Fragments from Reimarus : consisting of brief critical remarks on the object of Jesus and His disciples as seen in the New Testament

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REIMARUS

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FRAGMENTS FROM^REIMAEUS

CONSISTING OF

BRIEF CRITICAL REMARKS ON THE OBJECT OF

JESUS AND HIS DISCIPLES AS SEEN IN

THE NEW TESTAMENT.

Translated from the German of

G. E. LESSING.

EDITED BY THE

REV. CHARLES VOYSEY, B.A.,

OF ST. EDMUND HALL, OXFORD; FORMERLY VICAR OF HEALAUGH,
YORKSHIRE.

LONDON AND EDINBURGH :
WILLIAMS AND NORGATE,

15, Henrietta Street, Coyent Gajiden, W.C. ; and
20, South Frederick Street, Edinburgh.

B. west:^^^iann & CO.
838 Broadway, IJew York

LO^'DON:

■WERTHEIMEK, LEA AND CO., PRINTERS,
CIRCUS PLACE, FIXSBURY CIRCUS.

$Sv55^

PREFACE BY THE EDITOR.

The name of Relmarus is scarcely known in this
country beyond a very select circle of English
students, while his writings, so far as I know,
have never been popularly known, nor frequently
quoted by English commentators. The reason for
this will perhaps become apparent to any one who
will take the trouble, or give himself the pleasure,
of reading this book. Reimarus is too thorough,
too uncompromising, too faithful to his task, to suit
the present attitude of mind and heart toY\'ards the
central figure of the orthodox religion.

The following pages have been translated —
truly as a work and labour of love — from Les-
sing's Fragments by the Unknown of Wolfenhiittel.
The translator kindly permits me to share the
honour of presenting these Fragments to tlie notice
of English readers. With the actual work of trans-
lation I have had nothing to do ; my jDart has
been only editorial, and limited to a few modifi-
cations of expression, which have not altered the
sense.

IV PREFACE.

The metliod of criticism adopted by Reimarus
commends itself most of all by its extreme lucidity
and fidelity to the Grospel records. He teaches in such
a manner as to reach even the most untutored mind ;
and so far is he from forcing upon us his own inter-
pretations that he habitually makes the New Testa-
ment speak for itself, and every charge which he has
been compelled to bring against the founders of
Christianity is sustained and proved by their own
testimony. I have not yet seen in the English lan-
guage a work on this subject carrying such irre-
sistible force of argument.

A complaint might be made that the present
work is, as its title declares, only fragmentary ; but
although a complete work from the master hand of
Eeimarus would doubtless have been of very great
value, yet there is an advantage, not to be despised,
in brevity and conciseness, especially when the
subject itself is more calculated to weary than to
refresh the mind. These paragraphs from the pen
of the great Grerman thinker are each and all well-
aimed and powerful blows, and he must be a brave
man who will attempt to place a shield between
them and the orthodox faith. I venture to say
there is only one method of neutralising or dimin-
ishing the force of this attack — the method of

PREFACE. V

explaining away, of manipulating texts so as to
make their sense the exact opposite of the natural
meaning of the words. Such a method is not quite
so much in favour as it once was, and somehow it
has ceased to perform those brilliant feats of leger-
demain which used to win so much applause.
Reimarus either speaks truly or falsely ; he quotes
the New Testament either accurately or inaccu-
rately ; he either represents Jesus and the Apostles
in their true liglit, as seen in the New Testament
itself, or he has grossly misrepresented them.
These are the questions for readers and critics to
settle. They have their New Testament at hand,
and can compare its statements with those of
Reimarus. No controversy was ever reduced within
such reasonable and easy limits, or had its terms
made more definite and intelligible.

After a careful and candid perusal of this book,
the reader will, I trust, join me in heartily thank-
ing the translator for giving to our English students
a critical work of such rare interest and such excep-
tional value.

Camden House, Dxjlwich,
July, 1879.

^^.^vv

ofP;

CONTENTS.

CTIArXER I.

PAGE

Bbief Sketch of the Life of Keimahus ... 1

CnAPTER II.

Second Part of Fragment on the Object of Jesus and

His Discitles 9

chapter iii.
The New Belief 29

chapter iv.
On Miracles and Prophecies 69

chapter y.
The Worldly Ambition of the Apostles ... 84

INTRODUCTORY.

CHAPTER I.

Brief Sketch of the Life of Reimarus*

Hermann Samuel Eeimarus was born on the
22ncl DecembePj 1694, at Hamburg. His father,
Nikolaus, the son of a clergyman of Stolzenberg,
near Stettin, was a native of Kiel, where he had
studied theology. He married the daughter of a
distinguished patrician family of the name of
Wetken. He was so good a man and so accom-
plished a scholar that his influence upon the educa-
tion and character of his son, whom he taught
almost entirely until he had attained his twelfth year,
must have been a very important one. Reimarus
left his father's house to become a pupil of the re-
nowned John Albrecht Fabricius, whose daughter he
eventually married. At the age of sixteen he left the
Johanneum for the Gymnasium, and in the year 1714,
when he was twenty years old, he entered the
University of Jena. Theology was his favourite

* Translated and abridged from Strauss's " Life of Eeimarus."

B

study, but he also occupied himself with great
energy and perseverance in classics and philosophy,
and in 1716 became adjunct of the philosophical
faculty at Wittemberg. In the years 1720 and
1721, to gain further knowledge, he journeyed to
Holland and England, returning thence to his
former post at Wittemberg, which he retained
until the year 1723, when he was appointed Rector
of the School at Wismar. Four years later, on the
death of G. Edzard at Hamburg, the Professorship
of the Hebrew and other Oriental languages became
vacant. The salary of this appointment Vv^as not
remunerative ; but out of attachment to his native
place Eeimarus applied for and easily obtained it,
resisting other more advantageous offers, particu-
larly a brilliant invitation to become the successor
of Gesner at Gottingen.

For Eeimarus, who outshone his learned father-
in-law, Fabricius, in wit, argument and profound
knowledge, it was a very modest occupation to
teach the elements of Hebrew, and he could only
pursue the higher branches of study, such as Bibli-
cal antiquities, criticism, etc., with a limited num-
ber of pupils. Yet he was as zealous and faithful
in the performance of the duties of his calling as
if he had not been fitted for a position worthy
of unusual talents and acquirements. Besides
philology, mathematics, philosophy, and theology,
few men were so well versed in political and his-
torical literature, husbandry, and political economy.
He also had a great love for natural history and

natural sciences, to which he added many valuable
contributions. But as years rolled on, the study of
philosophy left all others in the background.
Without making authorship the occupation of his
life, Reimarus has left many invaluable works, and
one upon each of his favourite subjects. He was
anything but a dull bookworm. His great object
seemed to bring science closer to life, to bring men
of science nearer to men of the world. He was
modest without being bashful, sympathetic without
being vain or importunate, and notwithstanding
his innate dignity of manner, a lively and charming
companion.

In his later years he enjoyed gathering around
him a circle of men who conversed with unre-
strained sociality upon scientific and useful subjects,
and exchanged one with another their experiences,
discoveries, views, and judgments.

Also the domestic life of Reimarus was exemplar}^
His wife, a daughter worthy of Fabricius, gave him
seven children, only three of whom, a son and
two daughters, survived him. No happier, moro
united, or more respected family could be found
than his; and long after his death the house of
Reimarus, occupied by his accomplished unmarried
daughter Elise, and his son. Doctor A. Reimarus,
remained one of the scientific centres of Hambm-g.

Esteemed both as scholar and as man, honoured
and respected far and near, Reimarus, though not cf
robust constitution, reached the comparatively ad-
vanced age of 72. On the 19th of February,

1768, he invited a number of his most intimate
friends to his house to join his mid-day meal, and
on that occasion was as cheerful and amiable as
ever; but at parting he told them with solemn
certainty this would be the last time they should
meet together. Three days afterwards he became
seriously ill, and expired peacefully at 3 a.m. on
the 1st March.

The above extract was taken by Strauss from
an interesting and valuable memorial written by
Reimarus's friend, Biisch, Professor of Mathe-
matics.*

In this memorial, the Fragments published a few
years later by Lessing are not alluded to, and it
is very possible that Biisch may not have known
of their existence. That Reimarus imparted their
contents in strict confidence to two or three of his
friends, among whom was the well-known poet
Brookes, we know to have been the case through
his son, J. A. Reimarus, but whether Biisch was
among these confidential friends it is impossible to
say. Even if he were, he may have considered it
his duty not to mention them ; for Reimarus used
to say that the time had not come for him 'Ho bring
forward openly his theological denials " ; so after

* Memorise immortali H. S. Beimari linguamm orientalium
in Gymnasio Hamburgensi per XLI. annos professoris, quale-
cunque hoc monumentum oflScii et pietatis causa posuit J. G.
Biisch, Math. P., etc., in Gymnasio Hamburgensi. 33 fol.

his death, his friends considered it a pious duty
towards the departed, not to expose his memory to
humiliation, to accusations of heresy from tlie clergy,
and revillngs from the multitude.

Lessing only made the acquaintance of Keimarus
during the last year of his life, when his health was
beginning to fail, and therefore did not know him
intimately ; but afterwards a great friendship
sprang up between Lessing and the son and
daughter of Eeimarus; and it was from Elise
Reimarus that, after much difficulty and persuasion,
he obtained possession of the precious manuscripts
of the Fragments with leave to publish them ; but
only on promising that he would not reveal the
name of the author ; for the children of Eeimarus
dreaded the odium which thereby might be brought
upon their father's name. Lessing published the
Fragments one after another in 1774.

Two of Lessing's most intimate friends, Nicolai
and Mendelsohn, had strongly advised him not to
publish them; but he was not to be dissuaded
from his purpose. After a time the general belief
that the Fragments had been written by Rei-
marus became so strong, that at last Elise began to
fear that Lessing must have betrayed her secret,
and he found himself obliged to write to her
brothers to deny the imputation. It was not until
1814 that all doubt on the subject was brought to an
end by Dr. A. Reimarus who, in a letter to the library
at Grottingen, declared his father to have been the
author of the Fragments^ which, had he lived to

6

complete them, were to have been gathered into
one book under the title. An Apology for the Reason-
able Believers in God.

The following extracts throw great light on the
mind and heart of Eeimarus, and religious people
will be more than gratified by the disclosure of his
own earnest and intense Faith in the Living God : —

'' But God was also to be looked upon as a Judge,
and here a new difficulty presented itself. Rei-
marus had too much sense of truth to endeavour
to explain away by artificial demonstration the
punishment of eternal Hell fire. If salvation was
alone to be found in the name of Jesus, if all who
did not believe in him were to be everlastingly
damned, and as this creed must have been handed
down from the sayings of Jesus himself, it followed
that ninety-nine hundredths of the human race,
those who either had never heard of Christ or of
salvation to be obtained through him, or those who
had not been able to convince themselves of it, were
unmercifully sentenced, after this short life, to ever-
lasting torment ; and this not for the sake of mak-
ing them better, but to pimish them, and to satisfy
God's unquenchable wrath, for a sin committed in
the beginning of Creation, and a sin of which they
themselves were guiltless. This seemed to banish
all Divine perfection, all that was lovable and
noble in God, and transformed Him into the like-
ness of a Satanic and hideous demon."

'^ ^I confess/ said Reimarus, ^ that this doubt was
the first which rooted itself in my mind, and so
immovably, that in spite of all my efforts, I never
was able to conquer it.' " — Strauss' s Life of Reimarus^
p. 260.

^* Even if we granted all these miracles to be
true, they would not of themselves be able to sup-
port offensive teachings or actions. Contradictions
cannot be dissolved by any miracle, and vices can-
not miraculously become virtues. But as the
truth of these miracles has not yet been established,
why should we make such tottering facts the basis
of all religion?"— /^>., p. 262.

^' ^ That which is absurd and impossible,' says
Eeimarus, ^ that which in any other history would be
called falsehood, deception, outrage, and cruelty,
cannot be made reasonable, righteous, and true by
the added words : Thus saith the Lord.' "

Eeimarus originally wrote the Fragments, as he
said, '^ from time to time, to pacify his mind; for,
after doubts had arisen and troubled him for several
years, he resolved to write them carefully down, so
as to look them well in the face, and see whether
they were of sufficient weight to give the matter a
decisive issue."

'^ The first thing that struck him, and the first con-
clusion he came to, was that the Bible is not a
book of religious instruction or a catechism." —
Ih., p. 264.

8

^^When still in their cradles, the children of
men, like born slaves, are forced to enlist as soldiers
under a particular little flag, so that if they even-
tually would free themselves from this bondage
they can be accused and punished as deserters."

" The idea of God, as the most perfect of beings,
existed full and warm in the heart of Eeimarus, as
we see by the following words : — ' Far be it from
Thee, great Judge of the World, most lovable,
most kind, most charitable, most merciful God, to
pronounce so unjust a sentence upon the poor crea-
tures Thou hast created ! '

^' ' How would such conduct compare with that of
the most perfect of men ? How could the likeness
of the most impure, the most malignant enemy of
God and man, be represented in a more hideous
form?'"— /^., p. 262.

CHAPTER II.

Second part of Fragment on the Object
of yestis and His Disciples,

Section I.

We will now, however, step nearer and more
directly to the subject in question, and examine
both systems according to the sayings and doings
of Jesus himself, so far as they are handed down to
us. It is evident that with regard to the old
system, all depends upon whether the evangelists,
in their history of Jesus, left unintentionally and
through sheer carelessness, a few remaining traces
of the reasons which influenced them at first in
attributing to their master the object of becoming
a worldly deliverer of Israel. Whereas, with regard
to the new system of a spiritual deliverer of man-
kind all depends, as the apostles themselves dis-
tinctly own, upon whether Jesus really arose after
his death and ascended into Heaven, which latter
event the disciples declare that they themselves wit-
nessed, asserting that they saw him, touched him,
and spoke with him.* In this chapter we will con-
sider the first, and in the following one, the second

* The apostles do not declare this themselves. — Editor.

10

of these systems. We have now to deal with a
matter which the evangelists have taken great pains
to conceal from ns (as I have recently shown), and
for this reason we shall require the most careful
attention; but as the evangelists did not seek to
conceal that they looked upon Jesus as a worldly
deliverer of Israel up to the time of his death ; and
as the Jews were well aware that such had been
their constant belief, it could not well have been
possible for them utterly to destroy and banish all
traces of their former system from their history of
Jesus. These traces we will now endeavour to
discover.

Section II.

If it were true that in commanding repentance
and conversion to be preached, the object of Jesus
was. that men should believe in him as a spiritual
saviour: if it were also true that his desire was by
his death and suffering alone to deliver man, he
nevertheless knew that the Jews did not expect a
saviour of this kind, and that they had no idea of
any other than a worldly deliverer of Israel, who
was to release them from bondage and build up a
glorious worldly kingdom for them. Why, then,
does Jesus so plainly send to announce in all the
towns, schools, and houses of Judea, that the king-
dom of Heaven is near at hand ? For this signified
that the kingdom of the deliverer, or of the Mes-
siah, was about to begin. He knew that if the

11

people believed his messengers, they would look
for a worldly king, and would attach themselves
to him with the conviction that he was this king ;
because, unless they received further and better
instruction, they could have no other conception of
the kingdom of Heaven or kingdom of God, or of
the joyful message, or of any faith in the same,
than that which they had learnt according to th.e
popular meaning of the words, and to the prevail-
ing impression of them. Ought not Jesus, then,
before all things, to have endeavoured, through his
apostles as heavenly messengers, to help the igno-
rant out of their coarse illusion, and thus to have
directed their faith, repentance, and conversion to-
wards the right object? For if the people only
repented and were converted for tlie sake of enjoy-
ing happiness and glory in the kingdom of the
Messiah, according to their delusion, their repent-
ance, conversion and faith were not of the right
sort. But Jesus did not convey to them any better
idea of himself. We know this — first, because it is
nowhere asserted that he did so; and secondl}^,
because he chose for his messengers men who
were themselves under the common impression,
which impression had not been removed for a better
one.

Jesus then must have been well aware that by
such a plain announcement of the kingdom of
Heaven, he would only awaken the Jews to the
hope of a worldly Messiah ; consequently, this must
have been his object in so awakening them. As

12

regards the sending out of the apostles on their
mission, we must suppose, either that Jesus did or
did not know, what their impression of the king-
dom of Heaven was. In the first case, it is clear
that his object must have been to rouse the Jews to
the expectation of a speedy worldly deliverance,
because he employed messengers whom he knew to
have no other belief, and who therefore could not
preach a different one. In the second case, if he
did not know their impression, he must still have
guessed them to be under the universally prevailing
one, and so ought to have enlightened and instructed
the disciples until they abandoned their delusion,
and were fully convinced of the truth of his real
object, in order that they might not propagate a
false gospel. But it is evident that the disciples,
both then and afterwards, retained the delusion, or
the belief, in a worldly deliverer of Israel through
the Messiah, and were not converted to any other.
Jesus, nevertheless, sends them to preach the king-
dom of Heaven, and to become the teachers of
others; therefore he must have approved of the
prevailing belief among the disciples and people,
and it must have been his object to encom^age and
circulate it throughout Judea. This action on the
part of Jesus cannot be justified. In sending such
missionaries, he could have had no other object than
to rouse the Jews in all parts of Judea, who had so
long been groaning under the Eoman yoke, and so
long been preparing for the hoped-for deliverance,
and to induce them to flock to Jerusalem.

13

Section III.

With this intention,* the rest of the actions of
Jesus agree.

His cousin, John the Baptist, had already
sharpened the ears of the people, and although his
words had been rather dark, he had still pointed
out pretty distinctly that it was upon Jesus they
should build their hopes. At the same time, John
is by way of not hioioing Jesus, and acts as though
he only became aware of his existence through
divine revelation. He speaks to the people : — ^' I
knew him not until he was revealed to Israel, there-
fore am I come to baptise with water I

knew him not, but He who sent me to baptise with
water, the same spake unto me saying : He upon
whom thou seest the Spirit descend and remain, the
same is he who baptises with the Holy Spirit; and
I have seen this and bear witness that this one is
the son of God." Tiuice, then, John openly says
that he did not know Jesus before his baptism.

But were they not cousins ? Were their
mothers not intimate friends, who visited each
other? Did not Jesus, when a boy, often go up to
Jerusalem with his relations and friends, so that
John, who was about his own age, and on the same
road, must surely have kept up his acquaintance

^ Namely, that of establishiiig his worldly kingdom.

u

and cousinly relationship? Why then will they
not know each other before the people ? I tried to
find an apology for this, by supposing that John
did not wish altogether to deny that he knew his
cousin personally, but wished only to convey that
until the baptism, he knew him not as the Christ or
Messiah, ^^ whose shoe," as he says, ^^he was not
worthy to untie." But the evangelist Matthew
has deprived me of this idea, for according to his
version, John acknowledged Jesus to be the Mes-
siah before the baptism. When Jesus came out of
Galilee to be baptised, John strongly opposes his
intention, saying, ^'I have need to be baptised by
thee, and comest thou to me?^^ So he ??2W<S'^ have
known Jesus before the baptism, not only very well
personally, but it would appear also as one by whom
he himself needed to be baptised, that is by the
Holy Spirit — which was what the Messiah was
expected to do. This clearly contradicts the former
version, and betrays the concerted card. The
cousins knew each other well, the one was aware
of the other's object and intention. They perform
extraordinary actions at one and the same time, by
which the one furthers the purpose of the other.
John announces that the kingdom of Heaven is at
hand, that the Messiah is in their midst, but that
they know him not. Jesus comes to John to be
made known as such, through him. Then they
begin to praise each other* before the jDeople.

* The literal translation is '' make themselves great."'

15

Jesus says: ^' John is a prophet, yea, more than a
proj)het, he is Ellas, or the forerunner of the Mes-
siah; among all born of women, there is none
greater than he." John says of Jesus that he is
the Christ, the son of God, that he will baptise with
the Holy Spirit, and that he, John, is not worthy
to carry his shoes or to loosen them. John pretends
to receive his revelation at the baptism. He sees
the heavens open, and the spirit fly down in the
shape of a dove. He hears a ^' Bathkol," a ^^filiam
vocis," or voice from Heaven, which cries, ^^This is
my dear son, in whom I have pleasure." I believe
I have reverted elsewhere to the fact that not one
of those who stood around John and Jesus saw or
heard anything. John was only carrying out his
preconcerted plan, acting as though in an ecstasy
he saw a prophetic vision, and as though he heard
a voice from Heaven sounding in his ears.

The Jews were bound to believe that a prophet
had seen and heard that which none of the by-
standers had seen and heard, and at that time, they
were accustomed to be convinced by a so-called
Bathkol or ^^ voice from Heaven," but this ^^ voice
from Heaven," among the Israelites, was, according
to the confession of all sensible theologists, nothing
but pre-arranged trickery and deception. John
made use then of representations and inventions to
further the design of Jesus, and Jesus was perfectly
well aware that he did so. Accordingly they en-
deavour to carry out their intention by using the
same manner of speech and the same manner of

16

teaching. John begins to preach : *^ Repent ye, for
the kingdom of Heaven is at hand." Soon afte'r-
wardsj Jesus begins to j)reach, saying : ^^ Repent ye,
for the kingdom of Heaven is at hand.'' And as
soon as he obtains disciples, he sends them all over
Judea to spread about the same words. In announc-
ing this, Jesus does not attempt to deprive the Jews
of their delusion of a worldly and bodily deliverer
any more than does John. They both allow the
people to connect the old conception of a '^ kingdom
of Heaven" or ^^ kingdom of the Messiah" with
their words. Had John, as messenger, begun by
eradicating this fancy from the minds of men, Jesus
might, without further declaration, have depended
upon them ; but as this deeply-rooted idea was
allowed to be retained, and was encouraged by
John as well as by Jesus and his disciples, neither
John nor Jesus could have had any other object
than that of awakening the people to the speedy
arrival of the long-hoped-for deliverer, and of mak-
ing them eager for his coming. It was for this pur-
pose that they preached repentance, for the Jews
believed that if they only repented really and truly,
God would allow the Messiah to come and release
them from their misery, their bondage, and their
oppressors, and would establish among them a mag-
nificent kingdom, like unto David's. This ^^ prejDa-
ration by earnest repentance " could not be other-
wise interpreted by the Jews, nor could it have
been intended by Jesus and John that they should
otherwise interpret it. If, indeed, at the present

17

day, a Jew expected his worldly Messiah, and
wished to announce his coming, he would, in
accordance with the universal teaching of the
Jewish Church, preach no other preparation for it
than that of earnest repentance and reform. For
this very reason, Jesus wished to prove that all those
who had been before him, and had given them-
selves out as deliverers of the people, were not the
right ones, that they were thieves and murderers,
who, by unlawful violence, instead of exhortations
to repentance, thought to accomplish their purpose.
The saviour, whom the Jews expected, was to
resemble their first deliverer from bondage, Moses,
inasmuch as he was to be a great prophet, and was
to perform many great miracles : these being,
according to the orthodox church, the acknowledged
and proper signs by which the expected Messiah
was to be recognised^ Jesus preaches and teaches
as a prophet and performs miracles. The people
could not banish from their minds that these
were the signs by which they might know the
deliverer. The actions of Jesus strengthened them
in the belief, that like unto their first saviour, who
had been a wonderful prophet, so this one was the
other saviour who, through like miracles, would
release them from like bondage and build up the
kingdom of Israel. It was because of this that they
said, alluding to the miracles and teachings of
Jesus: ^^Thou art truly the prophet who should
come into the world," after which they wanted to
make him king. But Jesus slipped away from them

18

and escaped to a mountain. It is remarkable that
lie did not seize this opportunity of reproving the
people, of assuring them that they were mistaken,
and that he had come for a very different purpose.
This would have been most necessary if Jesus really
had had another object in view, and wished the
people to think so. As it was, they could not do
otherwise than cling to their convictions with regard
to him. But it was not his intention to allow him-
self to be made a king in a desert place, and by
a common rabble, such as then surrounded him.
Neither the time nor the place suited him. His
thoughts were bent upon a grand entry into the
city of Jerusalem, at the Passover, a time when all
Israelites throughout Judea would be assembled
there, and when it would be conducted in a festive
manner, and when, by the united voices of the
populace he would be proclaimed King of the
Jews.

Much in the same manner Jesus acted with
regard to making known his miracles. He forbids
them to be mentioned where it was impossible that
they should remain secret, on purpose to make the
people all the more eager to talk about them. The
leper was to tell no one^ and yet he was to show
himself to the priest as a witness. The blind men
were to take heed lest they divulged that they had
received their sight, and yet everybody had heard
them calling after him in the street for helj). When
large crowds followed him, and he had healed some
of their sick, he tells the people to beware of mak-

19

ing it known. When he was much pressed by the
throng, and he cast out devils before all eyes, he
tells the people to take care it should not be known.
When he had awakened the maiden of twelve years
from her death-sleep in a house full of j)eople, who
were all anxiously waiting to see whether he would
make good his words, '^ She is not dead, but
sleepeth," he again commands that none are to
know or hear of what he had done ; and when they
brought him a deaf and dumb man, he takes him
and returns him to the people, speaking and hear-
ing, and desires that no one is to be told. It
appears to me that he who tells or shows anything
even to single persons, one after another, on con-
dition that they do not repeat it, might reasonably
be accused of folly, for supposing that others would
keep secret that which he cannot himself conceal ;
but he who requires silence from numerous persons
upon what they have witnessed, I am inclined to
think, has the intention of making them the more
eager to spread the news. And so it was in this
case. The more he forbade them, so much the
more they proclaimed it.

At another time, he himself commands that his
miracles ar^ to be made known, and when the dis-
ciples of John come to him with the question —
^^ Art thou he that should come, or do we look for
another ?" — he publishes his miracles before all
the world, that they might conclude him to be the
real Messiah : ^^ Tell John what you see and hear.
The blind recover their sight, the lame walk, the

20

lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are
raised, and the Gospel is preached to the poor, and
blessed are they who shall not be offended because
of me."

Section VI.

Jesus continues to pursue the same course with
regard to his main object, viz., that of being recog-
nised as the Christ or Messiah. His cousin had
already announced him, and now he himself dis-
tinctly acknowledges that he is the expected man,
and sends his disciples to spread this gospel in all
directions. On another occasion he reveals himself
in very dry words to the Samaritan woman, and
she immediately proclaims in the town that she has
found the Messiah ; upon which the inhabitants
flock out to see him. He also acknowledges him-
self to be the Christ before the High Priest and
the Synhedrion and before Pilate, and yet here
and there forbids himself to be mentioned as
such, even by his disciples. Of the kingdom of
Heaven, Jesus speaks to the people in parables, out
of which they could gather what they pleased. But
he adds a sprinkling here and there of the great
power which has been given to him, and of the seat
of glory upon which he will sit and do judgment.
He tells his disciples that he will bestow upon them
a kingdom, as his Father has bestowed one on him,
that they shall eat and drink at his table in his
kingdom, and sit upon twelve seats and judge the

21

twelve tribes of Israel. The disciples had previ-
ously been asking him, saying : ^' See, we have left
all and followed thee, what reward shall we have
for this?'' Jesus answered as above, adding:
^'and whosoever leaves houses or brothers or sisters
or father or mother or wife or children or fields
for my name's sake, the same shall receive all back
an hundredfold and shall inherit everlasting life."
Thus he promised them, as soon as his splendid king-
dom should commence, a judgeshijo and power over
the twelve tribes of Israel, and a hundred times as
many houses, fields, &c., as they had left. All this
doubtless referred to a worldly kingdom, and con-
firmed the necessary opinion which the disciples
were quite ready to adopt. At length, when he
imagined tliat the apostolic wanderings, his own
teachings and miracles during the last two years,
had sufficiently prepared and inclined the people to
accept him and retain him as their expected Mes-
siah, he fixes upon the time of the Easter festival,
because he well knew that all Judea would then be
assembled at Jerusalem. He chooses an ass with a
foal in order to ride in state into the city, and ajDpear
as though he were the king of whom it was
written : ^' Behold thy king cometh to thee." The
apostles now thought that the kingdom was really
about to commence. They busy themselves, assisted
by some of the people, in spreading clothes upon
the road, in strewing palms, and in crying "Hosanna
to the son of David," that is to say, ^' Hail to the
king, the Messiah who shall sit upon the throne of

22

David ; blessed be he who comes in the name of the
Lord." In this fashion he rides through the gates
into the city of Jerusalem, upon which there ensues
a crowd, an uproar, and the whole town is thrown
into a state of excitement. This extraordinary
public procession, which was not only tolerated by
Jesus, but had been diligently encouraged by him,
could not have been aimed at anything but a
worldly kingdom. He wished that all the people
of Israel who were there gathered together should
unanimously proclaim him King.

Section YII.

It is possible that Jesus may not have felt quite
comfortable as to the result of this undertaking, and
that he may have previously told his disciples that
he must be ready to suffer and to die. But these were
elated with hope, they promised to support and not
to forsake him, even should they die with him.
So the attempt w^as ventured upon. Jesus takes
his seat upon the ass, he allows royal honours to be
done to him, he makes a public entry, and as this
appears in some measure to succeed, he goes
straight to the temple, where the High Court of
Justice was wont to be held; he lays aside his
gentleness, begins a disturbance, and commits acts
of violence, like one who suddenly considers him-
self possessed of worldly power. He overturns the

23

tables of the money-changers, takes a scourge and
drives the buyers and sellers and dealers m doves
into the outer court of the temple. Then he per-
forms some miracles inside, and teaches. Early on
the following day he delivers a sharp harangue
ao-ainst those Pharisees and scribes who sit on the
seat of Moses, that is to say, the members of the
High Court of Justice, the magistrates and the
Synhedrion. He then publicly declares himself to
be the Christ, and that he alone is their Lord and
master. He abuses the Pharisees and learned
Scribes of whom the senate is composed, calling
them hypocrites, who dose the gates of the king-
dom of Heaven, who devour loidows' houses, icho
are blind guides, fools, whited sepulchres, murderers
of the prophets, serpents, and a generation of vipers.
At last he concludes, telling them that they will
see him no more until they all cry, '' Blessed is he
who Cometh in the name of the Lord," as the
apostles had cried before. Now is not this inciting
the people to rebellion ? Is not this stirring them
up against the government ? Was not this saying
as much to them as ^'Down with the senate, down
with the magistrates, who are nothing but blind
guides, hypocrites, and unjust men ; they are only
a hindrance to the kingdom of the Messiah. One
is your master, even I, and you shall henceforth
not see my face until you proclaim me the Christ
who is come to you in the name of the Lord.''

24

Section VIII.

Thus then peejDS out from the histories of the
evangelists their true old notion of a worldly
deliverer ; and if we follow the conduct of Jesus up
to the exhibition of his entry and the acclamation,
^^ Hail to the son of David," we can see clearly
enough that all the other circumstances attached to
the later accepted creed of a Holy Saviour are in-
consistent with this sequel to the teaching and
behaviour of Jesus. For what was the meaning of
this festive procession and cry of '^ Hail to the
king?" What was the meaning of the violence
and interruption of order in the Temple ? What
was the meaning of the seditious speech to the
people against the High Council ? Why were they
stimulated to recognize him alone as their master ?
Jesus here shows plainly enough what his intention
was, but then this was the actus criticus and decre-
torius — the act which was to give the successful turn
to the whole undertaking, and upon which every-
thing depended. Had the peojDle in Jerusalem
followed him and joined in proclaiming him king
as the apostles did, he would have had all Judea
on his side, the High Court of Justice would have
been overthrown, and Jesus, together with his
seventy chosen disciples, would have been placed
in the Synhedrion instead of the Pharisees and the
learned Scribes. Jesus had reckoned too confi-

25

dently upon the approval of the people. John the
Baptist, who was to have supported the movement,
had been imprisoned and beheaded. Jesus had ex-
pected favourable results from the sending about of
the apostles, and imagined after they had traversed
all the towns of Judea, that the Son of Man might
venture to declare himself. The vulgar and igno-
rant flocked indeed to Jesus, they liked to hear liis
parables ; his moral teachings were more palatable
to them than those of the Pharisees; many also
hoped to be cured of their diseases by him ; but
this was insufficient for the main object. No man
of distinction, of education, no Pharisee, only the
common rabble, had as yet followed Jesus. The
conviction of the reality of his miracles could not
then have been very strong. Had it been so, more
powerful adherents would not have been wanting.
We are told by the evangelists that here and there
Jesus could not perform any miracles because the
people would not believe in him, and that he re-
proves whole towns (Chorazin and Bethsaida, where
he is sujDposed to have performed most miracles)
because of their want of faith 5 and when the Pha-
risees and learned Scribes of the High Council ask
him to justify himself by a miracle, he refuses, and
begins to scold instead. If a single miracle had
been jDcrformed publicly, convincingly, and un-
deniably by Jesus before all the world on the day
of the great festival, men are so constituted that all
would have joined him ; but how very few Jews of
any worth or standing were on his side is evident

26

from the fact that, after the first shouting of his
disciples and some of the crowd was over, no one
else continued the cry *^ Hail to the son of David."
It is probable that the people might also have
taken the disorderly and violent actions committed
by Jesus in the Temple, and the bitter invectives he
used against their rulers, as a foretoken of further
trouble to themselves. The Senate had at all
events great reason to keep a watchful eye upon
such a beginning on the part of Jesus. There
had been many before him who had pretended by
miracles to set themselves up as Messiahs, and
whose ambitious motives had been discovered in
the unfolding and failure of their plans. The Jews
were at that time under the domination of the
Eomans, and if the people had suffered and encou-
raged any such turbulent beginning on the part of
a proclaimed king who w^as to give freedom to
Israel, they (the Romans) would doubtless have
used their power to the greater restriction and
slavery of the Jews. So they were obliged to con-
sult as to how Jesus should be taken, and how
danger in doing so should be avoided. When
Jesus saw that the peoj)le did not shout ^^Hosanna
to the son of David " as enthusiastically as did his
disciples, but rather that they forsook him, and
that the judges were about to seize him, he
abstained from shewing himself in the Temple. He
had not the courage to celebrate the Easter festival
in the right manner, because in that case he, or his
disciples in his name, would have been obliged to

27

appear at the TemjDle, to kill tlic Easter lamb, to
sprinkle tlie blood upon the altar ; and then lie or
they might have been taken, or their whereabouts
might have been traced. Jesus, therefore, kept
only a j^ascha, fj^vrj/xoveunxoy, or remembrance feast,
and did so earlier than was usual. He ordered
some swords to be procured to defend himself
with in case of attack, but was uneasy, lest even
one of his own disciples should divulge his place
of retreat. He began to quiver and quake when he
saw that his adventure might cost him his life.
Judas betrayed his hiding-j)lace, and pointed out
his person. He was taken the night before the 14tli
Nisan, and after a short trial was crucified, before
the slaughtering of the Easter lambs in the Temple
had begun. He ended his life with the words, ''Eli,
Mi, lama sahacthaniV^ '^ ^>fy God, my God, why
hast Thou forsaken me V — a confession which can
hardly be otherwise interpreted than that God had
not helped him to carry out his intention and
attain his object as he had hoped He would have
done. It was then clearly not the intention or tlie
object of Jesus to suffer and to die, but to build up
a worldly kingdom, and to deliver the Israelites
from bondage. It was in this that God had for-
saken him, it v.^as in this that his hopes had been
frustrated.

28

Section IX.

Thus the existing history of Jesus enlightens us
more and more upon the object of his conduct and
teaching, which entirely correspond with the first
idea entertained of him by his apostles, z.^., that
he was a worldly deliverer. It enlightens us also
upon the fact that they had good reason to believe
in him as such so long as he lived. It also shows
that the master, and how much more his discij)les,
found themselves mistaken and deceived by the con-
demnation and the death, and that the new system
of a suflfering spiritual Saviour, which no one had
ever known or thought of before, was invented after
the death of Jesus, and invented only because the
first hopes had failed. However, let us lay aside
the authenticity of the old belief and carefully
examine the new. Let us try to find out whether
it can boast of a surer foundation.

CHAPTER in.

The Nezv Belief.

The apostles themselves, by abandoning their former
belief, show that they own themselves to have been
mistaken, during the lifetime of Jesus, in his in-
tentions and purpose. We may imagine that the
altered opinions of such men, men who acknow-
ledged themselves to have been grossly mistaken
and disappointed in their hopes, were not likely to
be better or surer than their previous opinions.
But we will be as just as possible towards them.
We will for a time forget their former errors, and
will thoroughly weigh their new creed by itself,
and according to their own views and grounds".
Their isystem then consisted briefly in this : That
Christ or the Messiah was bound to die in order to
obtain forgiveness for mankind, and consequently
to achieve his own glory ; that upon the strength
of this he arose livins^ from death out of his tomb
upon the third day as he had pro2Dhesied, and
ascended into heaven, from whence he would soon
return in the clouds of Heaven with great power
and glory to judge the believers and the un-
believers, the good and the bad, and that then
the kingdom of glory would commence.

30

Now everyone will readily acknowledge, as do
the apostles, that Christianity depends entirely
upon the truth of the story of the resurrection of
Jesus from the dead. Everybody knows that the
apostles established it as a fact, partly through the
evidence of Pilate's watchmen at the grave, partly
by their own statements and support, and partly
through the prophecies of the Old Testament. We
will follow and examine this threefold proof in three
separate chapters, and will afterwards consider the
promise of the return of Jesus in the clouds at so
distinctly an appointed time, that it ought to have
taken place long ago. We shall then be in a posi-
tion to judge of the truth of the system. I shall
begin by carefully putting aside all extraneous par-
ticulars which could give to Christianity either a
good or a repulsive aspect, for nothing can be con-
cluded with any certainty from them ; they do not
concern the essence of the subject, and, therefore,
can give no proof. Only those persons who cherish
their prejudices and think to take others in by
them are apt to begin by daubing over their
subject with a good coat of selected circumstances
and secondary matters, and to fascinate the mind
by them before they touch upon any part of the
substance. And this they do in order that they
may afterwards be permitted carefully to slip over
the main point. I will step right up to the thing
itself upon which all depends, and after clear and
distinct argument, I will deliver my opinion of
it. If in this manner the truth of the main point

31

or dogma can be convincingly produced, we shall
the more confidently be able to criticise the out-
ward and equivocal accessory circumstances.

Sectiox X.

The first and most important question is

Here follows the fragment concerning the story of
the resurrection which I (Lessing) have incorporated
with the librarian contributions. It runs from this
tenth section to the thirty-second section, and with
the thirty -third section the author continues his
subject as follows.

Section XXXIII.

As, however, the witnesses of the resurrection of
Jesus are unable to bring forward any others, but
are the only ones who pretend to have seen that
which for other honest people remained invisible,
and as in their reports they contradicted them-
selves in manifold ways, we must go further and
see whether their assertion can be better proved
by Scripture.

The worthy Stephen was the first who persisted
so firmly in his persuasion of the resurrection of
Jesus, that he allowed himself to be stoned to
death for it ; but as he could not support his asser-

32

tion by his experience and nowhere mentions ever
having seen Jesus alive, or after he had risen from
the dead, he has recourse to a proof he has found
in the writings of the Old Testament, and in order
to deliver himself of it in perfection, he becomes
full of the Holy Grhost. His demonstration of the
truth of the Christian religion is such a curious
one, that were it not so circumstantially tedious, I
would repeat the whole of it here. However, my
readers will see for themselves that in giving its
principal contents, I do not omit or twist awry
anything essential.*

He begins by relating a hundred things one does
not care to hear, and which have nothing whatever
to do with the question ; how Abraham was called
out of Mesopotamia to Canaan, how his descendants
were to inherit the land after four hundred years,
how Isaac, Jacob and Joseph sprang from him, how
Joseph was sold into Egypt and there became a
great man, how he brought over his family, at
what place Jacob and his sons were buried, how
the descendants were kept in bondage^ how Moses
was born, how he was reared and educated by
Pharaoh's daughter, how he killed an Egyptian
and fled in consequence to Midian, how forty years
afterwards he was chosen to release Israel, how he
accomplished this by many miracles, how he re-
ceived the commandments upon Mount Sinai, how
the Israelites went back to the Egyptian idolatry

* Acts of the ApostleSy chap. vii.

33

of the calf, Moloch and Remphan, how they re-
ceived the tabernacle of witness and transported
it to the land until the time of David. How
David wanted to build a house, and how Solomon
actually did so, although God does not dwell in
houses. Now, does not the question occur to one :
Why this long tale, which has nothing to do with
Jesus or his resurrection ? For, that Jesus was
brought into the land of Canaan with the taber-
nacle of witness or inside of it is incomprehensible
to any man. But patience ! Now comes the
proof. At any rate Stephen begins to abuse the
High Council. '' Ye stiff-necked and uncircum-
cised in heart and ears, ye resist at all times the
Holy Ghost. As your fathers did, so do ye.
Which of the prophets did not your fathers perse-
cute ? Yea, they have slain those who announced
the coming of this just one, of whom you have
been the betrayers and murderers, who have
received the commandments by the ministering
of angels, and have not kept it."

Here, it aj)pears, that his demonstration has
come to an end, and that nothing is wanting but
the ^^ Q. E. D." But as the stiff-necked, treacher-
ous murderers, godless members of the senate,
become angry instead of believing him, Stephen
is suddenly filled with the Holy Ghost, gazes into
Heaven, sees the Glory of God, and tells them that
he sees Jesus standing up there ! It is a pity that
among these seventy enlightened men there is not
one who has eyes clear enough to see all this like-

D

34

wise. To the single man Stephen it is alone
visible, and for this reason it is impossible for them
to accept his visionary evidence. He is con-
demned, and stoned to death.

Section XXXIV.

Another and a rather ingenious attempt at prov-
ing the Christian religion, and the resurrection of
Jesus, is made by Paul in the synagogue at An-
tioch.* He begins by signing with his hand that
the audience should keep quiet, and then speaks : —

^^ Ye men of Israel, and ye that fear God,
hearken unto me. "

Observe, my reader, that I shall let Paul speak,
yet also reveal my own thoughts, which, if I set
myself in the place of the to-be-converted Antio-
chians, would enter my mind at this speech of Paul.

'' The God of this people hath chosen om*
fathers and hath exalted the people, when
they were strangers in the land of Egypt, and
with a high arm He brought them out of it."

This is certainly beginning in grand style !

"And for about forty years He suffered
their manners in the wilderness, and when

* Acts of the A^Qstles, cliap. xiii.

35

He had destroyed seven nations in the wilder-
ness, He divided their land to them by lot."

Wliat is the meaning of all this ? What has it to
do with the question ?

" And after that He gave unto them judges
about the space of four hundred and fifty
years, until Samuel the prophet. And from
this time they desired a king. And God
gave them Saul, the son of Kis, a man of the
tribe of Benjamin, by the space of forty years;
and He removed him, and raised up David to
be their king, to whom also He gave testi-
mony, and said — I have found David, the son
of Jesse, a man after my own heart, which
shall do all my will."

All this we knew from the Scriptm-es. What on
earth is he going to draw from it ?

'' Of this mans seed hath God, according to
His promise, raised unto Israel the Saviour
Jesus."

But, my dear Paul, even if this should be proved,
would it not have been better to leave out all the
well-known stories of the Israelites, and rather
make this promise valid, show its real sense, and
explain that it could not have referred to any other
man than Jesus?

'' AVhen John had first preached before his

36

coming the baptism of repentance to all the
people of Israel, but when John fulfilled his
course, he said — ' Whom think ye that I am ?
I am not he. But behold there cometh one
after me, whose shoes I am not worthy to
loose from his feet.' "

We must, I suppose, excuse the hurried jump
from the prophecies of the prophets to Johu the
Baptist. But if this is to prove the former proposi-
tion, the deduction from it is that John preached
repentance, and pointed out Jesus as the Messiah ;
not that Jesus of Nazareth was promised by any of
the prophets to be the saviour of Israel. If, then,
John's evidence alone is to show that this Jesus is
the Messiah, we must decline to accept his testi-
mony, because he has never proved it to us by the
Old Testament, nor has he by any miracles or pro-
phecies asserted himself to be a new prophet, in
whom we ought to believe. This we do know of
him, that he was a near relation of Jesus.

" Ye men, dear brethren, ye children of the
stock of Abraham, and whosoever among yon
feareth God, to you i^ the Avord of this salva-
tion sent.'

The address sounds charming, and might else-
where win over the mind, but as yet we have not
arrived so far as to be convinced of the word of this
salvation. We have not yet understood from it

37

that the old jDrojDhets spoke of Jesus of Nazareth as a
saviour, nor that he must be a saviour because John
said so. To promise oneself salvation without con-
viction, is to flatter oneself with an idle hope ; and
to abandon one's religion and take up a new one
without any cause, is to play with religion.

*^ For they that dwell at Jerusalem, and
their rulers, because they knew him not, nor
yet the voices of the prophet which are read
every Sabbath day, they have fulfilled them
in condemning him. And though they found
no cause of death in him, yet desired they
Pilate that he should be slain. And when
they had fulfilled all that was written of him,
they took him down from the tree, and laid
him in a sepulchre."

If our rulers have not heard any further evidence
of Jesus, than we Antiochians have, uj) to this day,
they could not have recognised him as the Saviour.
For in these very prophets, whom we read every
Sabbath day, his name is nowhere mentioned, nor
can we find in them any mark which could refer us
to this person. But as he, notwithstanding, pre-
tended to be a Messiah, we cannot be surprised
that the High Council should condemn him to death.
In all fairness, we must allow that the judges pro-
nounced righteous judgment, that these seventy
learned men could not find in Jesus any trace of
the prophetic signs, and we must moreover grant

38

that these distinguished rulers of the people anti-
cipated the tumult and confusion which would have
arisen from his conduct, and prevented it.

^^But God awakened him from the dead,
and he appeared many days to them which
went up to Jerusalem with him, which are his
witnesses before all the world."

Yes, but even had he risen from the dead, it
would not follow that he was the Saviour, for we
read in the Scriptures of others whom God had
raised from the dead, but none of whom, on that
account. He destined to be the Messiah of the people.
And particularly this, that Jesus arose from death we
have no good grounds for believing. The witnesses
are his disciples and followers, people who are not
in good repute with us. The senate at Jerusalem
has distinctly warned us against them, saying, that
these disciples came to the grave secretly, by night,
and stole away the body of Jesus, and that now
they were going about, proclaiming that he had
arisen from the dead. We must not be blamed for
placing more confidence in the members of the
High Council than in such insignificant and sus-
picious witnesses.

"And we declare unto you glad tidings,
how that the promise which was made unto
the fathers, God hath fulfilled the same unto
us their children, in that He hath raised up

39

Jesus again, as it is also written in the second
psalm : Thou art my son, this day have I be-
gotten thee."

You, then, Paul, would fain persuade us, not from
your own personal experience as a witness, but from
Scriptm^e prophecies, that God raised Jesus from
death. I pray you look at the second j)salm, and tell
us where it affirms that the words — '' Thou art my
son, this day have I begotten thee," are equivalent
to ^^ In some distant day I will raise Jesus of Naza-
reth, Joseph's son, from the dead." Who can
allow your explanation of Scripture? The text
neither promises that any one shall in future rise
from the dead, nor that any one arisen from the
dead shall be the son of God, nor, on the other
hand, that he who is the son of God must arise
from the dead, or that Jesus of Nazareth is the son
of God. We may turn and twist the text as we
will, nothing can be got out of it that has the
smallest connection with your proposition. We
naturally suppose the words to be David's, whom
God has accepted as His well-beloved and His son,
and out of a shepherd has made a king. David
informs us that the Lord spoke unto him (that is to
say, through Samuel and Nathan), saying — ^^ Thou
(David) art my son (my well-beloved and my
chosen), this day (now and henceforth) have I
begotten thee (accepted thee as a son, and elected
thee a king)." The whole of the psalm of Ethan is
an expounding of these words. God is introduced.

40

speaking thus : ^^ I have made a covenant with my
chosen one, I have sworn unto David my servant: I
will establish thy seed everlastingly, and will build
up thy seat for ever and ever." Then the prophet
speaks: ^^At that time thou didst speak face to
face with thy beloved, and saidst : I have awakened
a hero who shall help, I have exalted a chosen one
from the people. I have found David, my servant,
I have anointed him with my holy oil, he will call
me : Thou, my Father, my God, the rock of my
salvation. I will make thee the first-born, the
highest among the kings of the earth. I will for
ever keep for him my beneficence, and my cove-
nant shall be faithfully kept." Doubtless, then, it
must be David to whom God speaks in the other
psalm, where he is, as in this one, called the son of
God, a chosen one, a first-born who shall call God
his Father. In prophetic language, God has be-
gotten him — that is to say, accepted him as a son, in
the same manner in which (according to Moses)
God had begotten Israel (who is also termed the
son of God), and again in the same manner in which,
according to the prophet, Israel has begotten the
strangers who have been received into the church.
But what does all this prove of Jesus of Nazareth ?

^* And as concerning that He raised him
up from the dead in such wise that he shall
henceforth not return to the grave. He said
also : I will give you the sure mercies of
David."

41

Others may be able to understand this method of
demonstrating. For us it is too clever. According
to it, the words, ^' I will give you the sure mercies
of David," have the same meaning as the words,
^^I will awaken Jesus of Nazareth from death, in
such wise that he henceforth shall not return to the
grave." To us it appears that Esaias says, God
will make an everlasting covenant with the
Israelites, and give them the same good fortune
which He promised to David, and which promise He
kept, namely, that many nations should be in sub-
jection to him. Esaias also explains himself to this
effect in his very next verse: " Behold I have placed
him (David) as a witness before the people, to be a
prince and a ruler of the people."

^' Therefore speaketh he also at another place
(Psalm xvi. 10): Thou wilt not suffer Thy
Holy One to see corruption; for David, after
he had served his generation, fell asleep, and
was laid unto his fathers and saw corruption ;
but he whom God raised again, saw no cor-
ruption."

If we take hold of the argument thus, it will
sound more distinct.

The Psalm speaks of one who is not to see cor-
ruption; but J) aYid did see corruption. Therefore
David could not have been he of whom the Psalm
speaks. And, again, '' He whom God awakened
saw no corruption; but God awakened Jesus, there-

42

fore Jesus did not see corruption, therefore Jesus is
he of whom the Psalm speaks." Now, Paul, with
regard to your first inference, the question is,
whether the words '^ seeing corruption " are to be
taken literally, or whether they refer to a certain
time, and to impending peril of death. I think
that any one who is acquainted with the language
of David will not find anything extraordinary in.
these words. It is well known that elsewhere,
David, under the titles ^^ Holy One'^ and *^ Pious
One," means no other than himself, and one sees
clearly that here, in this very Psalm, he praises the
heljD of God, which has saved him from the peril of
death menaced by Saul, has thrown his lot into the
pleasantest places, and has given him a fair inhe-
ritance. At that time, it was then not without good
reason that he hoped and prayed: ^^ Thou wilt not
leave my soul (me) in hell (the kingdom of the
dead), nor sufi'er Thy pious one (David) to see cor-
ruption (the grave), but wilt sooner grant him a
longer life, that he may benefit by Thy promised
mercies." Elsev/here, David again speaks of a long-
life: ^'No brother can save the other from death,
though he live long, and see not corrujDtion."
Therefore, ^^ not to see corruption," does not mean
^^ not to die at all," or ^' not to be dead for ever,"
but simply '^ not to die immediately," or '^ not to
die soon," in short, it means ^' to live longer." For
he says directly afterwards of those who shall not
see corruption, '^ It will be seen that these wise
ones will sometime (at last) die, like unto the fools."

43

And elsewhere: ^^ Where is one who liveth and
shall not see death, and shall save his soul from
death?" Therefore, Paul, your first proposition
that the Psalm speaks of one who shall not, or shall
never see corruption, is incorrect; and your infer-
ence that the Psalm speaks not of David, is also
false. What should induce us to depart from David
himself, when, through the whole Psalm, he speaks
of himself, and invariably uses the dedicatory words
— I, my, with my soul, etc.; and how could David
imagine or expect, when he speaks in this manner,
that any one should think of Jesus of Nazareth, a
man who was not born ? In your other argument,
Paul, you seem to have forgotten that which you
wanted to prove, for your main point, which should
have been proved, you take for granted in the ante-
cedent without proof. Now the principal point
to be proved was, according to your own words,
that '^ God has awakened Jesus in such w^ise that he
henceforth shall not return to the grave." In your
other argument, you accept as the antecedent that
God has awakened Jesus, and thus conclude that
the Psalm says of Jesus that he did not see corrup-
tion. Surely it cannot be called proving— to accept
that which is to be proved, without proof, as the
antecedent. Nothing can come of this but an idle
arguing in a circle. You say : ^ ' God has awakened
Jesus." I ask: ^^How can you prove- it?" You
answer: ^^ Because he is the same of whom David
says that he shall not see corruption." I ask:
^^ Why should David necessarily mean Jesus, and

u

how do we know tliat Jesus did not see corruption ? "
You answer: ^^ Because lie was awakened; for
he whom God has awakened, has not seen corrup-
tion."

Section XXXV.

I do not jDretend to assert that the thoughts of
the Antiochians, whilst listening to the speech of
Paul, were the same as my own, but as in these
days we must often be Antiochians, and must listen
to Paul's evidence of the Eesurrection and the
Christian religion, I candidly declare that however
honestly I go to work, I cannot draw any other
inference from it ; and every one who has so far
advanced in thinking as to be able to resolve a wild
discourse into common- sense conclusions, and thus
test it, will agree with me, that no other deduction
can be wrung from the speech of Paul. Thus it is
quite clear that the old Scripture evidence of the
resurrection of Jesus never can stand proof before
the judgment-seat of sound reason, and only con-
tains a miserable and palpable petitionem principii
per circulum.

Now these evidences of Stephen and Paul are
the two most important and circumstantial in the
New Testament, and that which is introduced in
the second and third chapters of the Acts of the
Apostles to enforce, through Scripture, the assump-

45

tion of the Resurrection contains nothing new,
nothing to distinguish it from these two testimonies ;
therefore, it will be unnecessary to revert to it again.
I shall, however, examine later on the Old Testa-
ment Scripture proofs brought forward by the
Evangelists. By what I have stated above I think
every one will see thus much: that if one cannot in
good faith presuppose the main point from the
New Testament to be proved, that is to say, the
phrase : ^' This saying refers to Jesus of Nazareth,"
not one of the other Scripture sayings prove any-
thing. They naturally refer to quite different
persons, times, and occurrences. Among the
Evangelists none introduce so many Scripture
quotations as Matthew. Yet nothing is more
manifest to such as have searched the pages of
Scripture, than that they are either not to be found
there at all, or not in those books from which they
claim to be derived, or else the words are altered.
To a rational mind they, one and all, contain
nothing in themselves of the matter on account
of which Matthew introduces them, and when
read with the context, they cannot be drawn over
to it otherwise than by a mere quibble in a
forced allegory. This is particularly noteworthy
where Jonas is quoted as a sign of the future
resurrection of Jesus. How can any sensible
person attach such a signification to any such
fore-given signs ? I read that there was a projDhet
Jonas who would not preach repentance to the
heathen Ninevites and fled to the sea. Am I,

46

therefore, to infer tliat there was a Jesus who came
from Nazarethj who would preach repentance to the
Israelitles, and therefore did not fly to the sea, but
went willingly to Jerusalem to suffer and to die ?
I read further that Jonas was thrown by the sailors
into the sea during a storm, and passed three days
and three nights, aliye, inside a whale. Am I,
therefore, to conclude that Jesus of Nazareth passed,
not three days and three nights, but one day and two
nights^ not in the sea but on the earth, not alive but
truly dead in a grave in a rock? My skill in
drawing conclusions does not extend so far.

Section XXXVI.

It has hitherto been shown that the new system
adopted by the Apostles, of a spiritual suffering
Saviour, who was to arise from the dead, and after
his ascension to return from Heaven with great
power and glory, is false in its first main principle,
namely, the resurrection from the dead ; 1st. Be-
cause the previously- cited evidence of the Roman
guards, in Matthew, is highly incongruous, and is
nowhere alluded to by any other Evangelists or
Apostles. On the contrary, it is contradicted by
many circumstances. So that the saying, which
had become current among the Jews, namely,
^^ that the disciples had come by night and stolen
the body, and afterwards said he was risen," re-

47

mains not only quite possible, but highly probable.
2ndly. Because the disciples themselves^ as wit-
nesses of the resurrection of Jesus, not only vary
outrageously in the principal points of their as-
sertion, but they also, in manifold ways, distinctly
and grossly contradict one another. Srdly. Their
proof of the resurrection and of their whole system
by the Old Testament writings, and by a number
of things which have nothing to do with it, is made
up of scolding and scoffing, distortion of Scripture
sentences, false conclusions, and Petitiojiibus Prin-
cipii. Now then, we come to the other principle of
the new system of the Apostles, namely: that Jesus,
after his ascension, will soon return from Heaven
Avith power and great glory.

48

CHAPTER IV.

The Doctrme of the Rehcrn o/yesus.

Section XXXVII.

The better to understand this pretence and to
discover its falsity, I will mention a few facts.
First, it should be known that the Jews themselves
had two different systems of their Messiah. Most
of them, indeed, expected in such a person a
worldly sovereign, who should release them from
slavery, and make other nations submissive to
them. In this system there was nothing but
splendour and glory, no previous suffering, no
return ; the long-wished-for kingdom was to begin
immediately upon the coming of the Messiah.
However, there were some few others who said
their Messiah would come twice, and each time
after quite a different manner. The first time he
would appear in misery, and would suffer and die.
The second time he would come in the clouds of
Heaven, and receive unlimited power. The Jew
Trypho in Justin Martyr acknowledges this two-
fold future of the Messiah. It is to be found in the
Talmud and also in other Jewish writings. The

49

more modern Jews have even made a double
Messiah out of this twofold coming ; the one of the
tribe of Joseph, who was to suffer and die; the other
of the tribe of Judah, descended from David, who
was to sit upon his throne and reign. The Jews,
at the time of their bondage, had indeed tried so
hard to strengthen the sweet hope they entertained
of a deliverer, by so many Scripture passages,
that, with the assistance of pharisaic allegories,
they found their Messiah in countless sayings, and
in almost all directions. For this reason, the
passages, which in themselves contained no such
allusion, ran so contrary to one another that in
order to make them all rhyme together the Jews
could help themselves in no other way than by
imagining a twofold Messiah. It Avas, for example,
believed that Zacharias referred to the Messiah
when he said : ^' Hop for joy thou daughter of Zion,
shout thou daughter of Jerusalem : behold thy king
will come to thee : the same is just, and a saviour."
But then, again, he describes him as '^ poor," and
^' riding upon an ass." Thus there were many
other passages in Scripture which, on account of
some circumstances, appeared to them to speak of
the hoped-for king and saviour, but which still
intermingled his miserable condition, oppression,
and persecution. In contradiction to this, Daniel,
in his noctm'nal visions, sees the following: ^^ And
there came one in the clouds of Heaven like the
son of a man and came unto the aged one (one
stricken in years), and to the same was given all

E

50

power and honourj and kingdom, that all nations
and tongues should serve liim." Here we have
nothing but power and grandeur, as in several other
passages which, according to Jewish ideas, relate
to a promised saviour. In consequence, the few
Jews, who combined the two accounts, could hardly
fail to alight upon the notion that a Messiah would
come twice, and each time after quite a different
manner. One sees for oneself that the apostles of
this system, however few there were, made use of
it all the more because their first and most palatable
system had, on account of its failure, been set aside;
and one sees also that, after the death of Jesus as
Messiah, they promised themselves a glorious
future from him.

Further, it should be known that the Jews im-
agined the resurrection of the dead would take
place after the second coming of the Messiah, when
he would judge the living and the dead, and then
the kingdom of Heaven or of the next world would
begin, by which, however, they did not, like the
Christians of the present day, mean a blissful or
miserable eternity after the end of the world ; but
they meant the glorious reign of the Messiah upon
this earth, which should indemnify them for their
previous and then existing condition. The apostles
were therefore obliged, in their new creed, to pro-
mise a different return of Christ from the clouds, by
which all that they had vainly hoped for would be
fulfilled, and by which his faithful followers, after
the judgment had been passed, would come into

51

the inheritance of the kingdom. If the apostles
had not promised such a glorious return of Christ,
no man would have concerned himself about their
Messiah, or have listened to their preachings.
This glorious kingdom was the solace of the
Israelites in all their tribulations ; in the certain
hope of it they bore every trial, and they willingly
gave up all they had, because they expected to
receive it back an hundredfold.

Section XXXVIII.

Now if the apostles had at that time said that it
would be about seventeen, eighteen, or several
hundred years before Christ would return in the
clouds of Heaven and begin his kingdom, people
would simply have laughed at them, and would
naturally have thought that by their placing the
fulfilment of the promise far beyond the lives of so
many men and generations, they were only seeking
to hide their own and their master's disgrace. No
Jew separated the second coming of the Messiah so
far from the first ; and as the first was bound to have
taken place on account of the second, there was no
good reason why the kingdom of glory should
not begin soon. Who would have j)arted with his
means of subsistence or his fortune for the sake of it,
and made himself poor before the time and in vain ?
Whence could the apostles have drawn the means

52

which they were to divide so plentifully among
their new converts ? It was then imperative that
the apostles should promise the second coming of
Christ and the kingdom of glory in good time, or
at all events during the lifetime of the then existing
Jews- The sayings also which they impute to
Christ point to his return before that generation of
Jews had passed away. In the twenty-fourth chapter
of Matthew, when Jesus is speaking of the des-
truction of Jerusalem and of his second coming,
the disciples ask him, ^' Tell us when shall these
things be ? What will be the sign of thy coming
and of the end of the world ? " By the end of the
world they meant, according to Jewish language,
the end of the time previous to the kingdom of the
Messiah, or the abolishment of the present kingdom,
which was sujDposed to be directly connected with
the new kingdom. So the apostles and evangelists
impute to their master an answer which commences
by warning them against any false Christs or Mes-
siahs who might pretend to be himself before the
end came. He says : '' But immediately after the
tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened,
and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars
will fall from Heaven, and the powers of the
heavens will quake;" that is, in the prophetic
language of the Hebrews, that the existing world
or the existing constitution of the Jewish republic
should come to an end. Jesus continues : '^ And
then will appear the sign of the son of man in
heaven, and then all the generations of earth shall

53

strike tlieir breasts and shall see the son of man
coming in the clouds of heaven with great power
and glory," etc. ^^ Verily I say mito you, this gener-
ation shall not pass away until all this has happened.
But of the day and of the hour no man knows.
Therefore watch, for ye know not at what hour
your Lord cometh. Therefore be prepared, for the
son of man will come at an hour when you look
not for him. But when the son of man cometh in
his glory and all the holy angels with him, then
will he sit upon the seat of his glory, and all nations
will be assembled before him, and he will separate
them one from the other, like as a shepherd sepa-
rates the sheep from the goats."

According to these speeches, the visible coming of
Christ in the clouds of heaven to the kingdom of
his glory is clearly and exactly appointed to take
place, soon after the imminent tribulations of the
Jews, and before ^' this generation," or those Jews
who were alive at the time of Jesus, had passed
away or died. And although no one was to know
of the day or the hour, yet those who were then
alive, particularly the disciples, were to watch and
be jDrepared, because he should come at an hour
when they were not expecting him. That this was
the true meaning of the words of the evangelist is
clearly shown by another passage from the same ;
for after Jesus had said he must go up to Jerusalem
and would there be killed and would rise again, ho
adds : ^' For it surely will come to pass that the
son of man shall come in the glory of his Father,

54

with his angels, and then will he reward each one
according to his works. Verily I say unto you,
there he some standing among you ivlio shall not taste
of death until they have seen the son of man come into
his kingdom^

No speech in this world can more distinctly fix
the time of the visible glorious return of Christ to
a certain period and within the bounds of a not
very distant one. Some of those persons who then
stood upon the same spot around Jesus were not to
die before his return, but were to see him come
into his kingdom.

Section XXXIX.

But as Christ unfortunately did not come in the
clouds of heaven within the appointed time, nor
even after many centuries had passed away, people
try now-a-days to remedy the failure of the promise
by giving to its words an artificial but very meagre
signification. The words ^^ this generation shall not
pass away '' must needs be tortured into meaning
that the Jewish people or Jewish nation shall not pass
away. By such an interpretation they think that
the promise may still stand good. Thus they say
the Jewish nation has not passed away, therefore
the appointed time for the second coming of Christ
has not elapsed. But the Jews are fostered and
cherished all too well in Christendom for that gentle
nation to pass away, and it seems as though one
had calculated upon the subterfuge being as neces-

55

sary many centuries lience, as it is now. But
neither now nor in future can it ever warrant a safe
refuge. Matthew's words, or, if you prefer it,
Christ's own words quoted in the foregoing passage,
can never be reconciled to the mind, because the
people who in one particular spot stood around
Jesus before his suffering, could certainly not signify
the whole Jewish nation after many successive
centuries. Neither is it possible that any of them
have not yet tasted of death ! To assert this one
would be obliged, as a last resource, to invent an
everlasting Jew, who had existed from the time of-
Jesus. I will now proceed to show from the quoted
words themselves, that the fundamental word 7^^ -'^
does not at all signify a nation or a people. The
people or the nation of the Jews, or any other
people or nation, is expressed by the words >^«o? and
eOvo^, but the word 7^^^^ in the New Testament and
everywhere else, means generation^ or, people who
are living together in the world at the same time,
and who by their exit from this stage, make room
for other generations.

Section XL.

It will be remembered that in the beginning of
the gospel of Matthew, are counted, from Abraham
to David 'yeveal Tecraape'^ KaiheKa, fourteen generations,
and again from David to the Babylonian captivity,
7eveal riaaape^; KaiheKa^ fourteen generations J lastly

56

from the Babylonian captivity to Christ 'y^veal
Ti(7aape<; KaiheKa, fourteen generations, all of which
are also named by Matthew in the table of
generations. Now any other generations besides
those existing were called Trapw^ni^^^'^h irepai, apxcuai
yeveal, old generations, those which had passed
away. The generation living at the time of Jesus
was auTT] yevea, the present generation, or this gener-
ation^ which would also in its own time, pass away
TapeXOr]. Jesus often describes the then existing
one as a wicked, adulterous, unbelieving generation,
because it had calumniated both him and John, and
had required a sign from heaven. He said that the
Ninevites and the Queen of Sheba would fare better
at the day of judgment than this generation, which
had heard a far greater prophet than Jonas, and a
wiser than Solomon, and yet had despised him.
Jesus particularly includes his own disciples in this
generation, and reproves them as a faithless and
j)erverse generation, when they could not drive out
a certain devil; and he asks, ^^How long shall I
be with you ? " In every other part of the New
Testament, the word yeved has the same signification,
as every one can see who ^^leases to wander through
the fans of concordance. The seventy interpreters,
the Apocrypha, Philo, Josephus, and also the pro-
fane Scribes attribute exactly the same meaning to
it. With the Hebrews, particularly, it is nothing
else than the Hebrew -in J^or. Thus Solomon
says, '^ Dor liolech veclor ha^^ yevea iropeveraL Kol yevea

epxerai, ^^ one generation passes away, the other

57

comes." Moses says that Gocl allowed tlie Israelites
to wander to and fro in the wilderness forty years
long, until the whole generation which had done
evil in the sight of the Lord had passed away,

€0)9 i^ay7]\ct)6r] iraaa rj yevea, ol 7roLOvvT€<; ra irovepa. Also
in another passage ; eco? ov hieireae iraaa yevea avSpMV

TToXefj^Lorrcov. And again, when referring to those who
had lived at the time of Joshua, it is written, that
the whole generation had been gathered to its

fathers, ^al iraaa rj yevea eKelvr] TrpoaeriO-qaav tt/^o? tou?
Trarepa^ avrcov.

Section XLI.

It is therefore irrefutable that in Jesus' speech in
Matthew ^Hhis generation " avrr) yevka means nothing
more than ^^ the Jews who lived at the time of
Jesus." These were not to pass away or die until
he should '' return in the clouds with great power
and glory." Now as it is undeniable that nothing
of the kind happened, the fact that the Jewish
nation has not passed away but still exists is a sorry
cloaking to the falsity of the prediction. ^' This
generation," which could and would pass away, can-
not possibly be the entire nation with all its gener-
ations at different times. Neither Jesus nor the
Jews ever thought that their people or nation would
pass away, but that one generation after the other
would pass away was acknowledged by Moses,
Joshua, Solomon, and was known to every one,

58

from the common exjDerience of mortality. It
might then be said of a generation that it should
pass away, and consequently the time of a future
occurrence might, through the limit of the life of a
present generation, be appointed ; but no Jew said
of the whole Jewish nation that it would pass away;
therefore the time of a future occurrence could not
be appointed upon the joassing away of the whole
nation. Indeed, a fulfilment of a particular
promised thing cannot, after its hoped-for reality,
be decided through an invulnerable thing, a thing
which perpetually continues from century to cen-
tury, unto eternity. Were I standing beside the
Danube, the Elbe, or the Rhine, and, knowing all
the currents of the stream, were I to say to any one:
This river shall not pass away until I come again ;
would it not be equivalent to saying, ^'I shall never
come again"? To assert that ^^ the whole Jewish
nation, with all its continual generations, shall not
pass away until Christ comes again," would be a
nice way of appointing his return in the clouds !
To any Jew one might as well say : ^^ He will not
come again until the river Jordan has passed away,
until eternity is at an end." Therefore it is im-
possible that " this generation " in Christ's predic-
tion should have meant anything but '^ the Jews
who were then living."

Further, what could more clearly have pointed
out the sense and object of the words than the fol-
lowing speech of Jesus in another passage : ^' there
be some among you standing here by me who shall

59

not taste of death until they see the son of man
come into his kingdom?" The meaning here is
identically the same as that in the foregoing mode
of expression: ^^this generation shall not j)^-ss
away ; " for those who stood there, by Jesus, were
certain persons of that generation, or, of the then
existing Jews, and they were not to taste of death
until they saw him come again in the clouds ; and,
in so far as the then existing generation of Jews is
(in the latter expression) limited by the lives of
persons named, the thing is even more particularly
and exactly decided, so that any one who could
still raise objections to a meaning so circum-
stantially determined, must have lost all sense of
shame. It is certain that in the Old Testament the
first coming of the Messiah is not anything like so
exactly fixed to a particular time, as is the second
coming in the New Testament ; and a Jew can use,
as a pretext for the non-aj)pearance of his hoped-for
Messiah, much fairer and more reasonable inter-
pretations and arguments than a Christian can for
the non-return of Christ.

Section XLII.

In going through the New Testament, one sees
that the disciples had this conception of the ^yo-
mised return of Jesus, and that they imparted
to the newly converted that it would take j^lace
very soon, indeed, during their own lifetime. The

60

disciples are represented by Luke as enquiring of
Jesus after his resurrection: ^^Lord, wilt thou not
at this time restore the kingdom to these Israel-
ites ? " Again, in their epistles, they pretend that
the return of Christ is near at hand, and exhort
the faithful to watch and be ready, as it would come
to pass in their own time, aye, and might come at
any hour or moment, that they might be found in
a condition to take part in the kingdom of glory.
James likewise encourages them thus: ^^Be then
patient, dear brethren, until the return of the Lord.
. . . Be ye also patient, for the return of the
Lord is near at hand. . . . Behold, the judge
standeth at the door." Paul writes to the Thessa-
lonians, that although some among them had gone
to sleep before the return of the Lord, they would
be carried to meet him when he appeared in the
clouds, at the same time as those who then remained
alive. He says : ^^ I would not have you ignorant,
dear brethren, concerning them which are asleep,
that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no
hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose
again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will
God bring with him. For this we say unto you
by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive
and remain u.nto the coming of the Lord shall not
prevent them which are asleep. For the Lord
himself shall descend from Heaven with a war-
shout, with the voice of the archangel, and Avith
the sackbut of God : and the dead in Christ shall
rise first, then we which are alive and remain shall

61

bo caught up together in the clouds to meet the
Lord in the air : and so shall we ever be with the
Lord. Therefore comfort ye one another with
these words. But of the times and the seasons,
brethren, you have no need that I write unto you.
For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the
Lord so Cometh as a thief in the night ; for when
they shall say Peace and safety, then sudden
destruction cometh upon them as travail upon a
woman with child; and they shall not escape.
But ye, brethren, are not in darkness that that day
should overtake you as a thief.''

In the same manner Paul says to the Corinthians:
^' Behold, I tell you a secret. We shall indeed not
all fall asleep, but we shall all be changed. In a
moment, in the twinkling of an eye at the last
trump ; for the trump will sound, and the dead
shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be
changed."

Section XLIII.

It Is then not to be wondered at, that the early
Christians after such plain words from Jesus him-
self, and from his apostles, should daily have looked
for this return of Christ in the clouds, or that they
should have been in constant expectation of the
glorious kingdom, believing that at least some
among them would be alive at the time of its com-
mencement. Can we blame them for thinking the

62

time too long, when one after another fell asleep
without living to witness it ? Is it surprising that
scoffers should have come at last and said, ^^ Where
is the promise of his return ? for from the days
when our fathers fell asleep, all remains as it was at
the beginning of the creation?" It must have
come to the ears of Paul, that the Thessalonians,
from his own first epistle and the speeches of
others, considered the return of Christ to be so very
near, that it would ])e impossible to redeem the
promise. So in his next epistle he speaks in
mysterious words of a "falling off" of a "man of
sin," of the "son of perdition," of the ^^ godless one
who must come first," who was even then at work,
but was detained, and when at last he revealed
himself, the Lord would put him to death with the
breath of his mouth, and would destroy him by the
brightness of his coming. He therefore prays the
Thessalonians: ^^Be not soon shaken in mind, nor
be troubled neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by
letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at
hand." But this dark dilatory consolation could
not be depended upon for any length of time, for
even should the " son of perdition" be intended to
represent the Emperor Caligula, or any of his suc-
cessors (as many think) he must soon have been
revealed. Why was he not destroyed by the
^^ brightness of Christ's coming " ? If, on the other
hand, by ^Hhe son of perdition" was meant one
who belonged to a later century, the prediction of
Jesus himself that ^^ some of those standing by him

63

should not taste of death until they had seen him
come into his kingdom " would not have been ful-
filled. And the promise whicli Paul himself made
to the Thessalonians and Corinthians, viz.: that
some among them would not be fallen asleep when
Christ with the trump of God should come in the
clouds to his kingdom, would not have been ful-
filled. The truth is that compare Paul's words
with whichever account you will, they cannot
accord with, or be applied to, a single one of them,
and almost the only conclusion you can come to is
that to draw himself out of the difiiculty with
honour, he carefully concealed himself in the dark,
so that the delay of the return of Christ could be
placed farther and farther away at pleasure.

Section XLIV.

Our good Paul, however, does not thoroughly
understand the art of giving evasive answers.
Peter is a better hand at it. He says: "Know
that in the last days scoffers will come and will say:
Where is the promise of his return? for from the
days the fathers fell asleep, everything remains as
it was from the beginning of creation." After
mentioning some things which have nothing to do
Avith the subject, he continues: ^^I would not have
you ignorant, beloved, that one day with the Lord
is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one

64

day. The Lord is not slack concerning his pro-
mise, as some men count slackness, but is long-
suffering to us- ward. . . . But the day of the
Lord will come as a thief in the night," etc. Even
at that time there seem to have been scoffers, for
Peter warns his faithful followers against them, and
tells them not to be persuaded by them. If then
after seventeen hundred years there should come
scoffers who ask : Where is now his return ? Peter
has already answered in advance, that they have
only waited a little over one-and-a-half of the Lord's
days more than was due, and that the delay was
owing to his ^^ long-suffering." And if the return
of Christ should not occur for another couple of
thousand years, Peter has again met the scoffer with
the answer that his calculation is- wrong, the two
thousand years were only a couple of days which
Christ has spent for their benefit in heaven before
he let himself down. But such like answers will,
I fear, give little satisfaction to sensible honest
men, and even less to the scoffers. The thing
which cannot be supported by better props than
these must be in a very bad way.

What business here has the verse from Psalm
ex. ? According to the evangelists, Christ so
distinctly fixed his second coming that some of
those who then stood round him were to be living
when he returned in the clouds. It would then be
absurd to push his return so far ahead, because a
thousand years with God are as one day ; for the
return, you see, was not fixed according to God's

Go

days, but according to man's days, namely, the
days of those men who stood around. In any case
it is absurd to measure the time by God's days,
even were they a hundred thousand human years
long; but if this was to be comprehended according
to human understanding, why then did Peter make
a human day into a thousand years ?

Section XLV.
Here, then, there was no alternative but that of
burying the exact appointment of the time in
oblivion, as though it had never been fixed at all,
and instead of it to make a terminus so long that it
can be extended to eternity; for three hundred
and sixty-five thousand human years would then
have to elapse before one of God's years could come
to an end, and yet the delay could not be called a
delay, because either the ^^long-suffering" or some
other peculiarity of God would be sufficient reason
why one ought not to enquire so very particularly
into His foresight. His prophecies, and His truth.
The apostles, meanwhile, gained this much by the
early foolish Christianity: that once the faithful
had fallen asleep and the real terminus had been
well passed over, the succeeding Christians and
fathers of the Church could by idle hopes and pro-
mises go on keeping up the delusion. We read
that John, one of the apostles and evangelists, who
at the time of Jesus was very young, and who
lived the longest, pretends to be he who might

66

perhaps live to see the return of Christ. He intro-
duces Peter as saying to Jesus: ^^Lord, and what
shall this man do ? " and Jesus as answering : ^^ If
I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to
thee?" Jesus, however, as not having said that
he should not die but only ^^ If I will that he tarry
till I come, what is that to thee ? " Accordingly,
John concludes his Eevelation thus : " He which
testifieth these things saith, ^ Surely I come quickly.
Amen. Even so come, Lord Jesus."*

After the ajDOstles, the first fathers of the Church
still continued to hope that Christ would appear
and begin his kingdom upon earth in their ov\ai
times ; and thus it went on from century to
century, until at last the unaccomplished time
of Christ's second coming became forgotten, and
our present theologians pass nimbly over the
matter because it is not beneficial to their purposes;
they also try to cultivate a very different object in
the return of Christ in the clouds of Heaven, to that
which he himself and his apostles taught.

Now-a-days, when people read more what is in the
catechism and the Compendiis Theologice than what is
in the Bible, how many are there who ever remem-
ber that the openly appointed time for the second
coming of Jesus has long passed by, and that con-
sequently one of the mainstays of Christianity is
shown to be utterly worthless ? The two propositions

* The identity of the author of the Apocalypse with the author
of the Fourth Gospel has been abundantly disproved. — Editoe.

67

and articles of faith: ^^ Christ has arisen from the
dead," and ^' Christ will return to his kingdom in
the clouds of heaven," are indisputably the pillars
upon which Christianity and the new creed of the
apostles are built. If Christ has not arisen, then,
as Paul himself declares, our belief is vain ; and if
Christ neither has nor does come again to reward
the faithful in his kingdom, then is our belief as
useless as it is false. My readers will see that in
the contemplation hitherto made I have avoided
touching unessential contingencies, but have forced
my way right up to the substance and main point of
Christianity. I have compared ihe old system of
the apostles, viz., ivorldly deliverance of the Israelites^
with the purposes of Jesus in his teaching* and
behaviour in the account given by the evangelists,
and have found well-grounded reasons for believing
that they agree ; and that it was only on account
of failure and disappointed hope that the apostles
abandoned their first creed. Also that their altered
new religious structure of a sjyiritual saviour of the
human race was erected upon two jDretended facts
given as articles of faith, which, by the manifold
contradictions of witnesses and the course of events
themselves, are shown to be strikingly fictitious.

I should be glad if every sensible ujDright reader
would search every book that has been written on
the truth of the Christian religion, and judge for
himself whether anything therein to be found can
remove in the smallest degree the objections above
stated, or can bring forward anything by which

68

they must fall to the ground. I myself read tlio
most and the best of these books before I had
begun to doubt ; since then reflection and earnest
thought have given rise to doubts, and I say that
not one of the writers of these works has been
able to remove one of these doubts — a great many
of which they have not even touched upon. In-
deed, these supposed champions of Christianity skip
all too softly over its real foundation. They ex-
haust the power of their minds and language upon
unessential things, which, although they impart to
the religion a brilliancy very fascinating to people
who are incapable of sifting fundamentally, yet are
either in themselves improbable, or do not afford
any ^ure proof of the truth of Christianity.

CHAPTER IV.

On Miracles and Prophecies.

Section XLYI.

The essential parts of Cliristiaiiity are the articles
of faith by the denial or ignorance of whicli wf
cease to be Christians. The principal of these are :
the spiritual deliverance through the suffering and
death of Christ ; Resurrection from death in con-
firmation of the sufficient suffering of Christ ; and,
the return of Christ for reward and punishment, as
the fruit and consequence of the deliverance. He
who grap]Dles with or disproves these first principles
attacks the substance (or essence) of the object.
By unessential things in reference to religion I
mean first of all, the miracles, to which nevertheless
such particular importance is attached by the
Christian religion. No one can affirm that miracles
of themselves establish a single article of faith. If
we granted that articles of faitli carried with tliem
conviction and inherent credibility, how should we
dare to require miracles in order to believe them ?
If we granted that the resurrection had been proved
to be true by the most undoubted and unanimous

70

witnesses, as in all fairness it ought to be, we could
surely believe it without any assistant miracle. If
we granted that Christ really did return in the
clouds of Heaven, as according to promise he ought
to have done, we should certainly want no miracles
to prove it.

On the other hand, if we grant that the truth of the
above-mentioned events is based partly upon suspi-
cious and contradictory evidence, and partly upon
occurrences which manifestly never took place, or
that the doctrines contain contradiction, no miracles
can mend the matter, first, because miracles are un-
natural events, as improbable as they are incred-
ible, requiring as much examination as that which
they are supposed to prove ; secondly, because they
contain nothing in themselves from which the infer-
ence could be drawn: — this and that has happened:
ergo^ this or that doctrine is true: ergo^ this or that
is no contradiction.

Section XL VII.

I have said that to discover whether miracles
are true requires as much investigation as the
thing they are supposed to prove. In reading
the history of Moses and the succeeding times,
we have already seen that it cost the writer neither
intellect, skill, nor trouble to concoct miracles, and
that the reader requires still less intellect to believe

71

them. The historian kills all Pharaoh's cattle three
times running. Each time not a single beast is
left alive ; but in his fertile imagination there are
always fresh ones ready to be again demolished.
Where they all came from is quite immaterial to
him. He makes the Israelites take all their cattle
away with them, not leaving a single hoof behind,
and 3^et when he wants to perform miracles, they are
every moment suffering from hunger, so that meat
must needs rain from heaven. In three hours and
on a very dark night he brings thirty hundred
thousand men with women and babes, aged and
sick, lame and blind, tents and furniture, waggons
and harness, three hundred thousand oxen, six hun-
dred thousand sheep, safe and sound over the
bottom of a sea which at the very least must have
been a German mile in breadth ; a bottom Vv^iich
on account of weed and mud in one place, sand
and coral branches in another, rocks here and islets
there, is impassable. He does not trouble himself
to reflect whether the thing is possible. Enough I
he imagines and writes them safe across in a single
night-watch ! To light his conquering Israel he
bids the sun to stand still for twenty-four hours.
Into what sort of condition the outer world v\'Ould
have been thrown in consequence, is immaterial.
He has but to say the word, and the sun stops with
the whole machinery of the world. He blows and
shouts down the strongest walls, although he can-
not shout away the aggravating iron chariots any
more than he can bid them stop. He changes one

72

thing into another according to his pleasure ; rods
into serpents, water into blood, dust into lice. He
bids water to tower up without support, contrary
to its nature, and with a blow of his rod draws
water from a dry rock. He creates a world in
which men fly through the air, and in which an ass,
an angel and a man hold a conversation together.

In short, all nature is at his command, he shapes
and orders it as he pleases ; but, as in a dream,
full of fabulous tales, a Utopia, without order, rules,
harmony, truth, or sense. The most childish writer
could make such miracles as these, and in order to
believe them one would have to abandon all the
maxims of a healthy mind. The historians, indeed,
betray themselves by owning that the miracles, at
the time they occurred, never found any faith
among the Israelites.

Section XLVIII.

The miracles of the New Testament are not so
outrageous and disgusting throughout, as those of
the Old. They consist chiefly in the healing of the
lame, blind, deaf, sick, and of those possessed of
devils; but yet the writers entangle themselves
hopelessly here and there in glaring contradiction,
and nowhere do they accord to us a report of cir-
cumstances and reliable investigation, from which

73

one could judge whether the thing supposed to
have happened was a bond fide miracle. They write
down their assertions in the most vapid and dull
manner, and then set a seal of faith upon them:
^' Whoso believeth shall be saved, whoso believeth
not shall be damned." Jesus himself could not
perform miracles where the people had not faith
beforehand, and when sensible men, the learned
and rulers of those times, demanded of him a
miracle which could be submitted to examination,
he, instead of granting the request, began to upbraid
them ; so that no man of this stamp could believe
in him. It was not until thirty to sixty years after
the death of Jesus, that people began to write an
account of the performance of these miracles, in a
language which the Jews in Palestine did not
understand. And this was at a time when the
Jewish nation was in a state of the greatest
disquietude and confusion, and when very few
of those who had known Jesus were still alive.
Nothing then was easier for them than to invent as
many miracles as they pleased, without fear of their
writings being readily understood or refuted. It
had been impressed upon all converts from the be-
ginning that it was both advantageous and soul-
saving to believe, and to put the mind captive
under the obedience of faith; and consequently there
was as much credulity among them as there was
"pza /raws" or ^^ deception from good motives"
among their teachers ; and both of these, as is well
known, prevailed in the highest degree in the

74

early Christian Church. Other religions, indeed,
are quite as full of miracles ; the heathen boasts of
many, so does the Turk; no religion is without
them, and this it is which also makes the Christian
miracles so doubtful, and ^^i^o^cj^^s us to ask :
^ ^ Did the events really happen ? Were the attendant
circumstances such as are stated ? Did they come to
pass naturally, or by craft, or by chance?" Those
who are conversant with the matter and the history
v/ill see very well that I write the truth. But as
yet I do not require of those who have no know-
ledge of them, that they accord to me justice and
right. Meanwhile, I have been obliged to lay
before them the doubts which are apt to occur to
reasonable thinking men on reading the miracles of
the New Testament, so that if they do not knov/
how to answer these doubts, they may at least con-
fess that miracles are not such certain facts that one
can prove and establish other incredible narratives
or doctrines by them, and that consequently those
who would build Christianity upon miracles give it
nothing firm, deep or substantial for a foundation.

Section XLIX.

It is always a sign that a doctrine or history
possesses no dej^th of authenticity when one is
obliged to resort to miracles in order to prove its

75

truth. Miracles do not possess in or by themselves
any principle containing a single article of faith or
conclusive fact. It follows not because a prophet
has performed miracles tliat therefore he has
sj)oken the truth, because false prophets and magi-
cians also performed signs and v/onders, and false
Christs performed miracles by which even the elect
might bo deceived. It follows not because Jesus
restored sight to a blind man and healed a lame
one, ergo God is threefold in person, ergo Jesus is
a real God and man. It follows not because Jesus
awakened Lazarus from death that therefore he
also mast have arisen from death. Why need we
be drawn away from the main point and referred to
extraneous irrelevant things, when we have found
marks enough upon the thing itself by which what
is true can be distinguished from v/hat is false, and
when these same marks cannot be obliterated by
any amount of accessory miracles ?

The unerring signs of truth and falsehood are
clear, distinct consistency and contradiction. This
is also the case with revelation, in so far as that it
must, in common with other trutlis, be free from
contradiction. And just as little as miracles can
prove that twice two are ^yq^ or that a triangle has
four angles, can a contradiction lying in the history
and dogmas of Christianity be removed by any
number of miracles. However many blind and
lame people Jesus and the apostles may have
healed, and however many legions of devils they
may have driven out, they cannot thereby heal the

76

contradictions in their system of the Messiah, and
in their unsatisfactory evidences of his resurrection
and return. Contradiction is a devil and father of
lies, who refuses to be driven out either by fasting
and -prajer, or by miracles. Let what will have
been done by these miracle-performing people, they
cannot thereby have made things happen which
did not happen, nor have made Christ return in
the clouds of Heaven before those who stood by
him had tasted of death.

No miracle can prove that the saying, '- Out of
Egypt have I called my son," was spoken of Jesus ;
or that any prophet of the Bible ever said, ^^He
shall be called a Nazarene."

Section L.

What I have said of miracles, viz., that they
are of themselves uncertain and do not contain
the evidence of truth, I must also say of the
pro]3hecies, upon the infallibility of which the
defenders of Christianity likewise insist. If a pro-
phecy is to be called infalHble, I fairly demand
that it should state beforehand legibly, clearly, and
distinctly that which no man could previously have
known, and that the same should thereafter take
place at the time appointed, but that it should not
take place because it has been predicted. If, how-
ever, such a prophecy can only be verified through

i i

alleoforical interpretation of words and thinr^s; if it
be only composed of dark and dubious words, and
the expressions it contains are commonplace, vague,
and uncertain ; if the matter ^vas thought probable,
or was foreseen bv human cunning ; if it occurs
because it was predicted ; if tlie words used refer
to some otlier matter and are only applied to the
prophecy by a quibble ; if it is only written down
after the event has occurred ; if a prophetic book
or passage is given out to be older than it is ; or
lastly, if the thing predicted does not take place at
all, then the prophecy is either doubtful or false.
If, then we judge by these rules and commence an
investigation of those Old Testament prophecies
which have been ajDplied to the New Testament,
we shall find them to be worthless and false. Those
which are most clearly expressed never came to
pass, for example : that '' the Messiah should sit
upon the seat of David on Mount Zion and reign
from one sea to another, even unto the end of the
world," and all besides that was prophesied of the
deliverer of Israel. Other prophecies are merely
adapted through quibbles, and in reality refer to
quite other things. I have recently given two
examples of them. Later on I will show that not
a single sentence from the Old Testament a^^plied
by Matthew and others to the history of Jesus was
written in the sense ascribed to it. Other passages
again contain matters which are ap23lied by the
apostles allegorically to Christ, such as the sign of
the prophet Jonas who was three days and three

78

nights inside of a wliale; and also the saying, ^^I
will be his father, he shall be my son." Before
such passages as these our present theologians have
no alternative but to take refuge in a circle, by
which I mean tliat they endeavour to prove the
truth of the New Testament and its doctrine
through the prophecies of the Old, and the things
said or meant in the Old Testament through the
New, that is to say, through St. Matthew, St. Paul,
etc., etc. With a little extra ingenuity, many
joassages could thus be applied to Christ, in order
that ^^what was written might be fulfilled," such as
^^ Behold thy king cometh — riding upon an ass and
upon a colt, the foal of an ass."* In short, I may
affirm that one cannot refer to a single quoted pro-
phecy that is not false ; or if you would have me
speak more mildly, I will only say that they are
all ambiguous and doubtful, and are not to be
accepted from writers who trifle with things and
words.

Section LI.

Thus it is easy to perceive how the conclusion
halts on all sides : —

1st. Because the argument, drawn from predic-
tions which are no clearer or more distinct than those
above referred to in the New Testament, runs in a
circle and must commit a '•^ petitionem principUy

* An example of fulfilment, because it was predicted.

79

The representation of Cliristianity by Paul is —

^^ Jesus of Nazareth is the son of God."

How so ?

^^ Because it is written: I will be his father, and
lie shall be my son : thou art my son, this day have
I begotten thee."

But it appears to me that the former refers to
Solomon and the latter to David.

^^ And even were it so, a far higher personage
must be prefigured under David and Solomon."

Good. But how am I to know that ? Do the
writers of the Old Testament prove such to be the
case ?

^^ Not exactly. But the holy Apostle Paul, by
inspiration of the Holy Ghost, shows us the master-
mind and the counter-image which is prefigured."

Then Paul's doctrine is true, because he says
so.

And thus it is with a hundred other passages,
principally with those from which one can draw no
conclusion in favour of Christianity unless one first
grants that they possess an allegorical meaning
pointing to Christianity.

2nd. Even supposing the sense of the Old Testa-
ment passages by themselves to be rightly hit upon,
it still does not at all follow that Jesus of Naza-
reth v/as meant by them. Granted that the
Messiah was to come out of Bethlehem, are then
all those who spring from Bethlehem Messiahs ?
Granted the Messiah was to come out of Egypt, are
then all those who come out of Egypt Messiahs ?

80

Granted that he lived at Nazareth, can any one
who sojourns at Nazareth call himself the Messiah ?
We shall be answered " That is all very well, but
when so many, when all the signs are fulfilled in
one person, that person must be meant, and no
other." But here we relapse again into the same
old circle. The writers of the New Testament
noted the particularities attending the life of Jesus
(of which I have given some account before), and
then would fain make a Messiah out of him. To
accomplish this they pretended that these particu-
larities had been prophesied and fulfilled in him.
And as prophecies that really corresponded could
not be found, they, through quibbles and allegories,
twisted and turned this and that passage in the Old
Testament to suit their purpose. If, then, we
cannot discover that any of those passages were
written in the sense attributed to them, or that any
refer to Jesus in particular, it follows that we are
to believe in the meaning given to the prophecies
by the writers of the New Testament simply because
they say so.

3rd. It is a false conclusion that '' This or that
has been predicted of the Jewish Messiah; ergo^
this or that was fulfilled in Jesus." I call that
surreptitiously sneaking past two propositions at
once, and just those actually in question. I should
conclude thus : " This or that has happened and
was predicted ; ergo, the prediction of that which
happened is fulfilled." For it must always be jDre-
viously shown that this or that has happened with

81

regard to a certain person, and that such deed or
event was previously prophesied of that person.
Then only can we accept the truth of the prophecy,
and grant that it has been fulfilled in the person.
Even Moses teaches us to conclude thus. But
those who begin by taking for granted that ^^rophe-
cies must be true and must be fulfilled, those who
do not first show events to have really occurred,
but prove by prophecies supposed to be true, slyly
steal past both the points in question. Let us, for
instance, suppose it to have been prophesied of the
Messiah that he should perform miracles, restore
sight to the blind, make the lame walk, and that he
should arise from death. Does it follow that the
prophecy was a true oiie ?

Section LII.

Every attentive reader will readily perceive that
I look upon the many miracles handed down by
the apostles, their assumed honesty and piety in
relating them, their doctrines and lives, the martyr
deaths which they suffered, and upon which tlie
evidence of Christianity is chiefly grounded, as a
number of unessential secondary things, which do
not by any means make out the truth of the main
point. Even if I allowed it to remain imdecided
whether or not each of these accounts taken singly
was undeniable, and capable of being proved, and

G

82

doubtful how things came about, it is still clearly
evident that none of them touch the substance of
the matter, or can solve the doubts and difficulties.
Many other religions have the same equivocal prin-
ciples of foundation, but the proofs these pretend to
contain of the truth of a religion are not conclusive,
and where there are visible marks of falsity, they
are impotent.

A thousand asserted miracles cannot clear up
and set straight one single evident contradiction
in the accounts of the Eesurrection now before my
eyes. All the asserted piety and holiness of the
apostles cannot convince me that Jesus visibly re-
turned with great power and glory, and began his
glorious kingdom upon earth before some of those
who stood round him had tasted of death. All the
martyrs with the unheard-of torments they endured
will not convince me that the passage, "" Out of
Egypt have I called my son " refers to Jesus ; or
that the sentence, ^' He shall be called a Nazarene,"
stands in the existing writings of the Old Testa-
ment.

The fact that a number of people, hovv^ever great,
have adopted one and the same religion, does not
show me that they were right in having done so,
and that they made their choice with due con-
sideration and with sense. As, then, no light can
be thrown upon the main point for me by any of
these things, and as they cannot clear away any of
my doubts, I do not see why I should allow myself
to be drawn out of my straight course by looking

83

into them more closely, nor do I think that my
readers will wish me to do so, but will be satisfied
if I touch only upon such as I may encounter on
the way, and which might perhaps hinder my pro-
gress. I will now then proceed to enquire into the
real object of the apostles in inventing and building
up their new doctrine, and how by degrees they
succeeded, and shall, by comparing fundamentally
all the circumstances, endeavour as far as possible
to discover it.

CHAPTER V.

The Worldly Ambition of the
Apostles.

Section LIIl.

The apostles were chiefly men of the lower class
and of small means, who gained their livelihood by
fishing and other trades. They probably knew
little or nothing beyond their occupation, although
it is possible that they may have been men who
combined study with business, and only resorted
to the latter in case of need, as was often the case
with Jews such as Paul, who, though so learned,
maintained himself occasionally by making tents.
Now when they resolved upon following Jesus,
they entirely forsook their trade and all connected
with it, hearkened to his teaching, and went about
everywhere with him, or from time to time were
sent by him to the towns of Israel to announce that
the kingdom of Heaven was near at hand, and
twelve of them were accordingly chosen to become
these messengers of joy. Here we do not require
deductions or inferences as to what may have

Sd

induced tlie apostles to forsake all and follow Jesus,
because the evangelists distinctly inform us that
they entertained hopes that the Messiah would
establish a kingdom, or become king of Israel, and
seat himself upon the throne of David. At the
same time Jesus himself gave them his promise
that they also should sit upon twelve thrones and
judge the twelve tribes of Israel. Indeed, they
already sat upon them so firmly in imagination,
that they began to dispute, rather prematurely,
among themselves as to who should have the first
place and the greatest power next to Jesus. One
of them wanted to sit at his right^ the other at his
left. Meantime, they did not forget to remind
Jesus of their claims in having forsaken all and
followed him, nor to ask him what they should
receive for having done so. And when Jesus com-
forts them by saying that those who have left
fields, houses, etc., etc., for his sake shall receive
back an hundredfold, they are content, and only
wait anxiously for the time and the hour when his
kingdom should really begin. But this weary
waiting only lasted until the execution of Jesus,
w^hich at once dashed all their idle hopes to the
ground ; and then they complain, '^ We hoped that
he would have delivered Israel ! " It is clear, by
their own account, and therefore requires no further
proof, that the apostles and all the disciples were
induced by ambitious motives, by hojDCS of future
wealth and power, lands and worldly goods, to
follow Jesus as their Messiah and king. It is also

86

clear that they never abandoned these hopes and
aims as long as. Jesus was alive, and even gave
vent to them after his death. So far, all this must
be acknowledged by every one. No one can, with-
out the greatest impudence, deny it. But now the
doctrine of the apostles of Jesus hurriedly under-
goes a change I Do the aims of the apostles
change likewise ? ISTo, they build up a new doctrine
indeed, but only because their hopes have been
frustrated ; a doctrine of which immediately upon
the death of Jesus they had not even begun to
think, and which has every appearance of fictitious
invention ; therefore, we cannot believe otherwise
than that the apostles of Jesus retained tlieir pre-
vious aims and purposes, and sought to bring
about their fulfilment as best they could, although
in a difi*erent manner. Had we not already in-
vestigated this new doctrine to discover whether it
were true or false, had we only been aware of the
previous state of mind and desires of the apostles,
namely, that they had hitherto been constantly
looking forward to v,^orldly grandeur and advan-
tages in the kingdom of Jesus, which were put an
end to by his death, and that upon this failure they
brought out a new creed of Jesus as a spiritual,
suffering Saviour, which until some time afterAvards
had never entered their heads, and that they then
set themselves up as messengers and preachers of
this gospel, we should still have justly and strongly
suspected them to have been actuated by the old
ambitious aim in their altered creed ; because it

87

is much more probable that men should continue
to act from exactly the same motives by which
they have undeniably and invariably been actuated
beforCj than that they should abandon them and
take up others. But we have pursued a straighter
course ; we have, a short time ago, examined the
foundation of this new structure thoroughly and by
itself, and we have found it sham and fictitious
throughout. And thus we see how impossible it is
that the apostles could have had any other object
in promulgating a new doctrine than their old one,
namely, that of ultimately obtaining power and
worldly advantages. For an intentional, deliberate
fabrication of a false occurrence, can only spring
from a preconceived resolve and from an object or
motive harboured in the mind. He who diligently
fabricates an untruth must have conceived a motive
for so doing before he can concoct anything that
v^^ill further his object ; and the more bold and im-
portant this fabrication is, the deeper must the
intention have been previously rooted in his mind,
and of the more vital consequence must it have
been to him. As, then, the new doctrine of the
apostles was an undoubted fabrication, they must
have invented it with a preconceived motive in
their mind and will. Now as the former motives
of the apostles, invariably and up to the time of
the fabrication, had been aimed at worldly v*^ealth
and power, it follows with all moral certainty that
the possession of worldly wealth and power was
also the object of the apostles in the fabrication of

88

their new doctrine. Nor can we doubt that all the
circumstances attending their conduct will verify
this conclusion.

Section LIV.

After the death of Jesus, great anxiety and fear
prevailed among the disciples lest they should be
pursued and punished, because they had followed
a man who wanted to set himself up as a king, and
had incited tlie people to rebellion. And although
they pretended to be so brave, and to wish to share
danger and death with Jesus, yes, even to be ready
to fight with swords for him, they became cowards
from the moment they saw that he was taken and
likely to be condemned in earnest. ^' They all for-
sook him and fled ; " and Peter who had summoned up
courage enough to look on from a distance to see what
the end of the disturbance might be, denied his
master three times, and declared with an oath that
he knew him not and knew nothing about him, be-
cause, you see, matters were running quite con-
trary to the desired object. Their twelve seats
upon which they meant to sit and judge in the
kingdom of Jesus were all at once overturned, and
they no longer desired to sit at his right and at his
left!

The alarm of the apostles lasted for some time
after the death of Jesus. They left it to Joseph
and Nicodemus and the women to attend to his
burial, and kept away even from their last duties.

89

They assembled in secret places, locking the doors
for fear of the Jews, for their common wants and
interests made it advisable that they should hold
together and keep of the same mind. By-and-by,
one after another ventm^es abroad. They find that
no further judicial enquiry is being made concern-
ing them. Tliey observe that the magistrates and
rulers, after the execution of Jesus as the principal
offender, consider his followers of little importance,
and trouble themselves no more about them ; per-
haps also could not take further steps before Pilate.
So they soon pluck up their courage, and begin to
think of da,ngers overcome and future prospects of
happiness. What was to be done ? If they returned
to their original occupations and trades, nothing
but poverty and disgrace awaited them. Poverty,
because they had forsaken all, particularly their
nets, ships, and other implements; and, besides, they
had grown out of the habit of working. And disgrace,
because they had experienced such a tremendous
downfall from their high and mighty expectations,
and by their adherence to Jesus had become so
familiar to all eyes, that everybody would have
jeered and pointed at the pretended judges of
Israel and intimate friends and ministers of the
Messiah, who now had again become poor fishermen
and perhaps even beggars. Both of these (poverty
and disgrace) being exactly the opposite of their
constant and long-cherished hopes were highly
irritating and repugnant. On the other hand, they
had imbibed, while with their master, a little fore-

90

taste of the imjDortance to be gained by preaching,
and had likewise ascertained that it was not an
nnremnneratiye occupation. Jesus himself had
nothing. The oldest accounts of him state that ho
maintained himself by some trade up to the time
of his ministiy. However, in the thirtieth year of
his life, he lays his trade aside and begins to teach.
This would by no means necessitate want or star-
vation, although it did not promise a comfortable
income, which, indeed, was not customary with the
Jews, who would be all the more prodigal of cha-
ritable gifts. When he sojourned at Jeru.salem a
friend was sure to invite him to be his guest. From
this also the saying arose that he was " a glutton
and a wine bibber, and consorted with publicans
and sinners." It is remarkable, too, that there
v/ere many Marthas who put themselves to a vast
deal of trouble and pains to prepare delectable
dishes for him. When he travelled, he was accom-
panied by such benevolent women as Mary Magda-
lene, Joanna, tlie v\dfo of Chusa, Herod's sievrard,
Susanna, and several others who ministered unto
him of their substance, as we are told by Luke
(viii. 1 — 3). He was, therefore, provided not only
with food, but also with money; and Judas, who
carried the purse, was the cashier v/ho bought and
paid for everything requisite on the journey, and
rendered an account of the outlay.

Whenever Jesus had his meals, the disciples did
eat with him. Whenever Jesus travelled, their ex-
penses were paid out of the common purse, so that

91

the kind gifts wliicli were bestowed upon Jesus
during his ministry were sufficient for the mainte-
nance of at least thirteen people. And once, as
if to ascertain whether want could be felt in such a
course of life, some of the disciples were sent
abroad through all the towns of Judea to announce
the kingdom of God, without purse or scrip, and
when on their return they were asked whether they
had on any occasion suffered from hunger or want,
they answered that they had never experienced
either. The apostles then were very well avv^are
that preaching, and particularly announcing the
Messiah, would not do them any harm, and would
not reduce them to beggary. It was the same with
the honour and glory. They had seen that crowds
of people ran after Jesus to listen to liis teaching.
They themselves had also been to some extent
honoured and looked up to by the multitude, be-
cause as they v\'ere the confidential disciples and
allowed to know more than others, their master
had drawn a line between them and the people.
They had also had a little foretaste of honour and
glory when they went about as ambassadors and
messengers of the Messiah, announcing the king-
dom of Heaven. Above all, they knev/ how much
influence a teacher could gain among the Jevrs,
because the Pharisees, who were the most imjDortant
and influential of the teachers, had substituted
many of their own laws and sayings for those of
the prophets, and had accustomed the people to
accept them blindly. Such influence and import-

92

ance might rise considerably if at a time when pro-
jDhecies and miracles had ceased, some one were to
come forward and pretend to receive divine revela-
tions and perform miracles, and the highest flight
of all could be taken by one who turned to account
the universal expectation of a Messiah, whose
speedy return he would teach the people to look
for, and make them believe that he carried the
keys of the kingdom of Heaven. Such is human
nature I He who can talk over people and lead
them to believe that he can show them the way to
everlasting bliss, a way that others do not know,
or from which all others are shut out, but also a
way that he can close as well as open, becomes
thereby master over all else that man holds dear ;
over his thoughts, his freedom, his honour, and his
fortune, for everything sinks into insignificance
compared with this great and darling hope !

If we may be allowed to take a jDremonitory
glance at the after- conduct of the apostles, the
sequel shows that they really did tread in the paths
leading to influence and aggrandisement ; and
gleaned from them as much power over the
minds of ignorant people as they possibly could.
They "write to them jointly, as well as in their
Council, dictating to all in the name of the
Holy Ghost not only what they are to believe, but
also what they are to do and what they are to
avoid, and what they are to eat and to drink. They
compel, they threaten, they give jDeople over to
Satan; they apjDoint bishops, presidents, and elders;

93

they force peoiDle to sell all their property and lay
the proceeds at their feet, so that those to whom
tlie lands belonged must henceforth be dejDcndent
on their charity ; to say nothing of others who had
no possessions of the kind, and looked entirely to
the beneficent hands of the apostles for support.
Where they could not manage to introduce this
commonwealth, they knew how to urge the collec-
tion of alms with so much religious zeal, that it
was considered a small thing for any one to divide
his worldly wealth with those through whom he
had become a 23articipator in heavenly and spiritual
wealth. The ajDOstles, then, had learnt by the
little foretaste aforementioned, that by preaching
and announcement of the kingdom of the Messiah,
not only a sufficient maintenance, but also power,
honour, and glory were attainable. They also
possessed enough sense (as their future behaviour
shows) to turn all these things to the very best ad-
vantage. No wonder then that their courage did
not entirely leave them u]3on the first failm^e of
their hopes of worldly wealth and power in the
Messiah's kingdom, and that by a bold stroke they
succeeded in paving a new way to them.

Section LVI.

We have already remarked that at that time
some of the Jews, though very few, believed in a
twofold coming of the Messiah, who was first to

94

ap23ear suffering and in misery, and again in power
and glory. This belief exactly suited the purpose
of the apostles. They sav/ that the game was not
yet lost. The expectation of a future Messiah was
still universally cherished, and although the Jews
had been deceived in such persons as Theudas and
Judas Galilseus, yet they never ceased to look for a
Messiah in others and after a different fashion, as is
shown by the later history of the Jews. The apos-
tles could also feel sure that a great many of those
who looked upon Jesus as a prophet, mighty in
words and deeds, v\^ould henceforth catch at this
doctrine, and would consider his suffering to have
been part of his ministry, and the consequence of
his first coming ; and would, therefore, believe and
expect his glorious second coming from Heaven to
be all the nearer at hand. Neither could they
doubt that many of the former adherents of Jesus,
from the same fear of poverty and disgrace which
had influenced themselves, would embark in the
same boat with them, and would gladly believe
whatever the apostles wished, so they could only
convince them that they had not been mistaken
and deceived. Behind locked doors, and so long as
they were unanimous as to their common anxiety,
they had good opportunities for deliberating and
consulting one with another as to the best method
of utilizino" their idea to their own advantag-e.
Above all things, it was necessary to get rid of the
body of Jesus as sjoeedily as possible, in order that
they might say he had arisen and ascended into

95

heaven, and would jDromptly return from thence
with great power and glory. This design of dis-
posing of the body of Jesus was easy to carry out.
It lay entombed in a rock situated in Joseph's
garden. Both the master and the gardener allowed
tlie apostles to visit the grave by day or by night.
They betray themselves by owning that anyone
might have secretly removed the body. They
bore the accusation made by the rulers and magis-
trates of having actually done it themselves by
night, and nowhere did they dare to contradict the
common report. In short, all circumstances com-
bine to show that tliey really did carry out their
undertaking, and added it later on to the founda-
tion-stone of their new doctrine. It appears in the
sequel, also, that they were not very long about
it, for they made away with the corpse in little
more than twenty-four hours, before corruption had
well set in ; and when it became known that the
body of Jesus was gone, they pretended to be full of
astonishment^ and ignorant of any resui^rectivn^ and
proceeded with others to the spot in order to survey
the emj)ty tomb.* As yet, it was too soon to

* I cannot endorse this part of Eeimarus's theory. It seems
more reasonable, and does less violence to the narrative, to be-
lieve that Jesus never died on the cross, but was resuscitated by
the kind exertions of Joseph, and was enabled to escape from
the tomb in the disguise of the gardener's dress ; that he fled
away into G-alilee, and that the knowledge of his real survival
of the crucifixion animated the disciples to expect the return in
glory. — Editoe.

96

make tlieir assertion. They wait full fifty days
before they attempt it, so that by-and-by the time
might be past for an examination of the body, and
for requiring them to produce openly the Jesus
who had arisen. They wait fifty days that they
may be able the more confidently to insist that
they have seen him here and there, that he had
been with them, had sjDoken to them, had eaten
with them, and, lastly, had parted from them, and
had ascended into heaven that he might soon
retm-n in glory.

Section LVII.

What chance of success could they promise them-
selves by such an undertaking ? Decidedly a good
one. No one could now accuse them manifestly of
fraud or falsehood. The corpus delicti was not to
be found, and even if anyone should come and
point out that it was somewhere to be found, more
than fifty days had passed over since the death of
Jesus, and decay must have done its work. Who
would be able to recognise him now, and say '' This
is the body of Jesus " ? The lapse of time secured
them from detection, and made investigation useless.
It also helped them to tell crowds of people how
often and in what manifold ways he had appeared
to them in the meanwhile, and what he had said
to them ; so that they could teach and arrange
whatever seemed most desirable, as though they

97

were doing it according fo the sayings and com-
mands of Jesus, and if anyone after the fifty days
should happen to ask: ^^ Where is this Jesus who
has arisen ? Shew him to me/' the answer was
all ready : '' He has now ascended into heaven."
All depended on showing a bold front, and in
affirming confidently that they had seen Jesus, had
spoken with him, felt him, eaten and walked with
him ; and in these declarations they were all una-
nimous.

Such evidence could not easily be rejected,
because truth, according to law, consisted in the
evidence of two or three witnesses, and here there
were eleven who stated one and the same thing.
The resurrection in itself was not incredible to the
greater mass, that is to say to the Pharisees ; and
the people, who believed that others had been
raised from death by the prophets, consequently
were forced to allow the possibility of the resurrec-
tion of Jesus in accordance with their own doctrine.
The apostles, or rather Paul, as the cleverest of them,
knew how to turn this to account for his defence
and acquittal in a masterly style, when he stood
upon his trial before the council. In order to set
the Pharisees and Sadducees (who both sat in judg-
ment) together by the ears and thereby to escape,
he pretended at the time not to lay any particular
stress upon the resurrection of Jesus, but he dis-
torted the accusation brought against him, making
it appear as though it referred to a common dogma.
When he stood before the judges at Jerusalem

H

98

(Acts xxiii. 6) and ^'Paul perceived that one part
were Sadducees and the other Pharisees, he cried
out in the council : Men and brethren, I am a Pha-
risee, the son of a Pharisee : of the hope and
resurrection of the dead I am called in question.
And when he had so said, there arose a dissension
between the Pharisees and the Sadducees, and the
multitude was divided. And the scribes that were
of the Pharisees' part arose and strove saying :
We find no evil in this man : but if a spirit or an
angel hath spoken to him, let us not fight against
God." Paul speaks afterwards in the same manner
at Caesarea before the governor (Acts xxiv. 20):
"Let these same (Jews) here say, if they have
found any evil doing in me, while I stood before
the council except it be for this one voice, that I
cried standing among them : Touching the resur-
rection of the dead I am called in question by
you this day." He speaks again in the same way
before King Agrippa, and rebukes the Jews in his
presence (Acts xxvi. 8) : ^^ Why should it be
thought a thing incredible with you, that Grod
should raise the dead ? " What he meant was :
^^ Why, it is your own confession of faith that there
is a resurrection of the dead ! There are examples
of it in the Scriptures." Paul knew how to catch
the Jews with their own dogmas ; and when he
comes upon the particular resurrection of Jesus,
he has recourse to a Batkol, a voice which had
called to him from Heaven. Now for such a
Batkol, at that time, all honour was felt, so they

99

were perforce bound to show it due respect : ^- If a
spirit or an angel hath spoken to him, let us not
light, against God."

In a similar way the apostles often have recourse
to heavenly voices, the Holy Grhost, angels, visions,
ecstasies as high up as the third heaven, etc., when-
ever they want to give force to their pretences.

Tliose who still entertained regard and esteem
for the person of Jesus, and who had heard of his
many miracles, and of his having even re-awakened
people from death, were all the more ready to be-
lieve that he had himself arisen from the dead.
The apostles had besides learnt from their master
how to perform miracles, or rather how to give
the semblance of them to spectators, and I have
shown elsewhere that it requires no skill whatever
to . relate miracles, or even to perform them, so
there be plenty of confederates to assist by dex-
terity of speech and hand, and where they have to
do with a people accustomed from youth up to
believe in miracles. The apostles took pains to
strengthen this readiness to believe, by recommend-
ing and urging the faith as an advantageous and
a saving one, and denouncing unbelief by damna-
tion. And when there was a question of proof,
they had Moses and all the prophets to back them;
for having acquired all the tricks of allegorical
adaptation, it was not difficult for them to find
passages applicable to Jesus as Messiah, to his
birth, to his flight into Egypt, his sojourn at Naza-
reth, his deeds, his miracles, his crucifixion, burial,

100

resurrection, ascension, second coming, and, in
short, to anything else they wanted.

This Pharisaical art of reasoning was, in those
days, looked upon as displaying the greatest clever-
ness, the deepest science, and, in short, as irresis-
tible ; where conviction was lacking, the apostles
inclined people's minds to faith by the promise of
rich rewards on the speedy return of Jesus to his
glorious kingdom. For this kingdom, according to
the opinion of the Jews and early Christians, was
not to be merely an invisible kingdom of spiritual
wealth in Heaven, which probably would have
made less impression, but it was to be a visible
kingdom lasting a thousand years upon earth, in
which people were to eat and drink and live as
before, only everything was to be in profusion,
pleasure and happiness were to be boundless, and
all enemies conquered and kept in subjection.
Such promises could not fail to touch the senses.
Such bright representations dazzle the desires (and
thereby the mind) to such a degree, that people
utterly neglect and despise all investigation, all
searching after truth, and even present interests
in the lively hope of a future abundance of wealth
and happiness. In this way the apostles found
opportunities of persuading many to give up their
money and property to the common use for the
sake of the immense reward awaiting them here-
after. This was a savings-bank in which everyone
with whatever little fortune he possessed strove to
buy shares in the speedily expected kingdom of

101

Heaven; and the division of these projoerties into
alms enabled the apostles not only to exchange
their poverty for affluence, but to allure to them
thousands of poor people by relieving their im-
mediate wants and promising them future plenty.

Section LVIII.

As the result shows that the apostles really did
make use of these means, and that the same were
successful in furthering their purposes, and as we
have seen from whence the apostles obtained sup-
plies to carry them out, there can be no doubt
whatever that they had foreseen, lovingly talked
over, and approved of these means in the days
when they were all so united and friendly together.
Did they then think that no difficulties w^ould fall
in the way and hinder the execution of their plans ?
Wo may reasonably suppose that they did expect
difficulties to arise, but anyone who is acquainted
with the then existing condition of the Jewish
people will understand that such difficulties could
not have appeared so insurmountable but that they
might be vanquished by firmness and courage.
They began, then, by merely announcing the re-
surrection of Jesus from the dead ; a thing which
to the Romans appeared simply ridiculous, and had
no influence upon their government of the Jews.
To the Pharisaical Jews, however, it could not
appear so incredible, and at all events could not

102

now be rejected, because the contrary could not
possibly be manifestly shown after the body had
been made away with for fifty days, and also be-
cause the fact had been confirmed in a more than
legitimate manner, that is to say, by more than
three witnesses. The apostles knew that they
need haye no fear of any regular and circumstantial
judicial examination at which the evidence of each
witness is taken upon oath, written down, and
afterwards compared, to find whether a contradic-
tion can be detected in one or more of the evi-
dences, or in any of the alleged connecting circum-
stances. No, everything at that time in Roman
law courts, not to mention those of the Jews, was
carried on in a very tumultuous and superficial
manner. How to encounter deceit and error in
alleged facts by rational examination, was, as yet,
not understood. The history of the New Testa-
ment and that of the apostles show well enough
that such was the case when anyone stood before
the council. If the apostles had let fall anything
about the glorious second coming of Jesus to his
kingdom in the clouds of heaven, it would likewise
have been contemptuously regarded by the Romans
and many Jews as a vain dream and a worthless
pretence, the falsity of which time would expose.
But should matters come to the worst, what had
the apostles to fear from the Jewish rulers ? The
Jewish criminal court no longer existed. The
rulers dared not put anyone to death ; that was the
affair of the Roman governor. The punishment of

103

flagellation might possibly bo awarded to the apos-
tles, or they might be driven from the synagogue
and placed imder the ban. That was all. They,
however, made up their minds to run this risk, and
their master having been forced to undergo the
most humiliating of deaths by crucifixion, they
determined to regard the lesser disgrace as an
honour, and also prompted those who adopted the
Christian faith with this spirit of martyrdom.
However, as before said, the Jewish rulers could
not punish them very severely, for their authority
was quite brought down and public discipline was in
the greatest confusion; and this indeed is very
evident from two occurrences related in the Acts
of the Apostles. When Paul was placed before the
high council (Acts xxiii. 2) and began to argue,
the high priest Ananias commanded that he should
be struck on the mouth, probably because he had
spoken without leave, which was considered un-
seemly in the accused, and also because he would
not remain silent after having been previously for-
bidden to speak. Paul, however, has the impu-
dence to rebuke and curse the high priest. He
says : ^'God shall strike thee, thou whited wall, for
sittest thou to judge me after the law, and com-
mandest me to be smitten contrary to the law ?"
What could be more audacious than this be-
haviour towards the most influential judge in
the high council? And yet, although he was
called to account for it, he was left unpunished.
His apology, '' I wist not, brethren, that it was

■7

104

the high priest, for it is written, Thou shalt not
speak evil of the ruler of thy people," would not
have saved him. The excuse was a lame one, for
the high j)riest could not have been so unknown to
him, and if he did not recognise him as such, he
must have known that he was a judge, who, belong-
ing to the high council, must necessarily be a
person of distinction, and, therefore, also his ruler,
and here his judge. Was he then to be allowed,
with the exception of the high priest, to curse any
other members of the high council ? He says him-
self : '^ It is written, Thou shalt not speak evil of the
ruler of thy people." Was not then every judge
and member of that council a ruler of the Jewisli
people ? Does not Paul smite himself with his
own words ? But as I said before, it was not his
apology that obtained his freedom, but the weak-
ness of the Jewish Synhedrion, and the small influ-
ence of all the magistracy, who, during the Roman
dominion, dared not take a few abusive words too
jDrecisely. Paul was as well aware of this weak-
ness as he was of their private disagreements and
quarrels, for the council was composed of Pharisees
and Sadducees, and in consequence the judges
often differed in opinion and split into opposite
parties, the end of which was that they let the
accused go free. As then Paul knew that the Sad-
ducees denied the resurrection of the dead, and that
the Pharisees upheld it, he played the ^^ divide."
He took the side of the Pharisees : "I am a Pha-
risee, the son of a Pharisee \ of the hope and resur-

105

rection of the dead I am called in question." An
uproar and a quarrelling immediately ensues among
the judges themselves, the Pharisees take his part,
they pronounce him innocent, and Paul's impeach-
ment falls to the ground. So Paul laughs in his
sleeve at the impotent Jewish council, and feels
pretty confident that it can do him no great harm.
Even when these relioious dissensions were broucrlit
before the Koman council, verdict was always
given in favour of the accused, for the Romans
either looked upon them as senseless brawls, and
neither could nor would judge their private sects
and heretics ; or, as on many accounts one must
conclude, they encouraged these divisions and
bickerings among the Jews, seeking thereby to
bring the power and influence of their magistracy
lower and lower down, in order to give themselves
a better opj^ortunity of ultimately bringing the
people entirely under their yoke, which, indeed,
they soon afterwards succeeded in accomplishing.

Section LIX.

Civil discipline was also at that time in a very bad
state among the Jews. People could do almost what
they liked without fear of punishment. I do not,
however, mean to imply that the apostles escaped
censure in introducing this community of property,
for such a state of things must necessarily be dis-

106

advantageous to the prosperity of a nation. Those
citizens who are in easy circurastanceS; and who sell
all their goods and chattels, lands and houses, to
place the money they realize into a common bank,
are thereby withdrawn from the State. They be-
come poor, and cannot in any way help to support
the imiversal burdens, or assist in furthering the
growth of the State by business and trade. Private
persons become lords and masters of all the wealth
in which the treasury and universal affairs have a
just participation and claim, and these peojole are
thus enabled to draw towards them thousands of
other citizens, who henceforth become dependent
upon them and are obliged to follow the beck and
call of their leaders and benefactors ; also, by
being deprived of dominion and obedience to the
magistracy and rulers, they are even jDlaced in
opposition to the latter. However, I will not de-
mand from the Jewish polity the prevention of
such injury to the public good. The apostles felt
themselves at liberty to utilize this carelessness and
confusion, and in the midst of one State began to
erect another State, in which religion and oj)inion,
possessions and their appropriation, and conse-
quently the behaviour of their adherents no longer
depended upon the injunction or prohibition of
the laws, but ujDon the beck and call of tlie
apostles, and by them v/as used against the injunc-
tion or prohibition of the laws, under the pretext
that one must obey the law of God before the law
of man. It certainly is most astonishing that at

107

the very commencement of this apostolic institu-
tion, two persons lost their lives one after the other
in the chamber of the apostles, from whence they
were carried out dead, and that no judicial enquiry
or examination ensued as to why and by what
means these two persons met with their death, for
such an event must of necessity have aroused sus-
picion. In Acts V. 1, Ananias and Sapphira agree
to take shares in the apostolic bank. They resolve
with the foreknowledge of the apostles to follow
the example of others and sell their possessions.
This of itself was a thing contrary to the law of
Moses, and by which the apostles had upset the
entire constitution of the Jewish polity, for, according
to the command of Moses, each person was to retain
in his possession the inheritance of his fathers.

These two joersons must have observed that
when once others had been deprived of their pro-
perty, means of subsistence were rather sparingly
forthcoming. For this reason they persuade them-
selves not to give up tlie whole of their paternal
inheritance, but to reserve a portion of it in case of
need. The Holy Ghost was not wanted here to
tell Peter how much they had received for their
lands, for he knew the value and the price of them.
He asks, How much money? counts up the sum
Ananias has brought, and as he perceives that part
of it is missing, he is dissatisfied, he must have it
all. He calls Ananias to account, assumes an air
of great importance, as though it were one and the
same thing to lie to Itim as to lie to the Holy

108

Ghost. In short, the man falls down, God knows
how, dead upon the ground. People are called in
who lift him up, receive orders to carry him out
and bury him immediately, and in three hours the
whole business is accomplished. Meanwhile, the
wife Sapphira appears before the apostles, and is
likewise asked whether the lands have not produced
more, and when she denies having received a larger
sum, the same fate awaits her. She falls down
dead, is carried out and buried with her husband.
I will not enquire what became of the money laid
at the apostles' feet, for although it was not the
whole fortmie of Ananias and Sapphira, it is very
apj)arent that the apostles did not restore it to the
heirs, but considered it a good prize and kept it.
How is it possible in a town or State 230ssessing any
sort of law or order that two well-known persons,
a man and his wife, should die in a room in broad
daylight, be put out of the way, and buried in two
or three hours without any enquiry being made as
to the manner by which they lost their lives ?
Could this happen without presentiment, without
collusion, without painful examination on the part
of those present ? In so disorganised a state of
affairs, what might not the apostles venture to un-
dertake and to do ?

Section LX.

It is evident from the above that the apostles
had no cause to fear that any great difficulties

109

would present themselves in their way. We will
see how they really went to work. After all had
been unanimously pre-arranged by those most in-
fluential among them, they assembled about a
hundred and twenty of the remaining disciples
(Acts ii. 1), some of whom probably honestly
imagined that Jesus really had arisen from the dead,
and had been seen by the others. In the place of
Judas another apostle was ordained, and eventually,
on the fiftieth day after Easter, the first outbreak
of their intention took place with a miracle in
which four other miracles are remarkable. 1st. A
sound as of a rushing mighty wind, which filled
all the house. 2nd. The appearance on the apos-
tles of cloven tongues like as of fire. 3rd. That
'^ It (the wind, I suppose) sat upon each of them."
4th. That they began to speak with other tongues ;
so that Parthians, Medes, Elamites, Mesopota-
mians, Jews, Cappadocians, Pontians, Asiatics,
Phrygians, Pamphylians, Egyptians, Lybians, Cyre-
nians, Romans, strange Jews, Cretes, and Arabians,
all these heard the apostles speak and praise God
in their own language. Upon which ''they were
amazed and marvelled," saying one to another :
'^ What is the meaning of this?" Others mocking
said : ^' These men are full of new wine." So it
goes on until Peter gets up and produces evidence
from Joel, showing that '' this miracle should come
to pass in the last days," and further evidence from
the Psalms showing that Jesus must have arisen,
because David said : '' Thou wilt not suffer thy

110

Holy one to see corruption." And after this,
^^ they that gladly accepted the word were bap-
tized, and the same day were added unto them about
three thousand souls." Now if the object of God was
to make the resurrection clear and credible to man,
why should he have shown Jesus after his resur-
rection to no other men than the apostles, and
afterwards, when he was no longer extant, an-
nounce the resurrection by a miracle ? Would not
the resurrection have been believed quite naturally
and with universal aj)probation vfithout any mira-
cle, if God had, after the crucifixion and burial,
allowed Jesus to be seen and touched alive in the
Temple before the Synhedrion, and before the eyes
of all the people ?

To reject an easy, natural, and powerful method
for an unnatural, incomjDrehensible, and round-
about method, is not consistent with the wisdom
of God. Miracles shown forth in such a manner
are extremely suspicious. Men who would estab-
lish by miracles a thing which, if clear and true,
tliey could and ought manifestly and visibly to
prove, invariably seek to work upon the credulity
of ignorant or weak-minded people, who are most
easily caught by what is most incomprehensible to
them. We will now look a little closer into this
great miracle. I do not know whether Luke, who
relates it, was himself present on the occasion, but
whether he was or not, it is to be regretted that he
has not detailed in a more intelligible manner how
such impossible things came to pass. We need not

Ill

waste time over tlie ^^ sound as of a mighty rushing
wind," because a noise of that kind is so very
easily produced ; but who can comprehend what
Luke means by saying that the tongues seen among
the apostles were cloven like the flames of fire ?
The word tongue cannot here, as it does elsewhere,
mean language, because we cannot see language ;
besides, it would not correspond with the descrip-
tion of these cloven tongues like forked flames of
fire in the shape of tongues. Could they have
been the tongues of the apostles themselves ?
They might possibly have shot them forth from
their throats with such force and sjDced as to re-
semble the cloven tongue of a serpent, and during
the protusion might also have had a fiery appear-
ance ; or could they have been strange tongues, the
shape and colour of which were seen upon the
apostles ? And whereabouts were they seen ? — over
their heads, as they are commonly represented in
pictures, or shooting forth like flames from their
mouths, as is more likely to have been the case ?
And who and what placed the tongues upon each
of the apostles ? Was it the wind ? For nothing
else is mentioned as having done so. The whole
description, unlike that of a true history, is more
that of a prophetic vision intended to represent
the prompting of foreign languages by the Holy
Grhost. The mighty wind rejDresents the Holy Ghost
blowing into the apostles and kindling a blazing-
fire which shoots forth in forked flames from
their mouths, signifying the gift of various foreign

112

languages. It is a good picture of the imaginary
vision of a prophetic writer, but we cannot by any
possible means make it rhyme with a true history.
And why should some of those present have
mocked at the a230stles, and supposed them to be
drunken with wine if these miraculous tongues
were indeed visible to the spectators ? The thing
contradicts itself. Let the mockery of men go as
far as it will, such a visible supernatural event
could not have failed to produce universal dismay,
amazement, and terror. It certainly would not
have given rise to any mockery. Mockery soon
stops if one sees clearly a marvellous thing which
cannot be mistaken for delusion or imposition.
This first miracle then would appear to have been
\ concocted for the purpose by Luke with little
imagination and less forethought; and this very
mockery, coming from the hearers and spectators,
shows us sufficiently that whatever they really did
see and hear, must have had every ajDpearance of
juggling and deception. Otherwise, why should
they have mocked and said that the apostles were
full of new wine ? If the apostles had spoken one
after another rationally, distinctly, and decently,
like reasonable, well-conducted, sober men, this
mockery could not have taken place. We must,
therefore, conclude that to all outward appearance
they did behave like intoxicated men. That is to
say, that they spake and shouted confusedly one
amid the other, as drunkards are apt to do, and at
the same time made extravagant gestures such as

118

drunkards are a^^t to make. It is easy to see that
the apostles put on a prophetic enthusiasm in which
people feign to rave and to be mad, for in ^' Hith
nabbe," to ]Di'ophecy and to be mad are expressed
by the same word. Further, it is easy to see that
in their feigned enthusiasm they all shouted at the
same time in a loud voice and in confusion certain
strange syllables and words, so that any credulous
person in the tumult and in the babel of sounds
might easily fancy he recognised his own or any
other language.

This perfectly accounts for the mockery upon
which Paul also throws much light in an epistle to
the Corinthians (1 Cor. xiv.) when he has not the
courage utterly to forbid the sj)eaking with tongues,
as such a command would have been equivalent to
accusing the apostles — with all their miraculous
Corinthian gifts — of juggling and imposition, but,
nevertheless, he gives them to imderstand that he
deems it advisable to refrain from s]3eaking in
^^ unknown tongues which no man understandeth,
and which, excejot they be interpreted, are not
edifying to the Church. '^ For it appears that some
members of the Church had endeavoured to make
themselves conspicuous by this miraculous gift of
tongues, and in a fit of inspiration had given vent
to meaningless and extraordinary sounds, by which
the ignorant might imagine them to be speaking
in foreign languages. It is also possible that their
imagination became so excited, that in a sort of
ecstasy they gave utterance to these strange sounds,

114

for of such ecstasies there are numerous examples.
At all events, we may be sure that they (the sounds)
did not proceed from God, or from the Spirit of
God, who would certainly not waste his knowledge
of tongues where it would not be edifying, and
where Paul saw reason to find fault with it. Let
us, however, imagine what (on accoimt of the
feigned inspiration and the mockery it occasioned)
I cannot believe, namely, that the apostles did in
an intelligible, orderly manner, one after the other,
utter divers sentences in foreign tongues.

Would it not have been perfectly possible that
some of them, in their intercourse with so many
people of different nations, had become familiar
with such sentences, or had taken pains to acquire
such sentences or words to help them in carrying
out their intentions ? Where is the great miracle
in this ? And how bad the argument : —

Certain persons have spoken in foreign tongues ;
Therefore Jesus has arisen from the dead.

^^ That is all very well," we shall be answered,
^^but such tongues! tongues so numerous and so
little known ! These Parthians, Modes, Elamites,
Cretes, Arabians, Cappadocians, Asiatics, and so
forth, all understood the apostles, and heard them
praise God each in his own language, and there-
upon three thousand souls were bajDtised and added
to the Christian Church. Certainly there could
have been no deception in this ! A strong impres-
sion must have been produced upon all by such an

115

immense conversion, except upon the mockers who
did not understand it."

But Luke here forgets that he has represented
the apostles as sitting in a room. He says at the
beginning of his recital: ^'And suddenly there
came a sound as of a mighty rushing wind, which
filled all the house in which they sat " (Acts ii. 2).
It was the custom of the apostles to assemble in the
upper chamber of the house eV tw v7rep^(p^ imme-
diately under the flat roof. My gracious ! * How
could upwards of three thousand people have found
room there ? For these three thousand do not con-
stitute all the persons present. The three thousand
were those who ^^ gladly accepted his word and
were bajDtized " (v." 41), so there must have been
others who did not accept the word of Peter, and
besides these the assembled company numbered a
hundred and twenty (Acts i. 15). So we may
reckon that there were altogether about four thou-
sand people. Such a number would require a large
chmxh. How does Luke contrive to cram them all
into this one chamber of the apostles? I would
willingly help him out of the difficulty by suggest-
ing that perhaps the greater number of people
might have been outside in the street or in the

* I am at a loss for an interjection here. The literal trans-
lation of the word Eeimarus uses :— '' Mein! " would be
''mine I" or ''my!" It is an exclamation which a German
child would make on hearing the wonders of a fairy tale, and
is peculiar to Eeimarus in his quaint style of writing. — Trans-
lator.

116

courtyard. But my suggestion would remove all
cause for the conversion. How could people who
stood in the street or in the courtyard, looking up
at the room, see, hear, and know what miraculous
things were going on up there, what languages
were being spoken, or what the meaning of the
speeches was ? Yet Luke introduces them as saying:
^^Are not all these which sjDeak Galilseans? and how
hear we every man in our own tongue wherein we
were born ?" (Acts ii. 7,8.) No, I cannot help Luke.
He has forgotten what he has written, and to make
the conversion ajDpear as important as possible,
he states the number of converted to have been
over three thousand, and it never occurs to him
that he has seated his apostles in a chamber. It is
immaterial to him how these three or four thou-
sand people are to find standing-room ! And how
will he convince us that three to four thousand
people could congregate immediately upon a mighty
wind ? For even if the wind had made itself heard
with a ^^ mighty rushing sound" through the
whole town, there was no reason why the inhabi-
tants should be very much surprised at it, or why
they should run off to one particular house in the
town. If, on the other hand, this mighty wind
only sounded in this one particular house, how
could so many thousand people, some of them at
the uttermost ends of the town, Parthians, Modes,
Elamites, Cretes, Arabians, Phrygians, Cappado-
cians, etc., have known that it sounded ? This is
past all comprehension. Besides, the assembled

117

congregation is supposed to consist of devout men,
Jews and comrades of Jews. How comes it that
on the first day of Pentecost instead of hastening,
as devout men would, to the Temple or the syna-
gogue, they hurry, out of sheer curiosity, from the
most distant quarters of the town to a house in or
over which a mighty wind has been heard to sound?
There is no rhyme in this.

Events follow with such marvellous speed one
upon the other throughout Luke's history, that it
would seem as though everything were influenced
by the wind. ^^ When this was noised abroad the
multitude came together." It is also remarkable
that this multitude of people in Jerusalem are not
native Jews ; on the contrary, they are strange
Jews of every nation under heaven, fifteen of
which are mentioned ; just as if these had pre-
viously and expressly been summoned to become
aural witnesses of the new " polyglotta," and just
as if the native Jews had not been invited. But
as, in this instance, the news came to the people's
ears accidentally, and as out of about one thousand
Jews who came from Palestine to the feast of Pente-
cost at Jerusalem, none could justly be called
strange Jews, there could not at most have been
more than three or four strangers among a number
of three or four thousand casually congregated
people. How is it then here that to one native
Jew there are fourteen strange Jews, in the enume-
rating of whom Luke is obliged to exhaust all his
geography ? This is hard to believe. It behoves a

118

writer who relates a miraculous event before all things
to explain clearly the possibility of a thing which
in itself appears incredible, but here one not only
sees that the several occurrences recorded could not
have taken place, but one also sees clearly and
distinctly by all the circumstances combined that
the story is self-refuting. Thus . it is with all these
miracles. Nothing is easier for the writer than to
imagine them. It is no more trouble to him to put
down three thousand than three hundred, his pen,
governs and orders all nature, he makes the wind
to sound when and v/here he lists, he confounds
languages, and in the space of a moment assembles
a multitude of every nation under the sun. But
here and there the confusion of his imagination idUI
peep out, entangling itself hopelessly in contradic-
tions. Such tales can only be believed blindfold
by a sanctimonious simplicity. To a healthy mind
they are a mockery and a laughing-stock.'* And
although Luke imagined thirty years afterwards,
w^hen the age allotted to man was well nigh spent,
that he could with impunity write miracles and un-
scrupulously circulate them in the world, there
were then, as there are now, some sensible people
who could perceive imposition and falsehood in all
their nooks and crannies, and who readily knew
how to distinguish them from the truth. I shall
pass over the rest of the miracles as unworthy of
notice ; it is probably sufficient for my readers, as

* Or, sound reason laughs them to scorn.

119

it is for myself, to have found that such is the ease
by our investigation of this first miracle. We now
know how much truth it contains. Doubtless a
good many may be deducted from the three thou-
sand who so speedily adajoted themselves to the
baptism and belief in Jesus ; and the motive which
swayed the remainder was not the miracle, but the
sweet prospect of enjoying the common wealth
which was being so liberally distributed to all that
they eat and drank together, and wanted for no-
thing, as we see by the following (v. 42 — 45) : *' And
they continued stedfastly in the apostles' doctrine
and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in
j)rayers .... and all that believed were together
and had all things in common ; and sold their pos-
sessions and goods, and parted them to all men as

they had need Neither was there any

among them that lacked : for as many as were
possessors of lands or houses sold them, and brought
the prices of the things that were sold, and laid
them down at the apostles' feet : and distribution
was made unto every man as he had need." (Acts
iv. 34, 35.)

Behold the real reason of the conflux ! a reason
which operates and has operated at all times so
naturally, that we need no miracle to make every-
thing comprehensible and clear. This is the
real mighty wind that so quickly wafted all the
people together. This is the true original language
that performs the miracles.

LONE ON :

WEUTHEIMER, LEA AND CO , FKINTI.RS

FINSEUi.Y CXPX'US.

A/ 'J

Date Due