P.S. The vicar of a parish in Wales once told me, that he had for years left off reading the Athanasian Creed, and that not one of the parishioners had complained of the omission, except his clerk Philip, who, when tipsy, was sure to mention it! This orthodox son of the church had, it seems, a zeal on the occasion, the ardour of which rose or fell like quicksilver in the barometer, being the exact measurement of his inebriety. An absurd and uncharitable Creed, always a burden to the enlightened and virtu ous conscience, and sometimes the idol of a besotted profligacy, is most assuredly no recommendation to any religious establishment upon earth. Let the Bench of Bishops remedy the crying evil, which hath been denounced by a Tillotson, a Watson and a Jebb, actuated as they were by the hallowed motive of advancing the glory of the one only true and living God, and of subserving the present and eternal welfare of mankind.

see Lardner, VII. p. 243: "Tiberius, in whose reign the Christian name appeared in the world, having received from Palestine, in Syria, an account of the works which revealed and verified the divinity of Jesus, proposed him to the senate, with the privilege of his own vote in favour of his deification. The senate, because he had refused that honour, rejected the proposal. Cæsar remained of the same opinion, and threatened to punish the accusers of the Christians."

If it were allowed that Tiberius had received from Pilate, in Palestine, an authentic account of Jesus, is it likely that the emperor, who was known to have been indolent, dilatory and indifferent even to the affairs of his own empire, should be hence induced to honour, as a God, one whom in the person of his representative he had crucified as a slave and a malefactor? If this be very improbable, it follows, that Tertullian has asserted what is not true, or has not asserted the whole truth respecting it.

The Heathens, who believed that

there were many gods, and that those gods ofter appear among men, as soon as they became convinced of the miracles of Jesus, concluded that he was a God. His enemies the more readily embraced this notion, as it enabled them

to account for his miracles without embracing his gospel. Tiberius, therefore, as soon as he became assured of the divine works done by our Lord, must have drawn the same conclusion. But how did he become acquainted with those works?

It has been answered, "from the acts of Pilate." This governor well knew that his sovereign would soon hear of the works and condemnation of Jesus. In common prudence, therefore, he would not neglect to transmit an authentic narrative of events, in which the name and power of Cæsar were deeply involved. It was, besides, his imperious duty to do this, and at his peril he would not omit it. These acts existed in the archives of Rome; and Justin Martyr, addressing the then emperor and senate, confidently appeals to them as existing there in his days. If this answer be not satisfactory, every doubt must be removed by Josephus, whose history supplies the astonishing fact, that the

and the prophets, was preached in Rome, made known to all and received by multitudes even before the death of Tiberius. But if this emperor proposed the deification of Jesus, he must have been prompted to do so by some pretended friends of Jesus. And here I am led to another passage. In one of the dialogues of Plutarch, it is asserted, that “Thaumas, an Egyptian pilot, lately come from Egypt, brought with him a report, heard at the Palodes, that the great Pan was dead." "This report," adds Plutarch,

pious pretensions, in this respect, we have the most authentic testimony; since we read in the Acts, that in Samaria he astonished the people by his magical artifices, and professed to be the great power of God. Nor can it be well doubted, but that he assumed this title in opposition to Jesus, who is called the Son of God. It cannot appear improbable that he held the same profession in Rome, where he exercised the same wicked arts. Nor is it less probable that the enemies of the gospel should avail themselves of his pretensious, in order to ridicule or defeat the claims of Jesus, and thus honour him with a statue. Nevertheless, Middleton, a fine writer, but a superficial inquirer, thus remarks, in regard to the above passage: "It is manifest, beyond all reasonable doubt, that Justin was led here into a gross blunder, by his usual want of judgment, and his ignorance of Roman affairs, and his preconceived notions of fabulous stories, which passed current about this Simon amongst the first Christians; for the statue and inscription to which he appeals, were not dedicated to his countryman Simon Magus, of whose deification there is not the least bint in any Roman writer, but to a Sabine deity of ancient worship in Rome, aud of similar name, Semoui Sanco, frequently mentioned by the old writers, as the inscription itself, dug up about two centuries ago from the ruins of that very place which Justin describes, has clearly demonstrated."

The true state of the case was the following: Among those idols which superstition had created in Rome, there was one dedicated to Semo Sanco, the Sabine deity above mentioned. Simon, during his residence in that city, becoming acquainted with that idol, pretended, from the similarity of that name to his own, that he was the divinity meant by it. This similarity was a lucky coincidence; and his artifice in claiming a name so like his own, is well illustrated by what he pretended concerning the prostitute whom he led about with him. She was called Helen, and from this circumstance he gave it out, that she was the wife of Menelaus, whose conjugal infidelity had occasioned the Trojan war. Of Simon's pretensions no proof was necessary with the enemies of the gospel: for the deep-rooted

malice which the Romans cherished towards the Jews in general, and towards Jesus and his disciples in particular, induced them to favour and support any impostor, who partook of their malice and hatred. They, therefore, suffered a new statue, or the old one, to be erected with the inscription, not as before, of Semoni Sanco, but Simoni Deo Sancto. The Roman Senate, base as they were become, had reason to feel shame in conferring a statue on a man who was at ouce a stranger, a vagabond and an impos tor, and that from mere malice towards Jesus and his followers. When, therefore, their purpose was answered, and the name of Simon had passed away, they naturally wished to bury this infamous act in oblivion, by restoring the statue to the original divinity, with the inscription of Semoni Sanco. The statue thus restored was found, as Middleton observes, in the common ruins; and the charge of blunders, with which he seeks to crush poor Justin Martyr, recoils with double weight upon himself.

Some years after the claims of Jesus and of Simon had been discussed at Rome, Josephus was brought an illustrious captive to that city. He witnessed the reproaches thrown upon Jesus and his faithful followers, and he thought it his duty to meet them, by a full and explicit testimony, in his Antiquities. "And about this time existed Jesus, a wise man, if indeed he might be called a man: for he was the author of wonderful works, and a teacher of men, who with delight embraced the things that are true," &c. Now what are the truths to which Josephus here alludes, and what the falsehoods, the charge of which being opposed to them, he had in view to repel? Let this writer be his own interpreter. After his testimony to Jesus, he subjoins an account of the wicked Jew and his associates, who professed to teach the philosophy of Moses, or as we call it, the gospel. It was not consistent with his views, as an historian, to give a detailed account of the doctrines which they taught respecting Christ. It was not at that time necessary; for it was then notorious, that they were in the number of those who inculcated that he was a god, and, as such, not born like other men. He, therefore, contents himself with holding them forth as

impostors, wicked in every respect. But that his aim might not be overlooked, he sets out with saying, that Jesus was a man: and, as it were, to apologize for many sincere believers in him among the Gentiles, who, from his wonderful works, might think him above human, he adds, "If, indeed, he might be called a man." After relating the extraordinary events which concerned Jesus, he adverts to the Samaritan impostor, whom, as the antagonist of Jesus, the Roman Senate had honoured with a statue. "Nor did the Samaritans escape disturbance. For they were stirred up by a man, who made no scruple of telling false hoods, and who, influenced by the desire of popularity, imposed on the multitude by various artifices." Ant. Jud. L. xviii. C. iii. Sect. iv. It is singular, that Josephus should place his account of Jesus at the head of transactions which happened at Rome; and still more so does it appear, that he should relate, in the same connexion, events that took place in Samaria. His reason is now obvious; and his testimony for Jesus is equally genuine with that which he bears against Simon. They each to the other, to the productions acl the same hand; and it must appear mar vellous, that a paragraph respecting Christ, which has been deemed spurious for want of connexion, should be found to be the corner-stone of the whole context.

In his testimony to Jesus, Josephus has excluded the notion of his supernatural birth, as not belonging to his history and that he might point out the base origin of it, he subjoins the wonderful transaction that gave it birth. But this shall be the subject of a subsequent paper.

I

SIR,

JOHN JONES.

Ratcliff Highway, Aug. 3, 1818. FEEL great pleasure in forwarding, for insertion, the following anecdote of Sir William Garrow, copied from the Monthly Magazine of last May. It forms a striking contrast with the instance of malignant bigotry recorded in the Repository of July, p. 448; and is the more interesting when we consider that Sir William, when Attorney-General, was never remarkable for his attachment to the

cause of freedom. But "Libertas quæ sera tamen respexit inertem."

J. W. F.

In a trial at the late Leicester assizes, an attempt was made to invalidate the testimony of a respectable witness, by some impertinent and insulting questions put to him by one of the counsel relative to his religious faith,-which Mr. Baron Garrow said he was not obliged to answer; and he added, "I should not, however, have prevented him from giving an answer if he had chosen, because the answer might have vindicated him from the imputa tion which the question conveyed. But, whatever might have been his answer, whether he declared himself to be a believer in every part of the Holy Scriptures or not, I should, in my address to the jury, have said, that his belief or disbelief in these matters should not impeach his testimony. He might be equally disposed to tell the truth whatever were his religious opinions."-Such language is calculated to increase the number of true Christians.

SIR, Liverpool, Nov. 15, 1817.

HE lamented death of the Right Hon. John Philpot Curran, get corded in your Obituary, [XII. 625, 626,] reminded me of the following extracts which I made some time ago, from a collection of his Speeches, the 4th edit. 8vo. 1815. The additional interest they derive from the reflection that now they are amongst the monuments of departed genius, joined to that which their intrinsic excellence claims, will perhaps render them worthy a place in the pages of the Repository-a work that, I trust, will ever be ready to offer its tribute of willing admiration to talents, which like those of Curran's were always employed in the service of liberty. The speeches from which these extracts are made, were printed from short-hand notes taken during their delivery, and never received the finishing touches of their author's hand; but with all their imperfections they furnish highly favourable specimens of his commanding eloquence. It will soon be discovered that this eloquence is completely Irish:

which, whilst it disclaims the formality of the schools, and by the gaudiness of its ornaments continually offends against the refinement of an