mam vel culpæ suæ vel erroris, quod essent soliti stato die ante lucem convenire carmenque Christo quasi Deo dicere secum invicem, seque sacramento non in scelus aliquod obstringere, sed ne furta, ne latrocinia, ne adulteria committerunt,' etc.

(5) Tertullian, Apolog. 37.

(6) The number of the martyrs has indeed been frequently exaggerated, and their histories embellished; but we have also trustworthy accounts which present us with a striking image both of the unusual sufferings inflicted upon the Christians, and of the fortitude and faith with which they were endured. Ignatius, bishop of Antioch, who was taken to Rome and there cast to the lions, A.D. 107, exclaiming, I am God's wheat, and must be ground by the teeth of the wild beasts, that I may be found His pure bread; and Polycarp, the venerable bishop of Smyrna, condemned to the flames, A.D. 169, whose last words were, I have been six-and-eighty years in His service, and He has never harmed me; how then could I blaspheme Him, my King and Saviour !' were worthy successors of the apostles whose disciples they were. The martyrs, too, of Lyons and Vienna, A.D. 177, especially the tender Blandina, whose unconquerable fortitude extorted the admiration of the very heathen; Perpetua and Felicitas in Carthage, A.D. 202, whose love to Christ was strong enough to conquer even maternal love, and many others, were ever memorable examples of Christian faithfulness even unto death. Compare the narratives in Eusebius, Ecclesiastical History, iii. 26, iv. 15, 16, v. 1, vi. 41, 42, etc.

(7) Laurent, 'Etudes sur l'Histoire de l'Humanité,' t. v. p. 596; in Hettinger, p. 778. See the same thought in Stirm, p. 450.

(8) Pens. ii. p. 337 (234): Christ en faisant tuer les siens.

Mahomet en tuant, Jésus
Enfin cela est si con-

(20) Ziethe, p. 21. Comp. also Guizot, L'eglise, etc., p. 14. Meditations sur la religion chretienne, pp. 27, &c., Hettinger p. 557.

(21) Similarly Dalton p. 185, and Hett. p. 571. On the question of miracles compare also the excellent treatise of Uhlhorn, Die modernen Darstellungen des Lebens Jesu, Hannover 1866, pp. 104, &c., and the thorough investigations of Rothe (Zur Dogmatik, 1864, pp. 84, &c. Also Grau, Ueber den Glauben als die höchste Vernunft, 1865, pp. 11, &c.

(22) So Ziethe, p. 86, Stirm, p. 445, and modern orthodox theology in general.

And

(23) Niebuhr, Lebensnachrichten i. 470, etc. immediately before: 'He whose earthly life and sufferings were depicted, would have, in my estimation, a perfectly real existence, and his entire history the same reality, even though not one single particular had been literally narrated. Hence, even the fundamental fact of miracles must, according to my conviction, be conceded; or else the not merely incomprehensible but absurd view must be embraced, that the holiest of men was a deceiver, his disciples either deluded or liars, and that deceivers could have preached a holy religion, of which selfdenial is the chief duty,' etc. (Brief an B, 1812). On the miracles of Mohammed, compare Tholuck, Verm. Schr. i. 27. The following specimen of the fanciful nature of Mohammedan miracles, given by Tholuck in the above named work, may suffice: In order to fulfil a test demanded by his adversaries in Mecca, Mohammed caused it to become night at mid-day: thereupon the moon hastened forwards, performed a seven-fold circuit round the Kaaba, and bowed down before it; then did obeisance to the prophet, and cried aloud in presence of all the inhabitants of Mecca, Peace be unto thee, O Achmet! It afterwards went into the prophet's right sleeve, and then came out of his left; and having

severed itself into two halves, which betook themselves, one to the east, the other to the west, and finally reunited, it quietly continued its course "without any one perceiving any kind of derangement.””” But all these narratives belong to subsequent times, as Mohammed himself declared that he was incapable of working miracles. Comp. also Ziethe, p. 89.

(24) A similar examination of testimony is found in Hettinger, pp. 528, etc. Compare _also_Rougemont Christus und seine Zeugen p. 126; Das Zeugniss der Apostel, pp. 145, etc., also Auberlen, Die göttliche Offenbarung, i. 7, etc.

(25) So especially Holsten, a follower of the so-called Tubingen school, in his essay, Die Christusvision des Paulus und die Genesis des paulinischen Evangeliums, Zeitschrift für wissenschaftliche Theologie, 1861, iii. pp. 224-284. The appearance of Christ to St Paul, on his way to Damascus, is said to have been a purely mental occurrence, connected with the peculiar nervous temperament of the apostle, who was subject to epileptic fits;' to which also are to be referred the buffetings of the messenger of Satan, of which he subsequently speaks (p. 251). It is by such means that the effort is made to invalidate St Paul's testimony to the resurrection of Jesus Christ. On the other hand, Beyschlag points out in Studien und Kritiken, 1864, No. 2, pp. 197-264, in his article, Die Bekehrung des Apostels Paulus mit besonderer Rucksicht auf die Erklärungsversuche von Baur und Holsten, 1864, No. 2, pp. 197-264, how clearly and emphatically Paul distinguishes between inward visions and external appearances (compare Acts x. 17, xii. 9, xviii. 9, xxii. 17, 2 Cor. xii.): consequently his whole consciousness of apostleship depended on the point that he had seen the Lord not merely in a vision, but bodily' (p. 225). Holstein indeed owns that 'criticism must endeavour to comprehend this vision as the inward psychological act of his own mind;' i.e. she

cannot upon her own historical assumptions (which deny transcendent causality in general) admit the historical fact.

(26) Auberlen starts from this point in his above cited work, p. 11. Also Uhlhorn, p. 111.

(27) Baur, Das Christenthum und die Kirche der drei ersten Jahrh., a newly revised edition, which appeared shortly before the author's death, 1860, ii. p. 39.

(28) Compare note 24. Baur himself owns, in the above-cited work (p. 45), 'If we can only see a miracle in his conversion, in his sudden change from the most violent opponent of Christianity into its most decided herald, it appears so much the greater, since, in this revolution of his convictions, he broke through even the restraints of Judaism, and merged his Jewish exclusiveness in the universal idea of Christianity. Though he makes this a purely mental occurrence, he cannot help confessing that no psychological nor dialectic analysis can fathom the mystery of that act by which God revealed His Son to him.'

(29) So Nicolas iv. 167.

(30) Lessing's Works, edited by Lachmann, x. 10.

(31) From Lessing, notes to Fragment i., 'On the crying out of Reason in Pulpits.' Works, x. 14.

(32) Goethe, Gespräche mit Eckermann, ii. 132: 'Man is an obscure being,' etc. Compare also i. 226, 227, iii. 199. We are all walking in the midst of mysteries' (iii. 200). Sprüche in Prosa, Works iii. 169, 298, 325. Faust 1st and 2d parts, Works, 11, 30, 12, 15. Comp. Stirm, p. 442, Hett. p. 438, on Newton, comp. Nicolas i. 112.

also the eighth letter of Stirm's Apology generally, in which he furnishes most abundant contributions to the history of the moral renovation effected by Christianity. Very comprehensive proofs are also found in the already often quoted work of C. Schmidt Essai historique sur la societe civile dans le monde romain, etc., 1853.

(19) Montesquieu, Esprit des lois, viii. 9, in Nicolas i. 251, where a series of special proofs are cited.

(20) Neander, Denkw, i. 42, and the passage there quoted from Tert. ad Scapulam, 2.

(21) Thus Voltaire computed that about ten million men had been slaughtered under the pretext of the Christian religion, and adds to this computation the triumphant exclamation, Religion chrétienne, voilà tes effets Stirm, p. 191.

(22) So also Goethe: The greatest honour is due to the Christian religion, for continually proving its pure and noble origin by coming forth again, after the great aberrations into which human perversity has led it, more speedily than was expected, with its primitive special charm as a mission, a family friend, a brotherhood, for the relief of human necessity.' Stirm, p. 193.

(23) A brilliant description of this universality of Christianity is given in Kahnis' Dogmatik, i. pp, 671674.

NOTES TO LECTURE X.

(1) Jean Paul (Fredr. Richter), Ueber den Gott in der Geschichte und in Leben; Sämmtl. Werke, 33, 6; Stirm, p. 194.

(2) Acts ix. 14, 21 (xxii. 16); 2 Cor. i. 2; 1 Tim. ii.