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    WWQg Aw \ * && % * « wt ( l countinghouses , fw r ^ owrmg lost learning , or ^ enteri iag tipoa new studies . Hoping fchat some of your readers may be able to assist me with hints of advice , I am Thus Father of a Family .

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    fulfilled and perfected by him . Christianity then is Judaism j aiid no Jew who "believed in Christ / e * er considered it , or spoke of it , under any other name . Philo and Josephus , who were themselves Jews , regarded it in the same light : and it is demonstrable

    that , under whaterer terms they describe in their immortal writings the religion of the Jews , they mean that religion as it was taught and refined by Jesus Christ . No truth , after proper investigation , will appear more certain , more unequivocal than this ; and none more conducive to the

    restoration and final establishment of genuine Christianity , Philo no where mentions Jesus personally ; but he frequently uses those terms which dsignate him in bis official capacity , which mark his offices and character as a commissioner from God . He notices his divine mission

    to restore mankind to the lost image of their Maker ; describes the spotless parity of his character , as one through whom are to be obtained the forgiveness of sin and the hope of future 4 > liss . He does not indeed notice the

    violent and ignominious death which our Lord underwent ; but he alludes to it , and , what is more singular , by virtue of that death , he sets aside the whole Levitical code , which the Jews had hitherto regarded as essential to the law of Moses , as forming no part

    of true religion . Evea on the miracles and resurrection of Christ , themes to which he might be expected again and again to recur , and in which he might well glory , he has been pro * foundly silent . Josephus has preserved the same silence on this

    subject ; and it is remarkable that even in those places where he had the divine works of Jesus before his eyes , and where lie is studious to establish their truth by means of momentous and notorious facts , he declines to state them in direct terms . This

    omission may be deemed suspicious : it is a cloud which hangs upon and obscures their writings . It is , howover , but a cloud , which , when dissipated , leaves the effulgence Df truth the more surprising , serene , and delightful *

    The features which thus characterize the works of Pbilo aorf Joseph us owe their existence to circumstances of an

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    Vemlinritiet * f Philo nnd Jvsephtu as Defenders of Chrutiunity . 28 #

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    Peculiarities of Philo and Josephus as Defenders of Christianity ^ IT im * s t now appear beyond all reasonable doubt tkat Philo and Josepkus are Christian writers . But a thick veil yet hangs upon the question which must be drawn asunder , and I will then close the discussion for ever .

    Tbpugh historians and apologists of Christ and his cause , they not only do not use the terms Christian and Christianity , but they have passed over in studied silence the personal name , the miracles , the death , resurrection , ascension , and the second coming of

    tUeir Divine Master , to raise the dead and judge the world . These grand truths make a prominent figure al ~ most in every page of the New Testa * meat ; yet they scarcely once appear in the writings of Philo and Josephus *

    J will account for this peculiarity , and shew that these two wise men adopted , ia their writings , a plan of defending the gospel , pre-eminently fitted to de ~ feat its enemies on its first promulgation , and tq restore it to its original purity in modern days .

    Philo and Josephus , it is granted , do not defend the followers of Jesus under the name of Christians , nor their religion under that of Christianity * The reason is obvious . These

    at first were terms of reproach , invented by enemies . Christ did not sanction them ; the apostles did not recommend them ; they no where address their converts as Christians ; nor did a Jew exist in the first

    century who adopted that title as a badge $ > f his belief in Christ . Jesus , his apoptlgs , and his first followers in Judea , and even in the provinces , were Jews . This was their real name ; and under this name Philo and Jo ^

    soplius speak of and defend them . Moreover , Christianity is the soul of Judaism ; it is the fulfilment of the promise made to Abraham ; it is the substance of the shadows instituted hy Mosea ; < and as Christ biinsclf affirms , it is the law and the prophets

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), May 2, 1825, page 285, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2536/page/29/