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| Chapter XXXIII
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Chapter
XXXIII.
“But,” continues Celsus, “what great
deeds did Jesus perform as being a God? Did he put his enemies to
shame, or bring to a ridiculous conclusion what was designed against
him?” Now to this question, although we are able to show
the striking and miraculous character of the events which befell Him,
yet from what other source can we furnish an answer than from the
Gospel narratives, which state that “there was an earthquake, and
that the rocks were split asunder, and the tombs opened, and the veil
of the temple rent in twain from top to bottom, and that darkness
prevailed in the day-time, the sun failing to give
light?”3290
But if Celsus
believe the Gospel accounts when he thinks that he can find in them
matter of charge against the Christians, and refuse to believe them
when they establish the divinity of Jesus, our answer to him is:
“Sir,3291
either disbelieve
all the Gospel narratives, and then no longer imagine that you can
found charges upon them; or, in yielding your belief to their
statements, look in admiration on the Logos of God, who became
incarnate, and who desired to confer benefits upon the whole human
race. And this feature evinces the nobility of the work of Jesus,
that, down to the present time, those whom God wills are healed by His
name.3292
And with regard to the eclipse in the
time of Tiberius Cæsar, in whose reign Jesus appears to have been
crucified, and the great earthquakes which then took place, Phlegon
too, I think, has written in the thirteenth or fourteenth book of his
Chronicles.”3293
| 3293 On Phlegon, cf. note
in Migne, pp. 823, 854. [See also vol. iii. Elucidation V. p.
58.] | E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
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