As the passage is not found in any edition of Josephus prior to the era
of Eusebius, the suspicion has fastened upon that Christian writer as
being its author, who argued that falsehood might be used as a medicine
for the benefit of the churches. (See his Eccles. Hist.) Origen, who
lived before Eusebius, admitted Josephus makes no allusion to Christ. Of
course the passage was not, then, in Josephus. One or two other similar
passages have been found, in other authors of that era, which it is not
necessary to notice here, as they are rejected by Christian writers. It
must be conceded, therefore, that the numerous histories covering the
epoch of the birth of Christ chronicle none of the astounding feats
incorporated in his Gospel biographies as signalizing his earthly
career, and make no mention of the reputed hero of these achievements,
either by name or character. The conclusion is thus irresistibly forced
upon us, not only that he was not a miracle-worker, but that he must
have led rather an obscure life, entirely incompatible with his being
a God or a Messiah, who came "to draw all men unto him." And it should
also be noted here that none of Christ's famous biographers, Matthew,
Mark, Luke, or John, are honored with a notice in history till one
hundred and ninety years after the birth of Christ. And then the notice
was by a Christian writer (Ireneus).
"We look in vain," says a writer, "for any cotemporary notice of the
Gospels, or Christ the subject of the Gospels, outside of the New
Testament. So little was this 'king of the Jews' known, that the Romans
were compelled to pay one of his apostles to turn traitor and act as
guide before they could find him. It is impossible to observe this
negative testimony of all history against Christ and his miracles, and
not be struck with amazement, and seized with the conviction that he
was not a God, and not a very extraordinary man." Who can believe that a
God, from off the throne of heaven, could make his appearance on earth,
and while performing the most astounding miracles ever recorded in
any history, or that ever excited the credulity of any people, and be
finally publicly crucified in the vicinity of a great city, and yet all
the histories written in those times, both sacred and profane, pass over
with entire silence the slightest notice of any of these extraordinary
events. Impossible--most self-evidently impossible!! And when we find
that this omission was so absolute that no record was made of the day or
year of his birth by any person in the era in which he lived, and that
they were finally forgotten, and hence that there are, as a writer
informs us, no less then one hundred and thirty-three different opinions
about the matter, the question assumes a still more serious aspect. From
the logical potency of these facts we are driven to the conclusion that
Christ received but little attention outside of the circle of his own
credulous and interested followers, and consequently stands on a level
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