The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1897-10-27
ABUNDANT EVIDENCE
TOUCHING THE EARLT HISTORY
AND ORIGIN or CHRTSTIANTTY
Outside of the New DIR. Hiden's
Fourth Lecture I'll tho \. NJ. {.
A. last Night.


Tor last night.
This lecture. like the preceding ones.
was excellent and Bible students who fail
10 hear e arr missing a rare opportunity
Considering the very urfavorable weather
the lecture was very wei attended lie
said:
Suctonius. the son OF a Roman Knight,
was born about a. d. 90 !Ic vas an IN
innate friend Of the younger "liny. and
held the Office Of secretary under the
Emperor Hadriar. lie Is woll-known as
the author Of n SORES Of biographaical
sketches entitled Tho Lives OF the
Twelve Caesars" Now. in Acts, 18th
chapter. second verse Luke informs us
that Aquila and Priscilla had been COM
PEELED Il leave Rome under tho edict OF
the Emperor Claudius. and Suetonius. in
his life OF Claudus 30th chapter. con-
firms Luke's statement, and speaks OF
christ as the instIgator OF the disturb
ancos which induced Claudius 10 mako
this edict Of Punishment.
OF Nero. Suetonius saye. (chapter l0
'He inflicted punishment upon the Chris
tians. a sort Of people who held new
and impious superstition" OF course.
Christianity would appear to heather
10 be impious
Tacitus. born a. d. 81. wrote his AN
nails" about the close Of the first century.
when ne was about fort years OF age.
Jfe had been Proctor and Consul and had
fIled other honorable positions in The
State. in describing Neros infamous
reign he comes to the great fire, A. ID.
81. Nero's tenth year as Emperor. After
giving an account Of the fire. Of the order
for rebuilding the city, and Of the means
employed for appcasing the gods. he pro-
ceeds as follows:
EXQUISITE TORTURE.
But neither these religious ceremonies
nor the liberal donations Of the prince
could cnace frora the minds OF men the
prevailing opinion that Rome was set on
fire by his own orders. The infamy of
that horrible transaction sull adhered 10
him. IN order. II possible, 80 remove the
imputation he determined 10 transfer ne
guilt 10 others. For 'his purpose he
punished, with exquisite torture. a race
Of men detcsted for ;nc.r evil practices,
by vulgar appellation commonly called
Christians The name was derived from
Christ. who I'm the reign Of Vtberius sur
fored under Pontiua PLATE the procura-
tor Of Judaea by that event the sect,
Of which he was the founder. received "a
blow which for time. checked INC
growth OF "A dangerous superstition; but
81 revived soon after and spread with re-
cruited vigor not only in Judaea. the
soil. that gave IL birth. but even in the
city of Rome, the common sink into which
everything infamous and abomlnabie flows
like "A torrent from all quarters OF the
world. Nero proceeded with his usual
artihce He found a set Of profigate and
abandoned wretches who were induced
to confess themselves guilty. and. on the
evidence Of such men. number of Chris
tians were convicted, not indeed upon
clear evidence of their having set the
city on fire. but rather on account OF
their sullen hatred OF the whole human
race. They were put TO death with exc
quisite cruelty and TO their sufferings
Nero added mockery and derision. Some
were covered with the skins of wild
beasts and left to be devoured by dogs
others were nailed 20 the cross; numbers
were burnt alive; and many covered
over with infammable matter, were light
ed up, when the day declined, 10 serve
as torches during the night. For the
convenience Of seeing this tragic spec
tacle the emperor lent his own gardens
lie added the sports of the circus, and
assisted in person. sometimes driving a
curricle and occasionally mixing with the
rabble in his coachman's dress. At
length the cruelty Of these proceedings
filled every breast with compassion. HUI
manity relented in favor Of the Chris
tians The manners Of that people were,
no doubt of a pernlcious tendency, and
their crimes called for the hand of jus
tice: but il was evident that they fell
sacrifice. rot for the public good. hut TO
glut the rage ard cruelty OF one man only
ANNALS, chap. NLlN)
ABUNDANT EVIDENCE.
Now. with the opinions which these hea-
tsen writers. Pliny. Suetonious, and Taci-
tus held concerning Christianity and the
Christians. We are not here concerned.
IL Is clear that none OF these writers
knew much about the Christians. and IL
is equally clear that they were strongly
prejudlced against Christ and His fol-
lowers This. however. so far from dam
aging. greatly enhances the value Of their
testimony TO the facts
We see then that even outside % INC
New Testament we have abundant evil
dence to establish quite an array OF i'm
portant facts touching the origin and the
early history OF Christianity. / once
heard learned professor Of Greek. in one
Of our universities. speak sincerely OF
what he was pleased to call "the slip
shod Greek OF the New Testament" what
would he do with the classic Latin OF
Pliny and Tacltus?
To the Chicago editor. mentioned at the
beginning OF my last lecture. l should like
10 tell the following story. as heard II.
many years ago. from William F. Broad
dus. who was pastor in Charlottesville.
Va:
mot AS I KNOWED ON
Two ignorant preachers--a Methodist
and a Baptist-were engaged in a debate
on baptism. The Methodist asserted
boldly. that after all tho fuss that the
Baptists has been a-makin about i'm
merse and immersion thar amt nary
one O. them words to be found ia the leds
OF the scriptors from. Genesis to Revola-
lions"
The Baptist did not know whether this
was true or not: so when he came TO re-
ply. he arose with much dignity and
said: MY hearers I want you 20 notice
the very remarkable ste tement the broth
or iust now made He has the face 10
stand up here before you. and tell you
that the words immerse and Immersion
amt 20 be found in the lids Of the Scrip
ters" And then pausing. as II I'm amaze
ment AT the temerity OF hls antagonist.
but really because he did not know what
20 say next he repeated the remark with
redoubled emphasis
This frightened the Methodist. who
thought the Baptist was about TO turn
20 divers texts full OF immcrse and i'm
rnerslon: so he arose. and. With bated
breath and al humility. explained: Il
said no. as j knowed or.