قراءة كتاب Arguments of Celsus, Porphyry, and the Emperor Julian, Against the Christians Also Extracts from Diodorus Siculus, Josephus, and Tacitus, Relating to the Jews, Together with an Appendix
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Arguments of Celsus, Porphyry, and the Emperor Julian, Against the Christians Also Extracts from Diodorus Siculus, Josephus, and Tacitus, Relating to the Jews, Together with an Appendix
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Directions of Dr. Barlow, Bishop of Lincoln, to a young divine.
"It will be of great use for a divine to be acquainted with the arts, knavery, and fraud of the Roman inquisitor, in purging, correcting, or rather corrupting authors in all arts and faculties. For this purpose we may consult the Index Expurgatorius. By considering this Index, we come to know the best editions of many good books.
"1st. The best books; that is, those that are condemned.
"2nd. The best editions; viz. those that are dated before the Index, and consequently not altered.
"3rd. The Index is a good common place book, to point out who has written well against the Church, p. 70.
"Ockam is damned in the Index, and therefore we may be sure he was guilty of telling some great truth, p. 41.*"
another, and every church has its Index.
THE ARGUMENTS OF CELSUS AGAINST THE CHRISTIANS
"THE Christians are accustomed to have private assemblies, which are forbidden by the law. For of assemblies some are public, and these are conformable to the law of the land; but others are secret, and these are such as are hostile to the laws; among which are the Love Feasts of the Christians *.
"It is commonly regarded as a very curious and remarkable
fact, that, although the Romans were disposed to tolerate
every other religious sect, yet they frequently persecuted
the Christians with unrelenting cruelty. This exception, so
fatal to a peaceable and harmless sect, must have originated
in circumstances which materially distin-...
"Men who irrationally assent to anything, resemble those who are delighted with jugglers and enchanters, &c. For as most of these are depraved characters, who deceive the vulgar, and persuade them to assent to whatever they please, this also takes place with the Christians. Some of these are not willing either to give or receive a reason for what they believe; but are accustomed to say, 'Do not investigate, but believe, your faith will save you.
causes and the pretexts of persecution may have varied at
various periods; but there seems to have been one general
cause which will readily be apprehended by those who are
intimately acquainted with the Roman jurisprudence. From the
most remote period of their history, the Romans had
conceived extreme horror against all nocturnal meetings of a
secret and mysterious nature. A law prohibiting nightly
vigils in a temple has even been ascribed, perhaps with
little probability, to the founder of their state. The laws
of the twelve tables declared it a capital offence to attend
nocturnal assemblies in the city. This, then, being the
spirit of the law, it is obvious that the nocturnal meetings
of the primitive Christians must have rendered them objects
of peculiar suspicion, and exposed them to the animadversion
of the magistrate. It was during the night that they usually
held their most solemn and religious assemblies; for a
practice which may be supposed to have arisen from their
fears, seems to have been continued from the operation of
other causes. Misunderstanding the purport of certain
passages of Scripture, they were...
'For the wisdom of the world is bad, but folly is good*,'
"The world, according to Moses, was created at a certain time, and has from its commencement existed for a period far short of ten thousand years,—The world, however, is without a beginning; in consequence of which there have been from all eternity many conflagrations, and many deluges, among the latter of which the most recent is that of Deucalion**.
in constant expectation, would take place during the night;
and they were accustomed to celebrate nightly vigils at the
tombs of the saints and martyrs. In this case, therefore,
they incurred no penalties peculiar to the votaries of a new
religion, but only such as equally attached to those who,
professing the public religion of the state, were yet guilty
of this undoubted violation of its laws."—Observations on
the Study of the Civil Law, by Dr. Irving, Edin. 1820. p.
11.
"It is not true that the primitive Christians held their assemblies in the night time to avoid the interruptions of the civil power: but the converse of that proposition is true in the utmost latitude; viz. that they met with molestations from that quarter, because their assemblies were nocturnal."—Elements of Civil Law, by Dr. Taylor, p. 579.
** See on this subject the Tinusus of Plato.
"Goatherds and shepherds among the Jews, following Moses as their leader, and being allured by rustic deceptions, conceived that there is [only] one God.
"These goatherds and shepherds were of opinion that there is one God, whether they delight to call him the Most High, or Adonai, or Celestial, or Sabaoth, or to celebrate by any other name the fabricator of this world*; for they knew nothing farther. For it is of no consequence, whether the God who is above all things, is denominated, after the accustomed manner of the Greeks, Jupiter, or is called by any other name, such as that which is given to him by the Indians or Egyptians."
Celsus, assuming the person of a Jew, represents him as speaking to Jesus, and reprehending him for many things. And in the first place he reproaches him with feigning that he was born of a virgin; and says, that to his disgrace he was born in a Judaic village from a poor Jewess, who obtained the means
e. this world; but it is necessary to read, conformably to
the above translation, [—Greek—]. For the Jews did not
celebrate the world, but the Maker of the world, by these
names.
of subsistence by manual labour. He adds, That she was abandoned by her husband, who was a carpenter, because she had been found by him to have committed adultery. Hence, in consequence of being expelled by her husband, becoming an ignominious vagabond, she was secretly delivered of Jesus, who, through poverty being obliged to serve as a hireling in Egypt, learnt there certain arts for which the Egyptians are famous. Afterwards, returning from thence, he thought so highly of himself, on account of the possession of these [magical] arts, as