business, and disposed of his difficulties by passing it over in silence. Eusebius wrote the life of Constantine, yet omits entirely the most remarkable circumstance in that life, the death of his son Crispus; undoubtedly for the reason. here given. The reserve of Josephus upon the subject of Christianity appears also in his passing over the banishment of the Jews by Claudius, which Suetonius, we have seen, has recorded with an express reference to Christ. This is at least as remarkable as his silence about the infants of Bethlehem. Be, however, the fact or the cause of the omission in Josephus 7 what it may, no other or different history on

Michaelis has computed, and, as it should seem, fairly enough, that probably not more than twenty children perished by this cruel precaution.—Michaelis's Introduction to the New Testament, translated by Marsh, vol. i. c. ii. sect. 11.

7 There is no notice taken of Christianity in the Mishna, a collection of Jewish traditions compiled about the year 180, although it contains a Tract, "De Cultu Peregrino," of strange or idolatrous worship; yet it cannot be disputed but that Christianity was perfectly well known in the world at this time. There is extremely little notice of the subject in the Jerusalem Talmud, compiled about the year 300, and not much more in the Babylonish Talmud, of the year 500, although both these works are of a religious nature, and although, when the first was compiled, Christianity was on the point of becoming the religion of the State, and when the latter was published, had been so for 200 years.

the subject has been given by him, or is pretended to have been given.8

But, further; the whole series of Christian writers, from the first age of the institution down to the present, in their discussions, apologies, arguments, and controversies, proceed upon the general story which our Scriptures contain, and upon no other. The main facts, the principal agents, are alike in all. This argument will appear to be of great force, when it is known that we are able to trace back the series of writers to a contact with the historical books of the New Testament, and to the age of the first emissaries of the religion, and to deduce it, by an unbroken continuation, from that end of the train to the present.

The remaining letters of the Apostles (and what more original than their letters can we have?), though written without the remotest design of transmitting the history of Christ. or of Christianity, to future ages, or even of making it known to their contemporaries, incidentally disclose to us the following circumstances: Christ's descent and family; His innocence; the meekness and gentleness of His character (a recognition which goes to the whole

* The reason given by Paley for Josephus's silence about Christianity is no doubt the true one. There is no reason for questioning the genuineness of the passage.-EDITOR,

Gospel history); His exalted nature; His circumcision; His transfiguration; His life of opposition and suffering; His patience and resignation; the appointment of the Eucharist, and the manner of it; His agony; His confession before Pontius Pilate; His stripes, crucifixion, and burial; His resurrection; His appearance after it, first to Peter, then to the rest of the Apostles; His ascension into heaven; and His designation to be the future Judge of mankind-the stated residence of the Apostles at Jerusalem; the working of miracles by the first preachers of the Gospel, who were also the hearers of Christ; -the successful propagation of the religion; the persecution of its followers;

Heb. ii. 3, 4. "How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation, which, at the first, began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them that heard Him, God also bearing them witness, both with signs and wonders, and with divers miracles, and gifts of the Holy Ghost?" I allege this epistle without hesitation; for, whatever doubts may have been raised about its author, there can be none concerning the age in which it was written. No epistle in the collection carries about it more indubitable marks of antiquity than this does. It speaks, for instance, throughout of the Temple as then standing, and of the worship of the Temple as then subsisting. Heb. viii. 4; "For if He were on earth, He should not be a priest, seeing there are priests that offer according to the law." Again, Heb. xiii. 10: "We have an altar, whereof they have no right to eat which serve the tabernacle."

the miraculous conversion of Paul; miracles wrought by himself, and alleged in his controversies with his adversaries, and in letters to the persons among whom they were wrought; finally, that MIRACLES were the signs of an Apostle.1

1 "Truly the signs of an apostle were wrought among you in all patience, in signs, and wonders, and mighty deeds."-2 Cor. xii. 12.

[Miracles in themselves can hardly be called the special "signs" of an Apostle. Our Lord, in His parting words to His disciples, promised that all believers should be endowed with miraculous powers (Mark xvi. 17, 18). And we find, in fact, that amongst the extraordinary gifts of the Spirit, conferred indiscriminately on all believers, "miracles" are expressly mentioned (1 Cor. xii. 9, 10). "Are all Apostles? are all prophets? are all teachers are all workers of miracles?" The Apostle asks in 1 Cor. xii. 29, evidently presupposing that some, not Apostles, might possess this gift. A "worker of miracles" need not necessarily have been a witness of Christ's Resurrection, which was the proper qualification for an Apostle (Acts i. 22. 1 Cor. ix. 1). It would have been more accurate to say, that to confer the extraordinary gifts of the Spirit, and among them the power of working miracles, was the sign of an Apostle. The Apostles worked miracles, but this they did in common with other believers; to them alone seems to have belonged the prerogative of imparting the gift. Thus Philip in Samaria performed miracles (Acts viii. 6); but the Apostles Peter and John were sent to the new converts to lay hands on them that they might receive the Holy Ghost" in order to the exercise of miraculous powers (ibid. 15). Thus the disciples of John were first baptized (by whom is not mentioned), and "when Paul had laid his hands upon them, the Holy Ghost came on them, and they spake with tongues and prophesied" (Acts xix. 6). The power of

In an epistle, bearing the name of Barnabas, the companion of Paul, probably genuine,2 certainly belonging to that age, we have the sufferings of Christ, His choice of Apostles and their number, His passion, the scarlet robe, the vinegar and gall, the mocking and piercing, the casting lots for His coat,3 His resurrection on the eighth (that is, the first day of the week 4), and the commemorative distinction of that day, His manifestation after His resurrection, and, lastly, His ascension. We have also His miracles generally but positively referred to, in the following words :-" Finally, teaching the people of Israel, and doing many wonders and signs among them, He preached to them and showed the exceeding great love that He bare towards them."5

In an epistle of Clement, a hearer of St. Paul,

conferring miraculous gifts, we infer from this, ceased with the Apostles.-EDITOR.]

* The genuineness of the epistle which goes under the name of Barnabas has been, and is, contested. Clemens Alexandrinus and his scholar Origen ascribe it to St. Paul's fellow-labourer; Eusebius seems to doubt its genuineness (E. C., iii. 25). The latter has been followed by Mosheim, Winer, Hug, Neander, and other critics of note, who, for the most part, assign the epistle to the age of Hadrian, and consider it to have emanated from a doctor of the Alexandrian school. The style and matter are hardly consistent with the supposition of its being the production of the Apostle Barnabas.-EDITOR.

3

4

Ep. Bar., c. vi.-viii. Ep. Bar., c. xv. 5 Ep. Bar., c. v.