Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1899-08-17
FRAUDULENT BOOKS.
spurious Documents About Christ Eek.
posed by the U. $. perintondent of
Manuscripts.


Manuscripts.
Correspondence of the Chicago Record
DR.. Herbert Friedenwald, superintend-
ent of the department of manuscripts in
the congressional library at Washington
mas exposed one of the most extraordin-
airy literary frauds that has been at
tempted in this country for long time
! The work related to the life of the Savior
ana was originally published in 1884 by the
author. Reverend" w. -. Mahan OF
! Bonneville, Mo-. under the title Arch
geological Writings of the Sanhedrim and
Talmuds of the Jews" 1t purported to be
based upon ancient parchments and
scrolls at Constantinople and in the lib
rary OF the Vatican, and was further
said to be record made by the enemies
of Jesus of Nazareth in his day"
Said Dr. Friedenwad, this was the most
interesting book ever read by man-that
is, If it were authentic. II contained about
twenty-five pages of transformation re-
specting the Talmud, and an argument 10
prove that Emperor Constantine had
fifty copies of the scriptures written and
bound, and that he, Mahan, had seen one
OF them in the library of st. Sophia at
Constantinople. The rest of the 2j2 pages
OF the volume is made up of material OF
about equal authenticity with this.
/ In 1887 similar volume from the pen
press of the Christian Publishing COM
pany' of st. Louis, purporting to be tran
slated from manuscripts in Constantinople
ana records of senatorial documents taken
from the archives Of the Vatican in Rome.
being the official documents made in those
courts in the days of Jesus Christ. This
consists of the same questionabl BILE mater
ials that apear in the first volume men,
TONED, but has in addition certain "ex-
tracts from the ante-Nicene fathers"
There also appeared in 1895, from the
press OF the A. j. Showalter company,
Dalton, Ca, "a wonderful book" entitled
Caesars Court" 1t embraced the same
material as that issued in 1854. In add
tion to ten of the same chapters that ap-
pear in the two previous volumes there
are stndry testimonials to the charac-
ter of the author and the authenticity of
the facts he relates. but he offers no ex-
PLANTATION of the singular fact that certi-
hcate to the genuineness of letter that
appears on page 1914 is dated Oct 81, 1885,
while the letter itself, which he desires to
verify, was not written until five years
latter, and was dated Nov, "a 1890
In 1896 the same book was repubshed
~ the Antiquarian Book company of
Philadelphia under the title of the Arch
ko Volume"
The Antiquarian Book company must
have some suspicion of the fraud, for sew
eral months after its publication they
wrote to DIR. Angel our minister at Con-
stantinople, inclosing n copy of the vol
umc and calling his attention to the
translations it contained of archaeological
writings of the Sanhedrim ard the Tai
mud Of the Jews, among them a descrip-
ton by Gamaliel Of an interview with
Joseph and Mary concerning Jesus, re-
ports Of Caiphas to the Sanhedrim con-
corning the execution and the resurrec-
ton OF Jesus, and other reports of his life
and teachings from the contemporaries
of our Lord The Antiquarian Book COM
pany explained that it had been furnished
with these documents by the Rev. w. D.
Mahan of Dewitt. Carroll county Mo-
who chains that, in connection with a
Mr.. Mcintosh, he found them in the lib
rary of St Sophia. Constantinople
"Dr. Angel brought the matter to the
attention of the authorities at Constanti-
nople by whom a thorough investigation
was made, and he forwarded to the seCre-
tary of state shortly before he returned
to this country last fall a certificate from
the department of public obstruction that
neither a copy of the Bible ordered by
the Emperor Constantine. nor any report
of Gamaliel of a conversation with the
parents of Jesus, nor any report Of
Caiphas, the chief rabbi of the Jews, on
the cructixion of Jesus, nor any other Of
the documents referred to in the "Archko
Volume" were to be found in the library
OF the mosque of St. Sophia or in any 9TH
er of the libraries
There have been an extraordinary num-
Der OF forgeries relating to the Savior
One of the most interesting and remark
BILE in the "Archko Volume" Is a COPY of
a letter purporting to have been written
by King Agbarus, Prince of Odessa, to
Jesus and sent to him al Jerusalem by
Ananas a courier, together with the re-
ply of Jesus.
The letter of Agbarus is as follows:
"Agbarus, Prince of Odessa, sends greet
ing to Jesus, the excellent Savior, who has
appeared in the borders of Jerusalem
have heard the reports respecting thee and
thy cures, as performed by thee without
medicine and without the use of herbs
For as 1t is said, thou causest the blind to
see again, the lame to walk, and thou
cleanest the lepers, and thou easiest out
impure spirits and demons, and thou heal
est those that are tormented by long dis
ease, and thou raisest the dead. And
hearing all these things of thee have con-
cluded in my mind one of two things
either that thou are God and having de-
scended from heaven doest these things
or else doing them thou art the son of
God. Therefore now | have written thee
and besought thee to visit me and to heal
the disease with which | am afflicted. |
have also heard that the Jews murmur
against thee and are plotting to njure
thee. l have, moreover, a very small but
noble estate which is sufficient for us
both"
The answer of Jesus sent by the courier
Ananias Is as follows
blessed art thou, Agbarus, for with
out seeing thou has believed. For it is
written that they who have seen me will
not believe; that they who have not seen
may believe and live But in regard to
what THAI hast written. that should
come to thee, it is necessary that should
fullll all things here for which have been
sent; and after this fulflIment thus to be
received again by Him that sent me- After
] have been received up l will send TO thee
a certain one OF my disciples that he may
heal thy Affections and give life to thee
and to those who are with thee"
As Dr. Angel stated, there Is no such
document In Constantinople as this, but
an autograph OF Christ, so-called, has
been in the possession of the Armenian
bishops for 1900 years, and is stll claimed
to be genuine by many authorities. DIR.
Adler of the Smithsonian institution tells
me that as early as the end Of the fourth
century Pope Gelasius made thorough