HISTORY OF OUR SAVIOUR JESUS CHRIST.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume I, Issue 16, 16 August 1873, Page 13

HISTORY OF OUR SAVIOUR JESUS CHRIST.

the Abb 6J. B. Dakbas.

(Translated from the French for the New Zealajtd Tablet.) 3. — Inibinsio Pboofs o* thb Authenticity of thb Gospbl Nabeativb. The Gospel narratire bear 8 besides, in itself, signs of incontestable authenticity. Imagine to yourself an ignorant legendary, writing after the rum of the Temple, and improvising, without a single fault, the entire history, manners, and religion of the Jews. The single expression, bo simple in appearance : " In the days of Herod, King of Judea," supposes a whole order of knowledge, which would defy a retrospective imposture. In the second century, there had been three Princes of the name of Herod, reigning in Judea : Herod the Idumean, whos« history we have written j Herod-Antipas ; and Herod-Agrippa. The apocryphal writer, were he skilled in the art of forging, would have known this fact ; and, knowing it, would have designated more particularly the king of whom he wished to speak. There is no escaping from these exigencies imposed by historic facts. .Do you choose rather to suppose your forger completely unqualified, and, in the main, a stranger to Jewish events ? In this case he would have known but one Hf»rod— the same who is mentioned in the text of St Luke, iii. chapter, under the name of "Herod the Tetrarch," (1) and he would not have thought of giving him another title. A contemporary alone could write these words : "In the days of Herod, Kin* of Judea,"— and this because one Herod alone reigned over the whole of Judea ; the other two confined to their tetrarcliies, had but a partial dominion. And, observe that St Luke does not say : " King of the Jews." A forger, a posthumous legendary might labour under such a mistake a contemporary, never. Herod, the Idumean had been forced upon Judea by Ron^iKing by force, not by right, he reigned over the country in spite o\the inhabitants. The King of the Jews could only be an heir of the Aqamonean family or other descendant of the tribe of Juda ; and of the \ace of David. In the midst of so many rocks, the pen of the supposed^apocryphal writer does not err. Chance ! you will say. Chance is an obliging God, who has already written every line of the Old Testament without your being able to find place for a single erasure. What a series^of miracles have you not imputed to chance ! Add one more to its blind responsibility,— the marvellous exactness with which your forger of the second or third century, speaks ot the origin and sacerdotal customs of the Jews. " Zachapv, he say b, was of the race of Abia, and his wife was of the daughters* of Aaron, and her name Elizabeth." Modern rationalists are, no doubt, acquainted with the relation that existed between the race of Abia and the sacerdotal functions. Their knowledge suffers no eclipse : yet it might happen that an ordinary reader would not even suspect the reason of this connexion ; with greater reason might an obscure falsifier commit this mistake. But, the apocryphal writer— interpolator of St Luke— knows everything. Ho knows that in the time of David, the sacerdotal families, sprung from Aaron, had been divided into twenty-four classes, (2) (he family of Abia forming one part. He is not ignorant that the order of weekly service for each of them, in the lemple, was regulated by lots. That of Abia thus occupied the eighth rank. The falsifier knows all this; and he has read Josephus, who says in formal terms : this order has been maintained up to our day. (2) The impostor knows a great deal moie still. The Jewish priests were at liberty to make choice of a wife from among all the tribes of Israel, lhe apocryphal writer knows this, and he notes, as a remarkable incident, that the wife of Zachary belonged not only to the tribe of Leyi, but that she was descended from Mie pontifical family of Aaron. It is with the same security of intuition that, two or three centuries after the rum of the Temple, the happy legendary, living perhaps five hundred leagues from Jerusalem, gives an account of the sacerdotal functions, consisting of four principal duties : Ist. The immolation of victims, aud the oblation of holocausts; 2nd. The keeping alive the lamps upon the Golden Candlestick : 3rd. The preparing and offering of the twelve new loaves upon the Table of Proposition j 4th. Finally, the burning of the incense, night and morning, upon the Altar of Perfumes. He knows that the priests, undertaking their service, each week, drew lots for the distribution of these various offices. One might be amazed already at the general knowledge of Jewish history possessed by your legendary ; but, urging still further this investigation, and entering into the detail even of the sacerdotal function he is describing, the demonstration of its authenticity will be set forth obviously.

(1) Luo. iii. 1. (2) Joseph. Antiq. Jud., lib. vii. cap. xi. (3) Joseph, lib. vii.cap. »•

A Speech op Owen Roe.— Here is the inspiring address of Owen Roe to his soldiers at the battle of Benburb. It is supposed to have appeared in print, only for the first time, lately "Gentlemen and fellow soldiers! Know that those who stand before you ready to fight, are those that banished you, your Wives, and Children from your Lands and Houses, and make you seek your Bread and Livelihood in strange places. Now you have Arms in your Hands as good as they have, and you are gentlemen as well as they are, You are the Flower of Ulster, descended from as Ancient and Honoiable a Stock of people as any in Europe. This Land you and your Predecessors have possessed about three thouand years. All Christendom know your quarrel is good — to fi»ht for your native Birth-right and for the Keligion which your Forefathers professed and maintained since Christianity came first to this Land So now is the time to consider your distressed and slavish condition 5 you have Arms in your Hands, you are as numerous as they are • and now try your Valeur and your Strength on those who have banished you, and now resolve to destroy you, Bud and Branch So let your Manhood be seen by your push of Pike and I will en^o if you do so, by God's Assistance and the Intercession of hi* Blessed Mother and all the Holy Saints in Heaven, that the Day will be your own. Tour word is Sancta Maria ; and so in the name of th* Father, Son and Holy Ghost, advance, and gire not Fire till you ai-e within Pike-Length. The Nation regards it as a most touching ami sj>ir>ted address and an acquisition to the literature of the National 'cause.