CHAPTER XIX. JESUS RESEMBLANCES OF THE PAGAN AND CHRISTIAN THE- CHRIST. No conviction of our reason could be conceived to be more absolute and conclusive, than that which assures us of the utter impossibility of there being any common features of resemblance between divine truth and human imposture. We are not conscious of our own existence with a greater degree of certainty, than that by which we know, that a religion which hath "God for its author, happiness for its end, and truth without any mixture of error for its matter," could have no likeness to the foolish and impotent devices of weak and wicked men. The existence of such a likeness or resemblance between any two religions whatever, however superior the one might be to the other, would itself constitute the surest possible demonstration that both of them were false. In a religion, then, which purports to be from God, we have a right to expect internal evidences of its divinity, and a character as infinitely superior to any devices of men-as infinite wisdom must be superior to human ignorance. Having, then, obtained the consent of all parties, that the Christian Saviour, if any such person ever lived at all, must have lived and conversed with men in the era of Augustus, that is, eighteen hundred years ago, and that all the facts and doctrines of his religion are contained in the book called the New. Testament*; this great and important question becomes capable of being put to the testfrom which, nothing that is honest would shrink—from which nothing that is true, can have any thing to fear.— Nothing which can be shown to have been in existence before the alleged time of the birth of Christ, nothing which came into existence long after "his glorious resurrection and ascension," can have any claim to be taken for Christianity. If before the date assigned to Christianity, and in regions and countries where a religion under that name was not known, we shall find all the ideas which that religion involves, pre-existent, and already familiar to the apprehensions of men; there is no alternative but that *We say not the Old Testament, though the Bible is a term that comprehends both; the Old Testament will never be vindicated, and ought not to be attacked by any man. the conclusion must be endured. To attempt to resist that conclusion, is to resist truth itself; to be afraid to do justice to the arguments that may lead to that conclusion, is to surrender it, without resistance. THE PAGANS THE CHRISTIANS 1. Apologised for all the apparent absurdities of their system, by pleading that nothing in it was to be understood according to the gross and revolting sense of the letter, but that the whole was to be explained conformably to a mystical allegorical meaning which conveyed the most sublime truths. 1. Use precisely the same argument in defence of their system, only denying the benefit of it, to their Pagan adversaries. 2. "For those who preside over the holy Scriptures, philosophise over them, and expound their literal sense by allegory."-Eusebius, concerning the Therapeutan priests. CICERO. Concerning the Pagan Augurs. 3. "No order of true religion passes over the law concerning the description of priests. 4. "For some have been instituted for the business of pacifying the Gods. 5. "To preside at sacred ceremonies. 6. "Others to interpret the predictions of the prophet. 7. "Not of the many, lest the number should be infinite. 8. "But that none beside the College should understand those predictions which had been publicly recognized. 2. God also hath made us able ministers of the New Testament, not of the letter, but of the spirit. (2 Corinth. 3, 6.)— Which things are an allegory. (4 Gal. 24.)-St. Paul, concerning the Christian priests. THE NEW TESTAMENT. Concerning the Christian Bishops. 3. And God hath set some in the church-first apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers.-1 Corinth. xii. 28. 4. O Lord spare thy people, and be not angry with us for ever.-Liturgy.* 5. Let the prophets speak two or three, and let the others judge.-1 Corinth. xiv. 29. 6. And let one interpret.-1 Corinth. xiv. 27. 7. Let it be by two, or at the most by three, and that by course.-1 Corinth. xiv. 27. 8. Because it is given unto you (the College of Apostles) to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given.-Matt. xiii. 11. *This attribute of being angry for ever, is peculiar to the Christian God, and has become, in consequence, peculiarly characteristic of Christians. CICERO. 9. "For augury, or the power of foretelling future events, is the greatest and most excellent thing in the republic, and naturally allied to authority. 10. "Nor do I thus think, because I am an augur myself; but because it is absolutely necessary for us to think so. 11. "For if the question be of legal right, what is greater than the power to put away from the highest governments, their right of holding counsels, and issuing decrees or to abolish them when holden? What more awful, than for any thing undertaken, to be done away, if but one augur hath said other wise. 10. Neither have I written these things, that it should be so done unto me.-1 Corinth. ix. 15:-Inasmuch as I am the apostles of the Gentiles, I magnify mine office.-Rom. xi. 13. 11. Dare any of you, having a matter against another, go to law before the unjust, and not before the saints. Know ye not that we shall judge angels ? How much more things that pertain to this life ?-1 Corinth. vi. 3. If he neglect to hear the church, let him be unto thee as an heathen man, and a publican. -Matt. xviii. 17. 12. "What more magnificent than to be able to decree, that the supreme governors should resign their magistracy? What more religious than to give or not to give the right of treating or transacting business with the annul a law if it hath not been duly passed, ing that hath been done by the government, either at home or abroad, to be approved by any one, without their authority?*De Legibus, lib. ii. 12." 12. Verily I say unto you,. whatsoever ye shall bind on earth, shall be bound in heaven; and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth, shall be loosed in heaven.-Matt. xvii. 18. people? What than to * No wonder, then, that such a power was not allowed to be held in separation from the imperial dignity itself. The Jewish Messiah, or Christ, united in his own person the several offices of prophet, priest, and king. The figures of Romulus, the founder of Rome, represent him as clad in the trabea, a robe of state, which implied an ecclesiastical as well as a secular dignity. The lituus, or staff of augury in his hand, is still retained as the crosier of our Christian bishops. "This latter mark of distinction (the episcopal crosier) usually attends the representations of the heads of Julius Cæsar in old gems and medals, in signification that he was high-priest and king, by the same right as Romulus had been. Pantheon in loco quo. Augustus, Vespasian, Verus, &c. are in like manner accompanied with the insignia of augury. So sacred were these holy orders, that none who had once been a member of the sacred college, could ever be degrad Bell's PHILO. 13. "In addition to these circumstances, Philo describes the order of preferment among those who aspire to ecclesiastical ministrations, and the offices of the deacons, and the pre-eminency above all of the bishop."-See chap. 10. NEW TESTAMENT. 13. To all the saints in Christ Jesus which are at Philippi with the bishops and deacons.— 1 Philip. i. For they that have used the office of a deacon well, purchase to themselves a good degree. If a man desire the office of a bishop, he desireth a good work. -1 Timothy iii. 13. ROYAL PRIESTS. Among the ancient Greeks, the dignity of the priesthood was esteemed so great in most of their cities; and especially at Athens, as to be joined with that of the civil magistrate. Thus Anius, in Virgil, was king of Delos, and priest of Apollo.* In Egypt, the kings were all priests; and if any one who was not of the royal family, usurped the kingdom, he was obliged to be consecrated to the priesthood, before he could ascend the throne. At Sparta, the kings, immediately upon their promotion, took upon them the two priesthoods of the heavenly, and the Lacedemonian Jupiter; and all the sacrifices for the safety of the commonwealth, were offered by them only. SUBORDINATE CLERGY. Besides these royal priests, there were others taken from the body of the people, and consecrated to the service of religion. These were all accounted the ministers of the gods, and by them commissioned to dispense their favour to mankind. Whoever was admitted to this holy office, was obliged to be of the most exemplary and virtuous character. They were required to be upright in mind and pure in heart and life, as well as perfect (as) in body: they were to live chastely and temperately, abstaining from those pleasures which were considered innocent in other men. After their admission into holy orders, though marriage was not altogether forbidden, they were obliged and expected to preserve the most rigid chastity. ed: the commission of the greatest enormity was not held competent to effect their indefeasible sanctity of character, or to forfeit their title of THE REVEREND; which their descendants still retain, in a never-interrupted succession of inheritance from their Pagan ancestors. * Rex Anius, Rex idem hominum, Phœbique Sacerdos.-Virg. AEn. 3, v. 80. They endeavoured to weaken or overcome "all the sinful lusts of the flesh," by drinking the juice of hemlock, and by strewing the herb agnus castus, or chaste lamb under their bed clothes, which was believed to possess refrigerating qualities. THE PRIESTS OF CYBELE Who held the dignity of Theotokos, Deipara, or Mother of God, which has since been transferred to the Virgin Mary, so conscientiously cut themselves off from the faculty of sinful sensations, as to deserve the commendation of Christ himself-Matt. xix. 12; and to be imitated in so unequivocal a proof of sincere devotion, by the most learned and distinguished of Christian bishops, Origen, Melito, &c. PARASITES OR DOMESTIC CHAPLAINS. Another holy order of priests, was that of the Parasiti, or Parasites, whose office was to gather from the husbandmen, the corn that was to be set aside for the services of the ministry. It was at last an office of great honour; the Parasites being by the ancient laws reckoned among the chief magistrates. In every village of the Athenians, they maintained these priests at the public expense; but afterwards, to ease the commonwealth of this burden, the wealthier sort were obliged to entertain them at their own tables, whence the word parasite, in later times, has been put for a flatterer, who, for the sake of a dinner, conforms to every one's humour. This holy order of Parasites, is continued in our Christian Church, in precisely the same character and function, under the less invidious name of domestic chaplains, who, hanging about the establishment of princes and nobles, generally contrive to worm themselves into the most lucrative ecclesiastical benefices upon the well-known economy. "Non missura est cutem nisi plena cruoris hirudo.*" CONVERSION FROM PAGANISM ΤΟ CHRISTIANITY, BROUGHT ABOUT ENTIRELY BY A TRANSFER OF PROPERTY. Notwithstanding the conversion of Constantine to the Christian faith, the title, the ensigns, and the preroga * The leech will not drop from your skin till it is full of blood.-Horace. |