166 REV. p. p. FLOUKNOY^ D.B., ON BEARING OP ARCHAEOLOGICAL 



was no such person as Christ, Eoman historians who had no 

 leaning toward Christianity wrote of him. 



Tacitus,* a contemporary of the Apostle John, though he 

 speaks of the Christians in a tone of patrician scorn, yet mentions 

 clearly that they were the followers of Christ, that Christ 

 was crucified by Pontius Pilate, the procurator of Judea, and 

 gives a harrowing account of the persecutions inflicted upon 

 them by Nero. Tacitus evidently had no more doubt about the 

 existence of Christ than he had of that of Julius C?esar or of 

 his own contemporary, Xero, whose dreadful deeds he records. 



The intimate friend of Tacitus, Pliny the younger,-}* tells 

 more about the Christians, and speaks of Christ as w^orshipped 

 by tliem ; while his intimate friend, the historian Suetonius,^ 

 mentions Christians as suffering persecution. 



These three Eomans were younger contemporaries of " that 

 disciple whom Jesus loved " ; and show no more doubt about 

 the existence of Christ than did the Apostle himself. 



So, as the veil is lifted by research and discovery, it plainly 

 appears that, instead of revealing weaknesses in the foundations 

 of the Christian faith, the progress is from strength to strength. 

 With each new discovery the wonderful story is seen more 

 clearly to be based on facts and not on fancies. 



Kalthoff, of Bremen ; Robertson with his Christianity/ and Mytliology 

 (London, 1900) ; Jensen, of the Gilgamesh -Epos theory ; Niemojewski with 

 his Astral theory ; Bolland, of Leyden, with his Joshua Redivivus theory, 

 and others. On the whole subject see especially the excellent refutation 

 of this impious and foolish contention, by Shirley J. Case, of the Depart- 

 ment of New Testament Literature, Chicago University, The Historicity 

 of Jesus. 



Tacitus, Annals, XV, 44. "To put an end to this rumour {i.e., that 

 Nero had caused the burning of Eome) he shifted the charge upon others, 

 and inflicted the most cruel tortures upon a body of men detested for 

 their abominations, and popularly known by the name of Christians. The 

 name came from one Christus, who was put to death in the reign of 

 Tiberius by the Procurator, Pontius Pilate ; but, though checked for the 

 time, the detestable superstition broke out again, not in Judea only, 

 where the mischief began, but even in Pome, w^here every horrible and 

 shameful iniquity, from every quarter of the world, pours in and finds a 

 welcome." .... " Their death was turned into a diversion. They were 

 clothed in the skins of wild beasts and torn by dogs ; they were fastened 

 to crosses, or set up to be burned, so as to serve the purpose of lamps 

 when daylight failed. Nero gave up his own gardens for this spectacle, 

 etc." 



t Pliny's Lettei' to Trajan, X, 97. 

 X Suetonius, Life of Nero, 16. 



