Page:Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire vol 5 (1897).djvu/363

 OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE 341 entertain a high and mysterious reverence.^'' " Verily, Christ 'e»i» Jesus, the son of Mary, is the apostle of God, and his word, which he conveyed unto Mary, and a Spirit proceeding from him : honourable in this world, and in the world to come ; and one of those who approach near to the presence of God." ''** The wonders of the genuine and apocryphal gospels ^^ are profusely heaped on his head ; and the Latin church has not disdained to borrow from the Koran the immaculate conception ■^- of his virgin mother. Yet Jesus was a mere mortal ; and, at the day of judgment, his testimony will serve to condemn both the Jews, who reject him as a prophet, and the Christians, who adore him as the Son of God. The malice of his enemies aspersed his reputation and conspired against his life ; but their intention only was guilty, a phantom or a criminal was substituted on the cross, and the innocent saint was translated to the seventh heaven.^"^ During six hundred years the gospel was the way of truth and salvation ; but the Christians insensibly forgot both the laws and the example of their founder ; and Mahomet was instructed by the Gnostics to accuse the Church, as well as the synagogue, of corrupting the integrity of the sacred text.^*^ The piety of Moses and of Christ rejoiced in the assurance of a future prophet, more illustrious than themselves ; the evangelic ^ Koran, c. 7, p. 128, &c., c. 10, p. 173, &c. D'Herbelot, p. 647, &c. 90 Koran, c. 3, p. 40, c. 4, p. 80. D'Herbelot, p. 399, &c. 91 See the gospel of St. Thomas, or of the Infancy, in the Codex Apocryphus N. T. of Fabricius, who collects the various testimonies concerning it (p. 128-158). It was published in Greek by Cotelier, and in Arabic by Sike, who thinks our present copy more recent than Mahomet. Yet his quotations agree with the ori- ginal about the speech of Christ in his cradle, his living birds of clay, &c. iSike, c. I, p. 168, 169, c. 36, p. 198, 199, c. 46, p. 206. Cotelier, c. 2. p. 160, 161). [Ed. Tischendorf, Evang. apocrypha, 1876, and W. Wright, Contributions to the apocryphal literature of the N.T., 1865.] 9- It is darkly hinted in the Koran (c. 3, p. 39), and more clearly e.xplained by the tradition of the Sonnites (Sale's Note, and Maracci, tom. ii. p. 112). In the .iith century, the immaculate conception was condemned by St. Bernard as a presumptuous novelty (Fra Paolo, Istoria del Concilio di Trento, 1. ii. ). 9-' See the Koran, c. 3, v. 53 and c. 4, v. 156 of Maracci's edition. Deus est praestantissimus dolose agentium (an odd praise) . . . nee crucifi.xerunt eum, sed objecta est eis similitudo : an expression that may suit with the system of the Do- cetes ; but the commentators believe (Maracci, tom. ii. p. 113-115, 173; Sale, p. 42, 43, 79) that another man, a friend or an enemy, was crucified in the likeness of Jesus : a fable which they had read in the gospel of St. Barnabas, and which had been started as early as the time of Irenasus, by some Ebionite heretics (Beau- sobre. Hist, du Manichi^isme, tom. ii. p. 25. Mosheim de Reb. Christ, p. 353). 9-* This charge is obscurely urged in the Koran (c. 3, p. 45) ; but neither Mahomet nor his followers are sufficiently versed in languages and criticism to give any weight or colour to their suspicions. Yet the Arians and Nestorians could relate some stories, and the illiterate prophet might listen to the bold assertions of the Manicha;ans. See Beausobre, tom. i. p. 291-305.