|
Main
- books.jibble.org
My Books
- IRC Hacks
Misc. Articles
- Meaning of Jibble
- M4 Su Doku
- Computer Scrapbooking
- Setting up Java
- Bootable Java
- Cookies in Java
- Dynamic Graphs
- Social Shakespeare
External Links
- Paul Mutton
- Jibble Photo Gallery
- Jibble Forums
- Google Landmarks
- Jibble Shop
- Free Books
- Intershot Ltd
|
books.jibble.org
Previous Page
| Next Page
Page 65
In the interim, whilst the women were going to the apostles, the
author tells us, �some of the watch;� some strictly disciplined
Roman soldiers left their station to bring an account of what had
passed, not to the Governor their General, nor to any of their own
officers--but to the chief priests of the Jews! that they assembled a
council of the elders upon the occasion, and after deliberating what
was to be done, induced the soldiers, by large bribes, to run the risk
of being put to death themselves, upon the highly improbable
chance of the Jewish rulers having influence sufficient with the
Roman Proconsul to prevail on him to submit to the indelible
infamy of neglecting the discipline of the army under his
command, to such a degree, as to suffer an entire guard of soldiers
avowedly to sleep upon their station, without any notice being
taken of it! and to say �his disciples came and stole him away
whilst we slept.� This incredible story is another instance how
necessary it is, that those who do not adhere closely to the truth,
should have extraordinary good memories to enable them to keep
clear of absurdities, or palpable contradictions in their narrations.
For, consider the circumstances. How were the tongues of these
soldiers to be restrained among the inquisitive inhabitants of a
large city, (at that time too, greatly crowded on account of the
paschal feast,) not only in their way to the chief priests; but also
during the whole time while the priests assembled the Sanhedrim,
and were deliberating what was to be done? And if that part of the
watch, who, the author says, came to inform the chief priests, were
poltroons enough for the sake of a bribe to undergo so shameful a
disgrace to themselves, as well as to hazard the resentment of their
General, how could they undertake that all their comrades who
remained at the sepulchre would do the same? and to what
purpose could the Jewish council bribe some, without a possibility
of some one knowing how the rest of the corps would act? And
even supposing all these difficulties surmounted, and that the
whole guard had agreed, and persisted in saying, �his disciples
stole him away while we slept,� of what service could that be to
the Jewish rulers? For if the guards were asleep, they could be no
evidence to prove that the body was taken away; and it might be
just as probable that he might rise to life again while the watch was
asleep, as it was if no watch had been set.
In a word, it appears from the numbers of Latin words in Greek
characters, which this book contains; from the numerous
geographical blunders; and the author�s evident ignorance of the
customs of the Jews: from the form of Baptism enjoined at the
conclusion, which was not in use in the first century, as appears
from the form mentioned as then used in the Acts; from the Roman
Centurion�s being made to call Jesus �a Son of a God,� which
words in the mouth of a Pagan could only mean that he must be a
Demigod, like Bacchus, Hercules, or Esculapius: it is clear that this
Gospel is the patched work composition of some convert from the
Pagan schools. At any rate, his gospel flatly contradicts the others
in several important particulars in the history of the Resurrection.
For he represents the apostles as being commanded by the Angel
and by Jesus, to go to Galilee, in order to see him; and that they
went there, and saw him on a mountain. Yet it is said by the other
Evangelists, see Luke, ch. 24, and Acts 1, that he appeared on the
saw day of the resurrection to Peter at Jerusalem; to two other
disciples as they went to Emmaus; and on the succeeding night to
this whole congregation of the Disciples, not in Galilee, but in
Jerusalem, and that by his express command the apostles did not
go into Galilee, but remained at Jerusalem till the feast of
Pentecost.
But as this author differs from the other Evangelists, so they also
differ among themselves. And the latter part of the last chapter of
Mark is so irreconcilable to the other historians of the resurrection,
that in many Manuscripts it is found omitted. And that gospel ends
in them, at the eighth Terse of the last chapter. And Mr. West, in
his attempted reconciliation of their accounts of the resurrection, is
obliged to make a number of postulates, to take a number of things
for granted, which might be denied: and after elaborately arranging
the stage for the performance, he sets the women, and the disciples
a driving backwards, and forwards, from the city to the sepulchre,
and from the sepulchre to the city, and so agitated that they
forgot to know each other when they cross in their journeys.
Notwithstanding his great ingenuity in reconciling contradictions,
in which he beats Surenhusius himself, he makes but a sorry piece
of work of it after all. He had much letter have let it alone; for his
work upon the resurrection which he calls �the main fact of
Christianity,� displays these contradictions in so glaring a light,
that the very laboured ingenuity of his methods of reconciliation,
inevitably, suggests �confirmation strong� to the keen-eyed
reader, of that irreconcilability which the author endeavors to
refute. What rational man therefore can reasonably be required to
believe the story of a resurrection pretended to have been seen and
known, only by the party interested in making it believed! when in
their testimony even, they do not agree but contradict each other?
Previous Page
| Next Page
|
|