CHRIST CÆSAR NAPOLEON

NZ Truth, Issue 464, 9 May 1914, Page 1

CH RIST CÆSAR NAPOLEON

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Concernlng Pilate's wife, the only reference to her m the Bible Is that Jn Matthew, chap. 27, v. 10, as follows: When he (Pilate) was set down on ' tho judgment seat, his wlfo sent unto him, saying, Have thou nothing to do with that jußt man: for I have suffered many things this day In a dream because o£ him. Now this passage, on the face of It, is bogus. It has all the appearance of belt^e a' bungled Interpolation; It affords internal and external evidence , thut It has been dollberate},y but Clums))y dropped Into the place m. which it appears, without any reference to its relevancy or irrelevancy. It only tc<iuirc« to bo curaorJly Hcannnd. and then carefully collated with tho next preceding and next Bucceodlng verses between which it appoai-H m order to make tho fraud as apparent as the intorpolfitlon m JoaephuH'H "Hl»tory of. the Jews"/ referring to Jesus. This Pllatean Interpolation Is worth Borloua consideration as serving to throw a lumihous light on 'the pious frauds perpetrated by tho early Chris-. titinH— l.e., m the first, second, third, and fourth centuries of the Church — m tho compilation of what have now come to bo considered as the canonical goupols. m tho first place, this PUtitoan passage has every appearance of being an afterthought; It has no coherence with tho two vers«eß between which It Is placed. It might' just uh well havo been put between two .other vorHcs of tho wimc chapter, or of uny other chapter of tho Bnm«> <jirosi>«»l. or of any othor gospel m which tho trial and '■ crucifixion of Josuh nro dealt with. Thti passage haa been dropped into the chapter liko u^Htono thrown Into wator et random. It ha« not «v.vn tho up* neurance, <i£ having been ihv rcmilt of ' nn afterthought of tho writer of ib»> partinular chaptfr, or of ihe compiltr of tho whole gospel of Matthew, m which it appears. • • • It m not altogether ukolojim to in^lMt that tho InvcMilgatlon of th>> autl'ontlclty or otherwise of this |«i«sag«» Ih nnt only intcroMtlng und Instructive; tho opinion may bo ventured that It will ■ provo positively lllutninniing to i\\uw. who havo the pallonco to,pursue it, to n (lfllnlto concluHion, an It Ih now proponed to do. Apart from the jibsHmco of nil rotovnncy to Out subject mutlcr ot' tlw: two vt<rneM bulwotiu which tbl« fMirticuliir p4i.<<migo . Ih plucod, ll« Mtyk- and const ruction, and the. very words uiul phraseology In which tho » wife of Pllatu Ih made to warn hor husbaml, Bot« up v strong presumption of two probabilities— (l)' that the compiler or writt'r of Matthuw never put thy patiifuge thiTc; and (2) thu^ PUatc'H w(f<-», If nh«> did <lrwin«. did not <ionv«y tho J t*nlMUiim.c of It to Pllittr In the words ; and phnw*p(>lOKy uttrlbutod to her m the jmiMHigo. There's the poxlulu^c, now for tint argument In proof. m. * • If tho plou« rwtrh'r, wtuvtr plcly <!oos \ not prvchuhi iho pur«ult of truth, ftv«n m wwr«Ml thingx. will tnko ujfi the New Testament nn«l turn to tho tt7th chnptor of Matthew t«nd cArefully tvm\ (now. p^rhapM, frtr tho rtr«t Mine In hl« or bf-r llf«*> that account ol! thi- prncpoihtißH of th» JcwH ngalnxt Jt*miH before IMlAtt*. they will poMlhly not p<«rc^lvo. tit first *|gh«. ftny irtcoharrnc« b*»tw*<>n nny of th*» pnmtA«;«jt, or any Incongruity between any one or more

of the verses and, the whole chapter, considered as a.cdmplete and' presumably coherent narrative. But let special- attention be concentrated now on that portion of the chapter comprised between verses 15 -and 26, which reads as follows: — ' 15. Now at that feawt the governor was wont to release unto the people a prisoner, whom they would. 16. And they had then a notable prisoner, called B&Tabbaw. 17. Therefore when they were gathered together, PIIiUa said unto them, Whom will ye thftl J rd^do , unto you? Uarabbas, or Jesus which is called Christ? 18. Kor he know that for envy they had delivered him." 19. When ho was sot down on tho Judgment Heat. hlu wife sent unto ,him, saying, Have thou nothing to do with that just man. for I havo suffered many things this day In a dream because of him. 20. But tho chief priests and oldors persuaded the multitude that they should ask lkirabbas, and destroy Josus. 21. The governor answorcd and Huld. unto them, Whether of the twain will yo that I release unto you? They aaid, Harabbas. 22. Pilate aalth unto them, What shall I do then with Jesus which Is called Christ? They all say unto him. Let him bo crucified. 23. And tho governor said, Why, what evil hath ho done? But they I cried out the more, Lot him bo crucifled. 24. Whnn Pilate saw that he could prevail nothing:, but that rather a tumult waa made, ho took water, and washed bin' hands beforo tho multitude, paying. 1 am Innocent of tho blood of this Jujjt person: hoc yo to It. 25. Then answered Jill tho people, and .said. His blood heron us, and on our children. 26. Then released lio Barabbas* ■unto thorn: and when ho had scourged .K-miH, he delivered him to be crucified. •. • • All this Mfomx coherent and consistent until it is subjected to v still clo«er and. «o to Kay, sclontinc-«cepU-onl scrutiny. Head botwoen tho lines, or conned critically, verse by verso, j thy» whole part of this colobraK-d i*hnpj tor hero c|trd neomK clear and conHecutlv«- until one reads down to verse 20. Here tho ulroudy ausplelouH reader who \h neither a fanatic nor fool, h<>comi'B conscious of .something like an hint iiti, a halt In the narnitlve; he arrlwH suddenly iitu hole or. gap In tho story, mutlo without apparent reason or nuccHslty. right In the middle of tho plain, slmighl path along which he hiiH l>cnn travelling, In short, there's something wrong or wanting, or shall 1 way something nut wanted, which look* Hunpleloiiff. Like Sir Hoyle Jloche. ho begins to '>mi?1l a nit; to s«<i It floating In the air." We'll now proceed to roveul thtH "rut," and. In the word. 1 * <«f Blr Hoylc, "more hlbernlco," "to n»l» U m llic? bud." This utn he vt<ry Hutlsfaetorlly don« m a very short uiul Hiuip't* way. • • • Thr contention l» that ver«r 10 of MatthfW 21. concerning White's wlfc'K nlloKod drt<nm. Ih nx\ Interpolation which. «»n th<> fneo of It, hn« no connection with tho lust preceding and next KucitHMllnjy verses IS niul 20. reajwetively, and no coherent connection with tho iwid and nhocktng «tory told In this partloulur chapter of Mutthew'a goKpot. which U at once the mo»t conneeutive. connl&tont, nnd coherent ttnrratlvr of the \nm phnw* of the tragedy of Cftlvflry'io b« found In tho whole of the fioapcla— mlnuu this nmnlfoat. in,-

terpolatibn. Mrs. Malaprop declared that "comparisons are odorous," and m this particular connection they probably will be held to be impious by that class of pious pickthanks or fanatical bigots whose, piety is the outcome of ignorance and whose bigotry is bred i of superstition— the spawn or spume of ignorance. In this" connection, the following stanzas from Shelley's sombrely splendid song, "The Sensitive Plant," so dramatically descriptive of the decay and defacement of the fair forms of "love, ,and beauty, and de- j light," and the obstruction of the stream of Truth, may, without warp- j ing of similes, seem to have pertinent application: Spawn,' weeds, and filth, a leprous scum, Made the running rivulet thick and dumb, And at its outlet flags huge as stakes Damn'd it up with roots knotted like iWater-snakes. ♦ • .#■■■.' But the comparison nvu6t be made, m the interests of the Sacred Truth, revealed m God's most Holy Word, which, we have it on the most respectable and reliable authorities, has often been tampered with by being dishonestly added to by the interpolation of something which the original writer or collator of Matthew's gospel, for instance — Levi, or Whoever else he might have been — never . wrote or put there, The person making this particular interpolation perpetrated a doubly pious fraud-r-(l) m Imputing to the original writer of Matthew's 'gospel something that ho never wrote, and of the subject matter of which he could riot have been cognisant; and (2) that of a lie, deliberate and 'direct, by inserting something concerning an absolutely apocryphal story of which, had It been true, he" could have known nothing authentic of his own knowledge, and because Matthew's gospel was not written or compiled till many years after the period at 'which tho. alleged event narrated m the spurious passage is assumed to have taken place. • v • • Furthermore, this spurious Interpolation must have b«en made long after < — perhaps SO or a hundred years after —the gospel of Matthew was compiled, which, m its turn, was written or compiled a long time after the writing of the Acts of tho Apostles attributed to ! Luke. Tho Acts arc the earliest and most authentic records m the New Testament, and the moht reliable accounts we huve of tho early Christian Church extant, ranking m priority oven j before those oplstles known to have ! been really written by St. Paul. How i little we modern Christians know about the foundations of pur faith, or of tho j origin of the written guide to our sal- i vat ion! 1 JOHN NORTON, j Melbourne. i April 2?. 1914. Feast of St. George, Martyr. .When Christian honor la at stake, compromise- Jh iho worst form of imprudence. It 1b Komctlmes a duty to smash the Idols wo are culled upon to worship. jS. Oorßo httß born identified with tho young man who tore down from lht» KtitoH of Nlcomudla the edict of Diocletian, ordering the persecution of tho Chrlstiuns. ' H. O^nrgti wua born m Cuppni]t>c)H. at the clo*e of the third century, of Christian purcntH, In curly youth ho chose v soldier's life, and Hoon obtained the frtvor of DioelMlan. who advanced him to llw* grade of tribune. When, however, the cmperw began to peritecuto tho Chrl«tian«. Oorgo rebuked him at oner sternly and openly for ! his cruelty, »nd throw up his j commission. 'Me wn« m confic- \ qui:n<-**' Mubjpcted to a lengthened Horlon of torment*, unrt finally j brluuidvtl. Then? \vuj» .sonnnhlni? so liiKpirlting m the defiant <:h«M'rfuliu.'Kß of tho young sol- ! <1l«r that every Chrlntlan fell a | l»p.r.Monnl nharo In thi« triumph of i (.'hrlHtlan fortitude, and aH yearn j rolled on S. (i«orgc bocamo a type of .suecvMxfiit combat agiitn.st fvll. ihci Hlayrr of tho j tlntKoii. the darllnsr theme of j cimp uanit and Kiory, until "no j thick it Hhado his very glory ] [ round him made" that hIH real i UnoamcntH boenmo hard to trace. I Kvmi beyond the olrcl« of Chrl«- I i tondom ho was hold In honor, | n nd Invading Haru.ce.nH taught , tlmmmilvi'B to except from cU>««- ! t-nttlon Iho Image of him they j hailed as iho "Whllo-horscd j Knluht." Mlm culiUH m ono of I the nwnl ancient and widely ! xi>r'-ad In the Church. In thu ; Kun« a church of S, George m \ ««rrlbt"(l lo CofiHUinllno. and hi* ] name In Invoked Jn Mu* mnm an- j i-lent llturgta**: whlUt m tho ! Wc«t. Miilla. ltareclunn. Vtitanv\a, Arru«on. Clcnon, and iCnjfliuid lwv« rho«"ti him m their jmiron,— Mlnialuro Lives of iho Ha In (a.