the coming of the Messiah, but that resurrection was of a character very different from the secret, the peaceful, the unimposing re appearance of Jesus after his death. It was an integral, an essential part of that splendid vision which represented the Messiah as summoning all the fathers of the chosen race from their graves to share in the glories of his kingdom.! Even after the resurrection the bewildered Apostles inquire whether that kingdom, the only sovereignty of which they yet dreamed, was about to commence.^ The death of Jesus, notwithstanding his care to prepare their minds for that appalling event, took them by surprise : they seem to have been stunned and confounded. It had shaken their faith by its * Mark, xvi. 14 — 18. ; Luke, J Acts, i. 6. Compare Luke, xxiv. 36—49. ; John, xx. 19—29. xxiv. 21. f See ch. ii. p. 78. 382 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. book utter incongruity with their preconceived notions, IL rather than confirmed it by its accordance with his own predictions ; and in this perplexed and darkbng state the resurrection came upon them not less strangely at issue with their conceptions of the manner in which the Messiah would return to the world. When Jesus had alluded with more or less prophetic distinctness to that event, their minds had, no doubt, reverted to their rooted opinions on the subject, and moulded up the plain sense of his words with some vague and confused interpretation framed out of their own traditions ; the latter so far predominating, that their memory retained scarcely a vestige of the simpler truth, until it was forcibly re-awakened by its complete fulfilment in the resurrection of their Lord. Excepting among the immediate disciples, the in telligence of the resurrection remained, it is pro bable, a profound secret, or, at all events, little more than vague and feeble rumours would reach the ear of the Sanhedrin. For though Christ had taken the first step to re-organise his religion, by his solemn commission to the Apostles at his first appearance in their assembly, it was not till after Retum of the return to Galilee, more particularly during one tuTs toPGt- interview near the Lake of Gennesareth, that he in- mee. vested Peter, and with him the rest of the Apostles, with the pastoral charge over his new community. For, according to their custom, the Galilean Apostles had returned to their homes during the interval between the Passover and the Pentecost, and there, among the former scenes of his benefi cent labours, on more than one occasion, the living HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. 383 Jesus had appeared, and conversed familiarly with them.* Forty days after the crucifixion, and ten before Apostles in the Pentecost, the Apostles were again assembled Ju 0Ba* at their usual place of resort, in the neighbourhood of Jerusalem, the village of Bethany. It was here, on the slope of the Mount of Olives, that, in the language of St. Luke, " he was parted from them ; " he was taken up, and a cloud received him out of their sight."t During the interval between the Ascension and the day of Pentecost, the Apostles of Jesus regularly performed their devotions in the Temple, but they Ascension. * Matt, xxviii. 16 — 20.; John, xxi. 1 — 23. Mark, in his brief and summary account, omits the journey to Galilee. Luke, xxiv. 49. seems to intimate the con trary, as if he had known nothing of this retreat. This verse, how ever, may be a kind of continuation of verse 47. and is not to be taken in this strict sense, so as positively to exclude an intermediate journey to Galilee. -t- Neander has closed his life of Christ with some forcible observ ations on the Ascension, to which it has been objected, that St. Luke alone, though in two places, Gosp. xxiv. 50 — 51. ; Acts, i. 9 — 11. mentions this most extra ordinary event. " How could the resurrection of Christ have been to the disciples the groundwork of their belief in everlasting hfe, if it had been again followed by his death ? With the death of Christ the faith, especially in his resur rection and reappearance, must again, of necessity, have sunk away. Christ would again have appeared to them an ordinary man, their belief in him, as the Messiah, would have suffered a violent shock. How in this manner could that conviction of the exaltation of Christ have formed itself within them, which we find expressed in their writings with so much force and precision. Though the fact of his ascension, as visible to the senses, is witnessed expressly only by St. Luke, the language of St. John concerning his ascent to the Father, the declarations of all the apostles concerning his ex altation to heaven (see espe cially the strong expression of St. Mark, xvi. 19. H. M.), presuppose their conviction of his supernatural elevation from the earth, since the notion of his departure from this earthly life in the ordinary manner is thereby altogether excluded. Even if none of the apostolic writers had mentioned this visible and real fact, we might have safely inferred from all which they say of Christ, that in some form or other they presupposed a supernatural exaltation of Christ from this visible earthly world. Leben Jesu, p. 656. 384 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. may have been lost and unobserved among the thousands who either returned to Jerusalem for the second great annual festival, or if from more remote parts, remained, as was customary, in the capital from the Passover to the Pentecost. The election of a new apostle to fill the mysterious number of twelve, a number hallowed to Jewish feeling as that of the tribes of their ancestors, shows that they now looked upon themselves again as a permanent body, united by a federal principle, and destined for some ulterior purpose ; and it is possible that they might look with eager hope to the feast of Pentecost, the celebration of the delivery of the law on Mount Election of Sinai*; the birthday as it were of the religious tie.ewApos constitution of the Jews, as an epoch peculiarly suited for the reorganisation and reconstruction of the new kingdom of the Messiah. The Sanhedrin doubtless expected any thing rather than the revival of the religion of Jesus. The guards, who had fled from the sepulchre, had been bribed to counteract any rumour of the resur rection, by charging the disciples with the clandes tine removal of the body. The city had been restored to peace, as if no extraordinary event had taken place. The Galileans, the followers of Jesus among the rest, had retired to their native province. In the popular estimation the claims of Jesus to the Messiahship were altogether extinguished by his death. The* attempt to reinstate him who had been condemned by the Sanhedrin, and crucified by the Romans, in public reverence and belief, as the pro- * See the traditions on this subject in Meuschen N. T., a Talmude illustratum, p. 740. HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. 385 mised Redeemer, might have appeared a proceed- chap. ing so desperate, as could not enter into the most J enthusiastic mind. The character of the disciples of Jesus was as little calculated to awaken apprehen sion. The few richer or more influential persons who had been inclined to embrace his cause, even during his lifetime, had maintained their obnoxious opinions in secret. The ostensible leaders were men of low birth, humble occupations, deficient education, and — no unimportant objection in the mind of the Jews — Galileans. Never indeed was sect so completely centered in the person of its founder : the whole rested on his personal autho rity, emanated from his personal teaching ; and however it might be thought, that some of his say ings might be treasured in the minds of his blind and infatuated adherents ; however they might refuse to abandon the hope that he would appear again, as the Messiah ; all this delusion would gra dually die away, from the want of any leader quali fied to take up and maintain a cause so lost and hopeless. Great must have been their astonish ment at the intelligence, that the religion of Jesus had reappeared, in a new, in a more attractive form ; Reappear- that on the feast day which next followed their total j^°£ '0hfe dispersion, those humble, ignorant, and despised Jesus- Galileans were making converts by thousands, at the very gates, even perhaps within the precincts of the Temple. The more visible circumstances of the miracle which took place on the day of Pente cost, the descent of the Holy Ghost, under the ap pearance of fiery tongues, in the private assembly vol. i. c c 386 HTSTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. of the Christians, might not reach their ears ; but they could not long remain ignorant of this strange and alarming fact, that these uneducated men, apparently re-organised, and acting with the most fearless freedom, were familiarly conversing with, and inculcating the belief in the resurrection of Jesus, on strangers from every quarter of the world, in all their various languages, or dialects.* The Jews whose families had been long domiciliated in the different provinces of the Roman and the Par thian dominions, gradually lost, or had never learned, the vernacular tongue of Palestine ; they adopted the language of the surrounding people. The original sacred Hebrew was understood only by the learned. How far, on one side the Greek, on the other the Babylonian Chaldaic, which was nearly allied to the vernacular Aramaic, were' admitted into the religious services of the synagogue, appears uncer tain ; but the different synagogues in Jerusalem were appropriated to the different races of Jews. Thosefrom Alexandria, from Cyrene,theLibertines, descended from freed slaves at Rome, perhaps there fore speaking Latin, the Cilicians and Asiatics, had their separate places of assembly t : so, probably, those who came from more remote quarters, where Greek, the universal medium of communication in great part of the Roman empire, was less known, as in Arabia, Mesopotamia, and beyond the Eu phrates. The scene of this extraordinary incident must * Kuinoel (in loc. Act.) gives a lucid view of the various ratio nalist and anti-rationalist interpretations of this miracle. ¦p Acts, vi. HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. 387 have been some place of general resort ; yet, chap. scarcely within the Temple, where, though there i were many chambers set apart for instruction in Disciples the law, and other devotional purposes, the Apostles Temple! were not likely to have obtained admittance to one Unguis. of these, or to have been permitted to carry on their teaching without interruption. If conjecture might be hazarded, we should venture to place their house of assembly in one of the streets leading to the Temple; that, perhaps, which, descending the slope of the hill, led to the Mount of Olives, and to the village of Bethany. The time, the third hour, nine in the morning, was that of public prayer in the Temple ; multitudes, therefore, would throng all the avenues to the Temple, and would be arrested on their way by the extraordinary sight of Peter and his colleagues thus addressing the various classes in their different dialects ; as serting openly the resurrection of Jesus ; arraign ing the injustice of his judicial murder; and re-establishing his claim to be received as the Messiah. These submissive, timid, and scattered followersof Jesus thus burst upon the public attention, suddenly invested with courage, endowed with commanding eloquence, in the very scene of their master's cruel apprehension and execution, asserting his Messiah- ship, in a form as irreconcilable with their own preconceived notions, as with those of the rest of the people ; arraigning the rulers, and, by implica tion, if not as yet in distinct words, the whole nation, of the most heinous act of impiety, as well c c 2 388 " HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. book as barbarity, the rejection of the Messiah ; pro^ n. claiming the resurrection, and defying investigation. Speech of The whole speech of Peter clashed with the strongest prejudices of those who had so short a time before given such fearful evidence of their animosity and remorselessness. It proclaimed that " the last days," the days of the Messiah, the days of prophecy and wonder, had already begun. It placed the Being whom but forty days before they had seen helplessly expiring upon the cross, far above the pride, almost the idol of the nation, King David. The ashes of the king had long re posed in the tomb, which was before their eyes ; but the tomb could not confine Jesus ; death had no power over his remains. Nor was his resurrec tion all : the crucified Jesus was now " on the right hand of God :" he had assumed that last, the highest distinction of the Messiah — the super human majesty ; that intimate relation with the Deity, which, however vaguely and indistinctly shadowed out in the Jewish notion of the Messiah, was as it were the crowning glory, the ultimate height to which the devout hopes of the most strongly excited of the Jews followed up the pro mised Redeemer : " Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God hath made that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ."* Three thousand declared converts were the re sult of this first appeal to the Jewish multitude : the religion thus reappeared, in a form new, com- * Acts, ii. 36. HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. 389 plete, and more decidedly hostile to the prevailing chap. creed and dominant sentiments of the nation. From this time the Christian community assumed its se parate and organised existence, united by the federal rite of baptism ; and the popular mind was deeply impressed by the preternatural powers ex ercised by its leading followers. Many of the con verts threw their property, or part of it, into a common stock ; now become necessary, as the teachers of Christianity had to take up their per manent residence in Jerusalem, at a distance from their homes and the scenes of their humble labours. The religion spread, of course, with the greatest rapidity among the lower orders. Assistance in their wants, and protection against the hostility, or at least the coldness and estrangement, of the pow erful and opulent, were necessary to hold together the young society. Such was the general ardour, that many did not hesitate to sell their landed property, the tenure of which, however loosened by time, and by the successive changes in the po litical state of the country, probably, at this period of the Messiah's expected coming, assumed a new value. This, therefore, was no easy triumph over Jewish feeling. Yet nothing like an Essenian com- Common munity of goods ever appears to have prevailed in community the Christian community ; such a system, however of soods- favourable to the maintenance of certain usages or opinions within a narrow sphere, would have been fatal to the aggressive and comprehensive spirit of Christianity ; the vital and conservative principle of a sect, it was inconsistent with an universal re- c c 3 890 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. book ligion ; and we cannot but admire the wisdom which avoided a precedent so attractive, as conduc ing to the immediate prosperity, yet so dangerous to the ultimate progress of the religion.* conduct of The Sanhedrin at first stood aloof; whether drin. an'L from awe, or miscalculating contempt, or, it is possible, from internal dissension. It was not till they were assailed, as it were in the heart of their own territory ; not till the miracle of healing the lame man near the Beautiful gate of the Temple (this gate opened into the inner court of the Tem ple, and, from the richness of its architecture, had received that name), and the public proclamation of the resurrection, in the midst of the assembled worshippers, in the second recorded speech of Peter, had secured five thousand converts ; that at length the authorities found it necessary to interfere, and to arrest, if possible, the rapid progress of the Second faith. The second speech of the Apostle t was in a Peto-! ° somewhat more calm and conciliating tone than the former : it dwelt less on the crime of the crucifixion, than on the advantages of belief in Jesus as the Messiah. It did not shrink, indeed, from reasserting the guilt of the death of the Just One ; yet it palliated the ignorance through which the people, and even the rulers, had rejected Jesus, and stained the city with his blood. It called upon them to repent of this national crime ; * Mosheim appears to me to distinctions of rich and poor in have proved this point conclu- theChristian community, is decisive sively. At a later period, every against the community of goods. exhortation to almsgiving, and ¦(• Acts, iii. 12 — 26. every sentence which alludes to HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. 391 and, as if even yet Peter himself was not disen- chap. cumbered of that Jewish notion, it seemed to , ' . intimate the possibility of an immediate reappear ance of Christ *, to fulfil to the Jewish people all that they hoped from this greater than Moses, this accomplisher of the sublime promise made to their Father Abraham. To the Sanhedrin, the speech was, no doubt, but vaguely reported ; but any speech delivered by such men, in such a place, and on such a subject, demanded their interference. Obtaining the assistance of the commander of the Roman guard, mounted, as has been said, in the gallery leading to the Antonia, they seized and imprisoned the Apostles. The next morning they were brought up for examination. The boldness of the Apostles, who asserted their doctrines with calm , resolution, avowed and enforced their belief in the resurrection and Messiahship of the crucified Jesus, as well as the presence of the man who had been healed, perplexed the council. After a pri vate conference, they determined to try the effect of severe threatenings, and authoritatively com manded them to desist from disseminating their obnoxious opinions. The Apostles answered by an appeal to a higher power — " Whether it be right in the sight of God, to hearken unto you more than unto God, judge ye. For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard." t * V. 20, 21.; "The time of restitution of all things, in the refreshing ; when he shall send common Jewish belief, was to be Jesus Christ, which before was almost simultaneous with or to preached unto you: whom thehea- follow very closely the appearance ven must receive until the times of of the Messiah. restitution of all things." This f Acts, iv. 19, 20. C C 4 392 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. ant in the Sanhedrin. book a remarkable revolution had taken place, either . in the internal politics of the Sanhedrin, or in sadducees their prevailing sentiments towards Christianity. Up to the death of Jesus, the Pharisees were his chief opponents ; against their authority he seemed chiefly to direct his rebukes ; and, by their jealous animosity, he was watched, criminated, and at length put to death. Now, in their turn, the Sadducees * take the lead ; either because the doctrine of the resurrection struck more directly at the root of their system, or, otherwise, because their influence had gained a temporary ascendancy in the great council. But this predominance of the unpopular Sadducean party, on the throne of the High Priest, and in the council, if it increased their danger from the well-known severity with which that faction administered the law ; on the other hand, it powerfully contributed to that re action of popular favour, which again overawed the hostile Sanhedrin. t This triumph over their adversaries; this resolute determination to maintain their cause at all hazards (sanctioned, as it seemed, by the manifest approval of the Almighty); the rapid increase in their possessions, which enabled them to protect all the poorer classes who joined * Acts, iv. 1. Annas is mentioned as the high priest, and then Caiaphas, who it appears, from the Gospels, and from Josephus (Ant. xviii. 2. 2., 4. 3.), was not deposed till a later period. The interpretation of Krebs. (Obervationes in N. T., e Josepho, p. 177.), appears tome the best. Annas was the second high priest, or deputy ; but is named first, as the head of the family in which the high priesthood was vested, being father-in-law to Cai aphas. The rest were the assessors of the high priest. f " They let them go, finding nothing how they might punish them, because of the people : for all men glorified God for that which was done." — Acts, iv. 21. HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. 393 their ranks ; the awful death of Ananias and Sap- chap. phira *, into the circumstances of which their ene- . mies ventured no inquiry ; the miracles of a gentler and more beneficent character, which they per formed in public ; the concourse from the neigh bourhood of Jerusalem to partake in their powers of healing, and to hear their doctrines ; the mani fest superiority, in short, which Christianity was gaining over the established Judaism, determined the Sanhedrin, after a short time, to make another effort to suppress their growing power. The Apostles were seized, and cast ignominiouslyintothe common prison. In the morning they were sought in vain : the doors were found closed, but the pri soners had disappeared ; and the dismayed San hedrin received intelligence that they had taken up their customary station in the Temple. Even the Roman officer, despatched to secure their persons, found it necessary to act with caution and gentleness ; for the multitude were ready to undertake their defence, even against the armed soldiery ; and stones were always at hand in the neighbourhood or precincts of the Temple, for any tumultuary resistance. The Apostles, however, Apostles peaceably obeyed the citation of the Sanhedrin ; sanhedrin. but the language of Peter was now even more bold and resolute than before : he openly proclaimed, in the face of the astonished council, the crucified Jesus to be the Prince and the Saviour, and as serted the inspiration of himself and his com panions by the Spirit of God.f # Acts, v. t Acts> v- 32- 394s HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. The Sadducaic faction were wrought to the high est pitch of frenzy ; they were eager to press the capital charge. But the Pharisaic party endea voured, not without success, to mitigate the sen tence. The perpetual rivalry of the two sects, and the general leniency of the Pharisaic administration ' of the law, may have concurred, with the moderation Gamaliel, and judgment of the individual, to induce Gamaliel to interpose the weight of his own personal autho rity and that of his party. Gamaliel does not appear, himself, to have been inclined to Chris tianity : he was most likely the same who is dis tinguished in Jewish tradition as president of the Sanhedrin, (though the High Priest, being now present, would take the chief place,) and as the master under whom St. Paul had studied the Law. The speech of Gamaliel, with singular address, confounded the new sect with those of two ad venturers, Judas the Galilean, and Theudas, whose insurrections had excited great expectation, but gradually died away. With these, affairs were left to take their course ; against their pretensions God had decided by their failure : leave, then, to the same unerring Judge the present decision. To this temporising policy the majority of the council assented; part probably considering, that either the sect would, after all, die away, without establishing any permanent influence, or, like some of those parties mentioned by Gamaliel, run into wild excess, and so provoke the Roman govern ment to suppress them by force ; others from mere party spirit, to counteract the power of the oppo site faction ; some from more humane principles HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. 895 and kindlier motives; others from perplexity; chap. some, perhaps, from awe, which, though it had not yet led to belief, had led to hesitation ; some from sincere piety ; as, in fact, expecting that an event of such importance would be decided by some manifest interposition, or overruling influence at least, of the Almighty. The majority were anxious, from these different motives, to escape the perilous responsibility of decision. The less violent course was therefore followed; after the apostles had suffered the milder punishment of scourging ; a pu nishment inflicted with great frequency among the Jews, yet ignominious to the sufferer ; the persecu tion, for the present, ceased : the Apostles again appeared in public ; they attended in the Temple ; but how long this period of security lasted, from the uncertain chronology of the early Christian history *, it is impossible to decide. Yet, as the * There is no certain date in calculated? — from the conversion, the Acts of the Apostles, except with Pearson and many modern that of the death of Herod, A. D. writers ? or from the first visit of 44., even if that is certain. No- St. Paul to Jerusalem, with others? thing can be more easy than to All is doubtful, contested, conjee- array against each other the names tural. The only plan, therefore, is of the most learned authorities, to adopt, and uniformly adhere to, who from the earliest days have some one system. In fact the car- laboured to build a durable edifice dinal point of the whole calcula- out of the insufficient materials in tion, the year of our Saviour's their power. Perhaps from Jerom death, being as uncertain as the to Dr. Burton and Mr. Greswell,no rest, we shall state, that we assume two systems agree. The passage that to have been A. D. 31. From in St. Paul, Gal. ii. 1., which might thence we shall proceed to affix our be expected to throw light on this dates according to our own view, difficult subject, involves it in still without involving our readers in greater intricacy. In the first the inextricable labyrinth to which place, the reading, fourteen years, we are convinced that there is no as Grotius and many others have certain or satisfactory clue. If we shown, not without MS. authority, notice any arguments, they will be is by no means certain. Then, chiefly of an historical nature. from whence is this period to be I. 396 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. book jealousies which appear to have arisen in the , n" infant community, would require some time to mature and grow to a head, we should interpose two or three years between this collision with the authorities, and the next, which first embrued the soil of Jerusalem with the blood of a Christian martyr. Nor would the peaceful policy adopted through the authority of Gamaliel have had a fair trial in a shorter period of time ; it would scarcely have been overborne at once and immediately by the more violent party. The first converts to Christianity were Jews *, but of two distinct classes: — 1, the natives of Pales tine, who spoke the Syrian dialect, and among whom perhaps were included the Jews from the East ; 2, the Western Jews, who having been settled in the different provinces of the Roman empire, generally spoke Greek. This class may likewise have comprehended proselytes to Judaism. Jealousies arose between these two parties. The Greeks complained that the distribution of the general charitable fund was conducted with par tiality, that their "widows were neglected." The dispute led to the establishment of a new order in the community. The Apostles withdrew from the institution laborious, it might be the invidious, office ; and seven disciples, from whose names we may con jecture that they were chosen from the Grecian party, were invested by a solemn ceremony, the imposition of hands, as deacons or ministers, with the superintendence of the general funds. * Acts, vi. ofDeacons. HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. 397 It was in the synagogues of the foreign, the African and Asiatic Jews, that the success of Stephen, one of these deacons, excited the most a.d. 34. violent hostility. The indignant people found that not even the priesthood was a security against this spreading apostasy: many of that order en rolled themselves among the disciples of Christ.* Whether the execution of this first martyr to Christianity was a legal or tumultuary proceeding, — whether it was a solemn act of the Sanhedrin, the supreme judicial as well as civil tribunal of the nation, or an outbreak of popular indignation and re sentment, — the preliminary steps at least, appear to have been conducted with regularity. He was formally arraigned before the Sanhedrin, of blasphe my, as asserting the future destruction of the Temple, and the abrogation of the Law. This accusation, although the witnesses are said to have been false and suborned, seems to intimate, that in those Hellenis tic congregations Christianity had already assumed a bolder and more independent tone; that it had thrown aside some of the peculiar character which adhered to it in the other communities; that it already aspired to be an universal, not a national reli gion ; and one destined to survive the local worship in Jerusalem, and the abolition of the Mosaicinstitutes.t Whether inflamed by these popular topics of accu- * Acts vi. 7. lichen Kirche, p. 41.; awork which + Stephen has been called by I had not the advantage of con- some modern writers the forerunner suiting, when this part of the pre- of St. Paul. See Neander ; Ge- sent volume was written. schichte der Pflanzung der Christ- 398 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. book sation, which str uck at th e vital principles of th eir r eli- , gious influence, or again taking alarm at the progress of Christianity, the Pharisaic party, which we found after the resurrection had lost their supremacy in the council, appear, from the active concurrence of Saul, and from the re-awakened hostility of the multitude, over whom the Sadducees had no com manding influence, to have re-united themselves to the more violent enemies of the faith. The defence of Stephen recapitulated in bold language the chief points of the national history, the privileges and the crimes of the race of Israel,which gradually led to this final consummation of their impiety and guilt, the rejection of the Messiah, the murder of the Just One. It is evidently incomplete ; it was interrupted by the fury of his opponents, who took fire at his arraigning them, not merely of the death of Jesus, but of this perpetual violation of the Law ; "who have received the lawby the disposition of angels, and have not kept it." * This charge struck directly at the Pharisaic party ; the populace ever under their control, either abandoned the Christians to their fate, or joined in the hasty and ruthless vengeance. The murmurs, the gestures of the indignant Sanhedrin, and of others, perhaps, who witnessed the trial, betrayed their impatience and indignation : they gnashed their teeth ; and Stephen breaking off, or unable to pursue his con tinuous discourse, in a kind of prophetic ecstasy declared that at that instant he beheld the Son of * Acts, vii. 53. HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. 399 Man standing at the right hand of God. Whether chap. legal or tumultuary, the execution of Stephen was t conducted with so much attention to form, that he Death of was first carried beyond the walls of the city* ; the martyr.°" witnesses, whose office it was to cast the first stone t, A- D> 34- put off their clothes, and perhaps observed the other forms peculiar to this mode of execution. He died as a true follower of Jesus, praying the divine mercy upon his barbarous persecutors ; but neither the sight of his sufferings, nor the beauty of his dying words, allayed the excitement which had now united the conflicting parties of the Jews in their common league against Christianity. Yet the mere profession of Christianity did not ne cessarily involve any capital charge ; or if it did, the Jews wanted power to carry the sentence of death into execution on a general scale, t Though then they had either deliberately ventured, or yielded to a violent impulse of fury, on this occasion, their vengeance in other cases was confined to those subordinate punishments which were left under * In one instance, it may be re- saiem A. D. 37, was received with membered, the multitude was so great honours, and seems to have excited as to attempt to stone our treated the Jewish authorities with Saviour within the precincts of the the utmost respect. On these Temple. grounds he places this persecution f Dent. xvii. 7. as late as the year 37. Yet the j Michaelis, followed by Eich- government of Pilate appears to horn, has argued, with considerable have been capriciously, rather than plausibility, that these violent mea- systematically severe. The imme- sures would scarcely have been diate occasion of his recall, was his ventured by the Jews under the tyrannical conduct to the Samari- rigorous administration of Pilate, tans. It may have been his policy, Vitellius, on the other hand, by while his administration was draw- whom Pilate was sent in disgrace ing to a close, to court the ruling to Home, A. D. 36, visited Jeru- authorities of the Jews. 400 ttfl$^i^OF CH RISTIANITY. book their^jTTSsH^tion ; — imprisonment; public scourg- , II- , ing in the synagogue; and that which, of course, began to lose its terrors as soon as the Christians formed separate and independent communities, the once awful Excommunication. The martyrdom of Stephen led to the most im portant results, not merely as first revealing that great lesson which mankind has been so slow to learn, that religious persecution which stops short of extermination, always advances the cause which it endeavours to repress. It showed that Christian faith was stronger than death, the last resort of human cruelty. Thenceforth its triumph was secure. For every death, courageously, calmly, cheerfully endured, where it appalled one dastard into apostasy, made, or prepared the minds of a hundred proselytes. To the Jew, ready himself to lay down his life in defence of his Temple, this self-devotion, though an undeniable test of sin cerity in the belief of facts of recent occurrence, was less extraordinary ; to the heathen it showed a determined assurance of immortality, not less new, as an active and general principle, than attractive and ennobling. The more immediate consequences of the perse cution were no less favourable to the progress of Christianity. The Christians were driven out of Jerusalem, where the Apostles alone remained firm at their posts. Scattered through the whole region, if not beyond the precincts of Palestine, they bore with them the seed of the religion. The most important progress was made in Samaria ; but the HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. 401 extent of their success in this region, and the oppo- chap. sition they encountered among this people, deeply , tinged with Oriental opinion, will be related in another part of this work. Philip, one of the most active of the deacons, made another convert of rank and importance, an officer* who held the highest station and influence with Candace, the queen of the Ethiopians. The name of Candace t was the hereditary appellation of the queens of Meroe, as Pharaoh of the older, and Ptolemy of the later Egyptian kings. The Jews had spread in great numbers to that region ; and the return of a person of such influence, a declared convert to the new religion, can scarcely have been without conse quences, of which, unhappily, we have no record. But far the most important result of the death paui 0f of Stephen, was its connection with the conver- Tarsus- sion of St. Paul. To propagate Christianity in the enlightened West, where its most extensive, at least, most permanent, conquests were to be made ; to emancipate it from the trammels of Judaism ; a man was wanting of larger and more comprehensive views, of higher education, and more liberal accomplishments. Such an instru ment for its momentous scheme of benevolence to the human race, Divine Providence found in Saul of Tarsus. Born in the Grecian and com mercial town of Tarsus, where he had acquired * The word " Eunuch " may be from appearing at the public assem- here used in its primary sense blies. (cubicularius), without any allusion -j- Regnare foeminam Candacen, to its later meaning ; as, according quod nomen multis jam annis ad to the strict rites of the law, a reginas transiit. Plin. vi. 29. Conf. Jewish eunuch was disqualified Strabo, xvii. p. 1175, Dio. Cass. liv. VOL. I. D D 4t02 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. book no inconsiderable acquaintance with Grecian letters t IL , and philosophy ; but brought up in the most cele brated school of Pharisaic learning, that of Gama liel, for which purpose he had probably resided long in Jerusalem ; having inherited, probably from the domiciliation of his family in Tarsus *, the valuable privilege of Roman citizenship ; yet with his Judaism in no degree weakened by his Grecian culture, — Saul stood as it were on the confines of both regions, qualified beyond all men to develop a system which should unite Jew and Gentile under one more harmonious and compre hensive faith. The zeal with which Saul urged on the subsequent persecution, showed that the death of Stephen had made, as might have been ex pected, no influential impression upon a mind so capable, unless blinded by zeal, of appreciating its moral sublimity. The commission from the San hedrin, to bring in safe custody to Jerusalem such of the Jews of Damascus as had embraced Chris tianity, implies their unabated reliance on his fide lity. The national confidence which invested him in this important office, the unhesitating readiness with which he appears to have assumed it, in a man of his apparently severe integrity, and un shaken sense of duty, imply, in all ordinary human estimation, that he had in no degree re laxed from that zeal which induced him to witness the execution of Stephen, if not with stern satis- * Compare Strabo's account of countries: Obb' abrol ovroi pivovatv Tarsus. The natives of this city abr69i, dXXd Kai TikEiovvrai teSy- were remarkably addicted to philo- povvreg,Kai teXeioQevteq Zevitsvovoiv sophieal studies ; but in general r)SEog, Karipxovrai o" bXiyoi. — travelled and settled in foreign Strabo, lib. xiv. p. 673. HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. 403 faction, yet without commiseration. Even then, if chap. the mind of Paul was in any degree prepared, by , the noble manner in which Stephen had endured death, to yield to the miraculous interposition which occurred on the road to Damascus, nothing less than some occurrence of the most extraor dinary and unprecedented character could have ar rested so suddenly, and diverted so completely from its settled purpose, a mind of so much strength, and however of vivid imagination, to all appearance very superior to popular superstition. Saul set forth from Jerusalem, according to the narrative of the Acts, with his mind wrought up to the most violent animosity against these apostates from the faith of their ancestors.* He set forth, thus manifestly inveterate in his prejudices, unshaken in his ardent attachment to the religion of Moses, the immu tability and perpetuity of which he considered it treasonable and impious to question, with an aus tere and indignant sense of duty, fully authorised by the direct testimony of the Law, to exterminate all renegades from the severest Judaism. The ruling Jews must have heard with the utmost amazement, that the persecuting zealot who had voluntarily demanded the commission of the High Priest to repress the growing sect of the Chris tians, had arrived at Damascus, blinded for a time, humbled, and that his first step had been openly to join himself to that party which he had threatened to exterminate. * " Breathing threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord." Acts, ix. 1—22. D D 2 404 history of Christianity. The Christians, far from welcoming so distin guished a proselyte, looked on him at first with natural mistrust and suspicion. And although at Damascus this jealousy was speedily allayed by the interposition of Ananias, a leading Christian, to whom his conversion had been revealed by a vision, at Jerusalem his former hostile violence had made so deep an impression, that, three years after his conversion, even the Apostles stood aloof, and with reluctance admitted a proselyte of such im portance, yet whose conversion to them still ap peared so highly improbable. No event in Christian history, from this impro bability, as well as its influence on the progress of the religion, would so demand, if the expression may be used, the divine intervention as the con version of St. Paul. Paul was essentially necessary to the development of the Christian scheme. Neither the self-suggested workings of the imagin ation, even if coincident with some extraordinary but fortuitous atmospheric phenomena ; nor any worldly notion of aggrandisement, as the head of a new and powerful sect ; nor that more noble am bition, which might anticipate the moral and social blessings of Christianity, and, once conceived, would strike resolutely into the scheme for their advance ment, — furnish even a plausible theory for the total change of such a man, at such a time, and under such circumstances. The minute investigation of this much agitated question could scarcely be in its place in the present work. But to doubt, in what ever manner it took place, the divine mission of HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. 405 Paul, would be to discard all providential interpo- chap. sition in the design and propagation of Chris tianity. Unquestionably it is remarkable how little en couragement Paul seems at first to have received from the party, to join which he had sacrificed all his popularity with his countrymen, the favour of the supreme magistracy, and a charge, if of severe and cruel, yet of an important character ; all, in deed, which hitherto appeared the ruling objects of his life. Instead of assuming at once, as his abilities and character might seem to command, a distinguished place in the new community into which he had been received ; instead of being hailed, as renegades from the opposite faction usually are, by a weak and persecuted party, his early course is lost in obscurity. He passes several years in exile, as it were, from both parties ; he emerges by slow degrees into eminence, and hardly wins his way into the reluctant confidence of the Christians ; who, however they might at first be startled by the improbability of the fact, yet felt such reliance in the power of their Lord and Re deemer, as scarcely we should have conceived to be affected by lasting wonder at the conversion of any unbeliever. Part of the three years which elapsed between the conversion of Paul and his first visit to Jeru salem, were passed in Arabia.* The cause of this * The time of St. Paul's resi- the following. The expression in dence in Arabia is generally as- the Epist. to the Galatians (i. 17, sumed to have been one whole 18.) appears to me by no means to year, and part of the preceding and require this arrangement. DD 3 406 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. book retirement into a foreign region, and the part of the extensive country, which was then called Arabia, in which he resided, are altogether unknown. It is possible, indeed, that he may have sought refuge from the Jews of Damascus, or employed himself in the conversion of the Jews who were scattered Paul in in great numbers in every part of Arabia. The frontiers of the Arabian king bordered closely on the territory of Damascus, and Paul may have re tired but a short distance from that city. During this interval, Aretas, whose hostile intentions against Herod, the tetrarch of Galilee, Vitellius, the pre fect of Syria, had made preparations to repress, had the boldness to invade the Syrian prefecture, and to sieze the important city of Damascus. It is difficult to conceive this act of aggression to have been hazarded unless at some period of public confusion, such as took place at the death of Ti berius. According to Josephus, Vitellius, who had collected a great force to invest Petra, the capital of the Arabian king, on the first tidings of that event, instantly suspended his operations, and with drew his troops into their winter quarters. At all events, at the close of these three years Damascus was in the power of Aretas. The Jews, who pro bably were under the authority of an ethnarch of their own people, obtained sufficient influence with the Arabian governor to carry into effect their designs against the life of Paul.* His sudden apos tasy from their cause, his extraordinary powers, * Acts, ix. 23. HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. 407 his ardent zeal, his unexampled success, had chap. wrought their animosity to this deadly height ; and Paul was with difficulty withdrawn from their fury by being let down from the walls in a basket, the gates being carefully guarded by the command of the Arabian governor. Among the most distinguished of the first con verts was Barnabas, a native of Cyprus, who had contributed largely from his possessions in that island to the common fund ; and whose command ing character and abilities gave him great influence. When Paul, after his escape from Damascus, arrived at Jerusalem, so imperfect appears to have been the correspondence between the more remote mem bers of the Christian community, (possibly from Damascus and its neighbourhood having been the seat of war, or because Paul had past considerable part of the three years in almost total seclusion,) at all events, such was the obscurity of the whole transaction, that no certain intelligence of so extra ordinary an event as his conversion had reached the apostolic body, or rather Peter and James, the only Apostles then resident in Jerusalem.* Barnabas alone espoused his cause, removed the timid sus picions of the Apostles, and Paul was admitted into the reluctant Christian community. As peculiarly skilled in the Greek language, his exertions to advance Christianity were particularly addressed to those of the Jews to whom Greek was vernacular. But a new conspiracy again endangering his life, he was carried away by the care of his friends to # Acts, ix. 26. D D 4 408 HISTORY OP CHRISTIANITY. book Caesarea, and thence proceeded to his native city , ' , of Tarsus.* Persecution About this time a more urgent and immediate by Caligula, danger than the progress of Christianity occupied the mind of the Jewish people. The very existence of their religion was threatened, for the frantic Caligula had issued orders to place his statue in the Temple at Jerusalem. The historian of the Jews must relate the negotiations, the petitions, the art ful and humane delays interposed by the prefect Petronius, and all the incidents which show how deeply and universally the nation was absorbed by this appalling subject.! It caused, no doubt, as it were a diversion in favour of the Christians ; and the temporary peace enjoyed by the churches is attributed, with great probability, rather to the fears of the Jews for their own religious independence, than to the relaxation of their hostility against the Christians.1: a. d. This peace was undisturbedforabout threeyears.§ The Apostles pursued their office of disseminating the Gospel in every part of Judaea, until Herod Agrippa took possession of the hereditary domi nions, which had been partly granted by the favour of Caligula, and were secured by the gratitude of Claudius. Herod Agrippa affected the splendour of his grandfather, the first Herod ; but, unlike him, he attempted to ingratiate himself with his subjects * Acts, ix. 30. of Christianity) and Lardner take T Joseph. Ant., xviii. 8. History this view. of the Jews, ii. 178. 186. § Acts.ix. 31. From 39 to 41, J Benson (Hist, of first planting the year of Caligula's death. 39-41 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. 409 by the strictest profession of Judaism.* His power appears to have been as despotic as that of his an cestor ; and, at the instigation, no doubt, of the leading Jews, he determined to take vigorous mea sures for the suppression of Christianity. James, Death of the brother of St. John, was the first victim. He appears to have been summarily put to death by the military mandate of the king, without any pro cess of the Jewish law.t The Jews rejoiced, no doubt, that the uncontrolled power of life and death was again restored to one who assumed the cha racter of a national king. They were no longer restrained by the caprice, the justice, or the hu manity of a Roman prefect, who might treat their intolerance with contempt or displeasure ; and they were encouraged in the hope, that at the same great Festival, during which some years before they had extorted the death of Jesus from the re luctant Pilate, their new king would more readily lend himself to their revenge against his most active and powerful follower. Peter was cast into prison, perhaps with the intention of putting him to death before the departure of Herod from the capital. He was delivered from his bondage by supernatural intervention.^ If the author of the Acts has preserved the order of time, two other of the most important adherents of Christianity ran considerable danger. The famine, predicted by * Hist, of Jews, ii. 192. 196. execution for that offence. James •f- Blasphemy was the only crime was cut off by the sword. of which he could be accused, and J Acts, xii. 1 — 23. stoning was the ordinary mode of A.D 410 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. Agabus at Antioch, commenced in Judaea, in the fourth year of Claudius, the last of Herod Agrippa. If, then, Barnabas and Paul proceeded to Jerusalem on their charitable mission to bear the contributions of the Christians in Antioch to their poorer bre thren in Judaea*, they must have arrived there during the height of the persecution. Either they remained in concealment, or the extraordinary cir cumstances of the escape of Peter from prison so confounded the king and his advisers, notwith standing their attempt to prove the connivance of the guards, to which the lives of the miserable men were sacrificed, that for a time, the violence of the persecution was suspended, and those who would inevitably have been its next victims, obtained, as it were, a temporary respite. Death of The death of Herod, during the same year, de livered the Christians from their determined enemy. In its terrific and repulsive circumstances they could not but behold the hand of their protecting God. In this respect alone differ the Jewish and the Chris tian historian, Josephus and the writer of the Acts. In the appalling suddenness of his seizure, in the midst of his splendour and the impious adulations of his court, and in the loathsome nature of the disease, their accounts fully coincide. * Acts, xi. 30. HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. 411 CHAP. II. CHAPTER II. CHRISTIANITY AND JUDAISM. Christianity had now made rapid and extensive progress of progress throughout the Jewish world. The death {j^ and resurrection of Jesus ; the rise of a new reli gious community, which proclaimed the Son of Mary to be the Messiah, taking place on a scene so public as the metropolis, and at the period of the general concourse of the nation, must have been rumoured, more or less obscurely, in the most remote parts of the Roman Empire, and east ward as far as the extreme settlements of the Jews. If the religion may not have been actually embraced by any of those pilgrims from the more distant provinces, who happened to be present during the great festivals, yet its seeds may have been already widely scattered. The dispersion of the commu nity during the persecution after the death of Stephen, carried many zealous and ardent converts into the adjacent regions of Syria and the island of Cyprus. It had obtained a permanent establish ment at Antioch, where the community first re ceived the distinctive appellation of Christians. Christianity however, as yet, was but an ex panded Judaism ; it was preached by Jews ; it was addressed to Jews. It was limited, national, ex clusive. The race of Israel gradually recognising 4,12 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. in Jesus of Nazareth the promised Messiah ; super inducing, as it were, the exquisite purity of Evan gelic morality upon the strict performance of the moral law; redeemed from the sins of their fathers and from their own by Christ ; assured of the resur rection to eternal life ; the children of Abraham were still to stand alone and separate from the res of mankind, sole possessors of the divine favour, sole inheritors of God's everlasting promises. There can be no doubt that they still looked for the speedy, if not the immediate, consummation of all things ; the Messiah had as yet performed but part of his office ; he was to come again, at no distant period, to accomplish all which was wanting to the established belief in his mission. His visible, his worldly kingdom was to commence ; he had passed his ordeal of trial, of suffering, and of sacrifice ; the same age, and the same people were to behold him in his triumph, in his glory, and even, some self-deemed and self-named Christians would not hesitate to aver, in his revenge. At the head of his elect of Israel, he was to assume his dominion ; and if his dominion was to be founded upon a still more rigid principle of exclusion than that of one favoured race, it entered not into the most remote expectation, that it could be formed on a wider plan, unless, perhaps, in favour of the few who should previously have acknowledged the divine legislation of Moses, and sued for and obtained admission among the hereditary descendants of Abraham. Nothing is more remarkable than to see the horizon of the Apostles gradually receding, HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. 413 and instead of resting on the borders of the Holy chap. Land, comprehending at length the whole world ; , Ir' _, barrier after barrier falling down before the supe- Gradual rior wisdom which was infused into their minds ; ^ntgof the first the proselytes of the gate, the foreign con- views of the r- ¦ . . -r i • , , Apostles. tormists to Judaism, and ere long the Gentiles themselves admitted within the pale ; until Chris tianity stood forth, demanded the homage, and promised its rewards to the faith of the whole human race ; proclaimed itself in language which the world had as yet never heard, the one, true, universal religion. As an universal religion, aspiring to the complete Christianity, moral conquest of the world, Christianity had to reunion!™* encounter three antagonists, Judaism, Paganism, and Orientalism. It is our design successively to exhibit the conflict with these opposing forces, its final triumph not without detriment to its own native purity and its divine simplicity, from the interworking of the yet unsubdued elements of the former systems into the Christian mind ; until each, at successive periods, and in different parts of the world, formed a modification of Christianity equally removed from its unmingled and unsullied original : the-Judaso-Christianity of Palestine, of which th^Ebionites^ppear to have been the last representatives ; the Platonic Christianity of Alex andria, as, at least at this early period, the new religion could coalesce only with the sublimer and more philosophical principles of Paganism ; and, lastly, the Gnostic Christianity of the East, With Judaism Christianity had to maintain a ternal. 414 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. book double conflict : one external, with the Judaism , u' , of the Temple, the Synagogue, the Sanhedrin ; a External contest of authority on one side, and the irrepres- cZuti'anfty sible spirit of moral and religious liberty on the da'ism^ other ; of fierce intolerance against the stubborn endurance of conscientious faith ; of relentless persecution against the calm and death-despising, or often death-seeking, heroism of martyrdom : the and in- other, more dangerous and destructive, the Juda ism of the infant Church ; the old prejudices and opinions, which even Christianity could not alto gether extirpate' or correct in the earlier Jewish proselytes ; the perpetual tendency to contract again the expanding circle ; the enslavement of Christianity to the provisions of the Mosaic law, and the spirit of the antiquated religion of Pales tine. Until the first steps were taken to throw open the new religion to mankind at large ; until Christianity, it may be said without disparagement, from a Jewish sect assumed the dignity of an inde- pendant religion, even the external animosity of Judaism had not reached its height. But the suc cessive admission of the proselytes of the gate, and at length of the idolatrous Gentiles, into an equal participation in the privileges of the faith, showed that the breach was altogether irreparable. From that period the two systems stood in direct and irreconcilable opposition. To the eye of the Jew the Christian became, from a rebellious and hereti cal son, an irreclaimable apostate ; and to the Christian the temporary designation of Jesus as HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. 415 the Messiah of the Jews, was merged in the more chap. sublime title, the Redeemer of the world. . , The same measures rendered the internal con flict with the lingering Judaism within the Church more violent and desperate. Its dying struggles, as it were, to maintain its ground, rent, for some time, the infant community with civil divisions. But the predominant influx of Gentile converts gradually obtained the ascendancy ; Judaism slowly died out in the great body of the Church, and the Judaeo-Christian sects in the East languished, and at length expired in obscurity. Divine Providence had armed the religion of Christ with new powers adapted to the change in its situation and design, both for resistance against the more violent animosity, which was exasperated ' by its growing success, and for aggression upon , •the ignorance, the vice, and the misery, which it , was to enlighten, to purify, or to mitigate. Inde pendent of the supernatural powers occasionally displayed by the Apostles, the accession of two men so highly gifted with natural abilities, as well as with all the peculiar powers conferred on the first Apostles of Christianity, the enrolment of Barnabas Paul and and Paul in the Apostolic body, showed that for arna as' the comprehensive system about to be developed instruments were wanting of a different character from the humble and uninstructed peasants of Ga lilee. However extraordinary the change wrought in the minds of the earlier Apostles by the spirit of Christianity ; however some of them, especially Peter and John, may have extended their labours 416 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. Differences betweenJew and Gentile partiallyab-rogated by Peter. beyond the precincts of Palestine, yet Paul appears to have exercised by far the greatest influence, not merely in the conversion of the Gentiles, but in emancipating the Christianity of the Jewish con verts from the inveterate influence of their old religion. Yet the first step towards the more compre hensive system was made by Peter. Samaria, in deed, had already received the new religion to a great extent ; an innovation upon Jewish prejudice, remarkable both in itself and its results. The most important circumstance in that transaction, the collision with Simon the magician, will be considered in a future chapter, that which describes the con flict of Christianity with Orientalism. The vision of Peter, which seemed by the Divine sanction to annul the distinction of meats, of itself threw down one of those barriers which separated the Jews from the rest of mankind.* This sacred usage prohibited not merely all social intercourse, but all close or domestic communication with other races. But the figurative instruction which the Apostle inferred from this abrogation of all distinc tion between clean and unclean animals, was of still greater importance. The proselytes of the gate, that is, those heathens who, without submitting to circumcision, or acknowledging the claims of the whole law to their obedience, had embraced the main principles of Judaism, more particularly the unity of God, were at once admitted into the Cornelius, Christian community. Cornelius was, as it were, * Acts x. xi. to 21. HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. 417 the representative of his class; his admission by the federal rite of baptism into the Christian com munity, the public sanction of the Almighty to this step by "the pouring out the gift of the Holy Ghost" upon the Gentiles, decided this part of the question.* Still the admission into Christianity * It is disputed, whether Corne lius was, in fact, a proselyte of the Gate. (See, on one side, Lord Bar- rington's Works, vol. i. p. lis., and Benson's History of Christianity ; on the other, Kuinoel, in loco.) He is called Evae€r)g and tpotiovpEvog rbv Srfr, the usual appellation of pro selytes ; he bestowed alms on the Jewish people ; he observed the Jewish hours of prayer ; he was evidently familiar with the Jewish belief in angels, and not unversed in the Jewish Scriptures. Yet, on the other hand, the objections are not without weight. The whole difficulty appears to arise from not considering how vaguely the term of "Proselyte of the Gate " must, from the nature of things, have been applied, and the different feelings entertained towards such converts by the different classes of the Jews. While the proselytes, properly so called, — those who were identified with the Jews by circum cision, — were adistinct and definite class ; the Proselytes of the Gate must have comprehended all who made the least advances towards Judaism, from those who regularly attended on the services of the synagogue, and conformed in all respects, except circumcision, with the ceremonial law, down, through the countless shades of opinion, to those who merely admitted the first principle of Judaism, — the Unity of God; were occasional attendants in the synagogue ; and had only, as it were, ascended the VOL. I. E first steps on the threshold of con version. The more rigid Jews looked with jealousy, even on the circumcised Proselytes ; the terms of admission were made as difficult and repulsive as possi ble ; on the imperfect, they looked with still greater suspicion, and were rather jealous of communi cating their exclusive privileges, than eager to extend the influence of their opinions. But the more liberal must have acted on differ ent principles : they must have en couraged the advances of incipient proselytes; the synagogues were open throughout the Roman Em pire, and many who, like Horace, " went to scoff, " may " have re mained to pray." As, then, the Christian Apostles always com menced their labours in the syna gogue of their countrymen, among all who might assemble there from regular habit, or accidental curi osity, they would address Heathen minds in every gradation of Jewish belief, from the proselyte who only wanted circumcision, to the Gentile who had only just begun to discover the superior reasona bleness of the Jewish Theism. Hence the step from the con version of imperfect proselytes to that of real Gentiles, must have been imperceptible ; or rather, even with the Gentile convert, that which was the first principle of Judaism, the belief in one God, was an indispensable preliminary to his admission of Christianity. E 418 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. was through Judaism. It required all the influence of the Apostle, and his distinct asseveration that he acted by divine commission, to induce the Chris tians of Jerusalem to admit Gentiles imperfectly Judaised, and uninitiated by the national rite of circumcision into the race of Israel, to a partici pation in the kingdom of the Messiah. To this subject we must however revert, when we attempt more fully to develope the internal conflict of Christianity with Judaism. The conversion of Cornelius took place before the persecution of Herod Agrippa, down to which period our history has traced the external conflict maintained by Christianity against the dominant Judaism. On the death of Herod, his son Agrippa being a minor and educated at Rome, a Roman prefect resumed the provincial government of state of Ju- Judaea. He ruled almost always with a stern, sometimes with an iron hand, and the gradually increasing turbulence of the province led to seve rity ; severity with a profligate and tyrannical ruler degenerated into oppression ; until the systematic cruelty of Florus maddened the nation into the last fatal insurrection. The Sanhedrin appear at no time to have possessed sufficient influence with the prefect to be permitted to take violent measures juda^ °r against tne Christians. With Cuspius Fadus, who 44. The one great decisive change was proselytes, to the total abrogation from the decree of the Apostolic of Judaism by the doctrines of council (Acts xiv.), obviously in- St. Paul. tended for real, though imperfect HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. 419 had transferred the custody of the high priest's robes into the Antonia, they were on no amicable terms. Tiberius Alexander, an apostate from Judaism, was little likely to lend himself to any acts of bigotry or persecution. During the pre fecture of Cumanus, the massacre in the Temple, *• »• 48. the sanguinary feuds between the Jews and Sama ritans, occupied the public mind ; it was a period of political disorder and confusion, which continued for a considerable time. The commencement of the administration of the a. u. so. whole province by the corrupt and dissolute Felix, the insurrection of Theudas, the reappearance of the sons of the Galilean Judas, the incursions of the predatory bands which rose in all quarters, would divert the attention of the ruler from a peaceful sect, who, to his apprehension, differed from their countrymen only in some harmless spe culative opinions, and in their orderly and quiet conduct. If the Christians were thus secure in their peacefulness and obscurity from the hostility of the Roman rulers, the native Jewish authorities, gradually more and more in collision with their foreign masters, would not possess the power of conducting persecution to any extent. Instead of influencing the counsels of the prefect, the high priest was either a mere instrument, appointed by his caprice, or if he aspired to independent au thority, in direct opposition to his tyrannous master. The native authorities were, in fact, continually in collision with the foreign ruler ; one, Ananias, HighPriest, had been sent in chains to Rome as accessary to 49.°' E E 2 420 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. book the tumults which had arisen between the Jews v ' . and the Samaritans ; his successor, Jonathan, fell HighPriest by the hand of an assassin, in the employ, or at A' D* 9" least with the connivance, of the Roman governor. On his acquittal at Rome, Ananias returned to Je rusalem and reassumed the vacant pontificate ; and it was during this period that Christianity, in the person of Paul, came again into conflict with the constituted authorities, as well as with the popular hostility. The prompt and decisive interference of the Roman guard ; the protection and even the favour shown to Paul, directly it was discovered that he was not identified with any of the in surgent robbers ; the adjournment of the cause to the tribunal of Felix at Caesarea ; — show how little weight or power was permitted either to the high priest or the Sanhedrin, and the slight respect paid to the religious feelings of the people. The details of this remarkable transaction will command our notice, in the order of time, when we have traced the proceedings of Paul and his fellow missionaries among the Jews beyond the borders of Palestine, and exhibited the conflict which they maintained with Judaism in foreign countries. The new opening, as it were, for the extension of Christianity, after the conversion of Cornelius, directed the attention of Barnabas to Saul, who, since his flight from Jerusalem, had remained in secure retirement at Tarsus. From thence he was summoned by Barnabas to Antioch.* * Acts xi. 25. HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. 421 Antioch, where the body of believers assumed the chap. name of Christians, became, as it were, the head- , quarters of the foreign operations of Christianity.* Pauiand After the mission of Paul and Barnabas to Jerusa- Apostles! lem during the famine (either about the time or soon after the Herodian persecution), these two distinguished teachers of the Gospel were invested, with the divine sanction, in the apostolic office, t But these foreign operations were at first alto gether confined to the Jewish population, which was scattered throughout the whole of Syria and Asia Minor. On their arrival in a town, which they had not visited before, they of course sought a hospitable reception among their countrymen ; the first scene of their labours was the synagogue.^ In the Island of Cyprus, the native country of Cyprus. Barnabas, a considerable part of the population must have been of Jewish descent.§ Both at Sala- mis at the eastern, and at Paphos on the western, ex tremity, and, probably, in other places during their journey through the whole length of the island, they found flourishing communities of their coun trymen. To the governor, a man of inquiring and sergius philosophic mind||, the simple principles of Juda- Paulus' ism could not be unknown ; and, perhaps, the * Acts xi. 26. proconsul, has been frequently ob- Acts,xiii. 2. served. The provincial governors t Acts, xiii. 4 — 12. appointed by the Emperors were § History of the Jews, iii. 12. called propraetors, those by the In the fatal insurrection during Senate, proconsuls. That of Cy- the reign of Hadrian, they are said prus was properly in the nomina- to have massacred 240,000 of the tion of the Emperor, but Augustus Grecian inhabitants, and obtained transferred his right, as to Cyprus temporary possession of the island, and Narbonese Gaul, to the Senate. || The remarkable accuracy of Dion Cassius, 1. liv. p. 523. St. Luke in naming the governor, E E 3 422 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. contrast between the chaste, and simple, and ra tional worship of the synagogue, and the pro verbially sensual rites of Heathenism, for which Paphos was renowned, may have heightened his respect for, or increased his inclination to, the purer faith. The arrival of two new teachers among the Jews of the city, could not but reach the ears of Sergius Paulus ; the sensation they excited among their countrymen awoke his curio sity. He had already encouraged the familiar at tendance of a Jewish wonder-worker, a man who probably misused some skill in natural science for purposes of fraud and gain. Bar-Jesus (the son of Jesus or Joshua) was probably less actuated, in his opposition to the apostles, by Jewish bigotry, than by the apprehension of losing his influence with the governor. He saw, no doubt, in the apostles, adventurers like himself. The miraculous blindness with which the magician was struck, convinced the governor of the superior claims of the apostles ; the beauty of the Christian doctrines filled him with astonishment ; and the Roman procon sul, though not united by baptism to the Christian community, must, nevertheless, have added great weight, by his acknowledged support, to the cause of Christianity in Cyprus.* jews in the From Cyprus they crossed to the southern shore Ash? mL °f Asia Minor, landed at Perga in Pamphylia, and passed through the chief cities of that region. In the more flourishing towns they found a consider- # Had he thus become altoge- assuredly have been mentioned by ther Christian, his baptism would the sacred writer. nor. HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. 423 II. able Jewish population, and the synagogue of the chap. Jews appears to have been attended by great num bers of Gentiles, more or less disposed to embrace the tenets of Judaism. Every where the more rigid Jews met them with fierce and resentful op position ; but among the less bigoted of their countiymen, and this more unprejudiced class of proselytes, they made great progress. At the first considerable city in which they appeared, Antioch in Pisidia, the opposition of the Jews seems to have been so general, and the favourable disposition of their Gentile hearers so decided, that the apostles avowedly disclaimed all farther connection with the more violent party, and united themselves to the Gentile believers. Either from the number or the influence of the Jews in Antioch, the public interest in that dispute, instead of being confined within the synagogue, prevailed through the whole city ; but the Jews had so much weight, especially with some of the women of rank, that they at length obtained the expulsion of the apostles from the city by the ruling authorities. At Iconium, to which city they retired, the opposition was still more violent ; the populace was excited ; and here many of the Gentiles uniting with the Jews against them, they were constrained to fly for their lives into the barbarous district of Lycaonia. Lystra and Derbe appear to have been almost entirely Heathen towns. The remarkable collision of the apostles with Paganism in the former of these places, will hereafter be considered. To Lystra, the hostility of the Jews pursued them, where, by E e 4 42 * HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. some strange revulsion of popular feeling, Paul, a short time before worshipped as a God, was cast out of the city, half-dead. They proceeded to Derbe, and thence returned through the same cities to Antioch in Syria. The ordination of "elders*," to preside over the Christian communi ties, implies their secession from the synagogues of their countrymen. In Jerusalem, from the multitude of synagogues, which belonged to the different races of foreign Jews, another might arise, or one of those usually occupied by the Galileans might pass into the separate possession of the Christians, without exciting much notice, particu larly as great part of the public devotions of all classes were performed in the Temple, where the Christians were still regular attendants. Most likely the first distinct community which met in a chamber or place of assemblage of their own, the first Church, was formed at Antioch. To the Heathen this would appear nothing more than the establishment of a new Jewish synagogue; an event, whenever their numbers were considerable, of com mon occurrence. To the Jew alone it assumed the appearance of a dangerous and formidable apostasy from the religion of his ancestors. Jewish at- The barrier was now thrown down, but Judaism thfw' '° rallied, as it were, for a last effort behind its ruins. It was now manifest that Christianity would no longer endure the rigid nationalism of the Jew, who demanded that every proselyte to his faith * Acts, xiv. 23, A. D. 49. HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. 425 should be enrolled as a member of his race. Cir cumcision could no longer be maintained as the seal of conversion*, but still the total abrogation of the Mosaic law, the extinction of all their privileges of descent, the substitution of a purely religious for a national community, to the Christianised Jew appeared, as it were, a kind of treason against the religious majesty of their ancestors : a conference became necessary between the leaders of the Christian community to avert an inevitable colli sion, which might be fatal to the progress of the religion. Already the peace of the flourishing community at Antioch t, had been disturbed by some of the more zealous converts from Jerusalem, who still asserted the indispensable necessity of circumcision. Paul and Barnabas proceeded as delegates from the community at Antioch ; and what is called t the council of Jerusalem, a full Council of ,i ii -i Jerusalem, assembly ot all the apostles then present m the A. D. 49. Metropolis, solemnly debated this great question. How far the earlier apostles were themselves eman cipated from the inveterate Judaism does not dis tinctly appear, but the situation of affairs required * The adherence, even of those one occasion the alliance of some Jews who might here be expected foreign troops was rejected, unless to be less bigoted to their insti- they would first qualify themselves tutions, to this distinctive rite of in this manner for the distinction their religion, is illustrated by many of associating with the Jews. curious particulars in the history. f Acts, xv. 1. Two foreign princes, Aziz king of j It is uncertain whether James Emesa, and Polemo king of Cilicia, who presided in this assembly was submitted to circumcision, an in- either of the two James's included dispensable stipulation, in order to among the twelve apostles, or a dis- obtain in marriage, the former tinct person, a relative of Jesus. Drusilla, the latter Bernice, prin- The latter opinion rests on the cesses of the Herodian family. On authority of Eusebius. 426 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. the most nicely-balanced judgment, united with the utmost moderation of temper. On one side a Pharisaic party had brought into Christianity a rigorous and passionate attachment to the Mosaic institutes, in their strictest and most minute provi sions. On the other hand, beyond the borders of Palestine, far the greater number of converts had been formed from that intermediate class which stood between Heathenism and Judaism. There might seem, then, no alternative but to estrange one party by the abrogation of the law, or the other by the strict enforcement of all its provisions. Each party might appeal to the Divine sanction. To the eternal, the irrepealable sanctity of the law, the God of their Fathers, according to the Jewish opinion, was solemnly pledged ; while the vision of Peter, which authorised the admission of the Gentiles into Christianity — still more the success of Paul and Barnabas, in proselyting the Heathen, accompanied by undeniable manifestations of Divine favour, seemed irresistible evidence of the Divine sanction to the abrogation of the law, as far as concerned the Gentile Proselytes. The influence of James effected a discreet and temperate compromise : Judaism as it were capitulated on honourable terms. The Christians were to be left to that freedom, enjoyed by the Proselytes of the Gate, but they were enjoined to pay so much respect to those with whom they were associated in religious wor ship, as to abstain from those practices, which were most offensive to their habits.* The partaking of * The reason assigned for these yet the Christians, in general, met regulations appears to infer that as in the same places of religious HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. 427 the sacrificial feasts in the idolatrous Temples was chap. so plainly repugnant to the first principles, either , of the Jewish or the Christian Theism, as to be altogether irreconcileable with the professed opi nions of a proselyte to either. The using things strangled, and blood, for food appears to have been the most revolting to Jewish feeling ; and perhaps among the dietetic regulations of the Mosaic law, none, in a southern climate, was more conducive to health. The last article in this celebrated de cree was a moral prohibition, but, not improbably, directed more particularly against the dissolute rites of those Syrian and Asiatic religions, in which prostitution forme '. an essential part, and which prevailed to a great extent in t' untries bor dering upon Palestine.* The second journey t of Paul brought him more Second immediately into contact with Paganism. Though, Paui.ey no doubt, in every city there were resident Jews, with whom he took up his abode, and his first public appearance was in the synagogue of his assemblage with the Jews, at least into countries, where this religious this view gives a clear and nopviia, chiefly prevailed, into simple sense to a much contested Syria and Cyprus. Of the first passage. These provisions were we may form a fair notion, from necessary because the Mosaic law Lucian's Treatise de Dea Syria, and was universally read and from im- the Daphne of Antioch had no memorial usage in the synagogues, doubt already obtained its volup- The direct violation of its most tuous celebrity ; the latter, particu- vital principles by any of those who larly Paphos, can require no ilius- joined in the common worship tration. Bentley's ingenious read- would be incongruous, and of ing of %oipua, swine's flesh, wants course highly offensive to the more the indispensable authority of ma- zealous Mosaists. nuscripts. * It should be remembered that f Acts, xvi. 1. to xviii. 22. as yet Christianity had only spread a. d. 50. 428 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY." countrymen, yet he is now more frequently ex tending, as it were, his aggressive operations into the dominions of Heathenism. If he found hos pitality, no doubt he encountered either violent or secret hostility from his brethren. Few circum stances however occur which belong more especially to the conflict between Judaism and Christianity. Paul and Barnabas set out together on this more extensive journey, but on some dispute as to the companions who were to attend upon them, Bar nabas turned aside with Mark to his native country of Cyprus ; while Paul, accompanied by Silas, re visited those cities in Syria and Cilicia, where they had already established Christian commu nities. At Lystra, Paul showed his deference to Jewish opinion by permitting a useful disciple, named Timothy, to be circumcised.* But this case was peculiar, as Timothy, by his mother's side, was a Jew ; and, though by a connection with a man of Greek race, she had forfeited both for herself and her offspring the privileges of Jewish descent, the circumcision of the son might, in a great degree, remove the stigma which attached to his birth, and which would render him less acceptable among his Jewish brethren. Having left this region, he ranged northward, through Phrygia, Galatia, and Mysia; but, instead of continuing his course towards the shore of the Black Sea to Bithynia, admonished by a vision, he passed to * Acts, xvi. 3. HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. 429 II. v Europe, and at Neapolis, in Macedonia*, landed chap the obscure and unregarded individual, to whom Europe, in Christianity, owes the great principle of her civilisation, the predominant element in her superiority over the more barbarous and unen lightened quarters of the world. At Philippi, the Jews being few in number, appear only to have had a Proseucha, a smaller place of public worship, as usual, near the sea-side ; at Thessalonica they were more numerous, and had a synagogue t ; at Berea, they appear likewise to have formed a flourishing community; even at Athens the Jews had made many proselytes. Corinth, a new colony of settlers from all quarters, a central mercantile mart, through which passed a great part of the commerce between the East and West, offered a still more eligible residence for the Jews, who, no doubt, had already become traders to a considerable extent, t Their numbers had been lately increased by their expulsion from Rome, under the Emperor Claudius. § This edict is * Acts, xvi. 11, 12. t Corinth, since its demolition f Acts, xvii. 1. Thessalonica by Mummius, had lain in ruins is a city where the Jews have till the time of Julius Cassar, who perhaps resided for a longer established a colony on its site. period, in considerable numbers, From the advantages of its situ- than in any other, at least in ation, the connecting link, as it Europe. When the Jews fled were, between Italy, the north from Christian persecution to the of Greece, and Asia, it grew up milder oppression of the Turks, rapidly to all its former wealth vast numbers settled at Thessalo- and splendour. nica. Hist. Jews, iii. Von Ham- § The manner in which this mer states the present population event is related by the Epigram- of Thessalonica (Salonichi) at matic Biographer, even the mis- 16 000 Greeks; 12,000 Jews; takes in his account, are remarkably and 50 000 Turks. Osmanishe characteristic. Judaeos, Cbresto Geschichte i. 442. duce, assidue tumultuantes Roma 430 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. attributed by Suetonius to the tumults excited by the mutual hostility between the Jews and Chris tians. Christianity, therefore, must thus early hav£ made considerable progress in Rome. The scenes of riot were, probably, either like those which took place in the Asiatic cities, where the Jews attempted to use violence against the Chris tians ; or, as in Corinth itself, where the tribunal of the magistrate was disturbed by fierce, and to him unintelligible disputes, as he supposed, be tween two Jewish factions. With two of the exiles, Aquila and Priscilla, Paul, as practising the same trade, that of tent-makers *, made a more intimate connection, residing with them, and pur suing their craft in common.! At Corinth, possibly for the first time, the Christians openly seceded from the Jews, and obtained a separate school of public instruction ; even the chief ruler of the syna gogue, Crispus, became a convert. But the con sequence of this secession was the more declared and open animosity of the Jewish party, which expulit. The confusion between litera Chrestum solent dicere. the religion and its founder, and Lact. Inst. 4. 7. 5. the substitution of the word * The Jews thought it right Chrestos, a good man, which would that every one, even the learned, bearanintelligiblesensetoaheathen should know some art or trade. for Christos (the anointed), which Sapientes plurimi artem aliquam would only convey any distinct fecerunt ne aliorum beneficentia notion to a Jew, illustrate the indigerent. Maimonides. See state of things. Cum perperam Lightfoot, iii. 227. Chrestianus pronuntiatur a vobis f There was a coarse stuff called (nam nee nominis est certa notitia Cilicium, made of goats' hair, ma- penes vos) de suavitate vel benig- nufactured in the native country of nitate compositum est. Tert. Paul, and used for the purpose of Apolog. c. 3. Sed exponenda hujus portable tents, which it is ingeni- nominis ratio est propter igno- ously conjectured may have been rantium errorem, qui eum immutata the art practised by Paul, HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. 431 ended in an appeal to the public tribunal of the chap. governor. The result of the trial before the judg ment-seat of Gallio, the pro-consul of Achaia, appears to have been an ebullition of popular indignation in favour of the Christians, as another of the chief rulers of the synagogue, probably the prosecutor of the Christians, underwent the punishment of scourging before the tribunal. From Corinth * Paul returned by sea to Caesarea t, and from thence to Antioch. The third journey of St. Paul t belongs still Third more exclusively to the conflict of Christianity Pa™7" with Paganism. At Ephesus § alone, where he arrived after a circuit through Phrygia and Galatia, he encountered some wandering wonder-working sons of a certain Sceva, a Jew, who attempted to imitate the miraculous cures which he wrought. The failure of the exorcism, which they endea voured to perform by the name of Jesus, and * From Corinth after he had been the vow made at Cenchrea, as we rejoined by Silas (Silvanus) and follow the natural construction of Timotheus, was most probably writ- the words. The Vulgate, St. Chry- ten the first epistle to the Thessalo- sostom, and many more commen- nians. This epistle is full of allusions tators, attribute the vow, whatever to his recent journey. On his it was, to Aquila, not to Paul. arrival at Athens he had sent back There is great doubt as to Timotheus to '^certain the state the authenticity of the clause, of the infant ^urch. Subse- verse 21. (" I must by all means quently it appear, -hat the more keep this feast that cometh in Jewish opinion of the immediate Jerusalem.") Those who suppose reappearance of the Messiah to it to be genuine, explain the dvatag judgment, had gained great ground in the next verse, as going up to in the community. It is slightly Jerusalem; but on the whole I alluded to in the first epistle, v. 2, am inclined to doubt any such 3. The second seems to have visit. been written expressly to counter- % Acts, xviii. 23. xxi. 6. act this notion. § Acts, xviii. 24. f We make no observation on 432 history of Christianity. book which only increased the violence of the lunatic, . made a deep impression on the who1-"' Jf*" ' popu lation. His circuit through Macedo^': ^ece, back to Philippi, down the iEgean to J~Mi&*ns, by Cos, Rhodes, Patara to Tyre, and thence*" to Caesarea, brought him again near to Jerusalem, where he had determined to appear at the feast of Pentecost. Notwithstanding the remonstrances of his friends, and the prophetic denunciation of his imprisonment by a certain Agabus, he adhered to his resolution of confronting the whole hostile nation at their great concourse. For not only would the Jews, but perhaps the Jewish Christians likewise, in the head-quarters of Judaism, con federate against this renegade, who not only asserted Jesus to be the Messiah, but had avowedly raised the uncircumcised Gentiles to the level of, if not to a superiority over, the descendant of Israel. Paul in Yet, of the real nature of St. Paul's Christianity, Jerusalem. . . . ,, they were still singularly, yet characteristically ignorant ; they could not yet persuade themselves that Christianity aspired to a total independence of Judaism ; their Temple was still, as it were, the a. j,. 58. vestibule to the Divine favour ; and, having no notion that the Gentile converts to Christianity would be altogether indifferent as to the local sanctity of any edifice, they appear to have appre hended an invasion, or, at least, a secret attempt to introduce the uncircumcised to the privilege of worship within the hallowed precincts. The motive of Paul in visiting Jerusalem was pro bably to allay the jealousy of his countrymen ; HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. 433 the period selected for his visit was, as it were, chap. the bivf1 \y of the Law * ; the solemnity which , - comr ,; cu the divine enactment of that code, whi(..- ^...iry Jew considered of eternal and irre versible authority. Nor did he lay aside his cus tomary prudence. He complied with the advice of his friends, and instead of appearing in the Temple as an ordinary worshipper, that he might Paul in the show his own personal reverence for the usages of his ancestors, he united himself to four persons who had taken upon them a vow, a deliberate ac knowledgement not merely of respect for, but of zeal beyond, the law.f His person, however, was too well known to the Asiatic Jews not to be recognised ; a sudden outcry was raised against him — he was charged with having violated the sanctity of the holy precincts by introducing uncircumcised strangers, Trophimus an Ephesian, with whom he had been familiarly conversing in the city, within those pillars, or palisades, which, in the three predominant languages of the time, Hebrew, Greek, and Latin, forbade the advance of any who were not of pure Jewish descent. He was dragged out, no doubt, into the Court of the Gentiles, the doors closed, and but for the prompt interference of the Roman guard, which was always mounted, particularly during the days of festival, he would have fallen a victim to the popu lar fury. For while the unconverted Jews would * The ceasing to attend at the been sacrificed," is a circumstance Passover, after, in his own Ian- by no means unworthy of notice. guage, "'the great Passover had f Acts, xxi. 17—26. VOL. I. F F 434 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. book, pursue his life with implacable indignation, he . could, at best, expect no assistance from the Jew- Apprehen- ish Christians. The interposition of the Roman Paui? commander in Jerusalem was called forth, rather to suppress a dangerous riot, than to rescue an innocent victim from the tumultuous violence of the populace. Lysias at first supposed Paul to be one of the insurgent chieftains who had disturbed the public peace during the whole administration of Felix. His fears identified him with a Jew of Egyptian birth, who, a short time before, had ap peared on the Mount of Olives at the head of above 30,000 fanatic followers ; and, though his parti- zans were scattered by the decisive measures of Felix, had contrived to make his escape.* The impression that his insurrection had made on the minds of the Romans, is shown by the terror of his reappearance, which seems to have haunted the mind of Lysias. The ease and purity with which Paul addressed him in Greek, as these in surgents probably communicated with their fol lowers only in the dialect of the country ; the com manding serenity of his demeanour ; and the de claration that he was a citizen of an Asiatic town, not a native of Palestine, so far influenced Lysias in his favour, as to permit him to address the mul titude. It was probably from the flight of steps which led from the outer court of the Temple up into the Antonia that Paul commenced his ha rangue. He spoke in the vernacular language of * Hist, of Jews, ii. 207. HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. 435 the country, and was heard in silence, as far as his account of his conversion to the new religion ; but directly that he touched on the dangerous subject of the admission of the Gentiles to the privileges of Christianity, the popular frenzy broke out again with such violence, as scarcely to be controlled by the Roman military. Paul was led away into the court of the fortress, and the commander, who probably understood nothing of his address, but only saw, that instead of allaying, it increased the turbulence of the people (for with the character istic violence of an Asiatic mob, they are described as casting off their clothes, and throwing dust into the air), gave orders that he should suffer the usual punishment of scourging with rods, in order that he might be forced to confess the real origin of the disturbance. But this proceeding was ar rested by Paul's claiming the privilege of a Ro man citizen, whom it was treason against the ma jesty of the Roman people to expose to such indignity.* The soldiers, or lictors, engaged in scourging him recoiled in terror. The respect of Lysias himself for his prisoner rose to more than its former height, for having himself purchased this valuable privilege at a high price, one who had inherited the same right appeared an important personage in his estimation. The next morning the Sanhedrin was convened, and Paul was again brought into the Temple, to the Gazith, the chamber where the Sanhedrin held its judicial meetings. Ananias presided in # Acts, xxii. 24. 29. F F 2 436 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. book the assembly as High Priest, an office which he , '_ r possessed rather by usurpation than legitimate Paul before authority. After the tumults between the Sama- drin. an" ritans and the Jews, during the administration of Cumanus, Ananias had, as was before briefly stated, been sent as a prisoner to Rome, to answer for the charges against his nation.* After two years he had been released by the interest of Agrippa, and allowed to return to Jerusalem. In the mean time the High Priesthood had been filled by Jonathan, who was murdered by assassins in the Temple, employed, or at least connived at, by the governor.! Ananias appears to have resumed the vacant authority, until the appointment of Ismael, son of Fabi, by Agrippa.^: Ananias was of the Sadducaic party, a man harsh, venal, and ambitious. Faction most probably ran very high. in the national council ; we are inclined to suppose, from the favourable expressions of Josephus, that the murdered Jonathan was of the Pharisaic sect ; and his recent death, and the usurpation of the office by Ananias, would incline the Pharisaic fac tion to resist all measures proposed by their adver saries. Of this state of things Paul seems to have been fully aware. He commenced with a solemn protestation of his innocence, which so excited the indignation of Ananias, that he commanded him to be struck over the mouth, a common punish ment in the East for language which may dis please those in power. § The answer of St. Paul to this arbitrary violation of the law, for by the * Joseph. Ant. xx. 6. 2. J A. D. 56. Joseph. Ant. xx. 8. 8. \ Joseph, xx. 8. 5. j Acts, xxiii. 2, 3. HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. 437 Jewish course of justice no punishment could be inflicted without a formal sentence, was in a tone of vehement indignation, — " God shall smite thee, thou whited wall ; for sittest thou to judge me after the law, and commandest me to be smitten con trary to the law ? " Rebuked for thus disrespectfully answering the High Priest, Paul answered that he did not know that there was any one at that time lawfully exercising the office of High Priest*, an office which he was bound, by the strict letter of the sacred writings, to treat with profound respect. He proceeded, without scruple, to avail himself of the dissensions of the Court ; for by resting his de fence on his belief in the resurrection, he irritated more violently the Sadducaic party, but threw that of the Pharisees on his own side. The angry dis cussion was terminated by the interposition of the Roman commander, who again withdrew Paul into the citadel. Yet his life was not secure even there. The crime of assassination had become fearfully frequent in Jerusalem. Neither the sanctity of the Temple protected the unsuspicious worshipper from the secret dagger, nor, as we have seen, did the majesty of the High Priest's office secure the first religious and civil magistrate of the nation from the same ignoble fate. A conspiracy was formed by some of these fanatic zealots against the life of Paul ; but the plot being discovered by one of his relatives, a sister's son, he was sent under a strong * " I wist not that there was a suggested by Mr. Greswell, most High Priest ;" such appears to be agreeable to the sense. the translation of this passage, F F 3 438 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. book guard to Caesarea, the residence of the Roman pro- , ' , vincial governor, the dissolute and tyrannical Felix. Paul sent The Sanhedrin pursued their hated adversary toc^sarea. tQ tne triDuriai Qf tne Governor, but with Felix Paul before they possessed no commanding influence. A hired orator, whom from his name we may conjec ture to have been a Roman, employed perhaps according to the usage, which provided that all legal proceedings should be conducted in the Latin language, appeared as their advocate before the tribunal.* But the defence of Paul against the charge of sedition, of innovation, and the pro fanation of the Temple, was equally successful with Felix, who was well acquainted with the Jewish character, and by no means disposed to lend himself to their passions and animosities. The charge therefore was dismissed. Paul, though not set at liberty, was allowed free intercourse with his Christian brethren ; Felix himself even con descended to hear, and heard not without emotion, the high moral doctrines of St. Paul, which were so much at variance with his unjust and adulterous life. But it was not so much the virtue as the rapacity of Felix which thus inclined him to look with favour upon the Apostle : knowing probably the profuse liberality of the Christians, and their zealous attachment to their teacher, he expected that the liberty of Paul would be purchased at any price he might demand. For the two last years PauHnpri- therefore of the administration of Felix, Paul re- c^sarea. mained a prisoner; and Felix, at his departure, well * Acts, xxiv. 1 — 26. HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. 439 aware that accusations were lodged against him by the representatives of the Jewish nation, endeavoured to propitiate their favour by leaving him still in cus tody.* Nor had the Jews lost sight of this great ob ject of animosity. Before the new governor, Porcius Festus, a man of rigid justice, and less acquainted with the Jewish character, their charges were renewed with the utmost acrimony. On his first a. d. 58. visit to Jerusalem, the High Priest demanded that Paul should be sent back for trial before the Sanhe drin ; and though Festus refused the petition till he should himself have investigated the case at Caesarea, on his return he proposed that Paul should undergo a public examination at Jerusalem in his own presence. The design of the Jews was to sur prise and assassinate the prisoner, and Paul, probably informed of their secret intentions, persisted in his appeal to Caesar. To this appeal from a Roman citizen, the governor could not refuse his assent. The younger Agrippa had now returned from * There is great chronological fluence of Pallas with Nero ceased difficulty in arranging this part of in the second year of his reign ; the administration of Felix. But and he was deposed from all his the difficulty arises, not so much offices. In the third he was in- in harmonising the narrative of the dieted of leze majeste, and his Acts with the historians of the acquittal was far from acceptable period, as in reconciling Josephus to the Emperor. In the fourth with Tacitus. Taking the account year his protectress Agrippina was of Josephus, it is impossible to discarded for Poppcea; in the next compress all the events of that she was put to death. In the part of the administration of Felix, ninth of Nero's reign Pallas him- which he places after the acces- self, though charged with no new sion of Nero, into a single year, crime, was poisoned. The ques- Yet he states that, on the recall tion therefore is, whether, in any of Felix he only escaped punish- intermediate period, he could have ment for his crimes through the regained, by any intrigue, sufficient interest of his brother, Pallas, influence to shield his brother Yet, according to Tacitus, the in- from the prosecution of the Jews. F F 4 440 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. book Rome, where he had resided during his minority. , "' He had succeeded to part only of his father's do minions ; he was in possession of the Asmonean palace at Jerusalem, and had the right of appoint ing the High Priest, which he exercised apparently with all the capricious despotism of a Roman go vernor. He appeared in great pomp at Caesarea, with his sister Bernice, on a visit to Festus. The Roman governor appears to have consulted him, as a man of moderation and knowledge of the Jewish Paul before law, upon the case of Paul. The Apostle was Agnppa. summoned before him. The defence of Paul made a strong impression upon Agrippa, who, though not a convert, was probably from that time favour ably disposed to Christianity. The appeal of Paul to the Emperor was irrevocable by an inferior authority; whether he would have preferred re maining in Judaea, after an acquittal from Festus, and perhaps under the protection of Agrippa, or whether to his own mind Rome offered a more noble and promising field for his Christian zeal, Paul sent Paul, setting forth on his voyage, left probably for ome- ever the ian(j 0f his forefathers — that land beyond all others inhospitable to the religion of Christ — that land which Paul, perhaps almost alone of Jewish descent, had ceased to consider the one narrow portion of the habitable world, which the love of the Universal Father had sanctified as the chosen dwelling of his people, as the future seat of domi nion, glory, and bliss. The great object of Jewish animosity had escaped the hostility of the Sanhedrin; but an HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. 441 opportunity soon occurred of wreaking their chap. baffled vengeance on another victim, far less ob- , noxious to the general feelings even of the more bigoted among the Jews. The head of the Chris tian community in Jerusalem was James, whom Josephus himself, if the expression in that remark able passage be genuine (which is difficult to believe), dignifies with the appellation of the brother of Jesus. On the death of Festus, and before the arrival of his successor Albinus, the High Priesthood was in the hands of Annas, or Ananus, the last of five sons of the former Annas, who had held that rank. Annas was the head of the Sadducaic party, and seized the opportunity of this suspension of the Roman authority, to reassert the power of the Sanhedrin over life and death. Many persons, whom it is impossible not to suppose Christians, were executed by the legal punishment of stoning. Among these, the head of the com- a. d. 62. munity was the most exposed to the animosity of the government, and therefore least likely to escape in their day of temporary power. The fact of the murder of St. James, at least of certain Martyrd supposed offenders against the law, whom it is difficult not to identify with the Christians *, rests * Connecting this narrative of tians. Who but Christians would Josephus, even without admitting be obnoxious to capital punish- the authenticity of the passage ment? and against whom, but about St. James, with the pro- them, would a legal conviction be ceedings against St. Paul as re- obtained ? Certainly not against lated in the Acts, it appears to me the Pharisees, who went beyond highly improbable that, if Ananus the law, or the zealots and fol- put any persons to death for lower of Judas the Galilean, whose crimes against religion, they should fate would have excited little corn- have been any other than Chris- miseration or regret among the om of James. 442 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. on the authority of the Jewish historian * : in the details which are related on the still more question able testimony of Hegesippust, we feel that we are passing from the clear and pellucid air of the apostolic history, into the misty atmosphere of legend. We would willingly attempt to disen tangle the more probable circumstances of this impressive story from the embellishments of later moderate and peaceful part of the community. Lardner therefore appears to me in error, in admitting the prosecutions of Ananus, but disconnecting them from the Christian history. * Joseph. Ant. xx. 8. 1. Lard ner's Jewish Testimonies, vol. iii. p. 34-2. 4to. edit. -f- This narrative of Hegesippus has undergone the searching cri ticism of Scaliger in Chron. Euseb. and Le Clerc, Hist. Eccles. and Ars Critica; it has been feebly defended by Petavius, and zeal ously by Tillemont. Heinichen, the recent editor of Eusebius, seems desirous to trace some vestiges of truth. In these early forgeries it is not only interesting and important to ascertain the truth or falsehood of the traditions themselves, but the design and the authors of such pious frauds. This legend seems imagined in a spirit of Christian asceticism, endeavouring to con form itself to Jewish usage, of which nevertheless it betrays re markable ignorance. It attributes to the Christian bishop the Naza ritish abstinence from the time of his birth, not only from wine, but, in the spirit of Budhism, from every thing which had life ; the self-denial of the luxury of anoint ment with oil, with a monkish ab horrence of ablutions — a practice positively commanded in the law, and from which no Jew abstained. It gives him the power of enter ing the Holy Place at ail times, — a practice utterly in opposition to the vital principles of Judaism, as he could not have been of the race of Aaron. It describes his kneeling till his knees were as hard as those of a camel — another indication of the growing spirit of monkery. We may add the inju dicious introduction of the " Scribes and Pharisees," in the language of the gospel, as the authors of his fate ; which, according to the more probable account of Josephus, and the change in the state of feeling in Jerusalem, was solely to be attribu ted to the Sadducees. The final im probability is the leading to the pin nacle of the Temple (a circumstance obviously borrowed from our Lord's temptation), a man who had been for years the acknowledged head of the Christian community in Jerusa lem, that hemight publicly dissuade the people from believing in Christ; still further his burial after such a death within the walls of the city, and close to the Temple : all these incongruities indicate a period at which Christianity had begun to degenerate into asceticism, and had been so long estranged from Judaism, as to be ignorant of its real character and usages. HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. 443 invention ; but it happens that its more striking and picturesque incidents, are precisely the least credible. After withdrawing every particular in consistent either with the character or usages of the time, little remains but the simple facts that James was so highly esteemed in Jerusalem, as to have received the appellation of the Just (a title, it should seem, clearly of Jewish origin) ; that he perished during this short period of the sangui nary administration of Ananus, possibly was thrown down in a tumult from the precipitous walls of the Temple, where a more merciful persecutor put an end to his sufferings with a fuller's club ; finally, that these cruel proceedings of Ananus were con templated with abhorrence by the more moderate, probably by the whole Pharisaic party ; his degra dation from the supreme office was demanded, and hailed with satisfaction by the predominant senti ment of the people. But the days of Jewish persecution were draw- Jewish ing to a close. Even religious animosity was sub- war* dued in the collision of still fiercer passions. A darker and more absorbing interest, the fate of the nation in the imminent, the inevitable conflict with the arms of Rome, occupied the Jewish mind in every quarter of the world, in Palestine mingling personal apprehensions, and either a trembling sense of the insecurity of life, or a desperate deter mination to risk life itself for liberty, with the more appalling anticipations of the national des tiny, the total extinction of the Heaven-ordained polity, the ruin of the city of Sion, and the Temple 444 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. book of God. To the ferocious and fanatical party, II- who gradually assumed the ascendancy, Chris tianity would be obnoxious, as secluding its peace ful followers from all participation in the hopes, the crimes, or what, in a worldly sense, might have been, not unjustly, considered the glories of the insurrection. Still, to whatever dangers or trials they were exposed, they were the desultory and casual attacks of individual hostility, rather than • the systematic and determined persecution of one ruling party. Nor, perhaps, were they looked upon with the same animosity as many of the more eminent and influential of the Jews, who vainly attempted to allay the wild ferment. A general tradition, preserved by Eusebius, intimates that the Christian community, especially forewarned by Providence, left Jerusalem before the formation of the siege, and took refuge in the town of Pella, in the Trans- Jor danic province. According to Jo sephus, the same course was pursued by most of the higher order, who could escape in time from the sword of the Zealot or the Idumean. Rabbinical tradition dates from the same period the flight of the Sanhedrin from the Capital : its first place of refuge, without the walls of Jerusalem, was Jafna, (Jamnia), from whence it passed to other cities, until its final settlement in Tiberias.* The Jewish war, the final desolation of the national polity, the destruction of the city, and the demolition of the Temple, were events which could not but influence the progress of Christianity to a * Hist, of Jews, iii. 95. HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. 445 far greater extent, than by merely depriving the CIHAP- Jews of the power to persecute under a legal form, i ,' ¦ While the Christian beheld in all these unexampled probabie horrors the accomplishment of predictions uttered ^lf °f^ by his Lord, the less infatuated among the Jews saiem on couldnot be ignorant, that such predictions prevailed among the Christians. However the prudence of the latter might shrink from exasperating the more violent party, by the open promulgation of such dispiriting and ill-omened auguries, they must have transpired among those who were hesitating be tween the two parties, and powerfully tended to throw that fluctuating mass into the preponder ating scale of Christianity. With some of the Jews, no doubt, the hope in the coming of the Messiah must have expired with the fall of the Temple. Not merely was the period of time, assigned, according to the general interpretation of the prophecies, for the appearance of the De liverer, gone by, but their less stern and obstinate Judaism must have begun to entertain apprehen sions, that the visible rejection of the people intimated, not obscurely, the withdrawal of the Divine favour. They would thus be thrown back, as it were, upon Jesus of Nazareth as the only possible Messiah, and listen to his claims with greater inclination to believe. The alternative might seem to be between him and the desperate abandonment, or the adjournment to an indefinite period, of all their hopes of redemption. The hearts of many would be softened by the expe rience of personal suffering, or the sight of so 446 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. book many cases of individual misery. Christianity, with . its consolatory promises, must have appeared the Effect on only refuge to those with whom the wretchedness of their temporal condition seemed to invalidate their hopes of an hereditary claim to everlasting life as children of Abraham ; where they despaired of a temporal, they would be more inclined to accept a spiritual, and moral deliverance. At the same time the temporary advantage of the few converts, gained from such motives, would be counterbalanced by the more complete alienation of the Jewish mind from a race, who not only apostatised from the religion of their fathers, but by no means repudiated the most intimate con nection with the race of Esau, for thus the dark hostility of the Jews began to denominate the Romans. By the absorption of this intermediate class, who had wavered between Christianity and Judaism, who either melted into the mass of the Christian party, or yielded themselves to the des perate infatuation of Judaism, the breach be tween the Jew and the Christian became more wide and irreparable. The prouder and more ob stinate Jew sternly wrapped himself up in his sullen isolation ; his aversion from the rest of mankind, under the sense of galling oppression, and of disappointed pride, settled into hard hostility. That which those of less fanatic Judaism found in Christianity, he sought in a stronger attachment to his own distinctive ceremonial ; in a more pas sionate and deep-rooted conviction of his own pre rogative, as the elect people of God. He surren- HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. 447 dered himself) a willing captive, to the new priestly chap. dominion, that of the Rabbins, which enslaved his whole life to a system of minute ordinances ; he rejoiced in the rivetting and multiplying those bonds, which had been burst by Christianity, but which he wore as the badge of hopes still to be fulfilled, of glories which were at length to compen sate for his present humiliation. This more complete alienation between the Jew and the Christian tended to weaken that internal spirit of Judaism, which, nevertheless, was eradi cated with the utmost difficulty, and indeed has perpetually revived within the bosom of Christian ity under another name. Down to the destruction of Jerusalem, Palestine, or rather Jerusalem itself, was at once the centre and the source of this pre dominant influence. In foreign countries, as we shall presently explain, the irrepealable and eternal sanctity of the Mosaic Law, was the repressive power which was continually struggling against the expansive force of Christianity. In Jerusalem this power was the holiness of the Temple, and therefore, with the fall of the Temple, this strongest bond, with which the heart of the Jewish Christian was rivetted to his old religion, at once burst asunder. To him the practice of his Lord and the Apostles had seemed to confirm the inalienable local sanc tity of this " chosen dwelling" of God ; and while it yet stood in all its undegraded splendour, to the Christian of Jerusalem it was almost impossible fully to admit the first principle of Christianity, that the Universal Father is worshipped in any 448 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. , part of his created universe with equal advantage. One mark by which the Jewish race was design nated as the great religious caste of mankind, was thus for ever abolished. The synagogue had no reverential dignity, no old and sacred majesty to the mind of the convert, beyond his own equally humble and unimposing place of devotion. Hence even before the destruction of the Temple, this feeling depended upon the peculiar circumstances of the individual convert. Though even among the foreign Jews the respect for the Temple was maintained by traditionary re verence, though the impost for its maintenance was regularly levied and willingly paid by the race of Israel in every part of the Roman empire, and occasional visits to the capital at the periods of the great festivals, revived in many the old sacred im pressions, still, according to the universal principles of human nature, the more remote the residence, and the less frequent the impression of the Temple services upon the senses, the weaker became this first conservative principle of Jewish feeling. Jewish at- ]3ut there remained another element of that ex- tachment to.. 1 • i 1 • • the Law. clusiveness, which was the primary principle of the existing Judaism ; that exclusiveness, which limit ing the Divine favour to a certain race, would scarcely believe that foreign branches could be en grafted into the parent stock, even though incor porated with it; and still obstinately resisted the notion that Gentiles, without becoming Jews, could share in the blessings of the promised Messiah ;" or, in their state of uncircumcision, or at least of in- HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. 449 subordination to the Mosaic ordinances, become heirs of the kingdom of Heaven. What the Temple was to the inhabitant of Je rusalem, was the Law to the worshipper in the The Law. synagogue. As early, no doubt, as the present time, the book of the Law was the one great sacred object in every religious edifice of the Jews in all parts of the world. It was deposited in a kind of ark ; it was placed in that part of the synagogue which represented the Holy of Holies ; it was brought forth with solemn reverence by the "angel" of the assembly ; it was heard as an " oracle of God" from the sanctuary. The whole rabbinical supremacy rested on their privilege as interpreters of the law ; and tradition, though, in fact, it assumed a co-ordinate authority, yet veiled its pre tensions under the humbler character of an expo sition, a supplementary comment, on the heaven- enacted code. If we reascend, in our history, towards the period in which Christianity first opened its pale to the Gentiles, we shall find that this was the prevailing power by which the internal Judaism maintained its conflict with purer and more liberal Christianity within its own sphere. Even at An tioch, the Christian community had been in danger from this principle of separation ; the Jewish con verts, jealous of all encroachment upon the law, had drawn off and insulated themselves from those of the Gentiles.* Peter withdrew within the nar- * It is difficult to decide whe- in Jerusalem. Plank, in his Ges- ther this dispute took place before chichte des Christenthums, places or after the decree of the assembly it before the decree, and on the VOL. I. G G 450 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. book rower and more exclusive party; Barnabas alone; " the companion and supporter of Paul, did not in cline to the same course.* It required all the energy and resolution of Paul to resist the ex ample and influence of the older Apostles. His public expostulation had the effect of allaying the discord at Antioch ; and the temperate and con ciliatory measures adopted in Jerusalem, to a certain degree reunited the conflicting parties. Still, in most places where Paul established a new com munity, immediately after his departure this same spirit of Judaism seems to have rallied, and at tempted to re-establish the great exclusive principle, that Christianity was no more than Judaism, com pleted by the reception of Jesus as the Messiah. The universal religion of Christ was thus in per petual danger of being contracted into a national and ritual worship. The eternal law of Moses was still to maintain its authority with all its cumbrous framework of observances ; and the Gentile pros elytes who were ready to submit to the faith of Christ, with its simple and exquisite morality, were likewise to submit to all the countless provisions, and, now in many respects, unmeaning and unin telligible regulations, of diet, dress, manners, and conduct. This conflict may be traced most clearly in the Epistles of St, Paul, particularly in those to the remote communities in Galatia and in Rome. The former, written probably during the residence whole this appears the most pro- Judaising spirit rather than in bable opinion. The event is no- strict chronological order. ticed here as exemplifying the # Acts, xv. history of Christianity. 451 of the Apostle at Ephesus, was addressed to the chap. Christians of Galatia, a district in the northern , IL . part of Asia Minor, occupied by a mingled popu lation.* The descendants of the Gaulish invaders, from whom the region derived its name, retained to a late period vestiges of their original race, in the Celtic dialect, and probably great numbers of Jews had settled in these quarters. Paul had twice The visited the country, and his Epistle was written at Ze"%t°L no long period after his second visit. But even in J^dai™ that short interval, Judaism had revived its preten- church sions. The adversaries of Paul had even gone so far as to disclaim him as an Apostle of Christianity; .0PP,ose2 , j -L £• 1 • t , - "y St. Paul. and before he vindicates the essential independence of the new faith, and declares the Jewish law to have been only a temporary institution t, designed during a dark and barbarous period of human so ciety, to keep alive the first principles of true reli gion, he has to assert his own divine appointment as a delegated teacher of Christianity4 The Epistle to the Romans § enters with more full and elaborate argument into the same momen tous question. The History of the Roman com munity is most remarkable. It grew up in silence, founded by some unknown teachers ||, probably of * We decline the controversy + Galat. iii. 19. concerning the place and time at I. Galat. i. 1,2. which the different epistles were $ This epistle, there seems no written ; we shall give only the re- doubt, was written from Corinth, suit, not the process of our investi- during St. Paul's second residence gations. This to the Galatians in that city. we suppose to have been written [| The foundation of the church during St. Paul's first visit to of Rome by either St. Peter or Ephesus. (Acts, xix.) St. Paul is utterly irreconcilable G G 2 .452 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. book 'those who were present in Jerusalem, at the first IL , publication of Christianity by the Apostles. Du. ring the reign of Claudius it had made so much progress, as to excite open tumults and dis sensions among the Jewish population of Rome ; these animosities rose to such a height, that the attention of the government was aroused, and both parties expelled from the city. With some of these exiles, Aquila and Priscilla, St. Paul, as we have seen, formed an intimate connection during his first visit to Corinth : from them he received in formation of the extraordinary progress of the faith in Rome. The Jews seem quietly to have • crept back to their old quarters, when the rigour with which the Imperial Edict was at first exe cuted, had insensibly relaxed ; and from these per sons, on their return to the capital, and most likely from other Roman Christians, who may have taken refuge in Corinth*, or in other cities where Paul had founded Christian communities, the first, or at least the more perfect knowledge of the higher Christi anity, taught by the Apostle of the Gentiles, would be conveyed to Rome. So complete indeed does with any reasonable view of the will recur on another occasion. As Apostolic history. Among Roman to St. Paul, the first chapter of this Catholic writers Count Stolberg epistle is positive evidence, that abandons this point, and carries St. the foundation of the church in Peter to Rome for the first time at Rome was long previous to his thecommencementof Nero's reign, visit to the western metropolis of The account in the Acts seems to the world. be so far absolutely conclusive. * It would appear probable Many protestants of the highest that the greater part of the Chris- learning are as unwilling to reject tian community took refuge, with the general tradition of St.Peter's Aquila and Priscilla,in Corinth and residence in Rome. This question the neighbouring port of Cenchrea. . HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY, 453 he appear to consider the first establishment of chap. Christianity in Rome, that he merely proposes to , take that city in his way to a more remote region, that of Spain.* The manner in which he recounts, in the last chapter, the names of the more distin guished Roman converts, implies both that the community was numerous, and that the name of Paul was held in high estimation by its leading members. It is evident that Christianity had ad vanced already beyond the Jewish population, and the question of necessary conformity to the Mosaic law was strongly agitated. It is therefore the main scope of this celebrated epistle to annul for ever this claim of the Mosaic law to a perpe tual authority, to show Christianity as a part of the providential design in the moral history of man, while Judaism was but a temporary institution, unequal to, as it was unintended for, the great end of revealing the immortality of mankind, altogether repealed by this more wide and universal system, which comprehends in its beneficent purposes the whole human race. Closely allied with this main element of Judaism, Beiiefimhe -1-1 i • l • i r^\i • approach- which struggled so obstinately against the Chris- ing end of tianity of St. Paul, was the notion of the approach- the world' • * The views of Paul on so re- way from Sardinia. There is a mote a province as Spain at so curious tradition among the Spa- early a period of his journey, ap- nish Jews, that they were resident pear to justify the notion, that in that country before the birth of there was a considerable Jewish our Saviour, and consequently had population in that country. It is no concern in his death. bee not impossible that many of the Hist, of Jews, iii. p. 142. " Libertines "may have made their G G 3 454 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. . book ing end of the world, the final consummation of all ' , things in the second coming of the Messiah. It has been shown how essential and integral a part of the Jewish belief in the Messiah was this expec tation of the final completion of his mission in the dissolution of the world, and the restoration of a paradisiacal state, in which the descendants of Abra ham were to receive their destined inheritance. To many of the Jewish believers the death and re surrection of Jesus were but (if the expression be warranted) the first acts of the great drama, which was hastening onward to its immediate close. They had bowed in mysterious wonder before the incongruity of the life and sufferings of Jesus, with the preconceived appearance of the " Great One," but expected their present disappointment to be almost instantly compensated by the appalling grandeur of the second coming of Christ. If, be sides their descent from Abraham, and their rever ence for the law of Moses, faith in Jesus as the Messiah was likewise necessary to secure their title to their peculiar inheritance, yet that faith was speedily to receive its reward; and the ori ginal Jewish conception of the Messiah, though put to this severe trial, though its completion was thus postponed, remained in full possession of the mind, and seemed to gather strength and depth of colouring from the constant state of high- wrought agitation in which it kept the whole moral being. This appears to have been the last Jewish illusion, from which the minds of the Apostles HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. '455 themselves were disenchanted ; and there can be no doubt both that many of the early Christians almost hourly expected the final dissolution of the world, and that this opinion awed many timid believers into the profession of Christianity, and kept them in trembling subjection to its authority. The ambiguous predictions of Christ himself, in which the destruction of the Jewish Polity, and the ruin of the city and temple, were shadowed forth under images of more remote and universal import ; the language of the Apostles, so liable to misinterpretation, that they were obliged pub licly to correct the erroneous conclusions of their hearers*, seemed to countenance an opinion so disparaging to the real glory of Christianity, which was only to attain its object, till after a slow contest of many centuries, perhaps of ages, with the evil of human nature. Wherever Christianity made its way into a mind deeply impregnated with Judaism, the moral character of the Messiah had still to maintain a strong contest with the tem poral ; and though experience yearly showed that the commencement of this visible kingdom was but more remote, at least the first generation of Chris tians passed away, before the majority had attained to more sober expectations ; and at every period of more than ordinary religious excitement, a mil lennial, or at least a reign partaking of a temporal character, has been announced as on the eve of its # 2 Thessalonians, ii. 1,2. 2 Peter, iii. 4. 8. 456 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. book commencement ; the Christian mind has retro- , graded towards that state of Jewish error, which prevailed about the time of Christ's coming.* Hostiiityof As Christianity advanced in all other quarters Judaism • ¦, ¦, . i n i and of the world, its proselytes were in far larger pro- nstiamty" portion of Gentile than of Jewish descent. The synagogue and the church became more and more distinct, till they stood opposed in irreconcilable hostility. The Jews shrunk back into their stern seclusion, while the Christians were literally spread ing in every quarter through the population of the empire. From this total suspension of intercourse, Judaism gradually died away within the Chris tian pale ; time and experience, corrected some of the more inveterate prejudices ; new elements came into action. The Grecian philosophy, and at a later period influences still more adverse to that of Judaism, mingled with the prevailing Christianity. A kind of latent Judaism has, how ever, constantly lurked within the bosom of the Church. During the darker ages of Christianity, * Compare the strange rabbini- expressum, dabit viginti quinque cal notion of the fertility of the metretas vini; et cum apprehen- earth during the millennial reign det aliquis sanctorum botrum, alius of Christ, given by Irenaeus as an clamabit, — Botrusego melior sum, actual prophecy of our Lord : — me sume, et per me Dominum be- " Venient dies in quibus vinere nedic." These chapters of Ire- nascentur, singula; decern millia naeus show the danger to which palmitum habentes, et in una pal- pure and spiritual Christianity was mite decern millia brachioruin, et exposed fom this gross and carnal in uno vero brachio dena millia Judaising spirit. Irenaeus (ch. 35.) flagellorum, et in unoquoque fla- positively denies that any of these gello dena millia botrorum, et in images can be taken in an allego- unoquoque botro dena millia aci- rical sense. De Hseres, v. c. 33. norum; et unumquodque acinum HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. 457 its sterner spirit harmonizing with the more barba rous state of the Christian mind, led to a frequent and injudicious appeal to the Old Testament : practically the great principle of Judaism, that the law, as emanating from Divine Wisdom, must be of eternal obligation, was admitted by conflicting parties ; the books of Moses and the Gospel were appealed to as of equal authority ; while the great characteristic of the old religion, its exclusive ness, its restriction of the divine blessings within a narrow and visible pale, was too much in accord ance both with pride and superstition, not to re assert its ancient dominion. The sacerdotal and the sectarian spirit had an equal tendency to draw a wider or a more narrow line of demarcation around that which, in Jewish language, they pro nounced the "Israel" of God, and to substitute some other criterion of Christianity for that ex quisite perfection of piety, that sublimity of virtue, in disposition, in thought, and in act, which was the one true test of Christian excellence. In Palestine, as the external conflict with Ju daism was longest and most violent, so the inter nal influence of the old religion was latest obliter ated. But when this separation at length took place, it was even more complete and decided than in any other countries. In Jerusalem, the Christians were, perhaps still called, and submitted to be called Nazarenes, while the appellation which had been assumed at Antioch was their common designation in all other parts of the 458 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY." BOOK II. Mark, bi shop of Jerusalem. world. The Christian community of Jerusalem, which had taken refuge at Pella bore with them their unabated reverence for the law. But insen sibly the power of that reverence decayed ; and on the foundation of the new colony of iElia, by the Emperor Hadrian, after the defeat of Barchocab, and the second total demolition of the city, the larger part having nominated a man of Gentile birth, Marcus, as their bishop, settled in the New City, and thus proclaimed their final and total se paration from their Jewish ancestors.* For not only must they have disclaimed all Jewish connec tion, to be permitted to take up their residence in the new colony, the very approach to which was watched by Roman outposts, and prohibited to every Jew under the severest penalties, but even the old Jewish feelings must have been utterly ex tinct. For what Jew, even if he had passed under the image of a swine which was erected in mock ery over the Bethlehem Gate, would not have shrunk in horror at beholding the Hill of Moriah polluted by a Pagan temple, the worship of heathen deities profaning by their reeking incense, and their idolatrous sacrifices, the site of the Holy of Holies ? The Christian absorbed in deeper vene ration for the soil which had been hallowed by his Redeemer's footsteps, and was associated with his mysterious death and resurrection, was indif ferent to the daily infringement of the Mosaic law, which God himself had annulled by the substitu- * Euseb. H. E. iv. 6. Hieronym. Epist. ad Hedybiam. Qusest. 8. HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. 4'59 tion of the Christian faith, or to the desecration of chap. the site of that temple which God had visibly ¦ abandoned. The rest of the Judaeo-Christian community at Pella, and in its neighbourhood, sank into an ob scure sect, distinguished by their obstinate rejec tion of the writings of St. Paul, and by their own Gospel, most probably the original Hebrew of St. Matthew. But the language, as well as the tenets of the Jews, were either proscribed by the Chris tians, as they still farther receded from Judaism, or fell into disuse * ; and whatever writings they possessed, whether originals or copies in the ver nacular dialect of Palestine, of the genuine Apos tolic books, or compilations of their own, en tirely perished, so that it is difficult, from the brief notices which are extant, to make out their real nature and character. In Palestine, as elsewhere, the Jew and the Christian were no longer confounded with each other, but constituted two totally different and implacably hostile races. The Roman government began to discriminate between them, as clearly appears from the permission to the Christians to reside in the New City, on the site of Jerusalem, which was interdicted to the Jews. Mutual hatred was in creased by mutual alienation ; the Jew, who had lost the power' of persecuting, lent himself as a willing instrument to the heathen persecutor against those, whom he still considered as apostates * Sulpicius Severus, H.E. Mos- stant. Le Clerc, Hist. Ecclesias- heim, de Reb. Christ, ante Con- tica. ' 460 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. book from his religion. The less enlightened Christian ! added to the contempt of all the Roman world for the Jew a principle of deeper hostility. The lan guage of Tertullian is that of triumph, rather than of commiseration for the degraded state of the Jew* ; strong jealousy of the pomp and power assumed by the patriarch of Tiberias may be traced in the vivid description of Origen.t No sufferings could too profoundly debase, no pride could become those, who shared in the hereditary guilt of the crucifixion of Jesus. * Dispersi, palabundi, et coeli salutare conceditur. Lib. cont. et soli sui extorres vagantur per Judseos, 15. orbem, sine nomine, sine Deo -f- Origen. Epist. ad Africanum, rege, quibus nee advenarum jure Hist, of Jews, iii. 136. terram patriam saltem vestigio END OF THE FIRST VOLUME. London : Printed by A. Spottiswoode, New-Street- Square.