278 GENUINENESS OF THE GOSPELS. garded as the god of the Jews appears as the Creator of the physical world. Such a system necessarily embraced some solution, or rather some account, of the evil that exists; and this as we shall next see, was partly found in the supposed character of the Creator, and partly in the evil nature ascribed to matter. THE topics treated of in this Chapter natu rally suggest the inquiry, In what manne should the Jewish dispensation and the book of the Old Testament be regarded? The view that have been given of the opinions of th early Christians, both Catholics and Gnostics involve the whole subject in doubts and difficul ties, of which no rational solution is afforded But the Jewish is intimately connected wit the Christian dispensation, and one may, ther fore, reasonably be unwilling to dismiss the in quiry without some attempt to answer it. have accordingly considered the subject in a Additional Note to this volume. * * See Additional Note, D. ADDITIONAL NOTES. NOTE A. (See p. 63.) ON THE STATUE WHICH IS SAID BY JUSTIN MARTYR, AND OTHERS, TO HAVE BEEN ERECTED AT ROME TO SIMON MAGUS. I HAVE observed, on the page referred to above, that "Justin says, there was at Rome a statue dedicated to Simon as a god." By thus quoting him I have implied, that I regard his account, so far as it relates to the existence of the statue, as probably true. It is confirmed by the notices of a series of subsequent Christian writers. But it has been discredited by the generality of the learned among Protestants in modern times. Whether or not his testimony to the existence of the statue be true, becomes, therefore, a question of considerable curiosity, involving several others in its decision. These are; - Whether Justin, and the other Christian writers, who for more than two centuries after his death speak of the statue, are to be condemned for gross negligence and credulity? or, Whether a great majority of modern scholars among Protestants, including some of the most learned and judicious, have unreasonably rejected the account? - and still another, more general in its character, which may be thus explained. A As far as relates to the present subject, it would be idle to discriminate the Christian from the Pagan writers of antiquity. In both we may find errors of fact in abundance, occasioned, in great part, by the very imperfect means of information in ancient times. But the present inquiry relates to a public object of sight, the existence or nonexistence of which must, for several years at least (we know not how long), have been capable of being ascertained by any inhabitant or visiter of the principal city of the ancient world; and the question, therefore, arises, Whether in relation to such an object, the uncontradicted testimony of a series of ancient writers for more than two centuries may be rejected as fabulous? Justin's account of this statue is to be found in his First Apology, where it is twice mentioned. He says; "After the return of Christ to heaven, the demons put forward certain men, calling themselves gods; who not only were not persecuted, but were honored by you. Such was Simon, a certain Samaritan, who, during the reign of Claudius Cæsar, having performed magical works, through the art and power of demons, in your imperial city of Rome, was accounted a god, and has been honored by you with a statue as a god, which statue has been erected on the island in the Tiber, between the two bridges, with this inscription in Latin, Simoni Deo Sancto; and almost all the Samaritans, and a few also among other nations, acknowledge and worship him as the First God."* He thus recurs to the subject: "As I have before said, Simon being with you in the imperial city of Rome, during the reign of Claudius Cæsar, he so astonished and deluded the sacred Senate and the * I. Apologia, pp. 38-40. |