BUT for the gratification of infidels we propose to give the direct testimony of enemies in behalf of the purity of ancient Christians (which would preclude the possibility of their publishing lies), as well as to some of the facts of the gospel.
Our first testimony is from Pliny, an enemy of Christianity, who was born in the year A. D. 61, while some of the apostles were alive. Pliny was prætor under Domitian, in the year 100. As Pliny's letter was written in the same mountainous region where Peter's letters "to the strangers scattered abroad," were indited, and not more than twenty-five years after the second of them, we shall expect Peter and Pliny often to refer to the same things. Will the reader please compare them?
“Pliny to the Emperor Trajan wisheth health and happiness:
“It is my constant custom, Sire, to refer myself to you in all matters concerning which I have any doubt. For who can better direct me when I hesitate, or instruct me when I am ignorant?
“I have never been present at any trials of Christians, so that I know not well what is the subject matter of punishment, or of inquiry, or what strictures ought to be used in either. Nor have I been a little perplexed to determine whether any difference ought to be made upon account of age, or whether the young and tender, and the full grown and robust, ought to be treated all alike; whether repentance should entitle to pardon, or whether all who have once been Christians ought to be punished, though they are now no longer so; whether the name itself, although no crimes be detected, or crimes only belonging to the name, ought to be punished.
“In the mean time, I have taken this course with all who have been brought before me, and have been accused as Christians. I have put the question to them whether they were Christians. Upon their confessing to me that they were, I repeated the question a second and a third time, threatening also to punish them with death. Such as still persisted, I ordered away to be punished; for it was no doubt with me, whatever might be the nature of their opinion, that contumacy and inflexible obstinacy ought to be punished. There are others of the same infatuation, whom, because they are Roman citizens, I have noted down to be sent to the city.
“In a short time, the crime spreading itself, even while under persecution, as is usual in such cases, divers sorts of people came in my way. An information was presented to me, without mentioning the author, containing the names of many persons who, upon examination, denied that they were Christians or ever had been so; who repeated after me an invocation of the gods, and with wine and frankincense made supplication to your image, which, for that purpose, I have caused to be brought and set before them together with the statues of the deities. Moreover, they reviled the name of Christ. None of which things, as is said, they who are really Christians can by any means be compelled to do. These, therefore, I thought proper to discharge.
“Others were named by an informer who at first confessed themselves Christians, and afterward denied it. The rest said they had been Christians, but had left them; some three years ago, some longer, and one or more above twenty years. They all worshiped your image, and the statues of the gods; these also reviled Christ. They affirmed that the whole of their fault or error lay in this: that they were wont to meet together on a stated day, before it was light, and sing among themselves alternately, a hymn to Christ as a God, and bind themselves by a sacrament, not to the commission of any wickedness, but not to be guilty of theft, or robbery, or adultery, never to falsify their word, nor to deny a pledge committed to them, when called upon to return it. When these things were performed, it was their custom to separate, and then to come together again to a meal, which they ate in common, without any disorder; but this they had forborne since the publication of my edict, by which, according to your command, I prohibited assemblies. After receiving this account I judged it more necessary to examine two maid-servants, which were called ministers, by torture; but I have discovered nothing besides a bad and excessive superstition.
“Suspending, therefore, all judicial proceedings, I have recourse to you for advice; for it has appeared to me a matter highly deserving consideration, especially upon account of the great number of persons who are in danger of suffering. For many, of all ages, and every rank, of both sexes likewise, are accused, and will be accused. Nor has the contagion of this superstition seized cities only, but the lesser towns also, and the open country. Nevertheless, it seems to me that it may be restrained and arrested. It is certain that the temples which were almost forsaken, begin to be frequented. And the sacred solemnities after a long intermission are revived. Victims, likewise, are everywhere bought up, whereas, for some time there were but few purchasers. Whence, it is easy to imagine what numbers of men might be reclaimed, if pardon were granted to those who shall repent.”—Lardner, Vol. vii, p. 18.
Here follows Trajan's answer:
“Trajan to Pliny wisheth health and happiness:
“You have taken the right course, my Pliny, in your proceedings with those who have been brought before you as Christians, for it is impossible to establish any one rule that shall hold universally. They are not to be sought after. If any are brought before you, and are convicted, they ought to be punished. However, he that denies his being a Christian, and makes it evident in fact, that is, by supplicating to our gods, though he be suspected to have been so formerly, let him be pardoned upon repentance. But in no case of any crime whatever may a bill of information be received without being signed by him who presents it, for that would be a dangerous precedent, and unworthy of my government.”—Lard., Vol. vii, p. 24.
In the above letter we have a public and authentic account of the rapid growth of Christianity. Here in the remote countries of Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, Christians had become so numerous that the pagan temples were almost forsaken. Victims were not led to the sacrifices, and the sacred rites of the gods were suspended. He also mentions that some in that country had renounced Christianity above twenty years before the date of his letter. These worshiped images, and repeated after him the invocation to the gods. Now turn to 1 John ii, 19, and you will find him referring to the same individuals, in the following language: “They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us they would no doubt have continued with us; but they went out that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us.”
Again Pliny says: “In a short time the crime [Christianity]91spreading itself even while under persecution, as is usual in such cases, divers sorts of people came in my way.” Here we have the fact stated by this heathen, that the Christians of this country were a persecuted people, thus confirming what Peter had written to them about twenty-five to thirty years before, when he says, “Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing had happened unto you; but rejoice, inasmuch as ye are made partakers of Christ’s sufferings; that when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy.” 1 Pet. iv, 12, 13.
Having obtained the testimony of this Bithynian governor, and Roman emperor, to the existence of vast numbers of persecuted Christians in their day, and in this remote province, which never could have been the case had the gospel facts not been known to be such, we now remove the field of our investigation to Rome. Our historian shall be Tacitus, the well-known opposer of Christianity. His testimony is given in about the year A. D. 64. At the time when the apostles were “made the filth of the world and the offscouring of all things,” and Christians were “made a gazingstock both by reproaches and afflictions,” yea, “killed all the day long,” and “accounted as sheep for the slaughter;” at the time when Paul was being compelled “to fight with beasts at Ephesus,” and came to the conclusion that “if there be no resurrection of the dead,” Christians “are of all men the most miserable.”
Of the extract which we take from Tacitus, Gibbon says: “The most skeptical criticism is obliged to respect the truth of this important fact, and the integrity of this important passage of Tacitus.”—Decline and Fall, Vol. 2, p. 407.
Tacitus, after relating the burning of the city of Rome, and the attempt to convict the sect “commonly known by the name of Christians,” of the crime, says, “The author of that name was Christ, who in the reign of Tiberius was put to death as a criminal, under the procurator Pontius Pilate. But this pestilent superstition, checked for awhile, broke out afresh, and spread not only over Judea, where the evil originated, but also in Rome, where all that is evil on the earth finds its way, and is practiced. At first, those only were apprehended who confessed themselves of that sect; afterward, a vast multitude discovered by them, all of whom were condemned, not so much for the crime of burning the city, as for their enmity to mankind. Their executions were so contrived as to expose them to derision and contempt. Some were covered over with skins of wild beasts, that they might be torn to pieces by dogs; some were crucified; while others, having been daubed over with combustible materials, were set up for lights in the night time, and thus burned to death. For these spectacles Nero gave his own gardens, and at the same time exhibited there the diversions of the circus, sometimes standing in the crowd as a spectator in the habit of a charioteer; and at other times, driving a chariot himself, until at length these men, though really criminal, and deserving of exemplary punishment, began to be commiserated, as people who were destroyed, not out of regard to the public welfare, but only to gratify the cruelty of one man.”—Lardner, Vol. iii, p. 611.
This passage needs no comment. All we ask of the reader is to examine the contemporary history prepared by Luke in the Acts of the Apostles, or the Epistles of Paul, especially the last one written from a dungeon in Rome, to a young minister by the name of Timothy, when he had “finished his course,” “and the time of his departure was at hand,” and then draw your conclusions.
What think you of that faith that enabled Paul to say, when viewing these things, and knowing that bonds and afflictions awaited him in every city: “But none of these things move me, neither count I my life dear unto myself, so that I might finish my course with joy.” Acts xx, 24. “I am ready not to be bound only, but also to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus.” Acts xxi, 13. And in all this he considers himself “more than conqueror through him that loved him” [Rom. viii, 35, 39], “knowing him in whom he had trusted.” 2 Tim. i, 12.
Whatever may be your opinion of the faith and hope of the apostles and early Christians, you must acknowledge that the above testimony of the ancient enemies of Christianity, is a proof of many of the facts related in the New Testament.
I will close the present chapter by giving the testimony of one Judas Iscariot, an apostate. “Judas,” says Alexander Campbell, “had long been a familiar acquaintance, and ranked among the most intimate friends of Jesus. He was enrolled among the twelve apostles. He had been so impartially treated by Jesus that, until the night that he betrayed him, not one of the others could suspect that he would prove a traitor. Now had there ever been the least reserve shown by Jesus to Judas, or had he been treated in any way less confidentially than any of the other apostles, as soon as Jesus told them that one of them should betray him, all eyes would have turned to Judas. To him they would have all pointed. Instead of saying, Lord, is it I? they would all have said within themselves, It is Judas. He had been, during the whole ministry of Jesus, most intimately acquainted with his speeches, and his actions. If anything insincere, political or contrary to the ostensible object of the mission of Jesus had ever transpired in secret, or if ever there had been any conspiracy among his followers, to delude or impose upon the nation, Judas must have known it. This must be conceded by all who have ever read the gospel histories.
“Now that Judas was a designing, selfish, covetous, and insincere adherent to the party, must also be conceded. Seeing things going contrary to his calculations, that no immediate gain, honor, or advantage was likely soon to accrue—in an evil hour his passion for gain impelled him to seize the first opportunity of making as much as possible by way of reprisal, for his disappointment in attaching himself to the retinue of Jesus. He therefore covenanted for thirty pieces of silver, the sum for which Joseph was sold into Egypt, to deliver into the custody of the sanhedrin the person of Jesus. He did so. Now had he been able to impeach Jesus of aught amiss in word or deed, it is evident that he had the disposition and the opportunity; nay, to extenuate his own conduct even in the eyes of the chief priests and elders, it was necessary for him to make a disclosure; but he had nothing to disclose, save, after a little reflection, the agonies of his own mind. I have, said he, betrayed innocent blood. Heart-rending thought! Here is the money: release him. If you have done so, we care not, said the priests, that is your concern, not ours. Now the import of the testimony of Judas is something like the following: A. B. is accused of some base or unworthy action. Eleven of his intimate friends and acquaintances, all of good character too, are summoned to give testimony in favor of A. B. They all give him a good character, and exculpate him from the charge. Their testimony, though not in the same words, concurs in every grand point or fact. There is a twelfth person summoned, who is known to the court and jury to be at that instant a bitter enemy of the accused. He is interrogated and deposes—‘That he has been intimately acquainted with A. B. for years, and that he never did know him to speak an unbecoming word, or commit an unworthy action in any one instance, either bearing upon the accused or any other human being. Nay, so far from that, he has lived the most exemplary life, and his whole conduct has been nothing but a bright display of purity, piety, and benevolence; and moreover, adds he, I do not think him capable of an evil word or deed.’ Now such a testimony weighs as much, yes, weighs more, with the jury than the testimony of many friends, however unexceptionable their character. Now just such a witness was Judas: I have betrayed innocent blood, said he. I have been instigated by the Devil: my soul has no rest, and peace has departed from me. For so worthy a person as Jesus of Nazareth never lived: release him, or I die.
He dies; and though a felo de se, he is a martyr to the truth of the pretensions and character of Jesus.”—Debate with Owen, pp. 310–312.
Here we may safely leave the question of the credibility of the New Testament. The evidence, to our mind, has seemed so clear and conclusive, that we have felt at each step that we were treating upon the patience of the reader, and tiring his mind with an unnecessary accumulation of evidence. But this heaping of evidence upon heaps shows what a “cloud of witnesses” the Lord has permitted to compass this subject. The credibility of the Old Testament will come under investigation in due time. Our next chapter will be devoted to the subject of the resurrection of Jesus Christ, which will be an additional argument for the credibility of the New Testament.
[These articles are necessarily suspended for the present, but will be resumed shortly. M. H.]