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    a * kd who told us how lie had seen him after he was burned , in a white garment , crowned with olive , and walking about / ' § 40 . The object of Jesus in dving was to save mankind ; the object of Peregrinus was of a similar nature . § 2 o * Jesu& after his resurrection commissioned his followers to go and baptize aU nations ; Peregrinus gave a similar commission after his reappearance from the fire . " They say he has already written epistles to all the prin ^ cipal cities , and qertain covenants , exhortations and laws , which he sent

    them b y ambassadors chosen from among his followers ^ and whom he had dignified with the title of messengers from the dead , or runners to the shades below . " § 41 . Jesus ascended to

    heaven , so did Peregrinus . * ' Where * fore God hath highly exalted him , and given him a name above every other name , that in the name of Jesus every knee should bow , of things in heaven and those on earth , and under the

    earth ; and every tongue should confess , that Jesus Christ is Lord , to the glory of God the Father / ' The oracle of the Sibyl is thus represented as £ -+ 'V ' , *¦ & r % I jf £ m *« ^ w » sr * . m » W _ M ^* m « ** tr ^ ¦ ¦ * ¦ ^« v m * - * -. ft ¦ A / L * . ^ -w . ^* v I V « a .- « . speaking of Peregrinus When

    . : " Proteus , by far the be&t of the Cynics , after jumping into the flames , and burning himself in the holy place & £ high Jove , shall ascend to heaven , I command all those who eat the fruits

    of the earth to worship this night guardian , this greatest of heroes , seated on the same throne with Vulcan and Hercules /' _ Now , as it appears beyond contradiction , that the history of the death of Peregrinus is but a burlesque of the death of Christ , it follows that no such

    events as in this treatise are ascribed to that impostor , did ever take place ; in . other words , the story of Peregrinus burning himself , and the like , was a mere contrivance between that impostor and his colleagues to furnish the enemies of the gospel with a set-off against its founder . Franklin , the

    translator of Lucian , makes this shrewd remark on Peregrinus disappearing in the flames : " It is not improbable that this arch impostor , for such he undoubtedly was , might after & 11 escape by some secret passage under ground , which he had prepared on the occasion , as we cannot otherwise well account for a scoundrel like Peregrinus Carry-

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    ing the Jest so ¦• •*«/* / Fdrtueaafely ; Lucian himself has given us ) an incident which developes the whole imposture , €€ Jesus , " we are toldy ¦** when he had cried- again with a loud voice , yielded up the ghost . And behold the veil of the temple was rent in twain , from the top to the bottom ; and the earth shook , and the rocks rent , and the

    graves opened , and many bodies of saints , which slept , arose , and came out of the graves after his resurrection , and went- into the holy city and appeared unto iaanyi" Matt , xxvii . 50 . In ridicule of this account , Lucian

    writes of Peregrinus , ** When the pile was lighted , and Proteus had thrown himself upon it * a great noise was heard , the earth shook , and a vulture was seen to rise out of the flame and fly towards heaveit , crying with a loud voiced I have left earth , and go to Olympus /* § 39 . Now Lucian allows that he himself was the author of this

    tragic story * We are infinitely obliged to him for the acknowledgment ; for we may then conclude with the utmost confidence , that as Lucian was an inventor of one part of the story , he or Peregrinus , or Some' other worthy coadjutor in the same cause , or all of them together , invented the rest . And thus we are able to trace the whole

    narrative to its proper source . This is but a brief sketch of the treatise . Those who wish to be full y informed on the subject , should with this clue read the original , and they will become sensible that in all the records of

    antiquity , nothing is to be met with so calculated to establish and illustrate the truth of the Christian religion as this work of Lucian . My next paper shall be on this subject . J . JONES . —¦¦¦ ¦¦¦ ¦¦—

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    — - ^ - ^^^ i ^^^ p——London , December 22 , 1820 . 4 Quali sono e sentiinetiti de ciascuno sulla pcna de Morte ? Leggiamoli negli alti d' iiidegnazione e di disprezzo , con cui ciascuno guarda il cantefice . Beccaria .

    Sir , IS it possible that this country can continue to bt disgraced by the repetition of such sanguinary exhibitions as have taken pl&ce at the Old Bailey since the commencement of the current month ? Fourteen human beings ( one of them of the softer sex )

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    & Capital Punishments .

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Jan. 2, 1821, page 8, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2496/page/8/