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the darkness, are proofs that Jesus was an extraordinary person. And I think that the shewing of the prints of the nails in his hands, and appearing again alive to a woman, and others, who knew him, were good proofs that he was risen from the dead, and in the same body that had lived and died. There is no evidence that they were dreamers or governed by fancy: they saw Jesus awake, and by day-light, distinctly, again and again, after he had been publicly crucified, and died. And his resurrection from the grave is an argument that he suffered voluntarily, and that he was not destitute of power, as Celsus insinuates, to help himself in his life-time, if he had seen fit so to do.

Celsus says, Jesus shewed himself to one woman. But he shewed himself afterwards to several women, and to his disciples. Celsus knew this very well: but it was to his purpose, it seems, to use the singular rather than the plural number. That Celsus was well acquainted with the gospels, is apparent: he knows what seems to his advantage; and therefore he calls this woman, meaning Mary Magdalene, a distracted woman:' referring to the seven dæmons that were in her but it should be considered, that these dæmons had been cast out long ago, and she was now very sober when she saw Jesus after his resurrection.

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St. John, ch. xx. 11.-18. gives the most particular account of Mary Magdalene's seeing our Lord, and conversing with him, after he was risen from the dead: indeed St. Mark xvi. 9, 10, 11. says, "Jesus appeared first to Mary Magdalene, out of whom he had cast seven dæmons." But whether Celsus had here an eye to St. Mark's gospel, I cannot determine : for he might refer only to St. John's account of our Lord's shewing himself to Mary, and apply to her the character of a distracted woman, from a remembrance of what he had read concerning her in St. Luke's gospel, ch. viii. 1,‘2.

Beside the texts already taken notice of, Celsus may be supposed to refer to Luke xxiv. 39. "Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself:" and to our Lord's shewing himself to Thomas, as related, John xx. 24.-29.

29. But Celsus says: If he would make manifest his divine power, he should have shewn himself to them that derided him, and to him that condemned him, and indeed to all: for 'surely, he had no reason to fear any mortal now, after he had died, and, as you say, was a • God.'

To which I would answer: It would have been very mean in Jesus to shew himself to his judge, and to his deriders: it is unspeakably below the character of one, who had publicly wrought so many wonderful works, as Jesus had done, and who, after having been crucified, was really raised from the dead: it might likewise have been called insulting them. As for shewing himself to all, it is absurd and preposterous: Jesus shewed himself to the most proper persons, [and to as many as was fit,] by appearing to those who best knew him. To shew himself to such as he did not well know before, might have been reckoned officious, and impertinent, and vain-boasting. Finally, the works wrought in his name afterwards, by those who attested his resurrection and exaltation, were better evidences of his being risen from the dead, than shewing himself to all the world would have been. They make out the most satisfactory, and most durable testimony to this important fact.

From the objections made by Celsus, we learn, however, that the history, which we now have in our gospels, is the same which the Christians at that time had. Jesus, in our gospels, does not shew himself to all, but to his disciples and acquaintance, of whom there were once "five hundred" together, 1 Cor. xv. 6, probably, at a place in Galilee, where he was best known, and which he had before appointed. Matt. xxviii. 16, 17.

Moreover, all Celsus's attacks, in his argument against the Christians, are against our gospels: which manifests the great esteem they were in. If he confuted those books, he knew he overturned the faith founded on them.

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30. He goes on. • When he was neglected in the body, he was continually preaching to all men: but when he should have given full assurance to all men, he shews himself privately to ' one woman, and his associates.'

He did once shew himself to one woman only, and to his disciples, when met together privately. But that is not all, as Celsus would insinuate: for he also shewed himself to several women. Matt. xxviii. 1-9. and to the disciples, and others with them, several times openly.

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And, as before said, he appointed a place in Galilee, where they might see him. Matt. xxviii. 16. And it cannot be doubted, but that there were great numbers who saw him there. From his appointing before hand a certain place for meeting his disciples and followers, it is manifest, that he was not shy of shewing himself to those who had known him in his life-time.

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31. Again he says: When he was punished, he was seen by all; but when risen, by one: the contrary to which ought rather to have been.'

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Any one may perceive, that Celsus affects unfairly to diminish the number of those who saw Jesus after he was risen. He here pretends that Jesus appeared to one only; whereas before, he owned that he had appeared to his associates, or companions. I am glad, however, that Celsus owns, Jesus preached to all in his life-time, and that he died publicly before all the world for there must have been some good reasons to induce men to believe in a person, who was himself well known, and his doctrine well known, and who had been publicly crucified. 32. If he would be hid, why was there a voice from heaven, declaring him to be the Son of God? [Matt. xvii. 5.] And if he would not be hid, why did he suffer? why did he die?' I imagine that in this place Celsus refers to our Lord's transfiguration in the mount, and to what our Lord says, Matt. xvii. 9. "And as they came down from the mountain, Jesus charged them, saying: Tell the vision to no man, till the Son of man be risen again from the dead." Some while ago Celsus referred to the voice from heaven at Christ's baptism: now he refers to the voice from heaven, when he was on the mount.

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So that there were divers testimonies given from heaven, in favour of Jesus, in the beginning, and in the progress of his ministry: and in the end he died. I need not stay to shew the consistence of these things. Nor was he left without witness during the time of his ignominious sufferings.

33. We have now traced, even in Celsus, the history of our Lord's nativity, baptism, preaching, miracles, death, and resurrection; all agreeable to our evangelists.

It will be next incumbent upon us to observe what he says of Christian principles, and of the grounds and reasons upon which they acted.

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SECTION V.

Passages o Celsus concerning Christian Principles.

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1. Let us now see,' says Origen, how he affects to lessen us with regard to our moral doctrine, saying, that it is only the same with that of other philosophers, and contains in it nothing weighty and new.' He also says, That others, as well as the Christians, had disallowed the divinity of gods made with hands, forasmuch as oftentimes they were formed by wicked men.' Whether there be here any reference to Acts xix. 26, I cannot say certainly: but it hence appears, that the Christian moral doctrine had nothing in it to which any just exceptions could be made. Celsus, indeed, would not allow it to have any superior excellence above the doctrine of the philosophers: but he does not deny it to be like to their doctrine, and equal to that of the best sort of the philosophers.

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2. He says, the same things are better taught by the Greeks, and without the threatenings or promises of God, or his Son. And that Plato did not pretend to come from heaven, and declare such things.'

Supposing, for the present, that the same things had been taught by others; they would not, and did not so effectually influence men, as when taught with authority from God, and with assurances of suitable recompences.

It would have been more material, if Celsus could have shewn, where the heathen deities, or their priests with authority under them, had recommended sobriety and other virtues: adding

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likewise threatenings of misery to the refractory, and promises of happiness in a future state to such as feared the gods, and practised righteousness and mercy to their neighbours. Augustine, in his work of the City of God,- observes, that the gods of the Pagans had never authorized the doctrine of virtuous living.

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S. Celsus thinks, that we, by worshipping one that was apprehended, and died, do much the same thing with the Getæ, who worship Zamolxis, and the Cilicians, who worship Mopsus.' Again he says of us, that we laugh at those who worship Jupiter, because his tomb is shewn in Crete: nevertheless we worship one that was buried.'

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The difference is manifest: the Cretans knew of no miracles done by Jupiter; whereas the Christians knew of many miracles done by Jesus in person, and by others in his name, after his

resurrection.

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A part of Origen's answer here is to this purpose.

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All this we have been forced to say by way of answer to Celsus, who, little favourable to Jesus, believes it to be true which is writ ten of him, that he died, and was buried; but esteems it a fiction only, that he was raised from the dead: although his resurrection had been foretold by the prophets, and there were many proofs of his being alive again after he had died.' Compare Acts i. 3.

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4. But the Christians, according to Celsus, making some additions to the Jewish notions, that the Son of God has been already sent, because of the sins of the Jews: and that the Jews having punished Jesus, and ' given him gall to drink, have brought upon themselves the anger of God.'

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Which,' Origen says, 'is a plain case; and if it is not so, let any man shew it. For Jerusalem was destroyed within two and forty years after the crucifixion of Jesus; and ever since they ⚫ have been in subjection to others, without their own proper rites and worship: which is one of those things, that manifests Jesus to have had in him somewhat divine and sacred; forasmuch as upon his account the Jews have suffered so many and so great calamities, and for so long ' a time.'

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5. He argues against a resurrection in this manner. But that is another absurdity of theirs, that when God shall throw a fire on the world, and all other things shall be destroyed, they alone shall remain: and that not only the living, but they also who have been ever so long dead, shall come forth out of the earth in their own bodies, (or in the same flesh:] which is no other than the hope of worms. For what soul of a man would desire a putrified body? Nor is this doctrine of yours agreed to by all Christians: for some among you reject it as impure, and abominable, and impossible. For how is it possible, that a body, which has been • entirely corrupted, should return to its own nature, and to its own primitive constitution, which it has once lost? When they are able to make no answer to this, they fly to that absurd refuge,

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⚫ that all things are possible with God. But neither can God do any thing that is shameful; nor will he do what is contrary to nature. Nor because you perversely desire any thing, is • God therefore able to do it, or is it to be supposed, that he will do it. For God is not the ⚫ author of extravagant desires, nor of any unbecoming disorders, but of what is right and fit. • God may give everlasting life to the soul; but dead bodies, as Heraclitus says, are more con.. temptible than dung. To make flesh, full of filthinesses not fit to be named, eternal, is a thing 'so unreasonable, that God neither can nor will do it: for he is himself the reason of all things in nature; and, therefore, can no more do any thing contrary to reason, than contrary to • himself.

I have transcribed this long passage, to shew at once the heathen sentiments and reasonings upon this point: but I do not intend a laboured confutation of them. Celsus affects to despise. the body; but I presume he goes upon an ill-grounded principle, that the human soul may be as happy, or more happy, without the body, than with it: and, as Origen observes, the body, at the resurrection, is to be changed for the better, and made fit for the soul in a state of perfec

a Sed demonstrentur vel commemerentur loca, talibus aliquando conventiculis consecrata; non ubi ludi agerentur obscœnis vocibus et motibus histrionum sed ubi populi audirent, quid Dii præciperent de cohibendâ avaritiâ, ambitione frangendâ, luxuriâ refrænandâ-Dicatur, in quibus locis hæc docentium Deorum solebant præcepta recitari, et a cul

toribus eorum populis frequenter audiri. De Civ. Dei. 1. ii.
cap. vi. Vid. et cap. xix. et xxii.
c L. iii. sect. 43. p. 136.
e L. iv. sect. 22. p. 174,

b L. iii. sect. 34. p. 131.

d Ibid. sect. 43. p. 137.

f και χολην πολίσανίες, επι σφας αυτες εκ Θεε χολιν επεσπασανίο. Ib. 8.L. iv. sect. 14. p. 240.

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tion. Which, I think, removes all those difficulties, in the reunion of the soul and body, which to Celsus appeared so formidable. *

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What we are here to observe, is, that it hence appears, Christians then expected a change or resurrection of the living and the dead at the end of the world, or the dissolution of the present state of things, according to what St. Paul writes, 1 Cor. xv. 51-54. and 1 Thess iv. 13-17.

When Celsus says, that Christians were not all agreed about the doctrine of the resurrection, it may be doubtful, whether he intends some of his own time, or whether he refers to 1 Cor. xv. 12, and the following context. "Now if Christ be preached, that he rose from the dead: how say some among you, that there is no resurrection of the dead?"

However that may be, none of my readers will omit to observe, that here is a reference to the above mentioned texts of the first epistle to the Corinthians, and the first to the Thessalonians.

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6. It is, I suppose, with regard to the expectation of the resurrection of the body, that, as Origen says, Celsus called the Christians a sort of men that were very fond of the body.' And yet in another place he says: Is it not exceeding absurd, that you should desire and hope for the resurrection of the same body, as if we had nothing more excellent, nor more precious: and yet to expose it to all manner of sufferings as a thing of no value?'

This needs no answer: but it ought to be observed, that Celsus here again lets us know, that Christians were then in a suffering condition: and he bears testimony to their steadiness and fortitude under the tortures, and all the variety of sufferings which they met with. This ought to be taken notice of.

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7. But,' says Celsus, omitting many things that might be alleged against what they say of their master, let us allow him to be truly an angel. Is he the first, and the only one, that • has come? or, have there been others before? If they should say, he only: they are easily con'victed of falsehood. For they say, that others have often come-And in particular, that there 'came an angel to his sepulchre: some say one; others, two, to tell the women, that he was risen: for the Son of God, it seems, could not open the sepulchre, but wanted another to remove the stone. And there came also an angel to the carpenter about Mary's pregnancy; ' and another angel to direct them to take the child, and flee. And what need is there to reckon up particularly all that were sent to Moses, and others?'

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The design of this argument is to draw off Christians from their peculiar veneration for Jesus. He reminds them, therefore, that there had been, even according to themselves, many other messengers from God, whom they might respect as well as him.

From this passage we learn, that the main point with Christians was a faith in Jesus, whom they esteemed their master: nor would they forsake him upon any account.

Beside the references to the conception of Jesus in the womb of his mother Mary, and his flight into Egypt, observed formerly, here are also references to many circumstances of our Saviour's resurrection, as related in the gospels. There was a stone at the door of the sepulchre: an angel came, and rolled it away: women came to the sepulchre, who saw there an angel; which also told them, that Jesus was risen. The resurrection of Jesus was recorded by more than one; for Celsus observes, that some said there was one, others two, angels, who told the women that Jesus was risen. So it is in our gospels. For St. Matthew, xxviii. 5, Mark xvi. 5, mention but one angel. Luke xxiv. 4, and John xx. 12, speak of two angels.

But the angel did not remove the stone, as Celsus insinuates, because Jesus was not himself able to do it: but it was fit, that so great a person as Jesus, should have the attendance and service of angels upon so great an occasion, as his resurrection from the

a Says Dr. Cudworth, The true Intellectual System of the Universe, B. i. ch. v. p. 877. However, our Christian faith assures us, that the souls of good men shall at length be 'clothed with spiritual and heavenly bodies, such as are, in 'Aristotle's language, avahola rw Twy a5 pwy 50x, analo'gous to the element of the stars. Which Christian resurrection, therefore, "to life and immortality," is far from being as Celsus reproached it, oxwayxwv Amis, the mere hope of ' worms.'

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Finally, any one may now judge, whether Celsus was not well acquainted with our gospels, and whether he has not given a very valuable testimony to them.

8. I shall here take another passage, somewhat resembling that alleged just now.

After these things,' says Origen,he bespeaks us in this manner. How much better 'were it for you, since you affect novelties, to attend to some other of those who have died 'nobly, and to whom that fiction of deity might be better applied? For instance, if you did not like Hercules, nor Esculapius, nor others already consecrated, you had Orpheus, a man endowed with a holy spirit, as all allow, who likewise suffered a violent death. But, perhaps, he has been already taken by some others. Well then, you might have thought of Anaxarchus, who when thrown into a mortar, and cruelly pounded in it, despised it all, saying: "Beat on, 'beat the case of Anaxarchus. For you do not beat him." Which is, indeed, the saying of a divine spirit. But here you are prevented by some naturalists, who have already followed him. Still, had you not Epictetus, who when his master bent forward his leg, with a smile, and unmoved, said: "You will break it." And when he had broke it, said to him: "Did I 'not say, you would break it?" Did your God, when under punishment, say any thing like this? There is also the Sibyl, whom some of your people quote, whom you might as well, or better have called the daughter of God. But instead of that, though you have inserted many impious things into her writings, you will have him to be God who ended an infamous life with a ⚫ miserable death. Had it not been better for you to take Jonas, who was in the whale's belly, 'or Daniel, who was delivered from the beasts, or some others more wonderful than they?'

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To each of these instances Origen makes proper' replies. I shall take only a part of what

he says.

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• He also sends us to Epictetus, extolling his fine saying when his leg was broke: which yet is not to be compared with the wonderful works and words of Jesus, though they are so despised by Celsus; forasmuch as his words are accompanied with such a divine power, as to 'convert not only many of the simple sort of people, but also many of the more understanding.' Then after his catalogue of so many he says: Did your God, when under punishment, say any thing like this? To which we shall answer, that his silence under all the abuses and reproaches which he met with, shewed more fortitude and patience, than any thing said by 'the Greeks under their sufferings, provided Celsus will but believe what has been written by 'men of the best credit; who, after they had truly related his miracles, have also related his 'silence under his sufferings: and when derided, and dressed in a purple robe, with a crown of 'thorns upon his head, and a reed in his hand instead of a sceptre, was perfectly meek, saying nothing mean, nor any thing provoking, to those, who so many ways abused him.'

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9. If Celsus had alleged any kind of infamous actions in the life of Jesus, we would have done our best to answer to every thing that seemed to him to be so. As for the miserable ' death of Jesus, the same may be objected to Socrates, and Anaxarchus, just mentioned, and many others. Was then the death of Jesus miserable, and theirs not? or was theirs not 'miserable, but that of Jesus miserable?' So writes Origen.

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10. Again Celsus argues: If you tell them, that it is not the Son of God, but he who is Father of all, whom men ought to worship, they will not be satisfied, unless you also worship ⚫ him who is the author of their sedition: not that they exceed in the worship of God, but that they above measure worship this man.'

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Celsus had said somewhat to the like purpose a little before; in both which places Origen's answers may be seen.

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11. Afterwards,' says Origen, Celsus speaks to this purpose. But if God at last, like. Jupiter in the comedy, awaked out of a long sleep, will deliver mankind from the evils under 'which they labour, why did he send this spirit, whom you speak of, into one corner only? He should have breathed in the like manner into many bodies, and send persons all over the ' world—————And do you not think it ridiculous to maintain, as you do, that the Son of God was 'sent to the Jews?'

This then was the Christian account, that Jesus, the Christ, the Son of God, came among the Jewish people. Nor is there any absurdity in this. A messenger from the true God is fitly sent, where God is known and worshipped, as he was by the Jews. To them also this

a L. vii. sect.53. p. 367.

Sect. 54, 55, 56. p. 368, 369.
L. viii. sect. 12. p. 385.

Ibid. p. 369. fin.
L. vi. sect. 78. p. 329.

d L. viii, sect. 14. p. 387.

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