1 the Gentiles of indicating new events (revolutionary) among them to that one of the kings (the ruling king) so that nothing of the events escapes him.” 1 Pontius Pilate as governor of Judæa was no exception to the rule, and Tertullian (A.D. 150 to 230), after narrating the particulars of the crucifixion, says, "Ea omnia super Christo, Pilatus, et ipse jam pro sua conscientia Christianus, Cæsari, tunc Tiberio, nuntiavit-All these facts concerning Christ, Pilate . . . reported to the reigning Emperor Tiberius."" And again he says, "Tiberius ergo, cujus tempore nomen Christianum in sæculum introivit, annuntiata sibi ex Syria Palestina, quæ veritatem illius (Christi) divinitates revelarunt, detulit ad senatum, cum prærogativa suffragii sui".3 Eusebius (A.D. 265-340) relates this from Tertullian in his Ecclesiastical History.1 In his Chronicon Eusebius tells us on the authority of the same Tertullian, that "Pilato de Christianorum dogmate ad Tiberium referente, Tiberius retulit ad senatum, ut inter cætera sacra reciperetur". Than these records made by Pontius Pilate himself, no more valuable evidence can be adduced. It would be a very dangerous argument to say that as they do not now exist, they probably never did so. This line of argument was used by the 1 Eusebius, Hist. Eccles., bk. ii., cap. ii. 2 Apology, cap. xxi. 3 Ib., cap. v. 4 Bk. ii., cap. ii. Legends author of Supernatural Religion in regard to Cf. Fabricius, Cod. Apoc. N.T., vol. i., p. 298 ff. It may be interesting to some of our readers to mention that Pontius Pilate was summoned to Rome three years after the death of Christ, on a charge of cruelty, and was condemned and sent into exile. There are many legends concerning him; some affirm that he became a Christian, and 1 Beheaded A.D. 165. We Lentulus Its he is regarded as a saint by the Abyssinian Church; others state that he committed suicide. The legend connected with Mount Pilatus at Lucerne is well known. At Vienna a pyramid on the banks of the Rhone is shown as his tomb. The famous quotation from Publius Lentulus, who is alleged to The spurious testimony of have lived in the time of Christ, would be valuable Publius as evidence were it genuine, which it is not. give it as a sample of a curious literary fraud. author is said to have lived in the twelfth century, although Farrar in his Life of Lives (page 162) tells us that this description of Christ was known to John of Damascus in the eighth century. "There has appeared in this our day a man of great virtue, named Jesus Christ, who is yet living amongst us, and with the Gentiles is accepted as a prophet of truth; but his own disciples call him the Son of God. He raiseth the dead, and cureth all manner of diseases; a man of stature somewhat tall and comely, with a very reverend countenance, such as a beholder may both love and fear; his hair is of the colour of a filbert full ripe, and plain down to his ears, but from his ears downwards somewhat curled and more orient of colour, waving about his shoulders. In the midst of his head goeth a seam or partition of hair, after the manner of Nazarites ; his forehead very smooth and plain; his face, nose and mouth so framed as nothing can be repre hended; his beard somewhat thick, agreeable to the hair of his head for colour, not of any great length, but forked in the middle; of an innocent and mature look; his eyes grey, clear and quick. In reproving he is terrible; in admonishing courteous and fair-spoken, pleasant in speech, amidst gravity. It cannot be remembered that any have seen him laugh, but many have seen him weep. In proportion of body, well-shaped and straight; his hands and arms most beauteous to behold; in speaking, very temperate, modest and wise; a man of singular virtue, surpassing the children of men." And now we pass on to Jewish testimony to the death of Christ upon the Cross. And this is of great value, for it is the witness given by the earliest and most determined of all the enemies of Christianity. The Jews regard Jesus Christ as a blasphemer and the founder of a strange religion and consider Him as a blot upon their race on that account. None would have been more ready to disown all acquaintance with Him than they. Witness of And yet the crucifixion has been handed down as a constant Jewish tradition. In the Talmud, the book most prized by the Jews after the Old Testament, we read in one of its treatises entitled "The Sanhedrin": "Christ was put to death on the eve of Easter, because He had practised enchantments, and perverted the people of Israel, the Talmud and led them to embrace a strange religion. As no defence could be found for this, He was crucified on the eve of Pasch" (page 107). The only account by a contemporaneous historian of Jesus And of Josephus is by Josephus, in his Antiquities of the Jews (book) xviii., chap. iii., para. 3,). He also bears testimony to the same fact, even if it be allowed that much of the passage is spurious. It is quoted in its completeness by Eusebius (H.E., i. 11), by Sozomen (H.E., i. 1), by Isidore of Pelusium (Epist. iv., 225), and by Rufinius (H.E., iii. 1), and it seems more than strange that every known copy contains it. Had the work been exclusively in Christian hands there might have been something to say in favour of pious interpolation, but such is not the case. In his Antiquities of the Jews (book xviii., chap. iii., para. 3), occurs the following statement :1 "At that time lived Jesus, a wise man, if he may be called a man, for he performed many wonderful works. He was a teacher of such men as received the truth with pleasure. He drew over to him many Jews and Gentiles. This was the Christ; and when Pilate at the instigation of the chief men among us, had condemned him to the Cross, they who before had conceived an affection for him, did not cease to adhere to him; for on the third day he appeared to them alive again, the Divine Pro 1 Josephus, Hist. (Antiquities). 1 |