Mexico weekly ledger., 1889-01-17
Elder Magae Closes.

made an earnest effort to place
ourselves in sympathy with the
facts of the case Probably those
who have never had occasion to in
vestigate this question, feel little
surprised, if not incredulous, at the
result. We think we have fairly
stated the facts of the case. We
must leave the result to the good
| jud g'nert of the reader. The dav
for blind credulity is passed, and
on all sides it is admitted that we
we are at liberty to ask certain
questions i'll regard to spiritual
things, questions which all earlier
and more intolerant age would
not have allowed.
The early Roman Church did not
go forth claiming to teach doctrines
and ideas before unhea d of, but
simply took many of the beliefs,
rites and ceremonies of the heather
world, freed them from crudity
and taught more excellent way.
Taylor: "Diegesis," page AZ.
Concerning the birth and early
life of Jesus there is no historical
record outside of the New Testa-
ment. Concerning Christianity no
mention of it is made, outside of
the Bible. during the first century.
The fact is, Christianity is not no.
ticed in any of the writings of the
first century. a glance at some of
the writing of the first century will
show this very clearly. Philo, the
Alexanderian, writer and philoso
pher, lived during the first half of
this century. He was a voluminous
writer, but he fails to make the
slightest mention of Christianity
Josephus, the Jewish writer
and historian, died somewhere
near the close of the first century.
In two passages of his great work
mention is made of Jesus and His
brother James, but he nowhere re-
fers to Christianity. And even
these passages are supposed by
the vast majority of scholars to
have been interpolated. Strabo,
Valerius Maximus, the two Senecas,
the elder Pliny, all lived and wrote
voluminously in the first century
and yet in none of their writings is
the slightest reference made to
Christianity.
Now, there is not the slightest
doubt that Christianity was making
rapid headway; but their manners
and customs were plain and simple
Just as recorded in the New
Testament. They celebrated no
feasts, no festivals 40 holy days
Consequently they failed to be no.
ticed by such writer's as Pliny and
Seneca, W ho were On the lookout
for whatever was out of the or
dinary run of events.
It's not until the second century
is we'll under way that We have
any material, outside of the New
Testament, from which to judge
concerning the habits and customs
of Christians. All this time Christ
| lanity had been growing and
spreading. This growing religion
soon came in contact with the re-
| ligious culture of the heather
world. and was inevitably influence
ed by Paganism. We must ad-
NIT that these contacts took place
and it is simply absurd to, claim
that nascent Christianity did not
have its course of development i'll
fiuenced by the same. The studen;
can easily see the tendency of de-
] velopment.
During the fourth century we
find many of the "Fathers" excit-
edly disputing as to days and dates
then being fixed i'll the church
calendar. Chrysastem, the gold
en- mouthed," in one of his ser
mons, declares: "The 18th day OF
| December has been celebrated
from the beginning as the birthday OF
Christ, and the certainty is now
transmitted to u.s. Then he elab.
orately goes on to prove that the
25th day of December is really the
day on which Jesus was born. II
the certainty of the event had been
transmitted and 25th day of De
cember had been celebrated from
the beginning, why strive SO hare
to prove a certainty ? Chysasten
labors too hard to prove !: certain
ty! His efforts prove too much
1t is only when doubt exists thai
orators are employed to persuade
the people to accept thus and SO.
We do not know the year il
which Christ was born. Scholar:
;. vary in their opinion from seven tC
two years. Still more uncertain
are we as t. His birthday. The
usually accepted day, Christmas
was chosen by Pope Julius l., il
the fourth century, probably In de
ference to popular superstition
the reason of which we have giver
in former papers. We shall con
tent ourselves now by simply re
Ifering to a few authorities: Zumpf
"Das Geburtsjahr Christ; "Stapfer
"Palestine in the Time of Christ
page 415 Ewald: History of Is
rael," Vol. VI, page 149; Clinton