The first two chapters of Matthew not in existence duringthe time of Paul and Apollos.—A compromise was made betweentheir followers at the council at Smyrna, A. D. 107.—Thecreed of the Church as it existed at that day determined,and how Christ was made manifest.—Catholics of the secondcentury repudiate this creed and abuse Paul.—Further proofthat Irenaeus never saw Polycarp.—Injuries inflicted uponthe world by the fourth Gospel.
We have shown in another place that not long after Apollos arrived at Corinth he came in collision with Paul on some question which related to Christ. Just what that difference was, it is hard in this age of the world to determine; but it will be sufficient for our purpose at this time to show what it was not. Had it been claimed by Apollos and his followers that Christ was born in the way in which it is stated in Matthew's Gospel, Paul, instead of wasting a whole lifetime in fighting his enemies, would have gone straight to Jerusalem, and proved by living witnesses that there was not a word of truth in this Gospel which related to the supernatural birth of Christ. Paul's troubles with Apollos and his school commenced as early as 57. At that time there were thousands upon thousands who were born about the time Christ was, and were comparatively young men when he was put to death. It was before the fall of Jerusalem, and before any great calamity had befallen the Jewish people. Many of the disciples may have been still living. Peter we know was, for in 64 we find him preaching in Chaldea. Doubtless there were still living, in Nazareth, women who grew up with Mary, and were acquainted with her entire history. The Greeks did not contend, as long as Paul lived, for anything stated in the first two chapters of Matthew on the subject of the birth of Christ; for that reason there is no mention of Mary by Paul in any of his epistles. What, then, was the trouble? With Philo, the Logos was born in Heaven, and from thence he descended to earth. With Paul, Christ was born on the earth, and in this respect did not differ from other mortals. If the Logos was the Son of God, and came down from heaven, by what instrumentalities did he reach the earth? It was for Apollos to show how this was brought about. Nothing is more difficult in the history of Christianity than to find out what was Apollos belief as to the way by which the Logos is connected or identified with the man Christ. The story of the descent of the Spirit in the form of a dove, at the Jordan, was not known until a long time after Paul's death. Paul could not disprove it, for during his life no one asserted it. To establish this connection, we gather from Paul that the school of Apollos had some subtle mode of reasoning, the distillation of Greek wisdom and cunning. He never says what it was, but compares it to the subtle sophistry with which the serpent deceived Eve. To the wisdom of the Greeks Paul has nothing to oppose but direct revelations from God. He sits in opposition to Hellenic sophistry, his power and wisdom derived from above. When he talks to the Jews, before they will believe what he tells them, they demand that a sign shall be given unto them—something tangible to the senses. But the Greeks required no proof of this kind. Conviction with them as to Christ was wholly dependent upon some device, doubtless an outgrowth of Platonic philosophy. From what is said hereafter, we can venture the belief that with Apollos the Logos was made Christ simply by the providence of God. How this providence was exerted to bring about this result, was a proper subject to employ the cunning, the wisdom and sophistry of the Greek school. After Paul's death, and after the fall of Jerusalem, the change from the Logos from on high to the Christ of the earth, simply by the providence of God and the theory of Apollos, was too indefinite, and the reasoning of the Greeks too weak, to satisfy the minds of men. In the second century, Christianity had worked west, and the Latin element began to make itself felt in the Church, and we shall soon see the means employed by Providence to bring the Logos into the world. We can readily see why, in the disputes between Paul and the Greeks, as they stood in his day, the name of Mary is nowhere mentioned. There was no necessity for it. Ignatius, one of the oldest Fathers of the Church, was Bishop of Antioch in the year 70. When Trajan set out on his expedition against the Parthians, he stopped for a short time in this city. As he had refused to sacrifice to the gods for the safety of the Emperor, and was outspoken against the pagans, even in the royal presence, Ignatius was condemned, and ordered to be sent to Rome to be devoured by the wild beasts of the amphitheatre. This, as some say, was in A.D. 107; but some writers, with greater plausibility, fix the time as late as 115. We will err on the right side, and adopt the former period. On his way to Rome he stayed some time at Smyrna, where he wrote letters to the churches in Asia, as a kind of legacy, in which he imparts to them a knowledge of the doctrines of the Church, and the foundation on which they were based. No man of his day was better informed on such subjects than Ignatius, and the cruel fate that awaited him on his arrival in Rome was an earnest that in what he said he was sincere. In his letter to the Ephesians he tells how, in the first place, Christ came into the world.He was born in the womb of Mary according to the dispensation of Providence, of the seed of David, yet by the Holy Ghost. Here is a platform to which Paul himself could hardly object. That that which Ignatius declares to be the way in which Christ came into the world was the doctrine of the Church in his day, and for some time after, cannot be questioned. On his way to Rome he stopped at Smyrna, where Polycarp, who was then Bishop at that place, lived, and it was there that Ignatius wrote his letter to the Ephesians. Polycarp stood at his side when the letter was written, and knew its contents, and probably took charge of it, for he himself says: "The Epistles of Ignatius which he wrote unto us andothers, as many as we have with us, we have sent unto you according to your order, which are subjoined to thy epistle, from which ye may be greatly profited; for they treat of faith and patience, and of all things which portend to edification in our Lord." (Epistle to Philippians). On his way to Rome, Ignatius stopped at different places, and everywhere the churches sent their bishops and other messengers to visit and console the venerable Father on his way to the wild beasts; and everywhere he taught Christ as we find it at this day in his letter to the Ephesians. Here we have the doctrines or creed of the Church in the beginning of the second century as to the status of Christ, as it was declared by Polycarp, Ignatius, and all the churches of Asia. That Paul, at this time, was held in great estimation is evident from what Polycarp and others say of him in writing to the churches. Polycarp alone refers to his epistles twenty-six times, and in speaking of him says: "For neither can I, nor any other such as I am, come up to the wisdom of the blessed and renowned Paul, who, being amongst you in the presence of those who then lived, taught withexactnessandsoundnessthe word of truth; who in his absence also wrote an epistle to you, unto which, if you diligently look, you may be able to be edified in the faith delivered unto you, which is the mother of us all." (Polycarp to the Philippians, sec. 3). Indeed, Polycarp's letter to the Philippians is made up of quotations from the letter of the great apostle. The bitter feeling which existed between the followers of Paul and Apollos had in a great measure died away at the close of the first century. Whatever difference of opinion there may have been between these two great leaders, it seemed to be merged in the creed of the Church in the days of Polycarp and other teachers of his time. With Paul and these men, Christ was born of woman and of the seed of David; but, with the latter, it was by the Holy Ghost, through the providence of God. As Paul has nowhere declared how and in what way Christ was the son of God, but believed him to be such from what he learned in his vision at Damascus and other places, his followers might readily accept the belief declared by Ignatius and all the Fathers in his day. Mutual concessions seem to have been made in the latter part of the first century; and while the followers of Apollos conceded the descent of Christ from David, the friends of Paul could readily admit that he was the Son of God through the Holy Ghost by the dispensation of God. The violent animosity against Paul which sprang up afterward in the Church was an outgrowth of the second century. In this century, Paul becomes a liar and a heretic. To make Christ what the men of this century wished to have him appear in their quarrels with the Gnostics and others, it was necessary to assail the great apostle. To admit that Christ was born in the womb of Mary, of the seed of David, would not admit the claim that he was conceived in the womb of Mary by the Holy Ghost alone. It was upon this point that Paul had thrown obstructions in the way of men who were engaged in building up a Church controlling exclusively the highway to heaven, and which in time was to govern the world. Here let me ask if the most acute intellect can detect in the doctrines of the Church, as declared by Polycarp and others at the beginning of the second century, the faintest trace of theincarnation of the fourth Gospel, or the Trinity, Both of these dogmas, which have convulsed the world for eighteen hundred years, were unborn when the Fathers of all the churches of Asia, at Smyrna, declared what was the faith of the Church.
We have selected this place to settle a question of veracity between the writer and Iræneus. He says he saw Polycarp. We say he never did. Since the introduction of the Gospels, especially the fourth, great importance has been attached to the fact that Polycarp was a disciple of John, and that Irenaeus had been instructed by the former. Speaking of Irenaeus, Horn, in his introduction, says: "His testimony to the genuineness and authenticity of the New Testament is the most important and valuable, because he was a disciple of Polycarp, who was a disciple of John." (Vol. I. 83.) Now Polycarp never mentions John, but speaks of Paul. If he did see John, Johnnever taught him the doctrine of the incarnationas declared in the fourth Gospel. Polycarpnever heard of the incarnation, and it follows as a matter of course he never taught Irenaeus anything of the kind.Had he taught the incarnation, he never would have indorsed Paul. This attempt, on the part of the so-called Bishop of Lyons, to trace the doctrines conceived and written by himself to a disciple, is a stupendous fraud, which has cost the world more misery than all causes of suffering since his day combined. This Gospel has been the means of defeating the mission of Christ on earth—peace and good-will to all men. There is not one word in it to encourage virtue or reprove vice—not one for those who sorrow or are afflicted; no charity for any except the woman caught in adultery. Love for one another he entreated of his disciples, but none for the world. The boundless love, the universal charity, which shine forth in the Sermon on the Mount, and warm the heart, so that there flows from it all that is good in our natures—as the beautiful flowers of the earth are made to spring and bloom under the genial heat of the sun—finds no place in the Gospel of John. What is said and taught in this Gospel, when compared with the teachings on the Mount, are as hollow groans from the cavern of Avernus compared with sweet sounds from the lyre of Orpheus. It is belief—or damnation. "He that believeth on Him is not condemned, but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God." It was this Gospel which gave birth to that bigotry and fanaticism which has brought on the world all the sufferings and misery caused by the Inquisition. It destroyed in the fourth century all the grand and beautiful temples and works of architecture of Asia and Europe. The Pantheon barely escaped. It applied the torch to the library at Alexandria. It kindled the fires of persecution in every age; and as it came down the centuries, like a blazing comet, it carried with it "pestilence and war." It makes Christ cold and selfish. He cures diseases to exalt himself. A man was deprived of his sight from his birth, without any sin on his part, that he may have an opportunity to make known his power. He thanks God for answering his prayer for the death of Lazarus, that he might show the world that he was master of the grave. This Gospel makes Christ vain and boastful. Again and again he asserts that he is the Son of the Father; that the Father had sent him; that he came to save the world, and that the world was to be judged by him: and yet, with all these pretensions, he could find but few that believed him. All important events told of in this Gospel, are unnatural. Some who stood by and saw Lazarus come forth from the tomb with the habiliments of the grave still upon him, as if some great crime had been committed, ran for the police—for to inform the Pharisees was about the same thing. When the Pharisees heard of it, they called together the priests, and held a council, to devise some plan to stop that kind of proceeding. What was the objection to raising a dead man to life? It would give offense to the Romans. Can anyone give a reason why? For this act, which, if true, would fill the heavens and the earth with awe, Christ was compelled to fly to the wilderness. If the scene at the grave of Lazarus, as related, was true, how different would have been the conduct of those who witnessed it. All would have been struck dumb and fallen prostrate at the feet of him who held the keys of life and death. The Pharisees would shake and cower, for fear that at any moment they might be struck dead by a bolt from heaven. There would not have been a dry eye in all Jerusalem. What intelligence did Lazarus bring us from the spirit land? One word from the other world would be worth all this world of ours; but the world has gained nothing from the resurrection of Lazarus. This Gospel takes from God his omnipotence. When the Lord of the universe conceived a plan to prove to mankind that Christ was his Son and their Saviour, we must believe that he who made the heavens and the earth, who regulates the stars in their courses, and who said, "Let there be light, and there was light," could not fail in his purpose. But the resurrection of Lazarus was a failure. It accomplished nothing. The tomb of Lazarus at Bethany was in sight from the cross on Calvary.
We have stated that at Smyrna were declared the doctrines of the Christian Church in the year 107, as they were understood and taught by Polycarp, Ignatius, and all the great lights of Asia. And now we shall show what assurances these Fathers gave to the world—why they knew that Christ was truly the Son of God. This is made manifest by signs in the heavens. Ignatius first declares the belief of the Church on this subject, and proceeds to ask this question: "How was he made manifest to the world?" "A star shone in heaven above all other stars; and its light was inexpressible, and its novelty struck terror. All the rest of the stars, with the sun and moon, were the chorus to this star, that sent forth its light above all. And there was trouble, whence this novelty came so unlike all the others. Hence all the power of magic was dissolved; and every bond of wickedness was destroyed; ignorance was taken away and the old kingdom was abolished: God made manifest in the form of man, for the renewal of eternal life. Thence began what God prepared. From thenceforth all things were disturbed, forasmuch as he designed to abolish death." (Epistle to Ephesians, sec. 19.) This was the way in which Christ made himself manifest to the world, as taught in all the churches in A.D. 107. The story of the star which led the wise men to Bethlehem was anafterthought. At the time Ignatius declared the doctrine of the Church, as to the way by which Christ was brought into the world and how he was made manifest, the Gospel of Matthew had not yet appeared; for, if it had, he would have given the story of the star, and the wise men of the East, rather than that of the sun, moon, and all the stars, for the former was the most probable and most sensible of the two. Why should he give one story which was false and impossible on its face, if he could give another which, if false, was not manifestly absurd. It is quite easy to tell why the story of the stars and moon leaving their orbits to dance attendance to a bright particular star was abandoned. Such a commotion of the heavenly bodies would have put the universe out of joint; and as the star projected its light above all the other stars, and all the other stars and the moon and sun sang chorus to it, the display would have been apparent to all the world. In the year A.D. 107, some few might have been alive who were living at the time the phenomenon is said to have occurred; and if not, then the children of those who lived at the time would have preserved the tradition fresh in their minds, to say nothing of history. But as no one living witnessed the scene enacted in the heavens, and none of their descendants had heard of it, and no historian had recorded it, the men of the day laughed it down. One single star might have been seen by the wise men of the East, and no one else; and if the story was invented, as the wise men were dead before it was told, there was no danger of contradiction. If the Gospel of Matthew was not extant A.D. 107, it is fatal to all the prophecy in the New Testament as to the fall of Jerusalem. In the year A.D. 70, Jerusalem fell. The Roman standards waved over its ruins. The daughters of Israel wept over the ashes of their homes. The holy city was no more, and he who wrote the Gospel of Matthew as it now stands wrote history. How much is the Christianity of the Gospels indebted to the prophecies which foretold the fall of the Jewish capital? In every age and in every country where Christianity found a foothold, they were the corner-stone of the Christian faith. In the hour of doubt and despair, when the heavens looked black and the earth seemed to be a house of mourning, the Christian could draw consolation from the tears shed by Christ as he wept over the fall of the holy city. But Truth is inexorable. Her triumphant car moves on, though she leaves in her wake the wreck of the brightest hopes, the most cherished creeds, and the most ambitious schemes. So she has done for ages. And her pathway is marked by the overthrow of dogmas by which man vainly undertook to enslave the mind. To-day she is as mighty and powerful as ever.
Few passages from history have given rise to more discussion than the following from Suetonius: "He," meaning the Emperor Claudius, "banished all the Jews, who were continually making disturbance, at the instigation of one Crestus." (Life of Claudius, sec. 25.) The original is as follows: "Judæos, impulsore Chresto, assidue tumultuantes, Roma expulit." Does this order of banishment refer to the Christians? Dr. Lardner and others think not. All difficulties vanish when we bear in mind, that the Christians then at Rome were Jewish converts from Judea. The writer knew little about Christians, and knowing them to be Jews, he says all Jews were banished, which included the Jewish converts as well as those who opposed Christianity. All engaged in the riot were included, and none but Jews were. These Jews were constantly making disturbance at the instigation of one Crestus: that is, they were quarrelling about Crestus, which was a continual subject of quarrel among the converted and unconverted Jews everywhere. The writer knew so little about Christ that he failed to get the name correct, or there may have been a mistake on the part of the transcribers.
(B.)
As a proof that the most learned scholars and correct thinkers, when under the influence of an early bias, are liable to the most gross mistakes and delusions, the following writers have given the authority of their names to the belief, that Peter uses the name Babylon in a figurative sense: Grotius, Macknight, Hale, Bishop Tomline, Whitby, and Lardner. But a large majority of writers hold to the literal meaning. Bishop Pearson, Le Clerk, and Mills think that Peter speaks of Babylon in Egypt. Beza, Erasmus, Drusius, Dr. Cave, Lightfoot, Basnage, Beausobre, Dr. Benson, A. Clarke think that Peter intended Babylon in Assyria; Michaelis, that Babylon in Mesopotamia was meant. The frequent use of the word Babylon in the Revelation attributed to St. John, which there stands for Rome, is the principal argument used by those who contend for a figurative sense. This book is the most impious and malignant production among all the forgeries of the second century, and its design can be readily exposed, if it was worth the time to do it. Christ, whose last words were used in prayer for the forgiveness of his enemies, is made through St. John to pour forth feelings full of hatred against those who disagreed with the writer on matters of doctrine, especially the followers of Paul. He hurls his envenomed shaft at the heart of the great Apostle. It was at Ephesus where the war was warmest between Paul's friends and the followers of the Alexandrian school. To the church at that place, Christ is made to say: "I know thy works, and thy labor, and thy patience, andhow thou canst not bear them which are evil: and thou hast tried them which say they areApostles, and are not, and hast found them liars." (Revelationii. 2.) Who could use such language but a malignant partisan? Christ, the Son of God, is made to use the language of a bar-room bully. When will those who profess to be Christians, learn that Christ was all kindness, gentleness, and love. They admit the authenticity and divine origin of writings that prove the Son of God was not even a gentleman.
(C.)
The writings ascribed to the Fathers, especially Polycarp and Ignatius, are entitled to little consideration; for nothing is clearer than that their names were used by the men of the second century to supply proof when disputes sprang up, or give authority to doctrines when divisions arose. The introduction to the epistle of Ignatius, addressed to the church at Rome, is a bare-faced attempt to prove that there was a church at Rome during the reign of Trajan, at the beginning of the second century. It was written not only to prove that there was a church at Rome at that time, but that it was the bank or depository of divine riches, "wholly filled with the grace of God, and entirely cleansed from any other doctrine." But we submit the whole passage to the judgment of the reader. "Ignatius, who is also called Theophorus, to the Church which hath obtained mercy in the majesty of the Most High Father, and his only Son Jesus Christ, beloved and illuminated through the will of him who willeth all things, which are according to the love of Jesus Christ, our God; (to the church) which presides also in the place of the region of the Romans, worthy of God, and of all honor and blessing and praise; worthy to receive that which she wishes, chaste, and pre-eminent in charity, bearing the name of Christ and of the Father, which I salute in the name of Jesus Christ, the Son of the Father: to those who are united both in flesh and spirit to all his commands, and wholly filled with the grace of God, and entirely cleansed from the stain of any other doctrine, be all undefiled joy in Jesus Christ our God."
The forger overdid the work in which he was engaged. This language, addressed to a church illuminated with all things according to the will of Christ and God, and worthy to receive all blessings and praise, proves that the passage was written at a time when the dogma of the Apostolic succession was in vogue, and Rome was putting forth claims to spiritual supremacy.* No time was more unpropitious to prove that there wassuch a churchat Rome, than that Goog embraced in the reign of Trajan, when Christianity was a crime, which subjected the believer to the penalty of death. There being no Christians in Rome from the death of Paul to the time of Hadrian, it leaves the time to be taken up by traditions, which was gladly seized upon by Irenaeus, who populated it with Bishops and others, the offspring of his own imagination.
* The strong probability is, that the letter of Ignatius isa forgery throughout, and was gotten up for the sake of theintroduction. Condemned by Trajan, and ordered to be carriedto Rome to be devoured by wild beasts, for the amusement ofthe people, it is claimed the letter was written on his wayto that city. Why he should write to the church at Romewhile on his way there, is something remarkable, since thereis nothing in the letter that was important to be known tothe Christians, if there were any there, before his arrival.The epistle breathes a spirit which is unnatural andrepugnant to every feeling of humanity. The following is aspecimen of the whole. "May I enjoy the wild beasts whichare prepared for me; and pray that they may be found readyfor me: which I will even encourage to devour me all atonce, and not fear to touch me, as they have some others Andif they refuse, and will not, I will compel them." (Sec. 5.)Why would Ignatius write an epistle of this character to theRomans while he was on the way to Rome himself? especially"as he was pressed by the soldiers to arrive at the greatcity before the public spectacle, that he might be deliveredto the wild beasts." Why import a Christian Bishop fromAntioch for the wild beasts of the Amphitheatre, if therewas one to be found in the mean time in Rome? Where wasClement, the third Bishop? Our confidence is not increasedin the genuineness of this letter, that the first distinctreference is made to it by Irenaeus.
(D.)
WRITERS in the third and fourth centuries, for reasons sufficiently obvious, take pleasure in scandalizing the name of Domitian as the persecutor of Christians, and the great enemy of the Christian cause. It is claimed he put to death many persons accused of Atheism, the common charge against Christians, on account of their refusal to offer incense or to worship the ancient gods of Rome. Flavius Clemens, his cousin, is given as an instance. Now hear what a co-temporary historian has to say on the subject:
"Flavius Clemens, his cousin-german, a man contemptible for his indolence, whose sons, then of tender age, he had avowedly destined for his successor, and taking from them his former names, had ordered one to be called Vespasian, and the other Domitian, he suddenly put to death upon some slight suspicion, almost before the father was put out of his consulship," (Suet,Life of Domitian, sec. 15.) As the tyrant affected great reverence for the gods, he would not fail to visit the most severe punishment on those whom he judged guilty of irreverence, and as the Christians of that day were bold in the face of the most imminent danger, they could not escape the vengeance of the tyrant, had there been any in Rome upon whom he could lay his hands. With a disposition that was willing to furnish any number of victims, Eusebius has succeeded in giving the name of a single one. He says, "At the same time, for professing Christ, Flavius Domitilla, the niece of Flavius Clemens, one of the consuls of Rome at that time, was transported, with many others, to the Isle of Pontia." (Eus., E. H., book iii. chap. 18.) The truthful father has succeeded in giving the name of one Christian who had suffered under the reign of Domitian, and that was a case of banishment.
As to the expression, "and many others," it is only an easy way of conveying a falsehood without incurring the risk of detection. The story of John's banishment to the Isle of Pat-mos, like everything else which relates to this Apostle, is founded on atraditionof the third century, and is unworthy of serious notice. The story told by Hegesippus, of the treatment received by the grandchildren of Jude, called the brother of Jesus, at the hands of Domitian, if entitled to any credit at all, only goes to refute the charges made against him. As the story runs, these children were brought before him on the charge of being Christians. After hearing what they had to say, "Domitian dismissed them—made no reply—but treating them with contempt as simpletons, commanded them to be dismissed, and, by a decree, ordered the persecution to cease. Thus delivered, they ruled the churches, both as witnesses and relations of the Lord. Such is the statement of Hegesippus," says Eusebius (book iii. chap. 20).
Here is a clear case for persecution; but proceedings are dismissed, and those who were the objects of it treated with contempt.
Suetonius makes special mention of the persecution of the Jews under the reign of Domitian, who was governed, in their case, by his love of money rather than his regard for the cause of religion. The vast amount of money expended by him in the erection of palaces and public edifices had ruined his finances, which he undertook to relieve by the confiscation of the large estates and wealth in the hands of this people. To his rapacity there was no limit in such cases, short of the ruin of his victims. It is in vain to attempt to relieve the memory of the son of Vespasian and brother of Titus from the ignominy of the most odious and detestable crimes. From Augustus to Trajan, no one who bore the name of emperor is more justly entitled to the name of monster. He put to death his own cousin, Flavius Sabinus, because, upon his being chosen at the consular election to that office, the public crier had, by a blunder, declared him to the people—not consul, but emperor. Virtue as well as vice stood in awe in his presence.
The genius and learning of Tacitus and Pliny made it unsafe for them to remain in Rome, and both avoided danger by seeking obscurity. But to his other crimes are not to be added the murder of Christians, who were wise and cautious enough to avoid his presence.
The following dates are assigned to the epistles of Paul by Dr. Lardner and others:—
Table 406