On this page
-
Text (1)
-
Untitled Article
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
-
-
Transcript
-
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
Untitled Article
pious pretensions , in this respect , we have the most authentic testimony ; since we read in the Acts , that in Samaria he astonished the people by his magical artifices , and professed to
be the great power of God . Nor can it be well doubted , but that he assumed tliLs title in opposition to Jesus , who is culled the Son of God . It cannot appear improbable that he held the same profession in Rome , where he exercised the same wicked arts .
Nor is it less probable that the enemies of the gospel should avail themselves of his pretensions , in order to ridicule or defeat the claims of Jesus , and thus honour him with a statue .
Nevertheless , Middleton , a fine writer , but a superficial inquirer , thus remarks , in regard lo the above passage : "It is manifest , beyond all reasonable doubt , that Justin was led here into a
; g ? o $ s bluude-, by his usual want of Judgment , and his ignorance of Roman affairs , and his preconceived notions of fabulous stories , which passed current about this Simon amongst the first Chiistians ; for the statue and inscription to which he appeals , were not dedicated to his countryman
Simon Magus , of whose deification there is not the least hint in any Roman writer , but to a Ha bine deity of ancient worship in Rome , and of similar name , Semoni Sanco , frequently
mentioned by the old writers , as the inscription itself , dug up about two centuries ugo from the ruins of that very place which Justin describes , has clearly demonstrated . *
1 he true state of the case was the following : Among those idols which superstition had created in Rome , there was one dedicated to Semo S&ncoy the Sabine deity above-mentioned . Simon , during his residence in that city , becoming acquainted with that idol , pretended , from the
similarity of that name to his own , that he was the divinity meant by it . This similarity was a lucky coincidence ; and his artifice in claiming a name so like his own , is well illustrated by what he pretended concerning the prostitute whom he led about with him . She was called Helen , and from
this circumstance he gave it out , that » he was the wife of Menelaus , whose ? conjugal infidelity had occasioned the T * ojmi war . Of Simon ' s pretensions no proof was necessary with the eneinic * of the gospel : for thf deep rooted
Untitled Article
malice which the Romans cherished towards the Jews in general , and to 4 wards Jesus and his disciples in particular , induced them to favour and
support any impostor , who partook of their malice and hatred . They , therefore , suffered a new statue , or the old one , to be erected with the inscription , not as before , of Semoni Sanco , but Sirnoni Deo Sancto . The Roman
Senate , base as they were become * had reason to feel shame in conferring a statue on a man who was at once a stranger , a vagabond awd an impostor , and that from mere malice to ~ wards Jesus and his followers . When *
therefore , their purpose was answered , and the name of Simon had passed away , they naturally wished to bury this infamous act in oblivion , by restoring the statue to the original di * vinity , with the inscription of Semoni Sanco . The statue thus restored was
found , as Middleton observes , m the common ruins ; and the charge of blunders , with which he seeks to crush poor Justin Martyr , recoils with double weight upon himself . Some years after the claims of Jesus and of Simon had been discussed at
Rome , Joseph us was brought an H ^ lustrious captive to that city . He witnessed the reproaches thrown upon Jesus and his faithful followers and he thought it his duty to meet them , by a full and explicit testimony , in his Antiquities . *• And about this time existed Jesus , a wise man , if
indeed he might he called a man : for he was the author of wonderful works , and a teacher of men , who with delight embraced the things , that are true , * &c . Now what are the truths to which Joseph us here alludes , and
what the falsehoods , the charge of which being opposed to them , he had in view to repel ? Let this writer be his own interpreter . After his testimony to Jesus , he subjoins an account of the wicked Jew and his associates .
who professed to teach the philosophy of Moses , or as we call it , the gospel . It was not consistent with his views , as an historian , to give a detailed account of the doctrines which they taught respecting Christ . It was not
at that time necessary ; for it was then notorious , that they were in the Humber of those who inculcated that he was a god , and , aft such , not born likd other meii . He , therefore , contents , himself with holding tfeicm forth »
Untitled Article
54 * Dr . Jones on the Deification of Jesus Christ at Rome , ( ft .
-
-
Citation
-
Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Sept. 2, 1818, page 542, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2480/page/6/
-