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   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 Christian 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 Christianity. 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
Christian fact and faith.</p>

<p>   The central character of the Christian faith, <ent type = 'person'>Jesus</ent>, to assume
him as a historical personage, was a Jew, as were, by tradition,
his disciples and entourage. As is, of course, well known:
"Christianity took its rise in Judaism; its Founder and His
disciples were orthodox Jews, and the latter maintained their
Jewish practices, at least for a time, after the day of Pentecost.
The Jews themselves looked upon the followers of Christ as a mere
Israelitish sect, ... 'the sect of the Nazarenes' (Acts xxiv, 15),"
-- the believers in the Promised Messiah. (<ent type = 'person'>CE</ent>. 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 Jews expected
of their Christ." (<ent type = 'person'>CE</ent>. i, 620.)</p>

<p>   <ent type = 'person'>Jesus</ent> was a native of <ent type = 'person'>Gal</ent>ilee, "his own country" (Mt. ii, 23;
<ent type = 'person'>xii</ent>i, 54-55), or of Judaea, "his own country" (.<ent type = 'person'><ent type = 'person'>John</ent> iv</ent>, 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 Syria" (<ent type = 'person'>Luke</ent> ii, 1-7), about 7
A.D., or some 13 years later. (<ent type = 'person'>CE</ent>. viii, 377; EB. i, 307-8.) The
destructive contradictions as to his lineage and parentage, and </p>

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<p>other essential particulars, are reserved for opportune notice.
<ent type = 'person'>Jesus</ent> became a Jewish sectarian 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'><ent type = 'person'>Mark</ent> iii</ent>, 31); many of the people
said of him, "He hath a devil, and is mad" (<ent type = 'person'><ent type = 'person'>John</ent> x</ent>, 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'><ent type = 'person'>John</ent> ii</ent>, 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 Jewish
people: "I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of
Israel" (Mt. xv, 24; ef. Acts iii, 25-26; <ent type = 'person'>xii</ent>i, 46; Rom. xv, 8);
and he straitly enjoined on his Twelve Aposties: "Go not into the
way of the Gentiles, and into any city of the Samaritans enter ye
not: But go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel" (Mt.
X, 5-6); to the woman of Canaan 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, The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand" (Mt.
x, 7), -- the exclusively Hebraic Kingdom of the Baptist (Mt. iii,
2), as of the Jewish 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 Kingdom of God in the new
earth and reign on the reestablished throne of <ent type = 'person'>David</ent> forever. Time
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 Kingdom" (Mt. xvi, 28; Mk. ix, I; Lk.
ix, 27); "This generation shall not pass, till all these things be
done" Mk. <ent type = 'person'>xii</ent>i, 30). -- So quickly would this "second coming" be,
that when the Twelve were sent out on their first preaching tour in
little Palestine, their Master assured them: "Ye shall not have
gone over the cities of Israel till the Son of man be come" (Mt. x,
23). Caiaphag, 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 Jews
in heaven, or in this new Kingdom of Heaven on the new earth:
"Salvation is of the Jews." (<ent type = 'person'><ent type = 'person'>John</ent> iv</ent>, 22.) It was 144,000 Jews, the
"scaled" saints, who alone constituted the original Jewish "Kingdom
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 Jews who accepted this preachment as "<ent type = 'person'>Gospel</ent> truth" </p>

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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 Jews 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 "Faith that failed at
the Cross," give the shoulder to the Jews and "turn to the
Gentiles" (Acts <ent type = 'person'>xii</ent>i, 46), and begin to expand the failing new
Jewish faith among the superstitious Pagans 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 "Scriptures"
used by the Jewish propagandists of the Christ were the Greek
Septuagint translations of the old hebrew sacred writings, "the Law
and the Prophets" (<ent type = 'person'>CE</ent>. v, 702; i, 635); supplemented by sundry
Jewish apocrypha and the Pagan <ent type = 'person'>Sibylline Oracles</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'><ent type = 'person'>Apostle</ent>s</ent>, forming noew the New Testament, 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
Christian writer of the first half of the second 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 = 'person'>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" (<ent type = 'person'>Gal</ent>. 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>

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<p>Clemens Romanus, 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 Faith that failed at the Cross, -- and would have perished
wholly but. for the allbelieving <ent type = 'person'>Pagan Gentiles</ent>, who, when they
heard it, "were glad, and glorified the word of the lord" (Acts
<ent type = 'person'>xii</ent>i, 48), as orally delivered.</p>

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

<p>   As the long years passed and one generation of disappointed
"Messiah" Jews was gathered unto its fathers and was followed by
another, the believers in the promised "second coming" for the
establishment of the Jewish Kingdom 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'><ent type = 'person'>Peter</ent> ii</ent>, 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'><ent type = 'person'>Peter</ent> ii</ent>, 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 Jewish believers and to spread the propaganda
amongst the all-believing Pagaiis, that the written Christ-tales
began to be worked up by the Christian propagandists. Before their
admiring eyes they had for models the "whole literature" of Jewish
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 Jewish and heathen forgeries to more
definite Chriiitian uses, and to forge anew another whole
literature of distinctively Christian forgeries and fabulous
histories of the Christ. "In this form of propaganda the Christians
proved themselves to be apt pupils of the Jews. So common, indeed,
had become in early Christian times, the invention of such oracles
that <ent type = 'person'>Celsus</ent> terms Christians <ent type = 'person'>Sibyllistai</ent>, believers in sibyls, or
sibyl-mongerrs" (EB. i, 246), that is, peddlers of Christian
forgeries in Pagan 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>

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<p>    "THE IDEA OF INSPIRATION"</p>

<p>   Before sketching the welter of these lying works of Christian
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
Jews must have possessed the idea" (<ent type = 'person'>CE</ent>. iii, 269); -- thus only an
idea or notion somehow acquired, but not through divine
illumination, for as we read, of all the mass of Jewish holy
forgeries "each of them has at one tune or another been treated as
canonical" or divinely inspired. (EB. i, 250.) Whether the
Christian 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'><ent type = 'person'>Apostle</ent>s</ent> are silent on the
subject and left the matter to serious doubts and disputations for
many centuries: "There are no indications in the New Testament ...
of a definite new Canon bequeathed by the <ent type = 'person'><ent type = 'person'>Apostle</ent>s</ent> to the Church,
or of a strong self-witness to Divine inspiration," admits the <ent type = 'person'>CE</ent>,.
(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 Church for them to bequeath to, nor was the Canon
settled, as we shall see: "It was not until about the middle of the
second century -- [when we shall see the books were really written]
-- that under the rubric of Scripture the New Testament writings
were assimilated to the Old. ... But it should be remembered that
the inspired character of the New Testament in a Catholic dogma,
and must therefore in some way have been revealed to, and taught
by, <ent type = 'person'><ent type = 'person'>Apostle</ent>s</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'><ent type = 'person'>Apostle</ent>s</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 dixit' 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 the New Testament existing from the beginning, that is,
from Apostolic times, has no foundation in history. The cannon of
the New Testament, 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 Church, 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,
secondarily 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." (<ent type = 'person'>CE</ent>., iii, 274.) The 'modus operandi' of the Holy
Council in ultimately "canonizing" <ent type = 'person'>Jerome</ent>'s old Vulgate Version,
and its motive for doing so, are thus exposed by the keen pen of 
the author of the Rise and Fall:</p>

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<p>   "When the Council of Trant resolved to pronounce sentence on
the Cannon of Scripture, the opinion which prevented, after some
debate, was to declare the Latin Vulgate authentic and 'almost'
infallible; and this sentence, which was guarded by formidable
anathemas, secured 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 Vulgate as authentic and inspired, unless they wished to
abandon the victory to the Lutherans, and the honors of the Church
to the Grammarians." (<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 Reformers, Luther, Grotius, Calvin, etc., and excluded
from their official lists, until finally the Reformed Church
followed the example of the Church 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 Church. These are, for entire books: the Epistle to the
Hebrews, 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
section 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>, x<ent type = 'person'>xii</ent>, 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 the Council of Trent it is not permitted for a Catholic to
question the inspiration of these passages." (<ent type = 'person'>CE</ent>. 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 Christian books.</p>

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

<p>   Speaking of the doubtful historicity of the celebrated <ent type = 'person'>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 = 'person'>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." (NIE. i,
191.) We may have occasion to apply this test to the personality of
<ent type = 'person'>Jesus</ent> of Nazareth and sundry apostolic personages; in any event it
is peculiarly applicable to the numerous Christian 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'><ent type = 'person'>Apostle</ent>s</ent> and of many of the shining lights of the new
Christian faith, just as we have seen was done in the Jewish
forgerier; in the names of the Old Testament notables from <ent type = 'person'>Adam</ent> on
down the catalogue.</p>

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<p>   Leaving for the moment aside the 27 presently accepted
booklets of the N.T., and admitting the many Christian forgeries of
Christ-fables, <ent type = 'person'>CE</ent>. thus apologetically explains: "The genuine
<ent type = 'person'>Gospel</ent>s are silent about long stretches of the life of our Lord,
the Blessed Virgin, and St. <ent type = 'person'>Joseph</ent>. This reserve of the Evangelists
did not satisfy the pardonable curiosity of many Christians 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 Catholics and Gnostics were concerned
in writing these fictions. The former had no motive other than that
of a PIOUS FRAUD." (<ent type = 'person'>CE</ent>. i, 606.) The motive above admitted for
feeding with pious frauds the "natural craving" of the ignorant and
superstitiouts Christians for marvel-mongering by the Church, 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, The Intellectaal Development of Europe, i,
309.)</p>

<p>   This being thus frankly confessed, our clerical writer
describes the general character of these pious frauds: "The
Christian 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 Apocalypses." (<ent type = 'person'>CE</ent>. i,
606.) Further apologizing for these Christian 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 second 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 Faithful who
put these gross fabrications into circulation in the name and for
the sake of Christ. Their pious plea is: "<ent type = 'person'>Amor Christi est cui</ent>
satisfecimus." (Ib. p. 606.) Of these pious frauds it adds: "The
quasi-evangelistic compositions concerning Christ ... are all of
Orthodox origin." (Ib. p. 607.)</p>

<p>   "CHRISTIAN EVIDEN<ent type = 'person'>CE</ent>S" -- FORGED</p>

<p>   When the new Faith went forth to conquer the Pagan world for
Christ, the pious Greek Fathers and priests of the Propaganda 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 the New Dispensation to "show" to the superstitious
Pagans to win them to the Christ and his Church: 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>

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<p>the Christ, his holy <ent type = 'person'><ent type = 'person'>Apostle</ent>s</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
CORRESPONDEN<ent type = 'person'>CE</ent>;</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 TIBERIUS, AND THE TRIAL OF PILATE;</p>

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

<p>   GOSPELS, EPISTLES, 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 "POPES" AND "APOSTOLIC SUC<ent type = 'person'>CE</ent>SSION;</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
Church. We shall catelogue these crude forgeries somewhat more
fully, and look into some of the more notorious.</p>

<p>   FORGED GOSPELS, ACTS, EPISTLES</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 "Scripture" forgeries,
was the output, so far as known now, of the lying pens of the pious
Christians of the first two centuries of the Christian "Age of
Apocryphal Literature"; all going to swell the "very large number
of apocryphal writings of distinctly Christian origin which were
produced from the second century onward, to satisfy an unhealthy
craving for the occult and marvelous or to embellish the stories of
the saints." (NIE., i, 746.) These N.T. apocryplia include
"numerous works purporting to have been written by apostles or
their associates, but not able to secure a general or permanent
recognition. These may be classified thus: (a) <ent type = 'person'>Gospel</ent>s; (b) Acts of
<ent type = 'person'><ent type = 'person'>Apostle</ent>s</ent>; (c) <ent type = 'person'>Epistles</ent>; (d) Apocalypses; (e) Didactic Works; (f)
Hymns. (Ib. p. 748.) "The name <ent type = 'person'>Gospel</ent>," says <ent type = 'person'>CE</ent>. (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>

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<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
Hebrews; of <ent type = 'person'>Peter</ent>; According to the Egyptians; of <ent type = 'person'>Matthias</ent>; of
Philip; of <ent type = 'person'>Thomas</ent>; the Proto-Evangelium of <ent type = 'person'>James</ent>, <ent type = 'person'>Gospel</ent> of
Nicodemus (Acta Pilati); of the Twelve <ent type = 'person'><ent type = 'person'>Apostle</ent>s</ent>; of Basilides; of
Valentius; of Marcion; of Eve; of Judas; the Writing <ent type = 'person'>Genna Marias</ent>;
the <ent type = 'person'>Gospel</ent> Teleioseos. (<ent type = 'person'>CE</ent>. vi, 656.)</p>

<p>   Individual <ent type = 'person'>Gospel</ent>s were forged in the names of each of the
Twelve <ent type = 'person'><ent type = 'person'>Apostle</ent>s</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'><ent type = 'person'>Apostle</ent>s</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'><ent type = 'person'>Apostle</ent>s</ent> had a <ent type = 'person'>Gospel</ent> fathered upon him by one
early sect 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 Logia, a papyrus scrap of one sheet discovered
at Oxyrhynchus, Egypt, 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>." (<ent type = 'person'>CE</ent>.. i, 608,)</p>

<p>   This authority also lists the famous Protevangetium Jacobi, 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
Gamaliel, the <ent type = 'person'>Gospel</ent> according to the Hebrews, also According to
the Egyptians; of the Nazarenes; <ent type = 'person'>Gospel</ent>s of St. <ent type = 'person'>Peter</ent>, of St.
Philip, of St. <ent type = 'person'>Thomas</ent>, of St. Bartholomew, 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 Judas
Iscariot, and of Mother Eve; also the <ent type = 'person'>Gospel</ent> by <ent type = 'person'>Jesus</ent> Christ. We
have the <ent type = 'person'>Gospel</ent> of Nicodemus, the History of <ent type = 'person'>Joseph</ent> the Carpenter,
the Descent into Hades, the Desicent of Mary, the Ascents of <ent type = 'person'>James</ent>,
the Prophecy of <ent type = 'person'>Hystaspes</ent>, the Didache or Teachings of the
<ent type = 'person'><ent type = 'person'>Apostle</ent>s</ent>; the <ent type = 'person'>Gospel</ent> of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary, the
Transitum Mariae or <ent type = 'person'>Evangelium Joannin</ent>. This last named pious
Christian work, as described by <ent type = 'person'>CE</ent>. (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 = 'person'>Bishop</ent> of Sardis, Melito"; it records how "the
<ent type = 'person'><ent type = 'person'>Apostle</ent>s</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 Jew who dares touch the sacred body
instantly loses both hands, which are restored through the
mediation of the <ent type = 'person'><ent type = 'person'>Apostle</ent>s</ent>. Christ, accompanied by a band of angels,
comes down to receive his mother's soul, "the <ent type = 'person'><ent type = 'person'>Apostle</ent>s</ent> bear the
body to Gethsemane 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 <ent type = 'person'>CE</ent>., considerably "influenced
the Fathers" (Ib. i, 608), who were notoriously ehildish-minded. A </p>

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<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 Tertullian 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 Jewish affairs,
contposed before the end of the second 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
"Epistle on the Martyrdom of the <ent type = 'person'><ent type = 'person'>Apostle</ent>s</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'><ent type = 'person'>Apostle</ent>s</ent>,
by some attributed to <ent type = 'person'>Marcellus</ent>, which is also apocryphal." (<ent type = 'person'>CE</ent>.
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 Corinthians, and the Pseudo-Clementine Recognitions
and Homilies, purporting to be written by the very doubtful <ent type = 'person'>Bishop</ent>
of Rome 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 Jewish, Christian and
Pagan 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 Logia 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 sections ascribed to
<ent type = 'person'>Jesus</ent> in the '<ent type = 'person'>Didiscalin</ent>' and the 'Pistis Sophia'; 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
Abgar. ... In patristic citations ... <ent type = 'person'>Justin Martyr</ent>, Clement of
Alexandria, Origen, make fslse quotations," -- citing instances.
(<ent type = 'person'>CE</ent>. 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 the New Testament not found in the Old Testament."
(NIE. 1, 240.)</p>

<p>   Of apocryphal Acts of <ent type = 'person'><ent type = 'person'>Apostle</ent>s</ent> we are edified by the Acts, or
Travels, (Greek, Pereodui) 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 Philip, Acts of
<ent type = 'person'>Matthew</ent>, of Bartholomew, of <ent type = 'person'>John</ent>, of judas <ent type = 'person'>Thomas</ent>. There is a whole
collection of Martyrdoms of the several <ent type = 'person'><ent type = 'person'>Apostle</ent>s</ent>. Of apocryphal
<ent type = 'person'>Epistles</ent>, the most famous is the Correspondence between the Abgar
of Edessa, and <ent type = 'person'>Jesus</ent>; between the Roman Philosopher Seneca and
<ent type = 'person'>Paul</ent>; apocryphal <ent type = 'person'>Epistles</ent> of <ent type = 'person'>Paul</ent>, to the Laodiceans, to the
Alexandrians, the Third Epistle to the Corinthians. Forged
Apocalypses abound, of which that of <ent type = 'person'>Peter</ent>, the Vision of <ent type = 'person'>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'><ent type = 'person'>Apostle</ent>s</ent>, or Didache, containing warnings against Judaism and </p>

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<p>polytheism, and words of <ent type = 'person'>Jesus</ent> to the <ent type = 'person'><ent type = 'person'>Apostle</ent>s</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 Syriac Preaching of <ent type = 'person'>Simon Cephas</ent>; a collection of
Hymns or Odes of Solomon. As if these were not enough for Christian
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 Catholic Acts was produced, written from an orthodox
standpoint." (NIE. i, 748.) A very celebrated forgery was the
Shepherd of <ent type = 'person'>Hermas</ent>, forged by <ent type = 'person'>Hermas</ent>,' supposed brother of Pius,
<ent type = 'person'>Bishop</ent> of Rome, about 150 A.D. See the vast catalogue (<ent type = 'person'>CE</ent>. i,
601-615).</p>

<p>   A whole literature of Christian 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
Nicodemus, of which <ent type = 'person'>CE</ent>,. says: "The alleged Hebrew orignal is
attributed to Nicodemius; the title is of medieval origin. The
apocryphon gained wide credit in the Middle Ages. ... The 'Acta'
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
Roman Emperor. Speaking of the <ent type = 'person'>Pilate</ent> Literature as a whole, the
Catholic Encyclopedia. in a paragraph which pointedly admits the
falsifying frauds of three luminous liars and forgers of the Faith,
<ent type = 'person'>Justin Martyr</ent>, the great <ent type = 'person'>Bishop</ent> <ent type = 'person'>Eusebius</ent>, and Father Tertullian,
explains that these Acta "dwell upon the part which a reresentative
[<ent type = 'person'>Pilate</ent>] of the Roman Empire played in the supreme events of our
Lord's life, and to shape the testimony of <ent type = 'person'>Pontius</ent> <ent type = 'person'>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 dympathy
and practical belief in his Divinity." (<ent type = 'person'>CE</ent>. i, 609.) Father
Tertullian, in his Apologia (xxi), relates the Report of <ent type = 'person'>Pilate</ent> to
the Emperor, 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</ent> <ent type = 'person'>Caesar</ent>."
<ent type = 'person'>Bishop</ent> <ent type = 'person'>Eusebius</ent> thus relates the fable as taken from the Apologia
of Father Tertullian: "The fame of Our Lord's remarkable
resurrection and ascension being now spread abroad, ... <ent type = 'person'>Pontius</ent>
<ent type = 'person'>Pilate</ent> transmits to <ent type = 'person'>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 = 'person'>Tiberius</ent>
referred the matter to the Senate, ... being obviously pleased with
the doctrine; but the Senate, as they had not proposed the matter,
[rejected it]. But he continued in his opinion, threatening death
to the accusers of the Chriatians; 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 'Acta' or records of <ent type = 'person'>Pilate</ent>,
existing in the imperial archives." <ent type = 'person'>Eusebius</ent>, relates spurious </p>

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<p>anti-Christian Acts of <ent type = 'person'>Pilate</ent> composed in the fourth century, the
Acta Pilati or <ent type = 'person'>Gospel</ent> of Nicodemus, Anphora Pilati, Paradoseis; a
still later fabrication is the Latin 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 Abgar, King of Edessa, is found in <ent type = 'person'>Eusebius</ent> (Hist.
<ent type = 'person'>Eccles</ent>., I, <ent type = 'person'>xii</ent>i), "who vouches that he himself translated it from
the Syriac documunis in the archives of Edessa, the metropolis, of
Eastern Syria. ... 'This,' adds <ent type = 'person'>Eusebius</ent>, 'happened in the year 340
of the Seleucid era, corresponding to A.D. 28-29.'" (<ent type = 'person'>CE</ent>. i, 609,
610.) More monumental lies to the glory of God than those of the
distinguialied Church Fathers are not "A collection of apocryphal
Acts of the <ent type = 'person'><ent type = 'person'>Apostle</ent>s</ent> was formed in the Frankish Church 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'><ent type = 'person'>Apostle</ent>s</ent>," as admits
the <ent type = 'person'>CE</ent>., special notice is made of the "Catholic" Acts of Sts.
<ent type = 'person'>Peter</ent> and <ent type = 'person'>Paul</ent>, of which many MSS of "the legend" existed, the
material import of which is thus not quite honestly summarized:
"The Jews have been aroused by the news of <ent type = 'person'>Paul</ent>'s intended visit
(to Rome), and induce <ent type = 'person'>Nero</ent> to forbid it. Nevertheless the <ent type = 'person'>Apostle</ent>
secretly enters Italy; 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 Rome with joy. The preaching of the
<ent type = 'person'><ent type = 'person'>Apostle</ent>s</ent> converts multitudes and even the Empress. <ent type = 'person'>Simon Magus</ent>
traduces the Christian teachers, and there is a test of strength in
miracles between that magician and the <ent type = 'person'><ent type = 'person'>Apostle</ent>s</ent>, which takes place
in the presence of <ent type = 'person'>Nero</ent>. Simon essays a flight to heaven but falls
in the Via Sacra 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 East carry off the <ent type = 'person'><ent type = 'person'>Apostle</ent>s</ent>'
bodies but are overtaken. St. <ent type = 'person'>Peter</ent> is buried at 'the place called
the Vatican,' 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'><ent type = 'person'>Apostle</ent>s</ent>. They
are also noteworthy as emphasizing the close concord between the
Apostolic founders of the Roman Church." (<ent type = 'person'>CE</ent>. 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 Roman Church by <ent type = 'person'>Peter</ent>, -- the "chief
source" of which portentous claim is confessedly 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 = 'person'>Hermas</ent>, the Epistle of <ent type = 'person'>Barnabas</ent>, the Didache or Teaching of the
Twelve <ent type = 'person'><ent type = 'person'>Apostle</ent>s</ent>, and the Apostolic Canons and Constitutions, though
formally apocryphal, really belong to patristic literature" (<ent type = 'person'>CE</ent>. i,
601), -- that is, they are forged writings of the Fathers.</p>

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<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'><ent type = 'person'>Apostle</ent>s</ent>, must be added to the Patristic list.
Of this famous <ent type = 'person'>Creed</ent>, which every Christian presumably knows by
rote and piously recites in numberless services, <ent type = 'person'>CE</ent>. again
confesses it spurious: "Throughout the Middle Ages it was generally
believed that the <ent type = 'person'><ent type = 'person'>Apostle</ent>s</ent>, on the day of Pentecost, while still
under the direct inspiration of the Holy Ghost, composed our
present <ent type = 'person'>Creed</ent>, each of the <ent type = 'person'><ent type = 'person'>Apostle</ent>s</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.'" (<ent type = 'person'>CE</ent>. i, 629.) Indeed, "not a few works have
been falsely attributed to St. <ent type = 'person'>Ambrose</ent>." (<ent type = 'person'>CE</ent>. i, 387; cf. p. 406.)</p>

<p>   We may smile at the peculiarly clerical way in which <ent type = 'person'>CE</ent>. would
"whitewash" the great <ent type = 'person'>Bishop</ent> of Milan, 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 = 'person'>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'><ent type = 'person'>Apostle</ent>s</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, New York, The Truth
Seeker Co.) -- a work which I feel impelled to commend to all who
wish to know at first hand the 25 remarkable Chureh "<ent type = 'person'>Gospel</ent>"
forgeries there collected.</p>

<p>   THE FORGED ATHANASIAN CREED</p>

<p>   In likewise the celebrated Athanasian <ent type = 'person'>Creed</ent> of the Church,
attributed to St. Athanasius and so held by the Church "until the
seventeenth century" (<ent type = 'person'>CE</ent>. ii, 34), with most evil resiilts, is now
an admitter forgery. In words of <ent type = 'person'>Gibbon</ent>: "St. Athanasius is not the
author of the creed; it does not appear to have existed within a
century after his death; it was composed in Latin, therefore in one
of the Western provinces. Gennadius, 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." (Petav.
Dogmat. 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 Christians to enhance <ent type = 'person'>Pagan credtulity</ent> 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>

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<p>mine of clerical falsities, the Catholic Encyclopedia, which again
describes them, and proves that they 'Were forged by their great
Bisbop of <ent type = 'person'>Caesar</ent>ia: "The historian <ent type = 'person'>Eusebius</ent> records [HE. I, <ent type = 'person'>xii</ent>],
a legend which he himself firmly believes concerning a
correspondence that took place between Our Lord and the local
potentate (Abgar) at Edessa. Three documents relate to this
correspondence: (1) the Letter of Abgar 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 East, 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." (<ent type = 'person'>CE</ent>. 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 Syriac documents in
the archives of Edessa." (<ent type = 'person'>CE</ent>. i, 610.) Again it is said by <ent type = 'person'>CE</ent>.,
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
Christian Evidences as genuine" (Ib. vi, 217).</p>

<p>   It should be mentioned, first, that Abgar was not a personal
name of a King of Edessa, but was a generic title of all the rulers
of that small state: "By this title all the toparchs of Edessa were
called, just as the Roman Emperors were called <ent type = 'person'>Caesar</ent>s, the Kings
of Egypt Pharaohs or Ptolemies, the Kings of Syria Antiochi." (ANF.
viii, 651, note.) With this first check on the forging <ent type = 'person'>Bishop</ent>, here
is what he said in his Church history, Book I, chapter the
thirteenth. (p. 63 seq.) Note the false fervor of the holy <ent type = 'person'>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 Judaea, who were afflicted with sicknesses and diseases of
every kind, were coming to him in the hope of being healed, King
Abgar 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. ...
<ent type = 'person'>Thou</ent> hast in writing the evidence of these things, which is taken
from the Book of Records which was at Edessa; for at that time the
Kingdom 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 Abgar, 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
Aramaic into Greek.</p>

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

<p>   'Abgar 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 Jerusalem: 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, <ent type = 'person'>Thou</ent>
makest the blind to see, and the lame to walk; and <ent type = 'person'>Thou</ent> cleansest
the lepers, and <ent type = 'person'>Thou</ent> castest out unclean spirits and demons, and </p>

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<p><ent type = 'person'>Thou</ent> healest those who are tormented with lingering diseases, and
<ent type = 'person'>Thou</ent> raisest the dead. And when I heard all these things about
Thee, I settled in my mind one of two things: either that <ent type = 'person'>Thou</ent> art
God, who has come down from heaven, and doest these things; or that
<ent type = 'person'>Thou</ent> art the Son of God, and doest these things. On this account,
therefore, I have written to beg of Thee that <ent type = 'person'>Thou</ent> wouldest weary
Thyself to come to me, and heal this disease which I have. For I
have also heard that the Jews 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 Tabularius, to Abgar, 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 Aramaic tongue", -- here following the official record of the
visit of one "Thaddaeus the apostle, one of the Seventy," and him
wonderful works in Edessa. "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 Aramaic into Greek, they are
placed in their order of time here. Here endeth the first book."
(HE. i, 13; ANF. viii, 651-653.) <ent type = 'person'>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 = 'person'>Abgar the King</ent> 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 Abgar to <ent type = 'person'>Tiberius</ent> <ent type = 'person'>Caesar</ent> and to
neighboring potentates, endorsing <ent type = 'person'>Jesus</ent> and his healing powers;
with a reply from <ent type = 'person'>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: "Abgar 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 Church,
and for fifteen centuries have gone unrebuked by <ent type = 'person'>Pope</ent> or Church.
Even since the Reformation so strong was the belief in the Abgar-
<ent type = 'person'>Jesus</ent> forgeries, that notable prelates in England 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 England have this Epistle 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 Epistle of Christ." (Quoted </p>

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<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 Church
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 Rome and Genoa.
(NIE. 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 <ent type = 'person'>CE</ent>. calls "a fictitious person," one Lentulus,
pretended predecessor of <ent type = 'person'>Pilate</ent> as governor of Judaea, to the Roman
Senate, 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 <ent type = 'person'>CE</ent>. "was certainly apocryphal";
it was first printed in the Life of Christ, by <ent type = 'person'>Ludolph</ent> the
Christian; though it is thought to be traceable to the time of
Diocletian. (<ent type = 'person'>CE</ent>. 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 <ent type = 'person'>Cyril of Alexandria</ent> to have been "the ugliest
of the sons of men"; a tradition also declared by Fathers Justin
Martyr and Tertullian; to offset which evil notion there was forged
"a beautiful Letter, purporting to have been written by Lentulus to
the Roman Senate." (Ib. vi, 235.) But St. Augustine, says <ent type = 'person'>CE</ent>.,
"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. 4,5; <ent type = 'person'>CE</ent>. vi, 211, n.)</p>

<p>   This, however, is contrary to the venerated Church 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 Jerusalem who
offered to <ent type = 'person'>Jesus</ent> a linen cloth to wipe his face as he was carrying
his cross towards Calvary. 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
Rome, bringing with her this image of Christ, which was long
exposed to public veneration. To her are likewise traced several
other relies of the Blessed Virgin venerated in several Churches of
the West. To distinguish at Rome the oldest and best known of these
images it was called vera icon (true image), which ordinary
language soon made veronica ... By degrees popular Imagination
mistook this word for the name of a person" (<ent type = 'person'>CE</ent>. xv, 362), -- and,
Lo! Saint Veronica emerges from the canonizing Saint-mill of Holy
Church. Here we plainly see myth-in-the-making; and may appreciate
the moral splendor as well as crafty thriftiness of the Church of
God which thus supplies its Faithful 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
Russia. But the Church also, in the Roman Martyrology, credits this
holy icon to Milan, so as to fool many other Faithful. (Ib. p.
363.) This mythical female Saint "has also been confounded with a
pious woman who, according to [<ent type = 'person'>Bishop</ent>] Gregory of Tours, brought to
the neighboring town of Bazas some drops of the blood of <ent type = 'person'>John</ent> the
Baptist, at whose beheading she was present," and <ent type = 'person'>CE</ent>. doesn't even 
wink. (Ib.)</p>

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

<p>   So many confessed Christian forgeries in Pagan and Christian
names having been wrought to testify to <ent type = 'person'>Jesus</ent> Christ, it was, "one
naturally expects," says <ent type = 'person'>CE</ent>., that a Jewish "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 <ent type = 'person'>CE</ent>.
In Chapter iii <ent type = 'person'>Joseph</ent>us treats of "Sedition of the Jews against
<ent type = 'person'>Pontius</ent> <ent type = 'person'>Pilate</ent>"; in section 1. he relates the cause and the
suppression of the mutiny, the ensigns of the army displaying the
idolatrous <ent type = 'person'>Roman Eagle</ent>, brought into the Holy City; in section 2.
he tells of the action of <ent type = 'person'>Pilate</ent> in bringing "a current of water to
Jerusalem, 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 section 3,
<ent type = 'person'>Joseph</ent>us the Jew begins section 4: "About the same time, also,
another sad calamity put the Jews in disorder," which he proceeds
to relate, ending the long chapter. Note that these section 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 section, sandwiched, in a whole chapter on
"Seditions of the Jews," between the accounts of two massacres of
his countrymen and "another sad calamity"; and thus we read -- note
the parentheses of <ent type = 'person'>CE</ent>. (viii, 376): --</p>

<p>   "About this time," quotes <ent type = 'person'>CE</ent>., "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 Jews (and many also of the
Greeks. 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
Christians named after Him did not cease to this day." (see. 3.)</p>

<p>   About this time, also "another sad calamity [?] put the Jews
into disorder," (sec. 4). continues <ent type = 'person'>Joseph</ent>us. <ent type = 'person'>CE</ent>. devotes over
three long columns to the task of trying to prove that this section
3, or at least "the portions not in parentheses," -- is genuine,
and was written, sometime before his death in 94 A.D., by the
Jewish Pharisee, <ent type = 'person'>Joseph</ent>us. "A testimony so important," well says
<ent type = 'person'>CE</ent>., "could not escape the critics," -- and it has not. We cannot
follow the lengthy and labored arguments; the simple reading or the
section, in its bizarre context, and a moment's reflection, condemn
it as a pious Christian 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 Christians
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>

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<p>devil by a ring and Solomonic incantations, through the nose of one
possessed, before Vespasian 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 Jerusalem (Mk. xvi, 19, 20), or from the open countryside by
Bethany (Lk. xxiv, 50, 51), or "on the mount called <ent type = 'person'>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 Jews? it, is pertinent to ask. The first mention
ever made of this passage, and its text, are in the Church History
of that "very dishonest writer," <ent type = 'person'>Bishop</ent> <ent type = 'person'>Eusebius</ent>, in the fourth
century, -- he who forged the Letters between Abgar 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 <ent type = 'person'>Eccles</ent>iastical History. <ent type = 'person'>CE</ent>. admits, and I have the Contra
Celsum here before me, -- that "the above cited passage was not
known to Origen 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> (Hist. 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, section 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 <ent type = 'person'>CE</ent>. 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 Origen. That it did not
exist in the time of Origen 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 Baptist 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 Origen 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
Origen 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 section 3. Origen says:</p>

<p>   "I would like to say to <ent type = 'person'>Celsus</ent>, who represents the Jew
accepting <ent type = 'person'>John</ent> somehow as a Baptist, who baptized <ent type = 'person'>Jesus</ent>, that the
existence of <ent type = 'person'>John</ent> the Baptist, 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 Jews, <ent type = 'person'>Joseph</ent>us bears
witness to <ent type = 'person'>John</ent> as having been a Baptist, and as promising
purification to those who underwent the rite. Now this writer, </p>

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<p>although not believing in <ent type = 'person'>Jesus</ent> as the Christ, in seeking after the
cause of the fall of Jerusalem 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 Jews 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 Jews having put him to
death, although he was a man most distinguished for his justice."
(Origen, Contra Celsum, I, xlvii; ANF. iv, 416.)</p>

<p>   <ent type = 'person'>Joseph</ent>us is thus quoted as bearing witness to <ent type = 'person'>John</ent> the
Baptist, not as the Heaven-sent "forerunner" of the Christ, but
simply as a Jewish 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
Origen, in his effort to get some Christian 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 Origen, the former's words are quoted. <ent type = 'person'>Joseph</ent>us
recounts the defeat of <ent type = 'person'>Herod</ent> by Aretas, king of Arabia Petrea; and
goes on to say: --</p>

<p>  "Now some of the Jews 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
   Baptist; for <ent type = 'person'>Herod</ent> slew him, who was a good man, and commanded
   the Jews 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. Jews, Bk. XVIII, v, 2.)</p>

<p>   Beginning in section 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
Baptist 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>

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<p>   Father Origen 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 Origen imputes the fall of
Jerusalem and the destruction of the temple to the sin of the Jews
in crucifying the Christ; and says that <ent type = 'person'>Joseph</ent>us, in seeking the
cause of the disasters which befell the Holy City 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 = 'person'>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 = 'person'>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. Jews, Bk. XX, ix, i.)</p>

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

<p>   The reader may judge of the integrity of these pretended
Jewish testimonies to the Baptist and to the brother of the Christ,
both suspicious per se, and both falsely cited by Father Origen,
who in all this could not find the famous section 3, first found a
century later by <ent type = 'person'>Bishop</ent> <ent type = 'person'>Eusebius</ent>; and which Origen 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 = 'person'>Bishop</ent> who forged the Letter of his Christ, and lied about finding
it in the Edessa archives, really "found," in the sense of
invented, or forged, the <ent type = 'person'>Joseph</ent>us passages first heard of in his
Church History?</p>

<p>   But <ent type = 'person'>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 Baptist 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 Hebrews
themselves, both respecting <ent type = 'person'>John</ent> the Baptist 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 = 'person'>Bishop</ent> justly pronounces his own </p>

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   FORGERY IN CHRISTIANITY</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 = 'person'>Bishop</ent> <ent type = 'person'>Eusebius</ent>.</p>

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

<p>   Another story of Pagan superstition related by <ent type = 'person'>Joseph</ent>us, and
twisted by the Christian invention of <ent type = 'person'>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'><ent type = 'person'>Caesar</ent>ea</ent>
to attend a celebration in honor of <ent type = 'person'>Caesar</ent>; 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"
(Greek, 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. Jews, XIX, viii, 2.)</p>

<p>   This was too <ent type = 'person'>Paganish</ent> and prosaic for the pious Christian
fancy of <ent type = 'person'>Bishop</ent> <ent type = 'person'>Eusebius</ent>; so while he was forging the "<ent type = 'person'>Jesus</ent>
passage," he proceeded to give Christian 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 persecuting the <ent type = 'person'><ent type = 'person'>Apostle</ent>s</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'><ent type = 'person'>Caesar</ent>ea</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 Scriptures 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 Scriptures. 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 Scriptures"! (<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, Louisville, KY 40201
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   FORGERY IN CHRISTIANITY</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 = 'person'>Bishop</ent>. There we find
this Pagan-Jewish 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
<ent type = 'person'>xii</ent>, 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 Christian zest and spite to
the simple Pagan 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 Christian Faith, 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 Churches 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 Churches 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 Cyprus. ... <ent type = 'person'>Eusebius</ent> (Hist. <ent type = 'person'>Eccles</ent>.
   vii, 19) relates that in his time the seat of St. <ent type = 'person'>James</ent> was as
   yet extant in Jerusalem. Of old pictures of <ent type = 'person'><ent type = 'person'>Apostle</ent>s</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'><ent type = 'person'>Apostle</ent>s</ent> and other legendary
   documents." (<ent type = 'person'>CE</ent>. 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 Egyptian Church Ordinance." (<ent type = 'person'>CE</ent>. 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." (<ent type = 'person'>CE</ent>. vi, 4.)
A glance at the Index-volume of <ent type = 'person'>CE</ent>. reveals the numerous forged
works attributed to many of the Fathers of the early Church, 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, Athanasius, Augustine, <ent type = 'person'>Barnabas</ent>,
Callisthenes, Chrysostom, Clement, Epiphanius, Gelasius, Gregory,
Nazianzen, Hegesippus, Hippolytus, Ignatius, Isidore, Jonathan,
Justin, <ent type = 'person'>Matthew</ent>, Prochorus, Tertullian, Zaeharius. The pious
ignorant "Christians, who for the most part are untrained and
illiterate persons," as shown in the <ent type = 'person'>Octavius</ent> of Minucius Felix (V,
xi), and the whole Church, were gulled by these frauds for a
thousand years.</p>

<p>   Bank of Wisdom
    Box 926, Louisville, KY 40201
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.
   FORGERY IN CHRISTIANITY</p>

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

<p>    ****   ****</p>

<p>   FORGERY IN CHRISTIANITY</p>

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

<p>   The libraries of the Union Theological Seminary and of
Columbia University, in New York 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 ANF.; A Collection of the
extant Writings of all the Founders of Christianity down to the
Council of Nicaea, or Nice, in 325 A.D. American Reprint, eight
volumes. The Christian 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 Catholic Encyclopedia, cited as <ent type = 'person'>CE</ent>.; fifteen volumes and
index, published under the <ent type = 'person'>Imprimatur</ent> of Archbishop <ent type = 'person'>Farley</ent>; New
York, Robert Appleton Co., 1907-9.</p>

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

<p>    ****   ****</p>

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

<p>    The UNITED STATES of America
    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 America.</p>

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

<p>    ****   ****</p>

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