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holds true with respect to Simon Magus, who opposed himself openly to the Divine Saviour, and assumed to himself the title of the supreme God." "Another wrong-headed teacher (says the same writer) named Menander, a Samaritan also, by birth, appeared in bthis century (the first), who should rather be ranked with the lunaties, than with the heretics of antiquity, seeing he also took it into .ehis head, to exhibit himself to the world as the promised Saviour! Now, who does not see that when such "lunatics" could start up like mushrooms after a smart shower, and find whole masses of gilpins ready to follow them-that the fanaticism of the latter must have been of a stark staring mad character; nor did Mosheim, in publishing such facts, seem to be at all aware of the strong case he p was making out against the existence of the man Jesus; for if Jesus had lived and astonished the Jews, as all parties represent him to have done, is it probable, nay is it possible, a crowd of impostors, such as those named above, could have met with such astonishing **** success; and what must surprise every reflecting mind is, that little more than thirty years after the supposed death of Jesus the Jews either knew, or heeded so little, all that had been said and written about Jesus and his miracles, that, as may be seen in Josephus, (v. 6, ch. 6), "what did most elevate them in undertaking a certain war (against the Romans) was an ambiguous oracle found in their sacred writing, how, about that time, one from their country should become governor of the habitable earth." The same writer also says in his (Antiq. 27. ch. 2), that "the Pharisees persuaded Pheroras, Herod's brother, that he was the predicted king, who would have all things in his power;" to be sure, the priests saw the necessity of fulfilling, if possible, the prediction, by getting up a Messiah; for a fanaticized people, like a spoiled child, must have its lollipop, when its heart is set upon it, which those who manufacture, must take care is sufficiently sweet, for folly of all kinds has a liquorice tooth; and all pretenders who rely upon it for fortune, must, like the enthusiast mentioned by Josephus, who set up Messiah, think lying of little consequence, and contrive every thing so that the multitude may be pleased." Then they surely succeed; or in vulgar phraseology, do the trick. That many "false Christ's" appeared, cannot, therefore, be matter of surprise-but it would have been surprising, indeed, if the true one had! seeing the then distracted state of the Jewish people, which rendered it impossible for them to unite for any great national, still less universal, purpose, without which union, it was quite impossible they could

re-establish their supremacy, or give the law to nations. Here, however, we must turn to Hennell, who maintains that "it is in times of strong excitement such men as Jesus appear," which is not denied; and only shews how necessary it is to be on our guard, when there are so many enthusiastic minds born of a certain era, in selecting one as the enthusiast out of the many. But Hennel committed the common and ludicrous blunder of attempting to shew that Jesus was a mere man, and not a prophet or God, before taking the trouble to examine or shew that such a man as the Jesus actually existed-that he took for granted, and as we shall presently see, no writer ever so completely and innocently refuted himself. He observes, "all classes of society must from time to time, produce individuals of rare mental superiority. In ordinary times this may remain unseen and dormant; but when some prevalent enthusiasm is abroad, it is quickened into life and action, and breaks forth to public gaze in the form of a great character-(ergo), Jesus, the peasant of Galilee, possessed one of those gifted minds, which are able to make an impression on mankind; and the age in which he lived supplied the stimulus required for its manifestation." We shall pass over his laborious and ingenious attempt to shew that Jesus, though an enthusiast, was also both cunning and ambitious, and thought "by acquiring the reputation of a miracle worker, backed by clever preaching, to cause a general rising of the Jewish nationthe expulsion of the Romans-and the election of himself to the throne;" we shall look to metal more attractive, for we repeat, never did refined ingenuity so completely defeat itself, for Hennel has in one short note, destroyed, evidently without his own knowledge, the supposition that Jesus ever existed. Now to the proof of this: He says, "The appearance, however, of an enthusiast preaching in the desert their (the Jews) long expected kingdom, produced much excitement throughout Judea ;" but mark, reader, in a note to the above passage he says, "In later times, the preaching and sect of John the baptist was lost sight of, owing to the pre-eminence of the successor. But that his (John's) sect was one of much notoriety near his own time, is seen from Acts 18 and 19; for, twenty-three years after his death, Apollos and other Jews, who had not even heard of Jesus, were preaching the baptism of John." This admission is at once most extraordinary and most valuable, as it settles entirely the question between Hennel and us; for how is it possible that Apollos and other Jews could, twenty-three years See Iuquiry into the Origin of Christianity.-Page 21.

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after John's death, preach the baptism of John, without having heard of Jesus? yet, as Hennel labours to prove, Jesus had actually existed in the time of John. What! could Apollos (Acts 18. 24, 25)

an eloquent man, and mighty in the Scriptures, who taught diligently the things of the Lord," could he have known only the baptism of John, and not even have heard of Jesus, if Jesus had really lived?—impossible! and never in the history of theorsing, has there been detected so remarkable an instance of self-refutation, as this of Hennel's, for the above passage completely demolishes the idea to support which, he wrote his book, and shews to the world, the curious spectacle of an author, ingeniously and laboriously attempting to prove that Jesus was not a God, nor a prophet, but a clever ambitious man; and then, as though bewitched, indirectly oversetting, by an astounding fact, the belief that any such man existed. The fact is so clear, and so startling, that it may defy resistance, and we willingly accord to Hennel the honour of furnishing, without being aware of it, the most conclusive evidence yet adduced by any writer, that the Jesus of the gospels never existed; for it was John who bare record that Jesus was the son of God; it was John made straight the way of the Lord; and can any, not lunatic, suppose it possible that only twenty-three years after John's death, Apollos and others, who were his disciples, should never have heard of Jesus, even while they themselves were preaching the baptism of John. Were they spoken of as ignorant men, the thing might be supposed possible; but they were preachers of reputation; and Apollos is particularly noted (Acts 18. 25) as a man "instructed in the way of the Lord." Surely this, with the many other authentic and startling facts adduced in this work, amounts to something like an excess of evidence, a sort of out-proving disproof. "It is remarkable, continues Hennel, that the writer (Acts) calls these Jews (that is Apollos and others), " certain disciples.” Oh! Hennel, Hennel! it is much more remarkable that you should have digged such a bottomless pit for your favourite ideas, and walked with them (your eyes seemingly wide open, perhaps like Lady Macbeth's, with their sense shut) straight into it. The book, however, will be preserved, if only as a relic, quite unique and complete, of literary felo de se-a gem of blunders, -for it is unquestionably one of the most valuable ever given to the world,-and certainly no writer living or dead, ever so completely demolished, at one blow, his own framework of sophistry. We welcome it as a most apt illustration of the familiar adage, 'tis an ill wind, that blows no one good," for

the ill luck of the talented Hennel, has furnished us with an allsufficient argument against the existence of Jesus, that no species of sophistry can prevail against. Whether, therefore, we consider the question on natural or supernatural grounds-whether we consider Jesus as an incarnate crucified God, a crucified prophet, or crucified man, put to death for his seditious and novel practises, by the Jews, the belief in his actual existence cannot stand; no, the belief in the Jesus of the gospels must now share the common fate of all falsehood, the evidence hitherto urged in its support, must fly before the face of the reasons advanced in this work,-and the human mind be for ever freed from the thraldom of a malignant and pernicious superstition!

It is certain, that whether Jesus was a real or ideal character, will be hereafter the grand question in dispate; and all thinkers upon this important subject will form two divisions-one of which may aptly be called Realists, and the other Idealists; for, unquestionably, with the philosophic, there will in future be no difference of opinion as to the divine, but simply, human character of Jesus. The character of Jesus is either mythic or historic,-in other words, real or ideal; the Realist will contend that a man called Jesus actually existed; the substance of whose history is to be found in the four gospels; which actuality, they will affirm, receives confirmation in the writings of the Pagans, and others: whereas, the Idealist will agree with us, that the character of Jesus is mere fiction, or invention, sprung from the idealism of imaginative men; for, while by historic or real character is manifestly meant ideas concerning an individual, formed from facts; by mythic character is meant, supposed facts concerning an individual, born of imaginative ideas. Dr. Strauss calls Jesus a myth, which is just what we are endeavouring to prove that he is; adopting the definition of a myth given by Bauer, "a fact invented by the aid of an idea;" for that which to some will seem a paradox, must be admitted, namely, that an invented fact is no fact at all; while little logic is necessary to prove that invented history is but another name for fiction. If, therefore, what is related of Jesus is a myth, that is, a string of inventions— not real, but supposed or imagined facts-the character of Jesus must be fiction-not truth; in short, not real but ideal. The only difference between Strauss and ourselves being this, that we push the truth to its legitimate conclusion, whereas, he dared not do it. London: H. Hetherington; A. Heywood, Manchester; and all Booksellers. J. Taylor, Printer, 29, Smallbrook Street, Birmingham.

EXISTENCE OF CHRIST

AS A HUMAN BEING,

DISPROVED!

BY IRRESISTIBLE EVIDENCE, IN A SERIES OF LETTERS,

FROM A GERMAN JEW,

ADDRESSED TO CHRISTIANS OF ALL DENOMINATIONS.

LETTER 30.

WEEKLY.

ONE PENNY.

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"I am the Lord thy God, the Holy One of Israel. Before me there was no God formed, neither shall there be after me. I, even I, am the Lord, and besides me there is no Saviour."-ISAIAH XLIII. 3, 10, 11.

CHRISTIANS,

As this Letter is the last of the series, it will be useful to consider how far the pledge given in the first has been redeemed. A promise voluntarily made, should, if possible, be scrupulously performed-breaking faith wittingly being decidedly immoral; and all literary deception, a mischievous species of public wrong, demanding a public apology.

The first Letter pledged us to disprove the existence of Jesus Christ, the substance of whose history is contained in the gospelsto disprove it, whether as a god of flesh and blood, an inspired prophet, or mere man. It is confidently believed that this work has disproved his existence, and shewn all sincere Christians to be idolaters; but, whether that conviction is or is not a just one, must be determined by the thinking public, to whom we appeal without fear, having the fullest reliance upon the integrity of their verdict; for the intelligent vox populi, if not the voice of God, is the most just, and therefore the safest tribunal to which the advocate of truth can appeal.

The early portion of the work incontestably proved that the Sun was in ancient times the object of adoration, among all people-in the nations of Africa, Asia, Europe, and America-upon the soil of the new as well as the old world; it proved that the name Christ

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