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her, then ye fhall bring them both unto the gate of the city, and ye fhall ftone them with ftones, that they die; the damfel, because she ત cried not, being in the city; and the man, because he hath humbled his neighbour's wife: So thou fhalt put away the evil from among you. But if a man find a betrothed damfel in the field, and the man force her, and lie with her, the man only that lay with her fhall die; "but unto the damfel thou fhalt do nothing, there is in the damfel no fin worthy of death *.". And there cannot be the leaft doubt that this law was in force, at the time that Jefus Chrift was upon earth; for we find a very particular example of a woman who was taken in adultery, recorded by St. John †, with the opinion of the Scribes and Pharifees thereon. Moreover, Jefus Chrift was always fuppofed, even by the Jews themselves, to be the carpenter's fon, and the children which Jofeph had by Mary were regarded as his brothers and fifters :-Even Jofephus, their great hiftorian, when he mentions James, who was put to death at Jerufalem, calls him the brother of Jefus, who was called Chrift; but, if there had been any foundation for Celfus's accufation, this could not have been the cafe; as Jofeph would have been regarded as an infamous perfon, if he had taken a woman to be his wife, after he had convicted her of adultery, and forced her to leave her habitation; and who, by the laws of the coun* Deut. xxii. 25: + Chap. viii.

try, fhould have been ftoned to death.-Hence therefore, without making any observations upon what St. Matthew and St. Luke, who fealed their teftimony with their blood, have said to the contrary, it is clear, that Celfus has afferted a most notorious falfehood with refpect to Mary the mother of Jefus.

That an Epicurean, whofe exalted idea of his own wit and abilities overcame his reason, fhould have afferted fuch barefaced abfurdities, is not fo much a matter of wonder, as he often contradicts himfelf in his own writings; but that a great French critic, of our days, fo much esteemed for his veracity and integrity, and who muft have been fo well informed in the Jewish history, should have taken such pains to copy this paffage of Celfus's, and to print it, with notes, in at least three different pamphlets, as an infult upon the understanding of his countrymen, is what must fill us with furprize.

What our author has afferted respecting Jesus's 'going into Egypt, and learning their arts of magic, and working his miracles thereby, is no lefs abfurd upon the face of it.-The whole doctrine of Jefus Chrift is as contradictory to that of the Egyptian idolatry, as light is to darkness. But let us fuppofe, for a moment, that it had been in the power of a magician to raise the dead, and to do all the rest of the great miracles that Jefus did, he would be destroying his own works, by endeavouring to perfuade mankind, that they

ought

ought not to have any communication, or intelligence, with the demons, who were in a state of punishment for their wickedness; and that God would judge every man, one day, according to the works which he had done in the body :Moreover he ufed his utmoft endeavours to imprint this belief in the minds of his disciples, whom he had ordained, after his death, to preach his doctrine to the whole world.-If he had been a magician, and taught his fecrets to his difciples, whom he had feen, to the end that they might publish his doctrine, by means of their miracles, it would have been very extraordinary that, among fo many hundreds of perfons who did those miracles, in his name, in different parts of the world, and even till the time of Celfus, not one would dif cover the fecret; but that every one fhould be ready to expose himself to such dangers, and even to death, to establish a doctrine which condemned magic, as a wicked and infernal art.

Celfus in the next place proceeds, by his Jew, to accufe Jefus with having declared, that the Spirit of God defcended from heaven, in the form of a dove, upon him, when he was by the fide of the river where John baptized him: For, fays he, what witnefs, worthy of belief, can you produce to us to prove this vifion? And who, befides yourself, if we would believe fuch a miferable criminal as you, has heard this heavenly voice, by which God declared that he received you for his Son?-Afterwards this author, through the channel of his Jew, laughs at John the Bap

tift, and his baptifm, and declared it to be all an illufion. Indeed it is not furprizing that an Epicurean, who denied even the providence of a God, fhould laugh at thofe things; but he was a little off his guard, by doing this under the character of a Jew, who, by believing the writings of the Prophets, muft confefs the probability of those facts; and who, by reading the writings of their great hiftorian Jofephus, who wrote near that time, must have seen it recorded by him, as the general opinion of the Jews, that John was invefted with an authority to baptize, and that he promised forgiveness of fins to thofe who received his baptifm. And this very John, whom Jofephus mentions, bears record of his having baptized Jefus with water, and fays, "I faw the Spirit defcending from heaven, like a dove, and it abode upon him; and I knew him not; but he that fent me to baptize with water, the fame faid unto me, Upon whom thou fhalt see the Spirit "descending, and remaining on him, the same is

ઃઃ

he which baptizeth with the Holy Ghost * "— Moreover, it does not appear that Jefus Chrift ever mentioned this fact of himfelf: on, the contrary, all the Evangelifts fay, that Jefus avoided, as much as poffible, to fpeak advantageously of himfelf; and rather defired to have it discovered, that he was the Chrift, by his works, than by his words. If I fpeak of myself, says he, my testimony is not true.-Befides, we find Jefus telling John i.

who are the admirers of Celfus, muft likewife have been well informed of the great attempts that were made, by the emperor Julian, to re-build again the temple at Jerufalem, to re-establish the Jews in their ancient habitations, and thereby to convince the world, that the prophecies of Jesus Christ were false; and as well what were the confequences of those attempts: they are also well acquainted with the wretched fituation that the Jews have been in fince thofe days; and in which they are actually at present: And, moreover, as our author fuppofed that the Greeks and Romans did a great injury to Jefus Chrift, and to his Father, by the horrid perfecutions which they inflicted upon his faithful followers, who were never proved to have been, guilty of any immoral act; I think the Christians had a fufficient revenge, if Celfus and his admirers think that such acts of revenge can be agreeable to a well-difpofed mind, in seeing their bloody perfecutors cut off from the face of the earth, and all their pompous idolatry levelled with the dust. No perfon but a Celfus could have afferted, no other than a Voltaire would have propagated, that the excellency of the doctrine of Jefus Chrift, and the purity of his life, were not fufficient to place him above the rest of mankind: We should have been greatly obliged to Celfus, and to Voltaire, if they had told us, what then were fufficient for this purpose.

Again; this author, who, as I have already obferved, would place the miracles of Jefus Chrift,