National Republican., 1881-08-01
"sTuDENTs" FURTHER RESEARCHES.
Rousseau and Strauss - Damascus aud
Aretns-The Book OF Chronology.

Rousseau and strauss Damascus aud
Aretns-The Booh OF Acts-Chronoiogy.
To the Editor of THE REPUBLICAN;
Fat. b." will take the trouble to hunt
up the quotations he made from the inhdel Ro us
seau think he will find that they are not the
writer's own views OF the New Testament or OF
Jesus, but expressions put By him in the mouth OF
Others And think he will find in the same con-
nectlon the following passage, giving Rousseaus
real opinion Of the Gospel:
This Gospel Is full of things incredble-of
things which reason has I'm aversion and which " Is
impossible for any OF fsensc TO conceive admit
That Strauss in his Life OF Jesus usGD, treated
Christ as historical and not q mythical character
is true, with qualification. At the conclusion of
his work he thus sums up the result Of his re.
searches:
do not think the is bad as has lately been
maintained, as tlint we cannot know for certain Of
any one Of the texts which put into the mouth Of
Jesus In the Gospels whether lie uttered them or not
believe that there are some which we may ascrlbe
TO Jesus with all that amount Of probability beyond
which We cannot generally 30 In historical matters;
and have endeavored above to explain the signs by
which we may recognize such. But this probability
approaching TO certainty, does not extend far and
with the exception Of the journey Of Jesus Jersa
lem and His death. the facts and circumstances OF Ills
life unfavorably situated There is little of which
we say for certain that took place; and Of all TO
which the aith of the church especially attaches IT,
self, the miraculous and supernatural matter in the
facts and destines Of Jesus II is far certain that
IL did not take place.
Strauss thinks that some of the sayings Gscribed
TO Jesus may have been uttered by Him but oil
other historical matters, he confesses, are "unfa-
vorably situated" save the journey to Jerusalem
and the crucifxion. do not find that Strauss re.
gnrds the entry Of Jesus into jerusalem Sitting on
an ass and colt, the foal of an ass Matt XXI 5
as fulnllment OF prophecy (Zech. tx, 0). And
find the same donkey-rlde described in the Toll
dc.h Jcshu story. II may be historical but did IL
take place rs B. c. from 90 to 80 A. D.? Who can
tell? But as regards the crucifxion l think
have given already abundant proof that II did not
take place between A. D. 20 and 80, but that a
Jesus was stoned and hanged about hun.
dred years before. ct. b." quotes Tertulian 10
prove that Damascus was ancently reckoned to
Arabin. Truc but let us see what else Tertullian
says: Damascus was anciently deemed to belong
TO Arabia before Il was transferred to Syrophnne-
cia OH the division OF the syrias by Romel" (Tert
ngt. Mar Ill.,, 13) That transfer was made after
Pompey conquered Syria 63 b. c. Speaking of
Damascus McClintock and strongs sCyclopedlahas
two contradictory opinions. In the article "Da-
mascus " the writer thinks that on the return of
Vitellius governor Of Syria, to Rome, on the death
of Tiberius, A. d. 81, King Aretas, taking ad-
vantage OF the confused state Of Roman affairs,
advanced and seized the city, But in the article
"Aretas" such an event is spoken of as very
improbable, and in this view the writer
follows Smiths Bible Dictionary. But in or.
der to account for King Aretas in Damas-
Gus about that time, he presumcs that
when the Emperor Caligula "a. d. 37-41) was
making changes in the East he may have granted
TO King Aretas the government of the city which
formerly-that is, more than hundred years be-
fore-belonged to the dynasty .of Aretas King of
Arabia Petra. The discovery that Paul lived 6S
b. c. is going to compel change Of base for his
torical Christianity. The chronology of the Book
OF Acts is all at sea. "The only event in the book"
says Dr. Samuel Davidson, (which can be fixed
with certainty, is the death Of Herod Agrippa, A.
Z ID. A." lint. to N. r., vol. H., p 2s7) No wonder
such confusion exists in dates, since the whole OF
the book is fiction, with a slight basis Of facts
that occurred hundred years before.