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Hrirvard Depository
Brittle Book
a^ifirara of tfje ©ibinitg <Sri)O0L
BouglTLt 'witti money
GIVEN BY
THK SOCIKTY
FOR PROMOTING
THKOLOOICAL EDUCATION.
Received
/s l^
190 0-
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JIT the hbrary of ts: vATic^rgROME.:^ ^
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THE
AECHKO VOLUME;
OR, THE
ARCHEOLOGICAL WRITmGS OF THE SANHEDRIM
AM) TALMUDS OF THE JEWS.
{INTRA SECUS.)
THESE ARE THE OFFICIAIi DOCUMENTS MADE IN THESE
COUBTS IN THE DAYS OP JESUS CHRIST.
jy^ TRANSLATED BY
drs. ^Mcintosh and twyman,
OF THE ANTIQUARIAN LODGE, GENOA, ITALY.
FROM MANUSCRIPTS IN CONSTANTINOPLE
AND THE
RECORDS OP THE SENATORIAL DOCKET TAKEN PROM THE
VATICAN AT ROME.
IpHILADELPHIA:
ANTIQUAEIAN BOOK COMPANY.
1896.
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-^ ^V^^ VvJU.1 W C \v rro\^
t
Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1887, by
Rev. W. D. MAHAN,
in the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington, D. C.
Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1896, by
Rkv. W. D. MAHAN,
in the Office of the Librarian of Conj^ress, at Washington, D. C.
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CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I.
PAGE
How these records were disooyered .... 9
: CHAPTER II.
I A short sketch of the Talmuds 52
I CHAPTER in.
i . Constantine's letter in regard to having fifty copies of
I the Scriptures written and bound . . . .60
I CHAPTER IV.
Jonathan's interview with the Bethlehem shepherds —
Letter of Melker, Priest of the Synagogue at Beth-
lehem 64
I
CHAPTER V.
Gamaliel's interview with Joseph and Mary and others
concerning Jesus 79
CHAPTER VI.
Report of Caiaphas to the Sanhedrim concerning the
execution of Jesus 97
(vu)
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viii CONTENIK
CHAPTER VII.
PAGE
Beport of Caiaphas to the Sanhedrim concerning the
resurrection of Jesus 117
CHAPTER VIII.
Valleus's notes— "Acta Pilati," or Pilate's report to
Caesar of the arrest, trial, and crucifixion of Jesus . 128
CHAPTER IX.
Herod Antipater's defence before the Roman Senate
in regard to his conduct at Bethlehem . . . 148
CHAPTER X.
Herod Antipas's defence before the Roman Senate in
regard to the execution of John the Baptist . . 155
CHAPTER XL
The Hillel letters regarding God's providence to the
Jews, bj Hillel the Third. 161
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CHAPTEK L
HOW THESE RECOKDS WERE DISCOVERED.
Some time in the year 1856, while living in De
Witt, Missouri, a gentleman by the name of H.
C. Whydaman became snow-bound and stopped at
my house several days. He was a native of Ger-
many, and one of the most learned men I had
ever met. I found him to be freely communica-
tive. During his stay, he told me he had spent
five years in the city of Kome, and most of the
time in the Vatican, where he saw a library con-
taining five hundred and sixty thousand volumes.
He told me that he had seen and read the records
of Tiberius Caesar, and in what was called the Acta
Pilabi — that is, the acts of Pilate — he had seen an
account of the apprehension, trial, and crucifixion
of Jesus of Nazareth ; but said it did not add much
to the commonly accepted teachings of Christianity.
lie told me he thought a transcript could be se-
cured. After Mr. Whydaman's departure, I medi-
tated upon what he had told me of those records,
and thought that if a transcript could be obtained
it would be very interesting, even if it did not add
much to the present teachings of Christianity So,
(9)
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10 THE ARCSKO VOLUME.
after some months I set about tracing up Mr.
Whydaman, as the following correspondence shows :
DeWitt, Cabboll Co., Mo., Sept 22, 1856.
Mr. Henry C. Whydaman.
Dear Sir : After you left my house last spring,
I kept thinking of your telling me of reading the
acts of Pilate in the Vatican, while at Rome. I
want you, if you please, to get me a transcript of
those records, if the cost will not be too much.
Will you please open a correspondence with some
of your old friends at Rome that you can rely upon,
and ascertain if it can be obtained ; and if so what
will be the probable cost of getting it ? I shall be
much obliged, and will pay you for your trouble
and expense.
Yours in tender regards,
W. D. Mahan.
New York, Nov. 12, M66.
Mr. W. D. Mahan.
Dear Sir : Your letter as directed to H. C.
Whydaman is. received. I will inform you he has
returned to Germany. Your letter has been for-
warded.
Yours, etc.,
C. C. VANTBERaER.
March 2, 1857.
Rev. W. D. Mahan.
Dear Sir : It is with the kindest regards I re-
membered your hospitality while with you in Amer-
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DISCO VEB Y OF THE RECORDS. \ \
ica. Be assured, anything I can do for you will
afford me great pleasure. I have written to Father
Freelinhusen, a monk of great learning, at Rome,
who is the chief guardian of the Vatican. I have
made the request in my own name, as I do not think
they would be willing for such a document to go
into the hands of the public. When he answers, I
will write to you again.
I am, your most obedient servant,
H. C. Whydaman.
Westphaua, Germany, Nov. 27, 1857.
Rev. W. D. Mahan.
Dear Sir : Father Freelinhusen has answered
my letter in regard to the transcript you want. He
informs me that the writing is so fine, and being in
the Latin language, as I told you, and the parch-
ments so old and dirty, he will be obliged to use a
glass to the most of it. He can only give it in the
Latin, as he does not understand the English. He
says he will do it for thirty-five darics, which will
be in American coin sixty-two dollars and forty-
four cents. If you will forward the amount, I will
have the document forwarded to my brother-in-law,
C. C. Vantberger. He will translate it for a trifle.
I am yours, in tender regards,
H. C. Whydaman.
Chillioothe, Mo., Feb. 8, 1858.
Mr. H. C. Whydaman.
Dear Sir : Thanks to you for your kindness,
and be assured, if I succeed, I shall ever feel under
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12 THE ABCHKO VOLUME,
obligations to you for your trouble. Enclosed find
a check on the Foreign Exchange Bank of New
York for sixty-two dollars and forty-four cents.
Please have the work done, and urge Mr. Freelin-
husen to have it a true copy of the original. Send
it to Mr. Vantberger, and have him to translate it
into English, and I will pay the charges. He has
my address.
Yours, as ever,
W. D. Mahan.
Westphalia, Germany, June 14, 1858.
Eev. W. D. Mahan.
Dear Sir : I acknowledge your draft of $62.44.
Will apply as you request.
I am, sir,
H. C. Whydaman.
Mr. H. C. Whydaman.
Dear Sir : I hereby forward to you the tran-
script as it is on record in the Vatican in Tiberius
Csesar's Court by Pilate. I certify this to be a true
copy, word for word, as it occurs there.
Yours, etc.,
Peter Freelinhusen.
New York, AdiII 26, 1859.
Mr. W. D. Mahan.
Dear Sir : I am in possession of a document
from H. C. Whydaman, with instructions to trans-
late it into English. My charge is ten dollars. I
will expect an answer.
C. C. Vantberger.
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DISCOVERT OF THE RECORDS. 18
With this correspondence I received the following
document, and I must confess that, although it is
not inspired, yet the words burned in my heart as
the words of Christ in the hearts of his disciples,
and I am satisfied from the spirit it breathes that it
must be true. I am aware that though the Jews
were in subjection to the Romans, yet they still held
their ecclesiastical authority, and the Romans not
only submitted to their decisions, but executed their
decrees on their subjects. Knowing there was not
such a piece of history to be found in all the world,
and being deeply interested myself, as also hundreds
of others to whom I have read it, I have concluded
to give it to the public.
Upon getting hold of this report of Pilate I com-
menced to investigate this subject, and after many
years of trial and the expenditure of considerable
money, I found that there were many of such records
still preserved at the Vatican in Rome and at Con-
stantinople, that had been carried there by the Em-
peror of Rome about the middle of the third century.
I therefore procured the necessary assistance, and on
September 21, 1883, I set sail for those foreign
lands to make the investigation in person.
Believing that no event of such importance to the
world as the death of Jesus of Nazareth could have
transpired without some record being made of it by
his enemies in their courts, legislations, and histories,
I commenced investigating the subject. After many
years of study, and after consulting various histories
and corresponding with many scholars, I received the
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14 THE ARCHKO VOLUME.
assistance of two learned men, Drs. Mcintosh and
Twyman, and went to the Vatican at Rome, and
then to the Jewish Talmuds at Consta^tinople. As
a result I have compiled this book, which will be
found one of the most strange and interesting books
ever read. It may appear fragmentary, but the
reader must remember that it is the record of men
made nearly two thousand years ago.
It was some time in March, 1856, that my mind
was awakened on the subject of this book, almost
incidentally, or it may be providentially, for He
sometimes chooses the weakest things to confound
the mighty. The reader is referred to the corre-
spondence of EL C. Whydaman and myself, as found
in this book. In God's providence sometimes very
great effects are produced from very small causes.
Mr. Whydaman told me he had spent five years in
the Vatican at Rome, and in looking over the old
manuscripts he came across the records of Pilate
made to CsBsar, and in those records he saw where
a man named Jesus was arrested, tried, and exe-
cuted ; he read it carefuUy and re-read it, and went
back and read it again.
This was the beginning of my investigation, and
this book is the product of that investigation. I ask
the reader to follow me patiently and see how I came
to get hold of the matter contained in this book.
I wondered how it was that such historians as
Philo, Tacitus, Quintilian, and Josephus had told
us nothing or so little about Jesus of Nazareth. I
asked all the wise men and scholars I met, and they
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DI8C0VEBY OF THE RECORDS, 15
did not know ; I then wrote to man j scholars in
Europe, and they could not tell me. As I could
find nothing very definite from the outside world, I
began to have my doubts, but came to the conclu-
sion that the question was of too much importance
to allow my mind to be fixed without a thorough
investigation. I went to our histories — Mosheim,
Lardner, Stackhouse, and others. They gave me no
satisfaction, and I thought to myself, Is it possible
that the character of such men as the early Chris-
tians, and the wonderful excitement that they cre-
ated in their day, could have been passed over and
no records made of them ? When I remembered, too,
that the Roman provinces in that day were prolific
with debaters, historians, and writers on all topics
that were brought before them, and that the records
of the courts in those days were more carefully pre-
served than they are now, and that even of the trial
of Guiteau, who was not half as conspicuous, to the
people of these United States as Jesus was to the
Jewish nation, there were hundreds of records made,
I came to the conclusion that only Almighty God
could establish a cause so universally as the Chris-
tian religion was established in the hearts of the
people of this world, and sceptre them so completely
as the sceptre of Jesus governs this world to-day,
when they had comparatively little or no testimony
from the outside world.
I consulted our histories in this countiy, and one
said these records were burned in the Alexandrian
Library. I knew the Babylonian Talmuds were in
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16 THE ABCHKO VOLUME.
this library, or at least most of them were, but I
also knew that the Talmuds of Jerusalem were not.
I knew that when the Romans conquered the Jews
and destroyed their Holy City, temple and all, all
the sacred treasures were taken by the Romans and,
I supposed, preserved.
Another historian says Gregory IX. burned all
the sacred records. I found that this Roman bishop
was a strong believer in Christ, as were all the
Catholic Church. They follow not us, and we forbid
them. Why should they bum these records ? There
is no Church more strongly in favor of Jesus Christ ;
he is their comer-stone, their foundation rock, their
only hope. They have a diSerent way to approach
him. This does not destroy their Saviour; he
remains the same, but they have different ways of
using him as their Saviour.
Other historians said the Jews destroyed these
records, although it is strange that the Jews should
destroy all their sacred records at the time, to get
rid of an impostor, as they believed him to be.
It is more likely they would have preserved them
to vindicate their actions in the future, provided
they should be needed. The Jews were honest in
all their dealings with Christ ; they thought both
he and John the Baptist were destroying their na-
tion, and, as their nation and religion were one and
the same, the course Jesus was pursuing jeopardized
all their hopes, religious and political. This is seen
clearly in the defence of Caiaphas, as set forth in
jthis book (see his defence before the Sanhedrim in
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DISCOVERY OF THE RECORDS. 17
regard to his conduct with Jesus). Hence, much of
the prejudice among Protestants against the Jews is
groundless. There never was a people more honest
and devoted to their country and their God than
the Jews. Many Protestants in this country, and
some preachers among them, think that the more
they denounce the Jews and Catholics, the more
they serve God. The Jews were wrong in rejecting
Jesus Christ as their Saviour, and so are those who
reject Lim now; but when a man. reads this book
he will come to the conclusion that the Jews had a
better reason for rejecting Christ than men have to-
day, and would it be right to abuse all who refuse
Christ as bad men ? It is still more intolerable for
the members of one denomination to abuse those of
another because of not worshipping Christ as they do.
A difficulty I met in consulting scholars on this
subject was the claim that the Roman monks had
forged many manuscripts regarding Jesus Christ, in
the middle ages. Now they may have forged some
things to sustain their peculiar views and doctrines,
something to sustain their Church ; but there is
nothing in this book to sustain Catholicism, and if
every word of it was forgotten it would add nothing
to that Church more than to any other Church.
Then I remembered the Vatican library was one of
the most extensive in the world ; it has cost millions
of dollars. How did those forgers know that I or
any other man would come there and pay them a
few dollars to get a transcript of those records ? It
certainly would be a very poor speculation.
2
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18 THE ARCHKO VOLUME.
. Another objection was that the manuscripts had
been searched for by scholars and could not be
found. So I set myself to work, and after investi-
gating all the authors in this country, and writing
to many scholars in Europe, and getting books from
libraries in the old country, thus sparing no pains
or expense, I could not find or even hear of a man
who had ever investigated this subject. I found
that Dr. Tischendorf made some investigation in
these ancient manuscripts, but he was looking for
the manuscript of the Scriptures, and might have
seen many such things as this book holds and never
have noticed them, just from the simple fact that
he was not looking for them. He was looking for
something else. In the investigation of such sub-
jects a man must have but one thing in his mind,
and he must be posted beforehand to know how and
where to look, for the field is too large to make his
business general. I now challenge any scholar to
show me the man who has made this his special busi-
ness, and made the effort that I have on this par-
ticular subject. I am sure there is none.
The next great difficulty that I encountered was
this: Could such manuscripts exist so long? I
found by investigating that Ptolemy, King of Alex-
andria, presented seventy books to Ezra, which he
refused to place in the Holy Canon, and it came
very near bringing on a bloody war. Again I
found that Serenus Samnaticus, who was the
teacher of M. Antonius Africanus, son of Gordianus
the Great, when he died, left his library, consisting
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DISCOVERY OF THE RECORDS, 19
of sixty-two thousand volumes, to his student. This
was in 236 a.d. I also remembered that the works
of Homer were more than five hundred years older
than Christ, and that we had the laws of Shammai,
Abtalian, and the works of the Hillels all before us ;
and if Tischendorf, in the convent of St. Catherine,
could find slips and pieces of the Septuagint that
were declared at Leipsic to be of the fourth century,
I thought there might be a great deal more some-
where in the vast libraries in those old countries
that have thousands of years the advantage of Amer-
ica. The literati could all tell how the manuscripts
of the Church might be, and were, preserved ; but
the records of its enemies, even the records of courts
and crowns they could not see into.
Now the reader must remember that there never
was anything that created so much excitement in
the land of Judea as the preaching of John the
Baptist and Christ. This will be readily understood
if we take into consideration the structure of the
Jewish Commonwealth. The great Sanhedrim
legislated for the souls and bodies of men ; that is,
their religion and their politics were one and the
same thing. In the capitulation made with Augus-
tus Caesar it was understood and agreed that the Jews
were to pay a tax to the Romans, but the Romans
were not to interfere with the Jewish religion. This
took the executive power out of the hands of the
Jews and put it into the hands of the Romans. This
is the reason Jesus was sent to Pilate to be executed.
The Romans had to carry out and execute the deci-
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20 THE ARCHKO VOLUME.
sions of the Jewish courts on all Jewish questions.
This is the reason Herod Antipas was tried by
the Roman Senate: he had executed John the
Baptist without a trial. Then we see why the Jews
and Romans worked together on all questions of
law ; hence the great excitement of both nations.
This is the reason why Pilate made his report to
Caesar.
Now I say no event creating so much excitement
could take place without more or less record being
made of it ; for if the Scripture is true — and I be-
lieve it is — there never was a man on earth who
had so many followers in so short a time. Caiaphas
says Jesus had been preaching three years, and he
then had more followers than Abraham. This
causes me to say again thai if the New Testament
records are true, then the historical items contained
in this book must be true ; and if these items, or
items like them, be not true, then the items of the
New Testament are not true ; that is, no man dare
to say these are the identical items, but items like
these, and why not these? They came from the
right place. The parchments and scrolls upon
which they are written are such as were used in
those days, but to say these are the same is to say
what no man dare to say. The time has been too
long and the distance to the place where the records
are kept is too great for all men to make the exam-
ination for themselves, hence I ask all to consider
this question fairly.
Let me invite the attention of the reader to the
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DISCOVERY OF THE RECORDS, 21
known histories in this country. Dr. Kashi, D.D.,
who wrote in Paris in the twelfth century, says in
Vol. III., page 190, that in the formation of the
ancient libraries there were men appointed called
" baalie suphoths," which means " book -compilers."
The business of these men was to take the sheets of
parchment of the various authors and pin their dates
together, bind them in bundles and have them bound
with clasps between cedar boards. This was a trade,
and it required the best of scholars to do it. They
were called baalie suphoths. We find that the
works of Philo were compiled by Pseudonymaus
Joseph Ben Gorion, a.d. 150. This Ben Gorion
was a Jewish rabbi, a Pharisean doctor. Josephus
was compiled by Ekaba, another Jewish doctor, at
the close of the second century ; and so with all the
historians who lived near the Christian era. Jose-
phus was published in book-form by Havercamp, in
Amsterdam, in 1729. Now all he had to guide him
was what Ben Gorion had said. So it is with Philo,
which was put in book-form by Mangey, in London,
in 1742 ; all he had was what Ekaba had pleased to
compile of his works, and, as there was deadly hatred
between Jews and Christians at that time, it is most
reasonable to believe that those compilers would
leave everything out that would favor the Chris-
tians. It was to their own interest at that time to
bury the very name of Christ in eternal oblivion ;
and this is the reason that all the historians who
lived and wrote, in those days are made to say so
very little about Christ or his followers.
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22 THE ABCHKO VOLUME.
Now in looking over the histories we find com-
paratively nothing said about Jesus Christ. Such
a thing could not be if the New Testament is true.
No man could make me believe that such events
occurred as are recorded in the Scriptures without
accounts of them being made in the State records
and by the public writers of that day. Although I
have had this thrown in my face so often by in-
fidels, I never saw the reason till I commenced this
investigation ; and if any man will take the pains
to examine this question he will find that all the
sophers, or scribes, were Pharisees ; they were the
doctors, lawyers, orators, poets, and statesmen of the
times. The Hillel and Shammai schools made more
scholars than all the world besides in the last days
of the Jewish Commonwealth. Almost every nation
imder the sun patronized these schools.
Now, being satisfied that I was on the right track,
the next thing was to find out what had become of
the original manuscripts. Had Rothgad, Haver-
camp, and Mangey destroyed the manuscripts when
they were done with them ? This I knew could not
be, from the fact that these parchments were either in
the hands of government or individual libraries, and
they could not destroy them or take them away ;
and I knew if these manuscripts had been kept till
1754 they must be in existence yet. Only a few'
years ago there were one hundred and twenty-eight
volumes of manuscripts presented to the British
Museum, which were looked upon with interest,
and, while I am writing this, there comes to my
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DISCOVERY OF THE RECORDS. 23
hand a dispatch from Vienna to the London Times,
I will give it in full, as I think it will be beneficial
to the reader. The dispatch is as follows :
^^ Ancient Manuscripts. The sifting and arrange-
ment of the papyrus collection bought by Archduke
Rainer have led to further interesting discoveries. Of
the hieroglyphic, hieratic, demotic, and Coptic papyri,
about twenty date from the pre-Christian period.
Among these is one nearly three thousand years
old, in the hieratic letter, containing the representa-
tion of a funeral, with a well-preserved sketch of
the deceased, some hieroglyphic legends, and a de-
motic papyrus on the subject of mathematics. Much
more numerous are the Coptic documents, about
one thousand in all, mostly letters and legal docu-
ments of the period from the sixth to the tenth cen-
tury of our era. There are some important papyri
containing translations of the Bible in the central
Egyptian dialect, of which there have hitherto been
found but few specimens ; and a leaf of parchment
from an old octavo edition of the book of Ruth, in
the Sahidi dialect.
" Among the Greek papyri is a hitherto unknown
speech of Isocrates, one of the finest specimens of
Alexandrian caligraphy. Another fragment has
been foimd of the book of the Thucydides manu-
script, previously mentioned. Portions, also, have
been discovered of the Iliad, and a paraphrase of
the Fourth Book. Then a metanvia has been found
dating from the beginning of the fourth century.
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24 THE ARCHKO VOLUME.
being thus one of the oldest Christian manuscripts.
The collection contains many well-preserved docu-
ments in an almost continuous series of the Roman
and Byzantine emperors, beginning with Trajan and
ending with Heraclius.
" There are also documents in the Iranic and Se-
mitic languages. The former are written on papy-
rus, parchment, and skins, and among them are two
fragments which, it is believed, will furnish the key
to the Pehlewi language. Among the Arab papyri
twenty-five documents have been found with the
original leaden seals attached. They begin with a
fragment of the fifty-fourth year of the Hegira.
Another is an ofiicial document of the nineteenth
year of the Hegira, appointing a revenue collector.
Perhaps the most valuable part of the collection is
one hundred and fifty-five Arabian documents, on
cotton paper, of the eighth century, which is about
the time of the invention of this material by the
Arabs, to the year 953. Many thousands of manu-
scripts have still to be deciphered."
In the early centuries there was a good deal of
what is known as the " Apologetical Writings." I
made it my business to examine these writings, and
found them to be a defence of Christianity. The
first of this form of writing was presented to the
Emperor Adrian by Quadratus, in the year 126
A.D. A portion of this we find in Eusebius, page
93. There was another by Aristides, at about the
same time. These two authors are found only in
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DISCOVERY OF THE RECORDS, 25
fragments, preserved by other historians, and their
writings are mainly pleas for clemency for those
who professed Christianity and were being perse-
cuted.
Justin Martyr also wrote twice on this subject —
once to the Roman Senate and once to Antonius.
These were published in English by W. Reeves, in
1709, at Leipsic.
Tertullian wrote two volumes, and Vincentius
wrote a commentary on them. These are found at
Paris. They are very valuable works — ^perhaps the
most valuable of the ancient writings — ^from the fact,
recorded in them, that the Christians, in giving rea-
sons for asking favors, refer to the records made by
the Jews and Jewish writers as well as the reports
of the Roman officers who were the governors of
Judea at that time ; and of course their reference
to these records demonstrates that the records were
there.
In Tertullian, Vol. II., page 29, Vincentius says
the Christians' argument was based on the doctrine
of the Bible, showing that the God of the Christians
could save, and referred the pagans to the many in-
stances where he had interposed and saved, when
none but a God like the Christians' God could save.
For, said they, what can a God made of wood or
brass do in time of danger? They had no power
to put forth and exert themselves to save. Vincen-
tius says the pagan would answer that these images
were the representations of their gods ; that these
gods of wood and iron, had invisible spirits that ex-
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26 THE ABCHKO VOLUME.
erted as much power as the God of the Christians.
Vincentius says he did not see much difference in
their doctrines when they got to understand each
other.
I remember that, while on the ship, we had an
Irish priest on board, and in conversation one day
while asking him about many things in the Cath-
olic Church I inquired why he had a crucifix hang-
ing in his room. Said I, " You do not think there
is any virtue in that image of brass?" " No," said
he, " no more than there was in the serpent of brass
that Moses made and placed on a pole. There were
no healing virtues in that brass, but the bitten Is-
realite believed in the command, which belief or
faith controlled his action and produced obedience ;
hence he was healed." And so, he said in this case,
he no more believed there were any saving qualities
in that image than I believe my mother's picture
could be to me a mother.
Let the reader refer to the first centuries and mark
what a disputation there was in the ancient church
about pictures. May we not flow back into it?
And as this subject of picture-worship created so
much dissatisfaction in the first centuries it may do
so again.
While investigating this question I found that
Arcadius, the eldest son of Theodosius the Great,
succeeded his father to the throne in a.d. 395,
and divided the Roman Empire into what was
known in that day as the Eastern and Western
Empires.
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DISCOVERY OF THE RECORDS, 27
Arcadius chose the Eastern and fixed his seat of
government at Constantinople, and made his brother
Honorius Emperor of the Western, fixing his seat
of government at Kome. It was not long until their
jealously was kindled, which resulted in hatred and
terminated in a war which finally proved their over-
throw. In reading the Ante-Nicene Fathers, pub-
lished in Edinburgh in twenty-four octavo volumes,
in Vol. XII., page 114, it is said that the beginning
of this war was on account of Honorius wishing to
have his young princes educated at Constantinople
free of charge, giving as his reason that the great
library there had once belonged to Rome. When
his brother Arcadius refused he tried to get the
library divided, and Arcadius refused this also.
They then went to war, and while the two brothers
were thus engaged Alaricus engaged the Western
Empire and overthrew it. In hunting through this
vast library of books I found what was called the
Homilies of Clementine ; Vol. XIII., pp-ge 194 ; there
were the Apochryphal Gospels, Acts and Revela-
tions, with all the writings of the Apostolic Fathers,
including the laws of the High Priest, the laws of
the Temple service, the Records of the Sanhedrim,
giving the Jewish laws and customs for hundreds
of years, with all the treaties and records of the
courts.
Now my idea was that if these records were
found in the library of the Vatican at Rome and
in the Seraglio and Atmedan libraries at Constan-
tinople and Alexandria, so these men could get
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28 THE ARCHKO VOLUME.
them nearly three hundred years ago, why are they
not there jiow ?
Dr. Isaac Wise, who is President of the Hebrew
School at Cincinnati, and, by the way, one of the
best Hebrew scholars in America, in his History of
the Commonwealth of Israely frequently quotes from
the Talmuds and Sanhedrim, giving reference to the
various circumstances, and often gives the name of
the scribe who did the writing ; and so I find these
records have always been in the hands of the Jewish
rabbis, and you need not tell me these things have
been only produced by the later Jewish nation, for
we find quotations made at the time and by the men
who lived in the days of Christ. Those quotations
correspond with other history we have of the same
events, and the only difference is that the Jewish
rabbis put a different construction on those events
from what the Christians do. This is the great
diflGiculty, after all ; like a celebrated lawyer, after
reading this book, told his friend it convinced him
of the truth of the facts in the Scriptures, but it did
not convince him of its spiritual definition. This is
the final point of importance, when the soul is lost
or saved — that is, to take the facts of the Scriptures
and yield to them as spiritual truth. Colens the
First, who was an Epicurean philosopher, wrote a
treatise against Christianity and was answered by
Origen. This work is in eight volumes. It was
published in Paris, by Vallart, in 1746. In this
work the disputants appealed alternately to these
writings, to the reports made by the Romans, and
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DISCOVERY OF THE RECORDS. 29
show clearly that the whole of the Jewish doctrines,
records and all, were then in possession of the
Romans.
Nero refused to believe in these things, which he
niight have done if he had taken the pains to look
into those sacred treasures of learning that were on
file in the Senate chamber ; but Origen says Nero was
only moved by ambition, with the love of destruc-
tion before his eyes. He never stopped to consider
nor consult the opinions or wishes of others. Here,
again, I found an unintentional reference to these
things. Now the reader must remember that the
records were there at that time, for no one disputed
the fact ; but in proving the unnecessary hostility
of Nero, Origen makes mention of these other facts,
showing the records to be in the city of Rome, how
they came there, and what they taught ; that is, a part
of these records were brought from Jerusalem and
were the writings of the Jews and the Romans who
had been officers in the Jewish kingdom by Roman
authority, and these were Roman officers, which
made them a part of and responsible to the Roman
government. Can any intelligent man believe that
these men would have been allowed to transact the
business of the Romans and no records be made of
it in the archives of the government ? Such a thing
is most absurd. The reader will bear in mind that
government among the Jews, Greeks, and Romans
was much more strictly administered than in this
country, and all such records as referred to the ac-
tions of the courts and the government officers had
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30 THE ARCHKO VOLUME.
to be preserved. I now ask the attention of the
reader to the investigation of the preservation of the
sacred parchments from which come our Bible.
First, to the works of Benjamin Kennicott, D.D.,
entitled Vetus Testamentumy published in England
in 1780. This is only a little more than one hun-
dred years ago. We find that he got from the
Codex of Hillel six hundred manuscripts. When
did this Hillel live ? The author of the Codex lived
about one hundred years after the Christian era.
Dr. Kennicott also got sixteen manuscripts from
the Samaritan Pentateuch. Then I ask attention
to John G. Rosenmueller, of 1736, at Leipsic, to
his lAbrarium, five volumes, also his Scholia Testa-
menty all from manuscript. Then to Brian Walton,
D.D., born at Yorkshire in 1600, who published his
polyglot Bible from manuscript (Hebrew). Be-
cause these are given to us by great men, and they
suit our notions, they are never doubted ; and it is
too apt to be the case in our ad captandurriy we are
not likely to investigate as closely as we should.
And, again, we are apt to be more inclined to in-
vestigate those things that are suited to our tastes
and interests ; but while certain things are interest-
ing to us we should never forget that there are other
things equally interesting to others ; and while we
may be interested only in the sacred histories that
make for our peace, and although the testimony of
our enemies may not be very pleasant to hear, we
should remember that the salvation of others may
depend on such testimony.
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DISCOVERY OF THE RECORDS. 31
We should not be opposed to any evidence that
may give strength to any subject and thereby re-
dound to good in a general way, specially if this
evidence does not have a tendency to weaken our
faith. It is so with this book ; it cannot weaken
the faith of the Christian who has believed without
foreign testimony, but brings strong corroborative
testimony to enable others who are less credulous
than we to believe. Hence in the examination of the
various versions of the Bible and of the manner in
which they were dug up out of the old manuscripts,
from the rubbish of the ancient world, diflGiculties
are encountered, and others may not beheve as
readily as we do. Duranzo, a Greek historian, who
wrote thirty-six volumes in Constantinople at the
close of the seventh and the beginning of the eighth
century, in referring to the prosperity of the city
and nation, says, in Vol. XIII., page 54, that Con-
stantinople enjoyed educational advantages over all
other cities, and that this was due, to some extent,
to the fact that the Christians, under the instructions
of their Emperor, had gathered and brought there
literature from all parts of the world, and it was
the great seat of learning of the world. On page
128 he refers to a war that was carried on about
the great library that had been brought there by
the Roman Emperor when he embraced Christianity.
Again he says, that when Mohammed locked up
the great library he excluded the learned and with
them the wealth of the city. In Vol. XIV., page
17, in speaking of the battle of Tanze, he says it
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32 THE ARCHKO VOLUME.
was fought over the sacred books that had been
deposited there by the ancient Christians. From
these indirect references I discovered there must
be great deposits of sacred literature in these old
libraries. These histories are in the Paris library
for the inspection of anyone.
Notwithstanding the art of printing has a ten-
dency to do away with and supersede the written
Scriptures, yet there are many valuable manuscripts
in existence, some of which are of great value in
the interpretation of the Scriptures.
First, the Hebrew manuscripts. These are either
rolls designed for the use of synagogues, or square
manuscripts, designed for private use. The former
are all on parchment and written with the greatest
care and accuracy. The others are written on vellum
or paper.
Dr. Kennicott says all that are now to be had
were written between the tenth and fourteenth cen-
turies. Of course these were written from the origi-
nals ; how often they have been rewritten in four-
teen hundred years we cannot say, but we know
there are many opportunities for change. These
manuscripts have been collated by Dr. Kennicott
and De Rossi, and amount to 1185 ; but it is more
than probable that as the Jewish rabbis did this
work they may have left out many things that ap-
peared to them contrary.
The next are the Greek. Of these manuscripts
immense numbers still exist. Dr. Holmes has col-
lected 135. Some of these are preserved from the
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DISCOVERY OF THE RECORDS. 33
fourth century. Of course, these are not the records
that were made when the events they record took
place.
Now, reader, our present Bible comes from these
manuscripts. The first English Bible was pub-
lished by J. WickliSe in 1360, just ninety years
before printing was invented. The first Bible
printed in our language was by William Tindall,
assisted by Miles Coverdale, in 1526. When Tindall
was executed for heresy by the Catholics, his works
were continued by Coverdale and John Rogers.
This book was suppressed time and again, and
reprinted by different parties until it went through
twenty-two different editions. The last was that
which proceeded from the Hampton Court confer-
ence in 1603. There were so many errors in the
Bishop's Bible that King James's Bible was put on
foot and printed in 1611.
Now suppose we consider the many Bibles pub-
lished by different sects, nations, and individuals, and
all coming from these Hebrew, Greek, and Latin
manuscripts. The reader must know that the manu-
scripts have gone through many hands. This we
know from the fact that we find Bible manuscripts
still in existence, and from these we find Greek
manuscripts, Samaritan manuscripts taken from the
Hebrew, the Spanish manuscripts, the German manu-
scripts, the Italian manuscripts, and many others.
The reader is referred to the Bodleian Library in
the British Museum, and to the libraries at Leyden,
Paris, and Borne. We also have some in America,
3
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34 THE ARCHKO VOLVME,
at Philadelphia, in the libraries of the Quakers and
in the library of the Antiquarian Society.
The manuscripts of the Hebrew Bible were com-
piled in the second century. But they never were
translated till a.d. 607, by Bishop Adhelm, under
the direction of King Alfred. There were a number
of parts of these Hebrew manuscripts translated
in the second century in the Arabic language. It
was printed for the Propaganda at Rome, in 1671,
in three volumes. The Armenian version was made
in the fourth century of the Christian era by Miesrob
and Isaac, and printed at Amsterdam by Uskin, an
Armenian bishop, who was charged by his enemies
with following the Vulgate. It was printed at Con-
stantinople in 1705 ; at Venice in 1805. The Coptic
New Testament was published by Wilkins at Ox-
ford, 1716.
The Vulgate is an ancient manuscript, taken from
the Hebrew and translated into the Latin in the
second century ; also one of the Greek and one of
the Syriac. These are all of the same date. This
Vulgate in the Latin was used in Africa. The
Church at Rome was under Greek control at this
time and rejected the Latin Vulgate, and used what
was called at that time the Vedus Latina, or old
Latin. This is the history of TertuUian, Vol. I.,
page 202.
In the fourth century Jerome tells us there was
another translation of the Vulgate, under the in-
struction of St. Augustine, and St. Jerome recom-
mends this in the highest terms. About the fifth
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DISCOVERY OF THE RECORDS. 36
century there was another .translation made, which
is called the Codex, in the Latin language. There
was one at Alexandria, one in the Vatican, and one
at Sinai. Parts of these are preserved in the British
Museum. They were presented to King Charles by
Cyril Lucar, who was patriarch at Constantinople
and had been patriarch at Alexandria, and brought
these books with him. The Codex of Sinai is in the
Greek, and is the same that Dr. Tischendorf found
and was declared by the scholars of Leipsic to have
been written in the fourth century.
In the year 748 of the Roman Empire and 330 of
the Christian era Constantine the Great removed
his seat of empire from Rome to Byzantium, and
took with him all the records of the Christians to
that city, as will be shown in a letter from him in
this book in regard to having the Holy Scriptures
in manuscript, and having fifty volumes bound and
kept on deposit. When Mohammed took possession
of Constantinople he had too much respect for
these sacred scrolls to let them be destroyed, but
had them all nicely cased and deposited in the St.
Sophia Mosque. History informs us of the dreadful
struggle that took place between the Greeks and
Romans over the sacred parchments in the days of
the Crusades ; and it seems to us that Divine
Providence has had something to do with the
preservation of these sacred writings. These scrolls
look more like rolls of narrow carpet wound round
a windlass than anything else. But as I have de-
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36 THE ARCHKO VOLUME.
scribed them elsewhere I will not attempt a further
description here.
Another question arises in the mind of the reader,
and that is : How was it possible for these writings
to be preserved so long? I answer that there are
many works much older than these in existence.
Homer is 900 years older. Why not these ? Another
reason why these writings have not been brought
before the world is that no man has searched for
these chronicles as I have done. After getting hold
of Acta Fllati as I did, accidentally, I made the
investigation of these questions my special business
for ten years — corresponding with many historians
and scholars, sending for all the books that could
instruct me on these great questions, engaging two
expert scholars, Drs. Mcintosh, of Scotland, and
Twyman, of England, and going to the city of Rome,
paying our way through the Vatican, and then to
Constantinople, where we examined those ancient
records, sparing neither time nor expense to acquire
a knowledge of them. Then it may be asked again :
May not I be deceived ? May not these men have
imposed upon me ? To this I would say : That is
impossible. Then it might be argued: Might not
these writings have been manufactured to make
money out of ? If so, it was a poor business, for this
is the first and only book ever produced from them.
It certainly was a bad speculation on their part.
But one says: Did not Gregory IX. bum twenty
cartloads of these Talmuds? Who says so but a
Jewish rabbi ? If he did, they were the Talmuds
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DISCOVERT OF THE RECORDS. 37
of Babylon, and not those of Jerusalem? There
is no body of Christians stronger adherents of Jesus
Christ than the Roman Catholics. Why should
they want to bum the Talmuds of Jerusalem, which
were so full of the doctrines and historical events
that are so near and dear to them ? No man can
go into the Vatican library without a guard over
him, who watches him closely, so that he cannot
move a leaf or change a word or letter of anything
that is there. If they will not consent to even the
slightest change, it is not probable they would burn
their works. Men from all over the world are there.
Often when we crossed the Tiber, before it was
fairly light, there were a thousand strangers between
us and St. Peter's gate, waiting to be admitted at
the opening of the gate that leads into the Vatican.
One more evidence to the reader : There are at
least five hundred quotations made from the Sanhe-
drim and Talmuds of the Jews by men who have
denied their existence. Now I call attention to his-
tory, and I will give the name and page, so that all
can read for themselves.
First: Rabbi Akiba, a reformed Jewish priest,
Vol. I., page 22, quotes from Celsus, an enemy of
the Church. He says there was a dreadful earth-
quake at the time Jesus was crucified, and that the
mist that arose from it covered the earth for three
hours. On page 28 he says that Jesus was the son
of Mary ; that he was the founder of the sect called
Christians. On page 48 he says Jesus was crucified
on the eve of the Passover. He gives extracts from
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38 THE ARCHKO VOLUME.
the apostles, and never denies in a single instance,
but admits their genuineness. He quotes the books,
and makes extracts from the names they bear. He
makes particular mention of his incarnation, of his
being born of a virgin, of his being worshipped by
the Magi ; of his flight into Egypt ; of the massacre
of the infants of Bethlehem. On page 52 he speaks
of his baptism by John and the descent of the Holy
Spirit in the form of a dove, and of the voice that
was heard out of heaven. He speaks of the mira-
cles done by Jesus, and never doubts the facts in
any instance, but attributes them to the art of
necromancy he had learned in Egypt. But did
the reader ever hear of a thaumaturgist producing
a descent of the Holy Spirit or causing voices to
be heard from the heavens? Such absurdities are
not spoken of except when they are urged against
the Christian religion.
Aretas, one of the kings of Arabia, who was a
philosopher as well as a king, in speaking of the
laws of nature (Vol. VII., page 14), says that Jesus
of Judea was a philosopher above the laws of na-
ture ; that he controlled all the elements of nature
with almighty power ; that the winds, thunders, and
lightnings obeyed him ; and speaks of these facts as
being so common that it would be folly to dispute
them.
Justin says, in Vol. II., page 42, that the several
Roman governors in their respective provinces made
reports of the important events that occurred in their
jurisdiction, and they were spread on the senatorial
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DISCOVERY OF THE RECORDS, 39
dockets at Rome. We find in this same work, page
128, that he appealed to Antoninus and the Senate
for clemency for the Christians, and after referring
to their many virtues, and to Christ as their leader,
added : " And that these things are so, I refer you
to the records of the Senate made by Pontius Pilate
and others in his day." The learned Tertullian, in
his Apology for Christianity , about the year 200,
after speaking of our Saviour's Crucifixion and
Resurrection, and his appearance to the disciples,
and ascension into heaven in the sight of the same
disciples, who were ordained by him to spread the
gospel over the world, thus proceeds : " Of all these
things relating to Christ, Pilate himself, in his con
science already a Christian, sent an account to Tibe-
rius, then Emperor." The same writer in the same
apology thus relates the proceedings of Tiberius on
receiving this information : " There was an ancient
decree that no one should be received for a deity
unless he was first approved by the Senate. Tibe-
rius, in whose time the Christian name (or religion)
had its rise, having received from Palestine, in Syria,
an account of such things as confirmed the truth of
his (Christ's) divinity, proposed to the Senate that
he should be enrolled among the Roman gods, and
gave his own prerogative vote in favor of the mo-
tion ; but the Senate, without whose consent no deifi-
cation could take place, rejected it because the
Emperor himself had declined the same honor.
Nevertheless, the Emperor persisted in his opinion,
and threatened punishment to the accusers of the
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40 THE ARCHKO VOLUME.
Christians." Search your own commentaries (or pub-
lic writings), you will there find thai Nero was the
first who raged with the imperial sword against this
seety then rising most at Moms (^Horn's Introduction^
Vol. I., page 82).
Now, I would ask, if there were no such records
there, would these men have made such appeals ?
And if they were there, could such things be forged
and palmed o2 on the Roman Senate? It seems
to me to ask the question is enough. Now, if any
man will trace out these things he will find that I
have as much reason for believing the genuineness
of the contents of this book, as I have to believe the
genuineness of the Scriptures, looking at the question
from a human standpoint. First, you must know
that the manuscript from which this book was taken
has not gone through so many translations nor been
put in so many di8erent languages, from the fact that
it is not to be found in another language ; and, sec-
ondly, there was no necessity for it, and as to this
being forged there was no occasion for that, from
the fact it favors no religious denomination, it ad-
vocates the tenets of no religious sect. Now I am
convinced there was such a man as Herod Anti-
pater, and I know that he could not kill all the
male children in a city without giving reasons for
it, and there must have been more or less record
made of it. I am convinced there was such a man.
as Herod Antipas, and I know he dare not behead
such a man as John the Baptist is represented to
be, without a trial, without having to account to
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DISCOVERY OF THE RECORDS, 41
some court. I know that Pilate was a Roman
officer, and his actions were watched closely and
all his public acts had to be recorded upon the
Roman dockets.
I do not see why these records should have been
destroyed. I am convinced the Jews at that day
were looking for a Redeemer, and when the great
excitement was reported at Bethlehem it would be
not unreasonable that the Jews should make an in-
vestigation of the matter; and, again, I know if the
Scriptures are true Mary was subject to the death-
penalty unless she could satisfactorily prove her inno-
cence. I was convinced the Jews must have looked
into this matter, and that it would be found recorded
somewhere. I knew that if there were such a man
as they represented Jesus to be, he could not be tried
in the high priest's court and condemned to death,
and executed by the Roman authorities, unless there
were some record made of it by both the Jews and
Romans. Here we have the whole of these records,
and why are they not true ? They comport with
the Bible ; they are just the records we should ex-
pect from the Scriptures ; they were made or dated
at the right time ; they came from the place where
these records were made ; they were written in the
same language that was used at that time. Now,
if all this is so, why are they not true ?
I o5er this book to the public feeling assured it
can do no harm to anyone or to any church, but
that it will be read by thousands with great inter-
est, and will convince the infidel of the truth of the
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42 THE ARCHKO VOLUME.
Scriptures. As Drj Miller observed : " This book
never was needed until now, and it is like all
God's providences, always brought out at the right
time." Another minister wrote to say he " was more
than delighted ;" it was like calling up the dead ;
all the circumstances of Calvary were brought
vividly before him, and when he raad Caiaphas's
second report he both wept and rejoiced. Such is
the testimony of almost everyone who reads it.
In an extract from a private letter to the Bruns-
wicker Dr. Rubin says :
" I saw, while in the Vatican at Rome last week,
Dl-. W. D. Mahan, of Boonville, Mo., Drs. Mcin-
tosh and Twyman, of Scotland, with a number of
clerks, both readers and scribes, going through these
old manuscripts and scrolls that have been lying
there for hundreds, yea, thousands of years ; they
seem to be men of great age and learning, and well
qualified for their business. They were going next
week to Constantinople to go through the records
of- the Sanhedrim and the ancient Talmuds of the
Jews. Their object is to bring out a new book as a
supplement to Acta Pilati, I am satisfied, from the
character of the men and the nature of the book, it
will prove to be one of the most interesting books
ever presented to the Christian world, from the fact
that all the works on archaeology have been written
in such a style that but very few could read and
understand them."
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DISCOVERY OF THE RECORDS, 43
Constantinople, Turkey, October 16, 1888.
To THE People of North America.
Dear Friends : I take pleasure in addressing
you this letter, as I feel assured I am doing a good
work for my Father who is in heaven. Then,
friends, permit me to say to you that I was intro-
duced to my friend, W. D. Mahan, of Boonville,
Mo., by my friends of Leipsic, Germany. I en-
gaged to meet him in Paris, France, and when he
showed me his plans and the subjects that he
wanted, and showed me his notes of reference, the
names of others, and books that he had been hunt-
ing for ten years, I became satisfied that if we could
succeed he would bring out one of the best books
ever oSered to the Christian world except the Bible.
We repaired to the Vatican at Rome, received per-
mission to examine the greatest library in the world,
and to my astonishment the first thing we called for
was brought to hand in a short time. I mean
Pilate's reports, which were more than satisfactory.
The next were the Senate's records respecting the
investigation of Herod Antipater's conduct at Beth-
lehem, and Herod Antipas on various charges (one
of which was the execution of John the Baptist),
the Hillel letters, and the Shammai laws. We then
proceeded to Constantinople and went through the
records of the Sanhedrim and Talmuds of the Jews
that were carried there and preserved by Constan-
tine in the year 337. Here we found Melker's
letter (who was priest at Bethlehem at the time
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44 THE ARCHKO VOLUME.
that Jesus of Nazareth was born) in respect to the
prophecy concerning the birth of Jesus, which is
very deep and profound. Next we came upon the
report of Gamaliel, who was sent by the Sanhedrim
to interrogate Joseph and Mary concerning the
child Jesus, which will prove to be one of the most
interesting subjects that was ever read by man.
Then the next thing we found was the report of
Caiaphas to the Sanhedrim. When read it will
awaken the minds of men and give a very diBerent
view of this matter to what we have nad.
After we had finished the report. Brother Mahan
insisted that we should unwind the scroll further,
and in doing so we found his second report, which
caused us to weep like children, and we both thanked
God that we continued the search. We also found
many strange historical items, such as will be of
great interest to the world at this time. And as
Brother Mahan is going to publish his book in
America, I can most heartily recommend it.
M. McIntosh.
Market Place, City of Roue, Italy.
Dear Wife : It seems long since I left home,
but Gt)d is here as well as in America, and it is
my chief delight to report you and the children to
his throne of mercy daily. I was landed at Mar-
seilles, France, after twelve days out from New York.
We had a splendid trip, all but the first two days.
We left New York in a gale, and I must confess
I was very much alarmed ; it seemed to me the
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DISCOVERY OF THE RECORDS. 45
Walter was much higher all around us than where
the ship was. That made it more frightful, for it
looked as if the ship sunk or was sinking for the first
two days. She was sometimes on her end, then on
her side, and then would seem to turn almost over ;
but every tilt she made I prayed St. Peter's prayer.
I think I did more praying the first two days than I
had done in two years. But the second day I be-
gan to cast up my accounts, not with my Maker, nor
with my creditors, but with my stomach. I was
awful sick.
Captain Stikes said the storm in starting out made
it much worse on us than it would have been if the
weather had been clear and calm, but the third day
the sea began to calm, and so did my stomach. I
was able to go out in the evening, but we were still
going up hill; we had no further trouble all the
way, but after three or four days it looked as if I
would never get enough to eat. Our fare was
poor, much more so than on the English line;
so I was told by men that had travelled both
lines. I shall return by another route. I met
Dr. Mcintosh at St. Elgin waiting for me. He is
one of the nicest old men and one of the finest
scholars I ever met. I feel ashamed in his presence,
though he is so grand and noble he can hide my
own defects from me better than I can myself. He
was very much surprised when I showed him my
notes of reference. He did not see how I could get
hold of these things so far away. We found Dr.
Twyman and his men at the Vatican, and we are
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46 THE ARCHKO VOLUME.
working bravely. The very first thing the guard
brought was Acta Pahti; the Doctor was delighted
when he saw it. We have two guards ; one brings
the articles as we call for them ; the other sits and
watches to see that the books and parchments are not
mutilated. To-day was the day of the Pope's holy
auditory. We were taken in by the guard, and I
must confess I never had such feelings in all my life.
The room is, I suppose, three hundred feet or more
square ; there must have been ten or twelve hun-
dred in the congregation, all men, mostly priests
and officers. The Pope is a venerable old man. I
saw nothing different in his dress from any other
priest ; nothing gaudy about him. He sang the mass
in the pure old Latin language ; his voice was clear
and sweet. After he was through quite a number
of the priests came and knelt at his feet. He laid
his hands gently on each of their heads and pro-
nounced a blessing, but they did not kiss his great
toe. I never saw as solemn a congregation in
my life ; in fact, it would be impossible for a man
to be otherwise in that room. The dome of this
room surpasses all the sights my eyes ever beheld ;
it contains hundreds of windows in the form of
eyes with golden lids and lashes, all emitting
rays of light of various colors. They seemed so
natural I thought I could almost see them wink.
They are to represent the all-seeing eye. These
eyes are the light of the room. The scene of mag-
nificence beggars description. There are too many
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DISCOVERY OF THE RECORDS. 47
things to be described. A man will have a higher
appreciation o! the Catholic Church, where he sees
her enthroned in the hearts of this great church, and I
shall ever have a different feeling toward them from
what I have had. We have all the text-books we
need, Buxtorf, Gesenius, Laportees, and others. We
will get through in the Vatican in a few days. We
will leave Dr. Twyman and three clerks here, as we
find the Hillelite letters and Shemiate and Abta-
lian laws here in book-form. They will translate
such parts of them as we want and send them to
me ; they will come in a roll. If they come before
I get home, take special care of them. Dr. Mcin-
tosh and I, with one clerk, ^vill go to Constantinople
in a day or two. The Doctor has been there, and
he thinks he will find all that I want in the St. So-
phia Library. He says the twenty cartloads of
Talmuds that history tells us were burned by
Gregory IX. were the Talmuds of Babylon, but the
Talmuds of Jerusalem are all safe, and so are the
records of the Jerusalem Sanhedrim ; that these
documents were carried there by Constant! ne. If
so, that is all I want. The Doctor thinks it will
be one of the most important books ever brought
before the public, except the Bible, as it would give
the pros and cons of the outside world at that time.
But I have so many things I would like to say and
it is now after 1 o'clock a.m. As to home affairs,
I am too far off to say anything more, besides I
have all confidence in your judgment. I think now
that I will be at home by the 10th or 15th of De-
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48 THE ABCHKO VOLUME,
cember, and I shall write no more unless something
happens. May God bless you ; farewell.
W. D. Mahan.
Ck)LUMBiA, Mo., January 25, 1887.
This is to certify that I am well acquainted with
the Rev. W. D. Mahan, of Boonville, Mo. I have
known him well for a number of years, having spent
several months at his house at different times. I
was at his house in Boonville, Mo., shortly after
his return (as he then stated to me) from Rome and
Constantinople. I gave him some assistance in re-
copying some of his manuscripts for his book. I
saw, examined, and to some extent assisted in ar-
ranging the various subjects and chapters in his
book.
Judging from the handwriting of said manu-
scripts, there must have been two or more persons
engaged in writing them, as there was a distinct
difference in the handwriting. I was impressed at
the time with the belief, from the writing and
spelling, that the parties were of foreign birth and
education.
I have no interest in this matter, and make the
above statement at the request and in justice to the
Rev. W. D. Mahan, as an old and valued friend.
J. B. Douglass.
Personally appeared before me, a notary public,
within and for the county of Boone, and State of
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DISCOVERY OF THE RECORDS. 49
Missouri, General J. B. Douglass, to me well known,
and made affidavit to the foregoing certificate.
Witness my hand and notarial seal hereto affixed
at Columbia, Mo., this 25th day 0! January, a.d.
1887.
Frank D. Evans,
Notary Pabllc.
State 0! Missouri, County of Cooper, ss.
Be it known that on this, the 12th day of Janu-
ary, A.D. 1887, personally came before me^ the under-
signed, clerk of the Circuit Court of Cooper County,
in the State of Missouri, John S. McFarland, well
known to me to be a reputable citizen of the city of
Boonville, Mo., who, being by me first duly sworn,
on his oath says : I have been personally acquainted
with Rev. W. D. Mahan for sixteen years or more,
and have always found him to be honorable and
trustworthy, and a very useful minister in the
Church to which he belonged. To my knowledge
he was for some time previous to 1883 engaged in
preparing himself for a trip to Europe, and that in
the fall of 1883 he took leave of his family and
friends and started for the cities of Rome and Con-
stantinople to investigate those old records that he
said he had found was there on archaeology. After
he had been gone some time his wife received a let-
ter from him dated at Rome, Italy. I did not see
the postmarks on the letter, but understood it was
from Rome.
After some months Mr. Mahan returned and
brought quite a lot of manuscripts with him, some
4
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50 THE ARCHKO VOLUME.
of which he read to me, and which were very inter-
esting. These are as near the facts in the case as I
can remember at this time.
John S. McFarland.
Subscribed and sworn to before me, on this the
12th day of January, 1887.
Witness my hand and official seal.
Charles A. Houk,
Clerk of Circuit Court of Cooper County. Mo.
By H. A. Hutchinson.
State of Missouri, County of Cooper, ss.
Be it known that on this 12th day of January,
A.D. 1887, personally came before me, the under-
signed, clerk of the Circuit Court of Cooper County,
in the State of Missouri, R. W. Whitlow and W. G.
Pendleton, composing the firm of Whitlow & Pen-
dleton, real estate and loan agents, of the city of
Boonville, in said county, who, being by me first
duly sworn, on their oaths say : We have known
the Rev. W. D. Mahan, of Boonville, Mo., for a
period of more than ten years. He came to our
office in the fall of 1883 and told us he was going
to Rome with a view to collect materials for a book
which he intended to write, and that he had not
sufficient money to defray the expenses of the trip ;
at his request we loaned him two hundred dollars.
Shortly afterward Mr. Mahan disappeared from
Boonville, and it was a considerable while before
we again met him here at Boonville, when he in-
formed us he had made the trip to Rome, Italy,
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DISCOVERT OF THE RECORDS. 51
during the time of his disappearance. A letter pur-
porting to have been written by the said Mahan to
his wife from Kome, Italy, was published in a news-
paper at Boonville, Mo. Soon after Mr. Mahan
reappeared at Boonville he published and circu-
lated his book. Of course we did not follow him to
see him at Rome, but the foregoing are the facts
within our knowledge.
R. E. Whitlow,
W. G. Pendleton,
Attomeys-at-Law.
Subscribed and sworn to before me, on this the
12th day of January, 1887.
Charles A. Houk,
Clerk of Circuit Court, Cooper County, Mo.
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CHAPTER II.
A SHORT SKETCH OF THE TALMUDS.
The Hebrew word lamod signifies " to teach,"
and to " teach by example." The word example
is always understood. To teach — ^this is what is
meant by tradition. It means that the child learns
from its father. From this word we get the word
talmud.
We also have the word shanoh, which means " to
learn," and gamor, which means " having learned or
having ceased to learn." The Talmuds are written
on parchment or papyrus. The scroll is about twenty
inches wide, and wound around a roller. From
these Talmuds there have been many books written
by the Jewish rabbis.
The most important is the Mishna, Its name in-
dicates what it is — ^the Law. It contains the laws
of all nations, or a part of the laws of the various
nations of the earth, such as the Jewish Sanhedrim
thought were compatible with the laws of God. Its
principal teachings are what we would call the moral
law of God — ^that is to say, anything is right if God
says it is right, and this is the only reason why it is
right. This work has been the great reference-book
for the Jewish rabbis in all ages. It was translated
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SKETCH OF THE lALMUDS. 53
and compiled by Hillel, and is a very useful book
for scholars.
The next in point of value is the Tosephta. This
word in the Hebrew means " treatment," and con-
tains mainly the ritual of the temple service. It is
a very extensive work, and is really a regulator of
human life, containing the dealings of husband and
wife, parent and child, master and pupil ; in fact,
it enters into all the details of life with such thought-
fulness and in such a beautiful style that it should
be exceedingly interesting to the young. It cer-
tainly contains the finest system of morals in the
world.
Then comes the Mechilta, which means " govern-
ment" in the Hebrew language. This book tells
of the organization of the Sanhedrim and its powers
— both the greater and the less, the greater to be
composed of seventy and the less of twenty-four.
These two legislative bodies had jurisdiction of the
whole of the Jewish commonwealth. Although they
possessed great power, it was not absolute. There
was another court that exercised the highest author-
ity of the nation. That was the court of elders and
priests. This court consisted of twelve men, and its
chairman was the high priest. It decided all appeals,
and could not be appealed from. This is the court
that tried Jesus of Nazareth ; and although it was
a court of appeals, it had exclusive jurisdiction of
capital crimes.
I will give the form of a trial of an accused in
this court, as it is given in Mechilta. At the time
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64 THE ARCHKO VOLUME.
that Jesus was tried by this court the Jewish govern-
ment had been deprived of its executive power.
This was one of the concessions in the capitulation
to Augustus Caesar. At this time the Roman Em-
peror's consent had to be obtained, though he had
to use the Jewish soldiers ; for the Romans had only
one hundred soldiers at Jerusalem. They were con-
tinually engaged in war, and needed all their soldiers
at home. When an accused person was brought be-
fore this court of the high priests, they held a pre-
liminary trial, in order, if possible, to force a plea.
If they could not, the accused was sentenced and
then sent to the Roman authority, or governor, for
his approval. The accused was then remanded to
the high priest, and from him to the Sanhedrim, with
the charges written out and the names of the wit-
nesses by which they had been proved. If they ap-
proved the decision of the high priest, the prisoner
was sent back to the high priest for his final trial.
This court of twelve men was required by the Jew-
ish law to fast and pray one whole day before the
trial commenced ; they were then required to bring
the urim and thummim out of the holy place where
they were kept, and to place them before the high
priest. The high priest was closely veiled, so that no
one could see him, thus representing God doing his
work. Then there was what was called the lactees,
consisting of two men, one of whom stood at the
door of the court with a red flag in his hand, and
the other sat on a white horse some distance on the
road that led to the place of execution. Each of
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SKETCH OF THE TALMUDS, 55
these men continually cried the name of the criminal,
his crime, and who were the witnesses, and called
upon any person who knew anything in his favor to
come forward and testify. After the testimony was
taken the eleven men cast lots or voted, and their
decision was shown to the high priest. As he was
too holy to act by himself, but only as the mouth-
piece of God, he went up to a basin or a ewer, as it
is called by them, and washed his hands in token of
the innocence of the court, thus testifying that the
criminal's own action had brought condemnation on
himself. As soon as the soldiers saw this, they took
the man to the place of execution, and there stoned
him till he was dead. Not one of them was allowed
to speak, not even to whisper, while the execution
was going on. Nothing was heard but the pelting
of stones and the shrieks of the criminal. To my
mind this would be a most awful mode of death, and
one that would be likely to deter others from commit-
ting crime.
Now, I ask the reader to consider the mode of a
Roman execution, and see what a beautiful chain of
divine Providence is brought out in the execution of
Jesus of Nazareth. There was a law in the criminal
code of the Romans, enacted by Meeleesen, a philos-
opher by nature, who taught that if a man was ac-
cused of a crime and was tried and found not guilty,
he should be publicly chastised. His reasons were
that the man had acted improperly — so much so that
he had created suspicion. This would seem to give
license to an enemy to work mischief. But the same
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56 THE ABCHKO VOLUME.
philosopher had a remedy at hand, and that was, that
any man who accused another and failed to prove
it by two witnesses should suHer the punishment the
other would have suffered had he been proved guilty.
After the whipping was over the Roman officer
washed his hands, thereby declaring that the actions
of the man had produced his own chastisement.
Thus, after Pilate had Jesus scourged he washed his
hands, forever clearing the Roman government of the
blood of Christ. The reader must remember that the
soldiers who brought Jesus from the court of the high
priest were Jewish soldiers. They were acquainted
with the Jewish custom of washing the hands to
condemn. Hence, when they saw Pilate wash his
hands they took it for granted that Jesus was to die.
One might say that this would relieve the actors of
responsibility in this matter. But if a man seeks to
injure me, and I by my sagacity avert the injury he
intended and change it into a blessing, would that
change the guilty intention of the first party ?
We also learn from the Meehilta that the Jewish
commonwealth was divided into districts, such as
Palestine, Galilee, Judea, and so on. Each of these
states had its courts and legislatures, presided over
by a high priest. This is the reason we have so many
high priests spoken of in the New Testament history.
These states were subdivided into smaller divisions,
each of which was presided Over by a magistrate
who was an officiating priest. If any one will read
the MechiUa, he will see clearly the government of
the United States gf Nprtb America; and a^ th^
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SKETCH OF THE TALMUDS. 57
laws of the Jewish nation were all dictated by the
God of heaven, we should appreciate them the more.
The Saphra means, in the Hebrew language, " cor-
ner-stone or foundation rock," which goes to show
that all these laws were founded upon God's word or
authority. This is quite an extended work, and is
full of quotations from the various works of the
ancient world. I would love to read this carefully
for a year and give extracts to the people. I am
sure that this little volume will so stir American
scholars that these things will be brought before the
reading world. But I would advise whoever does it
not to trust to the printed copies of the Jewish
rabbis, but go as I did to the original manuscript
at Byzantium and get it as it was written by its
author.
One more book I must call attention to, that is,
the Siphri. This is more of a chronological and
biographical work than anything else, and is by far
the most valuable work of them all. It gives the
history of the great events of all of them, and men-
tions the names of all the actors of those events, giv-
ing a detailed account of the birth, lineage, deaths,
as well as all the wise sayings of such men as Abra*
ham, Joshua, Moses, David, Solomon, and many
others. I would like to give many extracts from
this work. They would be of deep interest to the
American people, as well as of great benefit to the
young and rising generation. There is one extract
I must give. It will be read with great interest by
the Independent Order of Odd Fellows in America :
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58 THE ARCHKO VOLUME.
" Jacob had twelve sons ; and when he saw that
there were strife and dissatisfaction among them, he
went and got him twelve sticks, and when he had
bound them together with strong bands, he gave
them to his eldest son, and asked him to break them.
He tried, but could not. Then he gave them to the
next, and so on until each one down to the youngest
had tried to break them. .And when they had all
failed, the father took the bundle of sticks and untied
them. He gave one to the eldest and told him to
break it. He did so. And then he gave one to the
next, and so on, till all the sticks were broken, and
each one had done his part. And Jacob said, * Now,
my sons, you must learn two lessons from this : The
first lesson is, what neither one of you could do, you
all combined can do ; and the second lesson is, when
you are all bound together you cannot be broken !' "
Besides these there are the Pesikta and Midrasham.
These are all full of interesting items, sermons and
extracts of sermons, and wise sayings of great men of
all ages, the decisions of the great Sanhedrim on
points of law and doctrine, and many other questions
of great importance, and would be of deep interest to
the readers of this day. Now, the reader must bear
in mind that these several books that have been
noticed are all taken from the Talmud of the San-
hedrim, which was made at Jerusalem. These books
were compiled by Hillel the Second, soon after the
destruction of the holy city, and were made so that
if the scrolls should be destroyed they might be pre-
served in these. After these, other translations were
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SKETCH OF THE TALMUDS. 59
made to relieve the necessity of the Jews in their dis-
persed condition, such as the Nagad, Kikhil, Mid-
rash, and so on. But, remember, all these works were
compiled from the original Talmuds by the Jewish
priests, who, of course, would leave out everything
that had a tendency to favor the Christian religion.
In all such works we need not expect to find any-
thing about Jesus of Nazareth. But this by no
means proves that such records are not to be found.
We must go to the original scrolls, and there we
may expect to get the truth, as the following work
will show. Therefore let the reader read and judge
for himself.
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CHAPTER III.
constantlne's letter in regard to having
fifty copies of the scriptures written and
BOUND.
It is known that the Roman Emperor, Constantine,
who was converted to the Christian religion, had fifty
copies of the Scriptures made and placed in the public
library for preservation. Some historian has said that
they were so large it took two men to open one of them.
While in Constantinople I found one of these volumes
nicely cased, marked with the Emperor's name and
date upon it. To me it was a great curiosity. I
got permission with a little baclisach, as they call
money, to look through it. It was written on hieo-
tike, which is the finest of parchment, in large, bold,
Latin characters, quite easy to read. As far as I
read it had many abbreviations of our present Scrip-
tures, but the facts, sense, and sentences are as full,
and, if anything, more complete than our English
version. I judge it to be about two and a half by
four feet square, and two feet thick. It is well bound,
with a gold plate, twelve by sixteen inches, on the
front, with a cross and a man hanging on the cross,
with the inscription, " Jesus, the Son of God, cruci-
fied for the sins of the world." If the Revision Com-
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CONSTANTTNFPS SCRIPTUBES. 61
mittee had examined and published this work, they
might have said they were giving the world some-
thing new ; but so far as we examined we saw noth-
ing essentially different from our present Bible. Con-
stantine's letter is on the first page, which we tran-
scribed. The historian will remember that in the
lAfe of ConstarUine (written by Eusebius Pamphili,
Bishop of Csesarea, who served him only a few years)
Eusebius writes as follows : " Ever mindful of the
welfare of those churches of God, the Emperor ad-
dressed me personally in a letter on the means of
providing copies of the inspired oracles." His letter,
which related to providing copies of the Scriptures
for reading in the churches, was to the following
purport :
^* Victor Condantine Maximus Augustus to Euse-
bius : It happens through the favoring of God our
Saviour, that great numbers have united themselves
to the most holy church in this city, which is called
by my name. It seems, therefore, highly requisite,
since the city is rapidly advancing in prosperity in
all other respects, that the number of churches should
also be increased. Do you, therefore, receive with
all readiness my determination on this behalf. I
have thought it expedient to instruct your Prudence
to order fifty copies of the sacred Scriptures, the
provisions and use of which you know to be most
needful for the instruction of the churches, to be
written on prepared parchment, in a legible manner,
and in a commodious and portable form, by tran-
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62 THE ARCHKO VOLUME.
scribers thoroughly practised in their art. The pro-
curator of the diocese has also received instructions
by letter from our Clemency to be careful to furnish
all things necessary for the preparation of such copies,
and it will be for you to take special care that they
be completed with as little delay as possible. You
have authority, also in virtue of this letter, to use
two of the public carriages for their conveyance, by
which arrangement the copies, when fairly written,
will most easily be forwarded for my personal inspec-
tion, and one of the deacons of your church may be
intrusted with this service, who, on his arrival here,
shall experience my liberality. God preserve you,
beloved brother."
Now this was done about three hundred and twenty-
seven years after the great questions were started, and
only about two hundred and seventy years after the
last apostle was dead. Suppose some one should write
a book denying that such a man as Washington ever
lived ; that there never was a revolution of the
United States against the King of England ; what
would people say of him? The children of this
country would rise up and show him to be false.
Then suppose there never was such a man as Jesus
Christ ; that he never was bom at Bethlehem ; that
he never had any disciples ; that they never organ-
ized a Christian Church ; and suppose someone
should say there was no persecution oi& the Christian
Church for two hundred years; what would you
think of a king doing such a thing as making the
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OONSTANTINBPS SCRIPTURES. 63
above-described books ? Kemember, too, that noth-
ing was written in those days but the most important
affairs of life, because only a few men could write,
and the means of writing were limited. Now, the
existence of these writings was never denied for
twelve to fourteen hundred years afterward. Their
intent and spirituality may have been denied, but
the facts never were. Now what ought we to think
of a man who would deny events that occurred two
thousand years ago, that were recorded in the rec-
ords of kings and historical writers, when he had
not one single record to prove it ? How can he know
that such records are false ? He would have no his-
tory, no records of those days to prove it ; and if
they were false, is it not reasonable to think that they
would have been proved so then ?
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CHAPTER IV.
Jonathan's interview with the bethlehem
shepherds — letter op melker, priest op
the synagogue at bethlehem.
Sanhedrim, 88 B. By R, Jose, Order No. 2.
Jonathan, son o! Heziel, questions the shepherds
and others at Bethlehem in regard to the strange
circumstances reported to have occurred there, and
reports to this court :
" Jonathan to the Mobsters of Israel, Servants of the
True Ood : In obedience to your order, I met with
two men, who said they were shepherds, and were
watching their flocks near Bethlehem. They told
me that while attending to their sheep, the night
being cold and chilly, some of them had made fires
to warm themselves, and some of them had laid down
and were asleep ; that they were awakened by those
who were keeping watch with the question, * What
does all this mean ? Behold, how light it is !' that
when they were aroused it was light as day. But
they knew it was not daylight, for it was only the
third watch. All at once the air seemed to be filled
with human voices, saying, * Glory ! Glory I Glory
to the most high God V and, * Happy art thou, Beth-
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J0NATBAIP8 INTERVIEW, 65
lehem, for God hath fulfilled His promise to the fath-
ers ; for in thy chambers is bom the King that shall
rule in righteousness.' Their shoutings would rise
up in the heavens^ and then would sink down in mel-
low strains, and roll along at the foot of the moun-
tains, and die away in the most soft and musical
manner they had ever heard ; then it would begin
again high up in the heavens, in the very vaults of
the sky, and descend in sweet and melodious strains,
so that they could not refrain from shouting and
weeping at the same time. The light would seem to
burst forth high up in the heavens, and then descend
in softer rays and light up the hills and valleys,
making everything more visible than the light of
the sun, though it was not so brilliant, but clearer,
like the brightest moon. I asked them how they felt
— if they were not afraid ; they said at first they
were ; but after awhile it seemed to calm their spirits,
and so fill their hearts with love and tranquillity that
they felt more like giving thanks than anything else.
They said it was around the whole city, and some
of the people were almost scared to death. Some
said the world was on fire ; some said the gods were
coming down to destroy them ; others said a star
had fallen ; until Melker the priest came out shout-
ing and clapping his hands, seeming to be frantic
with joy. The people all came crowding around
him, and he told them that it was the sign that God
was coming to fulfil His promise made to their father
Abraham. He told us that fourteen hundred years
before God had appeared to Abraham, and told him
5
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66 THE ABCltKO VOLUMR
'to put all Israel under bonds — sacred bonds o! obedi-
ence ; and if they would be faithful, he would give
them a Saviour to redeem them from sin, and that he
would give them eternal life, and that they should
hunger no more ; that the time of their suSering should
cease forever ; and that the sign of his coming would
be that light would shine from on high, and the angels
would announce his coming, and their voices should
be heard in the city, and the people should rejoice :
and a virgin that was pure should travail in pain
and bring forth her first bom, «.nd he should rule all
flesh by sanctifying it and making it obedient. After
Melker had addressed the people in a loud voice, he
and all the old Jews went into the sjmagogue and
remained there praising God and giving thanks.
" I went to see Melker, who related to me much
the same as the shepherds had reported. He told
me that he had lived in India, and that his father
had been priest at Antioch ; that he had studied the
sacred scrolls of God all his life, and that he knew
that the time had come, from signs given, for God
to visit and save the Jews from Roman oppression
and from their sins ; and as evidence he showed me
many quotations on the tripod respecting the matter.
" He said that next day three strangers from a great
distance called on him, and they went in search of
this young child ; and they found him and his
mother in the mouth of the cave, where there was a
shed projecting out for the sheltering of sheep ; that
his mother was married to a man named Joseph, and
she related to them the history of her child, saying
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JONATHAN'S INTER VIEW, 67
that an angel had visited her, and told her that she
should have a son, and she should call him Jesus,
for he should redeem his people from their sins ; and
he should call her blessed forever more.
" Whether this is true or not remains to be proved
in the future. There have been so many impostors
in the world, so many babes bom under pretended
miracles, and all have proved to be a failure, that
this one may be false, this woman only wishing to
hide her shame or court the favor of the Jews.
" I am informed that she will be tried by our law,
and, if she can give no better evidence of her virtue
than she has given to Melker, she will be stoned
according to our law, although, as Melker says, there
never has been a case before with such apparent
divine manifestations as were seen on this occa-
sion. In the past, in various instances, virgins have
pretended to be with child by the Holy Ghost, but
at the time of their delivery there was no light from
the heavens, and no angels talking among the clouds
and declaring that this was the King of the Jews.
And, as to the truth of these things, the whole of
the people of Bethlehem testify to having seen it, and
the Roman guard also came out and asked what it
meant, and they showed by their actions that they
were very much alarmed. These things, Melker
says, are all declared in the Scriptures to be the sign
of His coming. Melker is a man of great learning
and well versed in the prophecies, and he sends you
this letter, referring you to those prophecies :
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68 THE ABCHKO VOLUME,
" * Melker, Pried of the Synagogue of Bethlehem,
to the Higher Sanhedrim of the Jews at Jerusalem :
" * Holy Masters of Israel : I, your servant,
would call your attention to the words of the prophet
in regard to the forerunner, and the rise as well as
the conductor of a great and mighty nation, wherein
should dwell the true principles of righteousness and
the conductor of the outward formation of a national
domain of God upon earth. As evidence of the fact,
the vision and affliction that has befallen Zacharias
of late is enough to satisfy all men of the coming of
some great event ; and this babe of Elizabeth is the
beginning of better times.
" ' What has occurred here in the last few days,
as Jonathan will inform you, forever settles the ques-
tion that the day of our redemption is drawing nigh.
The sections of these divisions are three : First, the
general survey ; the original foundation and destiny
of man in his single state ; the proto-evangel ; the
full development of mankind ; the promises to the
fathers of the covenant people ; Judah, the leader
tribe ; section second, the Mosaic law and the Mosaic
outlook ; the prophecy of Baalam ; section third,
the anointed one ; and the prophets of the past exile :
Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi ; Malachi's proph-
ecy of the forerunner of the Lord. Now, noble
masters of Israel, if you will refer to the several
sections of the divine word, you will not fail to see
that all that has been spoken by the prophets in
regard to the works of God upon earth has been
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JONATHAN'S INTERVIEW, 69
fulfilled in the last few days in the two events, the
birth of the child of Elizabeth and that of Mary of
Bethlehem.
" * The unlimited freedom which some men take
with these holy writings of God, as to the above
prophecy, subjects us to the severest criticism. It
is, however, most satisfactory to see and hear that
the divine grandeur and authority of the sacred
oracles are in no way dependent on the solution of
carnal critics, but rest on an inward light shining
everywhere out of the bosom of a profound organic
unity and an interconnected relation with a consist-
ent and united teleology ; overleaping all time, the
historical present as well as the past, and all the past
brought to light in these two events that have just
transpired. Indeed, all past time is blending with
the present horizon, and the works of God in ages
past are just beginning to develop themselves at this
particular time, and the present scenes are bringing
us close on to the ways of God upon earth. While
we reverence these men of God, we should not
misquote their language. Take, for example, the
third section of Isaiah, where he prophesies of the
captive Israelites, instead of his consolation to the
captive. While one of his words refers to the future
condition and the reason therefor, the other is sweet
in consolation of the Israelites while in this state of
captivity, and full of the blessed promises in the
future.
" * But let the spirit of prophecy bear us on with
the prophet into future time, far beyond the king-
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70 THE ARCHKO VOLUME.
doms o! this world into a glorious future, regardless
of the Roman, Babylonian, or even the Maccabeean
rule or rulers ; but never forgetting that the prophet
is one who is divinely inspired, and is called, commis-
sioned, and qualified to declare the will as well as
the knowledge of God. Yes, he is a seer. His
prophecy is of the nature of a vision, involving and
enveloping all the faculties of the soul, and placing
the prophet in the attitude to God of being outside
the body and independent of it Yea, far better
without the body than with it ; for the further the
soul gets from the body the more active it becomes.
This fact is demonstrated in our dreams. The vivid
powers of the soul are much more active in dreams
than at any other time, the perception is clearer, and
the sensitive faculties are much more alive when
asleep than when awake. We see this verified in
the man dying. His eye is usually brighter, his
mind is clearer, his soul is freer and less selfish, as he
passes on and nears the eternal state.
" * So is the prophet. He becomes so personal
with God that he uses the personalities with seeming
presumption ; while it is the indwelling power of
God's spirit inflating the soul and sstting the tongue
on fire. So was the moving language of the words
to which you have been referred. It seems to me
those men of God saw distinctly the gathering light ;
they saw the travailing of the virgin, they saw the
helpless infant in the sheep trough ; they heard the
mighty chanting of the heavenly host ; they saw the
ambition of human nature in the Roman soldiery
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JONATHAN'S INTERVIEW. 71
aiming to destroy the child's life ; and in that infant
they saw human nature in its fallen and helpless
condition ; and it appears as if they saw the advance
of that infant into perfect manhood. As he be-
comes the theme of the world, his advancing nature
will triumph over all ; as he does escape the Roman
authority this day, so he will finally triumph over
all the world, and even death itself shall be destroyed.
" * We, as Jews, place too much confidence in the
outward appearance, while the idea we get of the
kingdom of heaven is all of a carnal nature, consist-
ing of forms and ceremonies. The prophecies re-
ferred to, and many other passages that I might men-
tion, all go to show that the kingdom of God is to
begin within us, in the inner life, and rule there, and
from the inner nature all outward actions are to flow
in conformity with the revealed and written teach-
ings and commands of God. So is the spirit of
prophecy. While it uses the natural organs of speech,
it at the same time controls all the faculties of life,
producing sometimes a real ecstacy, not mechani-
cal or loss of consciousness, though cut o5 for the
time from external relations. He is thus circum-
scribed to speak, as did Baalam, the words of God
with human life. This is to be held by us Jews as
of the first and greatest importance, and we are to
remember that his prophecy has the same reference
to the future that it does to the' past, and has respect
to the whole empire of man. While it specifies in-
dividuals and nations, it often has reference to doc-
trines and principles ; and in this light Israel is the
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72 THE ABCHKO VOLUME.
result of prophecy, as a nation with her religious
teachings. So is this virgin's babe born to be a ruler
of all nations of the earth. The Torah itself goes
back to prophecy, as well as every prophet stands on
the Torah, and on this rests all prophecy pronounc-
ing condemnation on the disobedient and blessings
on the faithful. It was on this principle that the
covenant of inheritance was made with Abraham,
and, in reality, so made with David. Thus all the
promises, political, ethical, judicial, and ritual, rest
on the Torah. In short, the whole administration
finds its authority in the prophetic vision, as set forth
by the commands of God, to regulate human life —
commencing in the inner life and working outward,
until the outward is like the inward ; and thus ad-
vancing on from individuals to nations.
" * The Messianic prophecy has no other justifica-
tion than this. On this rests the church, and on this
rests the theocracy. On this rests the glory of the
future kingdom of God upon earth.
" * The whole chain of prophecy is already fulfilled
in this babe ; but the development is only commenc-
ing. He will abolish the old cultus forever, but with
man it will develop commensurate with time itself.
There are many types in the shadow, in the plant, in
the animal. Every time the Komans celebrated a
triumph on the Tiber it shadowed forth the coming
Caesar ; so every suffering of David, or lamentation
of Job, or glory of Solomon — yea, every wail of
human sorrow, every throe of human grief, every
dying sigh, every falling bitter tear — was a type, a
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JONATHAN'S INTERVIEW. 73
prophecy o! the coming King o! the Jews and the
Saviour o! the world. Israel stands as a common
factor at every great epoch of history. The shading
of the colors of the prophetic painting does not oblit-
erate the prediction of the literal Israel's more glori-
ous future in the kingdom of God. Her historic
calling to meditate salvation to the nations is not
ended with this new-comer on the stage of earthly
life. The prophecy is eschatological, refining the
inner life as well as shaping the outer life in confor-
mity to good laws. Looking also to the end of time
and its great importance to us, it has something to
teach, and we have something to learn. Along the
ages past all the great, good, and happy have first
learned their duties, and then performed them : and
thus for thousands of years Israel has stood, hope
never dying in the Hebrew heart, and has been the
only appointed source of preserved knowledge of the
true God. And this day she stands as the great fac-
tor and centre around which all nations of the earth
must come for instruction to guide them, that they
may become better and happier.
" * These sacred scrolls which we Jews received
from God by the hand of Moses are the only hope of
the world. If they were lost to mankind, it would
be worse than putting out the sun, moon, and all the
stars of night, for this would be a loss of sacred light
to the souls of men. When we consider the sur-
roundings, there never has been a time more propi-
tious than the present for the establishing of the
true religion, and it seems, by reviewing our history
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74 THE ARCHKO VOLUMK
tor hundreds of years past, that this is the time tor
the ushering in of the true kingdom of Grod. The
nations of the earth that have been given to idolatry
are growing tired of placing confidence in jmd de-
pending on gods that do not help them in the hour of
danger, and they are now wanting a God that can
and will answer their calls.
" * King Herod sent for me the other day, and after
I related to him of the God of the Jews and His
works, of the many and mighty deeds He had per-
formed for our fathers and for us as a nation^ he
seemed to think, if there was such a God as we pro-
fessed, it was far better than to depend on such gods
as the Romans had made, of timber, stone, and iron ;
and even the gods of gold were powerless. He said
that if he could know that this babe that was de-
clared by the angels, was such a God as he that saved
the Israelites in the Red Sea, and saved Daniel, and
those three from the fearful heat of fire, he would
have pursued quite a different course toward him.
He was under the impression that he had come to
drive the Romans from their possessions, and to reign
as a monarch instead of Caesar. And I find this to be
the general feeling throughout the world, so far as I
can hear ; that the people want and are ready to re-
ceive a God that can demonstrate in his life that he
is such a God that the race of men can depend on in
time of trouble ; and if he can show such power to
his friends he will be feared by his enemies, and
thus become universally obeyed by all nations of the
earth. And this, I fear, is going to be a trouble with
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JONATHAN'S INTERVIEW. 75
our nation ; our people are going to look to him as a
temporal deliverer, and will aim to circumscribe him
to the Jews alone ; and when his actions begin to
flow out to all the inhabitants of the world in love
and charity, as is most certainly shown forth in the
ninth section of the holy prophet, then I fear the
Jews will reject him ; and, in fact, we are warned
of that already in the third section of Jeremiah's
word. To avoid this Israel must be taught that the
prophecy of Isaiah does not stop with the Babylo-
nian captivity and return to the kingdom of heaven,
and that Ezekiel's wheels do not whirl politically or
spiritually in heaven, but upon earth, and have refer-
ence to earthly revolutions or changes, and show the
bringing to pass of the great events of which this of
Bethlehem is the grandest of all.
" * Neither is the outlook of Daniel to be confined
to the shade of the Maccabeean wall of Jewish con-
quest. Nor are these great questions to be decided
by our unsuccessful attempts to find out what the
prophet meant or what he might have understood
himself to mean ; but from the unity, totality, and
organic connection of the whole body of prophecy,
as referring to the kingdom of this world becoming
subject to the kingdom of the Saviour of all men.
We, as Jews, are the only people that God has in-
trusted with the great questions, and, of course, the
world will look to and expect us to give interpreta-
tion to these questions ; and as we are intrusted with
these things, God will hold us responsible if we fail
to give the true light on this subject. Up to this
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76 IHE ABCHKO VOLUME.
time I am fearful the Jews as a nation are as much
divided, and perhaps as much mistaken, as to the
nature of His works, as any other people. I find,
by conversing with the Romans, Greeks, and others,
that all their knowledge of these things of Jewish
expectation of a Redeemer has been obtained from
the Jews, either directly or indirectly, and it was
through them Herod got the idea of his being a
temporal King, and to rule and reign by the might
of carnal weapons ; whereas, if we consult the spir-
itual import of the prophets, his office is to blend all
nations in one common brotherhood, and establish
love in the place of law, and that heart should throb
high with love to heart, and under this law a univer-
sal peace. Wherever one should meet another they
should meet as friends ; for what else can the prophet
mean, in section nine, where he shows that this King
shall destroy all carnal weapons and convert them
to a helpful purpose, and thus become the active
worker in doing good to all men, and teaching all
men to do good to each other ?
" * By reading all the scrolls of God we find that
the unity and totality of all the prophets go to bear
us out in this idea, and all have reference to this
Babe of Bethlehem. If we consult them as to the
time, taking the revolutions of Ezekiel's wheels, they
show plainly that the revolutions of the diSerent
governments of the world fix this as the time. Next,
consult them in regard to the individuals connected
with this great event. These are pointed to as the
virgin wife, by Zacharias ; next, the place has been
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JONATHAN'S INTERVIEW, 77
pointed out and named ; then the light and the ap-
pearing of the angels have all been set forth, and
also the opposition of the Romans has been declared.
Now, I ask the High Court of the living God to look
well on these things, and tell us how men that lived
in diSerent ages of the world, that lived in different
portions of the country — men that never knew each
other — men that were not prophesying for a party —
men that had no personal interest in the subject as
men — men that jeopardized, and some of them lost
their lives on account of having uttered these proph-
ecies — how could they all point out the place, the
time, and the names of the parties so plain and clear,
if it was not revealed to them and ordained by God
himself ? I understand that the Romans and some
of the priests have been saying that Zacharias was
a hypocrite, and that Mary was a bad woman Such
might be the case, so far as man is able to judge ;
but who, I ask, can forge such truth as these proph-
ecies, and make them come true ? Or who can cause
light to descend from the heavens and the angels
come down and make the declaration that this was
the Son of God, King of the Jews ?
" * Noble Masters of the Sanhedrim, I was not
alone. I am not the only witness of these things.
The principal people of Bethlehem saw them and
heard them as I did. I would say to you, if this is
not the Jews' King, then we need not look for any
other ; for every line of prophecy has been most com-
pletely fulfilled in him ; and if he does not appear
and save his own people I shall despair of ever being
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78 THE ABCHKO VOLUME,
released, and I shall believe that we have misinter-
preted the meaning of all the prophets. But I feel
so sure that this is he I shall wait in expectation and
with much anxiety, and I have no fears of any harm
befalling him. All the Romans in the world can-
not harm him ; and although Herod may rage,
may destroy all the infants in the world, the same
angels that attended his birth will watch over him
through life, and the Romans will have to contend
with the same God that Pharaoh did, and will meet
with similar defeat,' "
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CHAPTER V.
Gamaliel's interview with Joseph and mary
and others concerning jesus.
The hagiographa or holy writings, found in the
St. Sophia Mosque at Constantinople, made by Gama-
liel, in the Talmuds of the Jews, 27 B. It seems
Gamaliel was sent by the Sanhedrim to interrogate
Joseph and Mary in regard to this child Jesus. He
" I found Joseph and Mary in the city of Mecca,
in the land of Ammon or Moab. But I did not find
Jesus. When I went to the place where I was told
he was, he was somewhere else ; and thus I followed
him from place to place, until I despaired of finding
him at all. Whether he knew that I was in search
of him and did it to elude me, I cannot tell, though
I think it most likely the former was the reason, for
his mother says he is bashful and shuns company.
" Joseph is a wood-workman. He is very tall and
ugly. His hair looks as though it might have been
dark auburn when young. His eyes are gray and
vicious. He is anything but prepossessing in his
appearance, and he is as gross and glum as he looks.
(79)
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80 THE ARCHKO VOLUME,
He is but a poor talker, and it seems that yes and no
are the depth of his mind. I am satisfied he is very
disagreeable to his family. His children look very
much like him, and upon the whole I should call
them a third-rate family. I asked him who were his
parents. He said his father's name was Jacob, and
his grandfather was Matthew. He did not like to
talk on the subject. He is very jealous. I told him
that we had heard that he had had a vision, and I
was sent to ascertain the facts in the case. He said
he did not call it a vision ; he called it a dream. He
said after he and Mary had agreed to marry, it
seemed that something told him that Mary was with
child ; that he did not know whether he was asleep
or awake, but it made such an impression on his
mind that he concluded to have nothing more to do
with her ; and while he was working one day under
a shed, all at once a man in snowy white stood by
his side, and told him not to doubt the virtue of
Mary, for she was holy before the Lord ; that the
child conceived in her was not by man, but by the
Holy Ghost, and that the child would be free from
human passions. In order to do this he must — that
is, his humanity must — be of the extract of almah
(that is the Hebrew word for virgin), that he might en-
dure all things, and not resist, and fill the demands of
prophecy. He said the angel told him that this child
should be great and should rule all the kingdoms of
this world. He said that this child should set up a
new kingdom, wherein should dwell righteousness
and peace, and that the kingdoms of this world which
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GAMALIEL'S INTERVIEW. 81
should oppose him God would utterly destroy. I
asked him, How could a virgin conceive of herself
without the germination of the male ? He said :
" This is the work of God. He has brought to life
the womb of Elizabeth, so she had conceived and
will bear a son in her old age who will go before and
tell the people of the coming of this King." After
telling me all these things, he disappeared like the
melting down of a light. I then went and told Mary
what had occurred, and she told me that the same
angel, or one like him, had appeared to her and told
the same things. So I married Mary, thinking that
if what the angel had told us was true, it would be
greatly to our advantage ; but I am fearful we are
mistaken. Jesus seems to take no interest in us, nor
anything else much. I call him lazy and careless.
I do not think he will ever amount to much, much
less be a king. If he does, he must do a great deal
better than he has been doing.' I asked him how
long after that interview with the angel before the
child was bom. He said he did not know, but he
thought it was seven or eight months. I asked him
where they were at the time. He said in Bethlehem.
The Roman commander had given orders for all the
Jews to go on a certain day to be enrolled as tax-
payers, and he and Mary went to Bethlehem as the
nearest place of enrollment; and while there this
babe was bom. I asked if anjrthing strange occurred
there that night. He said that the people were
much excited, but he was so tired that he had gone
to sleep, and saw nothing. He said toward day there
6
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82 THEAnCHKO VOLUME.
were several priests came in to see them and the
babe, and gave them many presents. And the news
got circulated that this child was to be King of the
Jews, and it created such an exciteijaent that he took
the child and his mother and came to Moab for pro-
tection, for fear the Romans would kill the child to
keep it from being a rival to the Romans.
" I discovered that all Joseph's ideas were of a
selfish kind. All he thought of was himself. Mary-
is altogether a different character, and she is too
noble to be the wife of such a man. She seems to
be about forty or forty-five years of age, abounds
with a cheerful and happy spirit and is full of happy
fancies. She is fair to see, rather fleshy, has soft
and innocent-looking eyes, and seems to be naturally
a good woman. I asked her who her parents were,
and she said her father's name was Eli, and her
mother's name was Anna ; her grandmother's name
was Pennel, a widow of the tribe of Asher, of great
renown. I asked her if Jesus was the son of Joseph.
She said he was not. I asked her to relate the cir-
cumstances of the child's history. She said that one
day while she was grinding some meal there appeared
at the door a stranger in shining raiment, which
showed as bright as the light. She was very much
alarmed at his presence, and trembled like a leaf ;
but all her fears were calmed when he spoke to her ;
for he said : * Mary, thou art loved by the Lord and
He has sent me to tell thee that thou shalt have a
child ; that this child shall be great and rule all na-
tions of the earth.' She continued : * I immediately
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QAMALTEVS INTERVIEW, 83
thought of my engagement to Joseph, and supposed
that was the way the child was to come ; but he as-
tonished me the more when he told me that cousin
Elisabeth had conceived and would bear a son, whose
name was to be John ; and my son should be called
Jesus. This caused me to remember that Zacharias
had seen a vision and disputed with the angel, and
for that he was struck with dumbness, so that he
could no longer hold the priest's office. I asked the
messenger if Joseph knew anything of the matter.
He said that he told Joseph that I was to have a child
by command of the Holy Ghost, and that he was to
redeem his people from their sins, and was to reign
over the whole world ; that every man should confess
to him and he should rule over all the kings of the
earth.'
" I asked her how she knew that he was an angel,
and she said he told her so, and then she knew he
was an angel from the way he came and went. I
asked her to describe how he went away from her,
and she said that he seemed to melt away like the
extinguishing of a light. I asked her if she knew
anything of John the Baptist. She said he lived in
the mountains of Judea the last she knew of him.
I asked her if he and Jesus were acquainted, or did
they visit. She said she did not think they knew
each other.
" I asked her if at the time this angel, as she
called him, visited her, she was almah (that is, vir-
gin). She said she was ; that she had never showed
to man, nor was known by any man. I asked her
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84 THE ARCHKO VOLUME,
if she at that time maintained her fourchette ; and
after making her and Joseph understand what I
meant, they both said she had, and Joseph said this
was the way he had of testing her virtue. I asked
her if she knew when conception took place. She
said she did not. I asked her if she was in any pain
in bearing, or in delivering this child She said,
* None of any consequence.' I asked her if he was
healthy ; to give me a description of his life. She
said he was perfectly healthy ; that she never heard
him complain of any pain or dissatisfaction ; his
food always agreed with him ; that he would eat
anything set before him, and if anyone else com-
plained he would often say he thought it good
enough, much better than we deserved. She said
that Joseph was a little hard to please, but this boy
had answered him so often, and his answers were
so mild and yet so suitable, that he had almost
broken him of finding fault. She said he settled
all the disputes of the family ; that no odds what
was the subject or who it was, one word from him
closed all mouths, and what gave him such power
was his words were always unpretending and spoken
as though they were not intended as a rebuke,
but merely as a decision. I asked her if she had
ever seen him angry or out of humor. She said
she had seen him apparently vexed and grieved at
the disputes and follies of others, but had never seen
him angry. I asked her if he had any worldly
aspirations after money or wealth, or a great name,
or did he delight in fine dress, like the most of
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0AMALIEV8 INTER VIEW. 85
youth. She said that was one thing that vexed
her, he seemed to take no care of his person ; he
did not care whether he was dressed or not, or
whether the family got along well or ill ; it was all
alike to him. She said she talked to him about it,
and he would look at her a little grieved and say,
* Woman (for such he always called me), you do not
know who I am.' Indeed, she said he takes so little
interest in the things of the world and the great
questions of the day, they were beginning to despair
of his ever amounting to much — much less be a
king, as the angel said he would be; if so, he
would have to act very diSerently from what he was
acting at that time. I told her that the Jewish doc-
tors contended that the amorous disposition is pecu-
liar to the male. I asked her if she had ever seen
in the private life of Jesus any signs of such disposi-
tion. She said she had not. I asked if she saw in him
any particular fondness for female society. She said
she had not ; if anything, rather the contrary ; that
the young bethaul (the word in the Hebrew for young
women) were all very fond of him, and were always
seeking his society, and yet he seemed to care noth-
ing for them ; and if they appeared too fond of him,
he treated them almost with scorn. He will often
get up and leave them, and wander away and spend
his time in meditation and prayer. He is a perfect
ascetic in his life. 'When I see how the people
like to be with him, and ask him questions, and
seem to take such delight with his answers — ^both
men and women — it almost vexes me. They say
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86 THE ABCHKO VOLUME.
there is a young woman in Bethany whom he in-
tends to marry ; but unless he changes his course
very much he will never be qualified to have a
family. But I do not believe the report. He never
seems to me to care anything about women when he
is in my presence.'
" Thus it seems that Joseph and Mary have both
lost all confidence in his becoming anything They
seem to think that the Sanhedrim should do some-
thing for him to get him out and let him show
himself to the people. I tried to console them by
telling them that my understanding of the prophecy
was that he had to come to the high priesthood first,
and there work in the spiritual dominion of the
heart ; and when he had brought about a unity of
heart and oneness of aim, it would be easy enough
to establish his political claim ; and all who would
not willingly submit to him, it would be an easy
matter with the sword of Joshua or Gideon to bring
under his control. It seemed to me that his parents'
ideas are of a selfish character; that they care
nothing about the Jewish government nor the Roman
oppression. All they think of is self-exaltation, and
to be personally benefited by their son's greatness.
But I told them they were mistaken ; that the build-
ing up of the kingdom of heaven was not to be done by
might nor by power, but by the Spirit of the Lord,
and it would not do for us to use carnal weapons,
nor to expect carnal pleasures to be derived there-
from; that it was not my understanding of the
prophecy that this king was to use such weapons
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GAMALIELS INTERVIEW, 87
either for himself or for the benefit of a party, but
for the good of all men ; that his dominion was to
be universal, and it was to be of a spiritual charac-
ter ; that he was sent to the lost and not to the
found.
" His parents told me of an old man who lived on
the road to Bethany who had once been a priest, a
man of great learning, and well skilled in the laws
and prophets, and that Jesus was often there with
him reading the law and prophets together ; that his
name was Massalian, and that I might find Jesus
there. But he was not there. Massalian said he
was often at Bethany with a young family, and he
thought there was some love affair between him and
one of the girls. I asked him if he had seen any-
thing like a courtship between them. He said he
had not, but inferred from their intimacy and from
the fondness on the woman's part, as well as from
the laws of nature, that such would be the case. I
asked him to give me an outline of the character of
Jesus. He said that he was a young man of the
finest thought and feeling he ever saw in his life ;
that he was the most apt in his answers and solu-
tions of difficult problems of any man of his age he
had ever seen ; that his answers seem to give more
universal satisfaction — so much so that the oldest
philosopher would not dispute with him, or in any
manner join issue with him, or ask the second time.
I asked Massalian who taught him to read and in-
terpret the law and the prophets. He said that his
mother said that he had always known how to read
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the law ; that his mind seemed to master it from
the beginning ; and into the laws of nature and the
relation of man to his fellow in his teachings or
talks, he gives a deeper insight, inspiring mutual
love and strengthening the common trust of society.
Another plan he has of setting men right with the
laws of nature : he turns nature into a great law book
of illustrations, showing that every bush is a flame,
every rock a fountain of water, every star a pillar
of fire, and every eloud the one that leads to God.
He makes all nature preach the doctrine of trust
in the divine Fatherhood. He speaks of the lilies
as pledges of God's care, and points to the fowls as
evidence of his watchfulness over human aSairs.
Who can measure the distance between God and
the flower of the field ? What connection is there
between man and the lily? By such illustrations
he creates a solicitude in man that seems to awe him
into reverence, and he becomes attracted toward
heavenly thought, and feels that he is in the presence
of one that is superior. In this talk he brings one
to feel he is very near the presence of God. He
says how much more your Father. The plane is
one, though the intermediate points are immeasur-
ably distant. Thus by beginning with a flower he
reasons upward to the absolute, and then descends
and teaches lessons of trust in a loving Father.
The lessons of trust in God reassure the anxious
listener and create an appetite that makes him long
for more ; and it often seems, when he has brought
his hearers to the highest point of anxiety, he sud-
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QAMALIEDS INTERVIEW. 89
denly breaks oS and leaves his company as though
he cared nothing for them. Jesus in his talk brings
all these illustrations to make man feel his near-
ness to his kindred, man, teaching also their relation
to and dependence upon God ; and although his
method is happy, it does not seem to me that it is
the most successful. He teaches that man and the
flowers and birds drink from the same fountain
and are fed from the same table, yet at the same
time he geems to do everything to excite suspicion
and prejudice. We that are watching him to see
his divine mission commence, he is continually tan-
talizing our expectations, as well as mocking our
natural reason and desires. When a man separates
himself from all other men,- both in point of doctrine
as well as discipline, he takes a very great risk on
his part — especially when he confines God to one
channel, and that one of his own dictation. A man
that assumes these responsible positions must have
vast resources from which to draw, or he will sink in
the whirlpool which his own impertinence has created.
Through Jesus, in his teachings or talks (his words
sound so much like the teachings of Hillel or Sham-
mai that I must call it teaching, though he has no
special scholars), we learn that God is Spirit, and
God is Father ; and he says these are the only two
things that are essential for man to know. Then he
illustrates this to the parents, and asks them what
would they do for their children. He was telling
some mothers a circumstance of a mother starving
herself to feed her child, and then applied it to God
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90 THE ABCHKO VOLUME.
as our Father ; and they commenced shouting, they
were so happy ; and Jesus got up and left the house
in seeming disgust.
" Massalian says he is tempted at times to become
impatient with Jesus, as he devotes so much time to
details. It seems almost a waste of time for a man
who came to save the world to be lingering over a
special case of disease. He thinks he could hasten
Jesus's physical deportment. Why not speak one word
and remove every sick patient from his sick- bed at
the same hour? What a triumph this would be.
I asked him if Jesus had healed anyone. He said
not as yet ; but if he is to be King of the Jews,
he was to heal all nations, and why not do it at
once ? If he would, there would be nothing more
required to establish his kingship. But I said to
him, ' Is it not equally so with God's creative power ?
See what time and labor it takes to bring forth a
grain of corn. Why not have caused the earth to
bring forth every month instead of every year?
Clirist was talking in defence of his Father. The
people must learn to love and obey the Father before
they would reverence the Son. Yes, he said the
God that Jesus represented was one that the people
might love and venerate ; that he was a God of love,
and had no bloody designs to execute on even a bad
man, provided he ceased his evil ways.'
*' It is to be noted that in all Jesus*s talk there
are manifest references to the future. Many of
his statements were like a sealed letter — not to be
opened but by time. A grain of mustard was to
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OAMALIEDS INTERVIEW, 91
result in a large tree. All his ideas refer to the
future ; like the parent helping the child with his
burden of to-day, by telling of the blessings of to-
morrow ; and by making to-day the seed-corn of to-
morrow ; keeping the action of to-day under moral
control by making the morrow the day of judgment.
He stated further that Jesus was a young man who
was the best judge of human nature he had ever seen ;
that he thought at times he could tell men their
thoughts and expose their bad principles ; and while
he had all these advantages of life, he seemed not
to care for them nor to use them abusively. He
seems to like all men — one as well as another — so
much so that his own parents have become disgusted
with him, and have almost cast him o5. But Jesus
has such a peculiar temperament that he seems not
to care, and is as well satisfied with one as another.
He said that Jesus seemed fond of Mary and Martha,
who lived at Bethany, and probably I might find
him there.
" Massalian is a man of very deep thought and
most profound judgment. All his life he has made
the Scriptures his study. He, too, is a good judge
of human nature, and he is satisfied that Jesus is the
Christ. He said that Jesus seemed to understand
the prophecy by intuition. I asked him where Jesus
was taught to read the prophecy. He said that his
mother told him that Jesus could read from the be-
ginning ; that no one had ever taught him to read.
He said that he, in makiyg quotations from the
prophets, was sometimes mistaken or his memory
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92 THE ABCHKO VOLUME.
failed him ; but Jesus could correct him every time
without the scroll ; and that sometimes he thought
Jesus was certainly mistaken, but never in a single
instance was he wrong. I asked him to describe his
person to me, so that I might know him if I should
meet him. He said : * If you ever meet him you
will know him. While he is nothing but a man,
there is something about him that distinguishes him
from every other man. He is the picture of his
mother, only he has not her smooth, round face.
His hair is a little more golden than hers, though it
is as much from sunburn as anything else. He is
tall, and his shoulders are a little drooped ; his vis-
age is thin and of a swarthy complexion, though this
is from exposure. His eyes are large and a soft blue,
and rather dull and heavy. The lashes are long, and
his eyebrows very large. His nose is that of a Jew.
In fact, he reminds me of an old-fashioned Jew in
every sense of the word. He is not a great talker,
unless there is something brought up about heaven
and divine things, when his tongue moves glibly
and his eyes light up with a peculiar briUiancy ;
though there is this peculiarity about Jesus, he
never argues a question ; he never disputes. He
will commence and state facts, and they are on
such a solid basis that nobody will have the bold-
ness to dispute with him. Though he has such
mastership of judgment, he takes no pride in con-
futing his opponents, but always seems to be sorry
for them. I have seen him attacked by the scribes
and doctors of the law, and they seemed like little
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OAMALIEVS TNTERVIEW. 93
children learning their lessons under a master. His
strongest points are in the spiritual power of the
law and the intentions of the prophets. The young
people tried to get him to take a class of them and
teach them ; but he utterly refused.' This Jew is
convinced that he is the Messiah of the world.
" I went from there to Bethany, but Jesus was not
there. They said he and Lazarus were away, they
could not tell where. I went and saw Mary and
Martha, the sisters of Lazarus, and had a long talk
with them. They are very pleasant and nice young
maids, and Mary is quite handsome. I teased her
about Jesus, but they both denied that Jesus was
anything like a lover ; he was only a friend ; though
this is so common for young maids I did not know
whether to believe them or not until I told them my
real business. And when I told them that this was
the same person that was born of the virgin in Beth-
lehem some twenty-six years before, and that his
mother had told me all the facts in the case, they
seemed deeply interested. They then told me upon
their honor that Jesus never talked or even hinted
to either one of them on the subject of marriage.
Martha blushed, and said she wished he had. If
he was to be a king, she would like to be queen.
I asked them if they had ever seen him in the
company of young virgins. They said they had
not. I asked them if they had heard him talk
about young girls, or if he sought their society more
than that of men ; and they both declared they had
not ; and they were very much surprised that he did
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94 THE ARCffKO VOLUME.
not. I asked them what he talked of when in their
company ; and they said he was not much in their
company ; that he and their brother would go upon
the house-top and stay there half the night, and
sometimes all night, talking and arguing points of
interest to them both. Mary said she had often gone
near, so she could listen to them, for she loved to
hear him talk, he was so mild and unpretending,
and then was so intelligent that he was different
from any and all other young men she had ever seen.
I asked them what was their brother's opinion of
him. They said he thought there never was such a
man on earth. He thought him to be one of God's
prophets. He said when they are out in the moun-
tains, as they are most all the time, Jesus can tell
him all about the flowers, trees, and rocks, can tell
him everything in the world, and that none of the
wild animals are afraid of him. He says often the
stag and the wolf will come and stand for Jesus to
stroke their mane, and seem almost loath to go away
from him. He says that no poisonous serpent will
offer to hiss at him. Their brother thinks he is per-
fectly safe if Jesus is with him. I asked them if he
had ever told their brother anything about himself.
They said that if he had spoken to their brother he
had not told them.
" Now, Masters of Israel, after having inves-
tigated this matter ; after tracing Jesus from his
conception to the present time ; after obtaining all
the information that is to be had on this important
subject, getting it from those who are more likely
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GAMALIEVS INTERVIEW, 95
to tell the truth from the fact they are disinterested
persons ; and then taking a prophetical as well aa a
historical view of the subject, I have come to the con-
clusion that this is the Christ that we are looking for.
And as a reason for my conclusion, I will call your
attention to the following facts : First to the proph-
ecy of Isaiah, section 7 : * And he said, Hear now,
saith the Lord. Oh, house of David, is it a small
thing for you? Therefore the Lord himself shall
give you a sign ; behold, a virgin shall conceive and
bear a son, and shall call his name Grod with men.
Butter and honey shall he eat, that he may know to
refuse the evil and choose the good ; for before the
child shall know to refuse the evil and choose the
good the land that Gk)d abhorrest shall be forsaken
of her king.' Section 8 : * Bind the testimony ; seal
the law among his disciples ; the Lord will hide his
face from the house of Jacob, and he will look for
him.' Here is a literal fulfillment of this word of
the Most High God, so clear and plain that none
may mistake. Jeremiah, 31st section : ' Turn, oh
virgin, to thy people, for the hand of the Lord is
upon thee ; for the Lord shall create a new thing in
the earth ; a woman shall compass a man.' Here
again are set forth the same things that Isaiah speaks
of, and the same things that I have learned from
Mary. Micah, section 5 : ' Thou, Bethlehem Ephra-
tah, thou art little among the thousands of Judah ;
out of thee shall come forth unto me him that shall
rule my people. He is from everlasting ; and I will
give them up until the time she travaileth to bring
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96 QAMALIEVS INTERVIEW.
forth my first born, that he may rule all people.'
Here we have the city, the virgin, the office, his
manner of life, the seeking him by the Sanhedrim.
All these things are under our eyes as full and com-
plete as I now write them, who have all this testi-
mony given in this letter. How can we as a people
dispute these things ? In the 49th section of Genesis,
making reference to the history, that is now upon us,
the writer says : * A captive shall not depart from
Judah, nor a lawmaker from him, until Shiloh come,
and gather his people between his feet, and keep
them forever.' "
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CHAPTER VI.
REPORT OF CAIAPHAS TO THE SANHEDRIM CON-
CERNING THE EXECUTION OF JESUS.
Rbcobdsofthb Jerusalem Sanhedrim, by Eijezkr Hyran, B. 24.
Taken in Constaniinople, October 16, 1883.
'^Caiaphas, Pried of the Most High God, to the
Masters of Israel, greeting: In obedience to your
demands for a reason for my action in the case of
Jesus of Nazareth, and in defense of my conduct, I
beg leave to submit the following for your consider-
ation : I would assure you that it was not on account
of personal malice, envy, or hate, that existed in my
own nature, nor for the want of a willingness upon
my part to conform to the Jewish law in its strictest
sense. I had but very little personal knowledge of
the Nazarene. The most I knew of this man was
from outside sources. Nor was it because he claimed
to be King of the Jews, nor because he said he was
the Son of God — I would that he were — nor because
he prophesied or ignored the holy temple. No, nor
all of these combined. There is a cause, and a more
weighty matter, back of all these things that con-
trolled my action in the matter. Therefore, I hope
you will investigate strictly on legal principles the
reasons that I may give
7 (97)
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98 TSE AltCBKO VOLUME.
" In order that you may be able to see and weigh
the question fully, and remember the responsibility
that rests upon me according to the laws of our na-
tion, I will ask you to go back with me to the chron-
icles of our history as a commonwealth. First, our
faith is pledged to one living and true God, this God
being indescribable, unchangeable, incomprehensi-
ble, and, of course, unnameable. But yet in our
daily communications with, and our applications to
Him, He has been pleased to give us His name, or
His several names, according to His relations to us,
and they are found nowhere, only in the ark of His
holy temple — ^there where He presents to us His
strength and power. He calls himself Eloi, which
means almighty in strength ; that He can do what
He will without effort ; that He does the greatest
thing as easy as He does the least. This makes Him
different from all beings. In His holy ark He re-
cords Himself Elaah — existence without beginning,
and no contingency as to His end. Again, He writes
Himself Hhelejon — unchangeable ; that is, nothing
but His own will can change Him. Again, He re-
cords His name Jah — knowledge that comprehends
without being comprehended. Again He is written
Adonai — full and free, and freely full. Combining
the several names we have Jehovah — the Hebrew
God. A man never can go wrong while he can pro-
nounce this name in its comprehensive sense. This
is where the Zealots, the Sadducees, and Essenes had
their origin, and it is the want of being able to pro-
nounce this name in its comprehensive sense that
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REPORT OF CATAPHAS. 99
causes so much dissension amoi^ us Jews. Jesus
could pronounce this name, but he stole it out of
the temple, as I am creditably informed.
" But the object in calling your attention to pro-
nouncing this name, with all its bearings, may be
seen if we turn to the third Book of Leviticus, sec-
tion 10, wherein is the special order made by our
God to Moses, that we should oifer the bullock, the
ram, the flour and oil, and the people should fast
seven days, and this should be kaphar, or atone-
ment for the sins of all the people. Now, unless
Moses was deceived, he has deceived us, or Jesus of
Nazareth is a false teacher ; for all he teaches is
metanoeUe, metanoeitey as though a man's being sorry
for a crime would make restitution to the offended
party. A man might repent ever so much, but what
good would that do toward healing the man he had
injured ? None in the least. This mode of making
atonement was ordained of God and revealed to
Moses ; but if man has nothing to do but to repent,
the disease carries its own remedy with it. So a man
can sin as often as he may wish to. Look at the
first book, section 3 : * And God said to Abraham,
by his own mouth, that each and all that were cir-
cumcised by the cutting of the prepuce should be
saved.' This should be the seal of the covenant.
Now, if this is not true, God must go against His own
contract, violate His own promises, as well as deceive
the faith and cheat the obedience of His own chil-
dren. This is all so, if Jesus's teaching be true, for he
sets up table (baptism) as the seal of God. I refer
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100 THE ARCHKO VOLUME.
you to section 10/ division first, where God said to
Moses that He had changed the laws, converted the
elements for the protection of His people, and with
His own arm had delivered them out of a strong
compact ; and that they might remember, and that
the generation to be born might remember and never
forget to trust in Him when in danger, He said that
once every year we should roast a kid or lamb, and
eat it with unleavened bread, and this should be the
sign that we would trust in Him in all times of dan-
ger. Now Jesus teaches that common bread and
wine are to be used instead thereof — a thing unheard
of. And not only so, something that is altogether
repugnant to Grod, and something that fosters drunk-
enness, and is well qualified to excite men's passions.
And oh, ye Masters of Israel, but think once. Jesus
calls himself the Son of Grod ; claims to have been
born of almxih (the Hebrew word for virgin) ; that
he and his Father are one — ^they are equal. These
things will establish the following conclusions : If
he is right, his Father is false. If they were one,
then their teachings would be one; and if his
teachings are true, God's must be wrong, or there
are not those perfections in Him that we learn
in pronouncing His holy name. By tolerating the
teachings of Jesus, we say to the Romans that all of
our former teachings are false ; that the Hebrew's
God is not to be trusted ; that He is weak, wanting
in forethought ; that He is vacillating and not to be
trusted, much less to be honored and obeyed. Thus
the world will lose confidence in our God, and confi-
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REPORT OF CAIAPHA8. 101
dence in us as a religious people. This is impregnat-
ing the whole atmosphere with moral pollution. It
does not only cut off, but blocks the way of all Jews
from heaven ; and not only this, it excludes our hope
in the salvation of our forefathers, who have obeyed
Grod in His ordinances, believed in His promises, and
shouted in the triumphs of a holy life for fourteen
hundred years. He entirely ignores God's holy temple
— ^the house Gk)d had built by our forefathers under
His own supervision,where He promised to dwell with
His children, to hear their prayers, and to be pleased
with their sacrifices. This temple is the bond of the
Jews. Here all men can come and be blessed. It
is the earthly home of the souls of men — the place
where men may hide from the storms of sin and per-
secution. This temple is where the foolish may learn
wisdom, the place where the naked soul can be
clothed, and where the hungry may be fed. This
the grandest gift of our Father. Jesus completely
ignores this temple ; says the priests have made it a
den of thieves ; and sets up a sneer, and even scoffs
at its sacred ordinances, and with a sort of selfish
triumph says it shall be destroyed ; and from his
manner of saying it, I have no doubt he would be
glad to see it quickly done. But what would be the
condition of our people if this temple was removed ?
What would be the use of the priesthood if the temple
was destroyed? Where would we find an answer
by Urim and Thummim ? How would the soul of
man be purified, if the holy Bathkole, the Euroch of
God, shoidd depart ? There in that sacred temple of
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102 THE ARCHKO VOLUME.
God he has been burning to the consuming of sin
and the purifying of the heart since our return from
bondage in Babylon. My argument is, if this tem-
ple is destroyed, or even forsaken by the Jews, we as a
nation are utterly ruined. We might as well put our
necks under the feet of idolatry and give up all hope.
" One more subject I place before my Masters of
Israel. Is it compatible with our religion, or is it
consistent with philosophy, or admitted in His holy
Word, that there can be more gods than one ? When
we pronounce Ele Laah Shaddiai-Hhelyon Adonai
(which is Jehovah), there can be but one living God.
By reference to section 6, No. four. He says by mouth
of Moses, when he was all aglow with the glory of God
— and remember He speaks either by mouth or quill ;
it is He that speaks, and not man — He says, * The
Lord your God is one God ; there can be but one.
I am and have been with you ; I brought you up ; I
delivered you out of a strong compact ; I delivered
you out of their hand and kept you dry, while your
enemies were drowned in the sea. I will not forsake
you. I promised your father I would not. But if
you forsake Me, then desolation will come upon you,
and have you in swift destruction.' In section 5,
three and four of David's Song of Joy : * I am Gtxi
alone. If I turn to the right or to the left, if I go
down into the depths of the sea, or into the centre
of the earth, or over the heavens, I should find no
companion.' In section 3 He says : * I am God alone,
and alone I am Gk)d ; beside Me there is no help for
man nor angels.' Then in section 13, this command
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REPORT OF CAIAPHAS. 103
has been given : * Thou shall pay to the Lord thy
God once a year a half-shekel of silver, that thou and
thy children, and all the strangers that are within
thy gate, may know that there is no God beside Me,
on whom they may call in time of danger/ Now,
having all these commands and teachings from the
very lips of God himself before my eyes, and being
held responsible for the soundness of our doctrine
and the proper inculcation of the same among the
people of the Jews, what was I to do? Could I
stand as the priest of the Most High God, and see
your blessed religion perverted by an impostor?
Could I stand and see the holy temple of our God
deserted and forsaken ? Could I stand and see all
the holy ordinances, which had been appointed by
our God for securing salvation to Israel, perverted
by an impostor ? All the blessed doctrines that were
appointed for the government and instruction of the
priesthood, thence to be imparted to the youth of our
land, set aside, and that by one that could show no
authority, only the authority of John the Baptist,
who could give no authority only the one who sent
him to baptize, and he could not tell who he was, nor
whence he came ? Hence you can see the responsible
position that I as the high priest of God and of the
Jewish Church occupied. According to our laws I
was made responsible, and stood between my God and
my people, to protect them in doctrine and govern-
ment. I refer you to the capitulation made by the
Sanhedrim and Augustus Caesar, in the holy Tosephta
of the Talmuds. We submitted to taxation by the
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104 THE ABCHKO VOLUME.
Romans, and the Romans are to protect our holy
religion from foreign foes, in order that the holy
temple or any of its sacred ordinances should never
be molested, nor the holy city, Jerusalem, be polluted
by Roman idolatry. Now the insinuating plan
adopted by Jesus was well qualified to deceive the
common people. It had already led many to forsake
the temple, and hold her ordinances in derision, as
well as to neglect the teachings of the priest or to
pay the tithes for their supplies. He had already
inculcated into the Jewish mind his pernicious ways
of being saved to that extent that the Jewish cause
was almost lost. There are two reasons for this :
First, the people to whom he preached were an ignor-
ant set, and knew but very little about doctrine of
any kind. They are a restless sort of men, who are
always finding fault and wanting something new, and
never associate with the more enlightened part of the
community in order to learn. Another reason of
his having many followers is, his doctrines are con-
genial to unsanctified flesh. They are so suited to
human nature that they require no sacrifices ; they
need not go to the temple to worship God ; they
need not fast, and they can when and where they
please ; they need pay no tithes to keep up the tem-
ple or the priesthood, but every man can be his own
priest and worship God as he chooses. All this is so
compatible with human nature that, although he has
not been preaching over three years, he has more fol-
lowers to-day than Abraham has, and they have be-
come perfectly hostile toward tlie Jews that are faith-
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REPORT OF CAIAPHAS. 105
ful to their God ; and, if it had not been for the
Roman soldiers, on the day of his execution we would
have had one of the bloodiest insurrections ever
known to the Jewish commonwealth. I am told
that there was never seen such a concourse of people
assembled at Jerusalem as at the cross. One of my
guards informs me that there were several hundred
thousand, and, although there were two others cru-
cified at the same time, Jesus was the great centre of
attraction. They would call out, * Who is this Jesus
of Nazareth? What is his crime?' Some of his
friends would cry out, * Nothing ; he is being executed
because he was a friend to the poor.' *Take him
down ! Take him down,' they would cry out, and
the soldiers would have to use their spears to keep
them back. But when he yielded up the ghost he
proved to all that he was hypostatical (that is, a
human body), and the lodi curios had come from
the iclandic covenant, and his trinitatis unUas was
all a sham, for how could this unpronounced name
suffer or be captured by men, or die, unless he is the
one that is to die for the many ? And if so, I was
only accomplishing God's holy purposes, which ex-
onerates me from guilt.
" But it seems to me a necessity that he should be
removed. That this may be evident to your minds,
I ask you to contrast our present condition with the
past. Jesus of Nazareth spent two years in Egypt
under the instruction of Rabbi Joshua, and learned
the art of thaumaturgy to perfection, as has never
been taught in any of the schools of necromancy
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1 06 THE ARCHKO VOL UME.
among the heathen. I! the healing miracles of Jesus
are true, as they must be (for they are so acknowledged
by his foes as well as his friends), he must have
learned it from Horus and Serapis, as practised by
those heathen priests. He came back to Palestine
as a physician, and was by nature an enthusiast as
well as a Hebrew patriarch, and when John's preach-
ing excited idealistic minds, Jesus also went to that
teacher, and was inspired by him to inculcate and
promulgate his doctrines. Notwithstanding his
youth and inexperience, Jesus started out as a pub-
lic orator and teacher with the doctrines of John,
and in that capacity referred exclusively to his au-
thority, as every public teacher in these days has to
be ordained by some acknowledged authority. As
long as John was at large, Jesus in the capacity of
an itinerant teacher and physician roused the people
of Galilee to metanoia (repentance of sin), to bring
about a restoration of the kingdom of heaven. He
met with the same opposition that John did from
those who would not admit that they were more sin-
ful than their progenitors were, or that asceticism
was the proper means for the re3toration of the king-
dom of heaven. But he met with the same success
among the lower classes, such as foreign harlots,
Sodomites, publicans, and other Roman agents, but
the intelligent portion remained cold and unmoved
by his enthusiasm. The cures which he performed
appeared miraculous to his followers, but most ridic-
ulous to the intelligent Jews and men of sober and
reflective minds.
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REPORT OF CAIAPHAS. 107
"Jesus embraced the humanitariaa doctrine of
the Hillelites, presenting conspicuously the cosmo-
politan spirit of Judaism, and he did it almost in
the words of HiUel, who had taught it before. Their
faith and doctrine being alike, it was not hard for
him to create excitement, or to find plenty of follow-
ers. In addition to all this, he taught a system of
low morals, and so void of all ritualistic ideas that
it was easy for him to get any number of followers.
He taught the people that there was but one living
and true God, but he taught them that he was that
God, and that his father was merged into himself,
and could not manifest himself only through him,
which theory would confute itself if they would only
stop to reflect, for as he was hypostatical or corpo-
real, his assistance was cut off from all that was not
immediately in his presence, which is altogether in-
compatible with the faith of the Jews. Right in the
face of this doctrine he would teach that there was
a special providence, as well as a general providence,
as if there could be a general providence without a
God that could be present in all places at all times,
as we learn in pronouncing His name. He taught
that the dead will rise and live again in a future state
of happiness or misery according as they have lived
here. Therefore he taught future rewards and pun-
ishments ; but he being present, how could he reward
in the future ? He taught the revelation and the
prophets, but contradicted all they teach. . He taught
the election of Israel by the Almighty, but ignored
all the doctrines of Israel. He taught the eternity
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108 THE ABCHKO VOLUME,
of God's laws, and promises in the super-importance
of the humanitarian over the ritual laws and doc-
trines, but I do not think he wished to abolish the
latter, or even the traditional laws, but merely to
supersede them by a higher life. The natural result
of all this was that he disregarded the laws of Levit-
ical cleanness, which were considered so important
by the Shammaites and Essenes, and also by the
Hillelites. This is the point where division com-
menced, and the breach grew wider and wider until
an insurrection must have been the result. He so
far cut himself loose from the Jews that he ate with
unclean sinners, publicans, and lepers, and permitted
harlots to touch him, while his disciples went so far
as to eat their meals without washing themselves.
Furthermore, he looked upon the whole of the Leviti-
cal institutions, temples, sacrifices, and priesthood in-
cluded, as no longer necessary and not worth the life
of the animal. This was certainly the opinion of
the Hillelites. Jesus, it seems, found in this Hillelite
school a party furnished to hand, ready to take up
with his heresy (and a large party they are, almost
sufficient to divide the whole Jewish commonwealth).
They taught the repentance of sin, the practice of
benevolence and charity, the education of the young,
and good-will toward mankind, as possessing much
more moral worth than all the Levitical cleanness,
or compliance with the whole moral law given to us
by our God to govern us. His preaching was of
the parabolical style. He would rely on a text of
scripture, for he seemed to hold the scriptures in high
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REPORT OF CAIAPHAS. 109
veneration, so his preaching was on the midrash style
of the scribes — a maxim expressed in the style of
Solon or of Sirach's son. His great object was to
come as near the Jewish theology as possible so as to
destroy the Jiews' entirely, and establish his own.
Hence he resorted to the allegorical method of the
Egyptian Hebrews, uttering many good and wise
sayings, which were not new to the learned, but
which were taken from the common wisdom of the
country, which was known by all who were ac-
quainted with the literature of the rabbis. But
they were new to his class of hearers, who were not
accustomed to listen to the wise. He had no educa-
tion, comparatively speaking." He was full of ner-
vous excitement, all of which went to inspire his
hearers with enthusiasm. He took but little care of
his health or person ; cared not for his own relatives.
He travelled mostly on foot in the company of his
disciples and some suspicious women, and lived on
the charity of his friends. He seemed to take no
notice of the political affairs of his country ; would
as soon be governed by one nation as another. In
fact, it seemed if he had any preference it was for
the Romans. It seems that he became so infatuated
that he really thought he was the head of the king-
dom of heaven. This manner of preaching, along
with his presumption, aroused his enemies to a pow-
erful pit^jh, and it was all I could do to keep the
zealots from mobbing him in the temple. They had
no confidence in a doctrine that set the Jewish laws
at naught, and mocked the priesthood of God, and
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no THEARCHKO VOLUME.
they with the Sadducees and scribes were not willing
to submit to a man who acknowledged no authority
higher than himself, and was seemingly endeavor-
ing to overturn everything that they held more
sacred and dearer than life. Jesus's mode and man-
ner were well qualified to deceive the unsuspecting.
' Let us have all things in common/ said he, ' and
he that would be greatest among you will prove his
greatness by rendering the greatest service to all,
and if any of the higher powers compel thee to go a
mile, let him that is compelled go ten miles.' This
caused him to be attacked more in his policy than
in his doctrine. The great question with us Jews
was, here are the Romans upon us ; how can we get
rid of them ? Jesus's idea was to let the Romans
alone ; it matters not who rules and governs the-
nations ; if they abuse you, love them in return, and
they cannot be your enemies long ; no man can con-
tinue to abuse another who returns injuries with
love. Keep from them ; pray in secret for the re-
turn of the kingdom o! heaven and God's grace, and
this will soon make all things right. * Pay your
taxes,' he would say to them ; ' it is only Caesar's
money you pay, which is unlawful for you to have —
unlawful on account of its idolatrous effigies.' Again,
he would say to his hearers, ' You cannot conquer
the Romans ; better convert them, and they are your
enemies no longer. They already have your temple
in their possession ; their yoke is getting heavier every
day, and the more you fight against them the more
they will abuse you ; therefore, your only chance is
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REPORT OF CAIAPHAS, HI
to love them, and try to make your yoke easy and
your burden light by having them your friends/
Indeed, the conduct of Jesus was so strange and
incompatible with the interest of the Jews as a
nation, that it seemed to me that he was a subject
employed by the Romans to keep the Jews submis-
sive and obedient to all their tyranny and abuse.
" This policy was most powerfully attacked by the
officiating priest, by the Shammaites and Zealots,
and, in fact, the whole Jewish nation was becoming
aroused to a war heat. The reprimands of Jesus
were so severe against the rich and highly educated
that they had turned against him, and brought all
the power they had, both of their wealth and talent,
so that I saw that a bloody insurrection was brewing
fast. The public mind of the Jews was becoming more
and more divided and corrupt ; heretical doctrines
were being diffused all over the land ; the temple was
forsaken and the holy sacraments neglected ; the peo-
ple were dividing into sects, and these breaches were
like a rent in a garment — ^tearing wider apart con-
tinually. As it seemed to me, the whole of the Jew-
ish theocracy was about to be blown away as a bubble
on a breaker.
' ' As the Jews became more and more divided and
confused, the tyranny of the Romans increased. All
they wanted was an excuse to slaughter the Jews
and confiscate their property. At this time both the
doctrine and religion of the Jews were spreading
rapidly all over Rome, which gave the Romans great
alarm. Sejane undertook to have an ordinance
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112 THE ABCHKO VOLUME.
passed in the Senate, abolishing the Jewish religion
from Rome ; and when he found it would cause an
insurrection, they banished all the Jews from Rome,
and back they came to Judea with all their idolatry
and heresy, and many other corrupt principles from
the Romans, which fitted them to join any party for
profit. Up to this time the Roman governors had
shown great kindness to the Jews. There never was
a better man than Hyrcan. The Jews enjoyed great
peace during his administration. But Tiberias has
turned against us ; Pilate has removed the army from
Caesarea to Jerusalem. I say, no nation with any
self-respect, or one that had any energy left, would
or could stand it without a struggle.
" Now, the preaching of John the Baptist an(^
Jesus of Nazareth had brought all these things upon
us. When Herod Antipas captured John, it quieted
matters in Galilee, so that they had peace until Jesus
started it«up afresh. I had issued orders to Jesus
to desist from preaching, unless he taught as the
Jews taught. He sent me the impertinent word that
his doctrine was not of this world, but had reference
to the world to come ; when he was all the time
doing all he could to destroy the peace and harmony
of this world. Now, according to our law in the
Saphra, by Jose. B. Talmud, it devolves on me to
see that the people have sound doctrine taught them.
Hence it is my duty to examine all the midrashim,
or sermons, of all the preaching priests, and if any-
one teach the people wrongly, or if his conduct is not
in correspondence with his profession, to cause him
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REPORT OF CATAPHA8, 113
to desist ; or if any disregard the holy laws of ablu-
tion, or in any way defile himself, or if he shall be
guilty of misconduct in any way, either in manner
of life or doctrine, to adjudge such an one, and pro-
nounce sentence for his crime upon him. This I did
upon Jesus of Nazareth, to save the Church from
heresy, and to save the cause of the Jewish common-
wealth from final ruin. But understand that I did
not act rashly nor illegally, as I am accused. I only
passed sentence under the protest and order of the
whole court belonging to the high priest, containing
twelve members, or elders, and priests. Thus you
will see it was not my voluntary act, but was a legal
one and in accordance with law. After I examined
Jesus on the various charges, he said in the presence
of all the court that each and all of them were true.
I then reasoned with him, and asked him, if the court
of the high priest would forgive him of these charges
would he desist from these things in all time to come.
He answered most emphatically and positively he
would not. Under these circumstances I was com-
pelled, according to our law, to sentence him to die ;
for if he continued to promulgate his pernicious here-
sies the Jews, as a nation, must perish with their re-
ligion. And, as you find in the Toseppta, that the
nation has always the right of self-preservation, and
as we had conceded the right to the Romans of ex-
ecuting our criminal laws, it became my painful duty
to send him to Pontius Pilate, with the following
charges:
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114 THE ARCSKO VOLUME.
** ^ Caiaphds, High Priest of the Most High Ood,
to Pontius Pilate, Governor of the Roman Provin^s :
" ' Jesus of Nazareth is thus charged by the High
Court of the Jews :
" * First, with teaching the doctrine that there are
more gods than one, which is contrary to the teach-
ings of the Jewish law, which he most positively re-
fuses to desist from in the presence of this court.
" ' Second, he teaches that he is a God, which is'
contrary to the Jewish law, and he is visible and
comprehensible ; and, after being asked to desist by
this court, he most positively affirms that he is the
Son of God.
" ' Third, he teach'^s and affirms that the Bath hole
(Holy Spirit) cannot come until he goes away, which
is contrary to the teachings of the Jews ; because it
was He that brooded over the waters, and has been
in the habitual light of the world ever since ; from
all of which he refuses to desist.
" ' He teaches baptism as the seal of Gt)d, instead
of circumcision, which was established by the decrees
of God with Abraham as a seal of the Jews ; and
when abjured to desist by this court declared he
would not.
" ' He teaches asceticism as the means of salvation,
contrary to the Jewish custom ; and affirmed in the
presence of this court he would not desist.
" ' He teaches that the Levitical ablution is of no
service, while we hold that the outward washing is
the sign of inward purity ; and when abjured to
desist he emphatically refused.
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REPORT OF CAIAPHAS. 115
" ' He has abrogated the ordinance given by God
to Moses of the pascal supper, wherein we should
roast a lamb and eat it with unleavened bread ; but
Jesus has introduced a custom altogether different —
without any authority. He has introduced common
bread and wine, which are not only forbidden, but are
well qualified to excite men's passions and make them
forget God rather than to remember and trust Him,
this feast having been introduced that we should
remember to trust Him in the hours of trouble.
When asked why he did this, all he would say was :
** Hitherto I work, and my Father works.'*
" ' He has abrogated the priesthood, and set the
temple at naught, which is the very life's blood of
the Jewish faith.
" * Were it not that God our Father has given us
these holy ordinances we would not be so tenacious
of them. We know they are the pillars upon which
the Jewish theocracy is built, and that we cannot
live without them. Although Jesus of Nazareth has
been abjured time and again to stop teaching these
ways of death, he has as often declared he would
not ; therefore it devolves on me as the proper and
the only officer to pronounce sentence upon him.'
" These charges were written by my scribe, and
sent with the officers to Pilate for his consent. Of
course, I did not expect him to execute him as he
did, but it seems that the mob was so great that
Pilate never received them. I expected Pilate to
send Jesus back to me, so that I could send him to
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116 THE ARGHKO VOLUME.
you for your approval ; and if so, then I would pro-
ceed to try him with Urim and Thummim, with the
regular lackteea on guard, as our law requires ; but
it seems that Pilate thirsted for his blood. Like all
guilty tyrants, he was afraid of his own shadow, and
wished to destroy everything that threatened his
power.
" With these reasons for my actions, I submit the
case which I am sure will be considered favorably by
my Masters of Israel."
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CHAPTER VII.
REPORT OP CAIAPHAS TO THE SANHEDRIM CON-
CERNING THE RESURRECTION OF JESUS.
After having made the preceding record of
Caiaphas, on unwinding the same scroll we found
another report from him. It may be interesting to
the reader to know what we mean by a scroll. It is
similar to parchment. The Hebrew word numet
means a pulp made from the bark of the reed into
a paste, and dried in the sun until it is hard ; when
pressed and polished it shines beautifully, and its
surface is as smooth as our paper. It is of two kinds :
one is called papyrus^ the other hierotike. The latter
is more costly, and is used by priests alone. It is
about sixteen inches wide, and is cemented together
by a gum that exudes from a tree resembling our elm.
It is written upon with some kind of indelible ink
or paint, with a common reed quill, which is fash-
ioned like our pens. The writing is done by the
sopher, which is the Hebrew word for scribe. He is
called grammateus by the Greeks. The report of
Caiaphas is written in what is known as the square
Hebrew. The letters are from a half-inch to an
inch in size, so that one can imagine what a roll of
(117)
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118 THE ARCHKO VOLUME.
parchment it would take to record a deed It is read
only with difficulty by the best Hebrew scholars, and
they must have text-books to assist them. But after
one has gotten the thread of the subject he can get
along with it. This is the reason I got Dr. Mcintosh
to go with me. He and Dr. Twyman have been in
the business for many years. The windlass, as it
might be called (for it more resembles our common
rope-winders than anything I can think of), is a
square piece of timber, about three inches in diame-
ter, to which the scroll is fastened at one end, around
which it is rolled like a spool. At the proper dis-
tance are tied two transverse sticks to hold the parch-
ment to its proper place. The windlass with the
scroll is placed at one end of a table, and an empty
windlass at the other end, so that as you unwind
from the one to read, the scroll winds around the
other. The letters are very distinct. There are
hundreds of these arranged in rows. They are all
lettered and numbered with their dates on them.
This makes it easy to find anything desired. There
is another class of books of fine sheep or goat skin,
about eight by twelve inches. The writing on these
is very fine and difficult to read. They are bound
between cedar boards, with clasps, and contain from
eight to forty sheets to the book. These are the kind
of books of which Josephus wrote seventy-two.
But to return to Caiaphas's report. After unwind-
ing several feet, as before stated, we came across
another communication from Caiaphas ; I hardly
know whether to call it a resignation or a confession.
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CAIAPHAS ON THE RESURRECTION. 119
One thing I do know, it is one of the most solemn
things that I have ever read. We thanked God
that we had come to Constantinople, and that Mo-
hammed had given orders to preserve these sacred
scrolls in the mosque of St. Sophia. It is as follows :
''Sanhedrim, 89. By Siphri II, 7.:
" To You, Masters of Israel : As I have made a
former defence to you, and you have approved the
same, I feel in duty bound to communicate to you
some facts that have come to my knowledge since
that communication. A few days after the execution
of Jesus of Nazareth the report of his resurrection
from the dead became so common that I found it
nece^ary to investigate it, because the excitement
was more intense than before, and my own life as
well as that of Pilate was in danger. I sent for
Malkus, the captain of the royal city guard, who
informed me he knew nothing personally, as he had
placed Isham in command of the guard ; but from
what he could learn from the soldiers the scene was
av/e-inspiring, and the report was so generally be-
lieved that it was useless to deny it. He thought
my only chance was to suppress it among the soldiers,
and have John and Peter banished to Crete, or
arrested and imprisoned, and if they would not be
quiet, to treat them as I had treated Jesus. He said
that all the soldiers he had conversed with were con-
vinced that Jesus was resurrected by supernatural
power and was still living, and that he was no hu-
man being, for the light and the angels and the dead
that came out of their graves all went to prove that
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120 THE ABCHKO VOLUME.
something had happened that never occurred on
earth before. He said that John and Peter were
spreading it all over the country, and that if Jesus
would appear at the head of a host, and declare for
the king of the Jews, he believed all the Jews would
fight for him. I sent for the lieutenant^ who gave a
lengthy account of the occurrence that morning, all
of which I suppose you have learned, and will inves-
tigate. From this I am convinced that something
transcending the laws of nature took place that
morning, that cannot be accounted for upon natural
laws, and I find it is useless to try to get any of the
soldiers to deny it, for they are so excited that they
cannot be reasoned with. I regret that I had the
soldiers placed at the tomb, for the very things that
they were to prevent they have helped to establish.
" After questioning the soldiers and oflicers to my
satisfaction, my mind being so disturbed that I could
neither eat nor sleep, I sent for John and Peter.
They came and brought Mary and Joanna, who are
the women that went to embalm Jesus's body the
morning of the resurrection, as it is called. They
were very interesting as they related the circum-
stances. Mary says that when they went day was
just breaking. They met the soldiers returning from
the sepulchre, and saw nothing strange until they
came to the tomb, and found that it was empty. The
stone that covered the sepulchre was rolled to one
side, and two men dressed in flowing white were sit-
ting, one at each end of the sepulchre. Mary asked
them where was her Lord ; they said, * He is risen
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CAIAPHAS ON THE RESURRECTION. 121
from the dead ; did he not tell you he would rise the
third day and show himself to the people, to prove
that he was the Lord of life ?' Go tell his disciples,
said they. Joanna said she saw but one man ; but
this discrepancy must have been due to their excite-
ment, because they say they were much alarmed.
They both say that as they returned they met the
Master, who told them that he was the resurrection
and the life ; all that will accept shall be resurrected
from the second death. * We fell at his feet, all
bathed in tears, and when we rose up he was gone.'
Both these women wept for joy while relating these
circumstances, and John shouted aloud, which made
me tremble in every limb, for I could not help think-
ing that something that was the exclusive work of
God had occurred, but what it all meant was a great
mystery to me. It might be, I said, that God had
sent this message by the mouth of this stranger ; it
might be that he was the seed of the woman, and we
his people had executed him.
" I asked John and Peter if they could give me
any further evidence in regard to this man ; that I
wished to be informed of his private history. Peter
said that Jesus passed by where he was, and bade
him follow him, and he felt attracted to him, but at
first it was more through curiosity than anything in
the man ; that he soon became acquainted with Mary,
who told him that he was her son, and related to him
the strange circumstances of his birth, and that she
was convinced that he was to be the king of the Jews.
She spoke of many strange things concerning his life.
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122 THE ARCHKO VOLUME.
which made Peter feel more interested in him than he
would have been, otherwise. He said that Jesus was a
man so pleasant in his character, and so like a child
in innocence, that no one could help liking him after
he got acquainted with him ; that though he seemed
to be stern and cold, he was not so in reality ; that
he was exceedingly kind, especially to the poor ;
that he would make any sacrifice for the sick and
needy, and would spare no effort to impart knowl-
edge to anyone that would call on him, and that his
knowledge was so profound that he had seen him
interrogated by the most learned doctors of the law,
and he always gave the most perfect satisfaction, and
that the sop her or scribes, and the Hillelites, and
Shammaites were afraid to open their mouths in his
presence. They had attacked him so often and been
repelled that they shunned him as they would a
wolf ; but when he had repelled them he did not
enioy the triumph as they did over others of whom
they had gotten the ascendency. As to his private
life, he seemed not to be a man of pleasure, nor of sor-
row. He mingled with society to benefit it, and yet
took no part at all in what was going on. * I had
heard many tell of what occurred when he was bap-
tized, and from what his mother told me I was watch-
ing for a display of his divine power, if he had any,
for I knew he could never be king of the Jews
unless he did have help from on high. Once when
we were attending a marriage-feast the wine gave
out, and his mother told him of it, and he said
to the men to fill up some water-pots that were
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CAIAPHAS ON THE RESUBBECTION. 123
sitting near, and they put in nothing but water, for
I watched them, but when they poured it out it
was wine, for it was tasted by all at the feast, and
when the master found it out he called for Jesus to
honor him, but he had disappeared. It seemed that
he did not want to be popular, and this spirit dis-
pleased us, for we knew if he was to be king of the
Jews he must become popular with the Jews. His
behavior angered his mother, for she was doing all
she could to bring him into notice, and to make him
popular among the people, and the people could not
help liking him when they saw l^im. Another pecu-
liarity was that in his presence everyone felt safe.
There seemed to be an almighty power pervading
the air wherever he went so that everyone felt secure,
and believed that no harm could befall them if Jesus
were present. As we were in our fishing-boat I saw
Jesus coming out toward us, walking on the water.
I knew that if he could make the waves support
him, he could me also. I asked him if I might come
to him ; he said to me to come, but when I saw the
waves gathering around me I began to sink, and
asked him. to help me. He lifted me up, and told
me to have faith in God. On another occasion we
were sailing on the sea, and there was a great storm.
It blew at a fearful rate, and all on board thought
they would be lost ; we awakened the master, and
when he saw the raging of the storm he stretched
out his hand and said, " Peace, be still !" and the
wind ceased to blow, the thunder stopped, the light-
nings withdrew, and the billowing sea seenied as
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124 THE ARCHKO VOLUME,
quiet as a babe in its mother's arms — all done in one
moment of time. This I saw with my own eyes, and
from that time I was convinced that he was not a
common man. Neither did he work by enchantment
like the Egyptian thaumaturgists, for in all their
tricks they never attack the laws of nature. In vain
might they order the thunder to hush, or the winds to
abate, or the lightnings to cease their flashing. Again,
I saw this man while we were passing from Jericho.
There was a blind man, who cried out to him for
mercy, and Jesus said to me, " Go, bring him near,"
and when I brought him near Jesus asked him what
he wanted. He said he wanted to see him. Jesus
said, " Receive thy sight," when he was not near
enough for Jesus to lay his hands upon him or use
any art. Thus were all his miracles performed. He
did not act as the Egyptian necromancers. They
use vessels, such as cups, bags, and jugs, and many
other things to deceive. Jesus used nothing but his
simple speech in such a way that all could underatand
him, and it seemed as if the laws of nature were his
main instruments of action, and that nature was as
obedient to him as a slave is to his master. I recall
another occasion when a young man was dead, and
Jesus loved his sisters. One of them went with Jesus
to the tomb. He commanded it to be uncovered.
The sister said, " Master, by this time he is offensive ;
he has been dead four days." Jesus said, " Only have
faith," and he called the young man by name, and he
came forth out of the tomb, and is living to-day,' and
Peter proposed that I should see him for myself.
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CAT APR AS ON THE RESURRECTION. 125
" Thus argue Peter and John. If Jesus had such
power over nature and nature's laws, and power over
death in others, he would have such power over death
that he could lay down his life and take it up again,
as he said he would do. As he proposes to bring hun-
dreds of witnesses to prove all he says, and much more
— witnesses whose veracity cannot be doubted — and
as I had heard many of these things before from differ-
ent men, both friends and foes (and although these
things are related by his friends — ^that is, the friends
of Jesus — yet these men talk like men of truth, and
their testimony corroborates other evidence that I
have from other sources, that convinces me that this
is something that should not be rashly dealt with),
and seeing the humble trust and confidence of these
men and women, besides, as John says, thousands of
others equally strong in their belief, it throws me
into great agitation. I feel some dreadful forebod-
ing-— a weight upon my heart. I cannot feel as a
criminal from the fact that I was acting according
to my best judgment with the evidence before me.
I feel that I was acting in defence of God and my
country, which I love better than my life, and if I
was mistaken, I was honest in my mistake. And as
we teach that honesty of purpose gives character to
the action, on this basis I shall try to clear myself of
any charge, yet there is a conscious fear about my
heart, so that I have no rest day or night. I feel
sure that if I should meet Jesus I would fall dead
at his feet ; and it seemed to me if I went out J
should be sure to meet him.
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126 THE ARCHKO VOLUME.
" In this state of conscious dread I remained in-
vestigating the Scriptures to know more about the
prophecies concerning this man, but found nothing
to satisfy my mind. I locked my door and gave the
guards orders to let no one in without first giving me
Notice. While thus engaged, with no one in the
room but my wife and Annas, her father, when I
lifted up my eyes, behold Jesus of Nazareth stood
before me. My breath stopped, my blopd ran cold,
and I was in the act of falling, when he spoke and
said, * Be not afraid, it is I. You condemned me
that you might go free. This is the work of my
Father. Your only wrong is, you have a wicked
heart ; this you must repent of. This last lamb
you have slain is the one that was appointed before
the foundation ; this sacrifice is made for all men.
Your other lambs were for those who oSered them ;
this is for all, this is the last ; it is for you if you
will accept it. I died that you and all mankind
might be saved.' At this he looked at me with such
melting tenderness that it seemed to me I was noth-
ing but tears, and my strength was all gone. I fell
on my face at his feet as one that was dead. When
Annas lifted me up Jesus was gone, and the door
still locked. No one could tell when or where he
went.
" So, noble Masters, I do not feel that I can offici-
ate as priest any more. If this strange personage is
,from God, and should prove to be the Saviour we
have looked for so long, and I have been the means
of crucifying him, I liave no further offerings to
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OAIAPHAS ON THE RESURRECTION, 127
make for sin ; but I will wait and see how these
things will develop. And if he proves to be the
ruler that we are looking for, they will soon develop
into something more grand in the future. His glory
will increase ; his influence will spread wider and
wider, until the whole earth shall be full of his glory,
and all the kingdoms of the world shall be his do-
minion. Such are the teachings of the prophets on
this subject. Therefore you will appoint Jonathan,
or some one, to fill the holy place."
[We found that, soon after, Jonathan became high
priest, though history teaches us differently. —
Mahan.]
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CHAPTER VIII.
VALLEUS'S NOTES. — ^ACTA PILATI, OR PILATE'S BE-
PORT TO CiESAR OF THE ARREST, TRIAL, AND
CRUCIFIXION OF JESUS.
Valleus Paterculus, a Roman historian, was
nineteen yeare old when Jesus was born. His works
have been thought to be extinct. I know of but
two historians that make reference to his writings,
Priscian and Tacitus, who speak of him as a de-
scendant of an equestrian family of Campania.
From what we gather from these writers, Valleus
must have been a close friend of Caesar, who raised
him by degrees until he became one of the great men
of Rome, and for sixteen years commanded the army.
He returned to Rome in the year 31 and finished
his work, which was called Historia Romania. He
held the office of praetor when Augustus died, and
while Vinceus was consul.
Valleus says that in Judea he met a man called
Jesus of Nazareth, who was one of the most re-
markable characters he had ever seen ; that he was
more afraid of Jesus than of a whole army, for he
cured all manner of diseases and raised the dead,
and when he cursed the orchards or fruit-trees for
(128)
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PILATE'S BEPOBT, 129
their barrenness, they instantly withered to their
roots. After referring to the wonderful works of
Jesus, he says that, although Jesus had such power,
he did not use it to injure any one, but seemed always
inclined to help the poor. Valleus says the Jews
were divided in their opinion of him, the poorer class
claiming him as their king and their deliverer from
Roman authority, and that if Jesus should raise an
army and give it the power he could sweep the
world in a single day ; but the rich Jews hated and
cursed him behind his back, and called him an
Egyptian necromancer, though they were as afraid
of him as of death ( Valleus Faterculvs^ B. 72, found
in the Vatican at Eome).
PILATE 8 REPORT.
" To Tiberius C.«»ar, Emperor of Rome.
^^Noble Sovereign, Greeting : The events of the last
few days in my province have been of such a char-
acter that I will give the details in full as they
occurred, as I should not be surprised if, in the
course of time, they may change the destiny of our
nation, for it seems of late that all the gods have
ceased to be propitious. I am almost ready to say.
Cursed be the day that I succeeded Vallerius Flaceus
in the government of Judea ; for since then my life
has been one of continual uneasiness and distress.
" On my arrival at Jerusalem I took possession
of the prsetorium, and ordered a splendid feast to be
9
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130 THE ARCHKO VOLUME.
prepared, to which I invited the tetrarch of Gralilee,
with the high priest and his officers. At the ap-
pointed hour no guests appeared. This I considered
an insult offered to my dignity, and to the whole
government which I represent. A few days after
the high priest deigned to pay me a visit. His de-
portment was grave and deceitful. He pretended
that his religion forbade him and his attendants to
sit at the table of the Romans, and eat and offer liba-
tions with them, but this was only a sanctimonious
seeming, for his very countenance betrayed his hypoc-
risy. Although I thought it expedient to accept
his excuse, from that moment I was convinced
that the conquered had declared themselves the
enemy of the conquerors; and I would warn the
Romans to beware of the high priests of this coun-
try. They would betray their own mother to gain
office and a luxurious living. It seems to me that,
of conquered cities, Jerusalem is the most difficult
to govern. So turbulent are the people that I live
in momentary dread of an insurrection. I have not
soldiers sufficient to suppress it. I had only one
centurian and a hundred men at my command. I
requested a reinforcement from the prefect of Syria,
who informed me that he had scarcely troops suffi-
cient to defend his own province. An insatiate thirst
for conquest to extend our empire beyond the means
of defending it, I fear, will be the cause of the final
overthrow of our whole government, I lived secluded
from the masses, for I did not know what those priests
might influence the rabble to do ; yet I endeavored
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PILATE'S REPORT, 131
to ascertain, as far as I coul3, the mind and standing
of the people.
"Among the various rumors that came tojny ears
there was one in particular that attracted my atten-
tion. A young man, it was said, had appeared in
Galilee preaching with a noble unction a new law in
the name of the God that had sent him. At first I
was apprehensive that his design was to stir up the
people against the Romans, but my fears were soon
dispelled. Jesus of Nazareth spoke rather as friend
of the Romans than of the Jews. One day in pass-
ing by the place of Siloe, where there was a great
concourse of people, I observed in the midst of the
group a young man who was leaning against a tree,
calmly addressing the multitude. I was told it was
Jesus. This I could easily have suspected, so great
was the diSerence between him and those listening
to him. His golden-colored hair and beard gave to
his appearance a celestial aspect. He appeared to
be about thirty years of age. Never have I seen a
sweeter or more serene countenance. What a con-
trast between him and his hearers, with their black
beards and tawny complexions !
" Unwilling to interrupt him by my presence, I
continued my walk, but signified to my secretary to
join the group and listen. My secretary's name is
Manlius. He is the grandson of the chief of the
conspirators who encamped in Etruria waiting for
Cataline. Manlius had been for a long time an in-
habitant of Judea, and is well acquainted with the
Hebrew language. He was devoted to me, and
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132 THE ARCHKO VOLUME,
worthy of my confidence. On entering the prseto-
rium I found Manlius, who related to me the words
Jesus had pronounced at Silpe. Never have I read
in the works of the philosophers anything that can
compare to the maxims of Jesus. One of the rebel-
lious Jews, so numerous in Jerusalem, having asked
Jesus if it was lawful to give tribute to Caesar, he
replied : * Render unto Caesar the things that belong
to Caesar, and unto God the things that are God's.'
" It was on account of the wisdom of his sayings
that I granted so much liberty to the Nazarene ; for
it was in my power to have had him arrested, and
exiled to Pontus ; but that would have been contrary
to the justice which has always characterized the
Roman government in all its dealings with men ;
this man was neither seditious nor rebellious ; I ex-
tended to him my protection, unknown perhaps to
himself. He was at liberty to act, to speak, to assem-
ble and address the people, and to choose disciples,
unrestrained by any praetorian mandate. Should it
ever happen (may the gods avert the omen !), should
it ever happen, I say, that the religion of our fore-
fathers will be supplanted by the religion of Jesus,
it will be to this noble toleration that Rome shall
owe her premature death, while I, miserable wretch,
will have been the instrument of what the Jews
call Providence, and we call destiny.
"This unlimited freedom granted to Jesus pro-
voked the Jews — ^not the poor, but the rich and pow-
erful. It is true, Jesus was severe on the latter, and
this was a political reason, in my opinion, for not
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PILATE'S REPORT. 133
restraining the liberty of the Nazarene. 'Scribes
and Pharisees/ he would say to them, * you are a
race of vipers ; you resemble painted sepulchres ;
you appear well unto men, but you have death within
you.* At other times he would sneer at the alms of
the rich and proud, telling them that the mite of the
poor was more precious in the sight of God. Com-
plaints were daily made at the prsetorium against the
insolence of Jesus.
" I was even informed that some misfortune would
befall him ; that it would not be the first time that
Jerusalem had stoned those who called themselves
prophets ; an appeal would be made to Caesar. How-
ever, my conduct was approved by the Senate, and
I was promised a reinforcement after the termination
of the Parthian war.
" Being too weak to suppress an insurrection, I
resolved upon adopting a measure that promised to
restore the tranquillity of the city without subjecting
the prsetorium to humiliating concession. I wrote to
Jesus requesting an interview with him at the praeto-
rium. He came. You know that in my veins flows
the Spanish mixed with Roman blood — ^as incapable
of fear as it is of weak emotion. When the Naza-
rene made his appearance, I was walking in my
basilic, and my f set seemed fastened with an iron
hand to the marble pavement, and I trembled in
every limb as does a guilty culprit, though the Naza-
rene was as calm as innocence itself. When he came
up to me he stopped, and by a signal sign he seemed
to say to me, * I am here/ though he spoke not a word.
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134 THE ARCHKO VOLUME.
For some time I contemplated with admiration and
awe this extraordinary type of man — a type of man
unknown to our numerous painters, who have given
form and figure to all the gods and the heroes. There
was nothing about him that was repelling in its char-
acter, yet I felt too awed and tremulous to approach
him.
" * Jesus,* said I unto him at last — and my tongue
faltered — * Jesus of Nazareth, for the last three
years I have granted you ample freedom of speech ;
nor do I regret it. Your words are those of a sage.
I know not whether you have read Socrates or Plato,
but this I know, there is in your discourses a majes-
tic simplicity that elevates you far above those phi-
losophers. The Emperor is informed of it, and I,
his humble representative in this country, am glad
of having allowed you that liberty of which you are
so worthy. However, I must not conceal from you
that your discourses have raised up against you
powerful and inveterate enemies. Nor is this sur-
prising. Socrates had his enemies, and he fell a vic-
tim to their hatred. Yours are doubly incensed —
against you on account of your discourses being so
severe upon their conduct ; against me on account
of the liberty I have afforded you. They even ac-
cuse me of being indirectly leagued with you for the
purpose of depriving the Hebrews of the little civil
power which Rome has left them. My request — I
do not say my order — ^is, that you be more circum-
spect and moderate in your discourses in the future,
and more considerate of them, lest you arouse the
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PILATE'S REPORT. 135
pride of your enemies, and they raise against you the
stupid populace, and compel me to employ the instru-
ments of law/
" The Nazarene calmly replied : * Prince of the
earth, your words proceed not from true wisdom.
Say to the torrent to stop in the midst of the moun-
tain-gorge : it will uproot the trees of the valley.
The torrent will answer you that it obeys the laws
of nature and the Creator. God alone knows whither
flow the waters of the torrent. Verily I say unto
you, before the rose of Sharon blossoms the blood of
the just shall be spilt.'
" * Your blood shall not be spilt,' said I, with deep
emotion ; * you are more precious in my estimation
on account of your wisdom than all the turbulent
and proud Pharisees who abuse the freedom granted
them by the Romans. They conspire against Caesar,
and convert his bounty into fear, impressing the un-
learned that Caesar is a tyrant and seeks their ruin.
Insolent wretches ! they are not aware that the wolf
of the Tiber sometimes clothes himself with the skin
of the sheep to accomplish his wicked designs. I
will protect you against them. My praetorium shall
be an asylum, sacred both day and night.'
" Jesus carelessly shook his head, and said with a
grave and divine smile : * When the day shall haye
come there will be no asylums for the son of man,
neither in the earth nor under the earth. The asy-
lum of the just is there,' pointing to the heavens.
* That which is written in the books of the prophets
must be accomplished.'
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136 THE ABGHKO VOLUME.
" * Young man/ I answered, mildly, * you will
oblige me to convert my request into an order. The
safety of the province which has been confided to
my care requires it. You must observe more mod-
eration in your discourses. Do not infringe my
order. You know the consequences. May happiness
attend you ; farewell.*
" * Prince of the earth,' replied Jesus, * I come not
to bring war into the world, but peace, love, and
charity. I was born the same day on which Augus-
tus Csesar gave peace to the Roman world. Perse-
cutions proceed not from me. I expect it from others,
and will meet it in obedience to the will of my Father,
who has shown me the way. Restrain, therefore,
your worldly prudence. It is not in your power to
arrest the victim at the foot of the tabernacle of
expiation.'
** So saying, he disappeared like a bright shadow
behind the curtains of the basilic — to my great relief,
for I felt a heavy burden on me, of which I could
not relieve myself while in his presence.
** To Herod, who then reigned in Galilee, the ene-
mies of Jesus addressed themselves, to wreak their
vengeance on the Nazarene. Had Herod consulted
his own inclinations, he would have ordered Jesus
immediately to be put to death ; but, though proud
of his royal dignity, yet he hesitated to commit
an act that might lessen his influence with the
Senate, or, like me, was afraid of Jesus. But
it would never do for a Roman officer to be scared
by a Jew. Previously to this, Herod called on me
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PILATE'S BEPOBT. 137
at the prsetorium, and, on rising to take leave, after
some trifling conversation, asked me what was my
opinion concerning the Nazarene. I replied that
Jesus appeared to me to be one of those great philos-
ophers that great nations sometimes produced ; that
his doctrines were by no means sacrilegious, and that
the intentions of Rome were to leave him to that
freedom of speech which was justified by his actions.
Herod smiled maliciously, and, saluting me with
ironical respect, departed.
" The great feast of the Jews was approaching,
and the intention was to avail themselves of the pop-
ular exultation which always manifests itself at the
solemnities of a passover. The city was overflow-
ing with a tumultuous populace, clamoring for the
death of the Nazarene. My emissaries informed
me that the treasure of the temple had been em-
ployed in bribing the people. The danger was press-
ing. A Roman centurion had been insulted. I
wrote to the Prefect of Syria for a hundred foot-
soldiers and as many cavalry. He declined. I saw
myself alone with a handful of veterans in the midst
of a rebellious city, too weak to suppress an upris-
ing, and having no choice left but to tolerate it.
They had seized upon Jesus, and the seditious rab-
ble, although they had nothing to fear from the prae-
torium, believing, as their leaders-had told them, that
I winked at their sedition — continued vociferating :
* Crucify him ! Crucify him !'
" Three powerful parties had combined together
at that time against Jesus : First, the Herodians and
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138 THE ABCHKO VOLUME.
the Sadducees, whose seditious conduct seemed to
have proceeded from double motives : they hated the
Nazarene and were impatient of the Roman yoke.
They never forgave me for having entered the holy
city with banners that bore the image of the Roman
emperor ; and although in this instance I had com-
mitted a fatal error, yet the sacrilege did not appear
less heinous in their eyes. Another grievance also
rankled in their bosoms. I had proposed to employ
a part of the treasure of the temple in erecting edi-
fices for public use. My proposal was scorned. The
Pharisees were the avowed enemies of Jesus. They
cared not for the government. They bore with bit-
terness the severe reprimands which the Nazarene
for three years had been continually giving them
wherever he went. Timid and too weak to act by
themselves, they had embraced the quarrels of the
Herodians and the Sadducees. Besides these three
parties, I had to contend against the reckless and
profligate populace, always ready to join a sedition,
and to profit by the disorder and confusion that
resulted therefrom.
" Jesus was dragged before the High Priest and
coodemned to death. It was then that the High
Priest, Caiaphas, performed a divisory act of submis-
sion. He sent his prisoner to me to confirm his con-
demnation and secure his execution. I answered
him that, as Jesus was a Galilean, the aifair came
under Herod's jurisdiction, and ordered him to be sent
thither. The wily tetrarch professed humility, and,
protesting his deference to the lieutenant of Caesar,
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PILATE'S REPORT, 139
he committed the fate of the man to my hands.
Soon my palace assumed the aspect of a besieged
citadel. Every moment increased the number of
the malcontents. Jerusalem was inundated with
crowds from the mountains of Nazareth. All Judea
appeared to be pouring into the city.
I had taken a wife from among the Gauls, who
pretended to see into futurity. Weeping and throw-
ing herself at my feet she said to me : * Beware, beware,
and touch not that man ; for he is holy. Last night I
saw him in a vision. He was walking on the waters ;
he was flying on the wings of the wind. He spoke
to the tempest and to the fishes of the lake ; all were
obedient to him. Behold, the torrent in Mount Ked-
ron flows with blood, the statues of Caesar are filled
with gemonide ; the columns of the interium have
given away, and the sun is veiled in mourning like a
vestal in the tomb. Ah ! Pilate, evil awaits thee. If
thou wilt not listen to the vows of thy wife, dread
the curse of a Roman Senate ; dread the frowns
of Caesar.'
" By this time the marble stairs groaned under
the weight of the multitude. The Nazarene was
brought back to me. I proceeded to the halls of
justice, followed by my guard, and asked the people
in a severe tone what they demanded.
" * The death of the Nazarene,' was the reply.
" * For what crime ?'
" * He has blasphemed ; he has prophesied the ruin
of the temple ; he calls himself the Son of God, the
Messiah, the King of the Jews.'
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140 THE ABCHKO VOLUME.
" * Roman justice/ said I, * punishes not such
oSences with death/
" * Crucify him ! Crucify him !' cried the relent-
less rabble. The vociferations of the infuriated mob
shook the palace to its foundations.
" There was but one who appeared to be calm in
the midst of the vast multitude ; it was the Naza-
rene. After many fruitless attempts to protect him
from the fury of his merciless persecutors, I adopted
a measure which at the moment appeared to me
to be the only one that could save his life. I pro-
posed, as it was their custom to deliver a prisoner
on such occasions, to release Jesus and let him go
free, that he might be the scapegoat, as they called
it ; but they said Jesus must be crucified. I then
spoke to them of the inconsistency of their course as
being incompatible with their laws, showing that no
criminal judge could pass sentence on a criminal
unless he had fasted one whole day ; and that the sen-
tence must have the consent of the Sanhedrim, and the
signature of the president of that court ; that no
criminal could be executed on the same day his sen-
tence was fixed, and the next day, on the day of his
execution, the Sanhedrim was required to review the
whole proceeding ; also, according to their law, a
man was stationed at the door of the court with a
flag, and another a short way off on horseback to cry
the name of the criminal and his crime, and the names
of his witnesses, and to know if any one could testify
in his favor ; and the prisoner on his way to execu-
tion had the right to turn back three times, and to
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PILATE'S REPORT. 141
plead any new thing in his favor. I urged all these
pleas, hoping they might awe them into subjection ;
but they still cried, * Crucify him I Crucify him !*
" I then ordered Jesus to be scourged, hoping this
might satisfy them ; but it only increased their fury.
I then called for a basin, and washed my hands in
the presence of the clamorous multitude, thus testify-
ing that in my judgment Jesus of Nazareth had done
nothing deserving of death ; but in vain. It was his
life these wretches thirsted for.
" Often in our civil commotions have I witnessed
the furious anger of the multitude, but nothing could
be compared to what I witnessed on this occasion.
It might have been truly said that all the phantoms
of the infernal regions had assembled at Jerusalem.
The crowd appeared not to walk, but to be borne off
and whirled as a vortex, rolling along in living waves
from the portals of the prsetorium even unto Mount
Zion, with howling screams, shrieks, and vocifera-
tions such as were never heard in the seditions of
the Pannonia, or in the tumults of the forum.
" By degrees the day darkened like a winter's
twilight, such as had been at the death of the great
Julius Caesar. It was likewise the Ides of March.
I, the continued governor of a rebellious province,
was leaning against a column of my basilic, contem-
plating athwart the dreary gloom these fiends of Tar-
tarus dragging to execution the innocent Nazarene.
All around me was deserted. Jerusalem had vom-
ited forth her indwellers through the funeral gate
that leads to Gemonica. An air of desolation and
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142 THE ABCHKO VOLUME.
sadness enveloped me. My guards had joined the
cavalry, and the centurion, with a display of power,
was endeavoring to keep order. I was left alone, and
my breaking heart admonished me that what was
passing at that moment appertained rather to the
history of the gods than that of men. A loud
clamor was heard proceeding from Golgotha, which,
borne on the winds, seemed to announce an agony
such as was never heard by mortal ears. Dark clouds
lowered over the pinnacle of the temple, and setting
over the city covered it as with a veil. So dreadful
were the signs that men saw both in the heavens and
on the earth that Dionysius the Areopagite is re-
ported to have exclaimed, * Either the author of
nature is suffering or the universe is falling apart.'
" Whilst these appalling scenes of nature were
transpiring, there was a dreadful earthquake in lower
Egypt, which filled everbody with fear, and scared
the superstitious Jews almost to death. It is said
Balthasar, an aged and learned Jew of Antioch, was
found dead after the excitement was over. Whether
he died from alarm or grief is not known. He was
a strong friend of the Nazarene.
" Near the first hour of the night I threw my
mantle around me, and went down into the city
toward the gates of Golgotha. The sacrifice was con-
summated. The crowd was returning home, still
agitated, it is true, but gloomy, taciturn, and des-
perate. What they had witnessed had stricken them
with terror and remorse. I also saw my little Roman
cohort pass by mournfully, the standard-bearer hav-
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PILATE'S REPORT. 143
ing veiled his eagle in token of grief ; and I over-
heard some of the Jewish soldiers murmuring strange
words which I did not understand.. Others were
recounting miracles very like those which have
so often smitten the Romans by the will of the
gods. Sometimes groups of men and women would
halt, then, looking back toward Mount Calvary,
would remain motionless in expectation of witnessing
some new prodigy.
" I returned to the prsetorium, sad and pensive.
On ascending the stairs, the steps of which were still
stained with the blood of the Nazarene, I perceived
an old man in a suppliant posture, and behind him
several Romans in tears. He threw himself at vatf
feet and wept most bitterly. It is painful to see an old
man weep, and my heart being already overcharged
with grief, we, though strangers, wept together. And
in truth it seemed that the tears lay very shallow
that day with many whom I perceived in the vast
concourse of people. I never witnessed such an
extreme revulsion of feeling. Those who betrayed
and sold him, those who testified against him, those
who cried, * Crucify him, we have his blood,' all
slunk off like cowardly curs, and washed their teeth
with vinegar. As I am told that Jesus taught a
resurrection and a separation after death, if such
should be the fact I am sure it commenced in this
vast crowd.
" * Father,' said I to him, after gaining control of
my feelings, * who are you, and what is your request ?'
" * I am Joseph of Arimathsea,' replied he, * and
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144 THE ARCHKO VOLUME,
am come to beg of you upon my knees the permis-
sion to bury Jesus of Nazareth.*
" * Your prayer is granted/ said I to him ; and at
the same time I ordered Manlius to take some sol-
diers with him to superintend the interment, lest it
should be profaned.
"A few days after the sepulchre was found empty.
His disciples proclaimed all over the country that
Jesus had risen from the dead, as he had foretold.
This created more excitement even than the cruci-
fixion. As to its truth I cannot say for certain, but I
have made some investigation of the matter ; so you
can examine for yourself, and see if I am in fault,
as Herod represents.
" Joseph buried Jesus in his own tomb. Whether
he contemplated his resurrection or calculated to cut
him another, I cannot tell. The day after he' was
buried one of the priests came to the prsetorium and
said they were apprehensive that his disciples in-
tended to steal the body of Jesus and hide it, and
then make it appear that he had risen from the dead,
as he had foretold, and of which they were perfectly
convinced. I sent him to the captain of the royal
guard (Malcus) to tell him to take the Jewish sol-
diers, place as many around the sepulchre as were
needed ; then if anything should happen they could
blame themselves, and not the Romans.
" When the great excitement arose about the sep-
ulchre being found empty, I felt a deeper solicitude
than ever. I sent for Malcus, who told me he had
placed his lieutenant, Ben Isham, with one hundred
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PILATE'S REPORT. 145
soldiers, around the sepulchre. He told me that
Isham and the soldiers were very much alarmed at
what had occurred there that morning. I sent for
this man Isham, who related to me, as near as I can
recollect, the following circumstances : He said that
at about the beginning of the fourth watch they saw
a soft and beautiful light over the sepulchre. He at
first thought that the women had come to embalm the
body of Jesus, as was their custom, but he could not
see how they had gotten through the guards. While
these thoughts were passing through his mind, be-
hold, the whole place was lighted up, and there
seemed to be crowds of the dead in their grave-
clothes. All seemed to be shouting and filled with
ecstasy, while all around and above was the most
beautiful music he had ever heard ; and the whole
air seemed to be full of voices praising God. At
this time there seemed to be a reeling and swimming
of the earth, so that he turned so sick and faint that
he could not stand on his feet. He said the earth
seemed to swim from under him, and his senses left
him, so that he knew not what did occur. I asked
him in what condition he was when he came to him-
self. He said he was lying on the ground with his
face down. I asked him if he could not have been
mistaken as to the light. Was it not day that was
coming in the East? He said at first he thought of
that, but at a stone's cast it was exceedingly dark ;
and then he remembered it was too early for day. I
asked him if his dizziness might not have come from
being wakened up and geUing up too suddenly, as it
10
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146 THE ARCHKO VOLUME.
sometimes had that eSect. He said he was not, and
had not been asleep all night, as the penalty was
death for him to sleep on duty. He said he had let
some of the soldiers sleep at a time. Some were
asleep then. I asked him how long the scene lasted.
He said he did not know, but he thought nearly an
hour. He said it was hid by the light of day. I
asked him if he went to the sepulchre after he had
come to himself. He said no, because he was afraid ;
that just as soon as relief came they all went to their
quarters, I asked him if he had been questioned by
the priests. He said he had. They wanted him to
say it was an earthquake, and that they were asleep,
and oSered him money to say that the disciples came
and stole Jesus ; but he saw no disciples ; he did not
know that the body was gone until he was told. I
asked him what was the private opinion of those
priests he had conversed with. He said that some
of them thought that Jesus was no man ; that he was
not a human being ; that he was not the son of
Mary ; that he was not the same that was said to be
bom of the virgin in Bethlehem ; that the same per-
son had been on the earth before with Abraham and
Lot, and at many times and places.
" It seems to me that, if the Jewish theory be true,
these conclusions are correct, for they are in accord
with this man's life, as is known and testified by both
friends and foes, for the elements were no more in
his hands than the clay in the hands of the potter.
He could convert water into wine ; he could change
death into life, disease into health ; he could calm
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PILATE'S REPORT, 147
the seas, still the storms, call up fish with a silver
coin in its mouth. Now, I say, if he could do all
these things, which he did, and many more, as the
Jews all testify, and it was doing these things that
created this enmity against him — he was not charged
with criminal oSenses, nor was he charged with vio-
lating any law, nor of wronging any individual in
person, and all these facts are known to thousands,
as well by his foes as by his friends — I am almost
ready to say, as did Manulas at the cross, * Truly
this was the Son of God.'
" Now, noble Sovereign, this is as near the facts
in the case as I can arrive at, and I have taken
pains to make the statement very full, so that you
may judge of my conduct upon the whole, as I hear
that Antipater has said many hard things of me in
this matter. With the promise of faithfulness and
good wishes to my noble Sovereign,
" I am your most obedient servant,
"Pontius Pilate."
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CHAPTER IX.
HEROD ANTIPATER's DEFENCE BEFORE THE ROMAN
SENATE IN REGARD TO HIS CONDUCT AT
BETHLEHEM.
On a scroll in the library of the Vatican I find
the following record, marked ** Herod Antipater's
Defence :"
''Noble Romans: In the case whereof I am
accused, these Jews are of all people the most super-
stitious, and no more to be trusted than the Hindoos.
They have taught themselves to believe in but one
God, who dwells in another world, so they can neither
see nor hear Him, nor in any way approach Him by
their senses. They believe that He is unchangeable
and unapproachable ; that He can only manifest
Himself through some angel or spirit, or some light,
or the thunder, or any strange and uncommon phe-
nomenon. Hence, they are so superstitious that they
can be made to believe anything.
** In order that you may know what kind of peo-
ple I have to deal with, I will give you some of their
maxims : (1) Wh^n the sun shines they say their
God smiles ; (2) when it is cloudy they say He
frowns ; (3) when it thunders they say He is angry,
(148)
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HEROD ANTIPATER8 DEFENCE. 149
and they hide themselves ; (4) when it rains they say
He weeps, and many other similar sayings. Now,
my lords, you can see at once how far this people
might be led, if they could be made to believe this
strange God was at their head, and took up their
cause.
** Now, as a foundation for all this foolishness,
they have a book, and a set of men, called priests,
who read and expound this book to them, and they
will believe anything these priests tell them. To
show how far they may be led, these priests tell them
that some thousands of years ago one Moses died,
and went to where this strange God dwelt. He was
gone forty days, and when he came back he brought
this book, which was written by this God for their
government. Now, to prove the whole thing is a
forgery, the book is wholly for the benefit of the
priest. The poor have to work and toil contin-
ually, and pay half what they make, and sometimes
almost starve to support the lazy priests and furnish
them and their women with plenty of fine garments,
and wine, and the best of food. The priests tell
these poor Jews that this God requires them to bring
the best calf, the best lamb, and the best flour and
oil to the temple, to offer in sacrifice ; and the priests
and their party get all this for themselves. I often
tell them, when they object to the Koman taxation,
that they could keep up a thousand Caesars for much
less than it costs to keep up their God and His priests.
** The leaders are always quarrelling and fighting
among themselves, and dividing off in different sects.
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150 THE ABCHKO VOLUME.
Miracles are as common as poor physicians. The
Essenes are noted for both. They prophesy, work
miracles, see visions, and have dreams, and stand in
reputation as quack doctors. They pretend to know
all about angels, ghosts, and spirits ; they profess the
art of managing ethereal citizens of transatmospheric
regions. They live together in colonies, some of them
are cenobitic and some are celibate communities.
They maintain that all of them are priests and
high priests ; therefore their daily baptisms as the
priests on duty. They wear the Levitical garments.
Their tables are their altars, and their meals their
only sacrifices. With this sanctimonious misan-
thropy, which is their highest virtue, they use the
allegorical method of expounding the Scripture.
While we think, and reason, and reflect, and use our
faculties to obtain our ideas of duty, they shut their
eyes and fold their hands, waiting to be endued with
power from their God ; and when they get it, it
proves to be all to their own advantage and interest,
to the ruin of their fellow-citizens. The Sadducees
are another party, equally absurd. They get their
doctrine from Antigonus Sochseus, who was Presi-
dent of the Sanhedrim. They reject all the traditions
of the scribes and Pharisees. Then we find the
sopher, or scribe. They are the writers and expoun-
ders of the law. The Pharisees (derived from Phar-
ash, to separate) separate from all men on account
of their sanctity. But it is useless to name all these
sects, with their peculiar views, each differing from
the other. They are all strict monotheists, yet
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HEBOD ANTIPATER8 DEFENCE. 151
they differ from each other more than the poly-
theists do.
** I have given this detailed description of the peo-
ple and their various sects that the Senate may have
an idea of the situation I am in. But if you could
be here and see and associate with them as I do — to
see them with all their sanctity of life, and then be-
hold their treachery to each other ; see how they
lie and steal the one from the other ; and then see
how low and base are their priests — you would be
much better qualified to judge of my actions.
** As to this great excitement at Bethlehem, three
strange, fantastic-looking men called on my guards
at the gate, and asked them where was the babe bom
that was to be King of the Jews. My guards told
me of it, and I ordered the men to be brought into
court. I asked them who they were. One of them
said he was from Egjrpt. I asked what was their
business. He said they were in search of the babe
that was bom to rule the Jews. I told them that I
mled the Jews under Augustus Caesar. But he said
this babe would rule when I was gone. I told him
not unless he was bom under the purple. I asked
him how he knew of this babe. He said they had
all had a dream the same night about it. I told
them that the devil played with our brains when we
were asleep. He drew a parchment roll from his
bosom, and read in the Hebrew language : ' Thou,
Bethlehem, least among the kingdoms of the world,
out of thee should come a man that should rule all
people.' I asked him who wrote that. He said the
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152 THE ABCHKO VOLUME.
God of heaven. I asked him where he got that
parchment. He said it was the law of the covenant
of the Jews. He also said a star had travelled be-
fore them all the way to Jerusalem. I told him his
God was mistaken ; that Bethlehem was not a king-
dom, neither was it the least in the kingdom of Judea.
I told them that they were superstitious fanatics,
and ordered them out of my presence.
" But the excitement grew until it became intense.
I found nothing could control it. I called the Hillel
court, which was the most learned body of talent in
Jerusalem. They read out of their laws that Jesus
was to be born of a virgin in Bethlehem ; that he
was to rule all nations, and all the kingdoms of the
world were to be subject to him ; and that his king-
dom should never end, but his appointees should
continue this rule forever. I found this court just
as sanguine as those strangers, and, in fact, it was in
everbody's mouth ; I thought I could discover already
a sort of deriding and mocking spirit among the
lower classes in regard to the Koman authority.
Now, it is my opinion that the scene that occurred
at Bethlehem was nothing more than a meteor trav-
elling through the air, or the rising vapor from the
foot of the mountains out of the low, marshy ground,
as is often the case. And as to the noise heard by
Melker and those shepherd-boys, it was only the echo
of the shepherds on the other side of the mountain
calling the night-watch, or scaring away the wolves
from their flocks.
** But although this was nothing but a phenomQ-
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HEROD ANTIPATERS DEFENCE, I53
non o! nature, and the whole thing a delusion, it did
not better the condition I was in. A man will con-
tend for a false faith stronger than he will for a true
one, from the fact that the truth defends itself, but
a falsehood must be- defended by its adherents : first,
to prove it to themselves, and, secondly, that they
may appear right in the estimation of their friends.
But the fact is, this case is about as follows : The
Koman taxation was cutting oif the support of the
priests, and they were smarting under it. Again,
the double taxing — that is, the tithes to the priests
and the tax to the Komans — was bearing heavily on
the common people, so that they could not stand it,
and the priests saw that one of them would have to
go unpaid ; and, as they saw the Komans were the
stronger, they wrote these things in the Tosephta,
and read it daily in all their synagogues and temples,
that the Jewish mind might be prepared for the
event, knowing that they would magnify a mote into
a mountain, when it came to anything outside of the
common laws of nature, and knowing that if they
could get the common people to believe in the things
there would be no end to their fighting. And from
all appearances the excitement was fast driving the
people that way. It had already become a by-word
with the children of Bethlehem and Jerusalem that
the Jews had a new king, that neither CsBsar nor
Herod would reign any more, that they would have
to pay no more taxes to keep up the Koman govern-
ment. Such talk and sayings were common among
the poorer classes of society.
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1 54 THE ARCHKO VOL UME.
'* So I saw an insurrection brewing fast, and noth-
ing but a most bloody war as the consequence. Now,
under these circumstances, what was I to do? In
my honest judgment it was best to pluck the unde-
veloped flower in its bud, lest it should grow and
strengthen, and finally burst, and shed its deadly
poison over both nations, and impoverish and ruin
them forever. My enemies can see I could have no
malice toward the infants of Bethlehem. I took no
delight in listening to the cries of innocent mothers.
May all the gods forbid ! No ; I saw nothing but
an insurrection and a bloody war were our doom,
and in this the overthrow and downfall, to some
extent, of our nation.
** These are the grounds of my action in this mat-
ter. I am satisfied I did the best that could be done
under the circumstances. As my motive was purely
to do the best I could for my whole country, I hope
you will so consider it, and I submit this statement
for your consideration, promising faithfulness and
submission to your judgment.
"Herod Antipater."
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CHAPTEK X.
HEROD ANTIPAS'S DEFENCE BEFORE THE ROMAN
SENATE IN REGARD TO THE EXECUTION OF JOHN
THE BAPTIST.
We found on the records of the Roman Senate
Herod Antipas's defence respecting the various accu-
sations preferred against him by different persons.
In his defence there are some very important items
regarding the Christian Church. The reader will
notice that these events were recorded with no inten-
tion of establishing other facts. 1. The history of
John the Baptist. 2. The history of Jesus Christ.
3. The killing of the children by his father at Beth-
lehem.
" To Tiberius Gssar and the Senate of Rome.
"3fy Noble Lords, Greeting: It is true, as my
opponent asserts, that I was defeated in battle with
Aretas, King of Arabia, but I was forced to fight
when unprepared for the conflict. I either had to
fight or have the country overrun by this wicked
people. It is true I was defeated, but it was owing
to the want of time and better preparation. Aretas
came upon me without warning. Notwithstanding
I was defeated his army was so crippled that he had
(156)
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156 THE ABCHKO VOLUME.
to withdraw his forces from the field, and has not
been able to rally them since. So our country was
saved from the devastation of a foreign foe.
" I understand that the superstitious Jews say my
defeat was for my wickedness in beheading John the
Baptist. My understanding of the God of the Jews
is, that He does not chastise the innocent for the
crimes of the guilty. What did my actions have to
do with the poor, suffering soldier ? But if He had
to punish all in order to reach me, then where is His
almighty power they boast so much of ? I do not
know whether their God was angry at me or not.
There is one thing I know, the act was done with the
holy intention of bringing the greatest amount of
good to the greatest number of people ; and if this
is so, no court can gainsay it or condemn it.
" The facts in the case are about as follows : John
the Baptist had set up a new mode of religion alto-
gether different from the Jewish religion, teaching
baptism instead of circumcision, which had been the
belief and custom of the Jews in all ages past.
According to their theory, God appeared to Abra-
ham hundreds of years before, and told him with
His own lips how and what to do to be saved ; and
the Jews had lived according to this until it had be-
come their nature, and all their forefathers had lived
in this way. David, Solomon, Isaac, Jacob, and all
the holy prophets had gone to heaven in this way of
God's own appointment. Now, the question came
to them, as they suggested it to me : Has God found
that He was wrong ? Has His wisdom failed Him ?
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HEROD ANTTPAS'S DEFENCE 157
or has the unchangeable changed, and is He waver-
ing in His purpose ? Such would be the natural
conclusions of a sensible man under the circum-
stances. Now, John the Baptist had no authority
from God for what he was doing, as Abraham had.
All he could say was, * He that sent me to baptize is
true ;' and he cannot tell who he was. Then his
going into the wilderness : God had ordered Solomon
to build the finest temple that was ever built in the
world, and made promises that whosoever came to
that house with his offerings his prayers should be
heard and answered. This temple had been the place
of their meeting for hundreds of years, for the Jews
think this temple the next place to heaven.
" Now see the difference :
" 1 St. John has no authorized authority.
" 2d. He changes God's place of worship.
" 3d. He changes the doctrines.
" 4th. He changes the mode of application.
" Now, the idea of Gamaliel was that John wanted
to be some great man ; hence, he took this mode of
eccentric life to establish it. And there is nothing
better qualified than the course he took to make an
impression upon the ignorant and unlearned — ^to go
away out into the wilderness by himself, get a few
friends from Jerusalem to go out and hear him, and
come back and tell of the great wonders which they
had seen in the wilderness. Then John's appearance
— his long, uncombed hair and beard, his fantastic
clothing, and his food, nothing but bugs and beans —
such a course and such a character are well qualified
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158 THE ARCHKO VOLUME.
to lead the illiterate astray. These troubles on the
Jewish mind were very heavy, and gave such men
as Hilderium, Shammai, HiUel, and others great
concern. And no wonder, for in their judgment it
was vacating the temple of religious worship ; it was
blocking the road to heaven, and driving the poor
and unsuspecting to ruin, as well as destroying the
whole nation. So it was, by their request, as so
ordered, that it was better to execute one to save the
many from a worse fate. And this is the true reason
for the deed, and not to please the whim of a danc-
ing-girl, as you have heard. Now, my lords, if this
is not satisfactory, I would ask my accuser, Caius, to
write to any of the learned Jews, and learn if my
statement is not correct.
"As to Agrippa's accusing me of having arms for
seventy thousand soldiers, it is correct ; but they
were left me by my father, Herod the Great. And
as they were needed to defend the province, and I
did not know it was necessary to report them, I never
thought of keeping them secret. But as to my being
in league with Sejonius, I appeal to the virtue of
my conduct, and demand investigation.
** As to what Pontius Pilate says in regard to my
cowardice and disobedience in the case of Jesus of
Nazareth, I will say in my own defence : I was in-
formed by all the Jews that this was the same Jesus
that my father aimed to destroy in his infancy ; for
I have it in my father's private writings and accounts
of his life, showing that when the report was circu-
lated of three men inquiring where was he that was
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HEROD ANTIPAS'S DEFENCE, 159
bom King of the Jews, he called together the Hillel
and Shammai schools, and demanded the reading of
the sacred scrolls ; that it was decided he was to be
bom in Bethlehem of Judea, as read and interpreted
that night by Hillel. So when my father learned
that there was a birth of a male child in Bethlehem
under very strange circumstances, and he could not
learn who nor where the child was, he sent and had
the male children slain that were near his age.
Afterward he learned that his mother had taken him
and fled into the wilderness. For this attempt to
uphold the Roman authority in the land of Judea
the world has not ceased to curse him to this day ;
and yet the Caesars have done a thousand worse
things, and done them a thousand times, and it was
all well. Just think how many lives have been lost
to save the Roman Empire ; while those infants were
only removed in their innocence from the evil to come.
The proper way to judge of action is to let the actor
judge, or the one with whom the action terminates.
If this should be done, and there is a life of happiness
beyond this for innocence to dwell in, those infants as
well as the Rachels should be thankful to my father
for the change. Again, my lords, Pilate is a higher
officer than I ; and you know in our law the lower
court always has the right to appeal to the higher.
As to Pilate's saying that Jesus was a Galilean,
he is mistaken. Jesus was bom in Bethlehem of
Judea, as the records show. And as to his citizen-
ship, he had none. He wandered about from place to
place, having no home, making his abode principally
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160 THE ARCHKO VOLUME,
with the poor. He was a wild fanatic, who had
taken up the doctrines of John (but not his baptism),
and was quite an enthusiast. He had learned sooth-
saying, while in Egypt, to perfection. I tried to get
him to perform some miracle while in my court, but
he was too sharp to be caught in a trap ; like all
necromancers, he was afraid to show off before the
intelligent. From what I could learn he had repri-
manded some of the rich Jews for their meanness,
and his reproaches were not out of the way, from
what I heard they would have been much better
men if they had practised what he preached.
* * So this is my defence. I submit it for your con-
sideration, praying for clemency.
"Herod Antipas."
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CHAPTER XI.
THE HILLEL LETTERS REGARDING GOB'S PROVI-
DENCE TO THE JEWS, BY HILLEL THE THIRD.
[The following letters were translated and sent to
me after my return home — Mahan.]
First Letter.
" To the noble and persecuted sons of my Father y
God, who is too wise to err in His judgment, and too
mighty to let His kingdom suffer or His children
to be persecuted beyond what is good for them:
Beholding our desolate condition, we must know
there is a good reason somewhere. From our former
history, and the dealings of God with our fore-
fathers, it is evident that it is not because He is
neglectful of the interests of His children. It must
be on our own account.
" In directing your thoughts to these subjects, it
is needful to call your attention to the acts of God
in the history of the world. By this we may learn
the cause of our present condition. When He was
dissatisfied with the wicked world His eyes rested on
one good man, Noah. Now, it is useless for us to
begin a controversy as to how Noah became good.
That is nothing to us. The great question for us is,
Are we good ? and if not, why are we wicked ? No
11 (161)
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162 TSE ARCBKO VOLUME.
doubt this is the reason we are forsaken. If we
could not help our being wicked, then we are perse-
cuted wrongfully. But it was the goodness of Noah
that preserved his life, and made him a great and
happy man ; while it was wickedness that caused all
the rest of the world to be drowned.
'* Then follow along the line to Abraham. God'
found him faithful, and on this account He made him
the father of all that are faithful and good. And so
with hundreds of others that I could name in our
former history. I would ask all the Jews in their
dispersed condition to read the history of our race
and see the dealings of God to the good, and His
judgments upon the evil.
'* Now, God makes selections of certain individ-
uals to relieve others. These chosen ones may not
be good, but those for whom they are selected must
be good, or they can receive no favor from God.
Look at Moses. He was an infant. He could
neither be good nor bad, because he was at that time
powerless. But Israel was good, and it was by rea-
son of Israel's goodness that Moses was selected.
Hence, from this babe in the basket we find the
long chain of displays of God's mighty works in
saving and defending and comforting the good,
simply and alone because they were good ; and this
is the only reason why God has ever bestowed special
favors on anyone, just because He is good, and I
am sure this is all that is necessary to justify Him
in His dealings with the sons of men. If He creates
men, and gives them all necessary power and oppor-
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TBE HILLEL LETTERS. 163
tunities to be good and they refuse, then they are to
blame, and not He. This is the reason He condemned
the world to a flood. This is the reason the Egyp-
tians were drowned. This is the reason the So-
domites were burned. This is the reason the Ca-
naanites were destroyed. This is the reason we were
sold into Babylon. And oh ! for a master spirit to
rise up, as did Samuel to Saul, to tell us the reason
we are again forsaken and cast away ; why is it that
our city and the holy temple are forsaken and deso-
late ? Why is it that God fights no more battles for
Israel ? Why is it that we have no leader that it
would be safe for the people to follow ? Why is it
that Israel is turned against herself, that every evil
bird is permitted to pluck her, and her best friends
are turned to be her enemies ? Why is it that Jose-
phus sold Galilee to the Komans ? Why is it that
the sanctifying of the Spirit is withdrawn ? Why is
it that the Urim and the Thummim in the temple
have not changed the color of its stones in thirty
years ? Why is it that the light of the threshold
in the temple has ceased to bum ? And why is it
that the Jews have lost the feeling of brotherhood,
and fight each other like beasts of hell until God
has given us over, and permitted the Romans to,
devour our heritage, to bum our city, to destroy our
beloved temple, and drench it with the blood of its
devotees ?
'* I know that many of my brethren, more partic-
ularly the priests, will bring grave charges against
the ministration and, of course, indirectly impeach
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164 THE ARCHKO VOLUME.
God ; but it may be, my brethren, we mistake God's
designs in all this thing. And may we not be equally
mistaken in regard to our desert or our demerit in
His dealing with us ? We know that the guilty party
is apt to think the law is too severe ; but we never
think so when others are to suffer, and especially if
we are the party against whom the criminal has
offended and done wrong.
** When a Jew becomes mean and wicked and vio-
lates the Jewish law and injures us personally, then
we propose to stone him until he is dead, if his ac-
tions have been such to deserve such a sentence ;
and we are equally guilty if we in any way try to
screen the criminal from suffering the just penalty of
the law. Now let us, as honest Jews, look in our
own natures and examine our actions in the light of
God's holy revelation, and see if our present condi-
tion is not deserving on our part ; and if we find
that it is we who have forsaken God, instead of His
having forsaken us, then let us do as our fathers did
in Egypt ; do as our fathers did in Babylon. They
hung their harps ; they clothed themselves in sack-
cloth and ashes ; they mourned as do the dove and the
pelican. So did they seek rest until the Lord God
Jehovah was moved with compassion. They not
only ceased to act wickedly, but they showed by
their regrets and acknowledgment that they would
act differently in the future ; and God had compas-
sion on them, and moved the heart of their wicked
king to pity them, that they might return and rebuild
their temple. These were the ways in which they
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THE HILLEL LETTERS. 165
conducted themselves ; and look at the results that
followed. Now these things were for their own good,
and they were recorded that we might learn what to
do, provided we should be brought into the same
condition.
*' Now, I wish my Jewish brethren to understand
that I am not a follower of this Nazarene that has
created so much strife among the people, neither do
I indorse his new doctrines ; yet I think it would be
well for us not to be too hasty in forming our conclu-
sions on this or any other subject. I heard Peter
preach the other day, and as he and John came out
of the temple there was a man that had been lying
around at the gates and public crossings for years.
He was unable to walk, having no soundness in his
feet and ankle-bones. As they were passing him he
asked them for help. Peter said he had nothing to
give, but, said he, ' In the name of Jesus the Son of
God, I say unto thee, rise up and walk ;' and the
man sprang to his feet, seemingly perfectly sound,
and commenced praising God at the top of his voice,
which caused a great commotion among the people,
and the police came and took Peter and John to
prison as peace-breakers. I thought I never saw
such an outrage. It is right to arrest men for doing
evil, but to arrest and imprison men for doing good
is something I cannot comprehend. This has been
the fault of us Jews in all time. No odds what good
was done, if it was not done just as the priest thought
it ought to be done, it was wrong. When I saw the
act of Peter toward the helpless man, I said to my-
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166 THE ARCHKO VOLUME.
self, ' There is the power of Moses ; there is the
power of Jehovah manifest in human flesh ; there is
the power needed by us Jews to reinstate the king-
dom of heaven ; this is the power that has followed
the Jews in times past, and the only distinguishing
mark that makes us diSerent from the other nations
of the earth. This was the peculiar power of Jesus
of Nazareth ; and because he did not work accord-
ing to Jewish rule they condemned him to die. It
was not because his works were not good works, but
because he did not do them according to Jewish
custom.'
** I was forcibly struck with Peter's sermon. He
said : * There was a rich man who had one son.
This son had been trying for a long time to build
him a house. He was homeless and exposed to many
dangers and trouble for the want of a house, until
he was almost exhausted and was ready to perish.
And his father had compassion on his son and built
him a house, with everything needful for the necessi-
ties and comforts of his child. And when it was
finished he went and brought his son to see it. And
his son was delighted, and said it was much better
than he could have built himself. And his father
said, " Son, I love you. I give you this house. Will
you accept it ?" " With all my heart, dear father,
with grateful acknowledgments." Now,' Peter said,
* here is the picture of the world which has been
working, struggling, and striving for ages to build
them a home for the soul of man. They have worked
by the laws of men, by building fine temples, by
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THE HILLEL LETTERS, 167
offering sacrifices, by paying tithes to the Lord, by
walking hundreds of miles to the temple barefooted
and bareheaded, by keeping holy days and festivals,
and all to no purpose. The soul has become wearied
out of patience, and still no rest, until man has be-
come dissatisfied not only with himself, but with his
God and his service. And while in this despairing
condition God our Father comes in the person of
Jesus, whom the Jews crucified and in his death he
prepared a house of rest, and now proposes to his
children to accept what he has done for them, and
stop working and worrying to try to fit themselves
for a higher station and a happier life.' And Peter
asked, ' Who will accept V
*' Again Peter said : * This house was beautiful to
look at, and was in every way suited to the son, yet
he could not enjoy it from the fact that it had no
furniture. So the son went to work and toiled and
labored trying to make furniture to suit himself. But
notwithstanding he could not get a piece that would
last. And it soon became useless because it did not
suit him. Then the father went to work and made
all manner of ware, and presented it to his son.
Every piece fitted the place and suited the purpose for
which it was made, so that the son was well pleased.
And the father said : "All this will I give you, my
son, because I love you. Will you accept ?" The
son said, " With all my heart, dear father ; this
pleases me better than if I had had the power to
make it myself." Now,' said Peter, ' this is what
God has done for the world. Instead of purifying
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1 68 TSE ABCHKO VOL UMK
ourselves by washing, by fasting, by prayers, by pen-
itence, and by all the works of the law, God has
given us a purity that will last forever, that will suit
us and will please Him.'
" Again said Peter : ' This son was all ragged.
His clothes were worn threadbare in trying to build
and fit him a house, and he was ashamed. So he went
to work to try to clothe himself ; and the harder he
worked the less success rewarded him. And after
he had worked hard, his father went to work and
wove him a seamless robe, and presented it to his
son, and said, " My son, I love you, and I have pre-
pared a white robe ; will you accept it ?" " With
many thanks, dear father," said the son. " Oh, how
beautiful it is I How snowy white ! How well it fits
me ! Oh I father, I never can feel grateful enough.
I thought thou wast angry and hated me, because I
was poor and homeless and miserable and ragged ;
but if thou didst love me in my misery, I know thou
canst love me now, and will delight to make thy
abode with me forevermore. Oh! father, I don't
know how to show my gratitude to thee." The son
was delighted with the change, while the father
was equally delighted with the son, and they both
rejoiced. And the father said to the son : " I delight
to dwell with my children when they live in a man-
ner that is suited to my taste ; and, of course, this
suits me, from the fact it is all my own work.
Only be content, and do not soil thy robe, for it
is so white and clean, a very little mixing with dirt
and filth will so cpntaminate it, it will npt b^ fit tp
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THE HILLEL LETTERS, 169
be seen. And as long as you keep it unspotted from
the world it will distinguish you from the world
and make you a welcome visitor into the company
of all that are dressed in the same robe ; for this is
merely the outward showing of the principles that
live within ; which principles are only developed by
the outward appearance. And even it will be ad-
mired by those who may reject it ; yet inwardly they
must respect it. Though they may covet it, and raise
the spirit of persecution against you, it is not be-
cause they dislike you, but because they are not like
you; and this is the cause of envy everywhere."
This,' said Peter, ' is the way God our Father has
treated us spiritually. He has prepared us a holy
habitation, where our immortal souls can live and
be happy through all eternity, and then has given
us the Holy Spirit, the same that Jesus promised and
the same that fell on the people the other day. This
spirit renews and begets within us holy desires to
love God and to serve Him by obeying all His com-
mands and doing honor to His name. And this
same spirit begets within us a holy desire to see all
men embrace the offering of this good and noble
Father, that they may be happy now and happy
forever, more so after death than before ; for it is the
dread of meeting an interminable doom for our
sins that makes our lives intolerable. Oh V said
Peter, * behold the riches offered on terms so easy
by our Father. All we need is to accept. Who
will accept V And there were two or three hundred
who cri^ out, ' We will ;' and then followed a
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170 THE ARCHKO VOLUME.
mighty rising up and rejoicing, all of which made
a very strong impression on my mind.
** I am going to make a most thorough examina-
tion into these things to see if they are so — ^if God
has provided an easier and a better way to save the
souls of men than the Jewish economy. I feel that
the subject is worth looking into ; for of long time
it has seemed to me (and my father saw and spoke
of the same) that the ways of God's service were
exacting, and apt to make men become indifferent,
and almost to look on God as a haughty tyrant ;
while Peter's illustration shows Him in such a lovely
light it makes me love Him."
Second Letter,
" After having viewed our present condition, it
may be well for us to look back and review our for-
mer history, and get a knowledge of the state of the
world in former times. If we look at the world from
the pages of Ezra, Nehemiah, and Haggai, the last
of God's prophets upon earth, we will see a period
of nearly five hundred years to the present, during
which time the world underwent greater changes
than ever before. We will see our nation returning
from a seventy years' captivity, recommencing their
national existence after having been overrun and
absorbed in the first great monarchy that swept over
the earth. Our acquaintance with the rest of the
world was very limited, extending only to the Chal-
deans, the Phoenicians, the Egyptians, and a few
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THE HILLEL LETTERS, 171
unimportant tribes. Our ideas seem to have been
likewise limited, extending but little beyond the
principles of the Mosaic religion, which had been
promulgated about fifteen hundred years before.
' * I am inf oi^ned that the accusation against Jesus
was written over him as he hung upon the cross, in
Hebrew, Greek, and Latin. Whence came these dia-
lects ? When the prophets closed their writings (which
was nearly five hundred years ago), the Greek was
scarcely a written language, confined to a small part
of Europe, and Rome,f rom which the Latin language
came, was a straggling village on the banks of the
Tiber. During this whole period, in which nations
and monarchies were born, flourished, and decayed
(showing clearly a providential preparation), the
intermingling of the various languages indicates
preparation for some great event, and to my mind
makes the juncture most opportune for the introduc-
tion of a universal religion. That is, if I under-
stand it aright, God has arranged the position and
the existence of the several nations of the earth in
such a manner as to promote the recognition, the
establishment, and the propagation of true religion,
the knowledge and worship of the true God.
** Whatever knowledge may have been imparted
to our ancestors, or however long it may have lasted,
certain it is that at the time of Abraham the nations
generally had fallen into idolatry. To him God was
pleased to make himself known, and to promise that
of him He would make a great nation, and in him
and his seed all the nations of the earth should be
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172 THEABCHKO VOLUME,
blessed. That is, through him and his posterity he
would impart the greatest possible good, the knowl-
edge of the true God. To accomplish this purpose
God selected the spot in which he and his posterity
were to be placed ; and no spot on earth could have
been better suited for the purpose. The land of
Canaan, afterward called Judea, afterward called
Palestine, a tract of country situated about midway
between the three great divisions of the earth — Asia,
Africa, and Europe — on the great highway of na-
tions, in the very path of conquest, commerce, and
travel, was equally accessible to all parts of the then
known world.
** But those circumstances which afterward made
Judea so favorably located as the radiating point of
the true faith did not exist in the time of Abraham.
There was neither conquest nor commerce nor
travel. The world was overrun by wandering
tribes, scarcely having boundaries or fixed habita-
tions. Chaldea, the cradle of the human race, and
Egypt, the birthplace of human learning and the
arts, were the only nations of consequence at that
time. It is not probable that any such thing as
alphabetic writing existed ; for we read that Abraham
took no other evidence of the purchase which he
made of a burying-place for his family than living
witnesses of the bargain. At that period, therefore,
divine communication must have been confined to
individuals. The fulness of time had not yet come
even for that partial revelation which was made by
Moses. There was no mode by which it could be
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THE BJLLEL LETTERS, 173
recorded and preserved. The invention of writing
was necessary to prepare the world for it. That in-
vention took place some time within the five hundred
years which elapsed between Abraham and Moses.
" Into Egypt, the mother of the arts, the posterity
of Abraham were sent as if to school, not in divine
things (for in the knowledge of them the shepherds
of Canaan as far exceeded the refined Egyptians as
light exceeds darkness), but in the knowledge of
those things by which life is rendered comfortable.
When they had become sufficiently numerous to take
possession of the destined territory, a leader was
raised up for that especial purpose — ^Moses, the child
of a slave, his life exposed in infancy in a frail cradle
of rushes upon the waters, yet destined to be the
mightiest agent in the affairs of men that the
Almighty had ever employed on earth. Who can
but admire the wisdom of Divine Providence in the
education of this great founder of nations, this
prophet of divine truth, this enlightener of the
world ? Who can apprehend the glorious position
which he holds in the world's history ? What a dis-
tinction to have framed the constitution of a nation
which lasted fifteen hundred years, and stamped a
people with the marks of nationality which time
itself has not obliterated I To have written a book
which has been read with interest and ardor by pass-
ing ages and growing millions of the human race !
To impart to nations and continents the saving
knowledge of the one true God ! What a glory to
have laid by one sentence the foundation of true
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174 THE ARCHKO VOLUME.
religion in so many millions o! minds : ' In the be-
ginning God created the heavens and the earth.'
** The more I contemplate the mission of Moses,
the higher he rises in moral sublimity in my estima-
tion. If I contemplate him during the forty years
of his sojourn in the wilderness, he is the only depos-
itory of the true religion on earth, with the exception
of the tribe he led. The whole world was sunk in
the debasement of idolatry. What a noble use did
the Almighty make of the recent invention of man's
ingenuity, the invention of letters, to engrave upon
stone his awful testimony against the great, funda-
mental, and all-polluting sin of the world, the wor-
ship of idols : * Thou shalt have no other Gods before
me ; thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image,
or the likeness of anything that is in the heaven
above or in the earth beneath ; thou shalt not bow
down thyself to them nor serve them.' To realize
and carry out this one thing was the purpose in sep-
arating the Jews from the rest of the world ; and
with all the seals and signs, and God's special judg-
ments, it took fourteen hundred years to do it, so
prone are we to worship the things that are seen,
instead of the unseen. And this is one of the great
troubles at the present day. This is one reason of
our desolation. We thought too much of our holy
city and temple ; but if this was our sin, what might
we expect from men in the state of ignorance in the
days of Moses ? Oh, brethren, let us ask ourselves,
are we not more inclined to worship the created
things than we are to worship Him who created
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THE HILLEL LETTERS. 175
them ? Look at this people I am speaking of. Forty
days had not elapsed from the utterance from Sinai
of this fundamental precept, * Thou shalt have no
other Gods before me/ when the very people to whom
this command was given made for themselves a gol-
den calf, after the manner of the idolatrous Egyp-
tians, and danced before it with great joy. To secure
this one grand and fundamental point (that is, the
worship of the only living and true God), the whole
Mosaic economy was modelled. For this purpose
we were forbidden to marry foreigners ; for this pur-
pose our sacrifices were all to be offered in one place,
and by one family of priests, lest we should wander
away and become corrupt by association with idola-
ters. For this purpose we were forbidden certain
kinds of food, such as were offered in sacrifices to
heathen deities. We were not to be present at idol-
atrous feasts, nor to become accustomed to those
moral abominations with which heathen worship was
invariably accompanied. More effectually to secure
this point. Divine Providence so arranged it that
our national existence and prosperity depended on
our fidelity to the great purpose for which we were
set apart. Whenever we worshipped the true God
and obeyed His laws, temporal prosperity was the
natural consequence ; then were union and peace
and industry and prosperity. But whenever we for-
sook God and worshipped idols, a corresponding de-
generacy of morals and manners took place. This
was followed by discord, weakness, poverty, and sub-
jection to foreign nations.
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176 THE ABCHKO VOLUMR
'* But the event which exerted the most decisive
influence upon the national existence of us Jews was
the erection of Solomon's temple at Jerusalem. Be-
fore that time our sacred rites had been conducted in
a very humble manner. Our sacred utensils had no
better covering than a tent. Often they were in pri-
vate custody ; and once the sacred ark itself, which
contained the heaven-derived charter of our national
existence, was taken captive and remained for months
in the country of the Philistines. That ark for nearly
four hundred years was almost the only bond of our
national union, the only object around which gath-
ered our national reverence ; and, although in our
younger years we were apt to regard that ark and
its contents with a childish curiosity, in after years
we came to look upon it as an object of higher sig-
nificance. It is the written testimony of God against
idolatry. It contains the fundamental articles of
our nation's constitution. It is a charter from God
for a nation's establishment and independence. It
is a declaration of principles, which was borne before
us like a banner, proclaiming to the world for what
we were to live, for what we were to fight, for what
we were to die. It was our confession of faith, which
we upheld before the world as sacred, true, and vital
to the best interest of humanity, and the only hope
of our final success. Once abandon this and we are
lost, disgraced, fallen forever. On the tables in that
ark were written : * Thou shalt have no other Gods
before me ;' and, * Thou shalt not make any graven
image, nor the likeness of anything ; thou shalt not
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THE HILLEL LETTERS. 177
bow down to anything to serve them.' There it re-
mains from age to age as the memorial of the purpose
of our national existence ; and how mightily has it
worked in the earth !
'* There is an incident related by the sacred his-
torian which may seem symbolical of the mission of
the whole dispensation which that sacred inclosure
contained. It is the fifth section of Samuel : * And
the Philistines took the ark and brought it from
Ebenezer to Ashdod. When the Philistines took
the ark of God, they brought it into the house of
Dagon ; and when they of Ashdod arose early on
the morrow, behold, Dagon was fallen upon his face
to the earth before the ark of the Lord, and they
took Dagon and set him in his place again ; and
when they rose early on the morrow morning, behold,
Dagon was fallen to his face to the ground again be-
fore the ark of the Lord, and the head of Dagon
and the palms of his hands were cut off upon the
threshold : only the stump of Dagon was left unto
him/
'* So is all idolatry destined to fall before the word
of the Almighty. So has our Dagon fallen — and
oh ! what a dreadful fall it is to us Israelites. Let
me tell you what was achieved in the Temple of
Azotus was gradually accomplished throughout the
land of Israel. Many times has Dagon been set up
in his place again ; many times has idolatry been
revived ; the ark of God has been in the hands of
the enemy (it is there now at this time), and the true
religion about to be extinguished, when the Almighty
12
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178 TBE ARCBKO VOLUME.
interposed to vindicate His honor and reestablish
His worship, and at last obtained a triumph by the
very means which at first threatened to overthrow
it forever.
* * I have said that the objects of our national ex-
istence were greatly promoted by the building ot the
temple at Jerusalem. It was a splendid edifice, cal-
culated to awaken the curiosity, to attract the atten-
tion, and command the respect of the world. It
furnished a place of appropriate convenience, beauty,
and dignity for the celebration of our daily sacrifices
and our national rites. It made more interesting
our three yearly festivals when all the males were
obliged to present themselves before God. It gave
us what we all need at this time — ^a fixture to our
religion, a local habitation to our religious applica-
tions and associations. It connected the sentiment
of religion with another no less strong — ^that of patri-
otism — ^and enlisted them both in the maintenance
and defence of the national institutions of Moses ;
and it also led to the formation of a national litera-
ture which gave expression to these two most power-
ful sentiments of the human heart, and thus operated
to call forth and strengthen them in each succeeding
generation.
' Still the Mosaic institutions, assisted by the mag-
nificence of the temple service, failed to extirpate
entirely the propensity to idolatry. Occasionally it
sprang up and overspread the country, till at last
the Almighty saw fit to suffer that temple to be over-
thrown, His people to be carried into captivity, and
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THE HILLEL LETTERS. 179
His worship to be suspended for seventy years ; and
His judgments accomplished what His mercies could
not do. The very measure of Divine severity which
at first sight threatened to sweep the worship of the
true God from the face of the earth, and give up the
world to the interminable dominion of idolatry, was
the means of establishing it on a firmer basis than
ever. Although Jerusalem was overthrown and the
temple razed to its foundation, the Jews carried the
true Jerusalem in their hearts. And so it is to-day.
Although our holy city is no more, and although we
are dispersed and many of us sold into slavery, yet
the holy temple of our God lives and will continue
to live in our hearts forever. Wherever we go,
whether in the splendid cities of the East, or amid
the fascinations of Egypt, or the tents of the wan-
dering shepherds, still our affections will be in the
holy land, and, like Daniel, we will turn our faces
toward the land where our fathers worshipped the
God of heaven.
" Nehemiah, when serving in the courts of princes,
lamented when he heard that the walls of Jerusalem
were thrown down. There in slavery, our fathers
had time to reflect upon the cause of their calami-
ties ; there they read in the Book of Moses, which
was the companion of their exile, the awful curses
He had threatened them if they forsook the worship
of the true God, and felt them to be fulfilled in
themselves ; there they read the prophecy which
had been written by Moses more than a thousand
years before in the book, ill., section 22 : 'If thou
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180 TSE AUCHKO VOLUME.
wilt not observe to do all the words of this law that
are written in this book, that thou mayest fear this
glorious and fearful name, the Lord thy God, the
Lord will scatter thee among all people, from one
end of the earth to the other, and among these na-
tions thou shalt find no ease, neither shall the sole of
thy foot have rest ; but the Lord will give thee then
a trembling heart and failing eyes, and sorrow of
mind, and thy life shall hang in doubt before thee :
and thou shalt fear night and day, and have no
assurance of thy life. In the morning thou shalt
say. Would God it were evening, and at even thou
shalt say. Would God it were morning! for the
fear of thine heart wherewith thou shalt fear, and
for the sight of thine eyes which thou shalt see.'
Thus were our fathers smitten to the heart by the
fulfilment of such awful threatenings. All propen-
sity to idolatry was forever cured. Never after this
period could the allurements of pleasure or the
threats of pain, neither dens of wild beasts nor the
fiery furnace, neither instant death nor lingering
torture, ever induce them to offer sacrifice to idol
gods. This same Providence which had scattered
them in foreign lands, now restored them to their
own. Their temple was rebuilt, the daily sacrifice
was resumed and was never intermitted, with the
exception of about three years under Antiochus
Epiphanes.
' ' But now let us look at our present state, and
see how we, their children, have fallen : The ark
once more is taken from us ; Jerusalem is in ruins,
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THE HILLEL LETTERS. 181
trodden by the foot of the Gentiles ; ruin has driven
her ploughshare through the crumbling walls, and
we are scattered to mix and mingle among all
nations."
Third Letter.
** As all the nations of the earth lacked the knowl-
edge of the true God except us Jews, it devolved
on us as a nation to extend this knowledge to all the
world, which was brought about by the following
plan : First, by the universal diffusion of the Greek
language, and, secondly, by the conquest of the world
by the Romans. Another cause almost as essential
was the scattering of our nation among all nations
of the earth, for narrowness and bigotry had almost
made us a barren tree as to any general good for the
world. So ancient were our habits and fixed our
customs that spiritual life was almost extinct ; there-
fore it was necessary for us even to learn a new lan-
guage, that the knowledge of the true God might be
infused into a new medium, and thus be spread from
land to land. It was necessary that the true medi-
cine of life should be dissolved in an element which
flowed on every shore and in every stream that all
men might taste thereof and be saved. It was neces-
sary, too, that a foreign language should be forced
upon us ; for nothing but conquest and constraint,
nothing but this, could overcome our bitter preju-
dices. It will be the object of this letter to show
how this was brought about.
" The great designs of God were advanced by our
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182 THE ABCHKO VOLUME,
misfortunes as well as by our prosperity, and in
God's purpose of preparing the world for the ad-
vent of a higher life and greater attainment in
godliness, each event had a ripening tendency.
Whether we worshipped in Jerusalem in peace or
wept by the rivers of Babylon, everywhere and under
all circumstances we taught a knowledge of the true
God ; and everywhere our nation has cherished the
hope of triumph in the expectation of a coming
Messiah. The first great empire to which Judea fell
a prey was the Babylonian. Jerusalem was destroyed
by Nebuchadnezzar five hundred and fifty-seven
years ago ; and the renmant of the people was car-
ried to Babylon and the neighboring countries,
whither the main body had been removed eighteen
years before. The glimpses of those times and coun-
tries are very short, but enough is given us to see
that the residence of our fathers in those countries
was not without effect.
** It is impossible to put out the light of a Jew's
eye, or to extinguish the fire that burns in his heart ;
and the life of our fathers made lasting effects both
on the people they were with and themselves also.
One person especially adorned that dark period of
God's exiled Church. The prophet, Daniel, gives
us almost the only sight we get of mighty Baby-
lon ; his writings furnish us with a number of great
truths. He passes before us from youthful beauty to
extreme age. We see him rising, like Joseph, by
early wisdom, piety, and integrity, from slavery, to
be the chief minister of State, and it is altogether
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THE HILLEL LETTERS. 183
probable that it was through him that Cyrus was
prompted to restore our people to our holy land
again. The edict was issued in the first year of his
reign, immediately .after the capture of Babylon,
which Daniel had foretold by interpreting the writ-
ing on the wall.
"But the restoration of our nation, an event
so wonderful and strange in the history of the
world, though properly attributed to the provi-
dence of God, was brought about by means more
circuitous than is generally supposed. Fifty or a
hundred thousand Jews did not live in Babylonia,
Media, and Persia seventy years — making such a
singularly religious impression — for nothing. Our
people appear to have been treated with much more
respect among these oriental nations than in the
western world. The reason of this, probably, was
that the Persians, like the Arabians, their neighbors,
had not forsaken the patriarchal religion or sunk
into such gross and degrading idolatry as those
nations which had wandered farthest from the pater-
nal hearthstone of the human race
It is in this period of our nation's sojourn in the East
that the famous reformer, Zoroaster, appeared. I look
upon him as the second Moses, though without inspira-
tion ; but, availing himself of the light of the true reve-
lation, he attempted not to introduce a new reh'gion,
but to refine, purify, and build up the religion of his
country by introducing into it the most important
principles of the true faith, and thus, with a mixture
of base and noble motives, to benefit his country,
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184 THE ABCHKO VOLUME.
and reflect glory on himself. The secret of his suc-
cess was, he taught the theology of Moses, and his
theology was so simple and sublime, and so consonant
at the same time with the best conceptions of man-
kind that it clothed this impostor with the veneration
of his countrymen, and sanctified even his crimes
and follies. It was from Moses that Zoroaster de-
rived the idea of one living God, the maker of
heaven and earth ; but he corrupted this pure doc-
trine by making two subordinate gods, the authors
respectively of good and evil. From Moses he re-
ceived an utter abhorrence of all images and of the
temples in which they were worshipped, but he in-
troduced, in connection with the true faith, the doc-
trine of evil spirits dividing the government of the
universe. So it happened that there was not only
an impress of the religion of our fathers upon that of
the Persians, but a reaction of the Persian religion
upon that of our nation.
'* The Jews, as would appear from the book of
Tobit, first learned in their captivity those ideas of
the agency of evil spirits in the world, of which we
find traces in all their histories. Cyrus was a Per-
sian, and in all probability had been instructed in
the doctrines of Zoroaster, a combination, as we have
seen, of Judaism and the ancient Persian religion ;
hence his extraordinary partiality for the Jews is
explained, and his zeal in rebuilding the only temple
on earth which was dedicated in his name to the God
of heaven, and was free from the all-pervading and
polluting sin of idol-worship.
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'* But the influence of Zoroaster did not end here.
The successors of Cyrus were educated in his relig-
ion. The priests and teachers of his religion were
called Magi, and exerted a powerful influence in the
State. Darius Hystaspes, son-in-law and successor of
Cyrus, warmly espoused the religion of the Persian
philosopher, and when Zoroaster was slain by an
eruption of the Scythians, he amply avenged his
death, and rebuilt the fine temples which the Scyth-
ians had destroyed, especially, and with more splendor
than before, the one in which Zoraster ministered. It
was this enmity to idolatry, thus derived through
Zoroaster from Moses, which was the only redeeming
principle that the Persian monarchs showed in all
their extensive conquests. Cambyses, the son of
Cyrus, madman and tyrant as he was, derives a sort
of dignity from his zeal against idolatry. His indig-
nation at seeing the Egyptians worship a living brute
does honor at least to his Persian education, though
in other respects he was a cruel and detestable tyrant.
When Darius and Xerxes marched their mighty
armies into Europe, the only idea which these vast
expeditions were intended to carry out, that can ex-
cite the least sympathy in the mind of a Jew, was
the destruction of idolatry, which they everywhere
threatened and attempted to realize. Thus it is that
the mind governs at last. The Persian kings, with
their vast armies, bearing war and subjugation to
remotest lands, were only realizing ideas which had
been matured by Zoroaster in his cave, and which he
in turn had derived from Moses. ** Thus through
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186 THE ABCHKO VOLUME.
our exiled fathers the hand became the executive of
the brain to establish the worship of the true God,
and in the revolution of the wheels of nature, aa seen
by Ezekiel, the soldier is the machine of the thinker,
and armies are assembled and battles fought to carry
out a few ideas with which men of letters have filled
the mind of a nation, and scholars and sages, proph-
ets and impostors, good men and bad men, kings and
generals, armies and revolutions, are all equally used
to accomplish the purposes of that eternal Mind, who
sitteth supreme over all, which we as the only nation
known on earth recognize as Divine Providence.
*' The ambition of Cyrus and liis successors, though
in a manner which they did not anticipate, was the
means made use of by our Father of introducing
among the enslaved and ignorant multitude of the
East the civilization, the arts, and the learning which
Greece, with her wonderful genius, had matured.
Cyrus, whose sudden irruption into Babylon termi-
nated Belshazzar's feast and fulfilled so terribly the
writing on the wall, had already extended the Per-
sian Empire over the greater part of Asia Minor.
Belshazzar, the last king over Babylon, attempted
to strengthen himself against the growing power of
the Persians, by forming an alliance with Croesus,
King of Lydia, so famous for his riches. This mon-
arch, made arrogant by his great wealth and the
command of an army of nearly half a million, resolved
to encounter the Persian power, but lately become
formidable. To make assurance doubly sure, he sent
to inquire of the Oracle at Delphi in Greece, and
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THE HILLEL LETTERS. 187
received for answer : ' I! Croesus pass the Holys/
the boundary between Lydia and Persia, * he shall
destroy a great empire/ He went, and found that
empire was his own. He was defeated by Cyrus, and
his whole kingdom came into the hands of the con-
queror five hundred and forty years ago. This con-
quest brought the Persians in collision with the
Greeks, and was the cause of those wars which were
waged with such bitterness for generations between
the two nations, and finally resulted in the destruc-
tion of the Persian monarchy. The Greeks, though -
natives of Europe, had planted many colonies on the
Asiatic coast. These colonies, though infinitely su-
perior to the effeminate and luxurious Asiatics in
every physical, intellectual, and moral attribute, were
altogether unable to resist the overwhelming weight
of an empire which reached from Ethiopia to the
Caspian Sea, and from the Indus to the Bosphorus.
They were obliged to submit, like the rest, and pay
an annual tribute to their conquerors, no less to the
humiliation and annoyance of the mother-country
than themselves. The yoke at length became so
oppressive that they resolved to throw it off. To
effect this they applied to Athens and Sparta for aid.
Receiving assistance from these most considerable
states of Greece, they rebelled, marched to Sardis,
took it, and accidentally set the city on fire, by which
it was totally consumed. The loss of this city, the
richest in Asia Minor, exasperated Darius, King of
Persia, to the highest degree, and kindled in his
breast such a flame of resentment that he resolved
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188 THE ABCHKO VOLUME.
upon revenge. Lest in his multifarious affairs he
should forget the offenders, he appointed officers
whose duty it was each day to repeat to him as he
dined, ' Sir, remember the Athenians/ Resolved to
punish these presumptuous republics^ which had dared
to brave the whole power of the Persian Empire, he
collected a fleet and army sufficient, as he supposed,
to crush so small a country at one blow. After an
ineffectual attempt to reach Greece by the circuitous
route of Thrace and Macedonia, a second armament
was fitted out, of the flower of that army which had
borne conquest on their banners from the Euphrates
to the Nile, and transported by sea directly toward
the little republic of Athens, able then to send into the
field but from ten to fifteen thousand men. The Athe-
nians met and vanquished them on the plain of Mar-
athon, leaving six thousand dead on the field. Thus
ended the first attempt of Persian despotism upon
the liberties of Greece. This may be said to be the
first demonstration that was ever given to the world
of the benefits of free government. A few ages of
absolute political liberty had trained up a race of
men such as had never been seen before. Intelli-
gence combined with physical force, thorough disci-
pline, and an enthusiastic love of country, for the
first time were brought to contend hand to hand with
the pampered sons of Eastern luxury and the spirit-
less automata of a despotic government. The result
was what it will ever be. The Orientals fell like
grass before the swords of the free. But this defeat,
so far from discouraging the conqueror of the Indies,
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THE HILLEL LETTERS. 189
only roused him to mightier efforts. He immediately
resolved on invading Greece with a larger army than
before ; but in the midst of his preparations he fell
before a mightier conqueror, and left the inheritance
of his kingdom and his revenge to his son, Xerxes,
who was destined still further to add to the glory of
Greece, though it would seem that this son could
have seen, in the providence of God, that man with
men combined could not contend with the Almighty.
But this youth, succeeding to the mightiest monarchy
which the world had ever known, was resolved to
signalize his reign by extending still further the
boundaries of his hereditary dominions. Asia was
not enough to satisfy his boundless ambition. Europe
must likewise be subjected to his power. His father's
quarrel with the Greeks furnished him with a con-
venient apology for such enormous injustice. He
spent four years in preparation for this great event,
and Xerxes then ruled over the most fruitful portion
of the globe, and the simple habits of life which
then prevailed enabled the earth to sustain some
three or four times the number that can be supported
in the more costly and luxurious mode which has
since been adopted by all civilized nations. He
called upon every nation to furnish its quota of troops
or ships or provisions, from Ethiopia to the Caspian,
from the iEgean to the Persian Gulf. Four full
years were consumed in making preparation, and
all for what ? To crush a small nation.
** We naturally turn our eyes to Greece, the de-
voted object of all this expense. There she lies, with
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190 THE ABCHKO VOLUME.
her beautiful islands laved by the cryatal waters of
the jEgean Sea. There is Athens, with her exquisite
arts, her literature, and her science, with her constel-
lations of genius just ready to burst upon the world.
There was Sparta, less cultivated, but the bulwark
of Grecian independence. There was Leonidas, with
his three hundred. There, in a little peninsula, lay
the intellectual hope of the world, the sole germ of
free government forever and ever. Is this brave
and gallant people to be crushed at a blow ? Shall
the Persian banners float on the hills of subjugated
Greece ? Is it to be announced at Susa that order
reigns in Attica ? Is Asiatic despotism to overwhelm,
in one long night of oppression, the very dawn of
human greatness? In that contest literature had
her stake. The very existence of those men de-
pended on the issue of this vast enterprise, whose
works have been the study and delight of all suc-
ceeding time — that whole galaxy of genius, whose
clustering radiance has since encircled the earth.
The religion of our fathers had much at stake.
Standing now and gazing back upon this epoch of
history we are made to tremble, for all these were
nations given to idolatry. Everywhere are cere-
monies, temples, priests ; but both priest and people,
the noble and the base, the learned and the simple,
all alike grope in Cimmerian darkness as to the
knowledge of the true God. There is but one excep-
tion to this in all the earth — the temple at Jerusalem.
We turn our eyes eastward to Palestine, and there
we see the temple of the true God just rising from
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THE HILL EL LETTERS. 191
the ruin of seventy years' desolation. Its builders,
a feeble company, have just returned from a long
captivity. The very language in which their holy
oracles were written has become obsolete. Their
speech is Chaldean, and their religious teachers are
obliged from Sabbath to Sabbath to interpret from
a dead language the records of their faith. This
may answer for a small territory, and for a feeble
few, as at that time, but the world needs light;
and how shall the wisdom of God and the wisdom
of man unite and carry God's wisdom round the
world so that all may know the living and true God ?
If Xerxes prevail, this can never be. Forbid it,
then, freedom ! Forbid it, then, religion I Forbid
it, intellect ! Arise, O God, and let thine enemies be
scattered, and those that rise up against the liberties
of Thy people be driven away like the chaff which
the wind driveth away. So Xerxes did not prevail ;
the soil of Palestine would not bear the tread of a foe
to the religion of the true God. The Jewish nature,
breathing the invigorated air of freedom, disciplined
by science, and animated and enlightened patriotism,
grows up to a strength, a firmness and courage which
hosts of slaves can never subdue, and by which the
tenfold cord of oppression is rent asunder like the
bands that bound the limbs of Samson. This army,
though it was raised by Xerxes, is under the com-
mand of the God of heaven. It cannot, it must not,
it shall not conquer. It is to teach the Greeks that
they are masters of the world. It invites them to
roll back the tide of conquest on Asia, and carry
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192 THE ARCHKO VOLUME,
Grecian manners, arts, science, and language into
the East. They shall penetrate to our holy land ;
into their language our holy oracles shall be trans-
lated ; in their language shall be recorded the
words o! eternal life, and laden with the priceless
treasure that language shall come back to Pales-
tine, bearing light and truth and salvation to the
nations and generations yet unborn. This diSu-
sion of the Greek language took place by means
of conquest. Although the action was man's,
the ruling was God's ; and that it entered into
the divine plan of Providence we may know from
the fact that it was a subject of prophecy. In a
vision of Daniel, in Section 7, in the first year of
Darius Hystaspes, it is written : * Behold, there shall
stand up three kings in Persia, and the fourth shall
be far richer than them all ; and by his strength and
through his riches he shall stir up all against the
realm of Grecia.'
' ' Of this great attempt of Xerxes against Greece
I have given account in my last letter. After the
retreat of Xerxes into Asia, there was no attempt
of the Greeks to make reprisals for many years.
Unfortunately they were divided among themselves,
and exhausted their energies in mutual quarrels.
But the ages immediately succeeding the- Persian
invasion were the most wonderful in intellectual de-
velopment that the world has ever seen. More great
minds were produced within that century than in
any other within the recorded history of our race.
Providence seems to have kept back that wonderful
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THE HILLEL LETTERS, 193
nation until her intellectual treasure-house was full,
and then to have sent her forth conquering and to
conquer — not to destroy, but to fertilize the lands
she overflowed ; not to extinguish civilization by
barbarism, but to carry intellectual light to those
who were sitting in the regions of ignorance and
darkness. Nothing occurred of great interest be-
tween the Persians and the Greeks for nearly eighty
years. The Greeks went on to create the most beau-
tiful literature and the profoundest philosophy that
human genius has ever produced, and their mutual
contentions perfected them in the science and prac-
tice of war. At that time a circumstance took place
which gave them a stronger proof of their great
superiority over the Persians than even their victo-
ries over Xerxes. Cyrus the Younger was sent by
his brother Artaxerxes to Asia Minor as the gover-
nor of the western provinces. Here he became ac-
quainted vith the martial valor of the Greeks, and
thought by their aid to march to Susa and dethrone
his brother. For this purpose he collected an army
of more than one hundred thousand, thirteen thou-
sand of whom were Greeks, and advanced into the
plains of the East. He was there met by his brother
with an army of nine hundred thousand, defeated,
and left dead on the field. The thirteen thousand
Greeks, now reduced to ten thousand, found them-
selves two thousand miles from the nearest Grecian
city where they would be safe, without one day's pro-
visions, in the midst of an enemy's country. Undis-
mayed by this most appalling condition, they com-
13
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194 lEE ARCHKO VOLUME.
menced their retreat, cut their way through enemies
in front,and guarded themselves from foes in the
rear. They went over mountains covered with
snow, through trackless forests, and over rivers
rapid and deep, and reached their homes in safety.
This exploit filled the world with their fame, and
perhaps more than anything else convinced the
Greeks that, few as they were, they held the desti-
nies of Asia at their disposal. But confederated
republics, however efficient for defence, are generally
ill-calculated for conquest. It was not till more than
forty years after this, when all Greece had been sub-
jected to Philip, King of Macedonia, that the nation
turned its eyes to the conquest of the East. Philip
had himself elected general-in-chief of all the Greeks
for the prosecution of the war with their ancient
enemies, the Persians. Just at the moment when
the conqueror of Greece was meditating a descent
upon the Persian Empire, he fell by the hand of an
assassin, leaving his kingdom to his son Alexander,
a youth of twenty. This happened three hundred
and eighty years ago, and may be considered as one
of the great epochs of the world."
Fourth Letter,
"Alexander, by his personal endowments as con-
queror and statesman, did more in twelve years to
affect the future condition of the world than any
uninspired man that has ever lived. He was in no
respect better than his modem rivals, and was ani-
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THE HILLEL LETTERS. 195
mated by no better motive than personal ambition.
In the hands o! God he was used as an instrument
o! lasting good to mankind. Endowed with an intel-
lect o! unusual power and comprehension, he re-
ceived a thorough education from one of the greatest
philosophei"s that ever lived. At the age of eighteen
he began to mingle affairs of state with study, and
became a soldier as well as a scholar. At the age of
twenty, when summoned to assume the reins of
empire — ^the sovereign, in fact, of the Greeks — he
stood before the world a perfect representative of his
nation. He combined their genius and learning
with their valor and conduct ; and entering Asia
with the sword in one hand and the poems of Homer
in the other, he became the armed leader of Grecian
learning, art, and civilization. Wherever he went
Greece went with him. His conquests were not so
much those of Macedonian arms as of Grecian let-
ters. Wherever he went, he took with him the genius
of Homer, the sublime soul of Plato, and the prac-
tical wisdom of Socrates ; and not only monarchies
sprung up in his wake, but schools of philosophy and
academies of learning.
Entering Asia with an army of thirty -five thousand
men, in the space of twelve years he made himself
master of the whole Persian Empire, and of many na-
tions which had never been subjected to the Persian
yoke. He carried the Grecian language and man-
ners to the Indus, and subjected to his power nearly
as large a portion of the human race as there was in
existence. His first battle gave him Asia Minor.
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196 THE ARCHKO VOLUME.
The second all of Syria to the Euphrates ; Egypt,
the whole valley of the Nile, surrendered without
striking a blow. The third great battle, on the banks
of the Euphrates, opened to him the whole of the
Asiatic plains to the mountains which bounded the
habitations of the Scythian tribes. Wherever he
went the Greek language and literature took up their
abode, and every city on this side the Euphrates in
a few ages became the residence of Greek philoso-
phers, poets, rhetoricians, grammarians, historians,
till the whole circuitous shore of the Mediterranean
became almost as Grecian as Greece herself. Our be-
loved Palestine, of course, came under his sway, and
the influence of his career on the fortunes of us
Jews was more decisive, perhaps, than upon any
other nation, for it was his conquest alone which in-
troduced the Greek language into our holy land.
And so much do the most important events turn on
the slightest causes, that on the chances of one life,
almost daily exposed to destruction by the dangers
of war, depended the issue whether the records of
the holy oracles should ever be sent to the perishing
world through this beautiful language. It has been
declared that when the mighty warrior and states-
man was approaching Jerusalem, Judua, who was
our high priest at that time, came out to meet him
in solemn procession, and that Alexander was so
struck by his appearance, that he not only spared
the city, but granted to us Jews many favors that
he did not show to others, giving as a reason therefor
that he had seen the same person in a dream before
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THE HILLEL LETTERS, 197
he left Macedonia, who had assured him of the con-
quest of the Persian empire.
** From Syria he passed on to Egypt, and his con-
quest of that country had a greater influence upon
the future condition of our nation than the conquest
of Judea itself : for on his return from Ethiopia he
sailed down the western branch of the Nile, and,
with the instinct of genius, fixed upon the site of a
city between the lake Mareotis and the sea, which
he called after his own name. It sprung up imme-
diately to be one of the most magnificent cities of the
world, reigning as a sort of queen of the East, as the
mart of commerce and the seat of wealth. To people
this city we Jews were invited by the most liberal
offers. A large colony was formed, where only the
Greek language was used. Hence, it became neces-
sary to have our Scriptures translated into Greek, or
we would have lost our knowledge of them altogether.
It is said on good authority that the occasion of
translating the Scriptures into the Greek language
was the desire of Ptolemy Philadelphus to have
a copy to go into the Alexandrian library, which
was begun not long after his death. However that
might be, such a version we know was made, which
is now the standard of the world. It was made
about three hundred years ago, and by this transla-
tion our theology has gone to the whole world. Thus
we see that Divine Providence works the nations of
the earth like a machine.
" Another important factor in God's providence
is the rising of the Roman Empire. While all these
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198 THE ARCHKO VOLUME,
things were transpiring in the East, a nation was
rising into notice in the south of Italy destined to
exert a more extensive influence upon the world by
her arms than Greece did by her learning. About
seven hundred and fifty years ago a small band of
refugees from the ruins of Troy joined other adven-
turers, and established themselves on the banks of
the Tiber. Their government at first was monarch-
ical. They were poor in resources, temperate and
frugal in their habits, but, either from choice or
necessity, warlike from the first. Italy was not then
a new nor an uncultivated country. It must have
contained states and cities of great wealth, for there
have been discovered vast receptacles for the dead
dating back much earlier than the time of Romulus.
These were a nation of soldiers and statesmen, trained
from their earliest years to politics and war. Their
monarchy lasted about two hundred years. While
that lasted there was little indication that these
Romans were to become the masters of the world.
The establishment of a popular government, how-
ever, rapidly developed their national characteristics
— ^a love of conquest and military glory. This char-
acter once formed, and all honor and promotion
coming from the people, none could hope to succeed
without bending the whole force of his talents to
that object which every citizen had most at heart —
the honor of the Roman name, and the extension of
their dominions over foreign nations. The Senate,
composed either of the most distinguished and influ-
ential of the citizens, or of those who had made their
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THE HILLEL LETTERS. 199
way through the regular grades of the magistracy to
the highest which was known in the State, constituted
a body, which, for more than a thousand years, for
talent, for weight, for wisdom and experience, was
unrivalled in the history of the world. The Roman
from youth to age lived in the eye of his country.
To gain the favor of the arbiters of his destiny
was his perpetual study and his constant endeavor.
Thus from the first, every faculty was put upon the
utmost stretch, and nothing was omitted through
the whole course of his education which could
give him eloquence before the people, valor and
conduct in the field, and wisdom in the Senate.
The whole nation was a sort of military school.
No man could be a candidate for office until he had
served his country ten years as a soldier in the camp.
The result was that, by thus bending all the powers of
human nature in one direction, they excelled all man-
kind in that art to which they were exclusively de-
voted. They became a nation of soldiers, and, pursu-
ing with steady aim and untiring perseverance one
exclusive object for eight centuries, they naturally be-
came the conquerors of the world. A Roman army
was the most terrible object that ever trod the earth,
it was a vast human machine contrived for the
subjugation of the world, instinct with intelligence,
shielded from assault by an almost impenetrable
armor, and animated with a courage which was best
displayed in the shock of battle. When we hear of a
Roman camp, we cease to wonder how that nation
carried conquest from the sands of Africa to the bor-
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200 THE ABCHKO VOLUME.
ders of the world, to the skirts of the Arabian desert.
After the age of seventeen, every Roman was liable
to be enrolled and sent to the war at any time. When
he arrived at the camp he entered on a course of
life in which ease and luxury were altogether un-
known. He commenced a discipline of hardships
that is almost incredible, and of which there was no
end ; and with all this training it took the Romans
five hundred years to conquer Italy; it took two
hundred more and they were masters of the known
world.
*' About one hundred years ago the Roman con-
quest reached our holy land. Pompey the Great
polluted with impious tread the holy of holies, and
the Roman legions planted their standard upon the
rampart of the temple. About seventy years ago
Caesar subjected the liberties of his country, putting
an end to the republic which had existed four hun-
dred years ; and fifty years ago all the world was
given peace. Thus it is that the Grecian letters and
Roman arms were founded on the mission of Moses ;
also the Roman statesman was made quite as subser-
vient to the great plan of Providence as the valor of
the Roman commanders ; for they alone of all na-
tions that ever existed were able to retain and con-
solidate their conquests. Their polity, perfected by
the experience of ages, greatly alleviated the burden
of their yoke, and it is often said that after conquer-
ing like savages they ruled like sages ; and if it is
objected : how can God's providence permit so many
minds to come under a rule so hostile to liberty and
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THE HILLEL LETTERS. 201
freedom ? To this I reply : the governments destroyed
are always worse than the ones set up in their place,
though it may not always be seen by man."
Fifth Letter.
'* Man is essentially a human being. He is made
so by the faculties of his mind, as well as the emo-
tions of his heart. He is so both by the intellectual
and moral nature. One of the first and most spon-
taneous exercises of the reason of man is the investi-
gation of cause and effect, and one of the first con-
victions which are developed in the mind is that
there cannot be an eifect without a cause. The next
is, that the nature of a cause must correspond with
the nature of the effect, and can certainly be known
by it. It is so in the works of man. When we see
an exquisite painting it is impossible for us to doubt
its having been the creation of intelligence. When
Aristippus was cast on a shore where there appeared
to be no inhabitants, he wandered about until he
found some mathematical diagrams traced in the
sand. * Courage," said he, ' my friend ; I find the
traces of men.' And so I say to the wandering and
forsaken Jews of God : Courage ; I see the finger of
God pointing. Men see in everything the traces of
power and wisdom. Nay, we know that we are the
effects of superior power and wisdom. Unbelief has
not prevailed much in the world, and it has been
quite as rare among the heathen as among those who
have had a revelation. So much for abstract relig-
ious convictions.
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202 THE ARCHKO VOLUME.
" Men are led to God by their understanding and
by their moral nature. On the first dawn of his
faculties man experiences within him certain moral
perceptions. This is right, meritorious, honorable ;
that is wrong, base, despicable, worthy of punish-
ment. This moral nature he finds exists not only in
himself, but in others. It is a universal attribute of
man. It is not a fortuitous endowment. It is given
to man by his Creator as the law of his action. I
can come from no other source. But the moral
power in man is only the faculty to see them because
they exist. Then God sees them and they are real-
ities, and He created both them and us. Our con-
sciousness of the power to choose between the good
and the bad creates within us a sense of responsibility
to the being that made us.
*' Connected with this idea of God, which seems
to be necessary and universal, is that of a providence,
an intelligence which not only made the world but
governs it ; which, therefore, knows the past, the
present, and the future, and which, of course, observes
not only all that is seen by mortal eyes, but likewise
all that passes in the human mind. Men have seen
that the general course of events is, that vice should
be punished and virtue rewarded ; vice, therefore,
is regarded by God with displeasure ; and as He now
punishes it, so He will continue to do. As a good
man now and ever must be the object of His appro-
bation, and as God is infinite in power, the good man
will be forever rewarded. Such are the natural con-
victions of mankind, which result from the opera-
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, .- THE HILLEL LETTERS, 203
tions of his own mind. Such are the convictions of
the heathen world. The great men of the old world,
poets and philosophers, have entertained such opin-
ions in all time. They all take for granted one
superior being and all others inferior beings that are
responsible " to Him. * This is not only the last and
highest conclusion of human intellect, but likewise
the consenting voice of the most ancient tradition.
** But then, even in the best minds the subject
was surrounded with great doubt and difficulties.
God Himself is an object of none of the senses. It
is in vain, therefore, for the human mind to form
an idea of the mode of His existence. Not being,
then, a m?itter of sense or of demonstration, the
wisest of men, though he might arrive at the
truth, could not feel sure that it was truth. Want-
ing certainty himself, he could not impart certainty
to others. He could not propagate his doctrine
with confidence. The wisest of men, therefore,
wanted that authority which was requisite even for
the propagation of the truth. They wanted cer-
tainty for themselves and authority for others. Now,
certainty and authority are the very things which
are necessary to make a religion powerful in the
world. While religion, therefore, was in the hands
of the philosophers (that is, the thinkers), it effected
next to nothing in guiding and restraining mankind,
it being merely a matter of opinion — that is, of dim
probability. One man felt that he had just as good
a right to his opinion as another. One philosopher
diSered from another, and thus weakened the author-
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204 THE ARCHKO VOLUME.
ity of the opinions of both. A religion, therefore,
in the true sense of the word — ^that is, one that shall
take hold of the faith and control the conduct of
mankind — must have certainty and authority.
Neither of these can be obtained without revelation,
inspiration, and miracles.
** Had Moses himself received no divine aid, either
from inspiration or miracles, even if he had uttered
the same truths and laid down the same precepts, he
would have accomplished nothing in the world. His
doctrines would have rested for evidence on his own
reason, and his precepts upon his own personal char-
acter and influence. Another man of equal wisdom
and the same weight of character might. have over-
thrown what he had built up. Besides, his manner
would have been entirely different. No man can in-
spire confidence in others who has not confidence in
himself. No man in high religious matters can have
full confidence in himself without conscious divine
inspiration. It was reasonable, therefore, in him,
when sent by God into Egypt to bring out his en-
slaved brethren, to demand miraculous credentials ;
and without them he could neither have brought
them out nor established among them the religion
he was commissioned to teach. This distinction was
perceived by the people, though the reason upon
which it was founded was beyond their comprehen-
sion. The difference arose from the difference be-
tween knowledge and opinion. One is necessarily
proposed with diffidence ; the other with confidence,
which no one uninspired can counterfeit. Those
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THE HTLLEL LETTERS,- 205
who knew best about these things among the heathen
had no means o! guiding the multitude. But then
mankind must have a religion. The understanding
demands it, and the heart craves it. It is not with
the multitude as with the philosophers, a matter of
quiet contemplation. They must act as well as think
and feel. The sentiments of the heart demand ex-
pression, and expression they will have, through the
actions of the hands, and through the words of the
mouth. Occasions were continually occurring de-
manding immediate action. Some public calamity
bowed down the hearts of thousands, and seemed to
indicate the wrath of superior powers. Those powers
must be supplicated and appeased. Who shall con-
trive the rite ? Not the wisest, but the man of the
greatest boldness and readiness of invention. Once
established, proscription took the place of reason, and
habit consecrated that which was at first wanting in
propriety.
** Then, again, religion has much to do with imag-
ination. Everything relating to God is invisible.
There is nothing positively to determine and fix our
ideas ; but in pure spirituality our imagination finds
no play, nothing to lay hold of. Still it is impossi-
ble to keep them quiet, even in our most solemn de-
votions, and perhaps it has been found absolutely
impossible for the most spiritual man altogether to
separate the idea of corporiety from God.
** How much more impossible, then, must it have
been for the uninstructed heathen, with the best in-
tentions ? Therefore, there must have been diversi-
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206 THE ARCHKO VOLUME.
ties anc) great imperfection in heathen opinions and
heathen worship. Such we find to have been the
fact. Certain of the existence of a God, yet uncer-
tain of the mode of His existence, it was natural
that the human mind should run into a thousand
vagaries apd a thousand errors. It was natural that
mankind should fancy that they had found God in
those parts of the material universe where His attri-
butes are most displayed. Hence, the most ancient
species of idolatry is said to have been that which
deified the heavenly bodies, the sun and moon and
the hosts of heaven. The sun is perhaps the brightest
emblem of God, except the human soul. To us he
is, in fact, the mightiest instrument, as it were, the
right hand of the benignity of the Most High. He
riseth, and the shadows of night flee away. Joy and
beauty go forth to meet him in the morning. At
his call universal life riseth, as it were, from a uni-
versal death. He draweth aside the curtains of dark-
ness and sayeth unto man, Come forth ! He shineth,
and the face of nature is glad. He hideth his face,
and all things mourn. He withdraweth from the
western sky, and darkness resumes her ancient do-
minion, and all things seem to wait his return. The
soul itself, as it were, deprived of its support, gradu-
ally loses its energies, and sinks into a profound re-
pose. What wonder, then, that in the native ignor-
ance of mankind of the true nature of God, the wise
should have worshipped the sun as the fittest em-
blem of God, and the ignorant as God Himself.
Such was probably the idolatry of the nations from
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THE HILLEL LETTERS, 207
among whom Abraham was called to the worship of
the true God. Such was the worship of the Chal-
deans and Egyptians. It is a record of the Talmud
that Abraham, when returning from the grotto
where he was bom to the city of Babylon, gazed on
a certain star, * Behold,' said he, * the God, the Lord
of the universe.' But as he gazed the star sank
away and was gone, and Abraham felt that the Lord
was unchangeable, and he was deceived. Again,
the full moon appeared, and he said, ' This is our
God ;' but the moon withdrew and he was deceived.
All the rest of the night he spent in profound medi-
tation. At sunrise he stood before the gates of Baby-
lon, and saw all the people prostrate before the rising
sun. ' Wondrous orb,' he exclaimed, * thou surely
art the creator and ruler of nations, but thou, like
the rest, hasteneth away, so the Creator is somewhere
else.' How much more sublime, as well as rational,
the doctrine which he orginated, and the sentiments
which were afterward expressed by one of his follow-
ers, which make these glorious orbs only the mani-
festations of something far more glorious than they !
'* One great source of corruption was the priest-
hood. It seems natural that men should be chosen
to conduct religious service. They became better
acquainted with these rites than others, and are more
sacred by the power of association which renders
their ministration more satisfactory, and, of course,
more profitable to those in whose behalf they perform
sacred offices. A priesthood seemed to be so neces-
sary, but there is nothing more dangerous to a nation
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208 ^HE ARCHKO VOLUME,
than to have a priesthood that is governed by the
political parties o! the nation, as was done by all
nations except our own. Here the priest was gov-
erned by the laws of Moset?, and it was impossible
for the priest or anybody else to change them. It
is to be attributed to these heathen priests that idol-
atry is so common. Gro down into Egypt, and you
find men worshipping an ox. Cats and crocodiles
occupy the places of the inferior gods, and are wor-
shipped by the poor. Thus in all nations, except
our own, this dreadful state of idolatry prevails.
The idolatry of Greece is no better. Athens con-
tains many statues erected to imaginary gods. Her
superstition is not only bigoted but bloody. It was
there that Socrates suffered death merely on suspicion
of maintaining opinions subversive of the popular
faith."
Sixth Letter,
*' The end of all religion as a positive institution
Hh to enlighten the understanding and cultivate the
devotions. The mind must think and the heart must
worship. So it must be through life. The cares of
the world are continually effacing religious impres-
sions, and truths once clearly seen and vividly felt
by lapse of time wax dim and lose the influence of
present realities. The soul, moreover, feels the want
of support and guidance of religion at all times.
Every day the soul experiences the need of commu-
nion with God. It is as necessary as our daily food.
Therefore, all religion has its sacred rites, by which
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TBE SILLEL LETTERS, 209
the heart speaks to God and God communicates
to the heart. So all religions have some mode of
training the mind and moving the affections, of
taking hold of the memory and perpetuating them-
selves. This is derived from an innate consciousness.
If God should extinguish all the lights of the world
and blind every human eye, religion would be just
the same.
'* But these outward institutions must all be
adapted to the present condition of man. Religion
can only use those instruments which are furnished
to hand. In the absence of writing it must use cere-
monies and forms, which have a conventional mean-
ing, and thus come to be symbolic of certain truths.
Thus, our patriarchal religion consisted almost en-
tirely of prayer and sacrifice. The Mosaic religion,
which came after the invention of letters, added to
prayer and sacrifice a written code of duty, a formal
declaration of truths and principles, which lay at the
foundation of the whole institution.
** The patriarchal element was still strong and
predominant in all our Church, yet there was no
express mode of religious instruction. This was en-
joined on the heads of families : ' And these words
which I command thee this day, thou shalt teach them
to thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sit-
test in thy house.' And as the written laws were
scarce and hard to get, it was said : 'And thou shalt
bind them for a sign upon thine hand and as front-
lets between thine eyes, and thou shalt write them
upon the posts of thine house and upon thy gates.'
14
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210 t'S^ ARCHKO VOLUME.
Then the Levites were to stand and say with a loud
voice : * Cursed be the man that maketh any graven
image ;' and all the people shall hold up their hands
and say, amen ; and thus he went through the whole
law. Then at the annual meeting upon the moun-
tains at new moon all the people met and held up
their hands and cried, amen. Thus it is evident that
devotion predominated over instruction ; the culti-
vation of the heart was made more prominent than
that of the understanding.
'* But in the Hebrew commonwealth Church and
State were closely amalgamated. The code of Moses
prescribed a like religious and civil duty. The
Levites, of course, were the judges and magistrates,
as well as the religious teachers of the people. But
as books were scarce, we find in the third year of
the reign of Jehoshaphat that he sent princes and
Levites to teach the people, and they took the book
of the law and went through all the cities of Judea
and taught the people the law of the Lord.
** This same thing was carried out in all the Jew-'
ish life. Our tabernacle in the wilderness, and after-
ward in the holy land, was intended as a perpetual
memorial of God, and a symbol of His presence. It
called the people oif from idolatry, and reminded
them that their worship was to be directed to Jeho-
vah alone. Its services, and those afterward of the
temple, were perpetually renewed every morning and
every evening, that no pious Israelite should ever
feel that the duties of adoration and gratitude could
be omitted for a single day. The morning and even-
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THE HTLLEL LETTERS. 211
ing sacrifice, we have every reason to believe, was
to the religiously disposed an essential aid to devo-
tion through the many centuries of the continuance
of that imposing rite.
*' Then if we transfer these imposing ceremonies
to the temple, this godly house was the rallying
point of our political power, the consecrated seat of
our religion, and the heart of our national affections.
It was built by Solomon more than a thousand years
ago. It was built on Mount Moriah, in the south-
eastern part of Jerusalem. It was built for worship
alone. It was intended as a place for national wor-
ship. It consisted of four enclosures, one within
another on three sides, but having a common wall
on the fourth. Only one of these was covered with a
roof, in our meaning of the term, and that was the
last or innermost enclosure — the holy of holies, con-
taining the ark, the cherubim, and the mercy seat.
The outer enclosure, into which all nations were per-
mitted to enter, was very large. The second was
the court of women — so-called, not because none but
women were permitted to enter there, but because
they were permitted to go no further. Within this
was the court of Israel, which again surrounded on
three sides that of the priests, where was the great
altar, upon which the daily sacrifice was offered
morning and evening.
** Oh, these sacred ordinances ! How can the world
do without them ? It seems that the world could do
as well without the light of the sun, as well without
food to eat or water to drink, as to do without these
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212 THE ARCHKO VOLUME.
doctrines and teachings of the Jews. Bat they are
all gone. The city, the temple, the doctrine, the
priest, the law, and the nation are all gone. Is it
so that God has become tired of His own appoint-
ments ? or does He see a defect in His own ways,
or has He become dissatisfied with His own cove-
nant made to our fathers and to their children ?
** I write you these letters, my beloved country-
men, asking you to look at these things, and find out
the cause of our abandonment. Is it the cause that
sent our fathers into Egypt ? or is it caused by the
same thing that sent them into Babylon ? Let us
look and find out the cause, so that we may seek a
remedy. And let us not forget the morning and
evening sacrifice. Let us turn our faces toward that
holy temple and pray. Although it is not in exist-
ence in fact, yet it lives in each of our hearts, and
shall ever live. Though we may be thousands of
miles away, and be sold into bondage, and bound in
chains, yet we will not, we cannot, forget our land,
our religion, and our God. He is the God of Abra-
ham, and still is merciful, and will remember His
promises and keep His covenant made with our
fathers. And so shall I abide,"
Seventh Letter,
THE EXPECTATION OF THE JEWS.
" Not only was the expectation of a remarkable
personage universally prevalent among the Jews at
the time of the appearance of Christ, but the phra-
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THE HILLEL LETTERS. 213
seology was already in use which designated what he
was to be and accomplish. There was at the time of
Christ a Messianic phraseology derived from different
parts of the Old Testament, which embodied and ex-
pressed all their anticipations. Whatever inspiration
accompanied the first composition of the prophecies,
there was evidently none in their interpretation. This
much was certain, that there was to be a Messiah,
there was to be a new dispensation. No one knew
precisely what he was to be. Imagination, of course,
was set to work, and each one for himself formed his
own, and made whatever passage of the Old Testa-
ment he choose to be descriptive of his person and
office. Not only the imagination, but the passions
were concerned in the formation of their expecta-
tions. The pious thought of him as a religious re-
former, and the new state of things to be a condition
of higher religious perfection. The rabbis interpreted
concerning the days of the Messiah such passages as
this from the thirty-first chapter of Isaiah, * Behold,
the days come, saith the Lord, that I will make a
new covenant with the house of Israel and with the
house of Judah. Not according to the covenant that
I made with their fathers in the day that I took
them by the hand to bring them out of the land of
Egypt. But this shall be the covenant that I will
make with the house of Israel. After those days,
saith the Lord, I will put my law in their inward
parts, and write it on their hearts, and will be their
God, and they shall be my people. And they shall
teach no more every man his neighbor, and every
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214 THE AECHKO VOLUME.
man his brother, saying, Know the Lord, for they all
shall know me, from the least of them even unto the
greatest of them, saith the Lord ; for I will forgive
their iniquity and remember their sin no more.'
This seems to have been the expectation entertained
by the Samaritans, if the woman with whom Christ
talked at the well of Jacob is to be considered as
speaking the sentiments of the nation.
** The universal expectation seems to have been
that he was to be a prophet like unto Moses, but
greater. In accordance with this sentiment Peter,
in one of his first discourses after the resurrection of
Jesus, cites the promise of Moses to the Israelites
just before his death, as applicable to Christ. * A
prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you
of your brethren like unto me, him shall ye hear in
all things whatsoever he shall say unto you. And
it shall come to pass that every soul which shall not
hear the prophet shall be destroyed from among the
people.' These were the sentiments of those who had
seen the miracle of feeding the five thousand with a
few loaves and fishes, bearing so strong a resemblance
to the feeding of the Israelites in the desert. Then
those men when they had seen the miracle which
Jesus did, said : * This is of a truth that prophet
that should come into the world.'
*' Another and much larger class gave the Messi-
anic prophecies a more worldly meaning. The great
personage whose coming they shortly expected was
to be a king, but greater than any who had sat upon
the Jewish throne. It was wiljh this expectation
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THE HILLEL LETTERS, 215
evidently that his disciples followed him through his
whole ministry. And even after his resurrection
they seem for awhile to have entertained the same
hopes. One of the first questions which they asked
him after he rose was : ' Wilt thou at this time re-
store the kingdom to Israel ?' And at the last sup-
per they disputed ' which of them should be the
greatest/ that is, who should be highest in office in
the new kingdom that he was about to set up. It
was with this idea that he was hailed by the multi-
tude into Jerusalem with the shout, * Hosanna to
the son of David.' This was the idea which Nathan-
iel meant to express when he said, on receiving the
evidence that he was a prophet : * Kabbi, thou art the
Son of God, thou art the king of Israel.' That it
was his temporal character to which Nathaniel here
referred we have sufficient evidence in the informa-
tion which first directed his attention to Jesus. * We
have found him of whom Moses in the law and the
prophets did write, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of
Joseph.' The part of the Old Testament from which
this title and expectation were taken was principally
the second Psalm. The person described in this
poem is represented as exalted by God to be a king
on Mount Zion in Judea. The surrounding heathen
are represented as being enraged. But God has
nevertheless determined that he shall reign ; and as
a king sets his son upon his throne while he yet lives,
so has God, as Supreme King of Israel, exalted this
person to share His authority, and pledges His own
power to support his throne.
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216 THE ARCHKO VOLUME.
"One idea of the kingdom of the Messiah, de-
rived from this Psalm, was that he was not only
to reign over the Jews, but destroy all other nations.
* Why do the heathen rage and the people im-
agine a vain thing. The kings of the earth set them-
selves, and the rulers take counsel together against
the Lord, and against his Anointed, saying. Let us
break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords
from us. He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh.
The Lord shall have them in derision. Then shall
He speak to them in his wrath, and vex them in
his sore displeasure. Yet I have set my king upon
my holy hill of Zion. I will declare the decree, the
Lord hath said unto me. Thou art my son, this
day have I begotten thee. Ask of me, and I will
give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and
the uttermost parts of the earth for a possession.
Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron, thou
shalt dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel.'
This Psalm was interpreted by the Jews almost
universally of the Messiah, and the more readily as
the title Anointed is translated in the Septuagint
Christos so that it there reads, 'Against the Lord
and against His Christ.' The Messiah, therefore, was
to reign on Mount Zion, one of the mountains on
which Jerusalem was built, and reign over the Jews
and by God's assistance subdue the heathen by war
and conquest, break them with a rod of iron, and
dash them in pieces as a potter's vessel. Such was the
kingdom which the great majority of the Jews
expected their Messiah to set up.
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THE HILLEL LETTERS. 217
'* The phrase, * kingdom of heaven,' is taken from
the second chapter of the Book of Daniel. After
foretelling that there should arise four great mon-
archies, the Babylonian, the Persian, the Grecian,
and the Roman, the last of which should be a king-
dom of iron, he goes on to say, *And in the days of
these kings shall the God of heaven set up a king-
dom which shall never be destroyed, and the king-
dom shall not be left to other people, but it shall
break in pieces, and consume all these kingdoms,
and it shall stand forever.' In another passage : * I
saw in the night a vision, and behold, one like the Son
of Man came with the clouds of heaven, and came
to the Ancient of days, and they brought him near
before him. And there was given unto him domin-
ion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all people, na-
tions, and languages should serve him. His do-
minion is an everlasting dominion, and his kingdom
that which shall not be destroyed.'
*' From this last passage was probably derived
the opinion once held, that the Messiah should
never die. Jesus said on a certain occasion : ' And
I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men
unto me.' The people answered him, * We have
heard out of the law that Christ abideth forever ;
and how sayest thou the Son of Man must be lifted
up ? Who is this Son of Man ?' The new dispensa-
tion under the figure of a kigdom was the subject of
the commencing petition of one of the chief prayers
recited in their synagogues, from Sabbath to Sab-
bath^ and has been so for ages. There was a time
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218 THE ARCHKO VOLUME.
specified in the Book of Daniel of seventy weeks,
which was to intervene between the building of the
second temple and the times of the Messiah, which,
interpreting according to the prophetic style, a day
for a year, would bring the period of his appearance
somewhere near the time when John the Baptist
began to preach.
** So prevalent had this expectation become that
it had spread beyond the holy land. Tacitus, a his-
torian who wrote in Italy, records the fact that among
many * 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
those issuing from Judea should rule the world/
Suetonius, another Latin historian, writes * that in
the East an ancient and constant opinion prevailed
that it was fated there should issue at this time from
Judea those who should obtain universal dominion.'
" This confident expectation of the Jews had
already caused no little political disturbance. It
was this proud anticipation of universal conquest
which made them so restive under the government
of the Romans. That they who were destined to
reign over the world — and whose King Messiah was
to have the heathen for his inheritance, the utter-
most parts of the earth for his possession, who was to
break with a rod of iron, and dash them in pieces
like a potter's vessel — should be in vassalage to a for-
eign power, was more than they could bear. Jose-
phus relates that about the time of the birth of
Christ, when Cyrenius was sent to take a census of
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Judea, Judas, a native of Gamala in Galilee, rose
up and resisted the Roman commissioner, and raised
a great rebellion. He is mentioned likewise by
Gamaliel in his speech before the Jewish Sanhedrim,
when the apostles were brought before them for
preaching Jesus as the Messiah, immediately after
his ascension. ' After this man, rose up Judas of
Galilee, in the days of taxing, and drew away much
people after him ; he also perished, and all, as many
as obeyed him, were dispersed.' Josephus speaks
generally of the troubles of those times, without
specifying their causes. And now Judea was full
of robberies, and as the several companies of the
seditious would light upon anyone to head them he
was created a king immediately, in order to do mis-
chief to the public.
* ' This was exactly the state of the country during
the ministry of Jesus, and it explains his caution in
proclaiming himself the Messiah, and his withdrawal
as soon as a multitude collected about him and man-
ifested any tendency to sedition or disturbance. It
is recorded of him, that, after the miracle of feeding
the five thousand, and the declaration made concern-
ing him, * This of a truth is that prophet which should
come into the world,' When Jesus therefore per-
ceived that they would come and take him by force,
and make him a king, he departed again into a moun-
tain himself alone.' In another instance, likewise,
when he had healed the man at the pool of Bethesda,
*And he that was healed wist not who it was ; for
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Jesus had conveyed himself away, a multitude being
in that place.'
** Such being the expectation of the Jews, as we
learn from profane history, a man of singular habits
and appearance began to preach in a retired part of
Judea, where there were but few large towns : ' Re-
pent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand/ This
man was of the sacerdotal tribe, and had been con-
secrated to God from his infancy by the vow of the
Nazarite. His habits and dress were those of a her-
mit, his food such as he could pick up in the fields
and woods. He was literally the voice of one cry-
ing in the wilderness, ' Prepare ye the way of the
Lord. Make straight in the desert a highway for
our God.' He professed to have been moved by
divine impulse to proclaim the immediate approach
of the Messiah. A man of such singular appear-
ance, bearing such an important message, produced
a great sensation, and excited the strongest curiosity.
Crowds from all parts of Judea flocked together to
see and hear him. Some thought that he was the
Messiah. His fame soon reached Jerusalem, and
the Jewish authorities sent a deputation of priests
and Levites to inquire who he was. He told them
that he was not the Messiah, but was sent to intro-
duce him. ' I came to point him out to Israel.'
Here was undoubtedly stated the true reason why he
was raised up by Divine Providence to prepare the
Jewish mind for the great message from God which
they were about to receive, to shape their ideas from
the crude mass of traditions which had existed among
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them into some resemblance to the dispensation that
the Messiah was about to establish. * There was a
man sent from God whose name was John. The
same came for a witness, that all men through him
might believe. He was not the Light, but was sent
to bear witness of the Light.'
** The effect of his preaching was precisely what
was intended. He produced a strong impression
upon the public mind, and, though he wrought no
miracle, all men held him to be a prophet. He pre-
sented a strong contrast, and probably by design, to
the pretenders to divine mission who appeared about
that time. It was on this account that the multi-
tudes which gathered about him created no uneasi-
ness in the public authorities. A man, like John,
who clothed himself in the coarsest attire, in a coun-
try where the higher classes were studious of orna-
ment, and all who had any pretensions to official
dignity were distinguished by gorgeous apparel,
would naturally escape all suspicion of political
ambition. A reb'gious teacher evidently sincere and
pious, and withal free from fanaticism and enthusi-
asm, after the cessation of prophecy for four hundred
years, must have produced a great impression. He
must have recalled to the minds of his countrymen
the days when Elijah in a like simplicity and grave
austerity stood up as a prophet of God, and the
champion of religion. Some, indeed, mistook him
for Elijah risen from the dead, who, their traditions
affirmed, was to come to anoint and inaugurate the
Messiah. The almost simultaneous appearance of
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the Light, and the witness to the Light, without any
concert or collusion, was a strong testimony to the
divine mission of both. With this argument alone
Je9us on one occasion silenced those who questioned
his claim to be the Messiah. ' The baptism of John,
whence was it ? From heaven or of men ?' They
reasoned among themselves, saying : ' I! we say of
heaven, then he will say. Why then did ye not be-
lieve on him ?' and, of course, believe on him to whom
he bore witness. ' But if we say of men, the peo-
ple will stone us, for all counted John as a prophet.'
It does not appear that John had any particular per-
son in his mind when he commenced his mission, but
was merely informed by God, who sent him to preach,
that the Messiah should be pointed out to him by
some miraculous appearance. He had known him
before as a person of great piety and excellence, for
when Jesus came to him to be baptized, John said to
him, ' I have need to be baptized of thee, and comest
thou to me V But as the Messiah he had no knowl-
edge of him, for he testifies, ' ^ I knew him not,' that
is, as the Messiah, ' but He that sent me to baptize
with water, the same said unto me : Upon whom
thou shalt see the Spirit descending and remaining
on him, the same is he that shall baptize with the
Holy Ghost.' John collected around him a com-
pany of disciples whom he instructed in the mys-
teries of religion, and- many of them seem to have
remained with him after he was cast into prison,
till he was beheaded by Herod.
*' We have reason to conclude, I think, that his
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teaching shadowed forth, though imperfectly, the
general system of Christianity. Jesus says of him,
' That among them that are bom of women, there
hath not arisen a greater prophet than John the
Baptist,' and they bear a strong resemblance to the
opening discourses of Christ. * And the people said
unto him, What shall we do then ? He answered
and said unto them. He that hath two coats, let him
impart unto him that hath none, and he that hath
meat, let him do likewise.' ' Then came the tax-
gatherers to be baptized, and said unto him, Master,
what shall we do ? And he said unto them. Exact
no more than is appointed you. And the soldiers
likewise demanded of him, saying, And what shall
we do ? And he said unto them, Do violence to no
man, neither accuse any falsely, and be content with
your wages.'
^^ That John preached the essential doctrines of
Christianity would appear from what we read, 'And
a certain Jew, named ApoUos, born in Alexandria,
an eloquent man and mighty in the Scriptures, came
to Ephesus. This man was instructed in the way of
the Lord, and, being fervent in spirit, he spake and
taught diligently the things of the Lord, knowing
only the baptism of John. And he began to speak
boldly in the synagogue, whom when Aquilla and
Priscilla had heard they took him unto them, and
expounded to him the way of the Lord more per-
fectly.' In the nineteenth chapter : 'And it came
to pass that while Apollos was at Corinth, Paul, hav-
ing passed through the upper coasts, came to Ephe-
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BUS, and finding certain disciples, he said unto them.
Have ye received the Holy Ghost since ye believed ?
And they said unto him, We have not so much as
heard whether there be any Holy Ghost. And he
said unto them, Unto what then were ye baptized ?
And they said, Unto John's baptism.' Now, here
are two cases in which those who had heard nothing
but the doctrines of John are said to have been Chris-
tians, to have been taught the things of the Lord,
and to have been disciples.
" It follows then, of course, that John the Baptist
taught the essential truths of Christianity. The object
of the gospels being to record the teaching of Jesus,
that of John is passed over in a very cursory man-
ner. But that he taught often and much, as well
as prophesied the coming of the Messiah, we have
every reason to believe. His disciples, however,
mingled some of the old forms with their new doc-
trines, for they fasted often, an observance which
Jesus declared agreed no better with the new religion
than a piece of new cloth with an old garment, or
new wine with old bottles.
'* The mind of John the Baptist furnishes a re-
markable example, which we often meet with, of par-
tial divine illumination, the clearest knowledge on
some points, and absolute ignorance on others. By
the light of inspiration he shadowed forth in a few
words the nature of the kingdom of heaven, whose
approach he foretold, and showed it to be something
entirely different from the expectation of the Jews,
handed down from remote ages; yet of its details
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his ideas seem to have been vague, and he appears
to have had no certain knowledge that Jesus was the
Messiah, though he had baptized him and received
the heavenly sign of which they had been fore-
warned.
** One truth which he announced bears evident
marks of supernatural origin — since it contradicted
the conceptions and prejudices of the age — ^that the
Messiah and his kingdom were not to be national,
not belonging of right and exclusion to the posterity
of Abraham alone. There is a maxim, as common
as the very letters of the alphabet, in the writings of
the rabbis, that ' There is a part for all Israel in the
world to come/ that is, in the kingdom of Messiah,
merely by virtue of their descent from Abraham.
That it was to be a kingdom selected from Israel and
other nations, a new community by no means coex-
tensive with the seed of Abraham, they had not the
slightest idea. That it was to be a moral and a spir-
itual kingdom was as far from their conceptions.
' Repent, for the kingdom of God is at hand. Bring
forth, therefore, fruits worthy of repentance. And
say not, we have Abraham for our father, for God is
able of these stones to raise up children to Abraham.'
Think not that you are to belong to the kingdom of
God merely because you are descended from Abra-
ham God is able to raise up* children to Abraham
from a source now as improbable to you as the stones
beneath your feet, from among the Gentiles even,
whom you are accustomed to call dogs, and count as
the o&couring of the earth. A discrimination is
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about to take place, not between the children of
Abraham and other nations, but between the good
and the bad even among the Jews themselves. * The>
axe lieth at the root of all the trees. Every tree
therefore, which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn
down and cast into the fire. I indeed baptize you
with water, but he that cometh after me is mightier
than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear, he shall
baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire.' He
shall raise those who obey him to a higher degree of
spiritual knowledge, perfection, and power, and pun-
ish those who disobey him with the severest suffer-
ing. * Whose winnowing fan is in his hand, and
he will thoroughly purge his grain, and gather the
wheat into his gamer, but he will bum up the chaff
with unquenchable fire.' This is the same idea ex-
pressed in stronger language, the meaning of which
is this, The Messiah's kingdom is not, as you Jews
expect, to comprehend the good and the bad merely
because they are the descendants of Abraham, but
is to embrace the good only, who are to be gathered
into a separate community, while the bad are to be
abandoned to the destruction which their own wicked
courses will inevitably bring upon them.
'* He not only preached the kingdom of God as a
separate society, distinct from the Jewish nation, but
he actually began to set it up. The baptism which
he instituted was no idle, unmeaning form, nor did
it signify simply a profession of repentance, but it
began and founded a new community. Those who
received it professed not only repentance as necessary
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to prepare them for the kingdom of the Messiah,
now shortly expected to appear, but a readiness to
believe in and obey him whenever he should evi-
dently make himself Known. * The law and the
prophets/ says Christ, ' were until John. Since that
the kingdom of God is preached, and every man
presseth into it/ The baptism of John and that of
Jesus were essentially the same, one into a profession
of belief in the Messiah yet to come, and the other into
a possession of belief in the Messiah already come.
*' Thus John's baptism began to do what his words
began to predict, to separate the righteous from the
wicked, to prepare the righteous for eternal life, and
leave the wicked to the consequences of their sins ;
began to establish the kingdom of God, whose initi-
atory rite was baptism, just as circumcision was the
initiatory rite of God's ancient church. Thus the
kingdom of God came not with observation. While
men were saying, ' Lo here, and lo there,' the king-
dom of God was in the midst of them.
" But after all this knowledge of the nature of
the kingdom, or Christianity, which was possessed
by John the Baptist, and after baptizing Jesus with
his own hands, and receiving the Divine testimony
of which he had been forewarned, so possessed was
he with the Jewish prejudices, of the temporal splen-
dor and power of the Messiah, and so discouraged
by his long imprisonment, that he sent .two of his
disciples to inquire if he were actually the Messiah.
Jesus sent them back to tell all they saw and heard,
and to leave him to form his own judgment, adding
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what throws light on the reasons of John's doubts,
* Blessed is he whoever is not offended in me ; who
does not consider the lowliness of my appearance
incompatible with the loftiness of my pretentions/
^' This good and holy man, having lived just long
enough to see the rising twilight of the new dispen-
sation for which he was sent to prepare the way, fell
a victim to the intrigues and revenge of a wicked
woman. Herod ias, the wife of one of the sons of
Herod the Great, accompanying her husband to
Rome, there became acquainted with Herod the
tetrarch of Perea, and after her return to Judea she
abandoned her husband, and with her daughter Sa-
lome went to live with him, in open defiance of the
laws of God and man. John, the intrepid prophet
of righteousness, reproved such flagrant iniquity in
high places, and said to the royal transgressor, ' It
is not lawful for thee to have her.' For this bold
testimony for righteousness he was sent to the castle
Machserus, on the confines of Palestine and Arabia.
But the sleepless revenge of Herodias followed him
even there, and he died, as is well known, a martyr
to the truth. Thus perished John the Baptist, the
morning star of Christianity, and his dying eyes
caught scarcely a glimpse of the glory that was re-
vealed.
** There is no subject which literature approaches
with such difiidence as the personal character and
history of Christ. There is no theme on which lan-
guage is found so inadequate and imperfect. A per-
son in human form, with every attribute of humanity,
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except sin, exhibiting perfect goodness in combina-
tion with infallible wisdom, clothed with extensive
power over physical nature, and a knowledge of
futurity at once extensive and circumstantial ; the
declared end and object of a train of miraculous
interpositions running back to the very foundation
of the world, himself the beginning and cause of a
new order of things, embracing the whole world and
all succeeding times ; his doctrines destined to sway
the minds of the millions of the human race, to form
their opinions, to mould their characters, to shape
their expectations, to reign in their minds, and judge
their actions, to convict and purify their consciences,
to cleanse them from sin, and prepare them for his
own society and the presence of God in the spiritual
world — worthily to speak of such a being is a task
before which I confess that my speech falters and
my vocabulary seems meagre and inadequate.
This difficulty remains whatever view we adopt of
his metaphysical rank in the universe. From the
fierce controversy as to the nature of Christ, so
early raised and which more than any other cause
has disturbed its harmony, I am most happy to escape.
That belongs to the history of opinions, and volumes
on volumes would not contain their endless diversity.
What men have thought of the person of Jesus of
Nazareth, and what he actually was, and did, and
taught, and brought to pass, are two things entirely
distinct. The former is a matter of mere speculation,
the latter embraces all that is necessary.
** We read of Jesus, that, immediately after his bap-
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tism and transfiguration by John, directed by Divine
impulse, he retired into solitude, where he passed
forty days in preparation, doubtless, for the great
work in which he was about to engage. From this
solitary sojourn he returned filled with the Spirit,
with that measure of wisdom and knowledge and
power which was necessary for his mission to man-
kind. From that forty days' retirement he came
back to the world with a scheme of religion entirely
new. It differed from everything that had gone
before in being spiritual and universal. Its plan
was perfect at first. It was not to grow up, and take
such a form as circumstances might dictate ; but
with a plastic power, like that of the Divine Mind
itself, it was to transform and mould all things accord-
ing to its unalterable purpose. It is with reference
to this fulness of knowledge, by which he was exalted
not only above all the prophets which went before
him, but all those whom he used as instruments in
propagating and establishing his religion, that it is
said of him, that * God giveth not the spirit by meas-
ure unto him.' * The law was given by Moses, but
grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.'
" The divine plan being thus communicated to the
mind of Christ, it was necessary that he should have
the power of carrying it into effect. Having received
this divine commission, it was necessary that it should
be authenticated. The plan was divine, but such were
the ignorance and blindness of mankind that it is
not at all probable that the world would have recog-
nized and embraced it as divine, had it not been
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authenticated by miracles. Mankind, particularly
in rude ages, want not only truth but authority —
not only truth but the certainty that it is truth — or,
not being embraced with sufficient confidence, it will
do them no good.
'* Jesus returned from his forty days' seclusion
possessed of supernatural wisdom, which guarded
him from all mistake, and enabled him in all circum-
stances to say and to do the thing which his present
condition required ; he came with miraculous knowl-
edge of the manner, for instance, and circumstances
of his death, the success of his religion, and the spir-
itual power to which he was to be exalted. He
came with supernatural control over the order of
nature, such as is most striking to the unsophisti-
cated understandings of mankind, to persuade them
of the connection of its possessor with God. His
touch healed the sick, his will changed the elements,
his command stilled the tempest, his voice raised the
dead. But what was quite as striking to those with
whom he associated, he could read men's most secret
thoughts, and tell them the transactions of their past
lives, and foresee what they were hereafter to do.
*' But the system, though perfect in itself, existed
nowhere but in his own mind. How was it to be
introduced ? The human mind was not a blank on
which might be written the institutions and princi-
ples of the new religion. It was already preoccupied.
What was already there could not be annihilated
or eSaced. How could the new be made to super-
sede the old? It could not be done at once. It
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could only be done by degrees, by engrafting the new
upon the old where it was practicable, and by infus-
ing into the current of language and thought new
principles which might insensibly color the whole
mass, thus superseding rather than destroying what
was already in existence.
'* The Jewish religion was already in being, as the
stock upon which to engraft his own. He himself
was expected, but in another character from what
he could assume. The whole phraseology was in
use which designated what he was to accomplish.
What would the highest wisdom have dictated
him to do ? What does the man do who has a
house to build, but has an old one already on the
spot ? Does he begin by giving it to the flames, or
by throwing it all aside ? No ! He selects from it
whatever is sound and incorporates it with the new
building.
'* This was precisely what Jesus did with regard
to the religion of the Jews, and the expectations and
phraseology which were then in existence as to
the Messiah and the new dispensation. To reject
them would have made the task of introducing the
new religion much more difficult. The only course
which wisdom could direct was to adopt the existing
phraseology, and give it such a sense as would corre-
spond with his real character and office. The Jews
were accustomed to call the Messiah the * Son of
Man,' from the vision of Daniel, in which he saw one
like ' the Son of Man,' invested with great power
and dignity. He was likewise calle4 th^ * ^on of
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God/ from the second Psalm. These appellations he
assumed, and by assuming them claimed all that
belonged to the Messiah. The Messiah was expected
as a king, and the new dispensation as a kingdom.
This was not literally a fact, but was spiritually true
in a sense transcending the most exalted conceptions
of the most bigoted and ambitious Jew. Nor ought
it to militate against this view of things, that it may
seem to be inconsistent with perfect candor and deal-
ing. No language that he could have used would
have given them a clear conception of Christianity,
as it actually was to be. Their own phraseology of
a kingdom would come as near as any that he could
adopt. What it was to be time only could develop.
We, who know what it is, acquiesce in the propriety
of his use of the Messianic language, as it then ex-
isted, giving it at the same time such an interpreta-
tion as made it the symbolic expression of the highest
spiritual truth.
** To exemplify the principles which I have laid
down, to show the wisdom, the miraculous knowledge
of Jesus, the full understanding that he had of the
whole system from the beginning, and the manner in
which he insinuated the glorious and eternal truths
of Christianity through the Messianic phraseology of
that time, I shall proceed to analyze some of his first
discourses.
'* The ministry of Jesus began in Galilee, but at
what time of the year we are not informed. Of hi^
first tour through that country, in which he attended
the marriage-feast at Cana, we have only a general
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notice. Of his discourses nothing now remains but
their commencing sentence : * Repent, for the king-
dom of God is at hand.' Multitudes soon gathered
around him, and his fame spread throughout all
Syria.
** His first recorded discourse is that which he
held with Nicodemus at Jerusalem, at the first pass-
over which occurred after the commencement of his
ministry. This conversation introduces to us one
of the most interesting scenes of the New Testa-
ment. It presents us a practical proof of that mirac-
ulous wisdom with which Christ was endowed, which
made him equally at home with the learned, acute,
and experienced member of the Jewish Senate at
Jerusalem, and the humble, simple peasants and
fishermen of Galilee. ' And it came to pass when
he was in Jerusalem, at the Passover on the feast-
day, many believed on his name when they saw the
miracles that he did.' ' Marvel not that I said unto
thee, ye nmst be born again. The wind bloweth
whither it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof,
but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it
goeth ; so is everyone that is born of the Spirit.'
Spiritual birth, true religion, is not confined, as you
Jews suppose, to one tribe or family. It is as free
as air, and the kingdom of God, which you expect
to be a national thing, will spread over the earth as
that does, without any regard to the boundaries of
nations and kindreds. Its empire is the soul, every-
where free, everyone capable of receiving it, not more
in those whose material bodies have descended from
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Abraham than those who have never heard of his
name. If you really desire, then, to enter into the
kingdom of Grod, to be my disciple, come not here
by night, go openly and be baptized. Be a Christian,
not outwardly alone, but inwardly ; hear my doc-
trines, receive my spirit, and trust no more to your
descent from Abraham. In the course of the con-
versation, he glances at two other facts no less offen-
sive to the Jewish prejudices of Nicodemus, the cru-
cifixion of the Messiah and the extension of his
kingdom to the gentiles. * As Moses lifted up the
serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of
Man be lifted up, that whosoever believeth on him
should not perish, but have everlasting life. For
God sent His Son into the world, not to condemn the
world,' not to destroy the nations as you Jews sup-
pose, ' but that through him the world might be
saved.' Such was the transcendent wisdom of the
Saviour, from the very commencement of his mis-
sion. Before the wisdom of this youthful teacher,
learning and age and experience were overborne and
subdued, and Nicodemus must have retired convinced
no less by his discourses than his miracles that he
was a teacher come from God.
** Soon after this conversation Jesus returned into
Galilee, and, passing through Samaria, held that
remarkable discourse with the woman of Samaria at
the well of Jacob, which I have noticed in a former
letter
** On his arrival at Nazareth, his previous resi-
dence, he attempted to preach in the synagogue
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where he had been accustomed to worship. The peo-
ple Ibtened to the first part of his discourse with
pleasure and admiration, though, according to a
strong propensity of human nature, they were dis-
posed to sneer at him as the son of a carpenter. At
the first hint, however, of the doctrine that the new
dispensation was not to be a national religion, but
to be extended to gentile as well as Jew, they be-
came violently enraged. They might have been led
to suspect that he was not altogether sound in the
national faith of a Messiah who was to destroy the
heathen, from his manner of quoting that striking
passage of Isaiah, ' The spirit of the Lord is upon
me, because he hath anointed me to preach glad
tidings to the poor ; he hath sent me to heal the
broken-hearted, to preach deliverance to the captives
and recovery of sight to the blind ; to set at liberty
them that are bound, to preach the acceptable year
of the Lord ;' — ^here he stopped. The rest of the
sentence is, ^ and the day of vengeance of our God.'
Had he quoted the rest of the sentence without ex-
planation, as applicable to himself, they would have
understood him to sanction their expectation that he
was to destroy and not to save the other nations of
the earth, and cried out, perhaps, Hosanna to the son
of David ! But not only did he pass over this most
important part of their Messianic traditions, so com-
forting to them under their present political oppres-
sion, but he went on to intimate that the heathen
were not only to be spared, but to be admitted into
the kingdom of the Messiah, ' I tell you of a truth,
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many widows were in Israel in the days of Elias,
but unto none of them was Elias sent save unto
Sarepta, a city of Sidon, unto a woman that was a
widow. And many lepers were in Israel in the days
of Eliseus the prophet, and none of them were
cleansed saving Naaman the Syrian.' This was too
much. A Messiah who could tolerate or look favor-
ably upon the heathen, was not to be endured. 'And
all they in the synagogue, when they heard these
things, were filled with wrath, and rose up and thrust
him out of the city, and led him to the brow of the
hill whereon the city was built, that they might cast
him down headlong. But he, passing through the
midst of them, went his way, and came down to
Capernaum, a city of Galilee, and taught them on
the Sabbath day .
'' The fame of his miracles and his doctrines went
on to increase, till the synagogues became too small
to contain the crowds which flocked to hear him.
He began, therefore, to teach them in the open air.
Once he preached to them from a ship, while they
stood on the shore ; once from a rising ground, that
his voice might be better heard by so vast a multi-
tude. His discourse on this occasion is denominated,
from the place where it was delivered, the Sermon
on the Mount. Let us examine its contents, and
mark the wonderful wisdom which it displays, couch-
ing eternal truths in language precisely adapted
to present circumstances ; so that the Jew, when he
heard it, was cured of his errors, and the Christian
to all times finds himself edified, as if it had been
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238 ^nre ABCHKO VOLUME.
addressed to him alone. In that vast multitude
which was assembled from all parts of Judea, there
were, it is probable, men of all the different senti-
ments which were cherished by the Jewish people
at that period, uniting in but one common sentiment,
that the Messiah should be a temporal deliverer,
should cleanse Jerusalem and the holy land of the
Roman standards which were perched on every tower,
and redeem the people of God from the degrading
tribute they were yearly compelled to pay. They
were ready to take up arms in the holy cause of
patriotism and religion. They wanted but the signal
of his hand to take up their line of march to the city
of David, and there they supposed that he would
stand highest in the new monarchy whose sword had
drank most freely of the blood of the slain. They
collected about him with hearts bursting with na-
tional pride and ambition. What must have been
their astonishment and disappointment when the first
sentence fell from his lips, ' Blessed are the poor in
spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.' The
kingdom of God which you have been so long expect-
ing is not an empire of war and conquest, nor is it
that of the Jews, to be exercised over foreign nations.
It belongs to the humble, the quiet, the contented
It does not come as a cure for outward misfortunes,
for political evils, for the relief of proud hearts rank-
ling under oppression, but it speaks comfort to those
who are bowed down under the sorrows of life ;
* Blessed are they who mourn, for they shall be com-
forted.' You expect the Messiah to vindicate the
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THE HILLEL LETTERS. 239
weak against the strong, to repel injury, to revenge
insult, that he will set up his empire with the sword
and defend it by the sword. ' But I say unto you,
blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.'
The gentle are those who are to flourish in the days
of the Messiah. They shall delight themselves in
the abundance of peace. You come to me expect-
ing a sign from heaven, to be fed with manna from
the skies, as your fathers were in the desert. I can
promise you nothing of the kind. The blessings of
my kingdom belong to those only who hunger and
thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled.
You expect under the Messiah a reign of bitterness
and vengeance, that he will rule with a rod of iron,
and dash his enemies in pieces like a potter's vessel.
But I come to pronounce blessings on the merciful,
for I assure them that they shall find mercy from
their eternal Judge. You, who observe the laws of
Moses, submit to innumerable ceremonial ablutions,
and therefore imagine yourselves pure and prepared
for the kingdom of God. I assure you that no such
purification will be of any avail in that kingdom ;
* Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see
God.' The remedies which you propose for mortal
ills are essentially defective. You imagine that they
can be cured by violence and resentment, that evil
may be remedied by evil, instead of being overcome
with good. But I say unto you, ' Blessed are the
peace-makers, for they shall be called the children
of God.' They shall share the blessings of the new
dispensation, not those who are vindictive and re-
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240 THE ARCHKO VOLUME.
sentful; bat * Blessed are those who are persecuted
for righteousness' sake.'
** The new religion which Jesus was sent to teach,
was not only to be preached by himself to that gen-
eration, but to bs perpetuated to all time. His own
ministry he knew was to be short, and to have a trag-
ical end. It could be perpetuated in no other way
than by choosing assistants while he lived, and train-
ing them to take up the work where he laid it down,
to receive the gospel from his lips, proclaim it to the
world, and when their days should be numbered
commit it to others, who should be prepared in their
turn to instruct a new generation, and thus send it
down to all future times. Had there been no organ-
ization of this kind, had Jesus chosen no Apostles,
Christianity would have perished on the very thresh-
old of its existence. Accordingly, not long after the
commencement of his mission, after a night of prayer
to God, doubtless for Divine guidance and direction,
he choose twelve men of his more immediate followers,
and ordained them as his assistants and successors in
the propagation of the new faith. To them he ex-
plained more fully the principles of his religion,
which to the multitude, for fear of popular commo-
tion, he veiled under the dress of parable and allegory.
He sent them during his own ministry as heralds of
his approach, to prepare the minds of the people by
their own instructions for his more perfect teaching.
'* These twelve Apostles were men from the lower
orders of society, of but slender literary and intel-
lectual cultivation, without wealth or influential con-
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THE HILLEL LETTERS. 241
nections. They brought no accession of strength or
respectability to his cause. It may seem at first
utterly unaccountable on any principle of human
policy that he should have mads such a selection,
and quite as unaccountable that he himself should
have chosen to pass through his ministry under an
exterior so exceedingly humble ; that he should, in
the language of the Apostles, have made himself of
no reputation, and to all external appearances taken
the form of a slave ; but when we reflect upon it,
we find that it was dictated by the highest wisdom.
His external humility only puts in strong contrast
his moral and spiritual glory. He was really so
great that nothing external could add to the gran-
deur of his character. The fact that, without avail-
ing himself of a single external advantage, he estab-
lished a religion which disappointed the hopes of
his own nation and offered no bribe to any of the
passions to which the ambitious appeal with so much
success — that he told his followers from the first that
they were to reap no worldly advantage from their
connection with him — that his disciples were utterly
destitute of those acquirements by which any cause
is usually carried forward — all these things throw
the philosophical back upon the only success, the
reality of his mission from God, the moral power
which truth always carries with it, and those mirac-
ulous attestations which are strongest evidence to
the unsophisticated mind of man of a mission from
the Most High.
" It may at first sight seem strange, when he might
16
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242 THE ARCHKO VOLUME.
have gone up to Jerusalem and chosen his disciples
from the most learned, gifted, and accomplished of
the rabbinical schools which were then flourishing
there, that he should have made such a choice. Over
them he would have manifested the same immeas-
urable superiority, and might have wielded them to
accomplish his purposes as easily as those humbler
persons whom he actually choose as his companions.
Between him and the intellectual and cultivated
there would seem to have been a closer sympathy
than with those uneducated Galileans who, as far as
we at this time are able to see, were mere children
in his presence. But this arrangement, like every
other, was founded in the highest wisdom. The
function which they were appointed to fiU did not
call either for great talents or for extensive learning.
They were to originate nothing, they were to add
nothing to what he had taught. Their office was
simply that of witnesses of what he had said and
done and suffered. * And ye also shall bear witness,'
said he to his disciples, ' because ye have been with
me from the beginning.' After his resurrection he
said to them : ' Thus it is written, and thus it be-
hooved the Messiah to suSer, and to rise from the
dead the third day, and that repentance and remis-
sion of sins should be preached in his name among
all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. And ye are
witnesses of these things. Ye shall receive power
after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you, and ye
shall be witnesses unto me, both in Jerusalem and
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THE HILLEL LETTERS. 243
in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermoBt
parts of the earth.' -
** This being the office of the disciples, intellectual
cultivation was not a necessary requisite. The qual-
ities most necessary to a witness are simplicity, in-
tegrity, and courage. Through them the world had
received the Gospel. The more transparent the me-
dium through which we receive it, the less coloring
it takes from the minds through which it was trans-
mitted. The consequence is that we have the most
simple and childlike narrative that the world has
ever read. We do not see the historians at all. All
we see is Jesus Christ, his doctrine, his character, his
life, his miracles. There is no attempt at the intro-
duction of the philosophy or opinions of the times,
with the exception of the beginning of the Gospel of
John ; and it is unnecessary to say that those lines
have created more controversy in the Christian
Church than all the rest of the letters. What Jesus
wanted of his Apostles was principally to be his wit-
nesses to the world and to aU succeeding ages. On
their testimony, in fact, the faith of the successive
millions of the Christian Church has depended. The
Gospels are nothing more nor less thsui their testi-
mony. Jesus himself left nothing written. All
that we know either of him or his doctrines we re-
ceive through them. Without their testimony we
would not know that such a person had ever existed.
Without their testimony we would not know what
he taught or how he lived. It was on the strength
of what they have seen and heard that they claimed
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244 THE ABCHKO VOLUME,
to be the religious teachers of the world. The rela-
tion which the Apostles understood themselves to
sustain to Jesus as witnesses is fully and clearly
brought out in Peter's speech to Cornelius and his
friends : ' How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with
the Holy Ghost and with power, who went about
doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of
the devil, for God was with him. And we are wit-
nesses of all things which he did both in the land of
the Jews and Jerusalem, whom they slew and hanged
on a tree, him God raised up the third day, and
showed him openly, not to all the people, but unto
witnesses chosen before of God, even to us who did
eat and drink with him after he rose from the dead.'
** When the Saviour bowed his head upon the
cross, and said, * It is finished,' the Gospel was com-
plete. He had discharged his office as a teacher.
Nothing could be added to it, and nothing could be
taken from it. The system was perfect. The duty
of the Apostles was to promulgate it to the world.
So you will observe that the promise of Divine
assistance, as far as doctrines are concerned, goes no
further than strengthening their memories ; * But
the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, which the
Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all
things, and bring all things to your remembrance
whatsoever I have said unto you.' They were occa-
sionally instructed what to do, but never, that we
read of, to preach any new doctrine which had not
been taught by Christ himself.
'' It may seem strange to those who are accustomed
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THE HILLEL LETTERS. 245
to dispute about words and phrases, that Christ
should have left nothing written, nothing which we
can identify as the very words which he spoke. The
stickler for creeds and formulas may lament that all
the disputes of after ages were not anticipated and
prevented by a written declaration of the Saviour,
which would have been so plain that no dulness
could have misapprehended, no ingenuity perverted
it. We are fully justified, I believe, in asserting
that no such precaution would have been eSectual.
Human language is essentially ambiguous, every
word having a variety of significations, any one of
which becomes probable only because it better suits
the connection, the purpose, or the sentiments of the
writer. Language is always addressed to reasonable
beings, and it is necessary for them to exercise their
reason in order to understand it. It is so with
Christ's plainest instructions. We are always obliged
to use our reason in order to decide in what sense
his words are to be taken. When he tells us, * If
any man come to me, and hate not his father and
mother, and wife and children, and brethren and
sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my
disciple ;' are we to interpret this literally, and say
that no man can be a Christian without hating father
and mother, and sisters and brothers ? By no means.
And why ? Because it is not reasonable to believe
that such was his meaning. We cannot suppose that
Christ intended his followers to prove false to the
most important relations we sustain in this life. We
conclude, therefore, tbftt he did not use the word
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246 TSE ABCHKO VOLUME.
hate in a literal, but a figurative sense of loving
them less than himself and his cause. So we inter-
pret the precept which commands us to cut oS a
right hand, or pluck out a right eye. We do not
cut off our hands and pluck out our eyes, not be-
cause we are not literally commanded to do so, but
reason teaches us that he did not mean literally to
be so taken. So whatever Christ might have left
written, there would have remained the same diffi-
culty of interpretation. We should still be obliged
to rest on probability, just as we do now. We can-
not be infallibly certain that we take a sentence of
Scripture in the true sense, without possessing inspi-
ration ourselves. We cannot know that we are in-
spired, without the power of miracles, or unless some
miracle were wrought for our sakes, for otherwise we
could not have distinguished those thoughts which
were miraculously suggested from those which oc-
curred in the ordinary operations of our minds.
** Then, even had the Saviour left the Gospel
written with his own hand, we would still have been
compelled to- rely on human testimony that the
same identical words were preserved. The thing,
then, is evidently better as it is. We would have
been compelled at last to rely on human testimony
as to what Christ did and taught and suffered. What
more competent witnesses could we possibly have
than those who were with him on terms of the great-
est familiarity during his whole ministry ? In what
better form could we have this testimony than in the
Gospel according to Matthew, written by one of
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THE HILLEL LETTERS. 24:1
those who were with him from the beginning, and
who was present at his prucifixion, who ate and
drank with him after he rose from the dead, and who
spent his life in propagating his religion ? What
more unobjectionable testimony than that of John,
who had been one of the disciples of John the Bap-
tist, who saw the transfiguration, leaned on his bosom,
and shared his most intimate friendship ? As col-
lateral proof, what more authentic than the memoirs
of Luke and Mark, who were the constant compan-
ions of the Apostles, and heard them rehearse over
and over the wonderful story of the teachings and
miracles of Jesus?
'' Considered in this light, as human testimony,
and it is the only light in which they can be re-
garded, those who understand the principles of evi-
dence most thoroughly tell us that their evidence is
the more weighty and satisfactory from their slight
variations from each other. Those who frequent
courts of justice tell us that it is utterly vain to ex-
pect entire consistency of a number of witnesses,
let them be ever so honest and ever so competent.
Agreement in the main facts is all that is expected,
and nothing will sooner cause suspicion of collusion
than for two witnesses to make, word for word, the
same statement. No human being ever told the
same story twice in the same words and in the same
order.
'' Nothing can be more evident than that the histo-
rians were subjected to the same common laws which
govern the operations of the human mind. We
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248 THE ABCHKO VOLUME.
have in the letter three different relations o! Paul's
vision and conversion, twice by himself in public
speeches, and one from the letter of Luke, probably
from his own lips in private conversation. Yet the
three accounts all vary from each other in words and
circumstances. The four Evangelists all give us the
inscription upon the cross of Jesus, yet no two agree
in the precise form of words which was used. Mat-
thew says that the accusation was, * This is Jesus,
the king of the Jews.' Mark says that the super-
scription was, ' The king of the Jews.' Luke says
it was, * This is the king of the Jews.' John says
that the title on his cross was, * Jesus of Nazareth,
the king of the Jews.' Here, then, is a variation in
the testimony. It is impossible that more than one
of these inscriptions can be verbally accurate. But
it creates no distrust, and not one in a hundred of
the Christian church has been aware of its existence.
It is an immaterial variation, a discrepancy which
must always be allowed in human testimony, and
nothing could be more unreasonable or absurd than
to allow the least shade of doubt to pass over the
mind as to the reality of the inscription because of
this verbal discrepancy. The first three Evangelists
have given us Christ's prayer in his agony at the
garden of Gethsemane, but each of them in different
words. Yet no man in his sober senses would think
of doubting the actual occurrence of that thrilling
scene on that account. If anything in all history of
the past can be said to bear the native impress of
truth, it is this whole transaction."
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