Jews, on their return to their respective cities, to every part of Judæa, and which accounts most naturally for the suspension of the sacred journey.8

8 I give the very acute and conclusive account of Mr. Blunt: Archelaus, therefore, must have been notorious for his cruelty (it should seem) very soon indeed after his coming to the throne. Nothing short of this could account for the sudden resolution of Joseph to avoid him with so much speed.

"Now, it is remarkable enough, that at the very Passover after Herod's death, even before Archelaus had got time to set out for Rome, to obtain the ratification of his authority from the Emperor, he was guilty of an act of outrage and bloodshed, under circumstances, above all others, fitted to make it generally and immediately known. One of the last deeds of his father Herod had been to put to death Judas and Matthias, two persons who had instigated some young men to pull down a golden eagle which Herod had fixed over the gate of the temple, contrary, as they conceived, to the law of Moses. The hapless fate of these martyrs to the law, excited great commiseration at the Passover which ensued. The parties, however, who uttered their lamentations aloud, were silenced by Archelaus, the new king, in the following manner :

"He sent out all the troops against them, and ordered the horsemen to prevent those who had their tents outside the temple, from rendering assistance to those who were within it, and to put to death such as might escape from the foot. Three thousand men did these cavalry slay; the rest betook themselves for safety to the neighbouring mountains. Then Archelaus commanded proclamation to be made, that they should all retire to their own homes. So they went away, and left the festival, for fear lest somewhat worse should ensue.' Antiq. b. xvii. c. 2. s. 3.

"We must bear in mind, that at the Passover, Jews from all parts of the world were assembled; so that any event which occurred at Jerusalem, during that great feast, would be speedily reported, on their return, to the countries where they dwelt. Such a massacre, therefore, at such a season, would at once stamp the character of Archelaus. The fear of him would naturally enough spread wherever a Jew was to be found; and, in fact, so well remembered was this, his first essay at governing the people, that several years afterwards it was brought against him with great effect, on his appearance before Cæsar at Rome.

"It is the more probable, that this act of cruelty inspired Joseph with his dread of Archelaus, because that prince could

ii. Let me, in the next place, give a specimen of the CONCURRENT NARRATIVE of Josephus. In the account of the death of Herod, in the twelfth of the Acts, we have various remarkable particulars; but not one more than Josephus also actually details in his narrative-the assembly, the oration, the idolatrous cry of the people, Herod's sudden disease and death. Especially the royal apparel in which Herod was arrayed, is said by the Jewish historian to have been a robe of silver, on which the rays of the sun falling, gave him a majestic and awful appearance-a circumstance which but too naturally accounts for the impious acclamations of the people."

not have been much known before he came to the throne; never having had any public employment, or, indeed, future destination, like his half-brother, Antipater, whereby he might have discovered himself to the nation at large."-Veracity of Gospel, p. 135-9.

9 Our sacred historian states, That Herod went down from Judæa to Cæsarea, and there abode. That upon a set day, Herod, arrayed in royal apparel, sat upon his throne, and made an oration to them; and the people gave a shout, saying, It is the voice of a God, and not of a man. That immediately the Angel of the Lord smote him, because he gave not God the glory, and he was eaten of worms, and gave up the ghost. Acts xii.

19-23.

VOL. I.

Josephus relates, that having now reigned three years over all Judæa, he went to the city of Cæsarea. That he celebrated shows in honour of Cæsar-tha the came into the theatre dressed in a robe of silver, of most curious workmanship; that the rays of the rising sun, reflected from so splendid a garb, gave him a majestic and awful appearance; and that in a short time the people began in several parts of the theatre flattering acclamations, calling him a god, and entreating him to be propitious to them. That the king neither reproved these persons, nor rejected the impious flattery; that im

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iii. But the account which Josephus gives of John Baptist, is yet more important, BOTH BY WHAT HE SAYS, AND BY WHAT HE CONCEALS. "Some of the Jews were of opinion that God had suffered Herod's army to be destroyed, as a just punishment on him for the death of John, called the Baptist. For Herod had killed him, who was a just man, and who had called upon the Jews to be baptized, and to practise virtue. And many coming to him, (for they were wonderfully taken with his discourses,) Herod was seized with apprehensions, lest by his authority they should be led into sedition against him. Being taken up on this suspicion of Herod, and being sent bound to the castle of Macharus, he was slain there."

This passage admits and verifies all the principal facts concerning John Baptist, as contained in our books. Nor does the omission of a reference to John Baptist's doctrine, and of his being the forerunner of the Messiah, less clearly establish, though tacitly, the other parts of our gospel account. Indeed, the SILENCE of this great historian in his other writings, where he was almost compelled to speak, on the particulars of our Lord's life and crucifixion and the establishment of Christianity, whilst he details the most minute circumstances of the very times when they occurred, remarkably confirms the truth of our Christian history. For that Josephus was acquainted with the chief events, his notice of John Baptist shows, and the records of the contemporary historian Tacitus, would have compelled him to know.. Had the apostles then been practising any imposition upon

mediately after this, he was seized with pains in the bowels, extremely violent, was carried in all haste to his palace, and expired in torment in five days. Ant. l. 19, c. 8, s. 2, apud Lardner.

mankind, had they proclaimed things which had not really taken place, he would have rejoiced to expose the deception. That he has not done so, can only be accounted for by the truth of the facts. The historian, a Jew, a contemporary, writing the narrative of the time, who had the fullest opportunity of knowledge, and whose bitterness to the Christian name doubtless resembled that of his countrymen, brings no charge of imposition or fraud, gives no account of things different from our own, holds his peace— surely the silence of such an individual proclaims aloud the fidelity of our history; whilst every word of his testimony, where he does speak, goes to confirm positively and decisively that fidelity.1o

I need not dwell on the important testimony to be derived from the Mishna, a collection of Jewish Traditions, published about A. D. 180; and from the Talmuds, or Comments on those Traditions, which appeared about the years A. D. 300 and A. D. 500; and which, amidst much absurdity and keen

10 I waive the disputed passage, where he notices briefly our Lord, and allows him to be the Messiah: though the judgment of the best critics is in its favour.

I cannot but add, however, the following reflection of the writer just referred to, upon the history of Josephus, when taken together and as a whole, in convincing us of the truth of the gospel history. "No man, (says our author,) I think, can rise from a perusal of the latter books of the Antiquities, and the account of the Jewish War, without a very strong impression that the state of Judæa, civil, political, and moral, as far as it can be gathered from the Gospels and Acts of the Apostles, is portrayed in these latter (the Gospels and Acts) with the greatest accuracy, and with the strictest attention to all the circumstances of the place and the times. It is impossible to impart this conviction to my readers in a paragraph; the nature of the case does not admit of it; it is the result of a thousand little facts, which it would be difficult to detach from the general narrative, and which, considered separately, might seem frivolous and fanciful." Blunt's Veracity, p. 120.

contempt, admit all the facts of the Christian history.

4. I must not however omit that proof of the credibility which arises from the character of many of the converts to the Christian faith, who examined anxiously its pretensions, met its claims at first with prejudice and hatred, and yet ended in yielding to the undoubted facts and the holy doctrines derived from them. I enter not now on the subject of the propagation of the gospel; I merely say, that men of the finest talents-philosophers, orators, grammarians, rhetoricians, lawyers-persons of every rank and station in society, from the humble slave to the attendants on the imperial court, examined the facts of our history, and yielded to the force of conviction, and persevered in acting on that conviction, in spite of strong previous prejudice, and subsequent opposition, ridicule, persecution, and death and I affirm, that the credit which they gave to these facts, and which was the ground of their conversion then, is a strong confirmation of our faith in them

now.

5. Nor can I pass unnoticed the circumstance, that the impostor Mahomet, who professed to deliver a new revelation, (A. D. 612,) and who was filled with the bitterest hatred of Christianity, ventured not to question the facts on which it rests. He speaks of John Baptist and our Lord by name, mentions our Lord's miraculous works, his ascension, his apostles, and the unbelief of the Jews. Can concurring testimonies be pushed further ?

6. I appeal, again, to the religious rites and usages springing out of the facts of Christianity, as recorded in the New Testament, and which have subsisted from that time to the present among all the nations of Christendom. I dwell not on them in this place, as they will be stated more largely in the following