corded in these passages, Mr. Gibbon observes,—“ The most sceptical criticism is obliged to respect the truth of this extraordinary fact, and the integrity of this celebrated passage of Tacitus. The former is confirmed by the diligent and accurate Suetonius, who mentions the punishment which Nero inflicted upon the Christians. The latter may be proved by the consent of the most ancient manuscripts; by the inimitable character of Tacitus; by his deputation, which guarded his text from the interpolations of pious fraud; and by the purport of his narration."* Here, then, with the approbation of Mr. Gibbon, we go back to the year 64, thirty years after the death of Christ, at which time are found great bodies of Christians, not only throughout Judea, but at Rome. To the testimony brought forward here, we must give attention in several important particulars. It will at once be seen that it establishes beyond all dispute the declaration of the Christians with which this section commenced-that they owe their origin, name, and religion, to one Jesus Christ, who lived and taught in Judea, and was there put to death eighteen hundred years ago. Tacitus affirms, 1. That there were great multitudes of Christians at Rome in the year 64. Of course, if they existed in such numbers then, they must have had an origin some time prior to this. But we are not left to inferences; for Tacitus states, 2. That they had "their name from Christ;" and 3. That

Dominum nostrum, hic fuisse intellectum, adhuc mihi persuadere non possum." Another says "Non Jesu Christo, sed Judaco quodaeo quodam Chresto impulsore." Gasselius, Tom. i. Addenda p. 9. Tacita Opera, Tom. ii. p. 76. Boston, 1817. A. Clarke, Acts xviii. 2. Still, after looking at it carefully, there seems very little room for doubt. This confounding the Jews and Christians together was a common thing with the Romans, and easily explained.

* Decline and Fall, c. xvi.

this Christ was put to death in the reign of Tiberius by the procurator Pontius Pilate. And lastly, the truth of these facts is endorsed by Suetonius, and admitted by Mr. Gibbon.

15. The exactness of this account is remarkable. Tacitus tells us that Christ was crucified under the procuratorship of Pilate. Pilate, according to Josephus, was recalled to Rome for mal-administration; he set out immediately, but Tiberius died while he was on his way.* Now Tiberius died on the 16th of March, of the year 37, and of course Pilate must have put Christ to death previous to this, because his procuratorship ceased before this date. If we here take into the account the series of tumults, as mentioned by Josephus, which resulted in the embassy of the Samaritan senate to Vitellius, the time occupied in the debates of the senate, the journey of the ambassador to Syria, the hearing of the complaint, and the return of Marcellus with orders for Pilate--we shall find that, at least, it will be necessary to go back one or two years farther, which would leave us at the year 35. This brings us sufficiently near to prove the truth of their statement as named above.

16. We have now arrived at an interesting stage in our investigation. It has been proved by an appeal to the pages of acknowledged history, that Christianity began its existence in the reign of Tiberius, emperor of Rome, more than eighteen centuries ago. We have followed the Christians from our own time upward through all the changes of empires to that date; we have in every step of our progress found their history and name inwoven with those of the greatest nations of the earth, so that it is impossible to separate the one from the other.

*Josephus, Ant. lib. xviii. c. 4. §2

There is no place to stop this side of Tiberius; for whenever we do this, we deny all preceding history. If any one questions this, we ask him to place his finger on that point in the present era, beyond which he asserts there were no Christians-we ask him to designate the page, or name the year in which Christianity commenced its being. Let this be attempted and it will be found that it has insuperable difficulties; that, fix where we will short of Tiberius, we are involved in a war of extermination with the very source of human knowledge. Should we affirm that no Christians were found earlier than the year 500, then must we deny the history of the Roman emperors and empire prior to this, for they are so connected with each other, that to deny one is to deny both. If we throw out that part of the history which relates to the Christians, we throw out more than half the history of the empire, yea, nearly all; for there would be innumerable chasms which never could be filled but by the introduction of the Christians.Should we place their origin at the year 300, or even 200, and affirm that they had no existence before this; then we write falsehood upon the foreheads of Marcus Antonius, Adrian, Pliny, and others; and if we place it at 100, or at 50, we must reject what all the world have received, the well-known histories of Tacitus, and Suetonius, and the testimony of Lucian. We are compelled, therefore, according to all the rules and laws of historical evidence, to admit the truth of the Christian statement, that they have been in existence, as a distinct sect, more than eighteen hundred years, having a distinct religion and name derived from Jesus Christ, who lived and taught in Judea, and was there put to death by Pontius Pilate the pro

curator.

17. Our next step will be to inquire into the genuineness of the Christian histories; or, in other words, to ascertain whether the different books of the New Testament were written by those whose names they bear, and at the time affirmed by Christians.

CHAPTER VI.

HISTORICAL EVIDENCE FOR THE TRUTH OF THE CHRISTIAN

HISTORY.

SECTION I.

WERE THE BOOKS WHICH COMPOSE THE NEW TESTAMENT WRITTEN BY THE DISCIPLES OF CHRIST? ARGUMENT FROM CIRCUMSTANCES.

1. In the last section it was proved that Christians had existed as a distinct people from the commencement of the present era, and that they derived their name and faith from Jesus Christ who lived at the time of said commencement. It is not our object here to prove that Christ wrought miracles, or was endowed with supernatural powers-with this question we are not now concerned.— Whether it be true or not, it is certain from the evidence already advanced, that he possessed sufficient influence, acquired by his teachings and works, to establish a new religion, a religion which has gone on from that period to the present steadily increasing, until it has embraced in its profession more than two hundred millions of the most enlightened portion of the human race. This is a fact which admits of no question, and it is enough for the ob