Portland gazette and Maine advertiser., 1817-12-02

mics of such fact-such evidence is alway-
considered as OF the highest importance.
With this view, shall introduce number
of Ancient authors, who in the first ages Of
Christianity, wrote against il and did all in
their power TO overthrow II.
begin with CELSIUS, who wrote about the
year A. d. l76, soon after the Apostolic age
and who is acknowledged to have been one
of tie mos. bitter adyersaries to the Chris.
tian Religion, that has ever appeared.
The books ofCelsus are unhappily lost but
the extracts, from which the following sum
mary is taken, are to be found in Origen
(of whom | have already sPoken) who
wrote an able answer to him.
SUMMARY.
"Celsus, most bitter enemy 10 Chris
tianity, who lived in the second century,
int reduces many passages out of the Cos
pels He represe n; Jesus 10 have lived
but few years before he mentions his be.
ing born Of a Virgin, the Angels appearing
10 Joseph on the occasion of Mary's being
with child /; the Star, that appeared at his
birth-the wise men that came 10 worship
him when an infant and Herod's massa-
creing the children Joseph's fleeing with
the child into Egypt by the admonition of
an angel the Holy Ghosts descending on
Jesus like Dove when he was baptized by
John, and the voice from Heaven, declaring
him to be me Son of God his going about
with lis disciples his healing the sick
and lame, and raising the dead his fore.
telling his own sufferings and resurrection;
His being betrayed and forsaken by his
! own disciples His suffering, both of his
own accord, and in obedience of his fathers
will His grief and trouble, and his pray
ing, Father II az be possible let this cait hoss
from: ME the ignominious treatment he
met with; the Robe that was put upon him,
the Crown of thorns, the Reed put into his
hand His drinking vinegar and gall, and
his being scourged anc crucihed 3: His be-
ing seen after his resurrection by ianatical
woman las he is pleased TO call her, mean
ing Mary MaSdalene) and by bis own COM
panions and disciples, his shelving them his
hands that were pierced, the marks of his
punishment He also mentions the Angel,
being seen at his sepulchre, and that some
said, there was only one Angel, others, that
there were two by which he hints at the
seeming variation in the accounts given by
the Evangelists." ..,
Ii is true. he mentions all these things
with visw of ridiculing and exposing
them; but they afford incontes,ible evil
dence, that the Gospels were then extant.
Accordingly he expressly tells the Chris
tians Y" These things | have produced out
of your own writings" And all along he
appears, to acknowledge that they were
written by Christ's own disciples, that liv-
ed and conversed with him, though he pre-
tends that they feigned some things tor the
honour of their master. He further says,
that he could tell great many more
things concerning JesusChrist than his Dis
ciples had done, but that he purposely o.
mited them
From his own account, it is evident, he
believed these accounts TO be written by
Christ's own disciples ; in short he never
pretends 10 deny il also that he was una
bic TO produce any contrary accounts to in-
validate them, for he would certainly have
done it, if it had been in his power since
no man ever wrote with greater virulenee
against christianity than he. In short.
how should 1t be possible, that ten or eleven
. tu6hcans and 6Oafmen"( as he calls Christ's
disciples by way of coRtempt,) to have i'm
posed such things on the world, if they had
not been true, SO as to persuade such vast
multitudes, 10 embrace new and dispised
religion, contrary TO all their prejudices
and interests, and to believe in one tina, was
cruCifIed From what have v~1l,...l
the reader may see, that an abridgement of
the whole life OF Jesus of Nazareth NAV
be found among the writings even of his
bllterest enemies, and that too of an an.
cient date. Important consideration le,
every friend to truth ponder upon it.