ARCHAEOLOGICAL WRITINGS OF THE SANHEDRIN AND TALMUDS OF THE JEWS: TAKEN FROM THE ANCIENT NOTE AND PARCHMENTS AND SCROLL AT CONSTANTINOPLE AND THE VATICAN AT ROME, BEING THE RECORD MADE BY THE ENEMIES OF JESUS OF NAZARETH IN HIS DAY.
VOLUME TWO
THE MOST INTERESTING HISTORY EVER READ BY MAN.
By
REV. W. D. MAHAN, OF BOONVILLE, MO.,
Author of Acta Pilati, History of Baptism, who is extensively known to the Ministry in the West.
PUBLISHED FOR THE AUTHOR, By Perrin & Smith, Book and Job Printers, 210 Olive Street, St. Louis. 1884.
VOLUME TWO
ENTERED ACCORDING TO ACT OF CONGRESS, On the 7th day of January, A. D. 1884, by Rev. W. D. Mahan, Of Boonville, MO
VOLUME TWO
CHAPTER VII
REPORT OF CAIAPHAS TO THE SANHEDRIN CONCERNING THE RESURRECTION OF JESUS
After having made the above record of Caiaphas, in unwinding the same scroll, we found another report from him. It may be interesting to the reader, however, to know what we mean by scroll. It is parchment. The Hebrew word, numet means a bark, made from the pulp of the reed, into a paste, and then dried in the sun until it is hard, and then pressed and polished until it shines most beautifully, and its surface is as smooth as our paper. It is of two kinds of qualities, one is called papyrus the other is called hierotike.
This latter is the more costly, and is used by the priest alone. It is about sixteen inches wide, and is cemented together by a gum that comes from a tree very much resembling our elm tree. It is written upon with some kind of indelible ink or paint, with a common reed quill, which is made to let out the ink in the likeness of our pens. They were written by the shepherd which is the Hebrew word for scribe. He is called grammateus by the Greeks. This writing is in what is known as the square Hebrew. The letters are from a half inch to an inch in size, so you can see what an amount of parchment it would take to record a deed. It is very hard to read by the best of Hebrew scholars, and they must have their text books to assist them . But after a man has once got the thread of the subject, he can get along with it. This is the reason why I got Dr. Mcintosh to go with me.
He and Dr. Twyman have been in the business for many years. The windlass, as it might be called, (for it more resembles our common rope-winders than anything I can think of, is a square piece of timber, about three inches in diameter, to which the parchment is fastened at one end. Then it is rolled around like a spool. At the proper distance are tied two transverse sticks to hold the parchment to its proper place. It is placed at the end of a table, and an empty one at the other end, so that as you unwind from the one to read, it winds around the other. The letters are almost as plain as the advertisements of patent medicines on a plank fence. There are multiplied hundreds of these placed along in rows, just like rolls of carpet, only they are not so rude. They are all lettered and numbered with their dates on them.
This makes it easy to find anything you want, but I tell you, you must understand hieroglyphics to read it. There is another class of books. These are fine sheep or goat skin, about eight by twelve inches. The writing on these is very fine, and hard to read. They are bound between cedar boards with clasps. They contain from eight to forty sheets to the book. These are the kind of books of which Josephus wrote seventy- two. But to return to Caiaphas’ report. After unwinding several feet we came across another communication from Caiaphas; I hardly know whether to call it a resignation or a confession. One thing I know, it is one of the most solemn things I ever read in all my life. We thanked God that we had ever come to Constantinople, and that Mohammed had given orders to preserve these sacred scrolls in the mosque of St. Sophia. It is as follows: Constantinople, Oct. 16, A. I). 1883.
Sanhedrin 89. By Siphri II. 7: To You, Masters of Israel: As I have made a former defense to you, and you have approved the same, I feel in duty bound to communicate to you some facts that have come to my knowledge since the former communication. A few days after the execution of Jesus of Nazareth the report of his resurrection from the dead became so prominent I found it was necessary to investigate it, because the excitement was raging more heavy than before, and my own life as well as that of Pilate was in danger, and it seemed worse than if he had not been apprehended at all.
I sent for Malkus, captain of the royal city guard, who informed me he knew nothing personally as he had placed Isham in command of the guard, but from what he could learn of the soldiers the scene was perfectly overwhelming, and it was so generally believed that it was no use to deny it. He thought my only chance was to suppress it among the soldiers, and have John and Peter banished to Crete, or have them arrested and locked up in prison, and if they would not be quiet to treat them as I had treated Jesus. He said all the soldiers he had conversed with were convinced that he was either resurrected by supernatural power, or he was not dead, or that he was no human being; for the light, and the angels, and the dead that came out of their graves, all went to prove that it was something that had never occurred on earth before.
He said that John and Peter were spreading it all over the country, and if it should be so that Jesus should appear at the head of a host, and declare for the king of the Jews, he believed all the Jewish soldiers would fight for him. I sent for the lieutenant, who gave a lengthy detail of the occurrence there that morning, all of which I suppose you have heard, and will investigate the subject by a committee. From this I am convinced that there was something above the laws of nature transacted there that morning that can’t be accounted for upon natural principles, and I find it is of no use to try to get any of the soldiers to deny it, for they are so excited over it that there is no doing anything with them. I am now sorry that I had the soldiers placed at the tomb, for the very things that they were to prevent they have established.
After investigating the soldiers and officers to my satisfaction, my mind being so disturbed that I could neither eat nor sleep, I sent for John and Peter. They came, and brought Mary and Joanna. These are the women that went to embalm his body the morning of the resurrection, as it is called. They are very interesting, as they relate the circumstances. Mary says when they went it was just getting light. They met the soldiers returning from the sepulcher, and they thought nothing strange until they came to the tomb, and found that Jesus was gone. The stone that covered the sepulcher was rolled to one side, and there were two men dressed in flowing white, sitting, one at each end of the sepulcher. She asked them where was her Lord; they said, He is risen from the dead; did he not tell you he would rise the third day and show himself to the people, to prove that he was the Lord of life? ” Go tell his disciples,” said they.
Joanna said she saw but one man; but this discrepancy may have been on account of their excitement, because they both say they were much alarmed. They both say as they returned they met the Master, who told them that he was the resurrection and the life; all that will accept shall be resurrected from the second death. ” We fell at his feet, all bathed in tears, and when we rose up he was gone.” Both the women wept for joy while relating these circumstances, and John shouted aloud, which made me tremble in every limb; for I could not help thinking that something that belonged to the exclusive work of God had occurred, but what it all could mean was a great mystery to me. It might be, I said, that God had sent this message by the mouth of this stranger; it might be that he was the seed of the woman, and we his people had executed him. I asked John and Peter if they could give me any further evidence in regard to this man; that I wished to be informed of his private history.
Peter said the first he knew of him he passed by where he was, and bade him to follow him, and he felt an internal drawing after him, but at first it was more through curiosity than anything in the man; that he soon became acquainted with Mary, who told him that this was her son, and told him the strange circumstance respecting his birth, and she was convinced that he was to be king of the Jews, and related to him many strange things concerning his life, which made him feel more interested in him than he should have been otherwise.
He said that Jesus was a man so pleasant in his character, and so like a little child in innocency, that no one could help liking him after they got acquainted with him; that though he seemed to be stern and cold, he was not so in reality; that he was exceedingly kind, especially to the poor; that he would make any sacrifice for the sick and the needy, and would spare no pains to impart knowledge to any one that would call on him, and that his knowledge was so profound and deep that he had seen him interrogated by the most profound, doctors of the law, and he always gave the most perfect satisfaction, and that the sepher or Scribes, and the Hillelites, and Shammaites were afraid to open their mouths in his presence. They had attacked him so often, and had been repelled as often, that they would shun him as they would a wolf; but when he had repelled them he did not enjoy the triumph as they did over others, over whom they had got the ascendancy. As to his life, he seemed to be not a man of pleasure, nor of sorrow. He mingled with society to benefit them, and yet took no part at all in what was going on.
”I had heard many tell of what occurred when he was baptized, and from what his mother told me I was watching for a display of his divine power if he had any, for I knew he never could be king of the Jews unless he did have help from on high ; and when we were attending a marriage feast the wine had given out, and his mother told him of it, and he said to soijie men to fill up some water pots that were sitting near, and they put in nothing but water for I watched them, but when they drew it out it was wine, for it was tested by all at the feast, and when the master found it out he called for Jesus to honor him, but he was gone. It seemed that he did not want to be popular, and this spirit displeased us, for we knew if he was to be king of the Jews he must become popular with the Jews. This spirit of his disgusted his mother, for she was doing all she could to bring him into notice, and to make him popular among the people, and people could not help liking him when they would see him. And another feeling was peculiar: in his presence everyone felt safe. There seemed to be almighty power pervading the air wherever he went so that each felt entirely secure, and that no harm could befall them if Jesus were present. I have some experience:
As we were in our fishing boat I saw Jesus coming towards us, walking on the water. I knew if he could make the waves support him, he could me also. I asked him if I might come to him ; he said for me to come, but when 1 saw the waves gathering around me I began to sink, and asked him to help me. He lifted me up, and told me to have faith in God.
On another occasion we were sailing on the sea, and there was a great storm. It blew at a fearful rate, and all on board thought they would be lost, and we went and awakened the Master, and when he saw the raging of the storm he stretched out his hand and said, Peace, be still; and the wind ceased to blow, the thunder ceased, the lightning withdrew, and the billowing ocean seemed as quiet as a babe in its mother’s arms all done in one moment of time. This I saw, and with my own eyes, and from this time I was convinced that he was not a common man. Neither did he work by enchantment as the Egyptian thaumaturgists did, for all of the many feats they could play, they dared not to attack the laws of nature. In vain might they order the hunder to hush, or the winds to cease, or the lightnings to cease their flashing. Again I saw this man while we were passing from Jericho. There was a blind man, who cried out to him for mercy, and Jesus said to me, ‘ Go, bring him near,’ and when I brought him near Jesus asked him what he wanted. He said he wanted to see him. Jesus said, Receive thy sight,’ when he was not near enough for Jesus to lay his hands upon him or use any art.
Thus were all his miracles performed. He did not act as the Egyptian necromancers. They use vessels, such as cups, bags and jugs, and many other things to deceive. Jesus uses nothing but his plain speech in such a way that all can understand him, and it seems as if the laws of nature were his main instrument of action, and that nature is as obedient to him as a slave is to his master. I saw on another occasion where a young man was dead, and Jesus loved his sisters. One of them went with Jesus to the tomb. He commanded it to be uncovered. The sister said, ‘ Master, by this time he is offensive; he has been dead four days.’
Jesus said, Only have faith,’ and he called the young man by name, and he came forth out of the tomb, and is living today, and proposed that I should see him for myself.”
Thus argues Peter and John. If Jesus had such power over nature and nature’s. laws, and power over death in others, he would have power over death, so he could lay down his life and take it again, as he said he would do. As he proposes to bring hundreds of witnesses to prove all he says, and much more witnesses whose veracity can’t be doubted and as I had heard many of these things before from different men, both friends and foes, (and although these things are related by his friends that is, the friends of Jesus yet these men talk like men of truth, and their testimony corroborates with other evidence that I have from other sources, that convinces me that this is something that should not be rashly dealt with, and seeing the humble trust and confidence of these men and women, besides, as John says, thousands of others equally strong in their belief, it throws me into great agitation. I feel some dreadful foreboding a weight upon my heart. I can’t feel as a criminal from the fact that I was acting up to my best judgment with the evidence before me. I feel that I was acting in defense of my God and country, which I love better than life, and if I was mistaken, I was honest in my mistake.
And as we teach that honesty of purpose gives character to the action, and on this basis I try to clear myself of any charge, yet there is a conscious fear about my heart, so that I can have no rest day nor night. I felt sure that if I should meet him I should fall dead at his feet ; and it seemed to me if I went out I should be sure to meet him . In this state of conscious dread I remained investigating the Scriptures to know more about the prophecies concerning this man, but found nothing to satisfy my mind. I locked my door and gave the guard orders to let no one in without first giving me notice.
While thus engaged, with no one in the room but my wife and Annas, her father, when I lifted up my eyes, behold Jesus of Nazareth stood before me. My breath stopped, my blood ran cold, and I was in the act of falling, when he spoke and said, ‘Be not afraid, it is I. You condemned me that you might go free. This is the work of my Father. Your only wrong is, you have a wicked heart; this you must repent of. This last Lamb you have slain is the one that was appointed before the foundation; this sacrifice is made for all men. Your other lambs were for those who offered them; this is for all, this is the last; it is for you if you will accept it. I died that you and all mankind might be saved.” At this he looked at me with such melting tenderness that it seemed to me I was nothing but tears, and my strength was all gone. I fell on my face at his feet as one that was dead. When Annas lifted me up Jesus was gone, and the door still locked.
No one could tell when or where he went. So, noble Masters, I do not feel that I can officiate as priest any more. If this strange personage is from God, and should be the Savior we have looked for so long, and I have been the means of crucifying him, I have no further offerings to make for sin; but I will wait and see how these things will develop. And if he proves to be the ruler that we are looking for, they will soon develop into something more grand in the future. His glory will increase; his strength will spread wider and wider, until the whole earth shall be full of his glory, and all the kingdoms of the world shall be his dominion. Such are the teachings of the prophets on this subject. Therefore you will appoint Jonathan or someone, to fill the holy place.
P. S.—Soon after we found Jonathan was high priest though history tells us different.
CHAPTER VIII
ELPS STORY OF THE MAGI
While investigating the Sanhedrin and the Talmuds in Constantinople, October 22nd, 1883, I came upon the following parchment, written and bound between two cedar boards. It was signed Ben. Eli. Who he was, or where he came from, or when he wrote, we cannot tell, nor can we say it is true; yet it is so compatible with our history, and has so many strange things connected with it that we thought it would be interesting to our readers. It seems, in the year 29, there were three strange personages appeared before the Sanhedrin, asking admittance; and they were admitted before that body. One claimed to be from Egypt, one from India, and one from Greece, and as such they are mentioned.
These appear to be the Magi who had been in search for the child Jesus at Bethlehem, and now had’ come to make further inquiry. Whether they were required to, or did it voluntarily, is not known; but they each gave a relation of his history and experience regarding Jesus of Nazareth. The Greek slowly, and like one watchful of himself, began: What I have to tell, my brethren, is so strange that I hardly know where to begin, or what I may with propriety speak. I do not yet understand myself. The most I am sure of is, that I am doing a master’s will, and that the service is a constant ecstasy. When I think of the purpose I am sent to fulfil, there is in me a joy so inexpressible that I know the will is God’s.” Here the good man paused unable to proceed. ‘Far to the west of this,” he began again, there is a land which may never be forgotten, if only because the world is too much its debtor, and because the indebtedness is for things that bring to man their purest pleasure. I will say nothing of the arts, nothing of the philosophy, of eloquence, of poetry, of war. Oh, my brethren, here is the glory which must shine forever, in perfected letters by which he whom we go to find will be made known to all the earth. The land I speak of is Greece.” My people,” he continued, were given wholly to study.
Two of our philosophers, the very greatest of the many, teach, one the doctrine of soul in every man and its immortality; the other, the doctrine of one God, infinitely just. From the multitude of subjects, about which the schools were disputing, I separated them as alone worth the labour of solution, for I thought there was a relation between God and the soul as yet unknown. On this, the mind can reason to a point a dead, impassable wall. Arrived there, all that remains is to stand and cry aloud for help. So I did; but no voice came to me over the wall. In despair I tore myself from the cities and the schools.”
At this a smile of delight stole over the crowd. ‘In the northern part of my country, in Thessaly,” the Greek proceeded to say, ‘there is a mountain famous as the home of the gods, where Theo’s, whom my countrymen believe Supreme, has his abode. Olympus is its name. Thither I betook myself. I found a cave where the mountain coming from the west bends to the southeast. There I dwelt, giving myself up to meditation, no, I gave myself up to waiting; for what? Every breath was a prayer for revelation. Believing in the God who is invisible, yet supreme, also believed it possible so to yearn for him with all my soul that he would take compassion upon me, and give me answer.” ”And he did; he did!” exclaimed the Hindoo, lifting his hand from the silken clothes upon his lap. Hear me, brethren,” said the Greek, calming himself with an effort, “the door of my hermitage looks over an arm of the sea, over the Thematic Gulf. One day I saw a man flung overboard from a ship sailing by. He swam ashore. I received, and took care of him.
He was a Jew, learned in the history and laws of his people, and from him I came to know that the God of my prayers did indeed exist, and had been for ages their law-maker and king. What was that but the revelation I dreamed of My faith had not been fruitless. God answered me.” As he does all who cry unto him,” said the President of the Sanhedrin. This time all the house was bathed in tears. ”That was not all,” he continued, ”the man so sent to me told me more: He said the prophets who, in the ages past, followed the first revelation, and walked and talked with God, declared he would come again. He gave me the name of the prophets, and from the sacred books quoted their very language. He told me, further, that the second coming was at hand, and was looked for momentarily in Jerusalem.” Here he paused, and the brightness of his Countenance faded.
”It is true,” said he, after a little while, ” it is true the man told me that this God, and the revelation of which he spoke was for the Jews alone, so it would be again he that was to come was to be king of the Jews only.” “Has he nothing for the rest of the world?” I asked. “No,” was the answer, given in a proud voice;” ” no; we are his chosen people.” With this his countenance fell, and he seemed so sad. There was a sneer and laughter over the whole house, as though none were worthy but them.
”The answer did not crush me,” said the Greek. “Why should such a God limit his love and benefaction to one land, and, as it were, to one family?” “To show his sovereignty,” said the President, with a proud sneer. “I set my heart upon knowing the truth of this matter, and at last I broke through the man’s pride, and found that his fathers had been merely chosen servants to keep the truth alive, that the world might at last know it and be saved.” Here the Sanhedrin hissed him. “But when the Jew was gone,” continued the Greek, “and I was alone, I chastened my heart with a new prayer, that I might be permitted to see the king when he was come, and worship him.
One night I sat by the door of my cave, trying to get nearer the mysteries of my existence, to know which is to know God. Suddenly on the sea below me, or rather in the darkness that covered its face, I saw a star begin to burn slowly. It arose and drew nigh, and stood over the hill and above my door, so that its light shone full upon me. I fell down and slept and dreamed, and in my dream J heard a voice say, Oh Greek, thy faith has conquered. Blessed art thou. With two others, come from the uttermost parts of the earth, thou shalt see him that is promised, and be a witness and the occasion of testimony for him. In the morning arise, go, and meet them, and keep trust in the Spirit that shall guide thee.’ And in the morning I awoke, with the Spirit as a light to me. Supposing it to be the light of the sun, I put off my hermit’s garb, and dressed myself as of old. From a hiding place I took the treasure which I had brought from the city. A ship went sailing past. I hailed it, was taken aboard, and landed at Antioch. There I bought a camel, and his furniture. Through the gardens and orchards that enamel the banks of the Orontes I journeyed to Emesa, Damascus, Bostra and Philadelphia; thence hither. So, brethren, you have my story; I will listen to yours.”
At the end of the Greek’s report the Sanhedrin was dismissed by the President, for it was late. The next day the Hindoo appeared and said:
‘Ye children of the living God, I speak to you in a language which, if not the oldest in the world, was at least the soonest to be reduced to letters ; I mean the Sanscrit, of India. I am a Hindoo by birth. My people were the first to walk in the fields of knowledge, first to divide them, first to make them beautiful. Whatever may hereafter befall, the four Vedas must live, for they are the primal fountains of religion and useful intelligence. From them were derived the Upa-Vedas, which were delivered by Brahma, and which treat of medicines, archery, architecture, music, and the four and sixty mechanical arts; the Ved Angas, revealed by inspired saints, and devoted to astronomy, grammar, pronunciation, charms and incantations, religious rites and ceremonies; the Up-Angas, written by the sage Vyasa. Such, brethren, are the great shastras or books of sacred ordinances. They are dead to me now, yet through all time they will serve to illustrate the budding genius of our race. They were promises of quick perfection. Ask you why the promises failed?
Alas! the books themselves closed all the gates to progress. Under pretext of care for the creature, their authors imposed the fatal, principle that a man must not address himself to discovery or invention, for which heaven had provided him with all things needful. When that condition became a sacred law, the lamp of Hindoo genius was let down a well where since it has lighted narrow walls and bitter waters. These allusions, brethren, are not from pride, as you will understand when I tell you that the shatras teach a supreme God, called Brahm; also that the puranas, or sacred poems of the Up Angas, tell us of virtue, and good works, and of the soul. So ages before my people were known the two great ideas, God and the soul, absorbed all the forces of the Hindoo mind.
In further explanation, let me say that we have three gods: Brahm, Yishnu and Shiva. Of these Brahm is said to be the author of our race, which in course of creation he divided into four castes: First, he peopled the world below and the heavens above; next, he made the earth ready for man caste nearest in likeness to himself, highest and noblest, sole teachers of the Vedas, which at the same time flowed from his lips in finished state, perfect in all useful knowledge. From his breast, the seat of life, came the vaisaya, or producers shepherds, farmers, merchants; from his foot, in sign of degradation sprang the sudra or servile, doomed to menial duties for the other classes serfs, domestics, laborers, artisans. Take notice further, that the law, so born with them, forbade a man of one caste becoming a member of another. The Brahmin could not enter a lower order. If he violated the laws of his own grade, he became an outcast, lost to all but outcasts like himself.”
At this point, the imagination of the Greek, flashing forward upon all the consequences of such a degradation, overcame his eager attention, and he exclaimed, in such a state. Oh, brethren, what mighty need of a loving God!” Yes,” added the President of the Sanhedrin, a loving God like ours.”
The brow of the Hindoo knit painfully. When the emotion was spent he proceeded, in a softened voice: I was born a Brahmin. My life consequently was ordered down to its least act, its last hour my first draught of nourishment; the giving me ray compound name; taking me out the first time to see the sun, investing me with the triple thread, by which I became one of the twice born; my induction into the first order, where all is celebrated with sacred texts, and rigid ceremonies, I might not walk, eat, drink, or sleep, without danger of violating a rule, and the penalty, oh brethren, was to my soul, according to the degrees of omission; my soul went to one of the heavens indras; the lowest Brahmas, the highest, or it was driven back to become the life of a worm, a fly, a fish, or a brute. The reward for perfect observance was beatitude or absorption into the being of Brahm, which was not existence as much as absolute rest.”
The Hindoo gave himself a moment’s thought; proceeding, he said:
The part of a Brahmin’s life, called the first order, is his student life. When I was ready to enter the second order that is to say when I was ready to marry and become a householder I questioned everything, even Brahm. I was a heretic. From the depths of the well I discovered a light above, and yearned to go up, and see what all it shone upon. At last ah, with what years of toil! I stood in the perfect day, and beheld the principle of life, the element of religion, the link between the soul and God love.” The shrunken face of the good man kindled visibly, and he clasped his hands with force. A silence ensued, during which the Sanhedrin looked at him with amazement; the Greek through tears.
At length he resumed: The happiness of love is inaction; its test is, what one is willing to do for others. I could not rest. Brahm had filled the world with so much wretchedness; the Sudra appealed to me; so did the countless devotees and victims. The Island of Ganga Lagor lies where the sacred waters of the Ganges disappear in the Indian Ocean. Thither I betook myself, in the shade of the temple built there, to the sage Kapila. In the union of prayers with the disciples, whom the sanctified memory of the holy man keeps around his home, I thought to find rest; but twice every year came pilgrimages of Hindoos, seeking purification in the waters.
Their misery strengthened my love. Against its impulse to speak I clenched my jaws; for one word against Brahm, or the triad, or Shatras would doom me; one act of kindness to the outcast Brahmins, who now and then drag themselves to die on the burning sand ; a blessing said, a cup of water given, and I became one of them, lost to family, country, privileges and caste. The love conquered, I spoke to the disciples in the temple. They drove me out. I spoke to the pilgrims. They stoned me from the island. On the highway was I tempted to preach. My hearers fled from me, or sought my life. In all India, finally, there was not a place in which I could find peace or safety, not even among the outcast: for, though fallen, they still believed in Brahm.
In my extremity, I looked for a solitude, from which to hide from all but God. I followed the Ganges to its source, far up in the Himalayas. When I entered the pass of Purdwar, where the river in unstained purity leaps to its course, through the muddy lowlands, I prayed for my race, and thought myself lost to them forever. Through gorges, over cliffs, across glaciers, by peaks that seemed star high, I made my way to the lake of marvellous beauty asleep at the feet of giant peaks, which flaunt their crown of snow everlastingly in the face of the sun.
There, at the source of the three rivers, Indus, Ganges, and Brahmapootra, where mankind took up their first abode, and from there separated to replete the world, where nature had gone back to its primeval condition, and, secure in its immensities, invites the sage and the exile with promises of safety to the one and solitude to the other, there I went to abide alone with God; praying, fasting, waiting for death. Again the voice fell, and the bony hands were fervently clasped. One night I walked by the shores of the lake, and spoke to the listening silence: When will God come and claim his own? Is there to be no redemption?’
Suddenly a light began to glow tremulously out on the water. Soon a star arose and moved towards me, and stood over head. The brightness stunned me. While I lay upon the ground I heard a voice of infinite sweetness say: Thy love hath conquered. Blessed art thou, O son of India, the redemption is at hand. With two others from far quarters of the earth, thou shalt see the Redeemer, and be a witness that he hath come. In the morning arise and go to meet them, and put all thy trust in the Spirit which shall guide thee.’ And from that time the light hath stayed with me. So I knew it was the visible presence of the Spirit.
In the morning I started to the world, and as I passed a cleft in the mountain I found a lump of gold. I sold it at Bagdad, and have travelled fearlessly, for the Spirit was and is still with me. Oh, brethren, I shall see him, I shall speak to him, and worship him.”
Your words, brother, are of the Spirit,” said Egypt. There are many distinctions I might claim for my race, but I will mention only one: that is history begins with us. Ours is the privilege to claim the first records that tell of the origin of the race of man. It is ours also to boast of the first light of the holy religion that came from God unto man. Religion is merely the law which binds man to his Creator in purity. It has but these elements: God, the soul, and the mutual recognition, out of which, when put into practice, spring worship, love, and reward. This law, like all others—like that which binds the earth to the sun—was perfect in the beginning. Perfection is God. Simplicity is perfection. The curse of curses is, man will not let these truths alone. By the mingling of the Ethiopian, Persian, Assyrian, and Macedonian, this God was divided into eight creative qualities, and in the course of time he was still divided until he had lost all his value. We need a unity in God, so that we can approach him under our various necessities, and the time has come for us to have this God concentrated. This God dwelt with the Hebrews when they dwelt with us as slaves. They clung to their God; and when persecution became intolerable they were delivered in a manner never to be forgotten by the Egyptians.
I speak from the records, which go to show that Moche, himself a Hebrew, came to the palace and demanded permission for the slaves, then millions in number, to leave the country. The demand was made in the name of the Lord God of Israel. Pharaoh refused. Hear what followed: All the water was turned into blood, yet the monarch refused. Then frogs came up and covered all the land; he still refused. Then Moche threw ashes in the air, and a plague attacked the Egyptians.
Next all the cattle of the Egyptians died. Locusts devoured all the green things of the valley. At noon the light was turned into darkness, so thick that lamps would not burn. Finally in the night the angel destroyed the first born of all the Egyptian families. But when the slaves were gone Pharaoh followed them, and in their extremity the waters divided and let them pass. Pharaoh attempted to follow, and God caused the waves to return and all his hosts were drowned. Since that day we have had two religions in Egypt : one public the other private, and that which is private must live forever. All the trampling by the many nations, all the harassing by kings, all the inventions of enemies, all the changes of time, have been in vain Like a seed under the mountain awaiting its time, this is the time for it to come forth. This is the time for the world to reform, and there must be a reformer.
To reform he must not only come with human sanction, he must come with supernatural power. He must demonstrate all he says. He must give power such as God revealed to Pharaoh. The minds of the Egyptians have become so corrupt, God has been so divided that the air, water, skies, are all full of gods ; and yet in main extremity none of these gods can afford the relief the Israelites enjoyed. And such is the condition of the world. To return, to our former hope it will require faith that will take no denial, and death rather than recant. I believe in prayer, and, to make my appeals strong, I retired from the abodes of men. I went into the mountains, and there gave myself up to meditation and supplicating for a solution of these great truths. There in the morning a mountain, blue as the sky, flung its shadow over my soul, and its gentle breezes fanned my burning brow. At the foot of it lay a beautiful lake of clear snow water. The fruit of the palm fed my body, and prayer my soul. One night I wandered in the orchard close by the beautiful lake. The stars of heaven glistened in the sparkling waters, and I said. Is there no hope? Is there no spirit in the invisible heavens that can assuage the grief of mortals? Is there no ruling hand that governs those sentinels of night? Is there no kindling breath that sets those watch fires going, that could kindle one spark of hope in this cold and stupid heart? Is there no spark that
could warm this frozen, this darken unbelief? Is there no light within the ruler’s command that could shine one cheering ray on my gloomy path of life? Such were the forebodings of my heart, and such was the soups anxiety, that I found myself talking to God in a personal manner: Why may I not see thy salvation?’
Thus I prayed, and while I gazed on the lake of stars, suddenly one of them seemed to come up to the top of the water, and put on a most beautiful brilliancy, and come and stood over my head. I fell on my face, and I heard a voice not of earth say, O Egypt, thy good works have conquered. Arise, and go with thy strange brethren that thou mayest meet in the way, and when thou comest to Jerusalem enquire where is he that is born king of the Jews.’
And this, oh Masters of Israel, is our first lesson, and by this we shall learn that the kingdom of heaven is to be won not by the sword, nor by human wisdom, but by faith, love, and good works.”
At the close of the address, the President arose and said: If these strangers have anything for the entertainment of the Sanhedrin, they will inform us direct. This house will not be detained longer listening to a history of their several countries, or of their personal achievements. If they have matters of fact the Sanhedrin will hear.”
After a pause of a few minutes, the Egyptian proceeded:
”I was born at Alexandria, a prince and a priest. I was educated after my profession, but very early 1 became discontented. Part of the faith imposed was that after death, upon the destruction of the body, the soul at once began its former progression from the lowest up to man, the highest and last existence, and that without reference to conduct in this life. When I heard of the Persian realm of light, his paradise across the bridge chinevet where only the good can go, the thought haunted me so much that in the day as well as in the night, I brooded over this, that God should make no distinction between the good and the bad.”- At this point he was interrupted by the Sanhedrin asking for something more to the point. ‘Then,” said the Egyptian, after our lonely meeting on the desert sand, and having these interchanges of experience, we started on our mission, when suddenly before us sprung up a lambent flame. As we looked at it, it grew into a beautiful star of brilliancy. We all exclaimed, The star, the star! ‘Thus we followed its light until we came to the Joppa gate. Here the scene is perfect confusion—confusion in sounds, actions, colors and things. This was, according to the Hebrew system, the 25th day of the month Thebet (the Hebrew month for December), the second of the 193d Olympiad, or 747th of Rome, the 67th of Herod the Great, and the 35th of his reign. At the Joppa gate, by the southern wall, was a small group that attracted our special attention. It was a man and woman and donkey. The man stood by the animal holding a leading strap, while the donkey was feeding on some green grass. The man was leaning upon a staff he used as a goad and support.
His dress was like that of the Jew. The mantle dropped from his head, and the robe or frock which clothed his person from neck to heel, was probably the garment he was accustomed to wear when attending his own synagogue at home. His features were exposed, and he seemed about thirty years old. He looked round him with a dull and stupid eye, as though there was but little care on his mind. The woman satin a cushioned pillow on the donkey’s back. An outer robe of dull woollen stuff completely covered her person. Once in awhile, impelled by curiosity, she would pull back the white wimple or veil to see what was passing. We overheard the man accosted: ‘Are you not Joseph of Nazareth?’ The speaker was standing close by. I am so called,’ said the man.
And you; oh, peace unto you, my friend. Rabbi Samuel. The same give I back to you, the Rabbi answered, looking at the woman; and then added, to you and to your house, and to all that make peace. With the last word he placed one hand upon his breast and inclined his head to the woman, who had pulled the white veil from her face enough to show one but a short time out of girlhood. There is so little dust on you I presume you stayed in the city last night, the city of our fathers. No, Joseph replied, as we could only make Bethany before night we stayed in the khan there, and took the road at day break. The journey before you is long not to Joppa, I hope? Only to Bethlehem. Yes, yes, he said. ‘I see,’ said the Rabbi, ‘you were born in Bethlehem, and you and your daughter are going there to be taxed, as ordered by Caesar. The children of Jacob are as the tribes of Egypt were, only they neither have a Moses or a Joshua. How are the mighty fallen?’ “Joseph answered, ‘The woman is my wife.’
But the Rabbi clung to the political idea, and he went on without noticing the explanation. What are the Zealots doing down in Galilee? Tell me said he, ‘is Judas claimed to be the Christ among your people?’ Some think so,’ said Joseph. ”At this the veil of the woman was removed She did not look over fifteen. Her form, voice and manner belonged to the period of transit from girl to womanhood. Her face was perfectly oval; her complexion more pale than fair; the nose was faultless; her lips slightly parted and ripe ; the eyes were blue and large, shaded by drooping lids, giving to her countenance a warmth and tenderness; a flood of golden hair floated down her back upon the pillow.
She sometimes raised her head as if she was listening to a calling voice, and seemed in waiting for some vast expectation from some higher and nobler source than anything of an earthly character.” At this time Gamaliel called the house to order, and declared that the Sanhedrin could not waste its time in having so many things of no importance delineated, taking their time and keeping them from other business. While the Egyptian was declaring that they were in search of this king of the Jews, Hillel spoke out and said it was his opinion that the less they had to say about the king of the Jews the better; for the Roman authority only wanted a pretext to massacre the whole Jewish commonwealth and confiscate their property. By others it was argued that of all the questions ever brought before the Sanhedrin there was none so important as this subject; and if these were the Magi that sought the babe in the manger, he thought it was their business to hear all about it. This was the final conclusion of the whole house.
Then, with your permission, noble Masters of Israel, and with the consent of these, my two brethren, I will proceed to state what we have seen for ourselves. When we arrived at Jerusalem the whole city was in the highest state of excitement over what had been seen in the heavens a few nights before. As we arrived before the gate and asked where was he that was born king of the Jews, we were shown into the high court of the priest and doctors of the law, where there were assembled about fifty men of very grave and magnificent appearance. The room in which they assembled was large and magnificent, in the form of the ancient courts of the Pharaohs.
The congregation was seated on a divan with the president seated in the mouth with a tripod standing before him, upon which were spread the sacred scrolls of the prophets. These persons never assembled except when they were called together to decide great questions of the law or the doctrines of the holy Testament. He who sat before the tripod in the place as the president, having all the rest arranged on his right and left hand, instantly attracted our attention. He had been cast in a large mould, but was now shrunken and stooped to ghastliness. His white robe dropped from his shoulders in folds that gave no signs of muscular power. His hands, half concealed by sleeves of white silk with bands, were folded on his knees. When he spoke he sometimes raised his finger, which indicated more of caution than direction. His hair, as white as fine-drawn silver, lay sprinkled over his towering forehead. All his lower face was covered with a flowing beard as graceful as was Aaron’s.
This great and venerable man at 106 years was still rector of the great college. There had been many discussions on some great question, and finally by silence they showed that they had come to a satisfactory conclusion. A servant stood behind the Master, who was called to report to the king. After a time two officers entered, one on either side of the door. After them slowly followed a most striking form and personage an old man, clad in a purple robe, bordered with scarlet and girt to his waist by a band of gold, linked so fine that it was pliable as leather, the latchets of whose shoes sparkled with precious stones. A narrow crown, wrought in filagree, shone outside a tarbooshe of softest crimson plush, which, incasing his head, fell down his neck and shoulders, leaving the throat and neck exposed. Instead of a seal a dagger dangled from his belt.
Not until he reached the opening of the divan did he pause or look up from the floor. Then, as for the first time conscious of the company, and roused by their presence, he raised himself and looked haughtily around like one startled and searching for an enemy, so dark, suspicious, and threatening was the glance. Such was Herod the Great a body broken by diseases, a conscience scarred with crimes, a mind magnificently capable, a soul fit for brotherhood with the Caesars, now seven-and-sixty years old, but guarding his throne with a jealousy never so vigilant, a power never so despotic, and a cruelty never so inexorable There was a general movement on the part of the assemblage a bending forward in salaam by the more aged, a rising up of the more courtly, followed by low genuflections, with hand upon the beard or breast. His observation taken, Herod moved on until at the tripod opposite the venerable Hillel, who met his cold glance with an inclination of the head, and a slight lifting of the hands. The king, with imperious simplicity, addressing Hillel:
“Sirs, this city has been thrown into fluttering commotion this night by this strange doctrine, that there is a babe born of a virgin which is to be king of the Jews. Why is this? How is this? I am a friend in general to all men, but I am here by Roman authority, and as the representative of that kingdom it is my duty to look after the people’s interest, and to attack any usurper that may set up against the Roman Government. This is my highest duty.’ The eyes of the patriarch glowed mildly, and raising his head and looking] the inquisitor full in the face he answered: ‘With thee, Oh king, be the peace of the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob!’ His manner was that of invocation. Changing it he resumed: Thou hast demanded of us where the king of Israel should be born. That is easy.’
The king bowed, though the evil eyes remained fixed on the patriarch. Hillel glanced at the scroll on the tripod. Pointing with his tremulous finger, he continued: ‘In Bethlehem; for thus it is written in section 10: “And thou, Bethlehem, in the land of Judea, art not the least among the princes of Judah, for out of thee shall come a governor that shall rule my people, Israel The evil eye of the king rested a moment on the parchment, when he said: Why does your prophet call Bethlehem a prince? A prince is one that rules under another, as I rule under Caesar; and why say he shall rule? It may be he is to rule in your religious affairs under the high priest, or as the priest under me. I don’t see, if your prophet was inspired, as you say, to tell events of the future, but that he certainly had knowledge to tell it plainly so that all could understand it, especially when there was so much depending on it as the reign of an empire. Such might save these nations from being drenched in blood. It seems to me,’ he continued, that you Jews can be controlled further by fiction than any nation I ever saw. sometimes think that you are a people altogether incapable of self-government, and, if it was not for the Roman authority to govern you, you would fall to pieces like an old and dilapidated house.’ So saying, he bowed himself out, and his officers followed him with a sneer and a hissing triumph. Hillel and all his court seemed cowed and dismayed.
They were dismissed, and the parchment folded carefully, and borne away. I thought I never saw any man so much in need of the Spirit as Hillel and his court. From this I learned it was no use for man to contend against evil in his own strength. He must have the help of God’s Spirit. At a later hour of the night we were lying in the lawn of the khan. The stones which served us as pillows raised our heads so that we could see out of the open arch into the depths of the open sky. And as we watched the twinkling stars we thought of the next manifestation. How would it come, or what would it be? We were in Jerusalem at last. We had asked at the gate for him we sought. We had borne witness of his star. It remained only for us to find him, and as to that we placed all confidence in the Spirit. Men listening for the voice of God or waiting for a sign from heaven cannot sleep. While we were in this condition a man stopped under the arch. Awake! he said to us; I bring you a message which will not be put off. “We all sat up. From whom?’ I asked. ‘Herod, the king.’ ‘Each one of us felt the Spirit’s thrill. ‘What would the king with us?’ ‘His messenger is without; let him answer.’ ‘Tell him to abide our coming.’
The question put to the people along the road and to the guard at the gate has given us quite a notoriety,’ we said. We arose, put on our sandals, girt our mantles about us, and went out. ‘I salute you, and give you peace, and pray your pardon, but my master, the king, has sent me to invite you to the palace. He wishes to speak to you in private.’ The king’s will is our will,’ we answered. We will follow you.
‘Following the guide, we proceeded without a word through the dim starlight, made dimmer by the walls on both sides, sometimes almost lost under bridges connecting the house tops. Out of a low ground we ascended a hill. At last we came to a portal reared across the way. In the light of fires blazing before it in two great braziers we caught a glimpse of the structure, and also of some guards leaning motionless upon their arms. We passed into a building unchallenged. Then by passages not always lighted, up long flights of stairs, we passed innumerable cloisters and chambers. We were conducted into a tower of great height. Suddenly the guide halted, and, pointing through an open door, said to us: ‘Enter; the king is there.’
The air of the chamber was heavy with the perfume of sandal-wood, and all the appointments within were effeminately rich. Upon the floor, covering the central space, a turft rug was spread, and upon that a throne was set. We had but time, however, to catch a confused idea of fans and jars and musical instruments, of golden candlesticks glittering in their own light, of walls painted in the style of the voluptuous Grecian school, one look at which would have made a Pharisee hide his head in holy horror. Herod was sitting upon the throne to receive us, clad as when we saw him in the conference of the holy doctors. At the edge of the rug, to which we advanced uninvited, we prostrated ourselves. The king touched a bell. An attendant came in, and placed three stools before the throne. Seat yourselves, said the monarch, graciously. ‘From the north gate,’ he continued, when we were seated, I had last evening report of the arrival of three strangers, curiously mounted, and appearing as if from a far country. Are you the men?’ ” ‘We are men, each from a far country.’
Who are you? Whence do you come?’ he asked, adding significantly, ‘Let each speak for himself.’ “In reply we each gave him a relation of cur former history. He answered: ‘What was the question you put to the officer at the north gate We asked,’ ‘Where is he that is born king of the Jews?’ ‘Ah,’ he said, ‘I see now why the people are so excited. You excite me no less. Is there another king of the Jews?’ ‘There is one,’ we replied, ‘newly born.’
“He then said, ‘How is it that you all are so widely separated, and each one came to hear of him?’ I will tell you thinly, oh king. There is an almighty God.’ Herod was visibly startled. ‘He made us come hither, promising us that we should find the Redeemer of the world, and as a sign we each had a dream, and we saw a star that guided us, and heard a voice saying his Spirit should guide us.’ “To which Herod replied, ‘Are you accustomed to be governed by dreams? If I were to be governed by my dreams, I might tear the world to pieces, and ruin all my fellow men.
Or if I were to follow every poisonous vapor that rises from the pools and quagmires of the earth, I should be as much alarmed as those foolish shepherds near Bethlehem. If you only have a dream as the basis of your confidence, I am thinking that you have missed the mark, and mistaken your calling. And until you people learn to depend more on human reason and judgment, you will always be led about by legends and myths, to your own ruin.’ ‘With these words Herod arose and left the throne, thus signifying that the interview was over. The guide led us back to the khan. We gave gifts to the steward, and started for the Joppa gate and passed out into the open country, taking the road so lately traveled by Joseph and Mary.
‘As we came up out of Hinnom, on the plain of Rephaim, a light appeared, at first wide spread and faint. Our pulse fluttered fast; the light intensified rapidly; we closed our eyes against its burning brilliancy. When we dared to look again, lo! the star, perfect as any in the heavens, but low down and moving slowly before us; and we folded our hands and shouted with great joy. God is with us,’ we each repeated at the same moment. The star, arising out of the valley beyond Mar Elias, stood still over a house upon the slope of the hill near the town.
It was now the beginning of the third watch, and at Bethlehem the morning was breaking over the mountains in the east, but so feeble that it was yet night in the valley. The watchman on the roof of the old khan shivering in the chilly air, was listening for the first distinguishable sounds with which life awakening greets the dawn, when a light came moving up the hill towards the house. We thought it a torch in some one’s hand; next moment we thought it a meteor. The brilliance grew, however, until it became a star. So afraid was the watchman that he cried out, and brought everybody to the roof. The light continued to increase until the rocks, hills and trees shone plainly. Directly its brightness became blinding.
The more timid fell upon their knees and prayed, with their faces hidden; the boldest, covering their eyes, crouched, and now and then snatched glances fearfully. Such as dared to look discovered the star standing still over the house in front of the cave where the child had been born. We went straight forward and entered the cave, and found the young child and his mother. We bowed ourselves down in his presence, and when we went to leave we gave the mother many and costly presents. And when we came out of the khian the star was gone, which made us know that our mission was ended for that time. ‘We went to our own countries, and told our people what we had seen. Some of them laughed at us, some of them wept for joy, but all the old Jews that are scattered through our countries (and be assured they are many), each one to whom we related the above facts held his breath in silence.
‘Now, ye noble Masters of Israel, these events transpired almost thirty years ago. Our business is to find out where is the child of promise. From the signs of the times it is fulfilled, the prophetic word is complete, the condition of the nations is
ripe. The wretchedness of the masses and their hopeless condition have no relation whatever to religion. Their murmurs are not against their gods, or for the want of gods. In the oak woods of Britain the Druids held their followers.Oclin and Freya maintain Boreanes. Egypt is satisfied with her crocodiles and a human holding them in equal honor.
In hope of the Nirvana the Hindoos move on, patient as ever, in the ray less paths of their Brahm. The beautiful Greek mind, in pause of its philosophy, still sings its heroic gods of old, while in Some nothing is so common and cheap as gods ; according to whom the masters of the world, because they were masters, carried their worship and offerings indifferently from altar to altar, delighted in the pandemonium they had erected. Their discontent (if they are discontented) is with the number of their gods; for after borrowing all the gods of the earth, they now proceed to deify their Caesars, and vote them altars and holy service.
No, the unhappy condition is not from religion, but for the want of it. It is for the want of the true God. It is from misgovernment, surpation, and countless tyrannies, into which the common people have been plunged ; and now at this time the whole world is praying to be relieved from the oppression that the political authorities have forced upon them. The supplication is universal, everywhere alike. In Lodinum, Alexandria, Athens, even here in Jerusalem, all are praying for a king to conquer rather than for a God to worship. Studying this question closely, we are forced to the conclusion that there is no relief from the universal confusion unless some God can prove himself a true God, and a masterful one, and come to the rescue. But the people at this time, even the discerning and philosophical, discover no hope only in the crushing of Rome. That done, the relief would follow in the restoration and re-organization of the kingdom of heaven. Therefore they pray, they conspire, rebel, fight, and die, drenching the soil to-day with blood, tomorrow with tears, and always with the same result; and so it will be always without the true God.”
At this time a young: member of the Sanhedrin, who had become all enthused with the Egyptian’s speech, cried out: Where is this child that men saw thirty years ago under such strange circumstances?” ‘If I could answer you,” the Egyptian said in his simple way, if I knew where he was, how quickly I would go to him! The seas should not stay me; no, nor the highest mountains. I surely would take the wings of the morning and go to him.” You have tried to find him, then,” said a member of the Sanhedrin. A smile flitted across the face of the men. The first task we charged ourselves with, after leaving the shelter in the desert, was to learn what became of the child ; but a year had passed, and I dare not go back to Bethlehem, for Herod still lived, still held the throne, bloody-minded as ever.
In Egypt, upon my return, I preached to the people. A few friends believed my statements, and rejoiced at the wonderful things I told them. Some of them went to Bethlehem to see for themselves. They went first to Bethlehem. They found there the khian and the cave, but the steward who sat at the gate and so kindly admitted us was gone. The king had taken him away, and he was no more to be found.” But they found some proofs, surely,” said one of the court. ‘Yes, proofs written in blood a village in mourning, mothers yet crying for their offspring.
You ‘must know when Herod heard of our flight he sent down and slew the youngest of each family. Not one escaped. The faith of our message was confirmed; but they came to me, saying the child was dead, slain with the other innocent ones of Bethlehem.”
‘Dead!” exclaimed one; and the whole house threw up their hands in holy horror.
The president explained: ”This is the reason he has not been found ; this is why he has not been brought into court. Will the speaker tell us if he knows anything of him?” I have no special knowledge of him,” replied the Egyptian; ”that is what we came to seek. The child is not dead, as my messengers supposed. I did not believe he was dead when they told me so. I do not believe it yet. My faith is such that I don’t believe all the power of the Roman Empire no, not all the world combined could destroy his life. From the records of God’s holy prophets, from the burning of the elements, from traveling stars, and from the talking lips of the skies, I can’t believe he is dead.”
‘Then you have some extra knowledge,” said a young member of the Sanhedrin, who appeared to be very much interested. ”No, not so, not so; no more than what I have related to this court of Masters. I have no special knowledge,” he continued, seeing a gloom settling over the face of his peers. ”I have given the subject much thought for many years, inspired by faith, which, I assure you, calling God for witness, is as strong in me now as when I was wandering by the lake, and saw the star, and heard the voice bidding me go in search for the child. We believe in God, and he. is the truth. The hills may turn to dust, and the seas be drank by the south winds, but his word shall stand, because it is the truth. This voice which spoke to me by the lake said: ‘With two others thou shalt see him.’
I have seen him, blessed be his name! But the redemption, which is the second promise, I have not seen. It is yet to come. Seest thou now if the child be dead there is no agent to bring the redemption about, and the word is naught, and God is no, I dare not say it;” and he threw up his hands in horror. ”The redemption is the work for which the child was born, and so long as the promise abides not death itself can separate him from his work, until it be fulfilled, or at least in the way of fulfilling. That now is one reason for my faith. ‘Then give me further attention. The Saviour I saw was born of a woman, in nature like us, and subject to all our ills, even death; but not for himself, but for us. And this is the way he is to redeem all mankind to die for them. What good is there in the death of a lamb, a bullock, yea, even in the death of the first born? They had no redeeming qualities. The purity of the law requires a sacrifice as pure and holy as the law itself.
These sacrifices are only signs; but how long can men live on a sign? The world is now ready to perish. They have lived on signs till they can live no longer. They are now hungering for the substance; and the redeeming qualities in this promised Redeemer are to save all. The sacrifice of the bullock saved him that offered it; but who is to save the world? or where is the sacrifice that can be offered for all men? We shall see him, we shall see him. Presently he will come as a refiner’s fire, set upon the hearts of men and refine them as silver is refined. And when all hearts are purified and moulded into the likeness of a unit, then the kingdom of heaven is restored, and all nations as well as national questions are settled, and the kingdoms of this world will all be blended into one kingdom. This is the work set apart for him to do. Is it not a performance for which only man is fitted? a man, wise, firm, discreet; a man, not a child? To become such he had to grow as we grew. Bethink you now of the dangers his life was subject to in the interval, the long interval, between childhood and maturity.
The existing powers were his enemies; Herod was his enemy ; and what would Rome have done if she could? and, as for Israel, that he should not be accepted by Israel, was the motive for cutting him off. See you now what better way there was to take care of him in his young life, in his helpless growing time, than to pass him into obscurity? Wherefore I say to myself and to my listening faith, which is never moved except by yearning of love I say, he is not dead, but lost, and his work remains undone. He will come to do his work. His word is too sacred, his work too important, for it to be left undone. The hope of all generations depends upon his compliance with these great and mysterious obligations. Are not these reasons enough, my Masters? ‘Speak on! speak on !” cried several voices in the assembly. ‘Speak,” said the President; your words are those of a sage, and we would hear it all.”
“Well,” continued the Egyptian, ”seeing that the reasons were good more plainly, seeing it was God’s plan that the child should not be found I settled my faith into the keeping of patience, and took to waiting.” He raised his eyes in holy trust, and broke off abstractedly. ”I am waiting now. He lives, keeping well his mighty secret. What though I cannot go to him, nor name the hill or the valley of his abiding place? He lives it may be as the fruit in blossom; it may be as the fruit just ripening; but, by the certainty there is in the promise and reason of God, I know he lives. And as his day is hastening and the work grows more momentous, my spirit is longing for his appearing, and for the redemption of the world, when all flesh shall be sanctified to answer his gracious purpose.”
At this, one of the members of the Sanhedrin arose and said: ”I cannot tell how thankful I am for the counsel this Egyptian has given us. These great questions have been before the Hillel and Shammaite schools. They have engaged the thought and searches of the good and great for ages past. I have tried to look into these things, but never have seen them in the light I now see them. I feel to return a vote of thanks to this man of Egypt for the holy knowledge he has given us upon these mysterious questions. Voices cried out: We will hear more. We want to know if this child is to be king of the Jews, or is he to be king of all nations? Is he to reign from an earthly throne, and have his subjects to bow at his feet, and tax the poor, and fill his coffers with the sweat of his subjects like Caesar and Herod? Tell us all these things that we may be prepared to receive him as our benefactor, or reject him as our master.”
The Egyptian Jew continued: In my house on the Nile, so close to the river that the passers-by in their boats can see it, and its reflection in the water at the same time in my house a few weeks ago, I sat thinking. A man thirty years old, I said to myself, should have his fields of life all ploughed, and his planting well done; for after that it is summer time, with time scarce to ripen his sowing. The child, I said further, is now about thirty years old. His time to plant must be at hand. I asked myself, as you ask me, and I answer by coming hither, as to a good resting place close by the land our fathers had from God. Where else should he appear, if not in Judea? In what city should he begin his work, if not in Jerusalem? Who should first receive the blessings he is to bring, if not the children of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, in love at least, the children of the Lord?
If I were bidden to seek him, I would search well the hamlets and villages on the slopes of the mountains of Judea and Galilee. Failing, I would go east into the valley of the Jordan. He is there now, standing in a door or on a hilltop. Only this morning he saw the sun rise one day nearer the time when he himself shall become the light of the world.” The speaker ceased, with his finger pointing. All the house were listening with intense anxiety. Finally the spell was broken by one of the members. He was old, and his long white beard flowed gracefully down like Aaron’s. It was Zacchaeus, one of the oldest members of the Sanhedrin. All the house seemed to be affected by his solemnity.
”I see,” said he, ”that thou hast been much and strangely favored. I see also that thou art a wise man, and hast well appropriated what hast been given thee. I am warned of the coming events, and borrow somewhat from thy faith. And while my soul drinks the divine draught, and my mind feasts on the riches of thy well-developed ideas, yet there are many things of importance to be learned. I would learn more of the important mission of him for whom you are waiting. I would wait, too, as becomes a faithful son of Judah. He is to be a Saviour, thou saidst. Is he not to be king of the Jews, also?”
The Egyptian replied: ”The mission is yet a purpose of God. All I think about it is wrong, from the words of the voice in connection with the prayer to which they were in answer. Shall I refer to them again?” ”Thou art the teacher,” said the venerable man. “The cause of my disquiet,” the Egyptian said “that which made me a preacher in Alexandria and in the villages of the Nile, that which drove me at last into the solitude, where the Spirit found me, was the fallen condition of men, occasioned, as I believe, by the loss of the knowledge of God. I sorrowed for the sorrows of my kind not of one class or another, but all of them. So utterly are they fallen it seems to me there can be no redemption, unless God himself would make it his work. And I prayed him to come, and that I might see him. The good works have conquered; the redemption cometh; thou shalt see the Saviour. Thus the voice spoke, and with this answer I went up to Jerusalem rejoicing.”
‘Now, to whom is the redemption?” To all the world.” ‘And how shall it be” said the President. I know that men say there will be no happiness until Rome is razed from her hills; that is to say, the ills of the time are not, as I thought them, from ignorance of God, but from the misgovernment of rulers. Do we need to be told that human governments are never for the sake of religion? How many kings, my Masters, have you known that were better than their subjects? Oh, no, no; the redemption cannot be for a political purpose to pull down rulers and powers, and empty thrones, merely that others may take and enjoy them. If that were all of it, the wisdom of God would cease to be surpassing.
I tell you, though it be but the blind telling the blind, he that comes is to be a Saviour of souls, and the redemption means one more God upon earth, and righteousness, that his stay may be tolerable to himself.” At this speech the Sanhedrin were visibly cowed, and all heads seemed to be dejected. ‘By the splendor of God,” cried this young member impulsively, ‘The judgment does away with all custom. The ways of the world are all fixed, and cannot be changed. There must be a leader in every community, clothed with power, else there can be no reform.” The wisdom,” answered the speaker, Me of the world, and thou dost forget that it is from the ways of the world that we are to be redeemed. Man as a subject is the ambition of a king; the soul of man for its salvation is the work of God.”
The young member answered: I cannot understand this kind of king; I cannot separate the ruler from his powers and duties.” ‘Who was it thou was bidden to enquire for at
the gates of Bethlehem?” Master,” replied the Egyptian, ‘we have the habit of studying things that lie close to our feet, giving but a look at the geater that lie in the distance. We see now nothing but the title. King of the Jews. If we would lift our eyes to the mystery beyond, the stumbling-block would disappear. Of the title, a word. Israel hath seen better days days in which God called us by endearing names. He called us his people ; then he dwelt with us by his prophets.
Now, if in those days he promised us a Savior, such as I saw at Bethlehem, the appearance must be according to the promise, if only for the words’ sake. And it may be that the Sanhedrin may be thinking of the dignity of the child. If so, bethink thee. What is it to be a successor of Herod by the world’s standard of honor? What? I ask, could not God do better by his beloved? If thou canst think of the Almighty Father in want of a title, and stooping to borrow the inventions of men, why was I not bidden to ask for a Caesar at once? O, for the substance of that whereof we speak! Look higher, my Masters. I pray thee ask, rather, of what shall he be king? for I do tell you that this is the key to the knowledge we want. There is a kingdom on the earth, though not of the earth. It is a kingdom of wider bounds wider than the sea and earth though they were rolled together, and beaten thinner than gold by the hammers of the forge.
Its existence is a fact as our hearts are facts, and we journey through it from birth to death without seeing it. Nor shall any man see it until he hath first known his own soul. For the kingdom is not for him, but for his soul, and in its dominion there is glory. Such as has not entered into the imagination original, incomparable, impossible of increase.” The conclusion to which the Sanhedrin came was conflicting. The king implied a kingdom; he was to be a warrior, glorious as was David; a ruler, wise and glorious as was Solomon. The kingdom was to be a power against which Rome was to dash herself in pieces. There would be the agonies of death, then peace, meaning the Judean dominion forever. They looked upon Jerusalem, of course as the capital, and Zion as the throne, of the universal Master. Then they would reflect; the hand of man was not in it, nor has the king any use for men or soldiers.
The earth must be made new, they would say; and as for government, there must be something beside armed bands to bring it forward. Thus were the various opinions of the Jews who heard the speech of the Egyptian. One old priest said he did not see why the Jews should not be favored with a king and a kingdom from heaven. The Jews said they have always been favored of God in the care of their lives and property. He could see a care that was not his. The Simons which smote others on the desert jumped over the Jews; he storms which heaped the seashore with the wrecks of vessels, only blowed the Jews to the harbor that much the sooner; and he could see the hand of God in all this. His intelligence is never wasted. Intelli- gence like God’s never stirs except with design. ”I have held the question in heart, lo, these many years,” he said, ‘ watching for an answer, I felt sure if God were, some day, in his own good time, in his own way, he would show me his purposes, making them clear as a white house in the side of the mountain. And I believe he has done it. I believe the prophets I must believe the prophets.
May the testimony of the whole nation be slighted? Addressing the Egyptian: Though thou travel from Tyre, which is by the sea in the north, to the capital of Edom, which is in the desert south, thou wilt not find a lisper of the shema an almsgiver in the temple, or anyone who has ever eaten of the roasted lamb of the Passover, to tell you that the kingdom, and the king who is coming to build for us the children of the covenant, is other than of this world, like our father David’s. Now, where got they their faith, ask you? Lend me your listening, and I will show you all. It would be too long to give you the names of the holy men who, in the providence of God, succeeded the prophets, only a little less favored than they; the seers who have written and the preachers who have taught since the captivity; the very wise who have borrowed their light from the lamp of Malachi, the last of his line, and whose great names Hillel and Shammai never tired of repeating in the colleges. Will you ask them of the kingdom?
Thus the Lord of the sheep in the Book of Enoch : ‘Who is he? Who but the king of whom we are speaking? A throne is set for him. He smites the earth, and the other kings are shaken from their thrones, and the scourges of Israel flung into a cavern of fire, flaming with pillars of fire.’ So also the singer of the psalms of Solomon: ‘Behold, oh Lord, and raise up to Israel their king, the son of David, at the same time thou knowest, oh God, to rule Israel, thy children. And he will bring the people of the heathen under his yoke, to serve him. And he shall be a righteous king, taught of God for he shall rule all the earth by the word of his mouth forever.’ And last, though not least, hear Ezra, the second Moses, in his vision of the night, and ask him who is the lion with a human voice, that says to the eagle, which is Rome: ‘Thou has loved liars, and overthrown the cities of the industrious, and razed their walls, though they did thee no harm ; therefore, be gone, that the earth may be refreshed, and recover itself, and hope in the justice and piety of him who made her;’ whereat the eagles were seen no more.”
The priest drank some wine, for he was feeble, and continued: “Surely, oh ye Masters of Israel, this is enough. But the way to the fountain is open ; therefore, let us go up and hear what the Lord says, by his holy prophets. Do ye believe the prophets?” said he, as he took a parchment roll from the tripod. He read: ‘The people that dwelt in the darkness hath seen a great light; they that dwelt in the land of the shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined ; for unto the nations of the world there shall be born a child. Out of a virgin’s womb shall he come unto the nations of the earth. This son shall be given, and all government shall lay on his shoulders. Of the increase of this government and of peace there shall be no end, neither shall his kingdom go to another at his death, for he shall never die. He shall sit upon his throne, even the throne of his father David, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and justice, from henceforth even forever.’
Believe ye the prophets, oh my Masters?” said the priest. Reaching to the tripod he takes another roll and reads: “But thou, Bethlehem, into thy borders shall a virgin come, even Bethlehem, the least among Israel; yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to rule my people Israel.'” Reaching for another roll he read: ” ‘Behold, the days will come, saith the Lord, that I will raise unto David a righteous branch, and a king shall reign and shall prosper, and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth. In his days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely. In his days Judah shall reign as a king, and as the Prince of the Most High shall he reign forever.’ Masters, do ye believe the prophets?” said the priest, reaching for another roll on the tripod.
He read as follows:
“I saw in the night vision, and behold, one like the son of man come with clouds of glory from heaven. He was confined in a virgin’s womb until the time appointed of the Lord, when he came forth. There was light upon the earth, and the heavenly host came down to worship him. There was given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom over all people, nations, languages. His dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall never pass away, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed.’ Believe ye these promises, oh Masters of Israel? Ye do not know the strength of his kingdom. Begin ye and count Israel as the drops of the sea. Ye think of him as a poor old man weeping by the rivers of Babylon; but go, see the mighty throng on Passover. Take your stand on the Hystus, or in the street of Barter, and see him as he is. The promise of the Lord to Jacob coming out of Padanaram, was a law under which our people have not ceased to prosper and to multiply, even in captivity.
They grew under the feet of the Egyptian yoke; the clench of the Koraan has been but wholesome nurture to them. Now they are indeed a nation, and a company of nations. Ifor that only, my Masters. In fact, to measure the strength of Israel which is, in fact, measuring what the king can do you should not abide solely by the rule of natural increase, but add thereto the other I mean the spread of faith which will carry you to the far and near of the whole known earth. Further, the habit is, I know, to think and speak of the Jews and Jerusalem as being all of Israel. Jerusalem is but a stone in the great temple of God. Turn from beholding the legions, strong though they be, and count the host of the faithful, waiting the old watchword: Each man to his tent, each man to his tent, O Israel!’
Count the many in Persia, children of those who chose not to return with the returning ones; count the brethren, who swarm the marts of Egypt and farther Africa; count the Hebrew colonists, eking profit in the west in Lodinum, and the trade courts of Spain ; count the pure in blood, and the proselytes in grace, and in the isles of the sea, and over in the Pontus and Antioch, and, for that matter, those that are accursed, living under the unclean walls of Rome, and those beyond the Nile, and in the region beyond the Caspian Sea; those of Gog and Magog; those that annually send gifts to the temple, in token that they believe in God count all these, my Masters, and you find you have an army already for the king at his coming, who will be ready to crown him with diadems of honor.
Oh, ye Masters of Israel, there is a work for him to do, and a work for all of us. It devolves on us, as the high court of the Jews, to adopt such measures as will insure success to the cause we have maintained so long; to make such appropriation of the temple treasure as may be needed in carrying on this work ; and to appoint men of the bravest hearts to do his bidding. Hence, it is the best for us to be ready when he comes, and not allow him to be crushed for the want of preparation.” While these debates were going on in the Sanhedrin, an Arab courier arrived, bearing a letter to the President of the Sanhedrin, dated Bathabara, Nisan, (the Hebrew month March) : “A prophet has appeared, whom the people call Elias.
He has been in the wilderness for years, and to our eyes he is a prophet. Indeed, such is his speech that all the country has gone after him. The burden of his speech is one that is to come after him, which he says, is his captain. and is to take the world by storm, and make one kingdom of it all; and he is to be the king of peace. Is not this the promise fulfilled? This man, he says, is greater who is presently to come.
This prophet is now waiting for him on the south bank of the Jordan, where the crowd is as throng as it is at Jerusalem on the feast of the Passover.” This letter from Meloch in attendance. At the reading of this letter the Sanhedrin became wild and frantic. Some shouted, some wept, some prayed, and some threw their garments into the air with the wildest enthusiasm. There was no order, nor could the President command any, and the house broke up in the wildest confusion, and many started over to the Jordan to see for themselves, I with the rest. On the third day of the journey our party noned by the river Jabbok, where there were a hundred or more men in camp, mostly from Perea, resting themselves and beasts. One of the men approached us saying: Are you going over to hear the new prophet? I am returning from there,” said the man.
Well, tell us about the prophet,” said I to him. ‘Well, a man has appeared out of the wilderness, a very holy man, with his mouth full of strange words, which take hold of all that hear him. He calls himself John the Nazarite, son of Zacharias, and says he is the messenger sent before the great Messiah of the world. They say of this John that he has spent his life from childhood in a cave down by Engedi, praying and living more strict than the Essenes. Crowds go to hear him preach. I went to hear him with the rest.” ”What doctrine does he preach?” I asked of this talkative stranger.
”A new doctrine, one never before taught in Israel. The Rabbisdo not know what to make of him. He calls it repentance and baptism. It is a strange doctrine. Someone asked him if he was not the Christ, but he answered them all, ‘I am not.’ Others asked him if he was not Elias, but to all he has the same answer, ‘I am a voice; I am crying; I am sent to cry, repent in heart, act right outwardly, for the king of heaven is coming, and will burn up the chaff with fire that never can be extinguished. Therefore make straight paths for your feet, lest your ways should be found crooked when the king of Zion comes, and you should have to be left out of that kingdom of purity he is coming to establish.’ “Next day, about the third out, our party came upon the barren steppe east of the sacred river. Opposite is we saw the upper limit of the old palm lands of Jericho stretching off to the hill country of Judea. Soon we caught sight of booths and tents and of the river, and a multitude collected down close by the bank, and yet another multitude on the western shore. Knowing that preaching was going on, we made great haste, but as we drew near, the crowd began to disperse, which made us know that the preaching was over. Let us stay here,” said someone.
‘The Nazarite will pass this way.” But the people were too intent on what they had heard to notice us or talk to strangers. They were debating the doctrine to which they had listened. Looking up the river we saw a personage coming towards us, who was so strange in his appearance that all else was forgotten. Outwardly the man was rude and uncouth, even savage-looking. Over the thin, gaunt visage (of the hue of brown parchment), over his shoulders, [and down his back below the middle, fell a covering of sun-scorched hair.
His eyes were burning bright. All his right side was naked, and of the color of his face, and quite as meagre. A shirt of the coarsest camel’s hair, coarse as Bedouin tent cloth, clothed the rest of his person to the knees, being gathered at the waist by a broad girdle of un tanned leather. His feet were bare. He used a knotted staff to help him forward. His movement was quick and decided, and strangely watchful. Every few minutes he would toss the tangled locks from his eyes, and look through the crowd as if he were searching for some one. One of our crowd asked:
Who is that?” I said : ‘It must be the Nazarite.” While we looked intently upon him, we saw a man sitting on a stone close by the water’s edge. He seemed to be in deep meditation, perhaps on the sermon. He arose, and walked slowly towards the Nazarite. As the preacher came near he stopped and gazed at the stranger. His form was slightly above the average in stature, and slender even to delicacy. His action seemed to be calm and deliberate like that belonging to a man much given to thought and reflection on serious subjects, and it well became his costume, which was an under-garment without sleeves, and reaching to his knees.
He had on a loose robe of beautiful Texture, with flowing sleeves, with bands or wristbands of blue silk, and a girdle of white linen about his waist. His clothes were much soiled with dust and travel. In all, he looked like a man already worn out with fatigue of mind, and his body suffering under some constitutional malady. His sandals were of the simplest kind. His head was open to the cloudless sky. His hair was long and wavy, inclined to a golden colour. He wore it parted in front. His forehead was large and well developed. His eyes beamed with brightness they were dark blue, very large, full of softness ; the lashes were of great length, as children’s. I
could hardly decide whether he was Greek or Jew from his exterior. His intelligence indicated love and tenderness, mingled with pity and sorrow. Slowly he drew near the Nazareth, while he gazed intently upon him. Suddenly, he pointed to the Nazarene and said Behold the Lamb that is to save from sin. This is he of whom I told you that he should come after me. He that sent me to baptize said Upon whom you shall see the Spirit descend and abide, he it is that is true.” ‘
And the voice spoke out in the heavens, This is my son, hear him. When this voice spoke, some of the crowd fell to the ground, and hid their faces ; some shouted for joy, and others were sore dismayed, and went and hid themselves among the trees. In a few moments he went carelessly down the river. While the works of God were being transacted, many and various were the conflicting opinions among the people, especially among the Jews. We could note separate the military from the moral kingdom. We could not see how it was that a man could commence from the lowest strata of life and work up to the highest. Up to this time it had been the custom to go to the rich and highest for help. In fact, we Jews could not see how a man in obscurity could ever come to be a king, and rule the nations of the earth. In the course of time the Sanhedrin was visited by this same Egyptian that had seen the star, that had heard the voice, that went in search, and found the child at Bethlehem ; and when permission was given for’ him to speak, he bowed his head gracefully, and said I thank! my God in heaven that I have lived to see the day when I could once more meet my brethren, and talk to them of the goodness of my Father in heaven. I thank him that I saw him in the Khan at Bethlehem. I have seen him in the wilderness. On the Jordan I saw the Spirit, most white and beautiful as a dove, descend and light upon his head. I heard God speak from the skies saying All that came before were impostors; this is my beloved Son, whom I have appointed to be the Savoir of men. For this I have, and do appoint him. Whosoever hears and obeys him I will accept in my kingdom, to live with me forever. Where is he now?” I asked the Egyptian. he will come to his temple to-morrow, which he says is his Father’s house. He will bring twelve men with him — fishermen, tillers of the soil, one a publican, all of the humbler class of men.
They travel on foot, careless of wind, cold, rain, or sun. Seeing them stop for the night to see them break bread, reminds one of the Shepherds in their encampment.”
One of the Sanhedrin spoke out and said : ‘^As to himself, he had but poor opinion of one who had power to convert stones into gold, and yet see the poor suffer for bread, and tell them that the foxes and birds were better off than he was in the way of earthly goods. He has a right to be poor from choice, but I can’t admire the spirit; and if he prefers poverty to riches for himself, he has but small sympathy with his fellow men, if he can listen to the cry of the orphan and the widow for bread, when he could help them so easy if he would.”
Another member spoke out and said I have no use for a man that would stand and see his brethren crushed by a wicked tyrant, as Rome is crushing the very life blood out of the Jews, when he sees that the taxation by the Romans is destroying God’s holy people. The priest can’t stand to offer sacrifice, the plain man can’t offer a sacrifice because he has to sell his bullock or lamb to pay his taxes to these haughty Romans. And it has been reported to this house that when the publican called on him for his tax, he sent one of his followers to the lake, and told him to look in the fish’s mouth; he should find a piece of money ; to take that and pay their taxes to the
haughty tyrants. I am beginning to think he is a Roman God, for it seems of all people, he hates the Jews the worst. If he is a friend to the Jews, why not help them, at least as much as he does others? It has been told in this house that he cursed a fruit tree, and before night it withered away. It is also said that he can cure the blind,
the leper, and raise the dead. Now, if he can do all these things, (and they are not denied by any), why does he permit that haughty Roman ruler to still remain on his throne, and crush the very life blood out of God’s chosen people? If he expects to find toleration from the Sanhedrin or from the Jews as a nation, he will have to quit calling us hypocrites and serpents, and comparing us, and especially the holy priest, to everything that is
low and mean, while he thinks high of those idolaters of Rome, and makes Pilate one of his daily associates.”
These speeches so shocked the Egyptian, that he hesitated as though he did not know whether to proceed or not ; when one of the members of the Sanhedrin arose, and said, he thought it possible for the Sanhedrin to be too hasty in forming their judgment in this case ; he hoped that the members would be more courteous and considerate in the future. The question, he said, was one of the most important they had ever had before them, and he believed the whole of the Jewish common wealth depended on a proper consideration of the subject. And although this Nazarene came before the world with authentication such as had never been before, although many have tried to palm themselves off on the Jews, yet the Jews never had the authority, much less the evidence, in any of those false saviours that they have in this. Here the priest made reference to the former facts in history regarding those teachers, and then referred to the present instance, giving the evidence of Melcher’s letter with that of the three strangers that had been before the Sanhedrin before, namely, the Hindoo, the Greek, and the Egyptian, that were present.
He went on to state that the ways of God were higher than man’s; and he did not think it the privilege of man to dictate to God when he should come, or how he should come, or what he should do when he did come. From the reading of the prophecy, as Melcher had interpreted it, this Jew was to be king of the Jews; but the Jews were the great factor of all the world, and it was through them that the kingdom of heaven was to be reinstated ; and this Jesus was only to be the adviser and dictator of the whole affair. And as the Jews were to bathe canter of action, he thought it time they should not only be willing to be informed, and to get all the knowledge they could on a subject of such magnitude as the one under present consideration, for, said he, in establishing the reign of Jesus as king of the Jews, it would forever establish the Jewish religion, and in doing that all things else would be equally established that we as Jews hold sacred.
With these remarks he called for the Egyptian to proceed, and to give all he knew of Jesus. The old Egyptian most respectfully said, with grace and a divine smile I thank my God for the many and strong advocates he has in this house this day. Such a speech as my Master has said is like the pouring of snow water from the mountains upon a burning flame. Some of my Masters of this house I saw in the wilderness at the Jordan, and heard and saw what I did. And as for me, my soul was so absorbed in him I could not leave him ; and so I have followed him. Since witnessing the increase of his divine power, and with your permission, I wish to make a few statements more, to get the Masters of Israel to see as I see.
The complexity of his actions astonishes me no less than it does my young Masters of Israel ; yet the evidence on one side contradicts all on the other side. While we as men in our carnal state are qualified to view one man higher than another, and to esteem one thing higher than another, as to honor, riches, power, and so on, it does not seem to be so with Jesus ; for although he owns nothing, he does not crave anything. He is so far from envying those that are rich that he seems to pity them ; and, to my utter astonishment, he seems to ignore all power, while his friends, beholding his mighty works, were ‘anxious for him to assume the kingship. They gathered around him at the seashore, and were about to crown him, whether he would or no ; when he suddenly disappeared from us, and the first thing we saw of him he was in a ship, crossing the lake.
It seemed to me, if he was ever going to be king, why not then? The whole Jewish people could be roused in his defence. There are at this time armed legions, all under full training and well disciplined, that could be called into action in a very short time. For, what
would you say to see a man in whom the healing virtue was so great that when the sick only touched the hem of his garment, all that thus came in contact with him were healed of whatsoever malady they had. You all know that death like disease, called leprosy. I saw while down in Galilee a man come to him all covered over with leprosy, who cried: Oh Lord, thou Son of David, have mercy on me.’ And the Nazarene went up and laid his hand upon him, and said; Thou art clean ; thou hast been healed.’ And when we looked at the man, he was as sound as any of us. I also saw him heal ten lepers, just by telling them to obey the law ; ‘it is the violation of law that makes you miserable ; go, show yourselves to the priest, as the law requires, and you will see that in the act of obedience, you shall be healed.’ And as they went they were healed so completely that the priest pronounced them clean, so they could be admitted into society when their filthy garments were changed. Again : Let me tell you, oh Masters of Israel, I saw him from a few loaves and fishes feed several thousands of people most bountifully. I ate of the food myself, and never tasted better. And when they had eaten bountifully they took up more in the baskets than there was at first. And again : I saw him as he and his disciples passed into the city of Nennus. They met a corpse being born to the tomb, and the mother of the boy was behind weeping.
And Jesus said to her : ‘Weep not, only believe;’ and he touched the boy, and he stood up — yes, sprung up as one that had been awakened out of sleep and he sent him to his mother rejoicing, I saw them bring a man on a bed, who had the palsy and was near to death ; for he was as helpless as a child ; and Jesus healed him on the faith of them that brought him, so that he sprang up, and took up his bed, and went to his house with great joy. And such are his mighty, wonderful works that the whole country has gone after him.” While the Egyptian was relating these things, one of the members of the Sanhedrin interrupted him by saying ”Did you say that Jesus saved the sick man on the bed on the faith of others? The Egyptian answered: ”I did, and it is on this condition that he performs all his mighty works. Did you not say that others were performed on condition of obedience to law?” Yes,” said the Egyptian, but Jesus accounts faith as the most masterful act of obedience, for faith, in the sense he puts upon it, controls the whole of the man. All other acts of the mind are Sub served, and become as wax in the hand, to be moulded into conformity to this leading and controlling faculty; but he contends that though a man may say he has faith, unless it does rule his life in love, and all his life r in conformity to an obedient discharge of duties and obligations to his own and fellow men, his faith is no faith, although he could remove the mountain into the sea.” But does he not teach baptism in place of circumcision?” He does,” said the Egyptian.
He was baptized himself as the beginning of a new covenant. Though he says all who are baptized shall be saved, yet he sees the act flows from faith in God, and this obedience is from the fact that he does believe in God, and therefore his life is in accordance; he is obedient.”But,” said the old priest, Suppose he believed in God, and would not submit to his new commands, what would he say?” The Egyptian replied, that obedience was the only evidence of faith. Of course, if a man had no evidence of a thing, it would be prime evidence that he did not have the thing itself.
He says that a good tree will bear good fruit. But tell us,” said the priest, Moses he tell why God has changed the seal of the covenant from circumcision to that of baptism?” To this the Egyptian replied: He has not told anything of the kind in my hearing. He seems to assume all these rights to change all the elements of nature to suit himself, and when the laws of nature are so completely under his control, it would seem but reasonable that he should change them to suit himself, or do away with them, and make new ones. But, said the priest, does he think he is wiser than God? and as God had established the right of circumcision, and Jesus establishes baptism in its place, does he not virtually say that God’s plans are wrong, and he is better qualified
to judge of these things than God is?”
To this the Egyptian replied, that it seemed to him that Jesus was a God himself, from the fact that he was capable of doing all that God could do. And as to the change effected that created so much excitement among the Jews, it might originate upon the side of the people instead of from a defective judgment on the part of God ; that circumcision was right for Abraham and his followers, but was not right for the people in this day. The change has so affected the people that baptism suits them better than circumcision. But, said the priest/*does he not teach contrary to the temple service? Does he not teach that the temple is of no use, and that the sacrifices thereof are worthless? and does he not teach that repentance (that is what he calls a broken heart) is worth more in the way of reformation than all things else? and does he not assail the priesthood, and go so far as to insult them, and call them bad names?”
To this the Egyptian replied : ‘He does all that you say, to some extent ; but to my mind he sees deeper into these questions than any man. Yea, T think he looks upon them in the light of God, if not in the light of the Spirit of God. He in his wisdom can see the insufficiency of these things. He can see the unholiness of the priest and of the temple service. It seems to me, said he, ‘the priest and the doctors of the law have so interpreted the Scriptures until it is hard for a poor man to live. He is required to give to the temple service a portion of all he has, and to the service of God a greater portion of his time. And then the commands have grown so fast that there is not an hour nor a minute of the hour but there is some command to be complied with, so that a man is kept in a momentary dread of his life until life has become a burden, if you serve the God of heaven. And this is the reason why so many are becoming tired, and are quitting the Jewish faith, and the Jews are being divided into so many different branches.” While the Egyptian was making this speech, one might have seen the disquietude of all the Sanhedrin. They almost gnashed upon him with their teeth. As soon as the house had got over the shock at such a speech, the President arose and called the attention of the house by saying: Holy Masters of Israel, our beloved Jehovah has been insulted to his face ; his precious name has been blasphemed in our hearing ; his holy temple has been desecrated; and what shall we do?
Shall we stand still like children and see our heavenly Father insulted to his face? no, 1 no l was the reply from various parts of the house. My mind is fixed ; my heart has been stirred to the bottom. Holy Masters, it devolves upon this house to take some action on this subject, and to take it now. If we let things go on this way, our whole country will be broken up; our beloved Zion will lose all its attractions; our priest will have to go into the fields to pick berries ; the temple, which is the bond of union, the very home and stay of all God’s people, will be entirely deserted, and we will have to hang our harps, as our fathers did in Babylon. If we let this thing alone our bondage will be worse than theirs, and our God will be seen as a tyrant, reverence for him will be lost, and men will come to pay no more respect to him than the Romans do to their deified Caesars; and Rome, with her thieving legions, will overrun our country, and final destruction will be ours. I, for one, am not willing to stand and see the God of my forefathers insulted to his face.”
At this the Sanhedrin broke forth in the most bitter malediction against the impostor ; and after many of the members had expressed themselves in this way, it was finally ordered that the high priest and the court of elders should be notified of what was going on, and recommended to reprimand Jesus of Nazareth to desist from his teaching and preaching of these pernicious doctrines, and for him to confine himself to the doctrines of the Jewish testament, and to conform with the ritual as taught by Moses ; that he was not to teach baptism as a sealing ordinance ; that he was not to introduce any new customs contrary to the customs of God, as set forth in the books of the laws of Moses ; and that he was to cease his malediction against the temple and the priesthood. And to further order and demand, if here fused to obey the orders of the high priest of God and the elders, that he should be arrested and brought to trial before the high priest, with the hope of establishing the people and establishing the ways of God before men.
And if he should refuse obedience, then to declare that it is our judgment that he should be brought to trial, and the things whereof he is charged set up against him; and if he will not desist to teach and preach these heresies, then he shall be put upon final trial ; and if the high court of elders and the high priest of Almighty God find him guilty, and he refuses obedience, then it is the opinion of the Masters of Israel that he should be put to death by the authority of the roman government. It is the opinion of the Masters of Israel that it is better for one to suffer death as a remedy for the healing of the many ; and furthermore, it is the opinion of the Masters of Israel that if such steps are not taken, the Jewish common wealth is on the eve of an overthrow, and nothing can save it but Almighty God; and that we are satisfied that he will not give aid, counsel and protection to his people so long as they pervert his ways. While this storm was raging in the Sanhedrin, the old Egyptian had quietly withdrawn himself, no one knew where ; but I kept no further account of the proceedings of the Sanhedrin. The next time I met the Egyptian was on the day of the Passover, when the whole world seemed to be coming to Jerusalem ; and while we were talking about the Nazarene, behold, we saw him and his disciples coming down the hill. The Master was riding on the colt of an ass ; and when they came near the descent of Olives, some strange voice said ‘Hail, Master 1″ and immediately the whole multitude became excited to the highest degree, and they commenced shouting Hosannah to him that comes in the name of the God of heaven 1″ and this cry was kept up for one hour. The whole multitude — men of all nations, of all tongues, women and little children — all shouted, Hosannah,. Hosannah.” And what made the scene more strange was there were perhaps a hundred different dialects, and all cried the same thing.
This shouting reminded me of the coming of the kingdom of heaven more than all I had seen before. The people seemed so intent and so wild in their enthusiasm, it looked like they were controlled by some supernatural power. As I was; informed by the Egyptian, after this excitement was over, the Master and his disciples held a council, and decided to have their feast to themselves. The Master told them that he had many things to say to them, and he wished to say it in private. But before the feast was prepared he went into the temple and offered another insult to the priests. There were in and around the temple merchants from all the tribes, selling all manner of sacrifices, such as were required by the law to be offered in sacrifice on that occasion, to the people that were strangers from a far country that could not possibly bring their sacrifices with them. Therefore it was admitted by the high priest to sell and buy these things from those that lived nearby, which was a great convenience.
But Jesus took up a stick or goad, that had been used to drive cattle, and flourished it around, ordering them at the same time to leave, telling them that was the house of prayer, and not a house of trade. This act of impertinence upon the part of Jesus spread like wild-fire through the city. The Shammaite school was enraged, and sent letters to the Sanhedrin and to the high priest court, asking for and demanding that such gross behavior should not be tolerated at the solemnities of the Passover. These letters called a general meeting that evening of members of the Shammaite school, Sanhedrin, and the high- priest court. What was done we do not know but we may form some idea from what followed.
While these secret plans and plotting were going on by the courts and councils, there were the friends of Jesus already organized from the various portions of the country, all assembling at Jerusalem, ready to rise up at a signal and make him king. Hence, to a man that knew the secret workings of these parties it was most horrifying. There was a secret watch placed over the Master ; and to add to the fury of the priesthood, while he and his disciples were partaking of the Passover, Jesus introduced another kind of a sacrament, or feast. This was simple bread and wine. And he told his disciples that this was to be in commemoration of his own death and the shedding of his own blood for the sins of the world.
And while he was talking to them, telling them that one of them would betray him, and that they all would forsake him, sure enough, while he was exhorting them to be firm and not dismayed at what might occur in the next few hours, one of his disciples slipped out and went to the court of the high priest and sold him. That is, he agreed to tell them where he was, and they gave him money to go and show the guard where he was. After the supper was ended, and the new feast introduced and explained, they went out into one of the mountains that stood nearby, and there the soldiers or guards of the high priest found him and brought him to Annas, who had been high priest, but he sent him to Caiaphas, as the one that had proper authority to deal with him. At this time there had assembled at this court many of the doctors and Scribes, priests of the Sanhedrin and the Shammaite school. Here his course of conduct was set before him by Annas, who was appointed for that purpose, showing clearly wherein he differed from the laws of the Jews, and wherein his doctrines differed from
the Jewish customs, and showing what discord and dissension was made among God’s people by him and his doctrines, and how it would terminate in an insurrection, and be the means of destroying much life, and the Church of the living God, and the Jewish nation, God’s chosen heritage.
After Annas made this pleading and many more (for I can only give the outlines of what was said), Caiaphas asked Jesus if he was willing to cease teaching these false ways. Jesus answered that he came not to do away with the law, but to fulfil the law in obedience to his Father, who had showed him the way; that his mission was love and charity, but for his love they were his enemies, for his charities they were his persecutors. Such is the natural result of the ways of righteousness among a perverse world; for, said he, how can a grain of corn abide unless it die? Unless it be planted it will abide alone. So if I be lifted up I will draw all men unto me.” These words were so strange and overpowering they filled the house with awe, and some were for letting him go ; but Annas spoke out and said :
“You say your Father showed you the way? Who is your Father?” Jesus said : “It you had known me, you would have known my Father also ; but I know who you are: you are of your father the Devil, and you will do his works, as I do the works of my Father.”
At these words the whole court became incensed at him, and Annas said: What need we of further evidence? We have heard his blasphemy ourselves. Let us away with such a blasphemer, who reviles God’s high priest.” Away with him !” cried they all with one voice, After this there reigned a most dreadful silence, during which time the breathing of the Nazarene was heavy, and many of the elders of the court groaned in spirit ; after which the Scribe came forward, dressed in a snow-white robe, and slowly read:
To Pontius Pilate, Governor of Judea, by Roman authority, greeting: ”We, the high court of the Jews, find Jesus of Nazareth First, teaching that he is God, which is contrary to the doctrine of the Jews. Second, he teaches for man to have faith in him as we would in God, which is contrary to the doctrine of the Jews. Third, he perverts the appointed ways of our salvation, teaching repentance instead of a holy life, which is contrary to the doctrine of the Jews. Fourth, he has perverted the holy temple of God, which is forbidden by the laws of the Jews. Fifth, he teaches baptism for circumcision, which is contrary to the laws of the Jews. Sixth, he teaches common bread and wine to be used in the Passover, which is contrary to the
laws of the Jews. Seventh, he has blasphemed in the presence of God’s high priest, which is forbidden by the laws of the Jews. Eighth, he most positively refuses to desist from his wicked and perverse ways, when reprimanded and abjured by the high priest of God.
Therefore, it is the unanimous decision of this court, in the fear and, we hope, the favour of Almighty God, Jehovah, that he should die to save the nation from blood and ruin, and to save the Church of God from heresy and false doctrine and perverse ways.” Signed, Caiaphas, Priest of the Most High God. These charges were given to Marcus, who was captain of the royal guard, to take with the prisoner to Pilate’s’ court. And as they left, there was a mob followed, hooting and hallooing, and calling him all sorts of ugly names; so much so, that the priest ordered out some soldiers to keep order. What was done there I can’t exactly say but the Egyptian who followed said that Pilate tried to release him. He ordered him scourged, and then washed his hands in the presence of the multitude, thereby declaring him to be innocent, as was the Roman custom. But this being the mode of Jewish condemnation, the soldiers, taking it for granted he was condemned, took him by force, and the mob gathered around him and hurried him off to execution. There never was such a crowd before.
The people from all countries had assembled at Jerusalem for the Passover. they were composed of all classes of society servants, camel drivers, market men, gate keepers. gardeners, dealers in fruit, foreigners, watchmen, and proselytes barefooted and bareheaded, with matted hair and beards — myriads not assignable to any class. Some of them carried swords, spears, or javelins, and there were some with knotted clubs. Among the mass was here and there a man of rank, and some of high degree ; scribes, elders, Rabbis, Pharisees, with broad fringed hoaks, and Sadducees, who served as prompters to the rabble. And as they marched they cried: ‘King of the Jews ‘The blasphemer of God! ‘Crucify, Crucify !” would they cry at the top of their voices, and the whole multitude would cry the same thing.
There never was seen such a sight before, nor half so many people. I saw the Nazarenepass in front of the crowd, his eyes cast down, and he looked as if all his power that he had so often exercised over the laws of life had left him, and he seemed as if had God ever been with him he was not then. He was nailed to a cross and after he had hung for about three hours it turned dark. What could have caused it I cannot tell. His friends contended it was the frowns of God ; others said it was a meteor passed between the earth and the sun. About the same time there were the shocks of an earthquake, which, connected with the unnatural darkness, filled the people with great dread. There were gathered around the cross a great body of soldiers, who kept everybody else away, except a few of his special friends. When the darkness disappeared the If Nazarene was dead; and the old Egyptian, who had seen the star stand over the Maw, and who had watched him through his mortal life, and had been his advocate before the courts of the world, was found cold and dead near the cross on which his Master had been crucified. “Whether the shock of the earthquake or the fright of the darkness was more than his aged and frail frame could stand was not known, or whether his Master did not say to him in his last moments of life, as he did to the fisherman on the lake Follow me.” When it was ascertained that Jesus was dead, the high priest gave orders for him to be buried, that his body might not hang till the next day.
After he was buried, the priest and officers of the law held a council in the court of the high priest, and it was there reported that Jesus had said he would rise from the dead the third day ; and, for fear his friends would come privately and take his body and hide it, there was an officer sent to Pilate, asking for a guard around the grave for ten days. But Pilate told them he had no soldiers except a body guard ; but they might take the Jewish soldiers and make it as sure as they pleased, and the royal city guard, which was composed of five hundred men. and place a sufficient number to guard it night and day for ten days.
But on the third morning there was reported a frightful scene at the sepulcher. Just before day there was a great noise heard, as if it thundered ; the heavens flashed up with a most brilliant light ; the earth quaked and reeled to and fro, as a drunken man ; the air seemed to be full of human voices, and all around the sepulchre were lines of beings dressed in shrouds, who shouted and sung praises to God. The guard was scared, and ran away. This was the report they made when they came into the fort Antonia: Soon after some women, who were friends of the Nazarene, went to embalm the body of Jesus; they found the body was gone, and they found two angels, they say, sitting at the sepulchre, who told them that Jesus had risen from the dead, and for them to go and tell his disciples. The report soon spread, and thousands went to the grave to see for themselves. And the people gathered together in crowds, and many wild theories were in circulation. Some said that his death was only a sham, and argued their points, saying that two other criminals were executed at the same time, and that Jesus was taken down three or four hours before the others were dead. This incensed the people against the high priest. Some wanted to mob him, and others contended that Pilate was the cause of his being taken down so quick; and they were enraged at him. The disturbance was so great that the courts of Pilate and the high priest had to be guarded for several days. The version that the priest gave of the affair was, that this Jesus never was a man from the beginning; that he had been visiting the earth for two thousand years.
And in a speech made to the mob assembled at the temple he said that this was the same one that spoke to Moses from the fiery bush ; the same that slew the first born of all the Egyptians in one night ; the same that met Abraham, and told him that Sarah should have a son ; the same that appeared to Abraham, and led Lot out of the burning city; the same that stopped Balaam in the way ; the same that raised Samuel from the dead ; the same that appeared to and told him of his wife that she should have a son, and he should call him John. The human body] [has always been under his control; so have the elements of nature. He is master of life and of death. This mighty actor has been playing his game on the human stage ever since the world began; and now if he has suffered himself to die, if he had power to destroy or create life in others, of course he had power to lay down his life, and power to take it up again. And all flesh was in his power; and in this thing he only had some wise and holy purpose in view, and his purposes would develop and peered venture result in the greatest blessings to mankind; and therefore he asked the people to be quiet, and wait and see what the result would be, before they did a rash act, or persecuted the innocent. This speech was attended with a good result: it satisfied the minds of the clamorous multitude; so they began to disperse, and tranquillity settled over the city once more. The women that went to embalm the body at the grave reported that they met him as they returned from the grave, but he was looked for by everyone. Many wished to see him, but others were so afraid they would meet him, that they were in momentary dread of seeing him.
Not one of the guard that was on duty that night could be induced to venture out for weeks. It is rather strange how Jesus conducted himself. He was seen in a small town in the country by two of his disciples, but they did not know him until they went to eat, and in that act he revealed himself to them. But they say he had no sign of the wounds, neither in his hands nor feet ; and when he revealed himself to all his disciples they discovered no signs of the nails in his flesh. But in a week from then he came to them, at least to one of them who had expressed his doubts in regard to his resurrection. Reach forth thy hand and feel the wounds in my hands and feet, and also in my side, and believe, said Jesus unto him. He made himself very shy among men after his resurrection.
He was seen by but few of the private citizens, but he frequently met with his disciples, and blessed and counselled them ; and finally after about a month, he assembled them on a mountain, and after he preached to them with thousands of others, telling them that they had received freely and to give freely; that they must show his works to all flesh; telling them that he had died for them, and if they would receive this, they should be saved after death ; that he would go presently and prepare places for them, and that he would bide their coming ; and to let all and each who accept this proposition to prove it to himself by obedience in baptism, and that he would receive all such and assign them places in his kingdom, (“for,” said he, ”my peace I leave with you, my peace give I unto you”) ; and after saying these words he fixed his gaze into heaven, and a bright light like unto fire began to kindle around his feet, which grew larger and brighter until it seemed a bright cloud. It rose and bore him off until he was out of sight.
Then the disciples fell on their faces, and the whole multitude set up a tremendous shout, and continued to halloo and glorify God, and seemed to be perfectly wild with enthusiasm. The disciples soon met in secret council, and made arrangements for their work. In conclusion, I say that many of the things in this history I do not vouch for ; for I did not see and hear them myself. But many I did see and mooch more, which only agree with these facts. I never saw this Egyptian, Hondo, and Greek till I met them in the Sanhedrin, and there I learned the beginning of this story ; and after hearing these three men relate what they had seen and heard, and their tales so well corresponded, the one with the other, and seeing so much deep sincerity in these men, and feeling the drawing of the Holy Spirit towards them and their subject, my mind became all absorbed in this great question a question that identified my being with my future destiny. I did not feel to let it pass without investigation.
I had many private interviews with the Egyptian, but the Greek and Hindoo I never saw after the first interview in the Sanhedrin, neither could the Egyptian tell we what had become of his companions. Perhaps, having met with such poor encouragement from the Sanhedrin, they had gone back to their own country, and given up all hope ; birt the Egyptian watched him until the last. I don’t think I ever saw more of a devotee in all my life. It was his great confidence and zeal that attracted my attention more particularly, and from the time I first heard him in the Sanhedrin, I was convinced that there was something more than a common question of the day connected with his experience.
And now in conclusion I would say to the reader of these lines I am not disheartened, for I believe that someday the doctrine that Jesus taught will become the ruling doctrine of the world. And this is one reason for my writing this scroll : that it may be read by someone when I am dead, that they may refer to these things as confirmation of a faith set forth by this !Nazarene that shall be universally tolerated, and be believed by all the world, so that this Jesus shall be ruler of the kings of this world. Although his mission is not understood by the Jews nor the Romans, yet what he teaches is a principle that will outlive all his opponents, both as a people and as a nation : First, it has the Almighty Jehovah to back it ; and then what he teaches is safe and trustworthy for all men in all times.
Therefore it must stand, and every man that opposes it, either as an individual or as a nation, will do so to his own hurt. It is the desire of my soul that the holy precepts taught by Jesus may finally rule the world. Just one precept taught by him is enough As ye would have men to do to you, do the same yourself. Just this rule carried out would do more good than all the philosophy of the Hill elite School, or the Shammaite Laws, though backed by a thousand Sanhedrin.
CHAPTER IX.
“ACTA PILATI,” OR PILATE’S REPORT OF THE ARREST, TRIAL, AND CRUCIFIXION OF JESUS
It was sometime in the year 1856, while living in De Witt, Missouri, that a gentleman by the name of H. C. Why daman was ice-bound and stopped at my house several days. He was a native of Germany, and one of the most learned men I have ever met. I found him to be free and communicative. During his stay, he told me he had spent five years in the city of Rome, and the most of the time in the Vatican, where he saw a library containing five hundred and sixty thousand volumes. He told me that he had seen and read the Records of Tiberius Caesar, and in what was called the “Acta Pilati,” that is, the acts of Pilate, he had seen the account of the apprehension, trial and crucifixion of Jesus of Nazareth ; but said it did not add much to the common teachings of Christianity. He told me he thought a transcript could be secured. After Mr. Why daman had gone, I remembered what he told me of those records, and thought if a transcript could be obtained it would be very interesting, even if it did not add much to the present teachings of Christianity, yet the statement would be of great satisfaction. So, after he had been gone some months, I set about tracing up Mr. Why daman, as the following correspondence will show: De Witt, Carroll Co., Mo., Sept. 22, 1856.
Mr. Henry C. Why daman, ‘New York City : Dear Sir: — After you left my house last spring, I kept thinking of your telling me of reading the acts, of Pilate in the Vatican, while at Rome. I want you, if you please, to get me a transcript of those records, if the cost will not be too much. Will you please open a correspondence with some of your old friends at Rome that you can rely upon, and ascertain if it can be obtained; and if so, what will be the probable cost of getting it? I shall be much obliged, and will pay you for your trouble and expense. Yours, in tender regards, W. D. Mahan. New York, Nov. 12, 1856.
Mr. W. D. Mahan: Dear Sir: — Your letter as directed to H. C. Why daman is received. I will inform you he has returned to Germany. Your letter has been forwarded. Yours, &c., C. C. Yantberger. March 2d, 1857.’ Rev. W. D. Mahan: Dear sir: — It is with the kindest regards I remember your hospitality while with you in America. Be assured, anything I can do for you will afford me great pleasure. I have written to Father Frelinghuysen, a monk of great learning, at Rome, who is the chief guardian of the Vatican. I have made the request in my own name, as I do not think they would be willing for such a document to go into the hands of the public. When he answers, I will write to you again. I am your most obedient servant, H. C WHYDAMAN.
Westphalia, Germany, Nov. 27, 1857.
Rev. W. D. Mahan, De Witt, Mo. : Dear Sir: — Father Freelinhusen has answered my letter in regard to the transcript you want. He informs me that the writing is so fine, and being in the Latin language, as I told yon, and the parchments so old and dirty, he will be obliged to use a glass to the most of it. He can only give it in the Latin, as he does not understand the English. He says he will do it for thirty- five dares, which will be in American coin sixty-two dollars and forty-four cents. If you will forward the amount, I will have the document forwarded to my brother-in-law, C. C Vantberger. He will translate it for a trifle. I am yours in tender regards, H. C. Wh YD AM AN. Chillicothe, Mo., Feb. 8, 1858.
Mr. H. C. Whydaman:Dear Sir: — Thanks to you for your kindness ; and be assured if I succeed, I shall ever feel under obligations to you for your trouble. En-
closed find a check on the Foreign Exchange Bank of I Stew York for sixty-two dollars and forty-four cents. Please have the work done, and urge Mr. Freelinhusen to have it a true copy of the original. Send it to Mr. Yantberger, and have him trans-late it into English, and I will pay the charge. He has my address. Yours as ever,
W. D. Mahan. writings of the talmuds. 205 Westphalia, Germany, June 14, 1858.
Rev. W. D. Mahan: Dear Sir: — I acknowledge your draft of $62. 44 cents. Will apply asyou request. I am Sir, H. C. Whydaman. New York, April 26, 1S59.
Mr. W. D. Mahan:Dear Sir: — I am in possession of a document from H. C. Whydaman, with instructions to translate it into the English. My charge is ten dollars. I will expect an answer. C. C. Vantberger. Mr. H. C. Whydaman: Dear Sir: — I hereby forward to you the transcript, as it is on record in the Vatican in Tiberius Caesar’s court by Pilate. 1 certify this to be a true copy, word for word as it occurs there. Yours &c., Peter Freelinhusen. With ‘this correspondence I received the following document, and I must confess that although it is not inspiration, yet the words burned in my heart as the words of Christ in the hearts of the disciples, and I am satisfied from the spirit it bears that it must be true. I am aware that though the Jews were in subjection to the Romans, yet they still held their ecclesiastical authority, and the Romans did not only submit to their decisions, but executed their decrees on their subjects. Knowing there was not such a piece of history to be found in all the world, and being so deeply interested myself, as well as hundreds of others to whom I have read it, T have concluded to give it to the public. W. D. Mahan.
After getting hold of this report of Pilate, and
finding it so deeply interesting to myself as well thousands of others, I commenced the investigation of this subject, and after many years of trial and the expenditure of considerable money, I found that there were many such records still in preservation at the Vatican in Rome and at Constantinople that had been carried there by the Emperor of Rome about the middle” of the third century, therefore I procured the necessary assistance and on the 21st day of September, 1883, 1 set sail for those foreign lands to make the investigation in person, and the contents of this book is the result. Valleus Paterculus, a Roman historian, was nineteen years old when Jesus was born. His works have been thought to be extinct. I know of but two historians that have made reference to his writings ; that is, Priscian and Tacitus, who speak of him as being a descendant of an equestrian family of Campania. From what we gather from these men, he must have been a great friend of Caesar, for he raised him by degrees until he became one of the great men of Rome, and commanded the army for sixteen years. He returned to Rome in the year 31, and wrote or finished his work which was called ‘Historian Romania.” He held the office of praetor when Augustus died, and while Vinceus was Consul. He says
that he had met with a man in Judea, called Jesus of Nazareth, that was one of the most peculiar characters he had ever seen, and he was more afraid of him than the whole army, for he cured all manner of diseases, raised the dead, and even cursed the orchards or fruit trees for their barrenness, and instantly they withered to their roots.
After referring to his exploits, he says that, although this Jesus had such power, he did not use it to the injury of any one, but seemed always inclined to help the poor. He says the Jews were much divided in their opinions of him. The poor class claimed him as their king and their deliverer from Roman authority. And so it is, if he should raise an army and could give them the power, he could sweep the world in a single day. The rich Jews hate and curse him behind his back, and call him nothing but an Egyptian necromancer ; but they were as afraid of him as of death.
Vallieus Paterculus, B. 72, as found in the Vatican of Rome. To Tiberius Ccesar, Emperor of Rome. Nohle Sovereign. — Greeting :The events of the last few days in my province, have been of such a character that I will give the details in full as they have occurred ; as I should not be surprised if, in the course of time, they may change the destiny of our nation, for it seems of late that all the gods have ceased to be propitious, I am alienist ready to say. Cursed be the day that I succeeded Vallerius Flaceus in the government of Judea ; for since then my life has been one of continual uneasiness and distress. On my arrival at Jerusalem, I took possession of the pretorium, and ordered a splendid feast to be prepared, which I invited the tetrarch of Galilee, with the high priest and his officers. At the appointed hour no guests appeared. This I considered an insult offered to my dignity, and to the whole government to which I belong. A few days after the high priest deigned to pay me a visit. His deportment was grave and deceitful.
He pretended that his religion forbade him and his attendants to sit down at the table of the Romans, and eat and offer libations with them, but this was only a sanctimonious seeing, for his very countenance betrayed his hypocrisy. But I thought it expedient to accept his excuse, but from that moment I was convinced that the conquered had declared themselves the enemy of the conquerors ; and 1 would warn the Romans to beware of the high priests of this country. They would betray their own mother to. gain an office and procure a luxurious living. It seemed to me, of conquered cities, Jerusalem was the most difficult to govern. So turbulent were the people that Hived in momentary dread of an insurrection. I had not soldiers sufficient to suppress it. I only had one centurion and a hundred men at my command.
I requested a reinforcement from the prefect of Syria, who informed me that he had scarcely troops sufficient to defend his own province. An insatiate thirst for conquest to extend on empire beyond the means of defending it, I fear, will be the cause of final overthrow of our whole government. I lived in obscurity from the masses, for I did not know what those priests might influence the rabble to do ; yet I endeavoured to ascertain as much as I could the mind and standing of the people. Among the various rumours that came to my ears, there was one that attracted my attention in particular. A young man, it was said, had appeared in Galilee, preaching with a noble unction, a new law in the name of the God that had sent him. At first I was apprehensive that his design was to stir up the people against the Romans ; but my fears were soon dispelled. Jesus of Nazareth spake rather as a friend of the Romans than the Jews.
One day in passing by the place of Siloe, where there was a great concourse of people, I observed in the midst of the group a young man who was leaning against a tree, calmly addressing the multitude. I was told it was Jesus. This I could easily have suspected, so great was the difference between him and those who were listening to him. His golden colored hair and beard gave to his appearance a celestial aspect. He appeared to be about thirty years of age. Never have I seen a sweeter or more serene countenance. What a contrast between him and his hearers, with their black beards and tawny complex-
ions. Unwilling to interrupt him by my presence, I continued my walk, but signified to my secretary to join the group and listen.
My secretary’s name was Manlius. He was the grand-son of the chief of the conspirators who encamped in Etruria waiting for Catalina. Manlius was an ancient inhabitant of Judea, and well-acquainted with the Hebrew language. He was devoted to me, and worthy of my confidence. On entering the Pretorius I found Manlius, who related to me the words Jesus had pronounced, at Siloe. Never have I read in the works of the philosophers anything that can compare to the maxims of Jesus. One of the rebellious Jews, so numerous in Jerusalem, having asked him if it was lawful to give tribute to Caesar, Jesus replied: Render unto Caesar the things that belong to Caesar, and unto God the things that are his It was on account of the wisdom of his sayings that I granted so much liberty to the Nazarene ; for it was in my power to have had him arrested, and exiled to Pontus ; but this would have been contrary to the justice which has always characterized the Roman government in all her dealings with men ; this man was neither seditious nor rebellious; I extended to him my protection, unknown perhaps to himself. He was at liberty to act, to speak, to assemble, and address the people to choose disciples, unrestrained by any praetorian mandate. Should it ever happen (may the gods ever avert the omenl), should it ever happen, I say, that the religion of our forefathers should be supplemented by the religion of Jesus, it will be to this noble toleration that Rome shall owe her premature oosequies, while I, miserable wretch, shall have been the instrument of what the Jews call Providence, and we call destiny.
This unlimited freedom granted to Jesus provoked the Jews, not the poor, but the rich and powerful. It is true, Jesus was severe on the latter, and this was a political reason, in my opinion, for not restraining the liberty of the [Nazarene Scribes and Pharisees,” he would say to them, “you are a race of vipers; you resemble painted sepulchres; you appear well unto men, but you have death within you,” At other times he would sneer at the alms of the rich and proud,
telling them that the mite of the poor was more precious in the sight of God. New complaints were daily made at the praetorian against the insolence of Jesus. I was even informed that some misfortune would befall him ; that it would not be the first time that Jerusalem had stoned those that called themselves prophets ; and, if the pretorium refused justice, an appeal would be made to Caesar. However, my conduct was approved by the Senate, and I was promised a reinforcement after the termination of the Parthean war.
Being too weak to suppress a sedition, I resolved upon adopting a measure that promised to establish the tranquillity of the city, without subjecting the pretorium to humiliating concession. I wrote to Jesus, requesting an interview with him at the pretorium. He came. You know that in my veins flows the Spanish mixed with Roman blood as incapable of fear as it is of puerile emotion. When the Nazarene made his appearance, I was walking in my Basilica, and my feet seemed fastened with an iron hand to the marble pavements, and I trembled in every limb as a guilty culprit, though he was calm; the Nazarene was as calm as innocence itself. When he came up to me he stopped, and by a signal sign he seemed to say to me, “I am here;” though he spoke not a word.
For some time I contemplated with admiration and awe this extraordinary type of man a type of man unknown to our numerous painters who have given form and figm’e to all the gods and the heroes. There was nothing about him that was repelling m its character, yet I felt awed and tremulous to approach him. tongue faltered — ”Jesus of Nazareth, I have granted you for the last three years ample freedom of speech ; nor do I regret it. Your words are those of a sage. I know not whether you have read Socrates or Plato, but this I know, there is in your discourses a majestic simplicity that elevates you far above these philosophers. The Emperor is informed of it, and I, his humble representative in this country, am glad of having allowed you that liberty of which you are so worthy. However, I must not conceal from you that your discourses have raised up against you powerful and inveterate enemies. Neither is this surprising. Socrates had his enemies, and he fell a victim to their hatred. Yours are doubly incensed against you, on account of your discourses beingso severe against their conduct ; against me, on account of the liberty T have afforded you. They even accuse me of being indirectly leagued with you, for the purpose of depriving the Hebrews of the little civil power which Rome has left them.
My request, I do not say my order is, that you be more circumspect and moderate in your discourses in the future, and more tender toward them, lest you arouse the pride of your enemies, and they raise against you the stupid populace, and compel me to employ the instalments of law. The Nazarene calmly replied: Prince of the earth, your words proceed not from true wisdom.
Say to the torrent to stop in the midst of the mountain gorge: it will uproot the trees of the valley. The torrent will answer you that it obeys the laws of nature and the creator. God alone knows whither flow the waters of the torrent. Verily I say unto you, before the rose of Shanm blossoms the blood of the just shall be spilt.” Your blood shall not be spilt,” said I, with deep emotion ; ‘ ‘you are more precious in my estimation on account of your wisdom than all the turbulent and proud Pharisees, who abuse the freedom granted them by the Romans, They conspire against Caesar, and convert his boimty into fear, impressing the unlearned that Caesar is a tyrant and seeks their ruin. Insolent wretches, they are not aware that the wolf of the Tiber sometimes clothes himself with the skin of the sheep to accomplish his wicked ends, I will protect you against them. My pretorium shall be an asylum, sacred both day and night.” Jesus carelessly shook his head and said with a grave and divine smile: ”When the day shall have come, there will be no asylums for the son of man, neither in the earth nor milder the earth. The asylum of the just is there,” pointing to the heavens. ” That which is written in the books of the prophets must be accomplished.” Young man,” answered I mildly, “you oblige me to convert my request into an order. The safety of the province, which has been confided to my care, requires it. You must observe more moderation in your discourses. Do not infringe my order. You know the consequences. May happiness attend you ; farewell.”
Prince of the earth,” replied Jesus, “T come not to bring war into the world, but peace, love and charity. I was born the same day on which Augustus Caesar gave peace to the Roman world. Persecutions proceed not from me. I expect it from others, and will meet it in obedience to the will of my Father who has shown me the way Restrain, therefore, your worldly prudence.. It is not in your power to arrest the victim at the foot of the tabernacle of expiation.” So saying, he disappeared like a bright shadow behind the cur tams of the Basilica to my great relief 5 for I felt a heavy burden on me, from which
I could not extricate myself while in his presence.
To Herod, who then reigned in Galilee, the enemies of Jesus addressed themselves, to wreak their vengeance on then Nazarene. Had Herod consulted his own inclinations, he would have ordered Jesus immediately to be put to death ; but though provide of his royal dignity, yet he was afraid of committing an act that might diminish his influence with the Senate, or, like me, was afraid of Jesus himself. But it would never do for a Roman officer to be scared by a Jew. Previous to this Herod called on me at thepretorium, and, on rising to take leave, after some insignificant conversation, asked me what was my opinion concerning the Nazarene. I replied that Jesus appeared to me to be one of those great philosophers that great nations sometimes produced ; that his doctrines are by no means sacrilegious, and that the intentions of Rome were to leave him to that freedom of speech which was justified by his actions. Herod smiled maliciously, and, saluting me with an ironical respect, departed.
The great feast of the Jews was approaching, and the mention was to avail themselves of the popular exultation which always manifests itself at the solemnities of a Passover. The city was overflowing with a tumultuous populace, claiming for the death of the Nazarene. My emissaries informed me that the treasurer of the temple had been employed in bribing the people. The danger was pressing. A Roman Centurion had been insulted. I wrote to the Prefect of Syria for a hundred foot soldiers, and as many cavalry. He declined. I saw myself alone with a handful of veterans in the midst of a rebellious city, too weak to suppress a disorder, and having no other choice left but to tolerate it.
They had seized upon Jesus, and the seditious rabble, although they had nothing to fear from the pretorium, believing, as their leaders had told them, that I winked at their sedition — continued vociferating: Crucify him!, Crucify him” Three powerful parties had combined together at that time against Jesus : First, the Herodias and the Sadducees, whose seditious conduct seemed to have proceeded from double motives : they hated the Nazarene, and were impatient of the Roman yoke. They could never forgive me for having entered the holy city with banners that bore the image of the Roman Emperor; and although in this instance I had committed a fatal error, yet the sacrilege did not appear less heinous in their eyes.
Another grievance also rankled in their bosoms. I had proposed to employ a part of the treasure of the Temple in erecting edifices for public utility. My proposal was scorned. The Pharisees were the avowed enemies of Jesus. They cared not for the government. They bore with bitterness the severe reprimands which the Nazarene for their years had been continually throwing out against them where ever he went. Too weak and pusillanimous to act by themselves, they had embraced the quarrels of the Herodians and the Sadducees. Besides these three parties, I had to contend against the reckless and profligate populace, always ready to join a sedition, and to profit by the disorder and confusions that resulted there from. Jesus was dragged before the High Priest, and condemned to death. It was then that the High Priest, Caiaphas, performed a divisor act of submission. He sent his prisoner to me to pronounce his condemnation and secure his execution. I answered him that, as Jesus was a Galilean, the affair came in Herod’s midsection, and ordered him to bo sent hither.
The wily Tetrarch professed humility, and, protesting his preference to the Lieutenant of Caesar, he committed the fate of the man to my hands. Soon my palace assumed the aspect of a besieged citadel. Every moment increased the number of the seditionists. Jerusalem was mandated with crowds from the mountains of Nazareth. All Judea appeared to be pouring into the devoted city. I had taken a wife from among the Gauls, who pretended to see into futurity. Weeping and throwing herself at my feet, Beware,” said she to me, ”beware, and touch that man ; for he is holy. Last night I saw him in a vision. He was walking on the waters; was flying on the wings of the wind. He spoke to the tempest, and to the fishes of the lake ; all were obedient to him. Behold, the tenant in Mount Chadron flows with blood, the statues of Caesar are filled with lemonade ; the columns of the interim have given away, and the sun is veiled m mourning like a vestal in the tomb. Ah ! Pilate, evil awaits thee. If thou wilt not listen to the vows of thy wife, dread the curse of a Roman Senatdread the frowns of Caesar.” By this time the marble staii’s gi’oaned under the weight of the multitude.
The Nazarene was brought back to me. I proceeded to the halls of justice, followed by my guard, and asked the people in a severe tone what they demanded. The death of the Nazarene,” was their reply. For what crime? He has blasphemed; he has prophesied the rain of the Temple ; he calls himself the Son of God, the Messiah, the King- of the Jews Roman justice,” said I, ”punishes not such offences with death.” Crucify him ! Crucify him!” belched forth the relentless rabble. The vociferations of the infuriated mob shook the palace to its foundations.
There was but one who appeared to be calm in the midst of the vast multitude; it was the Nazarene. After many fruitless attempts to protect him from the fury of his merciless persecutors, I adopted a measure which at the moment appeared to me to be the only one that could save his life. I. proposed, as it was their custom to deliver a prisoner on such occasions, to release Jesus and let him go free, that he might be the scapegoat, as they called it ; but they said Jesus must be crucified. then appealed to them as to the inconsistency of their course as being incompatible with their laws, showing that no criminal judge could pass sentence on a criminal innless he had fasted one whole day ; and that sentence must have the consent of the Saladin, and the signature of the president of that court ; that no criminal could be executed on the same day his sentence was fixed, and the next day, on the day of his execution, the Sanhedrin was required to review the whole proceeding; also, according to their law, a man was stationed at the door of the court with a flag, and another a piece off on horseback to city the name of the criminal and his crime, and the name of his witnesses, and to know if anyone can testify anything in his favour ; and the prisoner on his way to execution had the light to turn back three times, and to plead any new thing in his favour in gad all these pleas, hoping they might awe them into subjection; but they still cried, ”Crucify him! Crucify him.
I then ordered him to be scourged, hoping this might satisfy them ; but it only increased their fury. I then called for a basin, and washed my hands in the presence of the clamorous multitude, thus testifying that in my judgment Jesus of Nazareth had done nothing worthy of death; but in vain.
It was his life these wretches thirsted for. Often in our civil commotions have I witnessed the fungus animosity of the multitude, but nothing could be compared to what I witnessed on this
occasion. It might have been truly said that on this occasion all the phantoms of the infallible regions had assembled at Jerusalem . The crowd appeared not to walk, but to be borne off and whirled as a vortex, rolling along in living waves from the portals of the Pretorius even unto Mount Zion, with hawkingscreams, shrieks and vociferations such as were never heard in the seditions of the Pannonia or in the tumult of the forum.
By degrees the day darkened like a winter’s twilight, such as had been at the death of the great Julius Caesar. It was likewise the Ides of March. the continued governor of a rebellious province, was leaning against a column of my Basilica, contemplating athwart the dreary gloom these fiends of Tartaiois dragging to execution the innocent Nazarene. All around me was deserted. Jerusalem had vomited forth her indwellers through the funeral gate that leads to Demoniac. An air of desolation and sadness enveloped me. My guards had joined the cavalry, and the centurion, to display a shadow of power, was endeaving to keep order.
I was left alone, and my breaking heart admonished me that what was passing at that moment appertained rather to the history of the gods than that of men. A loud clamour was heard proceeding from Golgotha, which, borne on the winds, seemed to announce an agony such as was never heard by mortal ears. Dark clouds lowered over the pinnacle of the temple, and setting over the city covered it as with a veil. So dreadful were the signs that men saw both in the heavens and on the earth, that Dionysius the Areopagiteis reported to have exclaimed, ”Either’ the author of nature is suffering, or the universe is falling apart Whilst these appalling scenes of nature were transpiring, there was a dreadful earthquake in lower Egypt, which filled everybody with fear, and scared the superstitious Jews almost to death. It is said Balthazar, an aged and learned Jew of Antioch, was found dead after the excitement was over. Whether he died from alarm or grief is not known. He was a strong friend of the Nazarene.
Towards the first hour of the night I threw my mantle around me, and went down into the city towards the gates of Golgotha. The sacrifice was consummated. The crowd was returning home, still agitated, it is true, but gloomy, taciturn and desperate. What they had witnessed had stricken them with terror and remorse. I also saw my little Roman cohort pass by mournfully, the standard bearer having veiled his eagle hi token of grief; and I overheard some of the Jewish soldiers murmuring strange words which I did not understand. Others were recounting prodigies almost similar to those which had so often smitten the Romans by the will of the gods. Sometimes groups of men and women would halt, then, looking back towards Mount Calvary, would remain motionless in expectation of witnessing some new prodigy returned to the Pretorius sad and pensive.
On ascending the stairs, the steps of which were still stained with the blood of the Nazarene, I perceived an old man in a suppliant posture, and behind him several Romans in tears. He threw himself at my feet and wept most bitterly. It is painful to see an old man weep, and my heart already overcharged with grief, we, though strangers, mutually wept together. And it seemed that the tears lay very shallow that day with very many whom I perceived out of the vast concourse of people. I never saw such a complete division of feeding, both on the extreme. Those that betrayed and sold him, those that testified against him, those that said, ”Crucify him, we will have his blood,” all slunk off like cowardly curs, and washed their teeth with vinegar. As I am told that Jesus taught a resurrection and a separation after death, if such should be the fact I am sure it commenced in this vast crowd. Father,” said I to him, after gaining control of my feelings, “who are you, and what is your request? I am Joseph of Arimathaea,” replied he, “and am come to beg of you upon my knees the permission to bury Jesus of Nazareth. Your prayer is granted,” said I to him; and at the same time ordered Manlius to take some soldiers with him to superintend the interment lest it should be profaned.
A few days after the sepulchre was found empty. His disciples published all over the comity that Jesus had risen from the dead, as he had foretold. This last report created more excitement than the first. As to its truth I cannot say for certain, but I have made some investigation in the matter; so you can examine for yourself and see if I am in fault, as Herod represents me.
Joseph buried Jesus in his own tomb. Whether he contemplates his resurrection or calculated to cut him another I cannot tell. The next day after he was buried one of the priests came to the pretorium and said they were apprehensive that his disciples intended to steal the body of Jesus and hide it, and then make it appear that he had risen from the dead, as he had foretold, and of which they were perfectly convinced. I sent him to the captain of the royal guard (Malcus) to tell him to take the Jewish soldiers, place as many around the sepulchre as were needed; then if anything should happen they would blame themselves, and not the Romans.
When the great excitement arose about the sepulchre being found empty, I felt a deeper solicitude than ever. I sent for Malcus, who told me he had placed his lieutenant, Ben Isham, with one hundred soldiers around the sepulchre. He told me that Isham and the soldiers were very much alarmed at what had occurred there that morning. I sent for this man Isham, who related to me as near as I can remember the following circumstances : He said at about the beginning of the fourth watch, they saw a soft and beautiful light over the sepulchre. He at first thought that the women had come to embalm the body of Jesus, as was their custom, but he could not see how they had got through the guards.
Whilst these reflections were passing through his mind, behold, the whole place was lighted up, and there seemed to be crowds of the dead in their grave clothes. All seemed to be shouting and filled with ecstasy, while all around and above was the most beautiful music he had ever heard ; and the whole air seemed to be full of voices praising God. At this time there seemed to be a reeling and swimming of the earth, so that he turned so sick and faint that he could not stand on his feet. He said the earth seemed to swim from under him, and his senses left him, so that he knew not what did occur. I asked him in what condition he was when he came to himself. He said he was lying on the ground with his face down. I asked him if he could not have been mistaken as to the light. Was it not day that was coming in the east? He said at first he thought of that, but at a stone’s cast it was exceedingly dark ; and then he remembered it was too early for day. I asked him if his dizziness might not have come from being wakened up and getting up too suddenly, 9.B it sometimes had that effect. He said he was not, and had not been asleep all night, as the penalty was death for him to sleep on duty. He said he had let some of the soldiers sleep at a time. Some were asleep then. I asked him how long the scene lasted. He said he did not know but he thought nearly one hour.
He said it was hit by the light of day. I asked him if he went to the sepulchre after he had come to himself. He said not, because he was afraid; that just as soon as relief came they all went to their quarters. I asked him if he had been interrogated by the priests. He said he had. They wanted him to say it was an earthquake, and to say they were asleep, and offered him money to tell that the disciples came and stole him ; but he saw no disciples ; he did not know that the body was gone until he was told so.
I asked him what was the private opinion of those priests he had conversed with. He said some of them thought that Jesus was no man ; that he was not a human being ; that he was not the son of Mary ; that he was hot the same that was said to be born of the virgin in Bethlehem ; that the same person had been’ on the earth before with Abraham and Lot, and at many times and places. It seems to me if the Jewish theory be true, these conclusions would be correct, for, to sum up his life, it would be in accord with this man’s life, as is known and testified by both friends and foes ; for the elements were no more in his hands than the clay in the hands of the potter.
He could convert water into wine ; he could change death into life, diseases into health ; he could calm the seas, still the storms, call up fish with a silver coin in its mouth. Know, I say if he could do all these things which he did, and many more as the Jews all testify ; and it was doing these thinners that created this enmity against him ; he was not charged with criminal offenses, nor was he charged with violating any law, nor of wronging any individual in person ; all these facts are known to thousands, as well by his foes as by his friends ; so I am almost ready to say, as did Manuals at the cross, ”Truly this was the Son of God.”
Now, noble Sovereign, this is as near the facts in the case as I can arrive at them, and I have taken this pains to make the statement more full so that you may judge of my conduct upon the whole, as I hear that Antipater has said many hard things of me in this matter. With the promise of faithfulness and good wishes to my noble Sovereign I am your most obedient servant, Pontius Pilate.
CHAPTER X
HEROD ANTIPATER’S DEFENSE BEFORE THE ROMAN SENATE IN REGARD TO HIS CONDUCT AT BETHLEHEM
Rome, Italy. I find in the library of the Vatican, in a scroll, the following record, marked Herod Antipater’s Defence Noble Romans, in the case whereof I am accused, these Jews are of all people the most superstitious, and no more to be trusted than the Hindoos. They have taught themselves to believe there is but one God, and he dwells in a foreign world, so they can neither see nor hear him, nor in any way approach him by their senses. They believe that he is unchangeable ; that he dwells apart from them; that he is unapproachable; that he can only manifest himself through some angel or spirit, or some light, or the thunder, or any strange and uncommon phenomenon.
Hence, they are so superstitious that they can be made to believe anything. In order that you may know what kind of a people I have to deal with, I will give you some of their maxims: (1) when the sun shines, they say their God smiles ; (2) when it is cloudy they say he knows; (3) when it thunders they say he is angry, and they hide themselves; (4) when it rains they say he weeps, and all such sayings as these. Now, my lords, you can see at once how far this people might be led, if they could be made to believe this strange God was at the head, and commanded their cause. Tow, as a foundation for all this foolishness, they have a book, and a set of men, called priests, who read and expound this book to them, and they will believe anything these priests tell them. To show how far they may he led, these priests tell them that some thousands of’ years ago one Moses died, and went to where this strange God dwelt. He was gone forty days, and when he came back he brought this book that w.js written by this God for their government. Now, to prove the whole thing is a forgery, the whole book is made for the benefit of the priest.
The poor have to work and toil continually, and pay half what they make, and sometimes almost starve to keep up the lazy priests and furnish them and their women with plenty of fine garments and wine, and the best of all the food. The priests tell these poor Jews that this God requires them to brings the best calf, the best lamb, and the best of the flour and oil to the Temple, to offer in scarifies; and the priest and their party get all this for themselves. I often tell them when they set up an objection against the Roman taxation, that they could keep up a thousand Caesars for much less than they can keep up their God and his jurists.
These leaders are divided, and are always quarrelling and fighting among themselves, and dividing off in different sects. Miracles are as common as poor physicians. Essences are noted for both. They prophesy, work miracles, see visions, and dream dreams, and stand in reputation as quack doctors. They pretend to know all about angels, ghosts and spirits ; they profess the art of managing ethereal citizens of transatmospheric regions. They live together in colonies, some of them are Coenobitic, and some are Celibate communities. They maintain that each of them are priests and high priests ; therefore their daily baptisms as the priests on duty. Their garbs are the Leviticus garments ; their tables are their altars, and their meals their only sacrifices. With this sanctimonious misanthropy, which is their highest virtue, they use the allegorical method of expounding the
Scripture. When we think, reason and reflect, and use our faculties to obtain our ideas of duty, they shut their eyes and fold their hands, waiting to be endued with power from their God ; and when they get it, it proves to be all to their own advantage and interest, to the ruin of their fellow citizens.
The Sadducees are another party, as equally absurd. They get their doctrine from Antigens Sochaeus, who was President of the Sanhedrin. They reject all tradition of the Scribes and Pharisees. Then we find the Sepher, or Scribe. They are the writers and expounders of the law. Pharisees, derived from Pharaoh to separate. They separate from all men on account of their sanctity. But it is useless to give all these sects, with their peculiar views, each differing from the other. They are all strict monotheists, yet they differ from each other more than the polytheists do. I have given this detailed description of the people and their various sects that the Senate may have an idea of the situation I am in. But if you could be here and see and associate with them as I do to see them with all the sanctity of life, and then behold their treachery to each other ; see how they will lie and steal the one from the other ; and then to see how low and base are their priests you would be much better qualified to judge of my actions.
As to this great excitement at Bethlehem, there were three strange phantastic looking fellows called on my guards at the gate, and asked them where was the babe born that was to be King of the Jews. My guards told me of it, and I ordered the men to be brought into court. I asked them who they were. One of them said he was from Egypt. I asked him what was their business. He said they were in search of the babe that was born to rule the Jews. I told them that I ruled the Jews under Augustus Caesar. But he said this babe would rule when I was gone. I told him not unless he was born under the purple. I asked how he knew of this babe. He said they had all had a dream the same night about it. I told them that the devil played with our brain when we were asleep. He drew a parchment roll from his bosom, and read in the Hebrew language Thou, Bethlehem, least among the kingdoms of the world, out of thee should come a man that where he got that parchment. He said it was the law of the covenant of the Jews. He also said a star had travelled before them all the way to Jerusalem. I told him his God was mistaken; that Bethlehem was not a kingdom, neither was it the least in the Kingdom of Judea.
I told them that they were superstitious fanatics, and ordered them out of my presence. But the excitement still grew until it became overwhelming. I found nothing could control it. I called the Hillel court, which is the most learned body of talent in Jerusalem. They read out of their laws that Jesus was to be born of a virgin in Bethlehem; that he was to rule all nations, and all the kingdoms of the world were to be subject to him ; and that his kingdoms should never end, but his appointees should continue this rule forever. I found this court just as sanguine as those strangers, and, in fact, it was in everybody’s mouth ; and I thought I could discover already a sort of dividing and mocking spirit among the lower classes in regard to the Roman authority.
Now, it is my opinion that the scene that occurred at Bethlehem was nothing more than a meteor travelling through the air, or the rising vapour from the foot of the mountains out of the low marshy ground, as is often the case. And as to the noise, heard by Melcher and those shepherd boys, it was only the echo of the shepherds on the other side of the mountain calling the night-watch, or scaring away the wolves from their flocks. But although this was nothing but a phenomenon of nature, and the whole thing a delusion, it did not better the condition I was in.
A man will contend for a false faith stronger than he will for a true one, from the fact that the truth defends itself, but a falsehood must be defended by its adherents, first, to prove it to themselves, and, second, that they may appear right in the estimation of their friends. But the fact in this case is about the following : The Roman taxation was cutting off the support of the priests, and they were smarting under it. Again, the double taxing that is the tithes to the priests, and the tax of the Romans was bearing heavy on the common people, so that they could not stand it, and the priests saw that one of them would have to go unpaid ; and as they saw the Romans were the stronger, they wrote these things in the Tosephta, and read it daily in all their synagogues and temples, that the Jewish mind might be prepared for the event, knowing that they would magnify a mote into a mountain, when it come to anything outside of the common laws of nature, and knowing, if they could get the common people to believe in the things, that there would be no end to their fighting. And from all appearances the excitement was driving the people fast that way. It had already become a by- word with the children of Bethlehem and Jerusalem, that the Jews had a new king, that neither Caesar nor Herod would reign any more, that they would have to pay no more taxes to keep up the Roman government.
All such talk and sayings were common among the poorer classes of society. So I saw an insurrection brewing fast, and nothing but a most bloody war as the consequence. Now, under these circumstances, what was I to do? In my honest judgment it was best to pluck the undeveloped flower in its bud, lest it should be permitted to grow, and strengthen, and finally to burst, and shed its deadly poison over and destroy both nations, impoverish and ruin them forever. My enemies can see J
could have no malice at the infants of Bethlehem.
I had no doughty in listening to the cries of innocent mothers. May all the gods forbid! No; I saw nothing but an insurrection and a bloody war were our doom, and in this the overthrow and downfall, to some extent, of our nation. So these are the grounds of my action in all this thing. I am satisfied I did the best thing that could be done under the circumstances. As my motive was purely to do the best I could for my whole country, I hope you will so consider it, as I submit these things for your action, promising faithfulness and submission to your judgment. Herod Antipater.
CHAPTER XIHEROD ANTIPAS’ DEFENCE BEFORE THE B OMAN SENATE IN REGARD TO THE EXECUTION OF JOHN BAPTIST
City of Rome, September 26th, 1883. We found on the records of the Roman Senate, Herod Antipas’ defense respecting the various accusations preferred against him by different persons. In his defense there are some very important items, as regard the Christian Church. The reader will notice that these events were recorded with no intention of establishing other facts. 1st. The history of John Baptist. 2nd. The history of Jesus Christ, 3rd. The killing of the children by his father at Bethlehem.
To Tiberius Caesar and the Senate of Rome. My
Noble Lords. — Greeting:
It is true, as my opponent asserts, that I was defeated in the battle with Arêtes, king Arabia, but I was forced into a battle when I was not prepared for the engagement, and I either had to do this or have the country overrun by this wicked people. It is true I was defeated, but it was for the want of time and a better preparation. Arctas came on one before I was notified of the fact. Notwithstanding I was defeated, his array was so crippled that he had to withdraw his forces from the field, and has not been able to rally them since. So our country was saved from a devastation of the foreign foe.
I understand that the superstitious Jews say my defeat was for my wickedness in beheading John Baptist. My understanding of the God of the Jews is, that he does not chastise the innocent for the crimes of the guilty. What did my actions have to do with the poor, suffering soldier? But if he had to punish all in order to reach me, then where is his almighty power they boast so much
of? I do not know whether their God was angry at me or not. There is one thing I know, the act was done with the holy intention of bringing the greatest amount of good to the greatest number of people ; and if this is so, no court can gainsay it or condemn it.
The facts in the case are about the following :
John Baptist had set up a new mode of religion altogether different from the Jewish religion, teaching baptism instead of circumcision. This had been the belief and custom of the Jews in all ages past. According to their theory, God had appeared to Abraham hundreds of years before, and told him with his own lips how and what to do to be saved ; and according to this the Jews had lived until it had become their nature, and all their forefathers had lived in this way. David, Solomon, Isaac, Jacob, and all the holy prophets had gone to heaven in this way of God’s own appointment. Now, the question came to them as they suggested it to me: ^’Has God found that he was wrong? Has his wisdom failed him? or
has the unchangeable changed, and is he wavering in his purpose?” Such would be the natural conclusions of a sensible man under the circumstances. Now, John Baptist has no authority from God for what he is doing, like Abraham had. All he) can say is, ”He that sent me to baptize is true” ; land he can’t tell who he was. Then his going into the wilderness: God had ordered Solomon to build the finest temple that was ever built in the world, and made promises that whosoever came to that house with his offerings, his prayers should be heard and answered; which had been the place of their meeting for hundreds of years, for the Jews think this temple the next place to heaven. Now see the difference :
1st. John has no authorized authority.
2nd. He changes God’s place of worship.
3rd. He changes the doctrines.
4th. He changes the mode of applying.
Now, the idea of Gamaliel was that John wanted to be some great man; hence, he took this mode of eccentric life to establish it. And there is nothing better qualified than the course he took to make an impression upon the ignorant and unlearned to go away out in the wilderness by himself, get a few friends from Jerusalem to go out and hear him, and come back and tell of the great wonders which they had seen in the wilderness. Then John’s appearance — his long, uncombed hair and beard, his fantastic clothing, and his food : nothing but bugs and beans — such a course and such a character are well qualified to lead the illiterate astray.
These troubles on the Jewish mind were very heavy, and gave such men as Hilderium, Shammai, Hillel, and others, great trouble. And no wonder, for in their judgment it was vacating the temple of religious worship ; it was blocking the road to heaven, and driving the poor and unsuspecting to ruin, as well as ruining the whole nation. So it was, by their request, as so ordered, that it was better to execute one to save the many from a worse fate. And this is the true reason for the deed, and not to please the whim of a dancing girl, as you have heard. L Tow, my Lords, if this is not satisfactory, I would ask my accuser, Caius, to write to any of the learned Jews, and see if His statement is not correct.
As to Agrippa’s accusing me of having arms for seventy thousand soldiers, it is correct ; but they were left me by my father Herod the great. And as they were needed to defend the province, and I did not know^ it was necessary to report them, I never thought of keeping them secret. But as to to my being in league with Sejanus, I appeal to the virtue of my conduct, and demand investigation. As to what Pontius Pilate says in regard to my cowardice and disobedience in the case of Jesus of Nazareth, I will say in my own defence : I was
informed by all the Jews that this was the same Jesus that my father aimed to destroy in his infancy ; for I have it in my father’s private writings, and accounts of his life, showing that, when the report was circulated of three men, enquiring where was he that was born King of the Jews, he called together the Hillel and Shammai schools, and demanded the reading of the sacred scrolls
that it was decided he was to be born in Bethlehem of Judea, as read and interpreted that night by Hillel. So when my father learned that there was a birth of a male child in Bethlehem under very strange circumstances, and he could not learn who nor where the child was, he sent and had the male children slain that were near the age. Afterwards he learned that his mother had taken him and fled into the wilderness. For this attempt to save the Roman authority in the land of Judea the world has not ceased to curse him to this day ; and yet the Caesars have done a thousand worse things, and done them a thousand times, and it was all well. Just think how many lives have been lost to save the Roman Empire ; when those infants were only removed from the evil to come,
while in their innocence. The proper way to judge of action is to let the actor judge, or the one on whom the action terminates. If this should be done, and there is a life of happiness beyond this for innocence to dwell in, those infants as well as the Rachel’s would be thankful to my father for the change. Again, my Lords, Pilate is a higher officer than I ; and you know in our law the lower
court always has the right to appeal to the higher.
As to Pilate’s saying that Jesus was a Galilean, he is mistaken. Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, as the records show. And as to his citizenship, he had none. He wandered about from place to place, having no home, but making his abode principally with the poor. He was a wild fanatic, who had taken up the doctrines of John {except his baptism), and was quite an enthusiast.
He had learned sooth-saying while in Egypt to perfection. I tried to get him to show some miracle while in my court, but he was too sharp to be caught in a trap, like all those necromancers they are afraid to show off before the intelligent. From what I could learn he had reprimanded some of the rich Jews for their meanness, and they were not out of the way ; but from what I heard from him they would have been much better men if they had practiced what he preached. So this is my defence. I submit it for your consideration, praying for clemency.
Herod Antipas.