textfiles-politics/pythonCode/personTestingOutput/forg3.xml

<xml><p> 24 page printout, pages 89 to 111 of 322
CHAPTER III</p>

<p> CHRISTIAN "SCRIPTITRE" FORGERIES</p>

<p> "Nothing stands in need of Lying but a LIE."</p>

<p> To such an extent are the origins of the <ent type='NORP'>Christian</ent> Religion
wrapped in obscurity, due to the labyrinthine confusions and
contradictions and forgeries of its early records, that it is quite
impossible to extricate, with any degree of confidence, a thread of
historic truth from the tangle.</p>

<p> The 27 New Testament booklets, attributed to eight individual
"Apostolic" writers, and culled from some 200 admitted forgeries
called <ent type='PERSON'>Gospel</ent>s, Acts, and <ent type='PERSON'>Epistles</ent>, constitute the presient
"Canonical" or acceptedly inspired compendium of the primitive
history of <ent type='NORP'>Christianity</ent>. The only available method to extract from
them approximately just judgments as to the risie and progress of
the new system of beliefs, must be by a series of tentative
assumptions of reletive truth of sundry details of the narratives.
By relative truth of any tentatively assumed "fact," I mean such
"fact" with relation always to its contradictory, -- one or the
other must necessarily be false -- while both may be -- and
probably are. For, as virtually every alleged "fact" recorded in
<ent type='PERSON'>Gospel</ent>s, Acts and <ent type='PERSON'>Epistles</ent> is off-set by a contradictory recital,
rendering one or the other untrue, neather can be assumed with
assurance; the actuality of either, and of all, is thus made
doubtful, and is subject to total rejection as our study of the
booklets develops.</p>

<p> On such provisional assumption that sundry of the things
recorded possibly may have happened as in one manner or the other
related, we are able to reach several obvious conclusions as to the
order and approximate times of those dubiously-assumed happenings.
In view, however, of what we have seen, and shall soon more
abundantly see, of the shifty and fraudulent methods of
ecclesiatitical "history"-writing and propaganda, we may be
prepared for some rude upsettings of our inherited traditions of
<ent type='NORP'>Christian</ent> fact and faith.</p>

<p> The central character of the <ent type='NORP'>Christian</ent> faith, <ent type='PERSON'>Jesus</ent>, to assume
him as a historical personage, was a <ent type='NORP'>Jew</ent>, as were, by tradition,
his disciples and entourage. As is, of course, well known:
"<ent type='NORP'>Christianity</ent> took its rise in <ent type='NORP'>Judaism</ent>; its Founder and His
disciples were orthodox <ent type='NORP'>Jew</ent>s, and the latter maintained their
<ent type='NORP'>Jew</ent>ish practices, at least for a time, after the day of <ent type='GPE'>Pentecost</ent>.
The <ent type='NORP'>Jew</ent>s themselves looked upon the followers of Christ as a mere
<ent type='GPE'>Israel</ent>itish <ent type='ORG'>sec</ent>t, ... 'the <ent type='ORG'>sec</ent>t of the Nazarenes' (Acts xxiv, 15),"
-- the believers in the Promised Messiah. (CE. iii, 713.) In this
they were grievously deceived and disappointed, as, too the world
knows; "Christ's humble and obscure life, ending in the ignominious
death on the cross, was the very opposite of what the <ent type='NORP'>Jew</ent>s expected
of their Christ." (CE. i, 620.)</p>

<p> <ent type='PERSON'>Jesus</ent> was a native of <ent type='GPE'>Galilee</ent>, "his own country" (Mt. ii, 23;
xiii, 54-55), or of <ent type='ORG'>Judaea</ent>, "his own country" (.<ent type='PERSON'>John</ent> iv, 43-44). He
was born "in the days of <ent type='PERSON'>Herod</ent> the King" (Mt. ii, 1), about 6 B.C.,
or "when <ent type='PERSON'>Cyrenius</ent> was governor of <ent type='GPE'>Syria</ent>" (<ent type='PERSON'>Luke</ent> ii, 1-7), about 7
A.D., or some 13 years later. (CE. viii, 377; EB. i, 307-8.) The
destructive contradictions as to his lineage and parentage, and </p>

<p> Bank of Wisdom
Box 926, <ent type='GPE'>Louisville</ent>, KY 40201
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<p>other essential particulars, are reserved for opportune notice.
<ent type='PERSON'>Jesus</ent> became a <ent type='NORP'>Jew</ent>ish <ent type='ORG'>sec</ent>tarian religious teacher of the zealot
reformer type; so zealous that his own family thought him insane
and sent out to apprehend him (<ent type='PERSON'>Mark iii</ent>, 31); many of the people
said of him, "He hath a devil, and is mad" (<ent type='PERSON'>John</ent> x, 20); his own
disciples, seeing his raid into the Temple after the money-changers, shook their heads and muttered the proverb: "The zeal of
thine house hath eaten me up" (<ent type='PERSON'>John</ent> ii, 17).</p>

<p> His ministry, of about one year, according to the first three
<ent type='PERSON'>Gospel</ent>s, of some three yeurs according to the fourth, was, by his
own repeated assertion, limited exclusively to his own <ent type='NORP'>Jew</ent>ish
people: "I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of
<ent type='GPE'>Israel</ent>" (Mt. xv, 24; ef. Acts iii, 25-26; xiii, 46; Rom. xv, 8);
and he straitly enjoined on his Twelve Aposties: "Go not into the
way of the <ent type='GPE'>Gentiles</ent>, and into any city of the <ent type='NORP'>Samaritans</ent> enter ye
not: But go rather to the lost sheep of the house of <ent type='GPE'>Israel</ent>" (Mt.
X, 5-6); to the woman of <ent type='GPE'>Canaan</ent> who pleaded with him to have mercy
on her daughter, "grievously vexed with a devil," he retorted: "It
is not meet to take the children's bread, and cast it to dogs" (Mt.
xv, 22-28; vii, 6). His own announcement, and his command to the
Twelve, was "Preach, saying, <ent type='GPE'>The Kingdom</ent> of Heaven is at hand" (Mt.
x, 7), -- the exclusively <ent type='GPE'>Hebraic Kingdom</ent> of the <ent type='ORG'>Baptist</ent> (Mt. iii,
2), as of the <ent type='NORP'>Jew</ent>ish Messianic apocrypha which we have noticed.
<ent type='PERSON'>Jesus</ent> lived at the height of the "age of apocryphal literature,"
and in due time got into it, voluminously.</p>

<p> Before his death, time and again he made and repeated the
assurance -- the most positive and iterated of all the sayings
attributed to him -- of the immediate end of the world, and of his
quick triumphant return to establish the <ent type='LOC'>Kingdom of God</ent> in the new
earth and reign on the reestablished throne of <ent type='PERSON'>David</ent> forever. <ent type='ORG'>Time</ent>
and again he said and repeated: "Verily I say unto you, There be
some standing here, which shall not taste of death, till they see
the Son of man coming in his <ent type='GPE'>Kingdom</ent>" (Mt. xvi, 28; Mk. ix, I; Lk.
ix, 27); "This generation shall not pass, till all these things be
done" Mk. xiii, 30). -- So quickly would this "<ent type='ORG'>sec</ent>ond coming" be,
that when the Twelve were sent out on their first preaching tour in
little <ent type='GPE'>Palestine</ent>, their Master assured them: "Ye shall not have
gone over the cities of <ent type='GPE'>Israel</ent> till the Son of man be come" (Mt. x,
23). <ent type='ORG'>Caiaphag</ent>, the high priert before whom <ent type='PERSON'>Jesus</ent> was led after his
capture in the Garden, solemnly conjured him "By the living God"
for the truth; and <ent type='PERSON'>Jesus</ent> replied: "Nevertheless I say unto you,
Hereafter shall ye see the Son of man ... coming in the clouds of
heaven." (Mt. xxvi, 63, 64; Mk. xiv, 61, 62.) Some people are
expecting him yet. Of course, there were, could be, none but <ent type='NORP'>Jew</ent>s
in heaven, or in this new <ent type='GPE'>Kingdom</ent> of Heaven on the new earth:
"Salvation is of the <ent type='NORP'>Jew</ent>s." (<ent type='PERSON'>John</ent> iv, 22.) It was 144000 <ent type='NORP'>Jew</ent>s, the
"scaled" saints, who alone constituted the original <ent type='NORP'>Jew</ent>ish "<ent type='GPE'>Kingdom</ent>
of God" (Rev. vii).</p>

<p> With these explicit data we arrive at the first obvious and
positive conclusion: With the expectation of a quick and sudden end
of the world and of all things human, no books were written on the
subject in that generation or, for a little leeway, the next or so,
after the death of the expected returning King. The scant, number
of credulous <ent type='NORP'>Jew</ent>s who accepted this preachment as "<ent type='PERSON'>Gospel</ent> truth" </p>

<p> Bank of Wisdom
Box 926, <ent type='GPE'>Louisville</ent>, KY 40201
90
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<p>and lived in this expectation, were nourished with neighborhood
gossip and oral traditions of the "good news," and needed and had
no written books of inspired record of these things. Thus many
years passed. Only as the dread consummation was delayed, and the
hope deferred sickened the hearts of the expectant <ent type='NORP'>Jew</ent>s and they
waned in faith, and as aecused by <ent type='PERSON'>Paul</ent> and <ent type='PERSON'>Barnabas</ent>, "put it from
you," did the defeated propagandists of the "<ent type='ORG'>Faith</ent> that failed at
the <ent type='ORG'>Cross</ent>," give the shoulder to the <ent type='NORP'>Jew</ent>s and "turn to the
<ent type='GPE'>Gentiles</ent>" (Acts xiii, 46), and begin to expand the failing new
<ent type='NORP'>Jew</ent>ish faith among the superstitious <ent type='NORP'>Pagans</ent> of the countries round
about. But this was still by the spoken word; on all the
supposititious "missionary tours" the Word was spread by word of
mouth written gospel books were not yet. When at last, the "coming"
being still unrealized -- these books began to be written, we can
accurately determine something of the order of their writing, and
finally, though negatively, the approximate times when they were
written, by ascertaining when they were not yet written.</p>

<p> We have seen that for a century and more the only "<ent type='PERSON'>Scripture</ent>s"
used by the <ent type='NORP'>Jew</ent>ish propagandists of the Christ were the <ent type='NORP'>Greek</ent>
Septuagint translations of the old hebrew sacred writings, "the Law
and the Prophets" (CE. v, 702; i, 635); supplemented by sundry
<ent type='NORP'>Jew</ent>ish apocrypha and the <ent type='PERSON'><ent type='NORP'>Pagan</ent> <ent type='PERSON'>Sibylline Oracles</ent></ent>; these were the
only "authorities" appealed to by the early "Fathers" for the
propaganda of the new faith. Indubitably, if the wonderful
"histories" of their Christ and the inspired pretended writings of
his first, <ent type='PERSON'>Apostles</ent>, forming noew <ent type='EVENT'>the New Testament</ent>, had then
existed, even in scraps of writing, they would have been the most
precious and potent documents of propaganda, would have been
snatched at and quoted and appealed to with infinate zeal and
ardor, as they have been through the centuries since. But, for some
150 years, as we shall see, little or nothing besides Old Testament
and <ent type='PERSON'>Pagan Oracles</ent> were known or quoted. As said by the great
critic, <ent type='PERSON'>Solomon Reinach</ent>, "With the exception of <ent type='PERSON'>Papias</ent>, who speaks
of a narrative by <ent type='PERSON'>Mark</ent>, and a collection of sayings of <ent type='PERSON'>Jesus</ent>, no
<ent type='NORP'>Christian</ent> writer of the first half of the <ent type='ORG'>sec</ent>ond century (i.e., up
to 150 A.D.) quotes the <ent type='PERSON'>Gospel</ent>s or their reputed authors."
(Reinach, Orpheus, p. 218.) So, patently, as yet no "<ent type='PERSON'>Gospel</ent>s" and
but few if any "<ent type='PERSON'>Epistles</ent>" of our "canon" had as yet been written.
Again, we read the 23 booklets from and including Acts to
Revelation: there is not a solitary referance to a word of
quotation from, any of our four <ent type='PERSON'>Gospel</ent>s; scarce a trace of the
wonderful career and miracles of <ent type='PERSON'>Jesus</ent> the Christ; not a word of
his "gospel" or teachings mentioned or quoted. These <ent type='PERSON'>Epistles</ent>,
indeed, "preach Christ Crucified" (from oral tradition), as the
basis of the propagandists' own "gospel." But the written "<ent type='PERSON'>Gospel</ent>
of <ent type='PERSON'>Jesus</ent> Christ" (his life and words and deeds), was unknown:
indeed, jealous of the so-called <ent type='ORG'>Petrine</ent> preaching which "perverts
the gospel of Christ" as preached by him, the soi-disant <ent type='PERSON'>Apostle</ent>
<ent type='PERSON'>Paul</ent> fulminates: "But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach
any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached, let,
him be accursed" (Gal. i, 7, 8); -- so early did priestly
intolerance and priestly curses on opponents come into holy vogue.
Therefore the conclusion is inevitable that when those 23 Acts and
<ent type='PERSON'>Epistles</ent> were written, none of the four "<ent type='PERSON'>Gospel</ent>" biographies of
<ent type='PERSON'>Jesus</ent> the Christ had yet seen the light. "Written <ent type='PERSON'>Gospel</ent>s are
neither mentioned nor implied in the NT epistles, nor in that, of </p>

<p> Bank of Wisdom
Box 926, <ent type='GPE'>Louisville</ent>, KY 40201
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<p>Clemens <ent type='NORP'>Roman</ent>us, nor, probably, in that of <ent type='PERSON'>Barnabas</ent>, nor in the
Didache. luke (i, 1-4) implies that 'many gospels' were current"
(EB. ii, 1809), at the time that <ent type='PERSON'>Gospel</ent> was written.</p>

<p> The Acts and <ent type='PERSON'>Epistles</ent>, therefore, with Revelation, were
written before any of the <ent type='PERSON'>Gospel</ent> biographies. If these Christ-histories had existed, how eagerly would they have been seized upon
to garnish and glorify the preachment of the early propagandists of
the <ent type='ORG'>Faith</ent> that failed at the <ent type='ORG'>Cross</ent>, -- and would have perished
wholly but. for the allbelieving <ent type='NORP'>Pagan</ent> <ent type='GPE'>Gentiles</ent>, who, when they
heard it, "were glad, and glorified the word of the lord" (Acts
xiii, 48), as orally delivered.</p>

<p> "THE AGE OF APOCRYPHAL LITERATURE"</p>

<p> As the long years passed and one generation of disappointed
"Messiah" <ent type='NORP'>Jew</ent>s was gathered unto its fathers and was followed by
another, the believers in the promised "<ent type='ORG'>sec</ent>ond coming" for the
establishment of the <ent type='NORP'>Jew</ent>ish <ent type='GPE'>Kingdom</ent> grew restles, and made
pertinent complaint, "Saying, Where is the promise of his coming?
for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were
from the beginning of the creation" (2 <ent type='PERSON'>Peter</ent> ii, 4), -- and as they
yet continue. Dubbing these reasonable but disturbing inquirers
"scoffers," the crafty <ent type='PERSON'>Peter</ent> tried in typical priestly form to
squirm out of the embarrassing situation created by the positive
promises of the Christ and the inspired preachments of himself and
his apostolic confreres, by the shifty rejoinder: "But, beloved
["scoffers"], be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is
with the Lord as a thousand yearn, and a thousand years as one day"
(2 <ent type='PERSON'>Peter</ent> ii, 8) -- which doesn't mean anything for an honest
answer; and time and again they cajole the impatient eredtilous:
"Ye have need of patience; ... for yet a little while, and he that
shall come, will come." (Heb. x, 36, 37; cf. 1 Thess. iv, l6-18; 2
Thess. iii, 5; <ent type='PERSON'>James</ent> v, 7, 8; et passim.) But he isn't come yet,
these 2000 years.</p>

<p> It was at this critical juncture, to revive and stimulate the
jaded hope of the <ent type='NORP'>Jew</ent>ish believers and to spread the propaganda
amongst the all-believing Pagaiis, that the written Christ-tales
began to be worked up by the <ent type='NORP'>Christian</ent> propagandists. Before their
admiring eyes they had for models the "whole literature" of <ent type='NORP'>Jew</ent>ish
apocryphal or forged writings, plus the <ent type='PERSON'>Pagan Oracles</ent>: with immense
zeal and industry they set about to imitate the example before
them, and to reforge these <ent type='NORP'>Jew</ent>ish and heathen forgeries to more
definite <ent type='NORP'>Chriiitian</ent> uses, and to forge anew another whole
literature of distinctively <ent type='NORP'>Christian</ent> forgeries and fabulous
histories of the Christ. "In this form of propaganda the <ent type='NORP'>Christian</ent>s
proved themselves to be apt pupils of the <ent type='NORP'>Jew</ent>s. So common, indeed,
had become in early <ent type='NORP'>Christian</ent> times, the invention of such oracles
that <ent type='PERSON'>Celsus</ent> terms <ent type='NORP'>Christian</ent>s <ent type='PERSON'>Sibyllistai</ent>, believers in sibyls, or
sibyl-mongerrs" (EB. i, 246), that is, peddlers of <ent type='NORP'>Christian</ent>
forgeries in <ent type='NORP'>Pagan</ent> form (Ib. p. 261). How great was this pious
fabrication we can only judge from the two hundred, more or less,
of false histories, gospels, epistles and revelations which have
survived, entire or fragmentary, or by title only, through the long
intervening centuries of faith, and of which 27 are yet cherished
as of Divine inspiration.</p>

<p> Bank of Wisdom
Box 926, <ent type='GPE'>Louisville</ent>, KY 40201
92
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<p> "THE IDEA OF INSPIRATION"</p>

<p> Before sketching the welter of these lying works of <ent type='NORP'>Christian</ent>
hands and childish minds, we may define, by high priestly
authority, the status of the problem of divine inspiration, and
just how the notion of "canonicity" or official inspiration, came
to be, now attributed to, now withdrawn from, this heterogeneous
mass or mess of pious scribblings, and finally clung to only 27 of
yet asserted sanctity. These admissions are very illuminating.</p>

<p> We have aeen that the Hebrew Old Testament itself "reveals no
formal notion of inspiration," though, we are assured, "the later
<ent type='NORP'>Jew</ent>s must have possessed the idea" (CE. iii, 269); -- thus only an
idea or notion somehow acquired, but not through divine
illumination, for as we read, of all the mass of <ent type='NORP'>Jew</ent>ish holy
forgeries "each of them has at one tune or another been treated as
canonical" or divinely inspired. (EB. i, 250.) Whether the
<ent type='NORP'>Christian</ent> notion or idea as to the divine inspiration of their own
new forgeries was of any better quality may now appear.</p>

<p> The New Testament and the inspired <ent type='PERSON'>Apostles</ent> are silent on the
subject and left the matter to serious doubts and disputations for
many centuries: "There are no indications in <ent type='EVENT'>the New Testament</ent> ...
of a definite new Canon bequeathed by the <ent type='PERSON'>Apostles</ent> to the <ent type='ORG'>Church</ent>,
or of a strong self-witness to Divine inspiration," admits the CE,.
(iii, 274); that is, there is nothing in the 27 booklets which
would lead to the suspicion of their "inspiration" or truth. There
was then no <ent type='ORG'>Church</ent> for them to bequeath to, nor was the Canon
settled, as we shall see: "It was not until about the middle of the
<ent type='ORG'>sec</ent>ond century -- [when we shall see the books were really written]
-- that under the rubric of <ent type='PERSON'>Scripture</ent> <ent type='EVENT'>the New Testament</ent> writings
were assimilated to the Old. ... But it should be remembered that
the inspired character of <ent type='EVENT'>the New Testament</ent> in a <ent type='NORP'>Catholic</ent> dogma,
and must therefore in some way have been revealed to, and taught
by, <ent type='PERSON'>Apostles</ent>"! (Ib. p. 275.) This is a strikingly queer bit of
clerical dialectic, and leaves the question of the "some way" of
revelation to the <ent type='PERSON'>Apostles</ent> and of their transmission of the "dogma"
to posterity, in a nebulously unsatisfying state.</p>

<p> Further, the dubious and disputed status of the sacred
writings through centuries, and the ultimate settlement of the
controversies by the 'ipse <ent type='ORG'>dixit</ent>' of a numerical majority of the
Council of Trent, in 1546, -- after the Reformation had forced the
issue, is thus admitted: "The idea of a complete and clear-cut
canon of <ent type='EVENT'>the New Testament</ent> existing from the beginning, that is,
from Apostolic times, has no foundation in history. The cannon of
<ent type='EVENT'>the New Testament</ent>, like that of the Old, is the result of a
development, of a process at once stimulated by disputes with
doubters, both within and without the <ent type='ORG'>Church</ent>, and retarded by
certain obscurities and natural hesitations, and which did not
reach its final term until the dogmatic defination of the
Tridentine Council. ... And this want of a organized distribution,
<ent type='ORG'>sec</ent>ondarily to the absence of an early fixation of the <ent type='PERSON'>Canonm</ent>, left
room for variations and doubts which lasted far into the
centuries." (CE., iii, 274.) The 'modus operandi' of the Holy
Council in ultimately "canonizing" <ent type='PERSON'>Jerome</ent>'s old <ent type='ORG'>Vulgate</ent> Version,
and its motive for doing so, are thus exposed by the keen pen of
the author of the Rise and Fall:</p>

<p> Bank of Wisdom
Box 926, <ent type='GPE'>Louisville</ent>, KY 40201
93
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FORGERY IN <ent type='NORP'>CHRISTIANITY</ent></p>

<p> "When <ent type='ORG'>the Council</ent> of Trant resolved to pronounce sentence on
the Cannon of <ent type='PERSON'>Scripture</ent>, the opinion which prevented, after some
debate, was to declare the <ent type='NORP'>Latin</ent> <ent type='ORG'>Vulgate</ent> authentic and 'almost'
infallible; and this sentence, which was guarded by formidable
anathemas, <ent type='ORG'>sec</ent>ured all the books of the Old and New Testament which
composed that ancient version. ... When the merit of that version
was discussed, the majority of the theologians urged, with
confidence and success, that it was absoutely necessary to receive
the <ent type='ORG'>Vulgate</ent> as authentic and inspired, unless they wished to
abandon the victory to the <ent type='NORP'>Lutherans</ent>, and the honors of the <ent type='ORG'>Church</ent>
to the <ent type='NORP'>Grammarians</ent>." (<ent type='PERSON'>Gibbon</ent>, A Vindication, v, 2; Istoria del
consiglio Tridentino, L. ii, p. 147.) A number of these books were
bitterly disputed and their authenticity and inspiration denied by
the leading <ent type='NORP'>Reformers</ent>, Luther, Grotius, Calvin, etc., and excluded
from their official lists, until finally the Reformed <ent type='ORG'>Church</ent>
followed the example of the <ent type='ORG'>Church</ent> hopeless of reform and swallowed
the canon whole, as we have it today, -- minus, of course, the
'Tobit,' 'Judith,' and like inspired buffooneries of the True
Bible.</p>

<p> Such books and the vicissitudes of their authority are thus
described: "Like the Old Testament, the New has its deutero-canonical [i.e. doubted] books and portions of books, their
canonicity having formally been a subject of some controversy in
the <ent type='ORG'>Church</ent>. These are, for entire books: the <ent type='PERSON'>Epistle</ent> to the
<ent type='NORP'>Hebrews</ent>, that od <ent type='PERSON'>James</ent>, the Second and Third of <ent type='PERSON'>John</ent>, Jude, and
Apocalypse; giving seven in all as the number of the N.T. contested
books. The formerly disputed passages are three: the closing
<ent type='ORG'>sec</ent>tion of St. <ent type='PERSON'>Mark</ent>'s <ent type='PERSON'>Gospel</ent>, xvi, 9-20, about the apparitions of
Christ after the resurrection; the verses in <ent type='PERSON'>Luke</ent> about the bloody
sweat of <ent type='PERSON'>Jesus</ent>, xxii, 43, 44; the Pericope Adulterae, or narrative
of the woman taken in adultery, St. <ent type='PERSON'>John</ent>, vii, 53 to viii, 11.
Since <ent type='ORG'>the Council</ent> of Trent it is not permitted for a <ent type='NORP'>Catholic</ent> to
question the inspiration of these passages." (CE. iii, 274.)
Besides the forgery of the above and other books as a whole, we
shall see many other instances of "interpolated" or forged passages
in the <ent type='NORP'>Christian</ent> books.</p>

<p> "THE LYING PEN OF THE SCRIBES"</p>

<p> Speaking of the doubtful historicity of the celebrated <ent type='ORG'>AEsop</ent>
of the famous Fables which go under his name, a critic well states
a valid test of historicity: "We may well doubt, however, whether
he (<ent type='ORG'>AEsop</ent>) ever existed; we have the most varied accounts of him,
many of which are on their face pure inventions; and the fables
which passed under his name were certainly not written until long
after the period in which he is supposed to have lived." (<ent type='ORG'>NIE</ent>. i,
191.) We may have occasion to apply this test to the personality of
<ent type='PERSON'>Jesus</ent> of <ent type='GPE'>Nazareth</ent> and sundry apostolic personages; in any event it
is peculiarly applicable to the numerous <ent type='NORP'>Christian</ent> stories and
fables treating of them, which on their face are pure inventions,
and which were admittedly forged in the names of <ent type='PERSON'>Jesut</ent>; himself and
of all of his <ent type='PERSON'>Apostles</ent> and of many of the shining lights of the new
<ent type='NORP'>Christian</ent> faith, just as we have seen was done in the <ent type='NORP'>Jew</ent>ish
forgerier; in the names of the Old Testament notables from <ent type='PERSON'>Adam</ent> on
down the catalogue.</p>

<p> Bank of Wisdom
Box 926, <ent type='GPE'>Louisville</ent>, KY 40201
94
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FORGERY IN <ent type='NORP'>CHRISTIANITY</ent></p>

<p> Leaving for the moment aside the 27 presently accepted
booklets of the N.T., and admitting the many <ent type='NORP'>Christian</ent> forgeries of
Christ-fables, CE. thus apologetically explains: "The genuine
<ent type='PERSON'>Gospel</ent>s are silent about long stretches of the life of our Lord,
<ent type='ORG'>the Blessed Virgin</ent>, and St. <ent type='PERSON'>Joseph</ent>. This reserve of the Evangelists
did not satisfy the pardonable curiosity of many <ent type='NORP'>Christian</ent>s eager
for details. ... Enterprising spirits responded to this natural
craving by pretended gospels full of romantic fables, and fantastic
and striking details; their fabrications were eagerly read and
accepted as true by common folk who were devoid of any critical
faculty and who were predisposed to believe what so luxuriously fed
their pious curiosity. Both <ent type='NORP'>Catholic</ent>s and Gnostics were concerned
in writing these fictions. The former had no motive other than that
of a PIOUS FRAUD." (CE. i, 606.) The motive above admitted for
feeding with pious frauds the "natural craving" of the ignorant and
superstitiouts <ent type='NORP'>Christian</ent>s for marvel-mongering by the <ent type='ORG'>Church</ent>, is
confirmed by a distinguished historign: "A vast and ever-increasing
crowd of converts from paganism, who had become such from worldly
considerations, and still hankered after wonders like those in
which their forefathers had from time immemorial believed, lent a
ready ear to assertions which, to more hesitating or better-instructed minds, would have seemed to carry imposture on their
very face." (Draper, <ent type='ORG'>The Intellectaal Development</ent> of <ent type='LOC'>Europe</ent>, i,
309.)</p>

<p> This being thus frankly confessed, our clerical writer
describes the general character of these pious frauds: "The
<ent type='NORP'>Christian</ent> apocryphal writings in general imitate the books of the
N.T.) and therefore, with a few exceptions, fall under the
description of <ent type='PERSON'>Gospel</ent>s, Acts, <ent type='PERSON'>Epistles</ent>, and <ent type='EVENT'>Apocalypses</ent>." (CE. i,
606.) Further apologizing for these <ent type='NORP'>Christian</ent> forgeries, and giving
a smear of clerical whitewash to the forgers, it is speciously
pleaded, that "the term apocryphal in connection with special
gospels must be understood as bearing no more unfavorable an import
than uncanonical." They were forgeries pure and simple; and their
pious value is urged, that "the apocryphal <ent type='PERSON'>Gospel</ent>s help us to
understand the religious conditions of the <ent type='ORG'>sec</ent>ond and third
centuries," -- as indeed they do, in a light very damaging to any
suspicion of truthfulness, common honesty, or anything above the
most mediocre intelligence of the pious Fathers and <ent type='ORG'>Faith</ent>ful who
put these gross fabrications into circulation in the name and for
the sake of Christ. Their pious plea is: "Amor Christi est cui
satisfecimus." (Ib. p. 606.) Of these pious frauds it adds: "The
quasi-evangelistic compositions concerning Christ ... are all of
<ent type='NORP'>Orthodox</ent> origin." (Ib. p. 607.)</p>

<p> "CHRISTIAN EVIDENCES" -- FORGED</p>

<p> When the new <ent type='ORG'>Faith</ent> went forth to conquer the <ent type='NORP'>Pagan</ent> world for
Christ, the pious <ent type='NORP'>Greek</ent> Fathers and priests of the <ent type='ORG'>Propaganda</ent> soon
felt the need of something of more up-to-date effectiveness than
Old Testament text and <ent type='PERSON'>Sibylline Oracles</ent>, they needed something
concrete out of <ent type='EVENT'>the New Dispensation</ent> to "show" to the superstitious
<ent type='NORP'>Pagans</ent> to win them to the Christ and his <ent type='ORG'>Church</ent>: something
tangible, visible; compellingly authentic proofs. Like arms of
proof for the holy warfare, the invincible weapons of truth -- "the
whole armour of God" -- they forged outright for the conquest of
the unbeliever. What more convincing and compelling proofs of <ent type='PERSON'>Jesus</ent></p>

<p> Bank of Wisdom
Box 926, <ent type='GPE'>Louisville</ent>, KY 40201
95
.
FORGERY IN <ent type='NORP'>CHRISTIANITY</ent></p>

<p>the Christ, his holy <ent type='PERSON'>Apostles</ent>, and their wondrous works of over a
century ago, than the following authentic and autograph documents
and records, held before doubting eyes:</p>

<p> A "GOSPEL" WRITTEN BY JESUS CHRIST'S OWN HAND;</p>

<p> LETTERS AND PORTRAITS OF JESUS CHRIST AND HIS PERSONAL
CORRESPONDENCE;</p>

<p> LETTERS WRITTEN BY HIS VIRGIN MOTHER;</p>

<p> PILATE'S OFFICIAL REPORT TO THE EMPEROR OF THE TRIAL AND
CRUCIFICTION OF JESUS, WITH PILATE'S CONFESSION OF FAITH;</p>

<p> THE REPLY OF <ent type='ORG'>TIBERIUS</ent>, AND THE TRIAL OF PILATE;</p>

<p> OFFICIAL DOCUMENTS OF THE ROMAN SENATE ABOUT JESUS,</p>

<p> GOSPELS, <ent type='PERSON'>EPISTLES</ent>, ACTS, BY EVERY ONE OF THE TWELVE <ent type='PERSON'>APOSTLES</ent>;</p>

<p> OFFICIAL DOCUMENTS; OF CHURCH LAW AND GOVERNMENT, WRITTEN IN
GREEK, BY THE <ent type='PERSON'>APOSTLES</ent>;</p>

<p> RECORDS OF THE EARLIEST "<ent type='ORG'>POPES</ent>" AND "APOSTOLIC SUCCESSION;</p>

<p> SCORES OF OTHER PIOUS FORGED DOCUMENTS TO BE RELATED BELOW.</p>

<p> Armed with lying credentials and "proofs" of the fictitious
persons and performances for which credence must be won among the
credulous pagans, the priests and Vicars of God propagated their
stupendous "LIES to the glory of God" and the exaltation of the
<ent type='ORG'>Church</ent>. We shall catelogue these crude forgeries somewhat more
fully, and look into some of the more notorious.</p>

<p> FORGED GOSPELS, ACTS, <ent type='PERSON'>EPISTLES</ent></p>

<p> Half a hundred of false and forged Apostolic "<ent type='PERSON'>Gospel</ent>s of <ent type='PERSON'>Jesus</ent>
Christ," together with more numerous orher "<ent type='PERSON'>Scripture</ent>" forgeries,
was the output, so far as known now, of the lying pens of the pious
<ent type='NORP'>Christian</ent>s of the first two centuries of the <ent type='NORP'>Christian</ent> "Age of
Apocryphal Literature"; all going to swell the "very large number
of apocryphal writings of distinctly <ent type='NORP'>Christian</ent> origin which were
produced from the <ent type='ORG'>sec</ent>ond century onward, to satisfy an unhealthy
craving for the occult and marvelous or to embellish the stories of
the saints." (<ent type='ORG'>NIE</ent>., i, 746.) These N.T. apocryplia include
"numerous works purporting to have been written by apostles or
their associates, but not able to <ent type='ORG'>sec</ent>ure a general or permanent
recognition. These may be classified thus: (a) <ent type='PERSON'>Gospel</ent>s; (b) Acts of
<ent type='PERSON'>Apostles</ent>; (c) <ent type='PERSON'>Epistles</ent>; (d) <ent type='EVENT'>Apocalypses</ent>; (e) Didactic Works; (f)
Hymns. (Ib. p. 748.) "The name <ent type='PERSON'>Gospel</ent>," says CE. (vi, 656), "as
indicating a written account of Christ's words and deeds, has been,
and still is, applied to a large number of narratives of Christ's
life, which circulated both before and after the composition of our
Third <ent type='PERSON'>Gospel</ent> (cf. <ent type='PERSON'>Luke</ent> i, 1-4). The titles of some fifty such works
have come down to us. ... It is only, however, in connection with
some twenty of these '<ent type='PERSON'>Gospel</ent>s' that some information has been
preserved. ... Most of them, as far as can be made out, are late </p>

<p> Bank of Wisdom
Box 926, <ent type='GPE'>Louisville</ent>, KY 40201
96
.
FORGERY IN <ent type='NORP'>CHRISTIANITY</ent></p>

<p>productions, the apocryphal character of which is generally
admitted by contemporary [i.e., present day] scholars." Naming
first as Nos. 1-4 "The Canonical <ent type='PERSON'>Gospel</ent>s," now falsely labelled
with the names of <ent type='PERSON'>Matthew</ent>, <ent type='PERSON'>Mark</ent>, <ent type='PERSON'>Luke</ent>, and <ent type='PERSON'>John</ent>, the twenty best
known ones are listed as follows; viz: The <ent type='PERSON'>Gospel</ent>s according to the
<ent type='NORP'>Hebrews</ent>; of <ent type='PERSON'>Peter</ent>; According to the <ent type='NORP'>Egyptians</ent>; of <ent type='PERSON'>Matthias</ent>; of
<ent type='ORG'>Philip</ent>; of <ent type='PERSON'>Thomas</ent>; the Proto-Evangelium of <ent type='PERSON'>James</ent>, <ent type='PERSON'>Gospel</ent> of
<ent type='PERSON'>Nicodemus</ent> (<ent type='ORG'>Acta</ent> Pilati); of the Twelve <ent type='PERSON'>Apostles</ent>; of Basilides; of
<ent type='ORG'>Valentius</ent>; of <ent type='EVENT'>Marcion</ent>; of <ent type='ORG'>Eve</ent>; of <ent type='PERSON'>Judas</ent>; the Writing <ent type='PERSON'>Genna Marias</ent>;
the <ent type='PERSON'>Gospel</ent> Teleioseos. (CE. vi, 656.)</p>

<p> Individual <ent type='PERSON'>Gospel</ent>s were forged in the names of each of the
Twelve <ent type='PERSON'>Apostles</ent>, severally, and a joint fabrication under the name
of "The <ent type='PERSON'>Gospel</ent> of the Twelve," was put into the mouths of the
twelve <ent type='PERSON'>Apostles</ent>, using the first person to give the ear-marks of
authenticity to their forged utterances; and separately, "Almost
every one of the <ent type='PERSON'>Apostles</ent> had a <ent type='PERSON'>Gospel</ent> fathered upon him by one
early <ent type='ORG'>sec</ent>t or another." (EB. i, 259.) Several seem to have been
fathered upon <ent type='PERSON'>Matthew</ent> besides the one that wrongly heads the list
of the "canonical Four," such as the <ent type='PERSON'>Gospel</ent> of <ent type='PERSON'>Matthias</ent>, Traditions
of <ent type='PERSON'>Matthias</ent>, also a supposed and probably non-existent writing in
Hebrew hypothesized as the basic document of the Four; probably,
also the so-called <ent type='ORG'>Logia</ent>, a papyrus scrap of one sheet discovered
at Oxyrhynchus, <ent type='GPE'>Egypt</ent>, and containing alleged sayings of <ent type='PERSON'>Jesus</ent>
which in part correspond with, in part radically differ from the
sayings attributed to him in the Four. He was also made responsible
for a so-called <ent type='PERSON'>Gospel</ent> of St. <ent type='PERSON'>Matthew</ent>, dating from the 4th or 5th
century, which "purports to have been written by <ent type='PERSON'>Matthew</ent> and
translated by St. <ent type='PERSON'>Jerome</ent>." (CE.. i, 608,)</p>

<p> This authority also lists the famous <ent type='ORG'>Protevangetium Jacobi</ent>, or
Infancy <ent type='PERSON'>Gospel</ent> of <ent type='PERSON'>James</ent>, the Arabic <ent type='PERSON'>Gospel</ent> of the Infancy, that of
<ent type='PERSON'>Gamaliel</ent>, the <ent type='PERSON'>Gospel</ent> according to the <ent type='NORP'>Hebrews</ent>, also According to
the <ent type='NORP'>Egyptians</ent>; of the Nazarenes; <ent type='PERSON'>Gospel</ent>s of St. <ent type='PERSON'>Peter</ent>, of St.
<ent type='ORG'>Philip</ent>, of St. <ent type='PERSON'>Thomas</ent>, of St. <ent type='PERSON'>Bartholomew</ent>, of St. <ent type='PERSON'>Andrew</ent>, of
<ent type='PERSON'>Barnabas</ent>, of <ent type='PERSON'>Thaddeus</ent>, even notable forged <ent type='PERSON'>Gospel</ent>s of <ent type='PERSON'>Judas</ent>
Iscariot, and of Mother <ent type='ORG'>Eve</ent>; also the <ent type='PERSON'>Gospel</ent> by <ent type='PERSON'>Jesus</ent> Christ. We
have the <ent type='PERSON'>Gospel</ent> of <ent type='PERSON'>Nicodemus</ent>, the <ent type='ORG'>Hist</ent>ory of <ent type='PERSON'>Joseph the Carpenter</ent>,
the Descent into Hades, the Desicent of Mary, the <ent type='NORP'>Ascents</ent> of <ent type='PERSON'>James</ent>,
the Prophecy of <ent type='PERSON'>Hystaspes</ent>, the Didache or Teachings of the
<ent type='PERSON'>Apostles</ent>; the <ent type='PERSON'>Gospel</ent> of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary, the
<ent type='ORG'>Transitum</ent> <ent type='NORP'>Mariae</ent> or <ent type='GPE'>Evangelium Joannin</ent>. This last named pious
<ent type='NORP'>Christian</ent> work, as described by CE. (i, 607-8) is forged in the
name of St. <ent type='PERSON'>John</ent> the <ent type='PERSON'>Apostle</ent>, and is "prefaced with a spurious
Letter of the <ent type='ORG'>Bishop</ent> of <ent type='GPE'>Sardis</ent>, <ent type='PERSON'>Melito</ent>"; it records how "the
<ent type='PERSON'>Apostles</ent> are preternaturally transported from different quarters of
the globe to the Virgin's deathbed, those who have died being
resurrected for the purpose"; a <ent type='NORP'>Jew</ent> who dares touch the sacred body
instantly loses both hands, which are restored through the
mediation of the <ent type='PERSON'>Apostles</ent>. Christ, accompanied by a band of angels,
comes down to receive his mother's soul, "the <ent type='PERSON'>Apostles</ent> bear the
body to <ent type='ORG'>Gethsemane</ent> and deposit it in a tomb, whence it is taken up
alive to heaven"; this being an extraordinary miracle, for the body
was dead and the soul carried to heaven from her home and the dead
body laid in the grave, where it comes to life again for the
Heaven-trip. This clumsy fable, says CE., considerably "influenced
the Fathers" (Ib. i, 608), who were notoriously ehildish-minded. A </p>

<p> Bank of Wisdom
Box 926, <ent type='GPE'>Louisville</ent>, KY 40201
97
.
FORGERY IN <ent type='NORP'>CHRISTIANITY</ent></p>

<p>very noted and notorious forgery was the <ent type='PERSON'>Gospel</ent> of <ent type='PERSON'>Paul</ent> and <ent type='PERSON'>Thecla</ent>,
of which Father <ent type='NORP'>Tertullian</ent> relates, that this story wag fabricated
by an Elder of Asia Minor, who, when convicted of the fraud --
[this being the only known instance of such action], -- confessed
that he had perpetrated it "for the love of St. <ent type='PERSON'>Paul</ent>." (Reinach,
Orpheus, p. 235.) The Protevangelium Jacobi was "an Apocryphal work
by a fanciful fabulist, urhampered by knowledge of <ent type='NORP'>Jew</ent>ish affairs,
contposed before the end of the <ent type='ORG'>sec</ent>ond century with a view to
removing the glaring contradictions between <ent type='PERSON'>Matthew</ent> and <ent type='PERSON'>Mark</ent>,"
regarding the birth and life of <ent type='PERSON'>Jesus</ent> CHrist. (EB. iii, 3343.) An
"<ent type='PERSON'>Epistle</ent> on the Martyrdom of the <ent type='PERSON'>Apostles</ent> <ent type='PERSON'>Peter</ent> and <ent type='PERSON'>Paul</ent> was at a
later period attributed to St. Linus. ... It is apoeryphal, and of
later date than the history of the Martyrdom of the two <ent type='PERSON'>Apostles</ent>,
by some attributed to <ent type='PERSON'>Marcellus</ent>, which is also apocryphal." (CE.
ix, 273; see <ent type='PERSON'>Acta Apostolorum</ent>, Apoerypha, xiv.) Other noted
Fatherly fabrications were the celebrated <ent type='PERSON'>Epistles</ent> I and II of
Clement to the <ent type='NORP'>Corinthians</ent>, and the Pseudo-Clementine Recognitions
and Homilies, purporting to be written by the very doubtful <ent type='ORG'>Bishop</ent>
of <ent type='GPE'>Rome</ent> of that name; very voluminous, and written about 140 A.D.,
not a line of New Testament "scriptures" do they quote, but they
quote freely from the O.T. and from various <ent type='NORP'>Jew</ent>ish, <ent type='NORP'>Christian</ent> and
<ent type='NORP'>Pagan</ent> works. (EB. iii, 3486.)</p>

<p> Besides the above complete "<ent type='PERSON'>Gospel</ent>" forgeries, there are
several more, and fragments of others, which purport to contain
"sayings" attributed to <ent type='PERSON'>Jesus</ent> which are not contained in the Four
<ent type='PERSON'>Gospel</ent>s; and which are known as Agrapha, that is, things not
written. Among these are the <ent type='ORG'>Logia</ent> of Oxyrhynchus above mentioned;
the <ent type='PERSON'>Fayum</ent> gospel-fragment, a papyrus purporting to give words of
Christ to <ent type='PERSON'>Peter</ent> at the Last Supper, "in a form which diverges
largely by omissions from any in the canonical gospels." (EB. i,
258.) These Agrapha "do not embrace the lenghy <ent type='ORG'>sec</ent>tions ascribed to
<ent type='PERSON'>Jesus</ent> in the '<ent type='ORG'>Didiscalin</ent>' and the 'Pistis <ent type='PERSON'>Sophia</ent>'; these works also
contain some brief quotations of alleged words of <ent type='PERSON'>Jesus</ent>; ... nor
the Sayings contained in religious romances, such as we find in the
apocryphal <ent type='PERSON'>Gospel</ent>s, the apocryphal Acts, or the Letter of Christ to
<ent type='GPE'>Abgar</ent>. ... In patristic citations ... <ent type='PERSON'>Justin Martyr</ent>, Clement of
<ent type='GPE'>Alexandria</ent>, <ent type='ORG'>Origen</ent>, make fslse quotations," -- citing instances.
(CE. i, 225, 226.) In the class of Agrapha are also "words in the
<ent type='PERSON'>Gospel</ent>s not regarded as genuine, as Mt. vi, 13b; xvii, 21; Mk. xvi,
9-20; <ent type='PERSON'>John</ent> vii, 53; viii, 2; also alleged quotations from the Old
Testament in <ent type='EVENT'>the New Testament</ent> not found in the Old Testament."
(<ent type='ORG'>NIE</ent>. 1, 240.)</p>

<p> Of apocryphal Acts of <ent type='PERSON'>Apostles</ent> we are edified by the Acts, or
<ent type='ORG'>Travels</ent>, (<ent type='NORP'>Greek</ent>, <ent type='NORP'>Pereodui</ent>) of <ent type='PERSON'>Peter</ent>, (and separately) of <ent type='PERSON'>John</ent>, of
<ent type='PERSON'>Thomas</ent>, of <ent type='PERSON'>Andrew</ent>, and of <ent type='PERSON'>Paul</ent>; another Acts of <ent type='ORG'>Philip</ent>, Acts of
<ent type='PERSON'>Matthew</ent>, of <ent type='PERSON'>Bartholomew</ent>, of <ent type='PERSON'>John</ent>, of judas <ent type='PERSON'>Thomas</ent>. There is a whole
collection of <ent type='ORG'>Martyrdoms</ent> of the several <ent type='PERSON'>Apostles</ent>. Of apocryphal
<ent type='PERSON'>Epistles</ent>, the most famous is the Correspondence between the <ent type='GPE'>Abgar</ent>
of <ent type='GPE'>Edessa</ent>, and <ent type='PERSON'>Jesus</ent>; between the <ent type='NORP'>Roman</ent> Philosopher Seneca and
<ent type='PERSON'>Paul</ent>; apocryphal <ent type='PERSON'>Epistles</ent> of <ent type='PERSON'>Paul</ent>, to the <ent type='NORP'>Laodiceans</ent>, to the
<ent type='GPE'>Alexandria</ent>ns, the Third <ent type='PERSON'>Epistle</ent> to the <ent type='NORP'>Corinthians</ent>. Forged
<ent type='EVENT'>Apocalypses</ent> abound, of which that of <ent type='PERSON'>Peter</ent>, the Vision of <ent type='ORG'>Hermas</ent>,
the Vision of <ent type='PERSON'>Paul</ent>, the Apocalypge of <ent type='PERSON'>Paul</ent>, the Apocalypse of the
Virgin Mary. The didactic Preaching of <ent type='PERSON'>Peter</ent>, the Teaching of the
<ent type='PERSON'>Apostles</ent>, or Didache, containing warnings against <ent type='NORP'>Judaism</ent> and </p>

<p> Bank of Wisdom
Box 926, <ent type='GPE'>Louisville</ent>, KY 40201
98
.
FORGERY IN <ent type='NORP'>CHRISTIANITY</ent></p>

<p>polytheism, and words of <ent type='PERSON'>Jesus</ent> to the <ent type='PERSON'>Apostles</ent>; another set
containing a lament of <ent type='PERSON'>Peter</ent> for his denial of <ent type='PERSON'>Jesus</ent>, and various
ethical maxims a <ent type='GPE'>Syria</ent>c Preaching of <ent type='PERSON'>Simon Cephas</ent>; a collection of
Hymns or <ent type='PERSON'>Odes</ent> of Solomon. As if these were not enough for <ent type='NORP'>Christian</ent>
edification, "many heretical or Gnostic works of the same
apocryphal kind were changed into orthodox by expurgation of
objectionable matter or by rewriting, using the same outlines; thus
a series of <ent type='NORP'>Catholic</ent> Acts was produced, written from an orthodox
standpoint." (<ent type='ORG'>NIE</ent>. i, 748.) A very celebrated forgery was the
Shepherd of <ent type='ORG'>Hermas</ent>, forged by <ent type='ORG'>Hermas</ent>,' supposed brother of Pius,
<ent type='ORG'>Bishop</ent> of <ent type='GPE'>Rome</ent>, about 150 A.D. See the vast catalogue (CE. i,
601-615).</p>

<p> A whole literature of <ent type='NORP'>Christian</ent> forgery grew up and had
immense vogue under the designation of Acts Pilati, or Acts of
<ent type='PERSON'>Pilate</ent>. One of the most popular of these was called the <ent type='PERSON'>Gospel</ent> of
<ent type='PERSON'>Nicodemus</ent>, of which CE,. says: "The alleged Hebrew orignal is
attributed to <ent type='ORG'>Nicodemius</ent>; the title is of medieval origin. The
apocryphon gained wide credit in the Middle Ages. ... The '<ent type='ORG'>Acta</ent>'
are of orthodox composition. The book aimed at gratifying the
desire for extra-evangelical details concerning oar Lord, and at
the same time, to strengthen faith in the Resurrection of Christ,
and at general edification." (i, 3.) The Descent into Hades is an
enlargement of the reputed official acts or repots of <ent type='PERSON'>Pilate</ent> to the
<ent type='NORP'>Roman</ent> <ent type='PERSON'>Emperor</ent>. Speaking of the <ent type='PERSON'>Pilate</ent> Literature as a whole, the
<ent type='NORP'>Catholic</ent> Encyclopedia. in a paragraph which pointedly admits the
falsifying frauds of three luminous liars and forgers of the <ent type='ORG'>Faith</ent>,
<ent type='PERSON'>Justin Martyr</ent>, the great <ent type='ORG'>Bishop</ent> <ent type='PERSON'>Eusebius</ent>, and Father <ent type='NORP'>Tertullian</ent>,
explains that these <ent type='ORG'>Acta</ent> "dwell upon the part which a reresentative
[<ent type='PERSON'>Pilate</ent>] of the <ent type='NORP'>Roman</ent> Empire played in the supreme events of our
Lord's life, and to shape the testimony of <ent type='PERSON'>Pontius Pilate</ent>, even at
the cost of exaggeration and amplification -- [hear the soft-pedaling note], into a weapon of apologetic defense, making the
official bear witness to the miracles, Crucifixion, and
Resurrection of <ent type='PERSON'>Jesus</ent> Christ. ... It is characterized by
exaggerating <ent type='PERSON'>Pilate</ent>'s weak defense of <ent type='PERSON'>Jesus</ent> into a strong <ent type='ORG'>dympathy</ent>
and practical belief in his Divinity." (CE. i, 609.) Father
<ent type='NORP'>Tertullian</ent>, in his Apologia (xxi), relates the Report of <ent type='PERSON'>Pilate</ent> to
the <ent type='PERSON'>Emperor</ent>, sketching the miracles and death of <ent type='PERSON'>Jesus</ent> Christ, and
says, "All these things <ent type='PERSON'>Pilate</ent> announced to <ent type='PERSON'>Tiberius Caesar</ent>."
<ent type='ORG'>Bishop</ent> <ent type='PERSON'>Eusebius</ent> thus relates the fable as taken from the Apologia
of Father <ent type='NORP'>Tertullian</ent>: "The fame of Our Lord's remarkable
resurrection and ascension being now spread abroad, ... Pontius
<ent type='PERSON'>Pilate</ent> transmits to <ent type='ORG'>Tiberius</ent> an account of the circumstances
concerning the resurrection of our Lord from the dead. ... In this
account, he also intimated that he had ascertained other miracies
respecting him, and that having now risen from the dead, he was
believed to be a God by the great mass of the people. <ent type='ORG'>Tiberius</ent>
referred the matter to the <ent type='ORG'>Senate</ent>, ... being obviously pleased with
the doctrine; but the <ent type='ORG'>Senate</ent>, as they had not proposed the matter,
[rejected it]. But he continued in his opinion, threatening death
to the accusers of the <ent type='NORP'>Chriatians</ent>; a divine providence infusing
this into his mind, that the <ent type='PERSON'>Gospel</ent> having freer scope in its
commencement, might spread everywhere over the world." (<ent type='PERSON'>Eusebius</ent>,
HE. II, 2.) Father <ent type='PERSON'>Justin Martyr</ent>, in his Apologia, "appeals
confidently as a proof of them to the '<ent type='ORG'>Acta</ent>' or records of <ent type='PERSON'>Pilate</ent>,
existing in the imperial archives." <ent type='PERSON'>Eusebius</ent>, relates spurious </p>

<p> Bank of Wisdom
Box 926, <ent type='GPE'>Louisville</ent>, KY 40201
99
.
FORGERY IN <ent type='NORP'>CHRISTIANITY</ent></p>

<p>anti-<ent type='NORP'>Christian</ent> Acts of <ent type='PERSON'>Pilate</ent> composed in the fourth century, the
<ent type='ORG'>Acta</ent> Pilati or <ent type='PERSON'>Gospel</ent> of <ent type='PERSON'>Nicodemus</ent>, <ent type='PERSON'>Anphora Pilati</ent>, <ent type='ORG'>Paradoseis</ent>; a
still later fabrication is the <ent type='NORP'>Latin</ent> Epistola Pilati ad Tiberium,
Also the Letter of <ent type='PERSON'>Herod</ent> to <ent type='PERSON'>Pilate</ent> and Letter of <ent type='PERSON'>Pilate</ent> to <ent type='PERSON'>Herod</ent>;
the Narrative of <ent type='PERSON'>Joseph</ent> of Arimathea. The pseudo-Correspondence of
<ent type='PERSON'>Jesus</ent> with <ent type='GPE'>Abgar</ent>, King of <ent type='GPE'>Edessa</ent>, is found in <ent type='PERSON'>Eusebius</ent> (<ent type='ORG'>Hist</ent>.
Eccles., I, xiii), "who vouches that he himself translated it from
the <ent type='GPE'>Syria</ent>c documunis in the archives of <ent type='GPE'>Edessa</ent>, the metropolis, of
<ent type='NORP'>Eastern</ent> <ent type='GPE'>Syria</ent>. ... 'This,' adds <ent type='PERSON'>Eusebius</ent>, 'happened in the year 340
of the <ent type='NORP'>Seleucid</ent> era, corresponding to A.D. 28-29.'" (CE. i, 609,
610.) More monumental lies to the glory of God than those of the
distinguialied <ent type='ORG'>Church</ent> Fathers are not "A collection of apocryphal
Acts of the <ent type='PERSON'>Apostles</ent> was formed in the Frankish <ent type='ORG'>Church</ent> in the sixth
century, probably by a monk." (Ib. p. 610.) There were also "the
works accredited to Dionysius the Areopagite, who was not the
author of the works bearing his name." (lb. p. 638.)</p>

<p> Of highest importance because "these Acts are the chief source
for details of the martyrdom of the two great <ent type='PERSON'>Apostles</ent>," as admits
the CE., special notice is made of the "<ent type='NORP'>Catholic</ent>" Acts of Sts.
<ent type='PERSON'>Peter</ent> and <ent type='PERSON'>Paul</ent>, of which many <ent type='ORG'>MSS</ent> of "the legend" existed, the
material import of which is thus not quite honestly summarized:
"The <ent type='NORP'>Jew</ent>s have been aroused by the news of <ent type='PERSON'>Paul</ent>'s intended visit
(to <ent type='GPE'>Rome</ent>), and induce <ent type='PERSON'>Nero</ent> to forbid it. Nevertheless the <ent type='PERSON'>Apostle</ent>
<ent type='ORG'>sec</ent>retly enters <ent type='GPE'>Italy</ent>; his companion is mistaken for himself at
<ent type='PERSON'>Puteoli</ent> and beheaded. In retribution that city is swallowed up by
the sea. <ent type='PERSON'>Peter</ent> receives <ent type='PERSON'>Paul</ent> at <ent type='GPE'>Rome</ent> with joy. The preaching of the
<ent type='PERSON'>Apostles</ent> converts multitudes and even the <ent type='ORG'>Empress</ent>. <ent type='PERSON'>Simon Magus</ent>
traduces the <ent type='NORP'>Christian</ent> teachers, and there is a test of strength in
miracles between that magician and the <ent type='PERSON'>Apostles</ent>, which takes place
in the presence of <ent type='PERSON'>Nero</ent>. <ent type='PERSON'>Simon</ent> essays a flight to heaven but falls
in <ent type='LOC'>the Via Sacra</ent> and is dashed to pieces, Nevertheless, <ent type='PERSON'>Nero</ent> is
bent on the destruction of <ent type='PERSON'>Peter</ent> and, <ent type='PERSON'>Paul</ent>. The latter is beheaded
on the Ostian Way, and <ent type='PERSON'>Peter</ent> is cruciffed at his request head
downward. Before his death he relates to the people the 'Quo
Vadis?' story. Three men from the <ent type='LOC'>East</ent> carry off the <ent type='PERSON'>Apostles</ent>'
bodies but are overtaken. St. <ent type='PERSON'>Peter</ent> is buried at 'the place called
<ent type='GPE'>the Vatican</ent>,' and <ent type='PERSON'>Paul</ent> on the Ostian Way. These Acts are the chief
source for details of the martyrdom of the two great <ent type='PERSON'>Apostles</ent>. They
are also noteworthy as emphasizing the close <ent type='ORG'>concord</ent> between the
Apostolic founders of the <ent type='NORP'>Roman</ent> <ent type='ORG'>Church</ent>." (CE. i, 611-12.)</p>

<p> The reader is desired to bear well in mind the foregoing
paragraph, and particularly the last two sentences, the former of
immense significance when we come to review the falsified fiction
of the foundation of the <ent type='NORP'>Roman</ent> <ent type='ORG'>Church</ent> by <ent type='PERSON'>Peter</ent>, -- the "chief
source" of which portentous claim is <ent type='ORG'>confessedly</ent> founded on the
crude and fantastic "legend"' of an admittedly forged document.
Another admission of forgery by the Fathers, before introducing
them formally, may be noted:, "Such known works as the Shepherd of
<ent type='ORG'>Hermas</ent>, the <ent type='PERSON'>Epistle</ent> of <ent type='PERSON'>Barnabas</ent>, the Didache or Teaching of the
Twelve <ent type='PERSON'>Apostles</ent>, and <ent type='ORG'>the Apostolic Canons and Constitutions</ent>, though
formally apocryphal, really belong to patristic literature" (CE. i,
601), -- that is, they are forged writings of the Fathers.</p>

<p> Bank of Wisdom
Box 926, <ent type='GPE'>Louisville</ent>, KY 40201
100
.
FORGERY IN <ent type='NORP'>CHRISTIANITY</ent></p>

<p> THE FORGFD "<ent type='PERSON'>APOSTLES</ent>' CREED"</p>

<p> The "Apotitles' <ent type='PERSON'>Creed</ent>," forged by the Fathers several
centuries after the <ent type='PERSON'>Apostles</ent>, must be added to the <ent type='NORP'>Patristic</ent> list.
Of this famous <ent type='PERSON'>Creed</ent>, which every <ent type='NORP'>Christian</ent> presumably knows by
rote and piously recites in numberless services, CE. again
confesses it spurious: "Throughout the Middle Ages it was generally
believed that the <ent type='PERSON'>Apostles</ent>, on the day of <ent type='GPE'>Pentecost</ent>, while still
under the direct inspiration of the Holy Ghost, composed our
present <ent type='PERSON'>Creed</ent>, each of the <ent type='PERSON'>Apostles</ent> contributing one of the Twelve
articles. This legend dates back to the sixth century, and is
foreshadowed still earlier in a sermon attributed to St. <ent type='PERSON'>Ambrose</ent>,
which takes notice that the <ent type='PERSON'>Creed</ent> was 'pieced out by twelve
separate workmen.'" (CE. i, 629.) Indeed, "not a few works have
been falsely attributed to St. <ent type='PERSON'>Ambrose</ent>." (CE. i, 387; cf. p. 406.)</p>

<p> We may smile at the peculiarly clerical way in which CE. would
"whitewash" the great <ent type='ORG'>Bishop</ent> of <ent type='GPE'>Milan</ent>, St. <ent type='PERSON'>Ambrose</ent> (e. 340-397),
from the lie direct which admittedly he told in that Sermon, --
saying that the <ent type='ORG'>Bishop</ent> simply "takes notice that the creed was
pieced out," etc.; the truth being that <ent type='PERSON'>Ambrose</ent> positively affirmed
the fable as truth, and may have invented it. His poisitive words
are; "that the Twelve <ent type='PERSON'>Apostles</ent>, as skilled artificers, assembled
together, and made a key by their common advice, that is, the
<ent type='PERSON'>Creed</ent>; by which the darkness of the devil is disclosed, that the
light of Christ may appear." (<ent type='PERSON'>Ambrose</ent>, Opera, tom. iii., Sermon 38,
p. 265; quoted in The New Testament Apocrypha, <ent type='GPE'>New York</ent>, The Truth
Seeker Co.) -- a work which I feel impelled to commend to all who
wish to know at first hand the 25 remarkable <ent type='ORG'>Chureh</ent> "<ent type='PERSON'>Gospel</ent>"
forgeries there collected.</p>

<p> THE FORGED ATHANASIAN CREED</p>

<p> In likewise the celebrated <ent type='NORP'>Athanasian</ent> <ent type='PERSON'>Creed</ent> of the <ent type='ORG'>Church</ent>,
attributed to St. <ent type='PERSON'>Athanasius</ent> and so held by the <ent type='ORG'>Church</ent> "until the
seventeenth century" (CE. ii, 34), with most evil resiilts, is now
an admitter forgery. In words of <ent type='PERSON'>Gibbon</ent>: "St. <ent type='PERSON'>Athanasius</ent> is not the
author of the creed; it does not appear to have existed within a
century after his death; it was composed in <ent type='NORP'>Latin</ent>, therefore in one
of the <ent type='NORP'>Western</ent> provinces. <ent type='ORG'>Gennadius</ent>, patriarch of <ent type='PERSON'>Constitantinoble</ent>,
was so much amazed by this extraordinary composition, that he
frankly pronounced it to be the work of a drunken man." (<ent type='PERSON'>Petav</ent>.
<ent type='ORG'>Dogmat</ent>. Theologica, tom. ii, 1, vii, c. 8, p. 687; <ent type='PERSON'>Gibbon</ent>, p. 598.)</p>

<p> JESUS CHRIST'S FORGED LETTERS</p>

<p> We may look for a moment at several of the most notorious of
the forgeries perpetrated for the glory of God and for imposture
upon the superstitious <ent type='NORP'>Christian</ent>s to enhance <ent type='NORP'>Pagan</ent> credtulity in
the tales of Christ. If the <ent type='PERSON'>Gospel</ent> tales were true, why should God
need pious lies to give them credit? Lies and forgeries are only
needed to bolster up falsebood: "Nothing stands in need of lying
but a lie." But <ent type='PERSON'>Jesus</ent> Christ must needs be propagated by lies; upon
lies, and what better proof of his actuality than to exhibit
letters written by him in his own handwriting? The "Little Liars of
the Lord" were equal to the forgery of the signature of their God,
-- false letters in his name, as above cited from that exhaustless </p>

<p> Bank of Wisdom
Box 926, <ent type='GPE'>Louisville</ent>, KY 40201
101
.
FORGERY IN <ent type='NORP'>CHRISTIANITY</ent></p>

<p>mine of clerical falsities, the <ent type='NORP'>Catholic</ent> Encyclopedia, which again
describes them, and proves that they 'Were forged by their great
<ent type='ORG'>Bisbop</ent> of <ent type='ORG'>Caesaria</ent>: "The historian <ent type='PERSON'>Eusebius</ent> records [HE. I, xii],
a legend which he himself firmly believes concerning a
correspondence that took place between Our Lord and the local
potentate (<ent type='GPE'>Abgar</ent>) at <ent type='GPE'>Edessa</ent>. Three documents relate to this
correspondence: (1) the Letter of <ent type='GPE'>Abgar</ent> to Our Lord; (2) Our Lord's
answer; (3) a picture of Our Lord, painted from life. This legend
enjoyed a great popularity, both in the <ent type='LOC'>East</ent>, and in the West,
during the Middle Ages. Our Lord's Letter was copied on parchment,
marble, and metal, and used as a talisman or an amulet." (CE. i,
42.) But it is not true, as we have seen already confessed, that
<ent type='PERSON'>Eusebius</ent> innocently believed that these forgeries were genuine --
for they were all shamelessly forged by <ent type='PERSON'>Eusebius</ent> himself: "who
vouches that he himself translated it from the <ent type='GPE'>Syria</ent>c documents in
the archives of <ent type='GPE'>Edessa</ent>." (CE. i, 610.) Again it is said by CE.,
that these forged letters, with the portrait, were "accepted by
<ent type='PERSON'>Eusebius</ent> without hesitation, and used by Addision in his work on
<ent type='NORP'>Christian</ent> Evidences as genuine" (Ib. vi, 217).</p>

<p> It should be mentioned, first, that <ent type='GPE'>Abgar</ent> was not a personal
name of a King of <ent type='GPE'>Edessa</ent>, but was a generic title of all the rulers
of that small state: "By this title all the toparchs of <ent type='GPE'>Edessa</ent> were
called, just as the <ent type='NORP'>Roman</ent> <ent type='PERSON'>Emperor</ent>s were called <ent type='ORG'>Caesars</ent>, <ent type='ORG'>the Kings</ent>
of <ent type='GPE'>Egypt</ent> Pharaohs or <ent type='ORG'>Ptolemies</ent>, <ent type='ORG'>the Kings</ent> of <ent type='GPE'>Syria</ent> Antiochi." (<ent type='ORG'>ANF</ent>.
viii, 651, note.) With this first check on the forging <ent type='ORG'>Bishop</ent>, here
is what he said in his <ent type='ORG'>Church</ent> history, Book I, chapter the
thirteenth. (p. 63 seq.) Note the false fervor of the holy <ent type='ORG'>Bishop</ent>
to sugar-coat his circumstantial and commodious lie and fraud:
"While the <ent type='PERSON'>Godhead</ent> of our <ent type='PERSON'>Saviour</ent> and Lord <ent type='PERSON'>Jesut</ent>, Christ was
proclaimed among all men by reason of the astonishing mighty-works
which He wrought, and myriads, even from countries remote from the
land of <ent type='ORG'>Judaea</ent>, who were afflicted with sicknesses and diseases of
every kind, were coming to him in the hope of being healed, King
<ent type='GPE'>Abgar</ent> sent him a letter asking Him to come and heal him of his
disease. But our <ent type='PERSON'>Saviour</ent> at the time he asked Him did not comply
with his request. Yet He deigned to give him a letter in reply. ...
Thou hast in writing the evidence of these things, which is taken
from <ent type='ORG'>the Book</ent> of Records which was at <ent type='GPE'>Edessa</ent>; for at that time the
<ent type='GPE'>Kingdom</ent> was still standing. In the documents, then, which were
there, in which was contained whatever was done by those of old
down to the time of <ent type='GPE'>Abgar</ent>, these things are also found preserved
down to the present hour. There is, however, nothing to prevent our
hearing the very letters themselves, which have been taken by us
from the archives, and are in words to this effect, translated from
<ent type='NORP'>Aramaic</ent> into <ent type='NORP'>Greek</ent>.</p>

<p> "'Copy of the letter which was written by King <ent type='GPE'>Abgar</ent> to <ent type='PERSON'>Jesus</ent>,
and sent to him by the hand of <ent type='PERSON'>Ananias</ent> -- [the <ent type='ORG'>Bishop</ent> was the
<ent type='PERSON'>Ananias</ent> in this tale, and aptly named his letter-carrier], -- the
<ent type='NORP'>Tabularius</ent>, to <ent type='GPE'>Jerusalem</ent>:</p>

<p> '<ent type='GPE'>Abgar</ent> the Black, sovereign of the country, to <ent type='PERSON'>Jesus</ent>, the good
<ent type='PERSON'>Saviour</ent>, who has appeared in the country of <ent type='GPE'>Jerusalem</ent>: Peace. I
have heard about Thee, and about the healing which is wrought by
Thy hands without drugs and roots. For, as it is reported, Thou
makest the blind to see, and the lame to walk; and <ent type='PERSON'>Thou cleansest</ent>
the lepers, and <ent type='PERSON'>Thou castest</ent> out unclean spirits and demons, and </p>

<p> Bank of Wisdom
Box 926, <ent type='GPE'>Louisville</ent>, KY 40201
102
.
FORGERY IN <ent type='NORP'>CHRISTIANITY</ent></p>

<p>Thou healest those who are tormented with lingering diseases, and
<ent type='PERSON'>Thou raisest</ent> the dead. And when I heard all these things about
Thee, I settled in my mind one of two things: either that Thou art
God, who has come down from heaven, and doest these things; or that
Thou art the Son of God, and doest these things. On this account,
therefore, I have written to beg of Thee that Thou wouldest weary
Thyself to come to me, and heal this disease which I have. For I
have also heard that the <ent type='NORP'>Jew</ent>s murmur against Thee, and wish to do
Thee harm. But I have a city, small and beautiful, which is
sufficient for two.'</p>

<p> "Copy of those things which were written by <ent type='PERSON'>Jesus</ent> in reply by
the hand of <ent type='PERSON'>Ananias</ent>, the <ent type='NORP'>Tabularius</ent>, to <ent type='GPE'>Abgar</ent>, sovereign of the
country: --</p>

<p> 'Blessed is he that believeth in me, not having seen me. For
it is written concerning me, that those who see me will not believe
in me, and that those will believe who have not seen me, and will
be saved. But touching that which thou hast written to me, that I
should come to thee it is meet that I should finish here all that
for the sake of which I have been sent; and, after I have finished
it, then I shall be taken up to Him that sent me; and, when I have
been taken up, I will send to thee one of my disciples, that he may
heal thy disease, and give salvation to thee and to those who are
with thee.'</p>

<p> "To these letters moreover, is appended the following, also in
the <ent type='NORP'>Aramaic</ent> tongue", -- here following the official record of the
visit of one "Thaddaeus the apostle, one of the Seventy," and him
wonderful works in <ent type='GPE'>Edessa</ent>. "These things were done in the year 340.
In order, moreover that these things may not have been translated
to no purpose word for word from the <ent type='NORP'>Aramaic</ent> into <ent type='NORP'>Greek</ent>, they are
placed in their order of time here. Here endeth the first book."
(HE. i, 13; <ent type='ORG'>ANF</ent>. viii, 651-653.) <ent type='ORG'>Bishop</ent> <ent type='PERSON'>Eusebius</ent> is thus seen to
have been a most circumstantial liar and a well-skilled forger for
God. From this episcopal lie sprouted like toadstools a whole
literature of "various books concerning <ent type='GPE'>Abgar</ent> the King and
Thaddaeus the <ent type='PERSON'>Apostle</ent>," in which are preserved to posterity a
series of five letters -- very much in the style of modern patent-medicine testimonials -- written by <ent type='GPE'>Abgar</ent> to <ent type='PERSON'>Tiberius Caesar</ent> and to
neighboring potentates, endorsing <ent type='PERSON'>Jesus</ent> and his healing powers;
with a reply from <ent type='ORG'>Tiberius</ent> declaring that "<ent type='PERSON'>Pilate</ent> has officially
informed us of the miracles of <ent type='PERSON'>Jesus</ent>.". With respect to the other
letters testimonial, it is recorded: "<ent type='GPE'>Abgar</ent> had not yet received
answers to these letters when he died, having reigned thirty-eight
years." (Ibid. pp. 657-741, 706.)</p>

<p> These crass episcopal forgeries were welcomed into the <ent type='ORG'>Church</ent>,
and for fifteen centuries have gone unrebuked by <ent type='PERSON'>Pope</ent> or <ent type='ORG'>Church</ent>.
<ent type='ORG'>Eve</ent>n since the Reformation so strong was the belief in the <ent type='GPE'>Abgar</ent>-<ent type='PERSON'>Jesus</ent> forgeries, that notable prelates in <ent type='GPE'>England</ent> including
Archbishop <ent type='PERSON'>Cave</ent>, have "strenuously contended for their admission
into the canon scripture. ... The Reverend <ent type='PERSON'>Jeremiah Jones</ent> observes,
that common people in <ent type='GPE'>England</ent> have this <ent type='PERSON'>Epistle</ent> in their houses, in
many places, fixed in a frame, with the picture of Christ before
it; and that they generally, with much honesty and devotion, regard
it as the word of God, and the genuine <ent type='PERSON'>Epistle</ent> of Christ." (Quoted </p>

<p> Bank of Wisdom
Box 926, <ent type='GPE'>Louisville</ent>, KY 40201
103
.
FORGERY IN <ent type='NORP'>CHRISTIANITY</ent></p>

<p>in editorial note to the <ent type='PERSON'>Epistles</ent>, in The Lost Books of the Bible,
p. 62.) To such state of superstitious credulity does the <ent type='ORG'>Church</ent>
with its pious impostures prostitute the minds of its ignorant and
credulous votaries. The portrait of <ent type='PERSON'>Jesus</ent>, referred to above, is
said, in other versions of the Letter, to have been sent by <ent type='PERSON'>Jesus</ent>
to the King; this portrait is now displayed at both <ent type='GPE'>Rome</ent> and <ent type='GPE'>Genoa</ent>.
(<ent type='ORG'>NIE</ent>. i, 38.)</p>

<p> OTHER FORGERIES FOR CHRIST'S SAKE</p>

<p> The pious fancy of the Fathers forged another official Letter,
in the name of what CE. calls "a fictitious person," one <ent type='NORP'>Lentulus</ent>,
pretended predecessor of <ent type='PERSON'>Pilate</ent> as governor of <ent type='ORG'>Judaea</ent>, to the <ent type='NORP'>Roman</ent>
<ent type='ORG'>Senate</ent>, giving a description of the personal appearance of <ent type='PERSON'>Jesus</ent>
Christ, and closing with the words, "He is the most beautiful of
the sons of men." This letter, says CE. "was certainly apocryphal";
it was first printed in the Life of Christ, by <ent type='PERSON'>Ludolph</ent> the
<ent type='NORP'>Christian</ent>; though it is thought to be traceable to the time of
<ent type='GPE'>Diocletian</ent>. (CE. ix, 154.) This notion of the personal beauty of
<ent type='PERSON'>Jesus</ent> is not shared by the "tradition" of the Fathers; for <ent type='PERSON'>Jesus</ent>
Christ is declared by Cyril of <ent type='GPE'>Alexandria</ent> to have been "the ugliest
of the sons of men"; a tradition also declared by Fathers Justin
Martyr and <ent type='NORP'>Tertullian</ent>; to offset which evil notion there was forged
"a beautiful Letter, purporting to have been written by <ent type='NORP'>Lentulus</ent> to
the <ent type='NORP'>Roman</ent> <ent type='ORG'>Senate</ent>." (Ib. vi, 235.) But St. Augustine, says CE.,
"mentions that in his time there was no authentic portrait of
Christ, and that the type of features was still undetermined, so
that we have absolutely no knowledge of His appearance." (De
Trinitate, lib. vii, ch. 45; CE. vi, 211, n.)</p>

<p> This, however, is contrary to the venerated <ent type='ORG'>Church</ent> fable and
artistic forgery current under the title of "St. Veronica's Veil,"
based on the tale in <ent type='PERSON'>Luke</ent> (xxvii, 27) of the woman of <ent type='GPE'>Jerusalem</ent> who
offered to <ent type='PERSON'>Jesus</ent> a linen cloth to wipe his face as he was carrying
his cross towards <ent type='ORG'>Calvary</ent>. On wiping his sweating face, the
supposed authentic likeness of the features of the Christ was
miraculously impressed upon the cloth. The lucky lady "went to
<ent type='GPE'>Rome</ent>, bringing with her this image of Christ, which was long
exposed to public veneration. To her are likewise traced several
other relies of <ent type='ORG'>the Blessed Virgin</ent> venerated in several <ent type='ORG'>Church</ent>es of
the West. To distinguish at <ent type='GPE'>Rome</ent> the oldest and best known of these
images it was called vera icon (true image), which ordinary
language soon made <ent type='ORG'>veronica</ent> ... By degrees popular Imagination
mistook this word for the name of a person" (CE. xv, 362), -- and,
Lo! Saint Veronica emerges from the canonizing Saint-mill of Holy
<ent type='ORG'>Church</ent>. Here we plainly see myth-in-the-making; and may appreciate
the moral splendor as well as crafty thriftiness of the <ent type='ORG'>Church</ent> of
God which thus supplies its <ent type='ORG'>Faith</ent>ful ready-made with one of the
most cherished female Saints of the Calendar, -- a confessed myth
and forgery. His Holiness especially displayed and vouched for this
fake on March 19, 1930, when he preached his crusade against
<ent type='GPE'>Russia</ent>. But the <ent type='ORG'>Church</ent> also, in the <ent type='NORP'>Roman</ent> Martyrology, credits this
holy icon to <ent type='GPE'>Milan</ent>, so as to fool many other <ent type='ORG'>Faith</ent>ful. (Ib. p.
363.) This mythical female Saint "has also been confounded with a
pious woman who, according to [<ent type='ORG'>Bishop</ent>] <ent type='PERSON'>Gregory</ent> of Tours, brought to
the neighboring town of Bazas some drops of the blood of <ent type='PERSON'>John</ent> the
<ent type='ORG'>Baptist</ent>, at whose beheading she was present," and CE. doesn't even
wink. (Ib.)</p>

<p> Bank of Wisdom
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104
.
FORGERY IN <ent type='NORP'>CHRISTIANITY</ent></p>

<p> JOSEPHUS FORGERY TESTIFIES OF JESUS</p>

<p> So many confessed <ent type='NORP'>Christian</ent> forgeries in <ent type='NORP'>Pagan</ent> and <ent type='NORP'>Christian</ent>
names having been wrought to testify to <ent type='PERSON'>Jesus</ent> Christ, it was, "one
naturally expects," says CE., that a <ent type='NORP'>Jew</ent>ish "writer so well
informed as <ent type='PERSON'>Joseph</ent>us" must know and tell about <ent type='PERSON'>Jesus</ent>; "one
naturally expects, therefore, a notice about <ent type='PERSON'>Jesus</ent> Christ in
<ent type='PERSON'>Joseph</ent>us." And with pride it pursues: "Antiquities, VIII, iii, 3,
seems to satisfy this expectation." It proceeds to quote the
passage, which differeth only as one translation naturally differs
from another, from that in the <ent type='PERSON'>Whitson</ent> translation; so I follow CE.
In Chapter iii <ent type='PERSON'>Joseph</ent>us treats of "Sedition of the <ent type='NORP'>Jew</ent>s against
<ent type='PERSON'>Pontius Pilate</ent>"; in <ent type='ORG'>sec</ent>tion 1. he relates the cause and the
suppression of the mutiny, the ensigns of the army displaying the
idolatrous <ent type='NORP'>Roman</ent> Eagle, brought into the <ent type='GPE'>Holy City</ent>; in <ent type='ORG'>sec</ent>tion 2.
he tells of the action of <ent type='PERSON'>Pilate</ent> in bringing "a current of water to
<ent type='GPE'>Jerusalem</ent>, and did it with the sacred money," thus again arousing
a clash with the fanatics; "there were great numbers of them slain
by this means." Passing for the moment the notorious <ent type='ORG'>sec</ent>tion 3,
<ent type='PERSON'>Joseph</ent>us the <ent type='NORP'>Jew</ent> begins <ent type='ORG'>sec</ent>tion 4: "About the same time, also,
another sad calamity put the <ent type='NORP'>Jew</ent>s in disorder," which he proceeds
to relate, ending the long chapter. Note that these <ent type='ORG'>sec</ent>tion numbers
were not put in by <ent type='PERSON'>Joseph</ent>us, but are modern editor's devices to
facilitate citation, like the chapters and verses in the Bible. And
now for the much-debated <ent type='ORG'>sec</ent>tion, sandwiched, in a whole chapter on
"<ent type='ORG'>Seditions</ent> of the <ent type='NORP'>Jew</ent>s," between the accounts of two massacres of
his countrymen and "another sad calamity"; and thus we read -- note
the parentheses of CE. (viii, 376): --</p>

<p> "About this time," quotes CE., "appeared <ent type='PERSON'>Jesus</ent>, a wise man (if
indeed it is right to call Him a man; for He was a worker of
astonishing deeds, a teacher of such men an receive the truth with
joy), and He drew to Himself many <ent type='NORP'>Jew</ent>s (and many also of the
<ent type='NORP'>Greek</ent>s. This was the Christ). And when <ent type='PERSON'>Pilate</ent>, at the denunciation
of those that are foremost among us, had condemned Him to the
cross, those who had first loved Him did not abandon Him. (For He
appeared to them alive on the third day, the holy prophets having
foretold this and countless other marvels about Him.) The tribe of
<ent type='NORP'>Christian</ent>s named after Him did not cease to this day." (see. 3.)</p>

<p> About this time, also "another sad calamity [?] put the <ent type='NORP'>Jew</ent>s
into disorder," (<ent type='ORG'>sec</ent>. 4). continues <ent type='PERSON'>Joseph</ent>us. CE. devotes over
three long columns to the task of trying to prove that this <ent type='ORG'>sec</ent>tion
3, or at least "the portions not in parentheses," -- is genuine,
and was written, sometime before his death in 94 A.D., by the
<ent type='NORP'>Jew</ent>ish Pharisee, <ent type='PERSON'>Joseph</ent>us. "A testimony so important," well says
CE., "could not escape the critics," -- and it has not. We cannot
follow the lengthy and labored arguments; the simple reading or the
<ent type='ORG'>sec</ent>tion, in its bizarre context, and a moment's reflection, condemn
it as a pious <ent type='NORP'>Christian</ent> forgery. If the Pharisee <ent type='PERSON'>Joseph</ent>us wrote
that paragraph, he must have believed that <ent type='PERSON'>Jesus</ent> was the Prophesied
Messiah of his people -- "This was the Christ." <ent type='PERSON'>Joseph</ent>us is made to
aver, he must then needs have been of "the tribe of <ent type='NORP'>Christian</ent>s
named after Him." But whatever <ent type='PERSON'>Joseph</ent>us may have said about <ent type='PERSON'>Jesus</ent>
is, indeed, not "a testimony so important" -- when we remember what
he did aver that he saw with his own eyes; the pillar of salt into
which Mrs. Lot was turned; and <ent type='PERSON'>Eleazar</ent> the magician drawing the </p>

<p> Bank of Wisdom
Box 926, <ent type='GPE'>Louisville</ent>, KY 40201
105
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FORGERY IN <ent type='NORP'>CHRISTIANITY</ent></p>

<p>devil by a ring and Solomonic incantations, through the nose of one
possessed, before <ent type='NORP'>Vespasian</ent> and all his army. If <ent type='PERSON'>Joseph</ent>us had
written that he knew <ent type='PERSON'>Jesus</ent> the Christ personally, and had
personally seen him ascend into heaven through the roof of the room
in <ent type='GPE'>Jerusalem</ent> (Mk. xvi, 19, 20), or from the open countryside by
<ent type='GPE'>Bethany</ent> (Lk. xxiv, 50, 51), or "on the mount called <ent type='GPE'>Olivet</ent>" (Acts
i, 9, 12), -- we should remember that pillar of salt and that
devil-doctor, and smile.</p>

<p> But, when and how did this famous passage get into The
Antiquities of the <ent type='NORP'>Jew</ent>s? it, is pertinent to ask. The first mention
ever made of this passage, and its text, are in the <ent type='ORG'>Church</ent> <ent type='ORG'>Hist</ent>ory
of that "very dishonest writer," <ent type='ORG'>Bishop</ent> <ent type='PERSON'>Eusebius</ent>, in the fourth
century, -- he who forged the Letters between <ent type='GPE'>Abgar</ent> and <ent type='PERSON'>Jesus</ent>,
falsely declaring that he had found the original documents in the
official archives, whence he had copied and translated them into
his Ecclesiastical <ent type='ORG'>Hist</ent>ory. CE. admits, and I have the Contra
Celsum here before me, -- that "the above cited passage was not
known to <ent type='ORG'>Origen</ent> and the earlier patristic writers," -- though they
copied from <ent type='PERSON'>Joseph</ent>us the forged tale of the Letter of Aristeas
about the translating of the Septuagint; and "its very place in the
<ent type='PERSON'>Joseph</ent>an text is uncertain, since <ent type='PERSON'>Eusebius</ent> (<ent type='ORG'>Hist</ent>. Eccl., II, vi)
must have found it before the notices concerning <ent type='PERSON'>Pilate</ent>, while it
now stands after them" (HE. I, ii, p. 63); and it makes the curious
argument, which implies a confession: "But the spuriousness of the
disputed <ent type='PERSON'>Joseph</ent>an passage does not imply the historian's ignorance
of the facts connected with <ent type='PERSON'>Jesus</ent> Christ"! For a wonder, that "a
writer so well informed as <ent type='PERSON'>Joseph</ent>us" should not, perhaps, know by
hearsay, sixty years after <ent type='PERSON'>Jesus</ent> Christ, some of the remarkable
things circulated about him in current country-side gossip -- (if,
indeed, it were then current). But the fact is, that with the
exception of this one incongruous forged passage, <ent type='ORG'>sec</ent>tion 3, the
wonder-mongering <ent type='PERSON'>Joseph</ent>us makes not the slightest mention of his
wonder-working fellow-countryman, <ent type='PERSON'>Jesus</ent> the Christ, -- though some
score of other <ent type='PERSON'>Joshuas</ent>, or <ent type='PERSON'>Jesus</ent>es, are recorded by him, nor does
he mention any of his transcendent wonders, But, as CE. and I were
saying, none of the Fathers, before <ent type='PERSON'>Eusebius</ent> (about 324), knew or
could find a word in the works of <ent type='PERSON'>Joseph</ent>us, of this momentous
"testimony to <ent type='PERSON'>Jesus</ent>," over a century after <ent type='ORG'>Origen</ent>. That it did not
exist in the time of <ent type='ORG'>Origen</ent> is explicit by his own words; he cites
the supposed references by <ent type='PERSON'>Joseph</ent>us to <ent type='PERSON'>John</ent> the <ent type='ORG'>Baptist</ent> and to
<ent type='PERSON'>James</ent>, and expressly says that <ent type='PERSON'>Joseph</ent>us ought to have spoken of
<ent type='PERSON'>Jesus</ent> instead of <ent type='PERSON'>James</ent>; though <ent type='ORG'>Origen</ent> does not correctly describe
the reference to <ent type='PERSON'>James</ent>; and the <ent type='PERSON'>James</ent> passage, if not that also
about <ent type='PERSON'>John</ent>, has a suspicious savor of interpolation.</p>

<p> For a clear understanding of this, I will quote the passage of
<ent type='ORG'>Origen</ent> in his work against <ent type='PERSON'>Celsus</ent>; it completely refutes the claim
that <ent type='PERSON'>Joseph</ent>us wrote the disputed and forged <ent type='ORG'>sec</ent>tion 3. <ent type='ORG'>Origen</ent> says:</p>

<p> "I would like to say to <ent type='PERSON'>Celsus</ent>, who represents the <ent type='NORP'>Jew</ent>
accepting <ent type='PERSON'>John</ent> somehow as a <ent type='ORG'>Baptist</ent>, who baptized <ent type='PERSON'>Jesus</ent>, that the
existence of <ent type='PERSON'>John</ent> the <ent type='ORG'>Baptist</ent>, baptizing for the remission of sins,
is related by one who lived no great time after <ent type='PERSON'>John</ent> and <ent type='PERSON'>Jesus</ent>. For
in the 18th book of his Antiquities of the <ent type='NORP'>Jew</ent>s, <ent type='PERSON'>Joseph</ent>us bears
witness to <ent type='PERSON'>John</ent> as having been a <ent type='ORG'>Baptist</ent>, and as promising
purification to those who underwent the rite. Now this writer, </p>

<p> Bank of Wisdom
Box 926, <ent type='GPE'>Louisville</ent>, KY 40201
106
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FORGERY IN <ent type='NORP'>CHRISTIANITY</ent></p>

<p>although not believing in <ent type='PERSON'>Jesus</ent> as the Christ, in seeking after the
cause of the fall of <ent type='GPE'>Jerusalem</ent> and the destruction of the temple
[said that it was 'to avenge <ent type='PERSON'>James</ent> the Just'], whereas he ought to
have said that the conspiracy against <ent type='PERSON'>Jesus</ent> was the cause of these
calamities befalling the people, since they put to death Christ,
who was a prophet, says nevertheless -- being, although against his
will, not far from the truth -- that these disasters happened to
the <ent type='NORP'>Jew</ent>s as a punishment for the death of <ent type='PERSON'>James</ent> the Just, who was
a brother of <ent type='PERSON'>Jesus</ent> (called Christ), -- the <ent type='NORP'>Jew</ent>s having put him to
death, although he was a man most distinguished for his justice."
(<ent type='ORG'>Origen</ent>, Contra Celsum, I, xlvii; <ent type='ORG'>ANF</ent>. iv, 416.)</p>

<p> <ent type='PERSON'>Joseph</ent>us is thus quoted as bearing witness to <ent type='PERSON'>John</ent> the
<ent type='ORG'>Baptist</ent>, not as the Heaven-sent "forerunner" of the Christ, but
simply as a <ent type='NORP'>Jew</ent>ish religious teacher and baptizer on his own
account; and not a word by <ent type='PERSON'>Joseph</ent>us about the Christ, in whom it is
admitted that he did not believe as such, nor even mentions as the
most illustrious of those baptized by <ent type='PERSON'>John</ent>, to the wondrous
accompaniment of a voice from Heaven and the Holy Ghost in dove-like descent upon his head as he came up from the water. But
<ent type='ORG'>Origen</ent>, in his effort to get some <ent type='NORP'>Christian</ent> testimony from him,
misquotes <ent type='PERSON'>Joseph</ent>us and makes him say that <ent type='PERSON'>John</ent> was baptizing "for
the remission of sins," whereas <ent type='PERSON'>Joseph</ent>us expressly says that the
efficacy of <ent type='PERSON'>John</ent>'s baptism was not for remission of sin but for the
purification of the body, as any washing would be. To vindicate
<ent type='PERSON'>Joseph</ent>us against <ent type='ORG'>Origen</ent>, the former's words are quoted. <ent type='PERSON'>Joseph</ent>us
recounts the defeat of <ent type='PERSON'>Herod</ent> by <ent type='ORG'>Aretas</ent>, king of <ent type='GPE'>Arabia</ent> <ent type='PERSON'>Petrea</ent>; and
goes on to say: --</p>

<p> "Now some of the <ent type='NORP'>Jew</ent>s thought that the destruction of
<ent type='PERSON'>Herod</ent>'s army came from God, and that very justly, as a
punishment of what he did against <ent type='PERSON'>John</ent>, that was called the
<ent type='ORG'>Baptist</ent>; for <ent type='PERSON'>Herod</ent> slew him, who was a good man, and commanded
the <ent type='NORP'>Jew</ent>s to exercise virtue, both as to righteousness toward
one another, and piety toward God, and so to come to baptism;
for that the washing would be acceptable to him, if they made
use of it, not in order to the putting away of some sins, but
for the purification of the body: supposing still that the
soul was thoroughly purified beforehand by righteousness. Now,
when many others came in crowds about him, for they were
greatly moved by hearing his words, <ent type='PERSON'>Herod</ent>, who feared lest the
great influence <ent type='PERSON'>John</ent> had over the people might put it into his
power and inclination to raise a rebellion, (for they seemed
ready to do anything he should advise,) thought it best, by
putting him to death, to prevent any mischief he might cause,
and not bring himself into difficulties, by sparing a man who
might make him repent of it when it should be too late.
Accordingly, he was sent a prisoner, out of <ent type='PERSON'>Herod</ent>'s suspicious
temper, to Macherus, the castle I before mentioned, and was
there put to death." (<ent type='PERSON'>Joseph</ent>us, Antiq. <ent type='NORP'>Jew</ent>s, Bk. XVIII, v, 2.)</p>

<p> Beginning in <ent type='ORG'>sec</ent>tion 4. of the same Book, and at length in
various chapters, <ent type='PERSON'>Joseph</ent>us goes into details regarding <ent type='PERSON'>Salome</ent>; but
never a word of the famous dance-act and of the head of <ent type='PERSON'>John</ent> the
<ent type='ORG'>Baptist</ent> being brought in on a charger to gratify her murderous
whim: the historical reason for the murder of <ent type='PERSON'>John</ent> was political,
not amorous or jealous, as related by <ent type='PERSON'>Gospel</ent>-truth.</p>

<p> Bank of Wisdom
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107
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FORGERY IN <ent type='NORP'>CHRISTIANITY</ent></p>

<p> Father <ent type='ORG'>Origen</ent> again falls into error in citing <ent type='PERSON'>Joseph</ent>us, this
time in the dubious passage where <ent type='PERSON'>Joseph</ent>us, who does not believe in
the Christ, yet gives him that title in speaking of the death of
<ent type='PERSON'>James</ent>. With typical clerical bent Father <ent type='ORG'>Origen</ent> imputes the fall of
<ent type='GPE'>Jerusalem</ent> and the destruction of the temple to the sin of the <ent type='NORP'>Jew</ent>s
in crucifying the Christ; and says that <ent type='PERSON'>Joseph</ent>us, in seeking the
cause of the disasters which befell the <ent type='GPE'>Holy City</ent> and people,
attributes them to the killing of the Christ's brother. The Holy
City and temple were destroyed in 70 A.D., which was well after the
time of the supposititious <ent type='PERSON'>James</ent>, as his demise is recorded in the
suspected passage of <ent type='PERSON'>Joseph</ent>us. He related the death of <ent type='ORG'>Festus</ent>,
which was in 62 A.D., the appointment by <ent type='PERSON'>Nero</ent> of <ent type='PERSON'>Albinus</ent> as his
successor, and the murder of <ent type='PERSON'>James</ent> at the instigation of the high
priest <ent type='PERSON'>Ananus</ent>, before <ent type='PERSON'>Albinus</ent> can arrive. this sentence is to be
read in the text of <ent type='PERSON'>Joseph</ent>us:</p>

<p> "<ent type='ORG'>Festus</ent> was now dead, and <ent type='PERSON'>Albinus</ent> was but upon the road;
so he (<ent type='PERSON'>Ananus</ent>) assembled the sanhedrin of judges, and brought
before them the brother of <ent type='PERSON'>Jesus</ent>, who was called Christ, whose
name was <ent type='PERSON'>James</ent>, and some others; and when he had formulated an
accusation against them all breakers of the law, he delivered
them to be stoned." (Jos., Antiq. <ent type='NORP'>Jew</ent>s, Bk. XX, ix, i.)</p>

<p> <ent type='ORG'>Bishop</ent> <ent type='PERSON'>Eusebius</ent> cannot pass over this chance to turn another
<ent type='NORP'>Jew</ent>ish testimony for his Christ; he says that "The wiser part of
the <ent type='NORP'>Jew</ent>s were of the opinion that this -- (the killing of <ent type='PERSON'>James</ent>) --
was the cause of the immediate siege of <ent type='GPE'>Jerusalem</ent> ... <ent type='PERSON'>Joseph</ent>us also
has not hesitated to superadd his testimony in his works. "These
things,' he says, 'happened to the <ent type='NORP'>Jew</ent>s to avenge <ent type='PERSON'>James</ent> the Just,
who was the brother of him that is called Christ, and whom the <ent type='NORP'>Jew</ent>s
had slain, notwithstanding his preeminent justice.'" (<ent type='PERSON'>Euseb</ent>. <ent type='ORG'>Hist</ent>.
Eccles. Bk. II, ch. 23.)</p>

<p> The reader may judge of the integrity of these pretended
<ent type='NORP'>Jew</ent>ish testimonies to the <ent type='ORG'>Baptist</ent> and to the brother of the Christ,
both suspicious per se, and both falsely cited by Father <ent type='ORG'>Origen</ent>,
who in all this could not find the famous <ent type='ORG'>sec</ent>tion 3, first found a
century later by <ent type='ORG'>Bishop</ent> <ent type='PERSON'>Eusebius</ent>; and which <ent type='ORG'>Origen</ent> makes it
positive <ent type='PERSON'>Joseph</ent>us had not written and could not have written. Is it
a violent suspicion, and uncharitable, to suggest that the holy
<ent type='ORG'>Bishop</ent> who forged the Letter of his Christ, and lied about finding
it in the <ent type='GPE'>Edessa</ent> archives, really "found," in the sense of
invented, or forged, the <ent type='PERSON'>Joseph</ent>us passages first heard of in his
<ent type='ORG'>Church</ent> <ent type='ORG'>Hist</ent>ory?</p>

<p> But <ent type='ORG'>Bishop</ent> <ent type='PERSON'>Eusebius</ent>, with a sort of "stop thief" forethought,
himself imputes forgery to those who would question or discredit
his own pious inventions, while with unctuous fervor pretended
truth he appeals to the wonderful "testimonies of <ent type='PERSON'>Joseph</ent>us," which
he has just fabricated. After quoting and misquoting <ent type='PERSON'>Joseph</ent>us with
respect to <ent type='PERSON'>John</ent> the <ent type='ORG'>Baptist</ent> and <ent type='PERSON'>Jesus</ent> Christ, he thur solemnly
couches for their false witness: "When such testimony as this is
transmitted to us by an historian who sprung from the <ent type='NORP'>Hebrews</ent>
themselves, both respecting <ent type='PERSON'>John</ent> the <ent type='ORG'>Baptist</ent> and our Savior, what
subterfuge can be left, to prevent those from being convicted
destitute of all shame, who have forged the acts against them?"
(<ent type='PERSON'>Eusebius</ent>, HE. I, xi.) The <ent type='ORG'>Bishop</ent> justly pronounces his own </p>

<p> Bank of Wisdom
Box 926, <ent type='GPE'>Louisville</ent>, KY 40201
108
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FORGERY IN <ent type='NORP'>CHRISTIANITY</ent></p>

<p>condemnation. This, says <ent type='PERSON'>Gibbon</ent>, "is an example of no vulgar
forgery." (Chap. xvi.) In view of the convicting circumstances, and
of his notoriously bad record, it, is not uncharitable to impute
this <ent type='PERSON'>Joseph</ent>us forgery to <ent type='ORG'>Bishop</ent> <ent type='PERSON'>Eusebius</ent>.</p>

<p> THE OWL-ANGEL FORGERY</p>

<p> Another story of <ent type='NORP'>Pagan</ent> superstition related by <ent type='PERSON'>Joseph</ent>us, and
twisted by the <ent type='NORP'>Christian</ent> invention of <ent type='ORG'>Bishop</ent> <ent type='PERSON'>Eusebius</ent> and the
sacred writers of Acts into inspired "history" and truth of God, is
the celebrated angel-owl passage relating to the tragic death of
the King, <ent type='PERSON'>Herod</ent> Agrippa. <ent type='PERSON'>Joseph</ent>us tells that <ent type='PERSON'>Herod</ent> went to <ent type='PERSON'>Caesarea</ent>
to attend a celebration in honor of Caesar; that as <ent type='PERSON'>Herod</ent> entered
the stadium, clad in a robe of silver tissue, the rays of the sun
shone upon it resplendently, making him look like a supernatural
being; whereupon the crowd cried out hailing him as more than
mortal, as a god; but his mortality was quickly made evident by his
sudden illness and death. It may be explained that the word "angel"
(<ent type='NORP'>Greek</ent>, angelos) means simply "messenger" or herald. Thus proceeds
<ent type='PERSON'>Joseph</ent>us:</p>

<p> "But" he [<ent type='PERSON'>Herod</ent>] presently afterward looked up, he saw an
owl sitting upon a certain rope over his head, and immediately
understood that this bird was a messenger [Gr. angelos] of
ill-tidings." <ent type='PERSON'>Herod</ent> was shortly seized with "severe pains in
his belly," and died after five days of suffering." (Jos.
Antiq. <ent type='NORP'>Jew</ent>s, XIX, viii, 2.)</p>

<p> This was too <ent type='NORP'>Pagan</ent>ish and prosaic for the pious <ent type='NORP'>Christian</ent>
fancy of <ent type='ORG'>Bishop</ent> <ent type='PERSON'>Eusebius</ent>; so while he was forging the "<ent type='PERSON'>Jesus</ent>
passage," he proceeded to give <ent type='NORP'>Christian</ent> embellishment for
edification to the "owl" story, with its use of the word "angelos."
So he quotes in full the narration of <ent type='PERSON'>Joseph</ent>us, under the chapter
heading "<ent type='PERSON'>Herod</ent> Agrippa per<ent type='ORG'>sec</ent>uting the <ent type='PERSON'>Apostles</ent>, immediately
experienced divine Judgment." he first relates the "martyrdom of
<ent type='PERSON'>James</ent>" by <ent type='PERSON'>Herod</ent>, and the imprisonment of <ent type='PERSON'>Peter</ent>, as recorded in
Acts, and proceeds: "The consequences, however, of the king's
attempts against the apostles, were not long deferred, but the
avenging minister of divine justice soon overtook him. ... As it is
also recorded in the book of Acts, he proceeded to <ent type='PERSON'>Caesarea</ent>, and
there on a noted festival, being clad in a splendid and royal
dress, he harangued the people. ... The whole people applauding him
for his harangue, as it were the voice of a god, and not of a man,
the <ent type='PERSON'>Scripture</ent>s relate, 'that the angel of the Lord immediately
smote him and being consumed by worms, he gave up the ghost.' It is
wonderful to observe, likewise, in this singular event, the
coincidence of the history given by <ent type='PERSON'>Joseph</ent>us, with that of the
sacred <ent type='PERSON'>Scripture</ent>s. In this he [<ent type='PERSON'>Joseph</ent>us] plainly adds his testimony
to the truth, in the nineteenth book of his Antiquities, where he
relates the miracles in the following words: [here quoting <ent type='PERSON'>Joseph</ent>us
in full, until he reaches the owl-story, when he thus falsifies]:
-- 'After a little While, raising himself, he saw an angel
[angelos] hanging over his head upon a rope,, and this he knew
immediately to be an omen of evil'! Thus far <ent type='PERSON'>Joseph</ent>us: in which
statement, as in others, I can but admire his agreement with the
divine <ent type='PERSON'>Scripture</ent>s"! (<ent type='PERSON'>Eusebius</ent>, HE. II, x.) An angel hanging on a
rope over one's head might well have been taken by a superstitious </p>

<p> Bank of Wisdom
Box 926, <ent type='GPE'>Louisville</ent>, KY 40201
109
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FORGERY IN <ent type='NORP'>CHRISTIANITY</ent></p>

<p>person as ominous of something -- maybe of a hung angel. This pious
story, with the owl piously metamorphosed into an angel, was
apparently cribbed from <ent type='PERSON'>Joseph</ent>us also by the writer of Acts, or
maybe "interpolated" into it by the fanciful <ent type='ORG'>Bishop</ent>. There we find
this <ent type='NORP'>Pagan</ent>-<ent type='NORP'>Jew</ent>ish anecdote retold by divine inspiration thus
embellished over <ent type='PERSON'>Joseph</ent>us and <ent type='PERSON'>Eusebius</ent>: "And immediately the angel
of the Lord [Gr. angelos <ent type='PERSON'>Kurioul</ent> smote him, because he gave not God
the glory: and he was eaten of worms and gave up the ghost"! (Acts
xii, 20-23.) Note the almost identical words, except for the
progressive embellishments: <ent type='PERSON'>Joseph</ent>us' owl thus became first an
angel of evil omen, then the avenging minister of the wrath of God,
aided by devouring worms to give true <ent type='NORP'>Christian</ent> zest and spite to
the simple <ent type='NORP'>Pagan</ent> superstition. <ent type='PERSON'>Herod</ent> probably died from acute
indigestion caused by the excesses of the festivities, or from an
attack of peritonitis or appendicitis. Profane history of the event
does not chronicle the devouring, avenging worms of God.</p>

<p> The forgery of pious documents of every imaginable character
was among the most constant and zealous activities of the holy
propagandists of the <ent type='NORP'>Christian</ent> <ent type='ORG'>Faith</ent>, from the beginning to the
critical era when forgeries were no longer possible or profitable.
A fitting close to this review is the following omnibus confession
-- the <ent type='ORG'>Church</ent>es cheating each other by forgeries:</p>

<p> "Indeed, in later times, we hear of recovered autographs
of Apostolic writings in the controversies about the Apostolic
origin of some <ent type='ORG'>Church</ent>es or about claims for metropolitan
dignity. So the autograph of the <ent type='PERSON'>Gospel</ent> of St. <ent type='PERSON'>Matthew</ent> was
said to have been found in <ent type='GPE'>Cyprus</ent>. ... <ent type='PERSON'>Eusebius</ent> (<ent type='ORG'>Hist</ent>. Eccles.
vii, 19) relates that in his time the seat of St. <ent type='PERSON'>James</ent> was as
yet extant in <ent type='GPE'>Jerusalem</ent>. Of old pictures of <ent type='PERSON'>Apostles</ent>, see
<ent type='PERSON'>Eusebius</ent>, ibid, vii, 18. Whether or not even the oldest of
these statements are historically true remains still a mooted
question. We regard it as useless to record what may be found
on these topirg in the vast amount of matter that makes up the
apocryphal Acts of the <ent type='PERSON'>Apostles</ent> and other legendary
documents." (CE. 635.)</p>

<p> Among some of these not already mentioned are found "The
<ent type='PERSON'>Gospel</ent> of Our Lord <ent type='PERSON'>Jesus</ent> Christ, the Canons of Pseudo-Hippolytus,
The <ent type='GPE'>Egypt</ent>ian <ent type='ORG'>Church</ent> Ordinance." (CE. i, 636.) Also: "In the last
years of the fifth century a famous document attributed to <ent type='PERSON'>Pope</ent>s
Gelasius and Hormisdas adds ... a list of books disapproved, the
works of heretics, and forged Scriptural documents." (CE. vi, 4.)
A glance at the Index-volume of CE. reveals the numerous forged
works attributed to many of the Fathers of the early <ent type='ORG'>Church</ent>, listed
under the word Pseudo, or false, which word is to be understood as
prefixed to each of the following names: Pseudo-Alquin, Ambrosius,
Antoninus, Areopagite, <ent type='PERSON'>Athanasius</ent>, Augustine, <ent type='PERSON'>Barnabas</ent>,
Callisthenes, Chrysostom, Clement, Epiphanius, Gelasius, <ent type='PERSON'>Gregory</ent>,
Nazianzen, Hegesippus, Hippolytus, Ignatius, Isidore, Jonathan,
Justin, <ent type='PERSON'>Matthew</ent>, Prochorus, <ent type='NORP'>Tertullian</ent>, Zaeharius. The pious
ignorant "<ent type='NORP'>Christian</ent>s, who for the most part are untrained and
illiterate persons," as shown in the <ent type='PERSON'>Octavius</ent> of <ent type='PERSON'>Minucius Felix</ent> (V,
xi), and the whole <ent type='ORG'>Church</ent>, were gulled by these frauds for a
thousand years.</p>

<p> Bank of Wisdom
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110
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FORGERY IN <ent type='NORP'>CHRISTIANITY</ent></p>

<p> Before looking into the forgery of <ent type='EVENT'>the New Testament</ent> Books, we
shall first draw, from their own words, cameo pen-sketches of those
great men of God and of Holy <ent type='ORG'>Church</ent>, who under the fond name of
Fathers, but with the minds and devious ways of little children,
forged the sacred documents of the <ent type='ORG'>Faith</ent>, and by their pious labors
of fraud and forgery founded what is credulously called the <ent type='ORG'>Church</ent>
of Christ and the Most Holy <ent type='NORP'>Christian</ent> <ent type='ORG'>Faith</ent>.</p>

<div> **** ****</div>

<p> FORGERY IN <ent type='NORP'>CHRISTIANITY</ent></p>

<p> Abbreviations used for most often used sources:</p>

<p> The libraries of <ent type='ORG'>the Union Theological Seminary</ent> and of
<ent type='ORG'>Columbia University</ent>, in <ent type='GPE'>New York</ent> City, were the places of the finds
here recorded. Cited so often, space will be saved for more
valuable uses by citing by their initials, -- which will become
very familiar -- my chief ecclesiastical authorities, towit:</p>

<p> The Ante-Nicene Fathers, cited as <ent type='ORG'>ANF</ent>.; A Collection of the
extant Writings of all the Founders of <ent type='NORP'>Christianity</ent> down to the
Council of Nicaea, or Nice, in 325 A.D. <ent type='ORG'>American Reprint</ent>, eight
volumes. The <ent type='NORP'>Christian</ent> Literature Publishing Co., Buffalo, N.Y.,
1885. [xxx]</p>

<p> The Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, cited as N&amp;PNF.; First and
Second Series; many volumes; same publishers.</p>

<p> The <ent type='NORP'>Catholic</ent> Encyclopedia, cited as CE.; fifteen volumes and
index, published under the <ent type='PERSON'>Imprimatur</ent> of Archbishop <ent type='PERSON'>Farley</ent>; New
York, <ent type='ORG'>Robert Appleton</ent> Co., 1907-9.</p>

<p> The Encyclopedia Biblica, cited as EB., four volumes; <ent type='PERSON'>Adam</ent> &amp;
Charles Black, London, 1899; <ent type='ORG'>American Reprint</ent>, The Macmillan Co.,
<ent type='GPE'>New York</ent>, 1914.</p>

<div> **** ****</div>

<p> Reproducible Electronic Publishing can defeat censorship.</p>

<p> <ent type='GPE'>The UNITED STATES</ent> of <ent type='GPE'>America</ent>
must again become
The Free <ent type='PERSON'>Mark</ent>et-Place of Ideas.</p>

<p> The Bank of Wisdom is always looking for more of these old,
hidden, suppressed and forgotten books that contain needed facts
and information for today. If you have such books please contact
us, we need to give them back to <ent type='GPE'>America</ent>.</p>

<p> **** ****
You are reading
FORGERY IN <ent type='NORP'>CHRISTIANITY</ent>
by
<ent type='PERSON'>Joseph</ent> Wheliss
1930</p>

<div> **** ****</div>

<p> Bank of Wisdom
Box 926, <ent type='GPE'>Louisville</ent>, KY 40201
111
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