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enemy to Caesar . It is tcue , that the gn » vei ; ivcir was sensible of our Lord ' s innocence , and confessed it . But this confession was made to the Jews , made before -the sentence was passed , and made as a motive to divert their malice
against the accused . But after he had ratified his condemnation , Pilate would acknowledge his innocence no longer , much less would he send an assurance of it to Caesar , because this
would be to condemn himself , as a cruel and unjust judge . It is evident , therefore , that the emperor had some knowledge of Jesus , through a channel ^ ery different from Pilate . Besides , he knew that the believers in Jesus
"were accused ; and he knew also that the accusation was false : and as this accusation was no other than a charge of treason , for which their leader , as king of the Jews , had already suffered in Judea , nothing short of personal knowledge , nothing but the notoriety of the sentiments aud conduct of the
Christians' at Rome , could convince him of its falsehood . The narrative of Tertullian implies , therefore , that there were , even at this early period , Christians in Italy and Rome , though Tertullian , from a motive hereafter to be stated , designedly omitted to mention them .
Eusebius , in his Eccles . Hist . Lib . ii . % has given the same history nearly in the words of Tertullian . And Orosius , towards the beginning of the
fifth century , hath thus more fully abated the fact : " Tiberius proposed to the senate , that Christ should be made a god , with his own vote in his favour . The senate moved with
indigpation , that it had not been , as was visual , proposed to them to determine respecting the reception of his religion , rejected his deification , and decreed by ai 7 i edict , that the Christians should be banislied from the city * especially as Sejanus , the prefect of Tiberius , most obstinately resisted the reception of his faith . "
There the inference drawn above from the words of Tertullian , is stated in direct terms by Orosius , namely , that in the days of Tiberius , Christians were so numerous at Rome , as to
attract the notice of the government . But though Christ had at this time many followers at Rome , they must liare been chiefly JEWS ; his gospel being not as yet announced to the
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Gentiles , unclogged by the rite of circumcision ; nor was the Christian name as yet in existence . It is evident * then , that the men whom Pljilo and Josephus called Jews , are by Tertullian and Orosius called Christians . The testimony of these writers 13 corroborated bv Philo , to whose
narrative they seem wiore particularly to refer . The two former suppose the sufferers to be Jews , though they call them Cli ristians —to be accused Jews 5 —to be accused by Sejanus ;—accused towards the close of Tiberius ' s reign ; —and to be unjustly accused » # nd . these particulars are contained in the words of Philo , who goes farther , and hints at the nature of the accusation :
" The prefect knew that Ihey were enemies to his impious designs , ' * that is , his design of usurping the empire . He , therefore , with the usual adroitness of wicked ministers , charged on them the treason of which he was
himself guilty . The account of this noble author , who was a spectator of all the transactions , implies , moreover ^ that Tiberius at first , as was most natural , believed the charge ; but that his eyes being soon opened , he became the protector of the people whom , a , little before , he had grievously molested . The Christian fathers left the
first impression of Tiberius ' s resentment unnoticed , and they mention only his subsequent conduct in befralf of the Christians . Now , if Tiberius , as Philo , Tertullian and Orosius assert , put an end to
the persecutions of the Christians , causing an edict to protect them , to be sent to all the provinces , what should we expect to be the effect of such a measure , as soon as it had time to be known , and to operate in Judea ? What but the effect stated in the
following simple narrative : " Then had all the churches rest throughout all Judea , and Galilee , and Samaria , and were edified and multiplied" ? Acts ix , 3 l . This event took place about the time when Tiberius died ; and the description which Philo gives of tfce state of the Roman empire on the ac-¦ ¦
> JL t ' k r cession of Caligula , implies that the repose of the churches proceeded frpm this edict , " What person , " say 8 $ e > 4 < ot ^ beholding Cai ^ s , when * afte ^ the $ eath of Tiberius , he had assumed doniuiion over every land and sea ; which
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170 * Dr . Janes on the Introduction of Christianity into Some
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), March 2, 1818, page 170, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2474/page/18/
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