Bible Myths and their Parallels in other Religions by T. W. Doane

i., against Celsus), that Josephus, who had mentioned John the Baptist, _did not acknowledge Christ_.[565:1] In the "Bible for Learners," we read as follows: "Flavius Josephus, the well-known historian of the Jewish people, was born in A. D. 37, only two years after the death of Jesus; but though his work is of inestimable value as our chief authority for the circumstances of the times in which Jesus and his Apostles came forward, yet he does not seem to have ever mentioned Jesus himself. At any rate, the passage in his '_Jewish Antiquities_' that refers to him is certainly spurious, and was inserted by a later and a _Christian hand_. The _Talmud_ compresses the history of Jesus into a single sentence, and later Jewish writers concoct mere slanderous anecdotes. The ecclesiastical fathers mention a few sayings or events, the knowledge of which they drew from oral tradition or from writings that have since been lost. The Latin and Greek historians just mention his name. This meager harvest is all we reap from sources outside the Gospels."[565:2] Canon Farrar, who finds himself _compelled_ to admit that this passage in Josephus is an interpolation, consoles himself by saying: "The single passage in which he (Josephus) alludes to Him (Christ) is interpolated, if not wholly spurious, and no one can doubt that his silence on the subject of Christianity was as deliberate as it was dishonest."[565:3] The Rev. Dr. Giles, after commenting on this subject, concludes by saying: "_Eusebius_ is the first who quotes the passage, and our reliance on the judgment, _or even the honesty_, of this writer _is not so great as to allow of our considering everything found in his works as undoubtedly genuine_."[565:4] Eusebius, then, is the first person who refers to these passages.[565:5] Eusebius, "_whose honesty is not so great as to allow of our considering everything found in his works as undoubtedly genuine_." Eusebius, who says that _it is lawful to lie and cheat for the cause of Christ_.[565:6] This Eusebius is the sheet-anchor of reliance for most we know of the first three centuries of the Christian history. What then must we think of the _history_ of the first three centuries of the Christian era? The celebrated passage in Tacitus which Christian divines--and even some liberal writers--attempt to support, is to be found in his _Annals_. In this work he is made to speak of _Christians_, who "had their denomination from _Christus_, who, in the reign of Tiberius, was put to death as a criminal by the procurator Pontius Pilate." In answer to this we have the following: