The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1897-11-17

Internal Evidence Proving It an impatient
Seuvunltstio 1mpoaition.

Internal Evidence Proving It an Impudent
Journalistic Imposition.
To THE EDITOR or THE suS-Sir: One Of
your contemporaries, on Nov. z, made q great
splurgo in publishing an alleged report Of
Pontius PLATE, and tried to fortify It's claim 90
to It's genuineness by citing tho oplnions,
or the alleged opinions. Of prominent CO.
clesiastics. In yesterdays Nov. l4) edition It
reiterated its assertion Of tho genuineness of
said documents by moro alleged opinions of Bib
licnl scholars tamong whom. strangely, Brother
Talmage figurcsl 1t is curious that all these
occlesiastics fight shy Of giving q decided opin-
ion, and conflne themselves mainly to saying
that the document 10 important, IL true" BY
another singular coincidence. they ali seem to
be consumed with n thirst TO examine the orig
inal manuscript before committing themselves.
Now. as mono of the gentlemen named have any
standing at all as photographers, 1t is certainly
queer that they should wish to rush into an I'M
known and untried field. If they really under
stand their trade, 1t Is certainly singular that
they were unable to give a decided opinion at
once, II. as they claim, they road the report"
carefully.
Now, / would like to show how easy 1t IL to
prove that thiR document. notwithstanding the
confident assertions of its alleged translator.
DR.. Mahan, is an impudent forgery, by the most
| certain Of all proofs. internal evidence. There
10 NJ hCCu thS SNStS
s~iastics to exploit their hitherto unrecognized
arc quito suficient to show that tho whole thing
In the flrst place, tho length Of the report"
is a condemnation in itself. Roman ofielais
reports We're brief and to the point. Consult any
authentic report such as Pilny,s letter TO the
%afSaiaIS w TFsi in,tr snd IL T 10 eo oS nee the ahss tsss 70
such points as interested Rome, and that they
told their stories without needless m
Erpp, fha npipt IF VIA "a If Rnpnp TIM aNas,,fipn
PLATE could land probably did, dispose of in
ThS. Piiste made = report I DO not deny. tits
probable he did; and il Is possible that it may bs
is certainly not the genuine article, for:
In the second place, Plate Is made to speak Of
sRpiFsd .n Il fhnp s p 81 sff sch hli Rfs1sqHE ms nsmD
that III H vas not ~ USED Sdinnnnvtil years ,Rr after bis BIZ, death.
i nj at at t iRst time ot Of Pt tRe cruci ifhie aleoSSe oM, IN : III,
could Plate know what bPionysias said u tho
Telephone" in the Apostolic .aee,i d. His title
a member Of the "Areopegus" in Athens. which
honor was not conferred upon him until long
In the third place, PLATE reports to the EN-
peror that his seeretary Nautilus, was the
time Of Catalina. It is ID ificuit to understand
why this superb uous information. which, had
be Been ns smbodie ea n fhe aS ea of,o IN h rapors sho M6a hs ais
Tiberius care about the antecedents of a eervant
Of his proeuratori And II he did care he had
the for,er put in this bit Of local color to give,
as Pooh Bah says. IAN air Of yerisimilitude +,
was IN b rt z. 8. and q "chief PtfaSs Er G%t muse
a nayo r Ssse; at l Tbs G so ysnfs ot ssei TO command 10 md
consensus Of Biblical ehronoiogers, was in 4.
% I.s ss; f1 Hsnee th we 5 haGs q iSS MRa lHisi us G1%si rs, l3 %
the secretaryship Of his grandson. Let us say
Nautilus III; was only 20 years of age, in A. d.
two generations, or an average OF 81 years for
eachl In a warm climate like Italy, where the
toRa virilis was assumed at ID years of age at
In the fourth place. plato says that the Cruel
axion was about the time of the ides of March;
lished fact that the Jews did not celebrate their
Passover tat which festival Christ was cruel
Roman calendar, at this time. on March 25.
sun; perhaps 1t may not be fair to press this
profess to quote from the acts of plate are quite
unanimous in saying that in that document the
Crucifxion was declared to be on March %. Let
doubt and assume that March 25 was the date
intended. Now, unless we are prepared to throw
dar of this period. March rs could not possibly
have been the date Of the Crucihxion in any pos
event. For If the Hebrew calendar was, as is
supposed. lunar, and IL the Cruciixion was on
ves lfi1 S Say VI 5n and nfS on auaf Fr no1' as I'll sh Is G Sns.
pels Enthusiastically declared. then it is certain
that the 14th day of the first Hebrew month
25, In any year from 20 to SO A.. d., during
which plate ruled, and during which period
From this evidence it is clear that this re-
port is only, another example of tho many
was aeluged during Tho irst 400 years Of its
Free Library G. s. NJ. and r. IS East ast' sixteenth
New YORK. Nov. IS.