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fefcirtstUaaffty , ' * e being , as ive 3 ball set treason ^ to belreve , onfe of thofce impostors known under the name of
Gnrofcties . His associates appear from fh ^ caiftext , to haeve been the priests of Isis , who being similar to himself in iSiaaf&cter * united with him for similar motives .
3 . The Jews who were expelled from the city , forced to enlist , or pot to death , must have been , for the most part , believers in Jesus . Here , therefore * we have thfe extraordinary fact , &n the authority df the Jewish
historian , that a -few yearn after the resurrection 6 f the founder , Christianity was introduced into Rome , and so prevaifedas to occasion great disturbances , anfl to attract the notice and interposition of'government .
4 . 'Hie conduct of the emperor and semite towards the Jews on this occasion , Was not only cruel and unjust , but qfcifte contrary to the usual policy of thV Romans , Who had hitherto
toterated all nations in the exercise of their respective rites . The Jews were e 3 tertfpt «* d by law from the duty of serving as soldiers . 'But on this occasiota "they wei * e compelled to enlist , and in case of refusal , put to death .
For this extraordinary severity , extraordinary causes must have existed . The causes were the prevalence of spiritual Judaism , the disputes and tumults which it hence occasioned , the charges brought against the converts thfft they intended to dethrone Cfesfcr , and raise a prince of their
own to universal empire . This serious charge , which was too much countenatided by the yet mistaken views of the -believers in Jesus respecting the nature dif his kingdom , was made by Sej&nus , who was minister of Tiberius , ami the determined enemy of all the Jfetvs . But this wicked minister fell
a victim to his airibition ; and the event ffrovedvefy auspicious to the authority dftihe gospel . For the causes which led the emperor to hate Sejanus , natitHUly occasioned a change in his opinitfh Btid coriduct towards the Jews ,
Wkb Trotto the first , perceiving the trfeahei ^ y and arttbition of that miittit ^ r , gafe hia measures all the oppbKittoh in tlifeir power . Tibteruis , lAftt-Sfdre , firotn beiinfe a * persecutor , became thfeir friend : he rertor ^ d to tht ^ tr Violated tights trnth of the Jewish natfoii , wfa ^ tfrtir WH ttei * s or othcfrivise ,
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as were at Eoroe , defended themfroVh calumnies , a ^ d ^ dredver , « erft * M Wf&t to all the provin ^ ies , in vi ^ hicb ^ Kfe-tespectiv ^ magistrates were c 6 fi / mdnl * ett to protect thenri in $ heTtill t&ert * ig& ^ f their privileges . Tliese importuritfflidfe
are thtis stated by Phrilo : " AH nations , though prejudiced aijaifcist ttie Jews , have be ^ n ea refdl not to ftboh'tfh the Jewish rites ; and the ?* athe « c ^ a ^ 6 ii was preserved in the reign of Tiberitft , though , indeed , the Jews in Italy * ba ¥ e been distressed by thie ttiaichin&titffts ctf Sejanus . For after his death , ' * fe
emperor became uensiblie th&tfbe ' %£ - cusatious alleged against the JevvV ifr Italy were lying caldmiiies , We tneifo inventions of Sejarms , who was eagtir to devour a nation that alone or chiefly wowld , he knew , foe Bkely ^ tooppofsfe his impious designs and nreasures . And to the cbnsftitut ^ d authorities in
every place , Tiberius sent orders tidt to molest in their several citiies thfe men of that nation , excepting thfe guilty only , ( who were very few , ) and not to suppress any of their institutions , but to regard as a trust cormaitted to their care , both tlie pedpte therrhselves as disposed to peace , and tfheif laws , which * like oil , inure them to
order and stability . ' * II . 569 . Though the early Christian waiters had the strongest motives for passing over in silence the transactions at Rome , noticed by Philoand Josephus , they could not help adverting to th £ edict of Tiberiusin favour df the
Christians . Tertullian , in his Apology , ( c . v . p . 6 >) has a passage , which is thus translated by Lardner , ( V 1 T . % 3 % f ) u Tiberius , in whose time the Christian religion had its rise , having received from Palestine an account of such thing's
as manifested our Saviour ' s divinity , proposed to the senate , and giving his own vote as first in his favour , that he should be placed among the gods-The senate refused , because lie had himself declined that honour .
Nevertheless , the emperor persisted in his own opinion , and ordered , that if any accused the Christians , they should be punished ^' Though Tiberius might have received ^ from Pilate an account of the miracles and resurrection of Jesus , he eotilii not have received ati assurance
of his innocence ; because Pilate had at this time'sanctioned his death , as a plhdtetlU ^ d kin g of the Jew ^ and an
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~ &r . Jones on the IntroducHm of Christiimitff into Rome . 16 §
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VOL . XIII . Z
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), March 2, 1818, page 169, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2474/page/17/
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