If we may believe him, when Jesus sent the devil into the herd of two
thousand swine, He did neither more nor less than commit a robbery on
their owners. If the story had been told of Mahomet, he would have been
considered as "an abominable wizard, and a sworn slave to the devil."
And if the proprietor of the swine, and the merchants who in the outer
court of the temple sold beasts for sacrifices, and whom Jesus drove out
with a scourge, came to demand justice when he was apprehended, it is
clear that he was deservedly condemned, as there never was a jury in
England that would not have found him guilty.
He tells her fortune to the woman of Samaria, just like a wandering
Bohemian or Gypsy. This alone was sufficient to cause His banishment,
which was the punishment inflicted upon fortune-tellers, or diviners, by
Tiberius. "I am astonished," says he, "that the gypsies do not proclaim
themselves the genuine disciples of Jesus, as their vocation is the
same. However, I am glad to see that He did not extort money from the
Samaritan woman, differing in this respect from our clergy, who take
care to be well paid for their divinations."
I follow the order of the pages in his book. The author goes on to the
entrance of Jesus Christ into Jerusalem. It is not clear, he says,
whether He was mounted on a male or female ass, or upon the foal of an
ass, or upon all three together.
He compares Jesus, when tempted by the devil, to St. Dunstan, who seized
the devil by the nose; and he gives the preference to St. Dunstan.
At the article of the fig-tree, which was cursed with barrenness for not
producing figs out of season for them, he describes Jesus as a mere
vagabond, a mendicant friar, who before He turned field-preacher was "no
better than a journeyman carpenter." It is surprising, he says, that the
court of Rome has not among all its relics some little fancy-box or
joint-stool of His workmanship. In a word, it is difficult to carry
blasphemy further.
After diverting himself with the probationary fish-pool of Bethesda, the
waters of which were troubled or stirred once in every year by an angel,
he inquires how it could well be, that neither Flavius Josephus, nor
Philo should ever mention this angel; why St. John should be the sole
historian of this miracle; and by what other miracle it happened that no
Roman ever saw this angel, or ever even heard his name mentioned?
The water changed into wine at the marriage of Cana, according to him,
excites the laughter and contempt of all who are not imbruted by
superstition.
"What!" says he, "John expressly says that the guests were already
intoxicated, '_methus tosi_'; and God comes down to earth and performs
His first miracle to enable them to drink still more!"